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I am an artist & teacher with a ❤ for visual expression, educational methodology, homesteading, & Jesus. My geek-love is The Joshua and we have three peanut-butters: Caleb, Jack, & Louritta.

Guess the Baby’s Due Date, Win a Prize!

11/30/2009

36 1/2 Weeks Pregnant
So, I’m officially 37 weeks now & that means I may be cuddling a new baby anytime now! For those of you who aren’t aware of how this works, once a woman hits 37 weeks gestation they consider her to be “full term” and then allow her to go into labor after then. However, some women will go as late as 42 weeks. This means that I could go into labor anytime in the next 5 weeks. That’s a pretty big expanse of anticipation.
To help me stay positive about this and for a bit of fun, let’s try to guess! So, in the comments (either on my blog or on my Facebook comments) under this post, please guess the DATE and TIME OF DAY you think this baby will come.
Rules

  1. In the comments, list the DATE (ex. December 12th) and the TIME OF DAY (ex. 7:42 a.m.) along with a.m./p.m. you think the baby will be born. I recommend choosing a date sometime between now and January 6th. If I go over my due date, they would induce me on January 5th.
  2. Make sure an identifying name is attached so I know who to give the prize to.
  3. Whoever has the closest date to the baby’s actual birth date/time will win a prize.
  4. I’m not sure what the prize is at this point. Maybe a giftcard. Maybe some of my awesome salsa. Maybe a… hmmmm. Working on it.
  5. The winner will be the closest date/time, it doesn’t matter if the guesser “goes over” like on the Price is Right. I don’t care if you “go over” as long as you’re closest.
  6. Each person may guess once. Once your date/time has passed you’re done playing. You can wait to enter later at your own risk of missing a sooner due date.

To help you make a decision, here’s some info that I know that may help you decide:
Why I May Go Sooner

  1. I’ve had a few scares of my blood pressure getting too high and my liver has been slowly getting worse. If it gets much worse they will need to induce me. As of today, it has been stable, but the doctor said I could literally wake up tomorrow and have it in failure mode. This would be called preeclampsia, a condition I also had with Caleb.
  2. If my hips and pelvic bone spread too far they will also need to induce me to avoid a big surgery on me after the child is born. I have been going to the chiropractor for the last two months and, as of this moment, they have stabilized and have been causing me no pain or problems. I personally don’t think they will be a problem anymore, but who knows.
  3. At my doctor’s visit today I was dilated to a 3, the baby’s head is in station -2, and I have lost 2 cm off of my belly size, which says he’s really mashed down in my hips. The doctor said that when he does start coming, he will most likely come very fast with stats like that.
  4. I chase Caleb around all day, which puts extra pressure on everything to get moving along.
  5. Caleb was induced at 38 weeks, 2 days.
  6. This is my 2nd full-term pregnancy. They tend to go sooner.
  7. I’ve been having contractions for well over a month. This is apparently normal for some pregnancies, but I never had them with Caleb’s pregnancy.
  8. Last week my cervix wasn’t even pointing downward. One week later, I’m dilated to a 3, that’s some serious progress.

Why I May Go Later

  1. The doctor said that, even given the above conditions, a woman can still carry her baby well past her due date. My debated due dates have been either December 18th or December 22nd, depending on how you’re counting.
  2. Because it would really tick off Josh to have this child born in a new tax year.
  3. Because Josh is going to be in Eddie’s wedding on January 2nd, complete with the festivities of bachelor party and grooms dinner during the days before then. Wouldn’t it be fun to throw the birth of a child in there?
  4. Because having this baby born around Christmas would really make things interesting and confuse Caleb about the difference between our new baby and Jesus.
  5. Because all of our bags our packed and literally everything to prepare for the baby’s arrival is ready. That means there’s nothing left to do so of course the baby is going to thwart us in every way and take forever to come.
  6. Because I walk funny. And it just gets funnier the longer this baby takes.
  7. Statistically, the average pregnancy goes to 40 weeks, followed by 41 weeks, followed by 39 weeks. So, if you like math, go with these dates.

To leave a comment, go to my direct link to this article on my blog. Scroll down & post your guess in there. Remember, you need your NAME, the DATE you think the baby will be born, and the TIME along with AM/PM you think the baby will be born. Happy guessing!

