Bump Update

I realized I hadn't posted a bump picture in awhile, so here's the one we put on our Christmas card, which we took at 31 weeks!

32 weeks

These may be the last pictures of Herbie before he/she finally meets the world face-to-face!  We went to the doctor on Friday for what could be our final ultrasound.

Everything went really well and Herbie is getting big - 4 lbs 15 oz, which is the 68th percentile.  Heartbeat was strong - 123 when we started, and 154 once the baby woke up from all of the prodding.

Here you can see Herbie's little arm up by his/her face, and some big baby lips:

We even got a little smile when Alex and I started talking:

Here's a good one of some giant cheeks - I think Herbie got Dad's chubby baby cheeks :)

Only 8 more weeks to go!  Nursery pictures coming soon...

Huge

I have said before that I think there is a time in every pregnancy where the woman goes from being "cute and pregnant" to "huge and pregnant", as in "get the hospital on speed dial 'cause she looks ready to pop."

Well, with 8 weeks to go, it has happened to me.  I am officially huge.  Here's how I know.  In the past four days, at least six people - total strangers - have stopped me to ask if the baby is coming any day now.

First, it was the greeter at church, then an alumnus at the track Christmas party, the teller at the bank, two different guys helping me at Lowes (one guy says, "So, you must be counting the days!")...but my favorite was a guy on the CNU campus today.

He worked there - not a student - and he was on his phone as I came out of a bathroom.  He stopped his conversation, looked at me and goes, "Whoa!!!  Now there's a belly!!  That baby coming soon??"  To which I replied (once again), "Nope, due in February...still two month to go."

We see the doctor for an ultrasound on Friday - wonder how big the baby actually is now :)

Disoriented

Over the past few weeks, lots of people have asked me how I'm handling all of the changes in our life - new home, new work situations, new baby on the way - and I haven't really known how to respond.  I felt so swept up in the chaos of getting everything done, that I didn't have any time to process my thoughts and emotions.

But it's been two weeks (that's it??) since we moved, and I'm starting to feel the weight of these changes more.  To describe it best, I would say I am disoriented.  Between unpacking and reestablishing lives, preparing for the baby's arrival (getting the room ready, getting my body ready, getting my mind ready), trying to prepare for Christmas, and making sure we eat three meals a day and pay our bills on time, I can feel myself getting fuzzy and confused some times.

It is all a little disorienting.

The best evidence of this are all of the lists scattered around my house right now.  Lists are my most favorite coping mechanism for overwhelming days, but now, even my lists are becoming overwhelming.  There are baby-related lists - things to assemble, things to buy, other preparations to make.  There are house project lists - change the dryer vent, hang curtains, organize the garage.  There are shopping lists and work lists and pretty soon, I'll have lists of lists.

You can see how this would get confusing :)

My mantra of sorts throughout this time has been to take one day at a time.  Deal with each day as it comes.  I think God is training me in this particular Biblical principle from Matthew 6: 25-34:

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Decorating the Christmas tree

We may not have everything unpacked (meaning, we definitely don't have everything unpacked) but in the Heacock household, Christmas decorating is of the highest priority, so we took care of that first.

When we got married, Alex and I both got our ornaments from our family collections, which makes decorating the tree particularly fun as we remember and share stories of Christmases past and the significance of the ornaments and what they represented in our lives.  I had some more fun with my camera taking pictures of some favorites.

Alex surprised me with this ornament - we have at least one dated ornament from every Christmas we've been married, celebrating where we live at the time:

This was our Chicago ornament from last year:

My grandma helped me pick out this ornament when my grandparents came to visit me in college:

We bought this one in 2010 when we realized our tree was totally devoid of ornaments celebrating the true meaning of Christmas:

Alex put the star on top:

And voila - the tree is looking cheery and our house is ready for the season :)

Thanksgiving with family

Our lives have been just a little bit crazier than usual for the past few weeks - my boss won reelection, we packed up our entire lives, and we move to VA - but in the midst of the craziness, we took a break for Thanksgiving and spent time with family in Indianapolis.

Usually, I would spend a holiday like this chasing kids around but given the presence of my own growing kiddo, I took this holiday off and instead tried to capture the action with my fancy new camera.  Enjoy!

My mom with my buddy Noah:

My cousin Annie and baby Kate, who is 5 years old now and not a baby anymore!

I played a little hide-and-seek with Harry - found him and caught a picture!

Scott playing chess with the grandpas and Jacob:

Alex and Kate, who became good buddies on this trip:

The whole brood and our festive feathered hats, courtesy of Jacob and Noah:

We also got to celebrate my grandpa's 88th birthday, with a special crafted hat - Haley had the vision, and I helped with execution :)

What a blessed time to be together with family and remember how much we have to be thankful for!!

Thankful.

This weekend we found out that some friends who are also expecting are going to have a daughter, but tragically, she has a neural tube defect of some kind that means she won't survive delivery.  My friend will carry their little girl to term, deliver her, and then lose her.  I can't imagine their heartbreak.

These aren't friends anyone who reads this blog would know, but if you'd think of them in your prayers I know they would appreciate it.

Two things struck me as I thought about my friends.  First, God can work miracles, and that is what we are praying for - that God would heal this little girl in a miraculous way.  Second, we were not meant for this kind of tragedy.  We were created for a world without loss or death or even sadness, and as Christians, we know that some day, when God restores the world, we will finally and fully know the lives we were made the live and the people we were meant to be.

I titled this post "Thankful" because Alex and I did have one other thought - we have so much to be thankful for.  So much.  Having a healthy child and a healthy pregnancy is not something to take lightly or take for granted.  We have been so blessed, and when life gets overwhelming, I pray we never forget that.