Gianormous!

So, in response to Natalie's desire to see me and my little one:

31 weeks

Every morning I wake up and feel bigger. I'm excited for the baby and am glad my tummy looks pregnant now, but I could do without the aches. I shouldn't have looked back at pre-pregnancy and early pregnancy pics today! Ahh to feel skinny again. :)

Cute Girls

So, obviously, my family knows Hannah and Grace, the great girls I got to hang out with for most of my trip to Oregon, but for all those others out there who don't know who I'm talking about, here they are:

Grace Marie Brownlee, 8 months. Doesn't she have beautiful blue eyes?

Hannah & Grace under the Hollow Tree at Twin Rocks Friends Camp. Hannah and I are just 2 months apart in age, so we've always been pretty good friends. It's a blessing to have cousins who are close in age and who my brothers and I had the opportunity of knowing well as we grew up.

Grace was learning to feed herself while I was staying with them. I believe this night it was sweet potatoes and green beans. It was a joy to watch several of her learning processes while I was there - as Hannah says, "it's fun to watch her learn how to be a person."

2 Hobos & A Leopard

After the tea party on Thursday morning, Hannah, Grace and I headed out to the Oregon coast. We went to visit my brother and his wife who moved recently to Bay City, OR. On the way, as we drove along highway 26, chatting about life and letting Gracie sleep, our attention was diverted to the side of the road. At first, we were puzzled... it looked something like this:

2 men were walking along the shoulder and they seemed to be holding up a leaning tower of some sort. No, maybe, a cart of goods? Well, maybe all their belongings on a pushcart? Oh my goodness! What's that on top? A wild animal of some sort!? What are they doing!!?... Oh! It's "two hobos and a giant stuffed leopard!"

Now, we're talking GIANT. I really thought it was an animal at first. I guess it's the sort of thing you might see at a carnival or something, the type of prize no one is ever really able to win, but draws small children toward the games. This stuffed animal could have eaten several small children.

Hannah and I, though truly puzzled, dissolved into giggles. She then said, "I keep trying to remember to put a notebook in the car just for such times. This is the perfect thing to blog about, but of course, I'll forget." So, I promptly pulled out my little notebook from my purse and scrawled, "2 hobos and a leopard" across the top of a page. She started laughing again and said, "Now, you know you're going to forget all about that and next time you get into your purse, looking for your grocery list, you'll burst out laughing." She's probably right. But, the best comment of the day regarding this situation was, "If I wasn't just a little bit scared of those men, I'd stop and take a picture!"

Since then, as we told our family and friends about the strange sight, we each pondered several questions.  Where were these men going, walking far between any two real towns? Where were they coming from and why would they have such a silly stuffed creature? What makes certain possessions of ours so important to us that we'd be willing to cart them precariously along with us where ever we go?

So, although we were unable to get a picture of the lovely sight we encountered, I managed to find this picture on the internet. Seriously, this is what it looked like, perched atop various other items, black garbage bags and a pushcart.

Girls Tea

One of the fun things I got to do while I was back in Oregon last week was to meet up with some of the ladies from the Charbonneau Chorale. For those of you who don't know, I spent 4 years accompanying the Chorale for their annual Christmas concert. Every Thursday night from September through December I would make the trek out to Wilsonville and practice with the choir for a couple of hours. This was a great experience for me - I felt helpful, we played good music and I made a lot of very sweet friends. (It was in memory of them that I chose to accompany the current "crazy Russians" here in SLC... definitely a different experience, but dear just the same).

Anyway, Thursday morning I borrowed a car and drove from Hillsboro down to Charbonneau where I met a couple of former piano students at Pat Olsen's house (the director). Pat was a wonderful host and was busy putting together a lovely tea while I chatted with Amanda, Courtney and their grandmother, Jacquie. After 45 minutes or so, Amanda and Courtney had to head back to school, but just as they left, several more of the ladies from the chorale showed up. We enjoyed coffee, tea, fruit, cheese and some fabulous pastries while catching up on the last 8 months. They were all thrilled to see my little pregnant belly and hear about our baby preparations. They were also amazingly gracious and gave Seth and I a couple of very generous gifts.

I was happy to have this opportunity to visit with old friends! It was great to see them and I have missed them very much.

