Conversation with Philip

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Friday's Feast #141

Appetizer: How fast can you type? Pretty fast but nothing to brag about. All those journalism classes in college kept my typing skills up. And now blogging does!

Soup: What is your favorite online game? Text Twist

Salad: On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 as highest), how intelligent do you think you are? It may be shocking, but I'd say 7. Obviously, I'm not a rocket scientist and there has to be truth to "If you don't use it, you lose it." I did attend a magnet high school for the college-prep (IB) program and did pretty well before getting burned out the summer before my senior year.

Main Course: Name three of your best teachers from your school years. Mr. Greer (8th grade History), Mrs. Ashworth (10th grade English), and Coach Altman (11th grade Psychology).

Dessert: What are your plans for this upcoming weekend? Well, it's now Saturday night and we spent the day at my mother-in-law's house (Matthew helped her prime the kitchen walls and paint the living room walls; we're helping her with her Extreme Home Makeover!). Plans for tonight and tomorrow would be having our daughter if it be God's will! I'm so much more out of shape this go 'round and so my body is aching all over.

38 Week OB Check-up

Well, I've progressed a little more this week and at my appointment today, the doctor said I am now 2 centimeters dilated! Our ultrasound also went very well however the baby is not as big as I was thinking she might be (what a relief!). She is estimated as weighing 7 lbs. 5 oz. which makes me not so concerned to get her out immediately. I'm still having contractions throughout the day so there's just no way to know when she'll be arriving.

Yesterday I decided to pull out the stops in trying to go into labor. Monday night, Matthew, Philip and I walked around the neighorhood (including the biggest hill!) and Tuesday I drank three cups of Raspberry Zinger Tea. (I drank two cups the night before my water broke with Philip so I had high hopes. Now I think the timing was just right that time but not this time.) These pregnancy-inducing myths prove to be BUSTED as nothing happened last night and for most of today. During our evening prayer service, I had four contractions which brings me to my frustration. When I sit still for some time, I begin having contractions but as soon as I get up and start moving around, they stop.

This morning, I decided God's plan will beat out every myth everytime. He brought to my mind two scripture verses which I will cling to throughout the next few days in combatting the struggle of trying to control this situation (my doctor did ask if I wanted to think about doing something medically to start labor but since the baby is still less than 8 lbs., I'd rather wait and let things happen naturally).

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord." Isaiah 55:8

Not for the faint of heart...

Ok, I'm not sure if I should post these photos or not but since my blog is somewhat for my own journaling purposes, here goes. Matthew took a photo of me in a bikini each month of my pregnancy with Philip. This second pregnancy has received much less camera-time, but as my due date is only days away (14!), it was time to don the bikini again.

This is me at 37 weeks pregnant with Philip. Scary! (The photos are small to keep the shock value low.)

This is me at 38 weeks pregnant with our daughter. Even scarier! I know a lot of people say pregnant women are beautiful but not there right at the end. At least not in a bikini!

Family Night

After seeing how much fun Philip had at Chuck E. Cheese's a few months ago during a MOPS playdate, I wanted just Matthew, Philip and I to go again for a family outting before his baby sister was born. Matthew suggested last Friday night and we had a really good time.




We arrived just after 6:00pm and to our relief, it wasn't that very crowded. I had found a coupon online for one large pizza, three drinks and 30 tokens for $17.99. Philip had been excited all day about having pizza at Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner and he did eat really well despite having everything to look at around him.

You would think 30 tokens sounds like a lot for a two-year-old but it only took about an hour to go through them. Philip rode all the rides in the toddler section plus a few of the other things in the main area (a few of them on Matthew's lap!). I also burned some tokens on those "chance" machines to get tickets and Matthew played Pac-man a few times. Philip ended up with 38 tickets which he redeemed for a Tootsie Roll, a small plastic fish and a toy that spins up in the air when you blow into it.

It was a really great night despite my waddling around!

Daddy's Hats

Philip is always looking for one of Matthew's ballcaps to put on. He either then just begins running around the house or says, "I go play baseball with Daddy and the boys." He's really cute in the way he wants to be just like his Daddy. He found out recently that Daddy's hats backwards make good football helmets too.

Friday's Feast # 140

Appetizer: What is your favorite kind of bread? Sourdough (especially the bread bowls at Atlanta Bread Company)

Soup: When was the last time you bought a new pillow? It's been probably 3-4 years. I know it was before having Philip. We probably need to get new pillows again.

