Geting bigger...

It's been a long time since I've posted anything on our blog. Neal and I have been busy with lots of different things, but nothing much worth reporting on the blog. I'm just getting bigger, we are anticipating the holidays and the birth of Baby Mitchell. She still doesn't have an official name. My mom affectionately refers to her as "Rachaelina", but unfortunately, it's not on our list. It's such a huge responsibility to NAME a child. I really don't want to make a mistake on that! This Friday I will be 32 weeks, which is 8 months, but people, don't be deceived....pregnancy is a TEN MONTH endeavor. I still have a ways to go, but my swollen feet, ankles, wrists and ankles may pop before then. That might be interesting.

GIRL!!!

We're so excited! Miss Mitchell is healthy and very active in utero...it was amazing seeing everything and she did a couple of yawns and high fives for us. My due date is December 28th, and more than anything we are so thankful that she is looking healthy. I am also excited because they said she has long legs. Yahoo! Hopefully she'll be taller than her mom!

Take a Guess

Neal and I will find out tomorrow the sex of our baby. We both have been waiting for this appointment for a while, and are VERY excited. I am hoping that the baby spares no modesty and let's it all hang out there. We'll teach modesty later. Anyone care to take a guess?

20 Weeks = 1/2 way!

Yesterday I went to the 20 week appointment for Baby Mitchell. The heart rate has consistently been about 150-160 over the last few months, so though I was thinking it was a boy, I am now thinking it might be a girl. Supposedly girls have higher heart rates. I like to think that since I have thought it was going to be either gender at different times then I am right no matter what. (I can't lose a contest I have created). The other possibility is that it is a very active boy and it's busy learning kickboxing and WWF moves in utero so his heart rate is high. Because this baby is a combination of two extremely active people I think we are going to have our hands full either way. I'm glad it won't come out walking. We find out for real next Friday, August 24th and Neal and I can't wait. SHOPPING! ha ha, just kidding Neal. Well, sort of.

Nothing and too much all at the same time

I have been waiting for something interesting to happen to write about, and we have had a lot going on, so you'd think I'd have some great story or something, but no. There's pressure on these things to write witty and interesting things, so I was waiting for something really good...

I did play a really fun tennis mixed-double match last night with my fantastic husband and some friends. I am so impressed with Neal's tennis skills. He had none when we met and he has improved so much that I really need to stop giving him tips so I can still beat him at one thing.

Here's the thing about waiting: we are all waiting for something. Little things: the end of the work day, the end of the week, the end of the sermon, the end of the football game or big things: marriage, a family, college, graduating, grandkids. I think on this earth we are waiting for heaven. I think in heaven we won't wait for anything and I am excited for that because we spend our entire lives down here waiting. Waiting is hard, waiting takes patience and the art of not only waiting, but living our lives so they aren't wasted. That's my profound thought for the day, but it's not that profound because i have written a million items this week for my job, and my brain is tired.

Supportive Sisters

Here are my two cute sisters and me in the waiting room at the doctor's office getting ready to hear the heart beat! Dani is pointing to my stomach. Thanks Dani.

Birkenstocks=my best friends

I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that Birkenstocks are 'out'. At least in the fashion world that I am probably supposed to be keeping up with they are. They are probably not out in Oregon or San Francisco or Vermont, but in my office they are OUT with no chance of coming back in, and actually probably not part of our legal dress code here. The catch is: I NEED Birkenstocks right now. My feet must be swelling or something because they ache every day, all day. I fall asleep dreaming of food massages and wake up scrambling to find my Birkenstocks. I have a pair that is very old and very worn. I had them in college (when i was trying to be a hippie or laid back or something) and now they are a bit curved and smell a tad. It doesn't matter. I wear them religiously every day with anything I have on hoping they will make my feet stop hurting. I ordered another pair (the suede clog kind) so I'd have a pair to wear in the fall when the grungy sandal-kind I already have won't keep my feet warm. It's all in the name of pregnancy! My only goal is COMFORT! I had visions of being one of those 'cute pregnant ladies' but so far I don't have a good track record. I went to a friends' baby shower last year and she was about 8 months pregnant and was wearing very high pointy heels. She looked amazing of course, and I just don't think I can follow in those footsteps. I'd not only have swollen feet, but two broken ankles.