Cute Courtney & Amanda

The whole group

Pat (our "Fearless Leader") & I

Lovely Elaine - she used to tell me I was her "Anne"

"Home" Again

I arrived home yesterday afternoon, happily uneventfully. Hannah and I managed to pack up all the goodies from the baby shower in my suitcase and a large rubbermaid tub. My flight was fine and my luggage promptly appeared at the baggage claim just as I arrived. Somehow I managed to lug 2 carry-on items, a large rolling suitcase and the fully packed tub out to the passenger pick-up lane and Seth's friend Micah showed up approximately 2 minutes later to pick me up. We headed back to the house to unpack and unwind. 

It feels good to be "home" and Seth and I had a great evening catching up on each other's weeks and chatting about life in general. I put home in quotations, however, because I'm aware for the first time since moving to Utah how much I miss Oregon and still consider it "home." We may not have a house there, but it is full of so many friends and family members that Utah pales in comparison. 

Thanks to everyone who made time to see me while I was out in the great NW! I had a great trip. I will try to fill y'all in on some of the fun details little by little over the coming week.

Update

Seth's grandfather passed away on Sunday. We will be traveling out to Portland on Friday to attend a Saturday morning Memorial. I will stay from then until the 25th, keeping with my original travel plans. Seth will fly back to SLC on Monday the 18th to be ready for work, an interview and his friend Micah coming to visit. I guess this upcoming week is going to be a big one for both of us!

Seth had his second interview with the Portland VA yesterday morning. He felt like it went really well. We are thankful he's feeling good about the interview process. He has scheduled his interview at the SLC VA for next Wednesday the 20th. We are still waiting to hear from one more site, hoping he'll get one more interview before "the wait" begins. I guess all these positions should be letting him know one way or another by early March.

I'm Growing Every Day!

This week has definitely been the greatest so far in terms of waist-line growth. I'm definitely round now and definitely look pregnant. Although the growth has been a bit uncomfortable at times, I'm thankful to be in a place now in this pregnancy where I'm getting more comfortable with my appearance and having fun having a little tummy. I still love to feel our baby kick and squirm and he/she certainly loves to move about. The midwife was able to tell on Friday that our kiddo has already moved into a head-down position and his/her head is pretty far down in my pelvis, so she predicts it won't turn again. This is great news - and it was fun to feel that little head and now know which bumps are hands and which are feet.

28 weeks 5 days

Grateful

I've found myself feeling extremely grateful today for:

1. sunshine and blue sky - This is the first real sunshine with an added bonus of warmth we've had in months. The day felt quite spring-like actually. I know winter is coming back in full force over the course of this next week, but I was thankful for the little window of spring. The birds were out, chirping away, the snow was melting a bit, the mountains were beautiful and my kitchen was quite cheerful with the sun shining in. I had a nice walk out to the park while Seth was having his phone interview.

2. a healthy body - Our 7th month check-up with our midwife went wonderfully on Friday. Things look good, the baby and I are measuring exactly right for our projected due date and we're feeling well.

3. supportive family and friends - We've had a chance to hang out with quite a few people from the SLC area this weekend and the social interactions has been great. We've also received several really nice gifts for our little one from friends and family. Seth and I had a great time picking out a car seat on Saturday. He was so excited that he installed it Saturday night and had me practice taking the carrier in and out this morning. We'll now be driving around with an empty seat until our sweet pea makes his/her appearance. (Thank you Grandma!)

4. a church we like - We've been going to Mount Olympus Presbyterian Church since Advent and have really enjoyed ourselves. Today we met two couples our age and chatted with them for a while after the service. It was refreshing to have some interaction with some nice, friendly, new people. The service was very nice, too - it focused on the spiritual discipline of prayer and had a lot of space in it. We appreciated the space and familiar worship style. I also appreciate that several people know us by sight now and several people know us by name, too.

Interview #3

Seth received news on Friday that he has an interview at the VA here in SLC for a post-doc position for next year as well. It looks like he'll have it sometime mid-February (probably in a week and a half or so).

He had an interview with the Portland VA this afternoon and feels it went pretty well. He has his second interview with the Portland VA tomorrow morning.

Please be in prayer for him as he prepares for these interviews. Please also pray that God will lead us to the place He'd like us to be next year - whether that is one of these post-doc positions/locations or in another direction entirely. Thanks!

2nd Interview!