Salad: Approximately how many hours per week do you spend surfing the ‘net? Probably 7 hours (about an hour a day when you add up the minutes it takes to check all the blogs I read plus read an occasional article on msn.com).

Main Course: What’s the highest you remember your temperature being? It reached 102.9F this past Christmas Eve which was scary because I was pregnant. It may have been higher sometime during my childhood.

Dessert: Fill in the blanks: When I __cough__, I __pee__. (Sorry if that's TMI, but it was the first thing that popped in my mind.)

Week 37 OB check-up

I just returned from my OB check-up today and am excited to say my doctor told us my cervix is 1 centimeter dilated! These contractions I'm feeling here and there are doing their job. I did test positive for Group B Strep as I did last time with Philip. It only means I will be given antibiotics during labor to protect the baby from any infection. I would almost rather get the medicine either way because how do they know my body wouldn't pick up Group B Strep (a bacteria found naturally on some foods) in the next two weeks anyway.

If God lets me go into labor naturally within the week, it would be a big blessing. My dad is flying to Maine next Wednesday to visit with his family for 6 days (flying home on Monday). His mom, stepfather, brother and sister and their families live there. My grandma has been showing signs of dementia and my grandpa is in the second stage of Alzheimer's so Dad was wanting to visit with them soon. It became more important to go after my grandma had a stroke last week. Thank you for praying for my dad to have a safe trip.

If our daughter is born before he leaves, while he's gone or after he returns, we'll all be so excited to meet her and I know her Papa will love her just as much as he loves Philip. Looking forward to finally telling everyone her name too!

Happy Anniversary, Sweetie!

Sunday, Matthew and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. We actually celebrated on Saturday as Sundays are always busy. We had made plans to have Philip spend the night with Mollie and Michael so we could have a fun date night out. Not until around 3:00pm Saturday afternoon did I find out that it was Prom Night meaning all the "nice" restaurants would be packed. Actually it worked out rather well.

We first headed to Mollie's house to drop off Philip's stuff for his "sleepover". I was actually nervous (partly hormonal from the pregnancy) leaving him there as he's my baby and he has only spent 1 or 2 nights away from both Matthew and I. (We found out Sunday morning that he had a great time!) All five of us then drove to the church to attend a reception in honor of a possible new Minister of Music (also found out Sunday morning that he was voted in unanymously so our church staff is again complete - no interims! Praise The Lord!).

Anyway, back to our date... after stopping at City Range and being told the wait was an hour and 15 minutes, Matthew and I began thinking of other places. We agreed upon Ryan's as the dessert bar totally held my vote! There was no wait and I could choose anything (and almost everything) from the buffet to get (I've not had any specific cravings just lots of different things so it was perfect). After eating our full, we continued our date at Target despite a torrential downpour. We purchased a few more things for the baby, a few things for Philip and a new book for Matthew.

Finally home and a flashback to two and a half years ago... no little person to bathe, settle into bed and await calling our names in the morning. I still awoke at 7:15am even though the alarm would not go off until 7:45am. I enjoyed my morning watching the morning news instead of Thomas the Tank Engine and Matthew prepared a great omelette breakfast for us before church.

Matthew, you are the man I was waiting for. Not perfect (sorry, sweetie, nobody is), but definitely perfectly picked out by God for me. We've had a wonderful seven years together and I'm excited to see how our lives get even better with the upcoming addition of our daughter. Seeing you hold Madeline makes me excited that much more to see you with our own little girl. Philip and I both adore you and she will too!

Matthew holding his niece Madeline. (Click here to see more photos from our weekend with Jonathan, Lori, Hannah and Madeline.)

Friday Feast #139

Appetizer: When you were a child, which crayon color was your favorite? I remember liking Periwinkle.

Soup: On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest), how likely would you be to change jobs if it required you to move? Seeing that my job is a stay-at-home mom, I think there's little chance of me taking on any new jobs at the current time. So my answer is 1.

Salad: Take all the numbers in your birthday and your phone number and add them up, one by one. What’s the total? 81

Main Course: Have you ever “re-gifted” anything? If so, what was it and who did you pass it on to? Yes, a few things. A knife set and a candlestick set but I'm sure there were others. Can't recall who we gave them too. Usually regift to people we don't really know that well. I did get a gift once that had another gift tag in it clearly showing me that I had been "re-gifted".

Dessert: Name something you need from the store. Milk. Matthew should be picking some up on the way home.