35 Weeks Pregnant

11/15/2009

35 Weeks Pregnant 4, originally uploaded by StephLewis.

Here I am at 35 weeks pregnant! I have slowly been abandoning my cute pregnancy clothes as they are proving to not fit so well anymore. I have moved into the “please someone, help this poor woman” line of maternity clothes for this last stretch of the journey.
Hopefully I’ll go into labor naturally in the coming weeks. But, my liver has not been doing so well and my pelvic bone keeps twisting and separating, causing some serious pain. This could mean an induction if all medical signs point to “yes” (on the magic 8 ball that we all know that doctors use).
Regardless, I’m at that point in pregnancy where I have a very strong “bring it on” feeling toward labor. As I said during my last pregnancy, if giving birth meant that I had to get hit by a moving semi truck, I would be in the middle of the freeway right now! So, patience for me until the right time, then focus, then love and enjoyment of this little guy.

My New Knit Hat

11/15/2009

My Knit Hat 5, originally uploaded by StephLewis.

I just finished knitting this hat for me for winter. It is actually a hood with two cable-knit braids down the front. I can tie it around my neck as a scarf and can also wear my hair up while the hat still covers my ears. I love it.
It was pretty easy to make and I got the pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

Quick Pregnancy Update

10/24/2009

Since my last fun and exciting pregnancy update, I have more to add. First, it turns out that my heart and blood pressure issues were from an allergic reaction to the progesterone shots I was getting. So, they took me off of those and I got much better. I continued with a (mostly) modified diet based on the recommendations given to me at the time.
Then, maybe a month ago a test I took at the doctor showed that I might have gestational diabetes. So, they did the 3 hour test and the whole test showed bad blood sugar until the end of the last hour where I was totally fine. So, my body is not technically diabetic, it just takes forever to process sugars. Who knows. So, had to do some diet modifications. Yay, fun!
A few weeks ago I got all swollen and woke up in the middle of the night because I couldn’t bend my fingers. My blood pressure was borderline-high so I went in to the doctor. It showed some protein deposits in my urine, but not enough to make me preeclamptic. Basically, my liver is starting to fail and I will hopefully make it through the rest of this pregnancy without it actually failing. If my liver does fail, then they’ll have to deliver the baby immediately. Today I’m almost to 32 weeks, so every day is a blessing. I’m hoping to get at least to 37 weeks so I can have a full term pregnancy. And I’m also hoping to not have liver failure since that totally stinks.
I started having severe hip pain about 2 weeks ago. It was to the point that I was maybe getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I went to my doctor (I’m starting to feel sorry for my doctor. Am I the crazy lady they talk about in the break room?) and she said my hips had too much pain and sent me to a chiropractic maternal specialist. I went there a week ago and they found (1) that my pelvic bone was separating, (2) that my left hip was almost popped out of the socket, and (3) that the back of my pelvic bone was tilting into my body. So, they popped my hip back in (ouch!), hit me with a chiropractic hammer looking thing to get my hip tilted the correct way, and pressed my pelvic bone back together. Then they wrapped me up in a belt. I was sore for about 3 days, but have been feeling much much better. I’ve also been getting about 8 hours of sleep a night since then. Yay! My hips will need to be watched through and after the pregnancy to make sure that everyone stays lined up as they should be. (Sidenote: my body started producing it’s own progesterone a couple of months ago, alleviating my need for progesterone supplements. Unfortunately, this increases my production of relaxin, which causes all of my joints to separate like crazy. Yay, fun!)
So, yeah, I’m almost 32 weeks. That means I have at least 5 more weeks to go before I’m considered full term, and possibly up to 8 weeks before the baby is born.
I am requesting that this child be exquisite in every way and eventually save the world or something. That would make all this pain & dealing with every bizarre side effect much better. The end question is, dare I attempt pregnancy again? Will side effects get better or worse? Probably a crap shoot, so we’ll just get this one out and hopefully some semblance of health and sanity will return to me. Eventually. Hopefully.

