christy's visit

yesterday i dropped off our second visitor to the Stewart Oasis. christy spent 4 days with us and we had a wonderful time despite the hotter than hades weather we've been having. we did lots and lots of shopping, ate a ton of pineapple guava passionfruit sherbert (which i am now happily addicted to), got lovely pedicures, visited balboa park for about 20 minutes (the humidity made it unbearable) and, of course, watched pride and prejudice while josh played baseball. now she gets to go back home to her un-air-conditioned place, while i get to go back to work. yipee.

christy and i go back about 8 years. her then-husband played hockey with my then-boyfriend and so we would sit together in the bleachers and pretend to watch their games while talking about all manner of girl things. we went to dairy queen a whole lot back then and went on a lot of double dates. my relationship hit rock bottom just before her's hit the fan, so we found ourselves both single for a time and kept in sporadic contact until i came home from england, when we began our bi-weekly "dates" of walks around mill lake on sundays (except for when it was raining, which happens to be about 6 months out of the year up there, we'd meet in a cozy coffee shop). our friendship has always been unique because i know none of christy's other friends and she knows none of mine. in a way, it's a nice thing because it's easier to give unbiased advice about a situation when you have no relationship with the other person involved. we are very similar in temperment and find we have similar weaknesses (worry, guilt, fear) so we are able to encourage one another and really empathize with each other. yes, christy is a truly wonderful friend and i am blessed to have her in my life!

update on the bump: it is getting more firm, which is interesting, and i'm finding it uncomfortable to sleep on my back. i still don't look "obviously" pregnant unless i wear obvious clothing. baby stew is now the size of a softball! i still haven't been able to feel any movement, though i sometimes lay very still and concentrate very hard, trying to feel those first flutterings. it's kind of hard to explain, but i somehow feel that the baby is not so attatched to me...as if my baby lives only on a screen at my dr's and not inside of me. i know that once i feel him move, that will all change. only 12 days until we find out the gender!! (IF baby cooperates) i had a dream last night that, during the ultrasound, the doctor announced, "it's a girl!" then, "no, it's a boy!" which shows just how undecided i've become in the whole matter. (i had a strong gut feeling right at the beginning of my pregnancy, but that's been fading). this weekend i'll be 16 weeks, so will have to remember to ask josh to take a proper picture of me that i can post.

only 9 more days until my parents arrive, bearing dill pickle potato chips (for me), crunchie bars (for josh) and homemade jam and pickles and my dad's famous grape juice! a few days after they leave, our next set of guests arrive: darla, kevin and little chase! they can only stay for 2 days, but we're going to make the most of it. these summer months we've sure had a lot of guests...but we both enjoy it and i especially love hearing canadian accents around. find myself saying "eh" a little more now!

this weekend is jessica and rob's anniversary, so josh and i have decided to have the kids spend the night here so that they can have a nice night away. last time we babysat for an afternoon, i called them our "two little birth control pills". now that it's too late to change our minds, i wonder if we'll come out of the weekend shell shocked and terrified. of course, we wont' be having babies two at a time, and neither will he be coming out of me walking and talking and saying "no". though, baby stew will come out screaming like a banshee every few hours and i kind of wonder which is preferable. don't get me wrong, kaylee and john are really good kids and we love them to pieces. i actually think that this will be good practice for us! oh yes, we shall soon see...