8 months (and 1 week) picture

okay, here. now are you happy? no, that is not a giant inflatable pool toy attatched to my middle, that is my baby. and yes, i stayed in my pajamas for this one because they are comfy. josh laughed when he caught me putting a quick swipe of lipstick on before he shot this. you can't blame a girl for trying to look a little more human and a little less whale-like, can you? to be very very honest, (because that's what kind of a mood i'm in right now) i feel like the most gigantic and unattractive being ever to walk this earth. (and i am NOT fishing for compliments here. just sharing from my heart) i'm having a hard time with my body changing so drastically. i've already gained 40 lbs and still have at least 7 weeks to go. it's not that i'm terrified that i won't lose the weight, i guess it's just that i can't stand the way i look right now. and i know that it's all for my baby, the stretch marks and varicose veins and swollen ankles and cellulite that seems to go all the way down to my calves and puffy face....it's all for him somehow, but it kinda makes it hard to look in the mirror some days. i can be my own words of wisdom and tell myself things like, "but you are healthy and your baby is healthy and what more could you ask for?" and that is true. so i'm being selfish. so shoot me.

got an email from my mom this morning about the gargantuan snowfall that has engulfed my home town. she sent me pictures, one of my dad happily shoveling the driveway. as i stared at the pictures, i suddenly got this very unexpected wave of homesickness. i can remember the sound that the old wooden shovel makes as it's pushed along the length of the driveway. i can remember the hushed way the world gets when huge flakes come drifting down...it's as if the snow dampens the usual noises. i can remember watching the snow falling, dancing in the light of the streetlamp outside of our house. toboganning down the hill a block away. looking up at the sky and feeling the flakes land like wet little kisses all over my face. perhaps it wasn't homesickness i was experiencing, perhaps it was snowsickness. at any rate, i missed it badly enough to feel melancholy all the way to work.

we did have a wonderful thanksgiving, which we celebrated on saturday. had our traditional water balloon toss and played horseshoes at my parents in law's house. josh's aunt and uncle and cousins were there as well. good times had by all. today it rained and that made me smile.

only 2 weeks left of work... i am so ready to be done! christmas shoppers can be a little fanatical. with our extended holiday hours, i don't get home until past 11pm on the nights that i close. i just keep plodding along knowing that every day is one day closer to my last. people have told me that i'll be bored once i'm on maternity leave, but i really don't think i will be. it's christmas, for crying out loud! i am going to do christmas baking like my oven has never seen! oh yes, and i even have lofty plans of sending out christmas cards this year, perhaps even with a picture. i'll be able to cook my husband proper meals and wash and fold all of tristan's little clothes before he gets here. and let's not forget blogging! i refuse to be bored.

i know, i know...

i know i promised an 8 month picture on sunday, but with a hectic work week (thanksgiving week, for all you canadians is nearly like the last week before christmas down here. especially the day after thanksgiving, which is comparable to our boxing day. absolutely insane) and with us starting housesitting today, i'm sorry but that just won't be happening. will try so so hard to post when we're back home on sunday.

btw, had a dr. appointment yesterday and the doctor says it looks like tristan already weighs 5 lbs!

apple crisp (again)

i just had to post this cute picture of my niece, sarah that my mom took last weekend. it's so hard to believe that it's almost been a year since i've seen her. sometimes living far away from my family really really sucks.

anyhow, today was a day off for me and i had a loooong list of things to do around the house (extremely exciting things like "clean bathrooms" and "wash kitchen floor") now, as appealing as that all sounds, i managed to resist the temptation to start scrubbing and i decided instead to go shopping! i've been waiting and waiting to buy myself a really comfy pair of maternity jeans until i have a little bit of extra money hanging around. well, i finally figured out that that NEVER happens, plus i only have 2 months left of being pregnant, plus i only have 1 pair of pants that actually really fit (the rest are already too small!) so off i went to old navy and purchased a lovely pair of jeans that are so comfy and then i went to wal mart and used a $20 gift card that i got from my boss on all kinds of fun things like little soaps and lotion and some makeup, etc. i can't remember the last time i just went shopping and bought things for myself. turned out that it was rather therapeutic. totally reminded me of back in the day when leah s. & i would just hang out by going shopping at london drugs and buy all kinds of fun smelly stuff :) now that i'm home, i am about to make another batch of that amazing apple crisp recipe because the last one disappeared WAY too quickly. here's the recipe in case any of you want to try it out. it's super easy.

Janet's Delicious Apple Crisp:

4 cups apples, cored & chunked
1/4 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup butter, softened

preheat oven to 350. spread apples in bottom of oven safe pan, pour in water and sprinkle with cinnamon. in separate bowl, combine salt, sugar, flour and butter, working together until crumbly. spread crumbly mixture over apples. bake for 40 minutes and serve piping hot with ice cream (or custard!)

by the way, zandra, custard is an english thing that is like a pudding, but they pour it on pretty much all of their desserts, which i think is why they call their desserts "puddings". josh and i both fell in love with it at capernwray and brought a few packets back with us when we were there in spring. my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

tonite we get to go out for dinner with our dear friends mike & sara. i think the only restaraunt that we've ever been to together is black angus...and that's where we're going again. mmmm, prime rib, filet mignon, mile high chocolate cake...i strongly believe that the more pregnant a woman gets, the more sensitive her tastebuds become. food tastes SO much better since i've been pregnant! speaking of which, sunday will be 32 weeks, or 8 months, so watch out for another picture.

oh yes and it's currently 80 degrees outside, merely 2 weeks away from december. i think i need to speak with whoever is in charge because this is becoming RIDICULOUS!

