Week 35

Exciting news on the OB front!! The baby is head down!! Yay! That means that if I were to go into labor, he'd be ready to come out the right way and therefore there's less of a chance of a need for a C section. Woo hooo!! I have to keep reminding myself that this does NOT mean that he's ready to come out. And he shouldn't yet. The due date is Nov 24th but it's really plus/minus 2 weeks. So he needs to stay for another 2 weeks before he takes his first deep breath and lets out a quality cry. (I read that the end of the pregnancy is prime lung development time.) I am selling books through Usborne and I really like the rewards system they have for schools - the school gets free books based on what the kids' parents buy. Unfortunately, I don't have any school bookfairs planned yet but today I sold books at a Fall Craft Fair in a church. It went alright, I guess. I ended up making a little but I'm still in the hole from the first investment. My goal is to earn at least what I invested. I would love for this to become a side income for our family but I'm not sure how to make that happen in a way that I would enjoy. I do feel good about sending out the website - especially since there are some really good deals on there. If you're interested, here's the site: www.ubah.com/x2470 They have some really cute books and they have several different Bible-based books for kids. All the books are high quality and they have some fun activities, too. So if you want to buy some kids books (Christmas is coming!) check out the link. If not, don't!

Bartok is now 18 inches long and weighs 6 lbs!! So I'm not "40 lbs overweight" as Shamus says... I'm 34 lbs overweight! Yay! Bartok also has kidneys now. And he's producing waste. I guess he's getting warmed up for the changing table! I was thinking about putting something by the changing table that would make people want to change diapers. Maybe we'll post the funnies on the wall above it each week. Or I could put some candy on the shelf underneath. His movements are also different now. Instead of pitter pattering from the inside of my belly, it's more like an ocean wave of large rocks, except that it doesn't hurt. But if I had to describe it, that's what I would compare it to. I guess he's just rolling around a little in there and there's not really room to do a full punch or kick.

Week 34

Last Saturday our church had a baby shower for me! It was really fun to see everyone and celebrate with them. I had a few students from my English as a Second Language class
Last weekend we bought a crib!! We were talking to some people at church and they asked if the nursery is ready and we said not quite. They said they were trying to get rid of a crib so Shamus and Jim went to pick it up on Sunday and we put it together! Yay! Now we just need to get those pink dressers painted white and moved in there.
This week we went to a new shepherding group through church because the other one is so far and the new one is so close. I've been praying about finding a mentor since the ladies' retreat and it turns out that 3 of the ladies I met at the retreat are in this shepherding group! Maybe God is setting up his answer to my prayers. :) One great thing about the new group (for now) is that it meets every other week and our old group meets every week. So we can go to both! I'm not sure how well we'll do going to both after we have a baby. But I just can't see leaving the other group for good! I'm sure someday we'll have to because of the distance and because of our desire to lead our own shepherding group... but I'm really going to miss our time with the other group. Hopefully we'll continue to see each other at church and at Bible studies. Right now I'm doing the church ladies bible study on Carolyn Mahaney's Feminine Appeal which is about Titus 2:3-5: "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." We're spending one week on each characteristic to strive for. I've read this book before but our ladies Bible study teacher does a lot of extra research and adds to Carolyn's teachings in such a way that I feel like this is my first time through. I highly recommend this book! It continually reminds you of your high calling as a wife and mother and how by God's grace you can do all of the things listed in the verse. Today was a big day in the life of a pregnant woman: We went to our birthing class! All day we were at the hospital learning about labor and delivery. We watched videos (everything from Bill Cosby's stand up to a c-section to a natural delivery) and discussed. We practiced breathing and different positions... but only for the part of labor that you're at home. I've read about the other breathing (the hee-hee-hee-hoo stuff) and that it's for when you want to push but the doctor wants you to wait. The teacher had our husbands massage our feet, backs, necks, arms, and hands and then made us tell our husbands how to improve. It was wonderful! I think Shamus enjoyed it overall, too. The only downer was that it was only one day so we didn't really get to meet anyone and make friends like so many other couples do through birthing classes. One thing that was really weird was that the teacher told us she usually has classes where about 90% of people are having the same gender baby. Our class was boys. There were 2 couples who didn't find out the gender and only 1 expecting a girl. Out of about 18 couples!! After the class, I have mixed feelings about labor. Part of me doesn't want to go through that so I started telling the baby he can just stay in there. But a bigger part of me wants to meet this little person and take care of him and watch him grow. Hopefully the whole "I don't want to give birth" thing will go away before it's time. I'll be praying about that.
This week, Bartok is just chunking it on. He's getting fatter. With fatter arms and legs comes more intense punches and kicks! So I'm betting that if my baby is fatter than yours then he can beat yours up. But we'd rather they be friends so I guess we'll never know!

