Mini-Chinny update

Or should I say, the un-update.

This week has been anti-climactic. We went for our regular doctor's appointment on Wednesday morning, and although the baby was very far down (still), there wasn't much progress on dilation. Still just 1.5 cm. They scheduled us for a BPP ultrasound (bio-physical profile) to check on the baby's health, and sent us home.

We went to the BPP yesterday and our baby scored an 8/8. That means it met all of the criteria for a healthy, safe baby. Plenty of amniotic fluid. Plenty of movement. Strong heartbeat and breathing. The only quirk was the fact that Mini was lying in a sideways fetal position, which explains why I have a huge bulge on my right side. The ultrasound tech confirmed that the head is all the way down in position -- the baby is ready to roll except there's no way out right now. Also, now that I understand the position, I understand why I have an awkward shaped belly that puts pressure horizontally across me (which has made it very tough to sleep lately).

Anyway, things checked out, which meant no need to rush an induction. We had previously been told that we wouldn't be allowed to go past the 8th. We were okay with that date (which happens to be our 8th anniversary) and so we've been looking at that as the beginning of the next phase. Yesterday, I received a call from the doctor's office and because of scheduling reasons, I was told we'd be induced on the 10th if necessary. I know its only 2 days, but I was so discouraged. Ugh. That would put me at 12 days past due date. Just about 42 weeks... I am praying we don't last until next Thursday.

Today, I went to Starbucks to do some paperwork for work (it's a work from home day) and Kristal got me to try a sample of a pumpkin-spice frappacino. If you know me at all, you know I hate coffee anything. But I figured, hey, why not. So I tried the sample...it was tolerable, and I hoped it might spark something!






After Starbucks, I met David for a quick lunch at China Inn. His fortune said "Your luck has been completely changed today." I took this as a positive sign. :)










So that's the latest update... I've been having contractions, just not regular ones. Still just a waiting game...so keep praying. Pray for contractions to be regular and productive. And to not stop once they start.

Full moon tonight... maybe that will help?

July in Pictures

The summer has continued to cruise along since the holiday weekend. On July 10, David's mom came in town for a 10-day visit to Virginia. We welcomed her to town by dressing up in cow costumes so we could get a free meal at Chick-Fil-A.


On July 12, I spoke for the final time this summer at NLCF. (Messages from this summer have finally been loaded online and are available to listen to now.)

David has enjoyed taking pics of my belly growing... this one was from July 13 before we left for work.


On July 18, my mom and sister joined David's mom and sister in throwing us a baby shower for mini-chinny. It was a blast to celebrate with folks and prepare for the big day. We were extremely blessed by all of the generous gifts. After the shower, my mom treated a small group of us to afternoon tea at the Jefferson Hotel. Included with my immediate family (mom, dad, sis and I) were David and his mom, both my grandmothers, and my aunt Elsie. We had a wonderful time eating sandwiches and tea breads, and the scones were to die for. :)




We said farewell to David's mom on July 20 and spent this past week getting the nursery together. We've gotten a lot of stuff arranged, and even though we have some things left to do, we are feeling much more settled.

Finally, this weekend, David thought it would be a wise idea if we sold our 2-door '94 Camry that has about 200,000 miles and bought a little bit newer 4-door car with less miles. We've heard putting a baby seat in and out of a 2-door car can be frustrating, and since David is an avid Craigslist stalker, he found some viable options for us to get a 4-door car. We met a Chinese graduate student at Tech on Saturday morning to test-drive his '97 Nissan Altima and ended up making him an offer and buying his car. He was about to return to China after getting his PhD and his car only has 120,000 miles. So now we just have to sell the Camry and we'll be set!



That's about it for us this month... more to come!

Summer!

Yes, it's summer! Maybe not officially, but school ended last Thursday (June 11), which means SUMMER IS HERE!

Now I still work in the summer -- we run a summer program for all our clients at one of the schools in our county. That starts on June 29 and runs for 7 weeks. So I will have plenty to keep me busy in the daytime -- BUT -- at least it's summer!

It has rained all week. Not little rain either. I mean torrential rainstorms. Our grass is so long and in desperate need of a haircut. Alas, we are headed to Richmond for the weekend, though. We have a wedding and then Father's Day. So our grass will have to wait until next week. Let's hope the town of Blacksburg doesn't fine us! (That's no joke -- you can get fined if your grass is too long!)

Anyway, I will try to do a better job of blogging now that school is out. I'm going to aim for 3 posts a week this summer until the baby comes.

Speaking of the baby, everything is going smooth. We're entering week 30 and the baby continues to grow and move. We're now in the every 2 week doctor's appointments and so far, so good. There have been no red flags with anything, and overall I feel great. I am tired, but that's normal!