Psalm 139:13-14

10/24/2009

Our church recently memorized all of Psalm 139 for our Fighter Verses. Unfortunately, I totally bombed at memorizing it and was only able to memorize vs. 13-14. But, I got a little melody for it and have officially added at least those two to my memorized verses.
Here is me singing Psalm 139:13-14:
Psalm139_13-14.mp3

2 Year Old in Public

10/17/2009

Scene 1 – At Menards!
Caleb has quite the vocabulary and has to vocalize everything he’s thinking pretty much all day long. Today we were at Menards and it went like this:
Caleb: Mama, where all the pretty ladies go?
Me: What???
Caleb: Hmmmmm… [points to a man] Is that a pretty lady??? …No.
Me: [thinking my kid is so clever]
Caleb: [points to a woman] Is that a pretty lady??? [woman ignores us] …NO! Hmmm… [points to another woman] Is that a pretty lady??? [she looks at us] …NO! Hmmm… where all the pretty lady go? Hmmm…
Me: [backs away from the scene of the crime]
Scene 2 – No Poot.
A couple weeks ago I took Caleb with me to the ladies restroom at a busy restaurant. (Please note, he pronounces “poop” as “poot.”) While we were in the stall, Caleb loudly gave a play-by-play to everyone in the room.
Caleb: Mama, you go potty! Yay, mama! You did it! Yay! Mama, did you go poot? Oh no! Mama, how come no poot? You can do it! You can do it! Go again Mama, go poot! Yay! You can do it!
Me: [whispering] No, Caleb, I don’t have to go poop right now.
Caleb: Oh no! No poot? Oh no, Mama. You can do it! Go again, go more, you can do it!
Me: No, Caleb, I’m all done going potty, let’s go wash our hands.
Caleb: But no poot! Washa da hands with no poot? Oh no, Mama!
When we came out of the stall there were several women laughing. All of them were looking at us, so I said, “In case any of you were wondering, I did not go poop just now.” They burst out laughing. One of them thanked me for making her day. Another woman spoke for awhile about, “Oh, I remember those days! Just priceless!”
Yay, motherhood.

Caleb Turns 2 Years Old!

10/08/2009

Caleb's Birthday Party
My boy officially turned two years old on September 5th. Can’t believe it. It’s totally awesome. His personality is so magnetic, he’s one of my favorite people to be around!
Stats from 2 Year Doctor Visit
Weight: 24.4 lbs. (10th percentile)
Height: 33″ (16th percentile)
Head: 18.75″ (23rd percentile)
Favorite Activities

  • Monsters – He loves his stuffed Ugly Doll Babo, Shrek, Monsters Inc., his monster pajamas, and Where the Wild Things Are.
  • Music time – Caleb loves singing and playing the piano, guitar, banjo, harmonica, ukulele, jingle bells, and his favorite time of the week is still Musikgarten. He often requests certain songs be played for him, especially “baby song” (Lullaby and Good Night), “rainbow song” (Rainbow Song from Signing Time), and “Ninigarten” (the whole CD from Musikgarten).
  • Being Outside – He needs at least one daily fix of going outside. He loves to dig in dirt, splash in puddles, walk the dog, ride in his car, and just explore everything.
  • Puzzles – Man is he good at puzzles. I gave him a wooden alphabet puzzle the other day and he put all 26 pieces in the right place within like 5 minutes. That totally baffled me. When he gets stuck he puts a finger on his chin and says, “Hmmmmmmm…”
  • Running (especially with Ella) – He insists on doing a nighttime “diaper run” before we put on his pajamas. This is about 15 minutes of him running all around the house in his diaper.
  • Helping – He loves to help me with cleaning, cooking (while standing on the big stool), gardening, fixing things, bathing Ella, doing laundry, vacuuming, and pretty much anything that I’m doing. His favorite person to help though is Grandpa Whiting, especially being outside and carrying big buckets to feed the animals or to use the “big drill” when fixing things. He loves power tools.
  • Play! – his favorite playtime toys are his toy horses & trucks, little people, and musical instruments, balls, play-doh, and painting on his easel or coloring at his table.
  • Swimming – We try to go swimming once a week when the local pool is open. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the beach much this year because of my wonderful pregnancy complications. He laughs and kicks and plays the whole time in the water, and then sleeps very nicely afterwards! He loves going underwater too, especially to dive after a toy! He still can’t swim and needs me there with him at all times.
  • Cuddling – He loves blankets and cuddling up to share a snack or story.
  • Eating – Caleb is not a picky toddler eater. He eats everything and sometimes eats more than me. If I could bottle his metabolism and sell it, we’d be rich! At dinner the other night he ate 2 eggs, a handful of french fries, hashed browns (maybe 3/4 cup), 2 pieces of bacon, 1 pancake with syrup, a half glass of milk, and part of my ham & cheese omelette. How can someone who eats more than a pregnant woman be so small?
  • TVDVD – this is what he calls anything watched on the TV or computer. He especially loves Yo Gabba Gabba, Sesame Street, Shrek, and Signing Time.

