There's not much to report since my last update. No big changes or anything. Emi (I haven't decided whether I want to spell it as Emi or Emmy yet) has been wiggling a lot and living up to her previous term of affection. It makes me nervous when she's too quiet, so I welcome the activity from her all the time. I've been ravenously hungry lately, which is kind of fun, because I usually have the opposite problem of not much appetite. A. was sick a few days ago, but is feeling better now. He's back to his mostly happy and sunshiny self and is helping me along as the physical side of pregnancy grows a little more difficult. We've had some really good time together lately, and it's been wonderful.
Mostly, I've just been riding the emotional roller coaster. First, I'm pregnant, which means that my hormones rage randomly whenever they want to. Sometimes I am walking along through my day feeling just fine, and then all of a sudden, one tiny little thing will set me off and I'll be in a funk for the rest of the day. Sometimes that funk is angry. Sometimes it's irritable. Sometimes I just want to cry. Sometimes I just want to be alone and not talk to anyone. But then there are the good moments. It's early spring for us, which means that most of our days are mid-70s right now, which is just about as beautiful as can be. It could only be better if it were greener outside already. And the times when I have the opportunity to drive around running my errands in the sunshine are the times that I feel best. I feel good. I feel calm. I feel free and confident.
Second, I've been doing some spiritual house-cleaning. Or rather, the Lord has been doing it upon me. I have had a life-long habit of stuffing - everything - down into the dark abyss of my heart. I learned to pretend that whatever happened that hurt or upset me should just be stuffed away, and then I could keep moving and functioning as though it didn't happen at all. I've been reaping the not-so-lovely benefits of this practice now for a while, and I'm so exhausted from these past ghosts reappearing that I'm desperately crying out for freedom and cleanliness in my heart. Well, the Lord has heard my prayers, and He's been faithfully bringing a bunch of things back to the surface from the abyss - for processing and evacuation. Not fun. But it feels so very good to get that stuff out of the depths and remove that pressure from my somewhere soul.
I spent a sleepless night last week doing some of this cleaning out with Him. He kept me awake and made me deal with a couple of subjects in particular. I felt like He showed me a large vat of swirling murk and marbled funk - out of which things were rising like cream to the top. So we spent some time skimming off the layers and separating them out into jars for further processing as we go. I'm pretty sure that those particular layers aren't finished yet, but at least it has been partially sorted and will be easier to deal with now that it's out of the "vat of confusion and disorientation." Ha, take that, Beast.
Anyway, it's all good. I love how no matter what I am going through, I can always find that foundation of joy that Paul talks about - the secret of contentment in all circumstances. It's really true. I always know that I'm going to be okay, no matter what's happening on the surface or what battles I'm fighting, because the Lord is my protector. That's some very deep comfort and consolation at all times. It's a peace so satisfying that I have a hard time finding a good enough word to describe it.
My mom took this picture over the weekend. This is at 21wks and 1day. 
baby GIRL!!!
After our slight disappointment of appointment mixups yesterday, we are proud to tell everybody that we found out this morning. My medical professional is 99.9% sure that we're having a girl.
Her name will be Emily Hope, and she's still set to arrive on or around July 3rd. She's got two legs, two arms, and appears to be completely healthy at this point. Praises to the Lord!
Yay!
love and blessings,
~D and A
I felt the baby move for the first time yesterday morning! It was so cool! Weird, too, but definitely cool.
12 more days until the day we find out whether we will be having a masculine or a feminine child. If it's a girl, I've got to get cracking on picking out a name! A. got to choose the boy name, so I get to pick the girl name if it's a girl. I have a few favorites that I'm still playing with.
I finally started to get more energy about a week ago, and I'm starting to feel more like myself again. It feels so good to have the energy to do things again. I'm grateful for that.
Otherwise, A. and I have been good. We started a bible study together on Saturday mornings a couple of weeks ago, and so far, it has been really good for me. Already, the Lord is scouring me out and working toward setting me free in a few places that I was hoping for, and it's awesome.
We enjoyed a couple of ice days last week where A. didn't have to go into the office, and now the weather is back in the 60s again. I love Texas weather, and I am SO looking forward to spring and summer. I love the heat, and I am dying for some!
Then we celebrated with a couple of our dear friends at their wedding shower on Saturday. I have been unofficially/offically appointed as her wedding coordinator (not in any professional capacity...but I'll be the go-to girl on all the details for the big day). I'm so excited that my sweet friend has given me this honor, and I can't wait to help her and be a part of this important event in her life!
That's about it for now. God is good, and I'm understanding Him and growing closer to Him little by little each day. I love that. I hope I get to enjoy this season for a while.
God bless.
Monday was our first anniversary.
A took me out on a nice date to Patrizio (yum!) and a movie. Somehow he managed to secretly procure some beautiful roses for me, even though he didn't have the car on Monday...he must have a buddy at work who conspired with him. Thanks, buddy! We saw Bedtime Stories as our flick of choice. It was really good! Clean, funny, good messages. I love family friendly movies. I'm so glad they seem to be making more of those lately.
After the movie, we snuggled up back at home and watched our wedding video. I was struck again by how good our video was! Uncle T was so gracious and wonderful for making that for us. It's truly a treasure! It was so good to be reminded of how wonderful our wedding day was too. He incorporated interview snippets from A and me, as well as from several of our family and friends. It was so fun to hear what everybody had to say a year ago and compare to how we're doing today. It was very encouraging.
In some ways, it feels like A and I have always been together, and it's hard to imagine times without him now. And in some ways it feels like this past year flew by at record speeds.
A year ago, I never would have imagined that we would be expecting our first little Wiggle already! I (well, both of us) thought we would probably wait a couple of years before thinking about kiddos. But God only waited about 4 months after we got married before changing our hearts and telling us it was time to get started! I can't wait to see where we'll be another year from now!
Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from our honeymoon last year:
my cute hubby driving our awesome convertible rental on a beautiful Maui road
Bad to the Bone, oh yeah. I love the lack of commitment required to access the fun of henna at the beach!
at Cheeseburger in Paradise down in Lahaina
the black lava sand beach near the Seven Sacred Pools
p.s. with any luck, we'll be finding out if Wiggle is a boy or a girl on February 20th! Expect an announcement at this location! Yippee!
I have conquered the scanner.
Yes.
With a little help from my beloved hubby, it has been vanquished.
...And now for your viewing pleasure, my first posted picture on the blog:
See! I did it! that's our baby!
However, in the future, I will probably only post a few pics here, and I will be keeping the bulk of my pictures published on Picasa. If you're interested in seeing the full albums there, just shoot me an e-mail or comment, and I'll hook you up. I'll probably post a quick message here whenever I upload new photos to my Picasa site.
On an update note, we had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas Day with A's side of the family, in our pj's the WHOLE day, eating cookies and watching movies. Then we trucked ourselves up to see my side of the family and spent a lovely weekend catching up and playing with my adorable niece and nephew. It was SO good to see them. My awesome sister and brother-in-law, as well as my mom and dad, gave us so much baby stuff, we couldn't fit it all in the car - it'll probably take at least 2 more trips to get it all back to our place! It's all a HUGE help - thanks, family!
Since then, A enjoyed a 5-day vacation over the New Year holiday while he played a new video game that he and his buddies all bought. I've just been puttering around the house trying to chip away at the mountain of housework and putting away of Christmas decorations. It has been nice to have the flexibility to work while I have energy and rest/sleep while I don't.
Much love to all.
I missed last week, here's the update for two weeks worth of Shaw goings-on.
Disclaimer: So, I know I've been promising for a while now that I would be posting pictures soon. Well, here's the thing. My camera battery is still dead, and I keep forgetting to get a new one when I'm out - so the pictures on my camera are still un-downloadable til my next trip to the store. My scanner has been out of commission because I couldn't find a print driver that would work with Windows Vista until a couple of days ago (thanks, sweetie!). I was hopeful that soon I would be in business. And then my computer decided that it would no longer allow me to stay connected to the internet wirelessly for longer than approximately 2 minutes. So, the only way I can stay connected is if I sit in my husband's office and connect with a hard wire - but my scanner is in MY office, unreachable when I am in A's office. Sigh. Ultimately, we're rebuilding my computer over the next few days and I will be able to post pictures within the week. Say a prayer for my electronic sanity. p.s. If you've still been waiting with baited breath, you better start breathing again for a few more days.
We had our annual Christmas party last weekend. It went great! At least, everybody told me so. People showed up, we mingled, caught up, watched movies, took pictures (forthcoming), played games, played hot potato with a Texas Longhorn ornament, ate Christmas yummy candies & cookies, and watched a few of the boys attempt to beat each other up with Nerf darts. Yep, great times!
I spent a few days up at my church last week helping out one of the lovely and wonderful finance ladies with a few end-of-year tasks. It was SO good to see everyone on staff there and catch up a little. I really do miss working up there, and I hope that the Lord gives me plenty of opportunities to stay connected with everyone. It was a wonderful little blessing to see them for a few days last week.
Also, we went to our 12-wk sonogram on Thursday. Baby is doing great! The little one has arms and legs now, and even decided to do a little wiggle for the camera. My friend S has decided to start calling the baby "Wiggle Worm". A and I have been trying to come up with a cute nickname for the baby until we figure out if it's a boy or girl, but nothing has really stuck well yet. My family is calling baby "Cat" or "Cate" because the first sonogram looked like a caterpillar. A and I have mostly just called it "Baby." L thinks we should call it either "Lion" or "Tiger" because our friends called theirs "Bear." This is cute because then if another couple in our group of friends got pregnant, they could take the last of the 3 choices, and then we'd all have "lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!" That hasn't stuck either, though. I kind of like "Little Wiggle". We'll see if it sticks. Maybe there just won't be a cute nickname until there's an official name on the horizon.
I'm doing ok. Mama needs to eat better though. Her nausea caused her to lose 5 pounds in the last month instead of gaining a little like she should have. But doctor wasn't concerned, and just said to work on growing for a while now. My stomach is definitely doing better, but it's still hit or miss on finding something that sounds good to eat 3 times a day. My energy is still low, but again, better than it was. I'm starting to get a little stir-crazy sitting around the house all day. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty to do around the house. I just don't have the energy to do most of it...so finding things to do that don't max out my energy level is a challenge. I'm getting a little brain-bored.
So I've discovered something very cool. It's a website service called E-Mealz. For approximately $1.25/wk, it provides a complete meal plan for a week's worth of dinners, including a shopping list for all the groceries necessary to prepare those meals. I. Am. Ecstatic. Last week, I asked the Lord to provide me some manna because planning, preparing, and shopping for creative and healthy meals every week was out of my capabilities and was driving me bonkers. In His goodness, He inspired me to search for meal plans on Google, and provided me with this amazing service. Praise the Lord! So A and I tried out the grocery shopping based on the list this week - it went great AND it saved us money on our groceries (they base their grocery list on the best prices for items at the store where you shop the most; isn't that cool?). We tried one of the recipes two nights ago, and it was actually really good! I am completely optimistic that this thing is going to help me out a ton! Yay! If you want to check it out, go to E-mealz
This week will bring our Christmas celebrations with family, beginning Wednesday night. Friday morning, we'll go to see my side of the family and I'm excited that my sis and nephew are getting healthier again! can't wait to see them!
