Hat

I decided since my blanket didn't turn out so great that maybe I could try to make a circular pot holder and it turned into a hat! How funny! I think I am much better at making hats than blankets.

Freedom...well sort of

My doctor gave me a bit more freedom this week and told me since we were past the critical period, I could be a little more active, and the best part is no more bed rest! I cannot tell you how excited I was to hear this news. We even went to the mall that same day to celebrate, we left around 4:00 and didn't get home until 8:00. Marvin even let me wander for a while, something that he doesn't enjoy at all.

Yesterday we went on a picnic at a little undeveloped area with some trees, near our apartment. It was a beautiful day and perfect for eating outdoors. We spent some time studying in this change of scenery before we headed home.

Each day it has been fun to get out of the house for a little bit. Freedom is something to certainly celebrate. Now all we have to do is wait for the contractions to get a bit stronger. We can't wait to meet our Little Guy.

Night on the Town

Wednesday we decided to take in a movie in the "outside world". It worked out great as the taxi dropped us off right at the mall door near the elevator and we only had a short walk before we got to the theatre. (The beautiful thing about most movies here are that they are in the original language and have subtitles which means we can actually see a movie in English, what a treat.)

We were at the counter buying our tickets and the man didn't speak English so he gave us a pamphlet that had a listing with a picture of all the movies currently showing. We wanted to see the movie Becoming Jane so the first movie I saw that had a picture of a man and a woman I assumed was the correct movie, however it was showing at a different time than what it said online, but not thinking anything of it we purchased the tickets and decided we had time to eat dinner before the movie, so off to the food courts we went. As I sat down looking at the pamphlet I noticed I had pointed to the wrong movie, and Marvin was already ordering our food, oops. As soon as he came back I told him my error and since we only had 5 minutes to eat before the first showing it meant we would have to wait 2 1/2 hours before the next showing started!

After we slowly enjoyed our meal, we made our way down to Starbucks. We have to laugh every time we go to Starbucks because Marvin's name is very odd to the Turkish and they never know how to say it and of course at Starbucks they write your name on your cup. Most of the time they just hand Marvin the cup and pen and have him write it, but if they don't most of the time it turns out to be some version of Marwin! (It just makes us chuckle.)

It turned out to be a great evening and it was nice to have a break from the house. We thought the movie was great and we enjoyed squeezing in a movie before we enter the world of parenthood.

Things that Make me go HMMM?

1. Braclets? For some reason I feel a little unbalanced when I wear one. I guess I don't understand the point.

2. How terrible I am at crocheting. I finished a baby blanket that I have been working on while on bed rest. It turned out to be quite a project due to the fact that I tend to get smaller each row, which leads to lots of ripping out of stitches. I decided to call this type of crocheting using the "rustic" stitch. What do you think?

3. What I should do today? My doctor continued the bed rest, minus medication and it has been hard to find things to keep me busy.

4. How many watermelons can you stack on each other before the bottom one crushes or breaks? My guess is 50. (Do any of our engineering friends want to help us out with this one?)

5. How easily we forget how things taste. We recently found sliced cheddar cheese in Istanbul but I can't even remember what cheddar cheese tastes like. I also forgot how amazing peaches and grapes are. We buy fruit by the seasons where we live, so it will be another year before we taste the sweetness of a watermelon. I guess it is something to look forward to.

6. How pain is always so much worse when it wakes you up in the middle of the night. It seems like there is nothing worse than a leg cramp in the middle of the night, and then I started to think how labor would be quite the shock. This led me to wonder when our little guy would get the labor process going?

Week 33

Well we have less than a week to go before I am taking off medication. I am really surprised we made it this far. My doctor feels like things will progress rapidly after we stop medication due to the fact that I am continuing to dilate on bed rest. Monday she felt like he would come in the next two weeks and told me to take it very easy this week. I am experiencing some similar feelings like I did before I went into labor the first time, hopefully he can hold off until Monday. My doctor is going to be in Italy Thrusday through Sunday, but don't worry another doctor has been briefed about my situation just in case. So ready of not here he comes! We will keep you posted if anything new develops.