Week 36 OB Check-up

Matthew, Philip and I went to "baby sister's doctor" as Philip calls it for my 36 week check-up yesterday. Everything's still on track however I asked for the doctor to examine me to see if there were any changes internally. It was on my mind because Monday evening I thought I was really in labor. Between 4:30pm and 7:00pm, I think I had about 7 or 8 contractions. Nothing too constant but enough to get my attention, finally get my hospital bag packed and for Matthew to put the bassinet together. (Yes, the infant car seat is still in the attic!)

Well, Dr. Hendrix said my cervix is about 80% effaced but not dialated at all yet. To me that sounds like if I start doing jumping jacks every day my water might break and this little girl would be on her way out! I am feeling pretty lousy (I don't take this child for granted one bit!) and not sleeping well at night. Some moments I'm ready for her arrival but others I get nervous about the delivery as well as just want her to get as strong as she can before entering this world. I'm thinking she's probably 6.5 or 7.0 lbs by now as she was almost 5 lbs a month ago. I tell her when I get nervous, "Baby girl, God knows your birthday. I'll see you then." It is hard to believe that no matter the day, she will be arriving sometime in the next 3-4 weeks! Just the way my body feels right now, I'm thinking maybe within the next 2 weeks but we'll see.

Easter Sunday

This Easter I unfortunately did not take much time prior to Sunday to reflect on all Christ has done for me through His life, death and resurrection. Our Sunday morning service was very good and four men from the choir sang, "Arise, My Love" which always touches my heart and makes me want to worship our Lord that much more. However, I did relish seeing Easter through Philip's eyes this year. I love asking him what he learns in Sunday School because it excites me to see a toddler become so excited to learn about Jesus. Last Sunday (Palm Sunday), his answer was, with a bright smile and sparkling eyes, "Jesus is coming. Yeah!" He even knew that Jesus rode down the road on a donkey.

On Easter morning, we got him up to show him what we had given him for Easter. A basket of chocolate candies and his own Bible to begin carrying to church. Before letting him have any candy, we read with him from his Bible the pages about the crucifixion and resurrection.

He then got to eat some candy before getting ready for church.

After church, we met Ruth Ann, Elise, Arden, Grandma Brooks, and my parents at Ruth Ann's house for lunch. It was a nice time together. We told Philip to show everyone what he had gotten for Easter (his Bible) and he was excited to turn to the page that showed "Jesus on the cross. He's hurt." My dad then turned the page to the picture of the women looking into the empty tomb and asked Philip where Jesus was. Philip said very happily, "He's not there. Jesus is alive!" Oh, how I long for Philip to always hold these truths in his heart and to remain just as excited as he is this year.

Lunch was very yummy and then we headed outside for Philip to find the eggs Matthew had hidden around his mom's yard.

Silly Daddy! Matthew hid this egg up in a tree but at least he helped Philip get it down.

All smiles after finding all the eggs.

Sharing a moment with "Grandma Mary".

Matthew and I are blessed to have both our parents living in town with us. Special events are pretty easy to plan as his mom and my parents live on the same street.

After going with Matthew to the hospital for his Deacon visitation duty, all three of us took late afternoon naps. We ate dinner and then Philip and I dyed Easter eggs. I loved doing this growing up and thought why not try it with him. He only broke one egg by shoving it down into a glass of dye which already had another egg in it!

Philip really thought the whole process was quite entertaining. He's in a very independent stage and didn't want my help much at all. If left on his own, he probably would have dunked each egg in all six colors! He didn't seem impressed when I showed him how to dye an egg two different colors by holding it in half way.

Philip did however really like coloring on the eggs with this little marker and stencil kit I had from years ago.

The marker caps proved to be fun all on their own!

Our weekend with family

We were delighted to have Jonathan, Lori, Hannah and new baby Madeline come visit for the weekend. It was a last minute decision as Jonathan and Lori had been sick last week but Jonathan found out mid-week that he had Friday off from the museum for Good Friday. They drove in late Thursday night and stayed until Saturday afternoon. We had a good time hanging out together at Ruth Ann's house Thursday and Friday and at our house on Saturday. Hannah and Philip were so cute playing together as they had both been eagerly awaiting the chance to see each other again.

I found confidence in watching how Lori managed both Hannah and Madeline (albeit with several extra adults all wanting to hold Madeline whenever given the chance). She is a beautiful baby with a calm nature. Oh, for us to be so blessed as well with our new little girl.