There was a time when I was actually pretty cool with my Birkenstocks...when I was about 12 or 13 and Birkenstocks were HOT and fresh on the market, my sister Sarah and I got matching purple Birkenstocks. They were very cool and we both wore them to their death.

Live Music

I got to hear the heartbeat on Tuesday, and I think I could have listened to it for hours. It's so weird/amazing to hear something that's alive inside you. It's amazing to think that I am not doing much (except a lot of sleeping and eating) and it's developing without my help...at the right rate, things in the right places, systems and parts all working together...nothing I could ever do if I WAS for some reason supposed to. I can't create something out of nothing, and it puts me in awe of the One who does.

I am doing the flowers for a friend's wedding tonight, and I spent hours last night putting all the bouquets together. I thought they looked incredible and vibrant last night, and I really hope they can make it to, through and after the ceremony this evening. I love arranging flowers. I love flowers. It's like art for me.

Tomorrow I get to go with my sister Dani to watch our other sister compete in an Olympic-distance triathalon in Chelan. I am very excited and extremely proud of her. She has trained with a friend, but a lot on her own. It's not typical Sarah, so it has been really cool to see how her confidence has grown since she has realized how she has improved and how much she can do, and how good she actually is. Dani is going to run the last few miles with her, and I (and Baby) are going to cheer from the side. I'm not running in any race anytime soon.

Heartbeat

Today I get to leave work early to go to our 16-week appointment. Ultrasounds are my favorite (even though i have only had one), but today I only get to hear the heartbeat. 'Only'?! It's pretty amazing to hear it, and the doctor usually only has the thing on my stomach only for about 30 seconds--until the BPM registers in her machine. I think I could listen to it all day long. I do get a tad nervous before I go just because I REALLY want to hear it, and I get nervous it won't be there, but I also know that I am not the giver and taker of life...

I am mostly excited to leave work early since I conveniently get to miss this rah-rah meeting pumping up this giant sale where we make millions of dollars in one day, blah, blah. I usually get really cynical towards the company I work for, materialism, corporate politics, and the lifeless cycle of buying more clothes and more clothes and more clothes because we create a 'need' to be 'in fashion'. WHO CARES!!!!!!! I'd love to see what percentage of the world has that need verses the percentage of the world who actually has a need: food, water, shelter, saftey, education, medicine.....it kills me.

Neal

I have such a kind and compassionate husband. He is so much nicer, kinder, loving, and caring than I am. He is such an amazing example to me how to love people. He welcomes people 'invading' his life and doesn't see it as invasive at all, he welcomes it and thrives off it. I admire him so much for it, and am so excited to be married to him so I can be a life-time student of his example.

Through Painted Deserts

Donald Miller is one of my favorite authors, and I loved Blue Like Jazz, but 'Through Painted Deserts' might have just eclipsed it. I was reading it on the bus into work and I burst out laughing (but don't worry, a lot of people do that because there are so many 'interesting' people ride the bus, so I fit right in). I re-read the same part to my friend Jenn from work and we were both in tears (still not helping myself with the people around me thinking I am normal). Don is in the grocery store, and he puts all this stuff in his cart, and well, you'll just have to read it.

I love laughing and recently have noticed that Neal makes me laugh more and more. I can't even detail the voices, expressions, actions, statements in our conversations that make me laugh the most, but I have completely lost it a few times over the piddleyest (made it up) things, and can barely recover.

I know my normal energy level is back, or more than my normal energy level is back, from the first trimester of pregnancy because I am on a tennis kick. Neal and I have been playing for the last couple of days, and it's FUN. I love hitting the ball and running around and being in the sun. Neal has gotten so good at tennis (I like to take all the credit), and he is fun to hit with.

I finished 'Through Painted Deserts' yesterday, and I started 'Three Cups of Tea' today about a man who stopped mountain climbing to start schools for girls in Pakistan. Right now he is lost near the bottom of K2, and I am guessing he doesn't die since I am on page 12. That'd be a bummer of a book.

Left out

I was feeling left out that 'everyone' has a blog. Though very few people will probably ever read this, our entire family lives in a 10 mile radius, and anyone else who will read this already knows me well, I still must have one for myself. Technically, I will be blogging for both Neal and I, which is funny because he will never, ever once look at this blog. He might not even know what a blog is, but he can pack the heat and swing a hammer unlike anyone else I know. I can brag about him all I want. :) So, hello world (actually, no one) here we are!!!