showered with love

Thank you to everyone who came, contributed, and celebrated with us at my baby shower. I felt so overwhelmed with love and appreciation that day. What a day, showered with gifts, goodies, and girlfriends!

Thank you so much! I had so much fun. 

Do you ever see pictures of yourself and think, "Is that really what I look like?" This baby shower was full of pictures like that. Especially since I don't have lots of pictures of the pregnant Amanda. :) 

Sorry Little L. I think that move right there pushed her into my pelvis. :) Poor girl. 

One of the photographers for the day. Thanks!!

It IS a girl. For real. There were moments when I wondered if I might have a boy and have all these pink clothes for him. Would have been awkward because I already shared all my boy clothes with my sister and her newborn. 

A.MAZ.ING.

Don't worry. I overcooked the one dish I made for my own shower. This beauty was left in the oven 20 extra minutes because I got so caught up in the friends arriving. Oops. It still tasted good, though. And apparently someone else ate it too. :) 

LOVED these. And what I am doing in the background?

One of my amazing hosts. She did the decorations and they ROCKED. My house never looked so cute. 

Our other host! Thanks to her raffle, I got tons of diapers. My kind of practical shower gift. Thanks, Shan!

"little sister"

The only man there for most of the shower, the brother-in-law and wife drove like 3 hours to party with us. Thanks for coming, Nutmeg! you were the best surprise of the day. Jared and the guy went out all morning and left the ladies to giggle together. So Nate got to eat all the food before Jared did. :) 

Did I mention that the decorations were adorable?!? (And so are my friends)

Last but not least, the little man got a couple gifts from our neighbors. They are SO thoughtful to include him. Thank you! He loves it. 

Thank you again to everyone. We had a fabulous time!

words and wounds

So many new happenings around our house!

First, our little man - the guy - said his first four word sentence this week! He got up from his nap and I laid him down to change his diaper. Pointing at his bed he said, "blanket on the bed." Woot! He had never said "the" and has been using it more and more this week. I am so proud of my growing boy. One day we will have a long, intellectual conversation about the world and religion and I won't even notice his use of "the." (insert motherly sigh)

Also, the poor kid fractured his shoulder this week. He fell from a chair, landed terribly, and is in the process  of healing. It is not excruciating, but we are doing what's necessary to allow him to heal.

Not only is our boy growing, but our lady is getting so big too! Every day I feel her kick and stretch and turn and grow. I experience practice birthing waves (aka contractions) nearly every day. Some are quite strong. Yesterday's appointment shows my belly measures 38 cm, 2 centimeters of growth since last week. She is definitely engaged and ready to come soon: I am 50% effaced, 2 cm dilated, and her head is at a +2 station. She's so far down there, her head could not be felt from the abdomen.

Jared and I regularly discuss what we have ready and what still needs preparing for her to come. We practice our Hypnobabies scripts in order to achieve our comfortable, medication-free, quick birth and quiz each other.

Me: "What would your responsibility be if I went in to labor in the middle of the night tonight? GO!"

Jared: "What would you do if I am at work and don't answer my office phone? GO!"

We are so excited to meet her and welcome her soul to the world and our family. She could come any moment now.

And that's not all. More posts to come on my birthday celebration, our CSA farm visit, and my baby shower! Stay tuned.

Mazal Tov!

Could my belly get any bigger? Yes. Yes, it will... 

Back in June I could have gone to a friend's wedding in Colorado, but could not make it for several reasons. I REALLY wanted to go to this wedding and almost turned our little world upside down just to be there, but reason and reality won. See, these two friends above are not like all my other friends. They are practicing Jews and had a traditional Jewish wedding. Anyone who knows about my Maryland days knows that I went to dozens and dozens of bar and bat mitzvahs as a teen, but I had not been invited to a Jewish wedding until this year. Come on friends! More people should have traditional Jewish weddings and invite me. 

Just looking at the itinerary for the wedding week made me jump for joy. I absolutely love Judaism, dedicated practicing Jews, and learning from them. Their history is my history. Their scripture is my scripture. Their God is my God; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And their faith inspires mine. 

This picture was taken in MD where we had a post-wedding celebration and the evening moved me. We mingled at the groom's parents' home, where I have lots of good memories as an awkward middle schooler (that is how long I have know the handsome groom). The food was unique and delicious, everyone spoke Hebrew, and we enjoyed a sing-along in Hebrew. The singing had opposite effects on our little children. The guy calmed down and silently watched so intently as everyone sang in a new language. The lady, however, who hadn't moved all evening, was dancing with praise. The father of the groom shared an inspiring speech about his son's growth and relationship with God. And finished with the prayer that the new couple will פרו ורבו, המתחדשים הארץ , multiply and replenish the Earth. 

The feelings of that evening included love, joy, peace, gentleness, patience, goodness and faith. No doubt the Spirit was there. (Galatians 5:22-23). I am so happy for the bride and groom and know that together they make the world a better place.

We're having a baby....

drum roll please.....

A GIRL! 

Yay! Stuart gets a little sister, and Jared and I get a little lady. We are very excited. Now that my family knows, I can tell the interwebs. Stuart was the first person we told, of course.

I have heard this combination of kids called "a rich man's family" because we have to buy stuff for a boy and then all over again for a girl. Lucky us, however, my older sister had a girl first one month before Stu was born and now is having a boy just a couple months before our lady will arrive. So we plan to swap clothes and save money and time. Phew! Heaven knows we are limited on both. 

So, life is good and we feel very lucky to welcome a lady to the O household. God is good. And there were no problems found during the rest of the appointment. She is very active already and a whopping 10 oz! So tiny. Then why is my belly so big already? :) I know, I know. She is not the only thing in there making me expand. Just saying. 

Jared took the day off to go to my appointments with me and we celebrated with a family lunch and nap (and a trip to the DMV). Now that's how it's done.... :)

Linus and maternity clothes

We have our very own Linus in the O family. He might need an intervention one day to deal with the separation from his beloved blanket. He loves to drag it with him around the house (and deck) and it needs a wash very often. Despite my attempts to throw it back in his crib for later, he always finds it, pulls it through the bed rails and takes it with him on his next adventure. :) Love this kid!

 Like our little potted garden on the deck? Chives from last year, cherry tomatoes, basil, tiny summer squash (to be transferred to the ground soon), and parsley. The deck gets more sun than the earth below.... 

Finally, it has happened at last. I got out the maternity tote. I had to put on the pants this week. At 20 weeks I guess it's ok. I had JUST woken up when we took this picture. Yikes. Sleepy head. 

Well there you have it. The baby belly. 

Stay tuned. Tomorrow we find out the gender!!!