Yay! Seth has a second interview lined up in Portland. So far so good.

But, our plans have changed yet again... we won't be flying out to PDX this coming weekend after all. Due to his grandfather's uncertain condition, we're having trouble deciding just when is the best time to head out there. Also, Seth is able to do both of his interviews via phone. So, we cancelled the flights last night, he will do phone interviews, and we will wait and see when our next trip to Portland really needs to be.

This helps me feel a bit better about our February schedule. Hopefully we'll get a bit of a break here this upcoming weekend and have a chance to get ourselves prepared for everything that's coming.

I think the hardest part of things for me is that I've looked forward to February as a cheerful, merry time because we will finally get to see so many friends and family members and I will get to take quite a bit of time off work. I'm sure there will be a lot of joy coming to us, I just hope I'm also able to find emotional balance so I can naturally deal with the exhaustion and lows.

On another happy note, though, I think my belly is growing overnight. Our kiddo continues to be crazy active, especially when I lay down to sleep at night. It tends to have pretty regular episodes of hiccups mid-day and has started doing something that tickles my sides so badly! I really just have to smile at all the little (and not so little) bumps. I definitely look pregnant now, so that's good, but it has sort of started to worry me that this child is supposed to be gaining approximately .5 a pound every week from here on out. I guess it's not surprising that I feel bigger each and every morning!

Emotional Stuff

The last few weeks were full of anxiety, stress and high emotions. I'm not sure these things have passed, but we're in a calm spot at least.

It all started with the Tippin family dog, Gus, passing away. This was a shock to us since we've haven't seen Gus in a year or so, but I guess he had somewhat of a gradual decline. Seth thinks of Gus as his dog since his family got Gus when Seth was in high school. Our lack of a dog made this feeling even stronger, I think.

Just after that, Seth worked hours and hours of overtime, trying to finish up one of his quarterly rotations at the VA. Then, of course, he started a new rotation and experienced all the highs of new experiences mixed with the stress of new impressions, expectations and duties. In the midst of this transition, he was putting together his applications for post-doc positions in Oregon, Washington and Utah. Applications are always a stressful thing for the two of us and his natural fatigue during the process was draining for me. Luckily, they all got out on time and we're starting to see the fruit of his labors.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, we also found out his grandfather is in the hospital with pneumonia. The news tended to go up and down in terms of his well-being, but it now looks like he's really not doing well. Seth flew out last Saturday to PDX to be with his family and visit with his grandfather. It was a good trip and we're very thankful he was able to take it. (Thanks to a comp day he earned due to all that extra work he did at the end of his last rotation).

The weekend was quiet for me without Seth, but it allowed me to catch up on a lot of cleaning and organization work I needed to get done. It also gave me some space to even out my hormonal, emotional, mental processes. I think maybe the most difficult element of the last couple of weeks for the two of us has been my emotional instability. I'm fine, I just cry at almost anything - and these days there are a lot of things that are bigger than the news or a sad story. Hopefully more rest and hormonal balance will come soon!

Thank you, thank you, though, to all the people Seth ran into while in the Portland area! It was wonderful to have the chance to connect with you all again. We find it difficult to continue cultivating so many of our relationships long distance, but we appreciate you all and are very grateful to know the connections do in fact still exist. :)

Due to Seth's grandfather's continued illness and Seth's interview on 2/11 (again, yay!), we will both be traveling back to the Portland area again next weekend. Then, we have friends coming to visit over the President's Day Holiday (yay!) and I will be heading back to PDX again 2/19 as earlier planned. Seth will stay home during my trip to take care of work and to meet up with another of our friends who is coming to visit. Just 2 days after I return and Micah heads out of SLC, we anticipate another visitor. So, as you can see, our February has suddenly filled itself up to brimming. We are excited about the connections we have the chance to make, but I must admit I'm also nervous about the exhaustion factor. Seth is also nervous because he will (hopefully) have some more interviews to schedule during Feb.

Anyway, that's our news, what we've been doing outside of our normal duties and routines.

P.S. Happy birthday Jeff!

Yay!

Seth just called me (from Portland, OR - I'll post about that later) to tell me he got an interview with the Portland VA for a postdoc position. So, he'll be headed back to Portland next weekend! Please continue to be in prayer for us as we hear from the other positions to which he applied and as he goes through the interview process.