The Daily Life of Sweetpea[s]

Hello, friends of the sweetpea blog.

We are thrilled!!!!

Currently I'm researching agencies, which feels a little overwhelming. Hopefully, we will narrow it down in the next few weeks.

We'd appreciate your prayers. Of course, being the total blogger nerds we are, we have already started a blog to document our adoption journey. Stop by if you like. :)

# posted by sweetpea : 5:42 PM  12 comments

1. Reading books about fetal development week by week. This has totally opened my eyes. I didn't know that the baby has a heartbeat by 5 weeks and that by the end of the first trimester the fetus is virtually complete in form and actively functioning--all major systems and organs are have developed. Wow!

2. I have cleavage. This is new for me. I went up a whole cup size before the end of my first trimester.

3. Researching baby strollers, car seats, cribs, diapers, etc. I thought this would overwhelm me, but I'm really enjoying it. We don't have much space in our apt., so we have to keep extra baby things to a minimum. (swings, playmats, etc.)

4. Going to my midwife appointments so that I can hear the heartbeat.

5. Asking our parents what we were like when we were babies/kids. Stephen's mom says he was very mischievous. I was bald for the first year of my life.

Hubby and I went to Memphis this weekend. I had to shoot a wedding, but we also got to spend time with husband's brother and his wife. We had lots of tasty food including pulled pork sandwiches at Rendezvous and Gus's World Famous fried chicken (seen here before and after.) Mmmmm....it's been a long time since I've had fried okra and this was my first time for fried pickles!

Thank you, Andrew, for loving me through 10 years of marriage. Through great joy and great loss, pregnancies, a miscarriage, through depression and healing. Thank you for loving me through all my struggles as a mom, especially the mother's day when I stood in the kitchen and announced I didn't want to be a mother anymore. Thank you for the humor and the inside jokes. Thank you for loving the boys so beautifully and thank you for your quiet strength and patience as I was tossed by the waves of life. Thank you for allowing me to pursue my dream of adoption. Thank you for never expecting perfection. I have always received grace from you. Thank you for taking trash duty. Thank you for all those nights you have gotten up with the boys so that I could rest. Thank you for loving me at my worst and best.

I love you...

Here's the Bjork video I was telling you about, Martha. Introduced to us last summer by WG's husband, Stephen.

Although I know it's VERY important, I get a little oversaturated by the green environmental push these days. (Hubby uses the word "sustainable" and I like that better than "green.")

I sort of blocked it out for a while. But, yesterday I got some canvas bags from Patagonia (A good friend of mine works there) and I used one today when I went to the grocery store. It made me so happy to use my cloth bag instead of the plastic and paper ones that clutter my pantry (and are a waste of energy and money). I felt like cool, hip, environmental yuppie girl.

Tagged by Lindsay, 7 Things about me.....

1. I really can't express it strongly enough: I hate The Bachelor. I
could write an entire post about how and why.
2. Yesterday I bought some stick tacks that are green, blue, and brown. They are
also celadon, robin's egg, and cocoa.
3. I am using them to post important stuff on the wall behind our computer. Stuff
like all our online passwords. Stupid, huh?
4. I am an admirer of funky folk embroidery, and am trying to teach myself how to
do it.
5. I am getting back into Lost.
6. I am on Day 8 of a gluten-free, dairy free, caffiene-free (mostly), sugar-free
diet.
7. I feel great, but am running out of things to eat. Brown rice, anyone?

I have been wiping small bums for many years now. Thankfully, despite a new diagnosis of dyslexia, the 6-yr old can wipe his own. (Although he likes some assistance) So for almost 7 years I have had the daily task of cleaning two bums, one the beautiful color of olive oil and the other the color of snow.

My boys determine their length of stay on the toilet (as in our ONE toilet) by the length of the book they are flipping through. Only then are they willing to dismount and begin the laborious wiping/not-quite hand washing process. (Thank you Lord, for antibodies)

Today, I walked in to the bathroom to find Ethan flipping through a Far Side anthology. (He was only midway) I told him that he needed to be finished on the potty. He said, "But mom, I ate french fries too." Communicating that he was not sure that his fries from lunch had made it completely through his system, so therefore he should continue sitting and finish his Far Side anthology.

I wasn't up to explaining that his french fries, eaten 30 minutes earlier, may need more time then that.

I have a fun announcement to make: I'm 3 months pregnant!! See my baby bump? My family is speculating about twins since I seem to be showing a little early, but we only heard one heartbeat last week. I guess we'll find out at the sonogram in 4 weeks. =) Anyway, husband, family and I are SUPER excited. This will be the first grandchild for my parents.

I'm fully into maternity clothes now. My mother-in-law bought me some cute outfits this weekend. The only non-maternity pants I fit in now are 2 sizes bigger than my normal size. Is this normal?

Also, can anyone recommend a place to buy maternity pants for tall girls? Gap and Old Navy seem to be my only options for "tall" sizes.

My mother is a beautiful woman. She's a teacher in a small elementary school and I got an email from one of her colleagues recently telling me how much she loves and appreciates my mom. I hear that a lot. I didn't fully appreciate my mother when I was younger. In my teen and college years we fought frequently, but as I've gotten older I've really enjoyed getting to know her as a fellow woman and friend. I don't live near her, but we talk every saturday morning, sometimes for hours. She loves and encourages me and offers the kind of wisdom that a woman with four children and 36 years of marriage can offer. She always has a big hug ready for her friends and family and her mexican food is to die for. Her love and faith in God has really kept our family together. Today I am immensely thankful for my beautful mother.

Happy Mother's Day to you wonderful moms out there. I wish you peace, love and joy. Thank you for all you give to your children, spouses and families.

(This photo of my mother was taken by my father in September 1972.)

I'm listening to a fantastic Oxford-style debate on NPR regarding global warming. Really, go listen to it--it's excellent.

The proposition being debated: "Global Warming is not a Crisis."

I really wish these types of debates happened more often. It does my soul good.

An excerpt from Richard Lindzen, meteorology prof at MIT:

"Please keep in mind what the proposition is. It is not a debate over whether the earth has been warming over the past century. The earth is always warming or cooling, at least a few tenths of a degree…. Indeed, as far as I can tell, even our opponents do not claim that global warming is a crisis at present. Rather, we are primarily addressing the future. Now, much of the current alarm, I would suggest, is based on ignorance of what is normal for weather and climate."

Today we had an impromptu field trip to Watsonville, CA with our good friends the Chen's. The boys and I picked 11lbs worth of berries!! ***Actually we picked more than that, but Ethan ate as he picked.***

...about evangelicals and adoption.....