last day

Well, today is my last day at work ... for a while at least. After today, all that's really left to do is, well, have this baby. Am I ready for that? I don't know. Part of me is hoping I go another two weeks or so before labor starts. I could use the time at home to finish cleaning and organizing and getting rest. And yet, I'm also just so stinking tired of being pregnant, I'd welcome labor pains at any moment. Cleaning and organizing can happen when she graduates from college. All I know is that the waiting game has begun. My official due date is one week from this weekend, though I expect it'll be two weeks before we have any real action. I figure if I keep my expectations further out, then I won't be too disappointed when June 8 comes and goes without contractions and that longed-for harried drive to the hospital.

This impending and imminent motherhood thing has certainly been on my mind a lot lately. Having just recently celebrated Mother's Day, I can't help but compare myself to my own amazing mom. If I can be half the mom she was and is, I think my kids might turn out OK. And, though lots of domestic things come to mind like how good she is at cooking and crafts and decorating, its her character I long to most emulate. She is patient and humble, and truly interested and invested in her kids. She's also one of the wisest women I know. It seems a lot to live up to, and yet when I express any concern or fear to her about raising my own kids, she is encouraging and confident that I will do a great job, which means a lot to me. As many of you know, I'm not really what you'd call "a kid person." But my mom assures me she wasn't either, and look how great HER kids turned out.

Fortunately, babies don't enter the world at the terrible twos, ready for their first day of school or driving, or in the midst of the crazy teenage years. I get to start at the beginning, and take things one day at a time. I'm worried enough about breast feeding and changing diapers, I don't think I could handle much else just yet.

When I set aside my fears and uncertainties, I find myself really excited for this next and newest adventure in life. I can't wait to meet our daughter, the little wiggle worm who has taken over my body for the last 9ish months. I can't wait to see what she looks like, to watch her personality emerge, to dress her up in all the cute clothes we've been given (which is funny, 'cause even though I was never much into dolls, I can't WAIT to play dress up with Josie!). I just can't wait to get to know her.

I also can't wait to parent with Caleb. Though neither of us knows much about what we're getting into, we're excited to dive in together. Its always nice to be on a steep learning curve along with someone else, especially someone else equally as invested in the learning process. Oh, and talk about a man who is already wrapped around his baby's finger. Its going to be fun watching him be the sucker I know he'll always be for her.

I'll keep you as updated as I can over the next couple weeks. Here we go!

the sipalu bag

Several months ago I saw this kit on a favorite knitting website of mine (Knit Picks) and immediately thought of my sister-in-law Julie. It had all the right colors, and the pattern looked exotic and bohemian. With Julie's 30th birthday approaching in May, I ordered the kit (which came with 17 different colors of yarn and size 2 needles) back in December. Unfortunately, Knit Picks didn't make it truly available until the middle of March, so I didn't get started until then. However, two months turned out to be just the right amount of time to get the project finished.

Fair isle is the knitting term for working with two different colors of yarn at a time to create a pattern. As you can see, by the time I finished this purse I had used 17 different colors (no more than two at a time though) to create the beautiful and intricate design. It was a great learning experience, and though I hope I'm the only one that can tell, there is one side that turned out a little better than the other. My mom helped me make and sew in the liner (I may enjoy the knitting challenge, but sewing is not something I've ventured into yet). I finished just in time to wrap it up and give it to Julie on her birthday, Saturday the 23rd. I think she was happy with it.

The bag of yarns ... Seeing all these colors arrive in one bag was a little bit overwhelming ... but when you start working with just two at a time, it becomes manageable.

The purse in progress. I started with the side welt (the green and yellow part) and then knit the front and back panels along its edges. The panels were knit in the round, with even decreases in each round, so the knitter ends up knitting toward the middle of the bag, eventually ending up with just four stitches left to sew together. The last, top welt, is knit directly into the tops of the panels, and then the handles are knit into that. The construction is actually really intuitive and easy to work with.