Favorite Books

His Personality

  • Hilarious! – I asked Josh what we would do if Caleb wasn’t the funny child. I think if our next kid is funnier than Caleb, my entire house may spontaneously turn into a circus tent. He wears his cowboy hat and sunglasses when brushing his teeth. He’ll make up songs about random things and insist on singing them to us while he plays his ukulele (and they’re funny and frequently reveal to us that he understands more about what’s going on around here than we think he does). He recently tried singing really high notes to birds outside to see if they would explode (like he saw happen in the movie Shrek).
  • Energetic – He runs so far. He’ll run from my parent’s house to my brother’s house (which is next door… but in a country-dirt-road-long-driveway sort of next door) and back again. Clearly he has endurance. He can also successfully do excellent somersaults and has also figured out how to do headstands on the couch. And the climbing… the climbing….
  • Outgoing – He says hi to everyone, participates exuberantly in Musikgarten, and participates actively in conversation. I love how Josh and I will be talking at dinner and he’ll put his hands on the table and say, “Ah-dee! Grandpa work work work at Home Depot! And Jesus loves me!” He has to get his two cents in.
  • Sensitive & Sweet – If he does something wrong he feels so bad and instantly is apologetic. Like hitting the dog. He’ll hit the dog, then get a super sad face, then say, “Sorry Ella!”
  • Caring – A boy in the nursery at church took the truck he was playing with in an overbearing sort of way. I watched and thought, “Take it back, Caleb! Don’t let him take advantage of you!” But, my boy ministered to me even as a little two year old. His response? He went over to the toy shelf, picked up another truck, and gave that to the boy as well! The boy looked at him like, “Um…. okay…. um…. thanks for another truck.” Caleb then went and played with something else until he noticed the boy was done playing with the trucks, then he went over and played with them.
  • Fearless – Can’t think of anything he’s afraid of. He loves monsters and dragons and things that make loud noises. He loves to be scared when he comes around a corner and loves hiding in dark places. As his cousin Maia says, “Let’s bring Caleb with because he’s bwave!”
  • Talkative – What can I say? He is our kid. And that means he never shuts up. Even when he’s sleeping I can hear him saying, “I did it! Yay you!”

Caleb's Birthday Party

Recommitment to Bible Verse Memorization

08/19/2009

I used to study the Fighter Verses and commit them to memory by writing little melodies to go with them, writing about them, and doing other memory tricks. I was fairly consistent when I used to maintain the fighterverse.com site (which I handed over to some fellow BBC members). But, then we hit a stretch where we were learning a long Psalm and I missed the first part of it and then kind of fell off the horse.
I was recently convicted by a few things to get back on that horse.
First, in my private devotions, I was convicted pretty deeply by a couple of verses. The first is 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (ESV).
The second verse was 1 Peter 3:13, “…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…” (ESV). These are verses that I had read before, but they convicted me this time around that I needed to take scripture memorization more seriously so that I could recall it or at least easily locate it in my Bible.
Second, an article I read interviewed John Piper about a variety of things, including how and why he memorizes scripture. He said, “I’m not into mechanical memorizing. I’m into fighting the fight of faith. I want to memorize Scripture so that I can defeat the devil at 3 o’clock in the afternoon – that’s why I memorize! It’s so that I can minister to a saint in the hospital at 10 o’clock at night if I’ve forgotten my Bible. This is for my soul, and for the souls of others around me.”
How many times have I been in a situation and my response is, “Um… er… I think the Bible says something about that. Somewhere towards the back.” Lame, I know. I want it in my head, word for word, so that I do not take or add anything to it.
Last, I recently finished reading Shepherding a Child’s Heart and Don’t Make Me Count to Three, both books urge the reader to use scripture to teach children. I was also listening to a talk by Sally Michael titled Resources For Family Ministry (scroll to title from given link) in which she quotes the book Instructing a Child’s Heart by Tedd and Margy Tripp: “We give our children big truths they will grow into, rather than light explanations they will grow out of.” I was both convicted and encouraged to memorize scripture and theological truths so that I could use them to teach my children (and myself, and others as God would have me) big truths they (and we) will grow into.
Just recently Caleb tried to squish a frog and my response was not, “Be nice” but, “God made that frog. We need to care for God’s animals by being gentle.” It’s a bigger truth that I hope will hold more weight in the future.
So, I’m going to jump back on the horse and make sure that I am committed to memorizing scripture for the long haul. I’m hoping to be able to do the weekly Fighter Verse along with my church (and small group), and also to work on a few other verses during the week that relate to my devotional reading. I am praying that God will be gracious to me and help me get started with an open heart to Him and his Word. “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18 ESV).
Here are some of the verses I memorized in the past by writing a melody to go with them. The recordings are just me sitting at my kitchen table singing into my USB microphone. (I know, wouldn’t it be so much better if I actually broke out my guitar or piano and polished them up? …but alas, that would stress me out too much and then I’d never even record them in the first place. Start small, I say. That, and my only real purpose in writing them is to get them to stay in my head!)

