'what's up' weekly.

GUYS.  IT HAS BEEN ANOTHER WEEK.  Yet again, I find myself completely bemused at the ordinary passing of time.  After 32 years, you'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I'm starting to suspect I'm always going to be taken off-guard.  And further, I will probably always point out to you just how surprising I find it.  So prepare yourself for that.  (Or, don't, and join me in the surprise each week that nothing ever changes, really.)

Reading the days (and nights) away, just like always.

You will likely not be shocked that, in my opinion, we had a great week.  We kickstarted the weekend last Friday night with a movie-and-popcorn party with friends.  The wife had never seen The Muppets Christmas Carol (I KNOW, RIGHT?!?!?) and we felt the need to remedy that.  So we trucked the kids over there, and we all sat around on blankets, eating popcorn and M&M's and reveling in the surpassing glory that is Sir Michael Kane serenading Kermit the Frog.

On Saturday, we kept the party up by having another couple of friends over for tacos and a viewing of The Princess Bride.  (Again, the wife had never seen it.  WHAT IS OUR WORLD TODAY THAT PEOPLE ARE REACHING ADULTHOOD WITHOUT ADEQUATE TRAINING?  As a mother, I just couldn't let this sweet girl continue on in her ignorance without swooping in to nourish her with the sweet, sweet nectar of Andre the Giant punching an albino in the head.)  We have big plans for Nacho-Nacho Noche soon - they'll bring the fancy nachos, we'll supply the Nacho Libre.

On Sunday, Todd woke up with a raging migraine.  He still hadn't been back to 100% after battling that virus earlier in the week.  So we stayed home from church and had a sloooow, restful day.  I took a nap on the couch at 11 a.m., like a winner.  We watched a sermon clip or two, sang worship songs together, and had cereal for dinner.  It was wonderful.

On Monday, I went all Joshua on the Christmas decorations, and spent all day marching my huge pregnant self around the house until all the Christmas crap came DOWN.  The tree got chucked to the curb, the ornaments got sorted and boxed (thanks entirely to Penelope, my precious angel and favorite oldest daughter), and my living room regained some breathing room - and a bunch of walking room.  (We do not live in a large house, and the tree alone takes up SO MUCH SPACE.)  I just love, love, love the Christmas season, and I just love, love, love the day when all the Christmas décor gets put back in storage.  It's a good time of year.

Tuesday was a wonderful day.  I'm not sure if you remember, but our follow-up ultrasound was scheduled that day.  Long story short, if you missed the previous post, our first U/S found some concerning markers for genetic abnormalities and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).  We had a blood test run, and while it ruled out the possibility of the most common chromosomal abnormalities, we were still anxious in prayer to see how the baby's growth has progressed over the last four weeks, and what markers (if any) would continue to show themselves.

Well.  Let me just say that God has answered our prayers in amazing and abundant ways.  All markers have disappeared.  She has grown from being in the 9th percentile to the 31st, which is really, really miraculous.  The femur measurement that indicated a possible chromosome abnormality is now normal.  And while the nuchal fold measurement that was causing a lot of concern before was not re-measured (they said they don't measure that after 22 weeks), we're really not all that worried about it a this point.  All signs point to a healthy, run-of-the-mill baby.  (And, as IUGR is no longer a concern, there is no more talk of pressuring me into induction at 38 weeks, which is honestly what was stressing me out the most about all of this.)

While I wish there hadn't been cause for all the worry, I am so grateful to see God's hand so intimately in our lives, and to have the opportunity to have my faith strengthened and my character shaped through trial and stress.  I'm also grateful for the little added bonus of getting the opportunity for a 4D ultrasound photo!

(Please ignore the giant mass of placenta obstructing the view of my beautiful daughter's face.)

To further elevate Tuesday, I finally, finally got in to US Cellular to get my crappy phone switched over to a better one.  It was time.  I've been putting it off forever, since hauling all the kids in there is just not my idea of a picnic, and with Christmas season being upon us, I'd basically hermited myself away anyway.  But I needed to call Roto-Rooter (our plumbing in this house is really finnicky, and once a year we need to have the main line snaked out or we get sewage back-up in our shower!  HOORAY!) but I was putting it off because I knew I wouldn't be able to hear anything.  You know your phone is way past its prime when you'd rather risk scoop strangers' poop off the floor of your shower than use the phone to call the plumber.  So I went in.

So anyway.  I have a new phone.  I am very excited - I can send texts longer than 160 characters, all the letters are available to me to use, I can receive photos and links via text, and I am slowly but surely learning the significance of the difference between a blue text bubble and a green text bubble.  However, because my old phone was so old, the machine they had at the store that is supposed to be able to transfer contacts from one phone to another didn't work in my case - it didn't even recognize my old one as a phone, so I'm on the hook for manually entering every last number into my new phone.  Fun project.

Wednesday, Laurelai woke up with a fever, so our trip to the Amish was taxing for her.  I'd peek at her in the rear-view mirror to see her all draped in her seat, looking like death warmed over.  Poor girl.  We laid low the rest of the day.  In the evening, Penelope and I made an EPIC grocery shopping run, after more than three weeks since our last trip.

Yesterday, we finally got around to completing our Term 1 exams, which was weeks overdue, but whatever.  It finally happened, and the kids did so great.  I also started Callista on a dairy-free, gluten-free trial run to see if that helps her perpetually explosive guts regain some equilibrium.

Risky move, giving Callista belly-raspberries right after her bath and before her diaper was back on. 

Which brings us to today again!  Whew!  I'm now 26 weeks along, and making a fresh effort at Trim Healthy Mama-ing.  I'm sure I will feel great soon, but the sugar-deprivation-headache is knocking me down right now.  No specific cravings at the moment, though I wouldn't slap a plate of crab legs away if the opportunity presented itself.  TONS of painful Braxton-Hicks contractions and round ligament spasms, and the baby is getting bigger and putting a lot of pressure on my lungs, making it difficult to breathe.  Oh, the joys of pregnancy.  Ha!  But really, in all honesty, pregnancy is so short-lived in the grand scheme of things, and the payoff is so wonderful (and eternal!).  It makes it a lot easier to keep a good attitude about things when I adjust my perspective.

And that was our week!