Week 33

Last weekend was fabulous! Shamus dropped me off at Amanda's baby shower where I got to catch up with some friends from high school. Many of them are teachers and they like their jobs! It sounded like they are all at great schools. Also, one of my high school friends is engaged! How exciting!! We had a lot of fun playing games and catching up and goofing off.

After the shower, I headed to Robby's new house where we got a tour and Shamus helped him prepare for company tomorrow. He's having the guys in the family over to his house while the girls have a baby shower at my parents' house. We then headed to Shamus's old house to see how it's changed and then to my parents'. My friend Ari came to GA to go to my baby shower and to celebrate my birthday and we celebrated her's too! (Hers is in Sept) We blew out candles together and exchanged gifts - she got me a t-shirt (for after the pregnancy) that says "Alguien que me quiero mucho me trajo esta playera de Michoacan, Mexico". I love it!! My parents got me a great gift, too: Break from cooking dinner!! As you can see, we own a grill now! Can't wait to eat some yummy charred meat! And Shamus is also happy about this gift, as you can see.

There was an Amigos for Christ Festival in Suwanee that Ari, mom and I went to where we heard Caedmon's Call play. They sing "There is a reason" and "The Hands of the Potter". It was really nice to sit and enjoy some good Christian music and be surrounded by other people doing the same thing. We had fun people-watching, too - we saw a bunch of cute babies and little kids and lots of the kids were dancing like they were the only ones on earth.

On Sunday we went to my parents' church where we heard a great sermon about living in uncertain times ("Uncertainty Part 1") and clinging to God through those times. It was really great to go to church with my parents.

After church, it was time to get ready for the baby shower and then to celebrate JAC V!! Mom's friend Karen came over to help set up and she brought some plants for me from her garden that I plan to put near the mailbox. I need to make sure that now is a good time to plant them, though! I also went through a bunch of boxes in my parents' garage and picked out the stuff I want... I came back with a box of Halloween decorations and costumes, dolls from my childhood, and some baby and babydoll clothes among other things.

After we packed the car, it was time to party! The Culpepper side of the family and some GA friends came over to touch the baby bump, tell their labor stories, celebrate JAC V and catch up. It was great to see everyone and to hear their stories and to be encouraged by their excitement about a new baby. My favorite moment of the baby shower was when my cousin Katy was touching my belly and I directed her hand to where the baby was moving. Her reaction was something like, "gewwwull". Apparently it grossed her out a little. But she did recover quickly and say that it was cool... but also weird.

Pictures from the baby shower

Bartok is now at 17 inches long and weighs a whopping 5 lbs! His big plan: get chunky, then get out. Sounds like fun to me! Pass the cheesey poofs!

Week 32

Well this has been a really great week! Probably because it's my birthday week (and weekend)!!! I don't know about everyone else, but in our families, the celebration usually lasts about a week because we think birthdays are that important!! (Actually, it usually has more to do with people's schedules and when we can celebrate with whom... but we'll say it's because birthdays are IMPORTANT!)

I woke up on my birthday and had no plans for the day and no car to go anywhere. I thought it was going to be a pretty boring day so I slept in for a while so that it wouldn't feel like a whole day had gone by before Shamus got home. I was hoping for more like half a day.