Celebrating Nine Years!

08/13/2009


9th Anniversary, originally uploaded by StephLewis.

Yesterday, Josh and I celebrated nine years of marriage. I know, nine years? Wow. That’s a lot.
This last year has been a rocky one. It followed up moving across the country from California to Minnesota (in with my parents for a bit) and then buying a new house. Josh got a job, lost a job, and found another job. I got pregnant and have had lots of health issues from it. Caleb became a toddler (both wonderful and screamy). Life got a bit dark at times. We were both tired. A lot.
But, you know what? My husband and I are still in love like we were when we were younger. Only now it’s a stronger, more time tested, wiser, holier kind of love. It’s the kind of love that is built in Christ and can actually withstand those crappy kind of years. And even fill them with many holy and wonderful moments. And still the laughter. I love loving Josh. I think it’s my favorite hobby.
This pic is of us stopping to pick up my eyeglasses before heading out to Daniela’s for some gelato affogato. Oh my, I am pretty sure that’s my favorite dessert of all time. We also tried out a new Mexican restaurant and it had excellent salsa, tolerable tacos, and NO horchata. We’ll keep looking.
Tangent: California had a TON of awesome Mexican restaurants, and so far MN is pretty blah. A quick plug: I think maybe the best tacos so far have been at Dora’s, but their horchata is not tasty and they’re a long drive away. Actually, I pretty much judge a Mexican restaurant by the quality of their tacos and horchata. And also by how much cheese they put on my beans. Everything else is meh.
Also, thanks to Nathan & Kristin for watching Caleb for us. Caleb is still talking about catching frogs with Nathan. Boys!
Oh, did I mention that my husband is wonderful? He is. I was trying to write some clever post about how wonderful he is, and have yet to clearly put it all in words. I’ll keep working on it.

Today Was Great, Meet Lewis #2

07/29/2009

Lewis Baby - Face
So, technically this baby’s due date is December 22nd, 2009. But, today we got to meet him, yes HIM, via ultrasound. These are the things we learned about him.

  • Everything that could be healthy is healthy (heart, brain, spine, etc.)
  • He has Josh’s detached earlobes
  • He is a night owl, he was wide awake kicking me at 4 a.m but slept during the entire ultrasound. He was on his stomach so it was hard to get a good face shot.
  • He sleeps with one foot on top of the other, just like I do.
  • Pretty much everything about his size is average, except he has long legs. The ultrasound tech said he’d probably be tall and skinny.
  • He sleeps with his mouth open.
  • If he continues at his current growth rate, he’ll be between 7 and 8 pounds if he’s born full term.
  • He has a very round head shape.
  • Whenever we got a face shot of him it looked like he was chewing gum. Who knows why.

Caleb thinks we should name him “Ming.” Other than that, he doesn’t really care about what’s going on. If you ask him where the baby is, he will point to my belly.
Josh wanted to add that Caleb was the only son of an only son of an only son. He is excited that, by having two sons, the family name can branch out from here.
And, of course, if you know me, you know that I’ve always wanted a small herd of boys. The thought of a herd of girls makes me shudder a bit. So, while I would love to have a girl someday, I’m pretty darn excited to have two boys.
Josh and I feel blessed to have not one, but two boys come December!
Lewis Baby - Full Body

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