Isn't this Amazing

This is a picture of a picture of the 4D ultra sound we had done while I was in the hospital. Sorry it is a bit fuzzy but I think you can see the picture. It's amazing what they can do now. We can't wait to be able to hold and love on this little guy.

Nesting

Well since we have been here I have had this strange desire to straighten the books in the bookshelves and yesterday I finally did it. Can you tell which ones I was able to reach? I figured Marvin wouldn't be too happy if I attempted the top shelf. The beautiful thing is I was able to do most of it sitting down. I only had to stand up to straighten the second to the top shelf. We hope that this little bout of nesting doesn't predict out little guy is coming this week, he still needs to hold on one more week. It's such great news to think we made it to week 33! PTL!

My Big Ideas

Marvin loves it when I start a sentence with, "I have a really good idea" or "You know what I was thinking?" or "I was thinking it would be good to....."

Usually these sentences require some work on Marvin's part, most of the time more than I orginally thought they would take. I am a very big picture thinking, so I often forget about the details, so usually my great ideas often involve a lot more work than I orginally anticipated.

So knowing this about me, you can imagine what Marvin was thinking when I said, "I have a really good idea, but I need your help." This time my great idea was to freeze a few meals so that we wouldn't have to cook once the baby comes, but since I can only stand for 10 minute stretches cooking is pretty much off limits, thus I needed the help of my amazing husband.

I broke up the cooking in two different days, and tried to help with as much as I could do, but the first day Marvin ended up cooking all afternoon. The second day went a lot smoother, but Marvin was very glad that it was finished. Right now our freezer is stuffed with a wide selection of meals, calzones to soup, thanks to a guy who humors my great ideas.

The excitement of our lives

Well Marvin bought me a curling iron!!! I am so so excited to have something other than lion hair! He even stood in line for 30 minutes waiting to buy it. Apparently the store he bought it at was having a huge clothing sale and Marvin was one of the only men in line. He felt a bit out of place, but I certainly appreciate his time getting one for me. My curling iron broke before we left Nineveh and we thought we would just pick one up here. What we didn't know is that they are all so expensive, thankfully Marvin found one that was on sale. This has rocked my little world the last couple of days, and was a big pick me up.

Marvin has been talking about the start of college football all week. It is so fun to watch how excited he gets, it's like he is a kid waiting for Christmas.

Bed Rest

Bed Rest....well I'm not going too crazy yet, but I am counting down the days till my next outing, a doctor's appointment on Monday. In the times when I long to do something other than stare at the walls of the rooms that have become too familiar I remind myself of the task ahead. Keep our little guy put for the time being. It has been a pretty uneventful week, PTL. The doctor lowered my medication to 4 times a day instead of 6 and the last couple of hours before I take a new pill I have a few stronger contractions, but I am starting not even to notice them. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

I have really enjoyed my time in the good book and feel fortunate to have this time to dig deeper and spend more time with our Father. I know moms of young children don't have the luxury of these lengthy times. I know I will look back on this time and feel so thankful for the things he taught me.

I knew it would be hard having others do things that I am used to doing such as cooking and cleaning. I have really been shown how prideful and stubborn I am through this whole ordeal. A few days into bed rest I was wrestling with this issue and I decided I was going to watch a DVD on our computer but I had to bring the computer into our room. I noticed Marvin had fallen asleep and instead of waking him I remember there was a card table that I could slide it to our room with ease. I opened it up in our room but then thought a better place for it would be near the outlet so I raised it up and pop, I nailed the light. Of course the shattering glass woke Marvin up and he wasn't too happy that I decided to set up my own "entertainment center" without his help. But he caringly told me "you have to let me do things for you." These words stuck to my heart.

As I sat there crying, it reminded me of the sin in my life and how so many times I try to do so much on my own. Now as I look at the empty light it has become an Ebenezer. My own "stone of hope", reminding me that I can't do it on my own, it's okay to cry out to Father with my fears and struggles regardless of how little they might seem to me and it has been a constant reminder of the strength only He can provide.