BUT, when I did wake up, there was a sticky note announcing "Karen's Super Birthday Hunt 2008"!! I had to find sticky notes according to clues on previous sticky notes to try to find a birthday surprise. My favorite part of the birthday hunt was that Shamus sent me to the bathroom twice because "it's a pregnant lady game". :) I found my surprise: a bunch of yummy muffins for breakfast - and one of them with frosting! I spent the rest of the day doing whatever I felt like doing (mostly watching Harry Potter and reading) and talking to friends and family on the phone. When Shamus got home from work he had another birthday surprise for me: a Bartok t-shirt!!

Then, he made me pancakes for dinner (one of my favorites!) and I blew out a candle in my pancakes! (It's a type of cake.) (But I don't recommend it unless you like cold pancakes. I ended up with half of a birthday candle melted into my pancakes and couldn't eat that chunk. It was waxy.)

Tonight we're going out to eat with Jim and Judy to celebrate my birthday, then we're going to GA to celebrate some more with my family and a few friends there. We've also got some baby showers to go to (a friend's and one for me!) and plans to hang out with family. I'm so glad I was born!!! And I'm so excited to have so many wonderful people in my life!!

Bartok update: He's 16.5 inches long and he weighs over 4 pounds!! I guess he's pretty worn out from all the growing and kickboxing because apparently he sleeps about 90% of the day now. So that's where they get the saying "sleeps like a baby". Because apparently they don't do that much sleeping through loud noises and such once they're out of the womb. His skin is ironing itself out with layers of baby fat and he's getting more hair on his head this week so he looks more and more like the Gerber baby (and less and less like a lizard, I guess). Ask Bill Cosby about the lizard thing. Bartok is also going to try to get head down for exit pretty soon! We're praying that he'll get in the right position (head down, sunny side down) for delivery because that makes things move along better. 8 (to 10) more weeks till we're PARENTS!! I can't believe it!!

Weekend Update

The weekend was terrific! On Thursday (the end of the week, not the weekend), Stephanie came over and painted The Giving Tree on the baby room wall. It looks AMAZING!! And, it was like CSI: she looked at Shel's drawing in the book, figured out the order in which he drew the leaves on the tree, and copied that process all blown up on the wall. She did bring an overhead projector that looked like something from WWII but it didn't work. The image was really small and the tree was supposed to take up the whole wall to the ceiling. We got to catch up on life and we listened to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It was fabulous!

Friday and Saturday I was at the Ladies Retreat and it was GREAT!! The focus was on Godly Womanhood, including how to maintain a relationship with God through prayer and reading the Bible, mentorship and how we are called to mentor and to be mentored. It was very spiritually refreshing and it was a whole lot of fun! I met several women who live near our new house! We're going to try their Shepherding Group sometime soon since it's much closer to home. It'll be really hard to leave the group we're in though! Maybe we can be in 2 groups... who knows?
I was feeling a little sick on Friday so instead of staying for 2 nights, I only stayed one - which worked out great since we stayed most of the day Saturday and the women I was staying with all went home Sat night. It was also nice because I got to hang out with Shamus Sat night and I didn't think we'd get to do that. We were both feeling a little sick so we just chilled out on the couch. It was nice to do that together!
We got a ton of rain so I guess we'll be getting a ton of grass, right? I hope it didn't wash away the seed!!
Looking forward to another fun week!