Well that's about it for now. Just wanted to give a short post. I'll try to post a pic soon so you can all see my growing belly! :)

The end of a trimester and other tidbits from the week...

So yesterday was the last day of our first trimester. We began week 14 today. I have heard the second trimester means more energy -- and that couldn't come at a better time. I am at the end of two very long weeks of stuff.

Last Sunday, we had a social justice expo that involved the showing of 3 videos at church that I was responsible for putting together. They came out great, but I spent all of my free time last week finishing them off. I hope to have them uploaded on the web soon so others can see.

This Sunday, we close out our social justice series and I'm doing the speaking. That's right, another week of prep for Sunday. I am actually sitting in the library right now on campus putting some final touches on my talk so I can start the run-throughs.

Tonight is nlcf's annual "Dancing with the Staff" fundraiser for our worship dance team. I got roped into dancing this year, so that should be a laugher! I'll post pics/video later on after the event. :)

I've been busy with paperwork for my job, and in addition to my usual every 2-week paperwork that is due by Monday at 8am, I also have four 90-day review reports due at the same time. And our supervisor said if we get everything in on time, we get a paid vacation day of our choice. I really could use that day, so there's no way I'm not getting them done...

And finally, I've been in the thick of the application process for the job I've wanted for over a year. The school counselor job in the school where I currently work (I work for an outside agency in the school right now) has come open. It is going to be a competitive process for sure. I have been trying to spend a good bit of time preparing for this because I really, really, really want this job. I just found out I am interviewing next Friday (3/6) at 10:30am, so all prayers are welcome!

I keep hearing that I need to slow down since I'm pregnant, and I understand the sentiment. I'm not trying to overload myself -- it's just the way it's all managed to fall. I had no idea back in January all these things would hit at once.

Overall, I am trying to learn to make adjustments to my life and say no to things. I am trying to rest more and build more family time into my schedule. And in general, I think I'm doing a good job. These past two weeks have just been the exception... but the end is in sight!

One more baby note -- our second doctor's appointment is later this week. I'll post more about that in a few days.

The Week(s) in Pictures

So I was thinking about a way to share a lot without making the post too long. I have a lot to catch folks up on, and as we all know a pictures is worth a thousand words. So if I just post a bunch of pictures, I can say more with less. Plus anyone who knows me knows that I ramble, so this will keep it concise. ☺

Saturday, September 13-Sunday, September 14

We tailgated for the Georgia Tech game again with David’s coworker’s group. They really know how to do a tailgate right. The theme was Georgia-style food, and we contributed banana bread for the breakfast portion and hushpuppies for the lunch portion. David made a homemade hushpuppy mix, and everyone loved them!




Brent and Katherine were in town for the game, and it was great to visit with them. They joined us at the tailgate for a while, and after the game we met up at Boudreaux’s for dinner. I had never eaten there, and I enjoyed it although it was a little spicy for me to eat there regularly. Annie was also in town, so Sunday morning David made breakfast for everyone and it was like an old school homegroup reunion. Yay for a full house!



Thursday, September 18

Susy, my old co-worker from NRCC who’s become a great friend, needed some help with her router at home. So she treated David and I to dinner at El Gran Rodeo in C’burg and we enjoyed catching up on life. She make me laugh and I always have fun and feel full of life when hanging out with her. I hope we can do it again soon.

Friday, September 19

The nlcf retreat was this past weekend, and the focus was spiritual maturity. I was asked to speak on Friday night about growing in your prayer life. The talk’s not up yet, but eventually it can be found online on our church website.

Saturday, September 20-Sunday, September 21

We couldn’t stay for the whole nlcf retreat because we had to head to northern Virginia for a wedding. David was a groomsman, and the couple, Brandon & Jane, actually met through our homegroup several years ago. They are both graduated now, as were many of the other old homegroup friends we saw at the wedding. It was great to be part of of Brandon & Jane’s special day, and wonderful to visit with old friends for the second weekend in a row!












While David was staying with the groomsmen Saturday night, I stayed with my dear friend Rachel, who was farm-sitting for her parents and was also in town for the wedding. Rach & I had a great time catching up on life since both of us are crazy busy and have a hard time keeping up via phone. (She’s in med school in Richmond and on her way to becoming an amazing doctor.) After eating breakfast (fresh eggs from the farm) we went for a walk to get some exercise. Then we cleaned up and headed into Leesburg so I could run some errands. We ended up at a sports bar to watch the first quarter of the Bears game, and we enjoyed a 25-cent wing bar. We also managed to sneak our way into Costco so we could partake in all the free samples, which were delish.



