Filled with Joy

"I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High" (Psalm 9:1-2).


We have SO much to be thankful for! This little baby is a constant reminder of God's faithfulness, provision and adoration. I love that our little guy is kicking and moving all the time--it makes it very difficult to forget the wonderful gifts that the Lord has given us! I pray that our son would be a worshiper of Christ and that the Holy Spirit is already molding him to be a follower of Jesus. He's very active during church and I find myself wondering if he is praising God in his own little way already :). It reminds me of the story of John the Baptizer leaping for joy in the presence of Christ--even while they were both in their mothers' wombs!


"A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, 'God has blessed you above women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honoured, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said'" (Luke 1:39-45).


I am determined to spend these next couple of weeks remembering God's blessings, his faithfulness, his GOODNESS in our life! Instead of moaning that the baby still isn't here yet, I want to follow the example of Mary, who worshiped the Lord with singing:


"Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever" (Luke 1:46-55).


We 
    are
        so
           Blessed

Officially full term!

Woo hoo! As of tomorrow I am officially full term! Way to go, Squirrel, for cooking happily in my belly this whole time! The weather has been very hot and muggy but oh so lovely. It definitely helps that my aunt and uncle graciously let us swim in their pool every day. Usually I'll walk to the pool (and get all hot and sticky on the way) and meet David there when he's finished work. It's a great system and a huge blessing! Our little guy seems to love it when I swim as he kicks up a storm and tries to poke limbs through my skin. I always find it entertaining that he is swimming in me while I'm swimming in the pool--albeit, I'm not swimming in my own pee ;). We are all ready to have this little guy. You hear that, Squirrel? You can come out now; your daddy and I want to meet you!! The carseat is in, the hospital bags are packed, the freezer is stocked, the nursery is set up, and the Braxton Hicks contractions are happening frequently. I suck at waiting. But it's been a marvelous summer! Besides all the sun, sleep and social time I've been getting, David and I have had a number of fun special date times. Last week he took me to the Boathouse for a lovely dinner followed by a walk around Rocky Point. I touched a Canadian Goose! ... She didn't seem to care :). David got Friday off at the last minute, so we went and saw "The Dark Knight Rises" in IMAX with David's dad, and then today I was able to surprise David with AMAZING foot massages! We've been so grateful for all the special times together we've been able to enjoy--we know that it might be a while before we can do date-y things! We spend most evenings going for long walks or playing board games. He's so good to me! And boy, he is going to make one heckuva great dad! So come out, little one, and meet your daddy--he can't wait to finally hold you! We thank the Lord every single day for you and the joy you already bring us!

Here are those pictures I promised you! I thought I would include newborn(ish) ones of both David and myself, and then ones when we're toddlers. It seems very likely that our little boy will have dark hair when he comes out!

(Less than) Six Weeks to Go!

Well, the countdown is on! Apparently I can go into labour at any point and my midwife won't attempt to stop it. So come, baby, come! But we actually can't deliver in Maple Ridge until I'm at 36 weeks, and that would be ideal... so... give it 11 days and then come, baby, come!

Last week I started having some pre-term labour symptoms, so I had to go into the hospital to be checked out. This is the second time I've had to go in there and be assessed during this pregnancy (the first was when I broke my wrist), and to be honest, it's kind of nice getting to know some of the maternity nurses before I am in actual labour :). I didn't think I was in legitimate labour, but I was excited nonetheless. David, on the other hand, kept saying, "We're not ready! We don't have our labour kit packed!" It was cute, but totally untrue. We (actually HE) has been ready for weeks and weeks, and with the exception of diaper practise, David is 100% on the ball and ready to help get this baby out, fed, loved, and home. I feel like he's done all the work so far! Someone remind me of that point when I'm in active labour. Or don't. I still do karate.

Anyway, we obviously did NOT have a baby on June 23rd. I was a-ok and so was our little dude.  He missed the memo though and was mighty active during the non-stress test; it took TWO HOURS for him to be still for FIVE MINUTES so they could get his baseline heart rate. The nurse and midwife kept giving us pitying looks. I'm pretty sure they think we're screwed. Meh, I can deal with active babies. I think if he was really inactive I wouldn't know what to do!

We had an ultrasound last week to follow up on the position of the placenta. It's at least 4 cm away from the OS so they are not concerned at all--thank you, Jesus! Baby is growing and happy too, so it was a wonderful day of celebration.

I've been looking at some of David's baby pictures to get an idea what our little guy will (probably) look like. I've heard that most babies look like their fathers when they come out; however, my brother's little girl looked like her maternal uncle at first, so I guess the theory isn't foolproof! I would upload a picture of David as a baby, but blogger is being a booger and won't let me. I'll try to remedy that for next time.

And I'm off! The sun IS here and it DOES look like it's going to stick around! Huzzah!! It's swimming and tubing and beach-bumming for me!