pieces of heaven

God hath not promised
Skies always blue
Flower stewn pathways
All our lives through
God hath not promised
Sun without rain
Joy without sorrow
Peace without pain

But God hath promised
Strength for the day
Rest for the labor
Light for the way
Grace for the trials
Help from above
Unfailing sympathy
Undying love

~Annie Johnson Flint

i came across this poem awhile ago and it encouraged me so much that i had to copy it down. seeing it sitting next to the computer, i thought that perhaps it might encourage someone who is needing a boost today. it's funny how, when life is going splendidly, you get so caught up in it that you don't even think of the possibility that things will change. yet they always do...stress invades, a family member becomes ill, you get into a fight with a loved one...life and it's joys ebs and flows. sometimes we get treated with a whole bunch of months of joy in a row before sadness or anxiety returns. for me, the thing that helps me cope is to remember that this world is not my home. it's a fallen world, so it's impossible for us to feel the constant joy that He created us to feel. only when we leave this earth will we truly find the life He meant for us to live from the very beginning. until then, it's up to us to be thankful for the pieces of heaven that He reveals to us daily, and to help others see the same.

a post for lee

yesterday i made apple crisp from my friend janet's recipe. it turned out PERFECT. josh made custard to go along with it and i think i'm going to have to make another batch real soon cuz it's almost all gone.

tristan has offically dropped. i have 4 weeks left of work.

that's about as interesting as it's been.

Gramps

when gramps was told a few weeks ago that he has stage 3 colon cancer and must begin chemotherapy right away, the doctor asked him if he had any "big dates" planned in the near future. "yes", he replied in his gruff voice, "i need to take my granddaughter to babies r us in november". i am not his biological granddaughter; i am merely married to his grandson. however, from the moment i first met him, i felt welcomed into the family with open arms.

gramps is a special guy. he has played a very influential role in josh's life and josh has played a very influential role in his. it was josh's near brush with death 10 years ago that caused gramps to realize that God really does exist and he has been a believer ever since. gramps proudly stood at the end of the aisle as one of josh's groomsmen at our wedding. when you talk with gramps, you can't help but feel a grin spread across your face. "get outta dodge!" is an exclamation he uses so much you'd think that he was the one who coined it. at christmas time, he says over and over while opening gifts, "well, i'll be! i was just going to run out and get me one of those" or "i was almost out of this and now i'm all set" even if he has about a million of whatever it is stock piled in his trailer. he is very concious of making you feel as if your gift to him was the best one he received. when josh and i told him that we were expecting his third great-grandchild, he stood up and nearly danced a jig, he was so thrilled. i believe his exact words were "HOT DOG!"

on friday i had the priviledge of spending the morning with gramps on our "date". i had never been to a babies r us store and when i walked in the door, i nearly got tears in my eyes, everything was so beautiful. we grabbed a shopping cart and started at one end of the store and made our way all the way around until the cart was laden with baby gear of all kinds. we got diapers and wipes, crib sheets and burp cloths, baby powder and bibs. we had so much FUN. my favorite items were the sweetest little lamp with baseball gear propped up against the base, and a shelf with hooks for the wall that is shaped like a baseball bat. at the checkout, i gulped as the items added up so quickly, but gramps didn't bat an eye as he wrote out the check...he just grinned. afterwards, he took me out for breakfast at mimi's cafe and we talked and laughed and i was so excited to show josh everything.

his recent diagnosis was obviously a blow to our entire family, but we were told that with chemotherapy, he has a good chance of another 5 years. our prayer is that God will grant him enough years on this earth for tristan to not only get to meet his awesome great-gramps, but that he will also remember him. we would also appreciate your prayers as he begins treatment. right now he is so up-beat and ready to fight this thing. we pray that his attitude does not change.

i love you, gramps.

the results are in...

...and my blood sugar is completely normal!!! woot woot (as leah would say) this means that i can EAT at thanksgiving, which i have been looking forward to doing for many months now :) just wanted to let y'all know.

starving in san diego

okay, so i knew that before i had to go in for the torturous three hour glucose tolerance test, i had to be on a "Strict Diet" (as the info sheet said) for three days. the thing is, i didn't look too closely at the sheet until i actually had to start the diet on saturday. it was a terrible, horrible, awful three days. all 3 meals of the day were laid out precisely as to how much to eat (eg. 2 oz of meat on bread for lunch...that's a third of a can of tuna...WITHOUT mayo!) and there was no room for snacking, which was probably the hardest part, since i'm so used to grazing throughout the day. no, i take that back...the hardest part was not being allowed to eat ANY fruit!! (unless you call 1 cup of fruit juice with breakfast fruit). i was literally hungry for three days straight. so, i had the test yesterday, had blood drawn 4 different times in the course of 3 hours, and, having fasted for 12 hours before the test, i felt slightly foggy as i stumbled out to my car. thankfully, i made it safely to the nearest mcdonalds, where i scarfed down a "healthy" chicken blt sandwich and some golden fries. ahh! the relief! then, when i got home, i finally gave in to that sweet, juicy pluot that had been tempting me for days. oh, and let's not forget that it was halloween, so....i ate a lot of candy. just making up for the past 3 days!

i find out the results either today or tomorrow, i believe. i dearly hope everything is normal because right now when i think about the holidays coming up and not being able to indulge, i could literally cry.

in happier news, i get to go on a date with gramps this friday (that's josh's grandpa). he is taking me to babies r us to do some shopping...yipee! i've never actually been to a babies r us store yet, and i'm really excited. the crib is all put together and the bedding is on. i'm going to take pictures soon. okay, that's all i have time for right now because i gotta get to work. oh, and happy november everyone!