All in all, the past several weeks have been busy but full of lots of good things. Life is great here at hoc, and as I posted earlier, I plan to try and keep everyone updated sooner!

finding time...

i am alive. i haven't disappeared off the face of the planet. i know its been 2 full weeks since i posted. and even then it had been a while since my previous posting. life continues to race. and i'm realizing that i'm never going to find the time to update my blog, so i've got to start making the time!

i'm not used to being disconnected from the world while i'm at work (no phone or internet from 7:15-4:15 every day). and then i come home and i am wiped, and i usually have meetings and such several nights a week. but i know that i want to keep updating the blog more regularly, so i'm going to try to schedule some time, so that i commit to doing it on a regular basis...

with that, i hope to post more soon. and more regularly...

Update Central

I know its been a gazillion years since I’ve updated… okay, not quite that long. But it has been a while. So much has gone on, and it seems like anytime I’ve had time to breathe I’ve just been ready to crash. But I'm spending some time on the couch watching football, so I thought it would be a good time to update. So here goes:

WORK:

This week was my first week at my school in the classroom, and it went really well. I have quite a caseload of 4th graders, but I really like all my kids. They kept my hands full, and I definitely have some crazy stories to tell already, but it’s been great to get to work with some neat kids who just need some help. I spend all day, every day in the classrooms with the kids, even eating lunch with them. It’s been like going back to 4th grade all over again, and I’m learning the ropes pretty quickly. I love being back at Eastern and Giles County is quickly becoming “home” again.

HOME:

We’ve continued to make some changes and improvements here at houseofchinn, including bringing back some furniture from my folks place. On labor day, they drove up from Richmond and brought us a piano and couch. The piano is the one we had growing up that my sis and I took lessons on, and my mom decided the couch was expendable and offered it to us. We really appreciate them driving it up here, and it allows us to continue to transform our upstairs living room into a nice adult sitting room, with the basement room becoming more comfortable as our family room for tv and just general hanging out.

TRAVEL:

Being the big baseball fans that we are, David and I wanted to catch a game at Yankee Stadium before it’s torn down after this year. Even though we’re not Yankee fans, we wanted to see a huge piece of baseball history. I’ve never been to New York City, so it was a doubly cool experience for me. Cheri & Jordan (my sis & bro-in-law) decided to join us, and the 4 of us drove up to D.C. last Saturday morning, caught a metro to the bus stop, and took the BoltBus up to NYC. We spent Saturday evening walking around and exploring NYC (we did A LOT of walking!) and then on Sunday we went to the Yankees game. We then hustled back to the bus back and caught the last bus back to D.C. We returned to Richmond around 1:00 am. I have so many pictures and thoughts to share about this, that I’ll do a separate post hopefully later this week.

FOOTBALL:

Fall = football. We had the chance to go to a VT game yesterday, and watched as our Hokies struggled to beat Furman. It wasn’t a pretty game, but we had a good time. We plan to watch most of the games this year on tv to save a little money, but David was able to get $5 tickets to Saturday’s game so that was hard to pass up! We tailgated with one of his co-workers and had a great time. We then came home and watched more college football on tv. Go ECU! That’s all I can say – it was so fun to watch them beat up on WVU (one of our hated rivals here in Blacksburg) since we lost to ECU last week. Our consolation -- we didn't lose as bad as WVU! ☺




Today is the first real day of the NFL season, and the Bears play tonight! We’ll be watching football all day long as we track our fantasy teams. I know it sounds lame to a lot of folks, but its really what we find relaxing here at houseofchinn. ☺

IMPORTANT DATES:

Yes, last week (Aug. 29) was my 29th birthday! We had dinner in Richmond at my folks place, and David planned a surprise party Monday for lunch when we got back in town. That was a very nice surprise, and there was a crew of folks waiting with grilled cheese and pokey sticks. You can’t beat that! Top it off with funfetti rainbow chip cake, and I was I heaven. ☺ Thanks everyone who showed up and helped make my birthday celebration a wonderful treat!




Tomorrow is our 7th anniversary! How crazy?!?!? It feels like just yesterday David and I tied the knot. He has a business trip though, and as a result, we’ll celebrate tonight with dinner and the Bears game. David has some plans, so I’ll write more after it happens.

Again -- I’ll try to post pictures soon of lots of the stuff going on… more soon!

I'm Alive...

I know its been a while since I posted -- two weeks in fact. But a lot has happened these two weeks and has kept me pretty busy.

When I left off, we were just starting kickoff events at NLCF. Not only did those continue, but I also started my new job and had a week of training, then I headed out of town this past weekend for a last vacation, celebrated my birthday, and had my first day in the school (yesterday) with my new job. So a lot has been going on.

But I am alive and well... and I have lots of pictures and stories to share from the previous two weeks. Stay tuned... :)