The finished project. Not too bad if I do say so myself. And Happy Birthday Julie! It was so fun to knit something special for you for your big day.

julie's birthday

We helped celebrate my sister-in-law's 30th birthday yesterday with a big BBQ bash at a park in San Diego ... here are a few pics from the day.

Happy 30th Julie!

My handsome husband, watching the gift opening.

Julie opening the gift from me ... a purse I knit. (See future post for more on the knitting.)

This is Emma, one of the kids belonging to a friend of Julie's ... she was LOVING trying on Lauren's sunglasses.

Lauren, with a sleeping Madeleine.

Amy

Heidi at 38 weeks pregnant. I think I might stop taking pictures of myself from now on ... without them I can live in the happy delusion that I don't look as big as a house.

insult to injury

OK, so pregnancy isn't really an "injury," per se. But, it comes with its own list of discomforts, like not sleeping well, super swollen feet and hands (which go numb every time I blow dry my hair or try to knit), a sore back and a crushed bladder. This week, I added to these discomforts the good fun of dealing with a kidney stone. Though I'm becoming a reluctant expert on the subject, kidney stones still scare the heck out of me. They're the most painful medical condition I've experienced so far in my life. When not pregnant, one gets to take narcotic painkillers like Percocet and Vicadin. The first one I had, at age 17, I ended up in the hospital for 3 days, being poked and prodded and X-rayed like a biology experiment (which I didn't mind as long as they kept the drugs coming).

This time, fortunately, the pain wasn't as bad as I've experienced in the past (for which I am truly grateful ... b/c pregnant women can't take anything stronger than Tylenol ... which would be kind of like spitting at a wildfire). However, I still spent the last week enduring twinges of pain in my kidneys, and then was up half the night last night with more pain. I watched TV while I drank more water in an hour than any pregnant woman should (see "crushed bladder" in previous paragraph) ... but it still wasn't until nearly lunch time today that the stupid thing finally passed. I can't tell you what a relief it is to have it gone!

Now if only Josephine would take the hint and start making her move out of my tired and overworked body and toward the real world as well. (Just two weeks until due date.)

happy anniversary to us!

On May 6th, Hunky Hubby and I celebrated 3 years of marriage. Go us! In an effort to keep things simple and inexpensive, we opted for a small staycation. We took two days off work (Mon-Tues) and enjoyed a leisurely at-home four-day weekend. We did some cleaning and organizing around the house and in the baby's room, but also made time for leisurely activities like napping, sleeping in, watching movies, eating out, and even a little wandering around REI (our annual dividend, plus a 20% off coupon, enabled us to purchase a new travel/camping barbeque!). It was a splendid weekend ... which is nice, since it will probably be our last one kid-free for quite some time.

Using as many coupons and gift cards as we could, we actually kept the cost of our staycation down to a tank of gas and some snacks for the movie theater (we saw Star Trek at 2:10 on Tuesday afternoon ... soooooo the way to do a new release. There were only about 10 people in the whole theater!). So, our big splurge? Double scoop waffle cones at the ice cream parlor on Main Street in Disneyland. Mmmmmmm, well worth the expense. Caleb enjoyed butter pecan and another non-chocolatey ice cream, while I had mint 'n chip with chocolate chip. DE-licious.

Me in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle ... and 36+ weeks pregnant. (I'm starting to feel as big as Sleeping Beauty's Castle.)

Happy Anniversary! Aren't we cute?

the childbirth classes we'd rather attend

T minus 4ish weeks

Josephine is now 36 weeks along, in utero. Here are the pics we got on Friday. According to the ultra sound tech she weighs about 5 1/2 to 6 pounds. And the best part of the whole procedure was watching little Jo's mouth move in a sucking motion. Of course, I was sure she's already talking ... aware that she's a Lindley, she will have to emerge from the womb able to hold several conversations at once ... so she was probably just practicing. We're getting so excited to meet her soon!

Her feet.

Caleb's Liberia Photos

Just wanted to let y'all know that Caleb posted all his pictures from Liberia on Flickr for easy viewing by his fans. There's links in the sidebar to the right, or click on one of the two links below. Enjoy!

Out and about in Liberia

ABC University, Yekepa, Liberia