Week 31

Bending over has a new sound now that I'm 7 months pregnant. It's something like "Wooough-youragiantbaby" followed by rapid breathing to recover from not breathing the whole time I was bending over. This added process helps me feel better about the true struggle it is to pick something up off the floor for several reasons: 1. I make a funny noise and since I'm not a boy under 12, I have to have an excuse - and I do! 2. I blame it on the baby - not my fault that moving my body in a natural way is really tough! 3. I remind myself that the giant mass of flesh in my way is actually my child and not just an odd growth of chub, and 4. I catch my breath in the end, every time.
Bartok is obviously growing! Last week he weighed around 3 lbs and this week he weighs around 4 and is getting a little chubby! He's supposed to keep chunking it on by gaining a half a pound every week until 2 weeks before his birth. Remember how he has that lanugo hair all over him? He's starting to lose that now. He's also opening and closing his eyes and he's able to track light in the womb! He's kicking and moving a lot - especially at night when I'm ready for bed. He also seems to react to me being hungry, eating, and drinking a cold drink.
I'm still teaching English at the Literacy Center but I'm also trying to earn some money doing it. So when you call and get my answering machine, you can try to figure out what all I say in Spanish! And you can even leave me a message in Spanish if you want! (I already had a friend do that - she said she just had to after hearing the answering machine.)
Yard update: We have grass!!!! Little tiny grass sprouting up pretty much everywhere that we planted! I've been picking weeds to prepare to plant the rest of the yard. I take our 5-gallon bucket and pick as many as I can in the not-quite-bent-over-all-the-way-so-I-can-still-breathe position or I just squat and pick everything I can reach and stuff it all into the bucket. Up, walk a few yards, squat and reach and pull. It's like aerobics. When the bucket is overflowing, I waddle over to the empty lot next door and dump it out. It's a little overwhelming because I've already done 25 gallons and it's hard to even tell where I've picked weeds and where I haven't. I'll have to take before and after photos for the rest of the yard - hopefully I'll be able to see progress that way! We had some friends from our Shepherding group over for dinner on Wednesday and that was especially fun! I was really excited to be able to play hide and seek with someone. Allison, our friends' 2-year-old daughter was very excited to play with me - unlike Shamus (although he did participate so I guess I just have to wait a few years till our son is old enough to play and then we can all play together!!)
Last Saturday we bought a lawnmower!! He is named after Colonel Sanders and a street in downtown Greenville: Harland Wyche Cronin. He sometimes loses his bag but he does the job! On our journey to purchasing Harland Wyche, we met who I think is the guy from Waterboy with the crazy bayou accent. It was great... but I couldn't understand most of what he said. We ended up buying from a different guy but the adventure was wonderful! My friend Stephanie Pieper is coming over to paint The Giving Tree on our wall tomorrow! I can't wait to see her and to have the baby room decorated! :) Also, this weekend is the Ladies Retreat through our church. I'm really excited about going! I'm staying with ladies from my shepherding group and I'm hoping to get to know them better and to meet some more women in addition to being immersed in God's word with other Christian women. Should be a great weekend!

Week 30

This week was filled with yardwork and house maintenance, along with teaching English and selling stuff on ebay. We planted grass in a HUGE section of our yard even though we didn't get to finish preparing it. We had to get a waiver from our water company in order to water the grass on a regular basis and we foud out that we only have the waiver for 3 weeks! That means the seeds need to be planted ASAP and watered before our permission expires!! So it isn't as well-prepared as we'd hoped but we're praying that some grass will come in so that our yard will stay in place. We've been selling random things on ebay and we've had some success! We've sold several textbooks and now we're on to selling "collectibles" that we have but don't really collect. Hopefully we can save up a little extra money for the baby expenses! Also this week, I tried to set up a moms discussion group through our church. I only got 2 women's contact info but it's better than none!! Please pray that this will fufill its purpose - to connect with our church, discuss biblical parenting and to learn from one another as much as we can!
On Saturday, we went to the Clemson NC State football game!!! My friends came in from Chicago, Richmond, Charlotte, Asheville, and Columbia to have a reunion! 5 of us have been friends since freshman year when we all lived on the same hall. Ariadna came in from Columbia and Jim, Judy and Sam all went to the game, too! It was pretty hot and our seats were in the upper deck. Somehow, I managed to not get a sunburn!! Saturday night didn't go so well after climbing all those stairs in the stadium and walking across campus... I kept waking up with painful calf cramps. But that's part of being pregnant! My freshman friends came by the house and got the tour and they got lots of pictures of their hands on the Bartok belly. I'll post some on here when I get them! On Sunday we introduced ourselves to all the kids because we're helping with the Activities Team - which means we'll be serving around 6 times this school year for all 3 services. Our job is to work with the other members of our team to create outdoor games that reinforce what the kids are learning in their Sunday school classes. Should be lots of fun!! Sunday was also a big day for Sam and Judy - they both felt Bartok kick for the first time! Sam was determined to feel a kick before she leaves for Ireland. She can check that off the list! Tomorrow we're taking Sam to the airport and seeing her off. She's going to have an amazing semester in Ireland!!! She already has plans to go to Italy, London, and several other places. We're so proud of her!!