Goodbye Terri

Those of you in Blacksburg know that our dear friend Terri, who has been on full-time staff with our church the past several years, has decided to move. Friends of Terri gathered tonight at Souvlaki's downtown for a going away party. Jeanette and Terri have been having Monday roommate lunches at Souvlaki's the past several years and have become friends with the owner Mike.

When Terri decided she was officially moving in early September, they asked Mike about having the going away party there. Mike agreed and shut down early tonight for a private gathering of Terri's friends. Terri and Jeanette helped take orders and work the counter, which was fun to watch. It was jam packed in there, too!

Here are a few pics of the 204 girls working the party:
















A fun way to close out my birthday, although David and I peaced out early because it was soooo hot in there with all the people!

We were glad to celebrate with Terri even if it meant we weren't having a baby yet. :)

Birthday Dinner!

Tonight we celebrated my 30th birthday with a random hodge-podge meal consisting of 4 parts.



Pork fried rice, fried potstickers, fries with pasty cheese, and homemade green bean casserole.

I know, a random combination, but that's what 40-week pregnant women eat. :)

Spoils of Gardening!

David wanted me to post a quick picture of all the vegetables he just picked. Behold the fruits of David and Sarah's labor! (and Jess who furiously weeded recently.)

30 is here

As many of you know, today is not only our due date but also my 30th birthday. I was selfishly hoping to have the baby before today so I could say I had our first child in my 20's. I don't know why it mattered - and obviously it's a moot point because today has arrived, I'm 30, and mini-chinny is still hanging out in my belly.

I've been on several long walks the past two days but nothing major to report as far as contractions go. They continue to come and go.

Anyway, I appreciate all the birthday wishes and look forward to posting other exciting news soon!

No News Yet!

I know a lot of folks are curious... because for all our delinquency lately, I promise we will post an update when we are in labor and the baby has been born.

But unfortunately, we don't have any news yet. We are 48 hours from due date and we don't have any clue how long it will be until it's time.

We had our latest doctor's appointment yesterday and he confirmed that mini-chinny is very, very low and in position -- the problem is there is no room for him to exit right now. I have no dilation or effacing really happening. Once contractions start, the baby is in position so things should move decently once I start with some heavy contractions. But so far, I've just been having light contractions on and off for a week. One night they lasted a while and I started timing them, but they stopped and it was a false alarm. So there's really not much to report... yet.

But I promise we'll update when there is something to say. Keep checking back!

August!

The month of August has flown by...

The first weekend we had a 2-day childbirth preparation class at the hospital. We learned all about labor and how to breathe during it. We took a hospital tour and found out a lot of good information to help prepare us for the big day.

This next picture was taken Monday, August 3 before work...


We've been at home every weekend, not traveling this month because our baby is due Aug. 29. This meant we missed the annual NLCF staff retreat, which was the second weekend of August. While it was a bummer to miss out on hanging out with our friends, we enjoyed a relaxing weekend full of getting things done around the home. We also were able to go to Steppin' Out, Blacksburg's annual downtown summer festival.

Jeanette's birthday was on Saturday, August 8th, which is when the staff were out of town. When they returned on Sunday, some of us went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. (Her dad was staying with us for a few weeks while he worked on the house he and Mrs. Staats own in Blacksburg and plan to retire in this fall!)


On Monday, August 10, my wonderful friends threw me a baby shower here in Blacksburg. My mom and sis drove up from Richmond and my sis came with me to the shower while my mom entertained my hubby. It was definitely a unique baby shower, full of interesting games (one with melted chocolate in diapers), and of course I was showered with wonderful gifts. It was a huge blessing to receive all that we did, and I had a great time celebrating with everyone. Probably the most original shower food for a baby shower, too, since my friends had all my favorites: cream soda, grilled cheese, oat fudge bars, and dark chocolate candy! Also, the ladies made origami animals to hang on a homemade mobile for the nursery (nice idea Jessamyn!). It's pretty cool.

Some other folks have better pics I know, but here are two taken on my camera. The first is of me and Kristal, who returned from being gone all summer at LT. She had fun making up for lost time talking to Mini-Chinny. The second is a pic of Rachel's head on a stick along with booties from Guatemala she mailed me. She wasn't able to come to B'burg for the shower so I made sure she "attended" while I opened her gift. :)




Finally, we have gotten the nursery ready for Mini-Chinny. I think I mentioned before that we were using a panda theme, and have as a result named the room "The Panda Room." (All the rooms in houseofchinn have a name...) We moved "The Cheetah Suite" to the basement, where the guest room now is, and it makes more sense since Peter started his Cheetah research living in the room in the basement.

Here are some pictures from the nursery...






This past week was "move-in" here in Blacksburg, as the students have all returned. We had several church events in the evenings that kept us busy, which helped pass the time as I have been anxious to get this "show" on the road!

So here we are... August 22 and awaiting the arrival of the baby. David has been nesting like crazy this month, doing a deep clean and organization of our house. I cannot explain how much he has gotten done -- so much that has needed to be done for years. He has been amazing!

I have had "false labor" several times this week, having been experiencing contractions for about four days now. Of course they come and go -- sometimes in the middle of the night -- and a few times I have thought "this is it!" For now, we are just waiting, though, knowing that the time will come soon enough!

We'll keep everyone posted as we count down the final 7 days until our due date. I promise we'll send a few updates when I go into labor/deliver Mini-Chinny.