Friday afternoon was fun as we all went to the park (same place Philip and Papa played on Wednesday) and then to Bruster's for an ice cream treat. Saturday, we enjoyed a lazy day of sitting around our house as Hannah and Philip played with all of his toys with only an occasional sharing disagreement.

She also showed him her favorite new pasttime, the educational website Starfall. I hope to use it for some good Mommy and Philip time in the months to come as he can develop his computer mouse skills while learning his ABC's. We hated to see them go, but our visits will be much more frequent since they've moved to North Carolina.

Update on Grandma

My Grandma Allen is doing well after heart surgery last Wednesday. Hopefully she will be moved from ICU to a normal room today or tomorrow. My Aunt Maureen is exhausted as I think she has been driving each day to visit her mom. Maureen lives 1 1/2 hours from the hospital. She has two little dogs which is probably the reason she goes back and forth each day instead of staying in a nearby hotel. Thank you for the prayers.

Friday Feast #138

Appetizer
When you travel, which mode of transportation do you prefer? If I really had my pick, it would be by train. I rode trains in England and really enjoyed them. They don't make me nervous like planes and yet you have plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy the view.

Soup
Have you ever met a blogging friend in person? I met a friend of my sister-in-law's after I had read her blog a few times first. Now I can read her blog without feeling like a stalker.

Salad
When was the last time you were really, really tired? Right now! The bad thing is being 4 weeks from having a baby, I know it's only going to get worse before getting better!

Main Course
If you could have dinner with any one fictional character from a book or movie, who would it be? I'm adding TV to the choices and saying Jack Bauer. Partly because I've NEVER seen him eat and partly because I can't think of anyone else to say.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: One day, I hope to see _____. The Grand Canyon again and this time with Matthew and our kids.

Our "Spring Break" Outing

Well, this week is Spring Break in our town but it really doesn't apply to us. However, since my mom was visiting her sister in Atlanta for the week, I thought it would be fun to spend some time with my dad on Wednesday (his day off during the week since he works on Saturdays).

Philip and I drove over to his house at 4:00pm to pick him up and head to our park. I thoroughly appreciated my dad being there! I sat my 8-month pregnant self down on the bench and watched Philip and Papa explore the playground equipment. I think they both had a lot of fun and Dad even encouraged Philip to go down the really big twisty slide only to slide down it himself too.

After about an hour at the park, we drove back to my house to meet Matthew before heading to the world famous Beacon for dinner. The Beacon is a Spartanburg landmark which Dad had mentioned wanting to try sometime. As it's a restaurant known for greasy food, I thought this would be a great time to take him as I don't know if Mom's system could handle it just yet.

The Beacon has been featured on Food Network before because it's a diner-type place that has been open for more than 50 years. Other than the huge amount of food you get (chili cheese hamburgers covered over by piles of french fries and onion rings!), the place is known for J.C., the man who stands at the counter and calls out every order to the people getting the food together. There's no way to describe his voice other than I have no idea what he is saying and no idea how he can scream out orders all day like that and he's been doing it for 50+ years! Philip kept looking down the counter at him with a very curious look on his face.

After we moved on down the counter to the man who hands you the food, he said to me, "I'm mad at you." All I said was, "What did I do?" He said, "You didn't order that baby anything," and slide a small plate of dill pickle slices on my tray. I discovered another of The Beacon's traditions that day -- a plate of pickles for all pregnant women! Funny. Philip and I enjoyed them.

Prayers for My Grandma

Today in Gainesville, FL, my Grandma Allen is having heart-valve replacement surgery. Like my mom's colo-rectal surgery, I am amazed and squeamish at the same time thinking about the abilities doctors today have. This is my dad's father's wife. My Grandpa Allen passed away in December as you may remember reading about on my blog. I pray Grandma's surgery is completely successful and without complications. Please also pray for my Aunt Maureen (Dad's half-sister). She lives just around the corner from Grandma in Florida, and the two pretty much take care of each other since Grandpa died. Maureen has severe lupus but manages ok. The rest of their family is in New York state.


Like I mentioned about my Grandpa, I don't know for certain that my Grandma knows the Lord Jesus as her Savior. I'm sure this surgery is pretty routine for those involved, but it's still scary knowing exactly what is at stake.


Thank you for your prayers and I will post an update when I hear something.



This is my Grandpa and Grandma Allen with Philip. He was about 6 months old when they came to visit. It was the last time I saw them, but would love to be able to visit my Grandma again one day and let her meet our new baby too.