18 weeks is the most fun so far!

I bet all you really want to see is my belly pics ;) Since I haven't posted a bare belly in nearly 6 weeks I gladly oblige and will post them first thing. When I skype with my mother all she wants to do is stare at my belly any way. You guys are a bunch of sicko's. (hehe- just kidding)

So I finally got smart and instead of trying to hold my hand out and contort my wrist in odd positions i set the timer on the camera. So hopefully this is a better view than those chunky ones I had posted at 12 weeks.

So what do you think? Definitely looking like Tiny Thompson ain't so tiny any more. :) This has truly been the BEST week yet. I felt the baby move last Wednesday (Dec 29th) then Chris felt it a week later Wednesday night (Jan 5th). I knew he wanted to feel it but didn't think he would be able to until weeks 22ish. Poor buddy, he tried any way. I really did pray that I would feel the baby move early so that I could feel it for as long as possible. I think I felt it kind of early for my size- I'm no bean pole. Supposedly skinny people feel it sooner. So when my prayer was answered I started praying that CT could feel it soon too. So Wednesday night we were laying in bed and my little jack rabbit was going at it (Thanks for that description Sarah). So I thought- let me just try- "Chris put your hand right here and be really patient". Within 10 seconds he felt it and I didn't even say anything or look at him. He felt it and looked at me sucking in all kinds of air- "I FELT IT!" Yea... REALLY stinkin' cool.

I don't sleep great but I'm completely fine with that. Between the 3 bathroom breaks and the jack rabbit I lay awake... a lot. I LOVE feeling this baby move- i think I'm obsessed. I feel it at night and can't go back to sleep b/c it gets me so excited EVERY TIME IT MOVES. Like right now...moving... I just really love it. Can you tell I love it? It has just made this pregnancy feel so much more real. Like I'm not dreaming.. it's for real. So I've been both giddy this past week and yet very weepy and emotional too. More emotional b/c of ministry stress on my man. The word stress used to never be in his vocabulary. He used to think people abused the word stress. But he admits that he knew not "stress" until he came to Kenya. Without going into detail, things are getting crazier and more stressful. I just don't know how to help him or what I can do. I feel so helpless and as his help mate- this is very hard for me. I pray for him and I don't ever want to downplay that. I'm in a group 2-3 girls who get together and just lift up our men every Friday morning. I really really enjoy that. My friend Sandra is an amazing intercessor and I LOVE to hear her pray. I just try my best to cook him really great food and help him to relax and get his mind off stuff in the evening. He needs to be able to escape from it a bit.

With that being said and the fact that I have been ridiculously homesick since I've been pregnant (even before I actually found out) -we are trying to figure out how we can get home for the month of March. We can speak at churches for more support too. I call my mother for no reason at all. I have nothing at all to talk about- I just miss her! We are praying for enough goods to sell to get home. Since we are coming home more for mental health and personal reasons we're praying that our personal monies will allow this to happen. Again, Sandra has taught me there is nothing too small to pray about so I'm doing a lot more praying these days because our Lord really DOES care about the small things. I really think the Lord is going to provide the money for the tickets and new churches to speak to, so maybe I should now concentrate on praying for a car to drive, gas and grocery money... oh and some WARM maternity clothes to borrow ;) The Helsby's prayed for a place to stay and 1 vehicle and they by the time they were leaving to go home they had 3 houses and 3 big SUV's (for their big ol

fam). See! Told ya God cares.

[Another quick story: Had my first OB apt Tuesday and we got lost on the way there and ended up in the worst traffic. I called the office and told them I wouldn't make it by 3:30 could they see me at 4. The MD could not because she had a meeting at 4. So I just started praying so hard and we pulled into the hospital parking at 3:28 and I ran up to the office in 2 minutes! I really do not know how in the world Chris knew which roads to take. We'd never even driven those roads before!]

It will be our quickest trip home we've had. I know it will fly by. We already have 2 families coming from far away states to see us if we can get home.

MD Appointment:

All is well- I have gained a whoppin' 4.5lbs. I'm eating...a lot people and it's staying down. I don't know if this has anything to do with my obsession with veggies or not. But that is all I crave- salads and veggies. Weird? Yea I know. I'm also not a huge raw tomato eater but I purposely made a tomato hummus pita the other day. Chris was like "What's wrong with you?" Know what I bought yesterday to eat? You're going to need to sit down for this one... PEAS! Yep- gonna make some peas or attempt to make my sister-in-laws famous peas and onions. Ask my mother- I have HATED PEAS MY ENTIRE LIFE. It is the only thing that I wouldn't eat. I'm a weirdo. Oh yea- back to the MD apt. Uterus is measuring appropriately- it's above my belly button. I can now see the bottom of my button- i do not recall having ever seen that in my life. She has okayed me to fly home. On the way back she would like for me to take a baby aspirin to prevent DVT's and something to prevent preterm labor... hmmmm... I'm going to check into that one. She has no issues with the flying- it's mainly the airlines that don't want you flying after 35weeks. All my blood work is fine. I have another U/S about 21weeks and I the glucose test in February. Yes, we will learn the sex of the baby. No, we will not tell you until we see you in March. Come on, don't you want to hear SOMETHING from us face to face?

Well, I suppose that is all the exciting stuff... nope.. nope... 2 more things:

MY MATERNITY CLOTHES ARRIVE IN 2 DAYS!! WOOHOO for pants that fit!! My gauchos can have a rest now. :)

and..... MY PARENTS BOUGHT TICKETS TO COME JUNE 18th!! I cannot believe they are actually coming. And they are SO committed now b/c they have tickets. I'm still having a hard time believing it... oh the power oh grandchildren.