A piece of pretty

There's not much here, but when you can find it, pretty DOES exist in places in Dallas.  

It's all human-made though (the lake, arboretum, or heavily landscaped campuses), there's no natural pretty to be found.  It takes a lot of effort to get things to grow/bloom/be pretty here.

That being said, I was on campus today, and here's a picture of where I got my master's degree:

Grass is actually green for a few weeks in Dallas, and things are blooming in the background!

All that will quickly disappear--as it is getting warmer and warmer.  Yesterday and today have been too hot, 80's -90's with more humidity than is comfortable.  It doesn't help that I have a built-in heater though.

And the deluge...

The last baby shower.

This one was all-church, and it was huge!  I was actually pretty stressed about opening all those gifts, wanting to be respectful of people who didn't want to be sitting there forever, but also giving enough time and attention to each and making sure people know how truly grateful and appreciative I am...what a challenge!

The ladies/families who hosted all went in together and got us a glider rocker!  

I love it!

Carmen and her husband recently joined the church.

She's due with a baby girl to arrive 8 weeks after ours!

Just so you can get the feel for just how BIG this shower was...

here's about half.  Maybe.  Almost. 

I got to try out the rocker...

and sit in it the whole time I opened gifts!

Ricardo was there--good thing!  He helped with the big gifts.

I can't bend down to the floor quite as easily anymore.

Showing off one (yep, we got a few) of the gorgeous homemade quilts we received.

Showing off the hat and sweater Momma B made!

That's Danielle--the youth who volunteered to be "Christmas Elf".  She stood the whole time, passing me new gifts, taking the tissue paper and trash, and keeping me informed at how I was progressing ("you haven't even started the ones on the table yet!")

Phew.  We made it!  Tired...time to go home for a nap?

Nope...I still had to lead worship and preach in 2 hours.  

We lowered the back seat of the Jeep and packed everything in.  

We (and everyone else) were shocked it all fit! 

I'm glad, though...because two trips would have seemed WAY excessive.

Spoiled baby girl!!

Surprise!

So, I thought my next (and final) baby shower was on Sunday.  

Not true.  I showed up today for knitting group* today to be surprised with another one!  They had a cake and other goodies, a table full of presents, and it turns out they've been plotting this for quite awhile now, as most of the gifts were hand-knit or hand-crocheted.  

(*an informal group of seminary friends who meet every thursday in "the Perk" for a few hours to knit and talk and whatever else.  We usually are pretty good about having cake or some other treat too!)

So special...it was a lovely surprise, and they seemed to be delighted that they really had surprised me.  I had no clue.  Since I had no clue, of course I didn't bring my camera.  Sarah gets photo credit for most of these pictures, I hope she doesn't mind that I robbed them off facebook!

Sarah made the cake.  It was strawberry (yum!) with cream cheese frosting!

Present time!  Christine made this little crocheted turtle.  Too cute!

A darling sweater made by Mara. She gave Boo-Rod some cute khaki's to go with it.

Cheryl made this blanket.  Brown and green, reversible, matches the nursery perfectly!

I look freakishly excited about this one--but they were all too cute.  Sarah made this darling little sweater!

Tammy gave baby a set of onesies and this awesome notebook--comes with a subscription to Parent magazine!  :)

This was taken at home--Jodie crocheted this beautiful blanket, it's a gorgeous creamy yellow color!

This was a really cute card...

Knitting group.  L-R: Linda (she said she got the weeks mixed up, and gave me a gift last week--a cable-knit design mug from Starbucks, and a CD that she and her cousin did of baby music!), Calia, Tammy, Mara, Jodie, Sarah, Christine, Cheryl.  

One last surprise--in the mail today came a gift from Mrs. Stern.  A hand-dyed, hand-woven baby blanket!  She's amazing, not only did she make this wonderful baby gift, but she managed to mail it in time to get here on the same day as the surprise hand-made shower day!

Χριστος Ανεστη!

Happy Easter!

In case you've been following this blog, you'll notice a few posts all at once.  I started a couple of them but just didn't have the energy to get them organized and posted.  This morning the associate pastor asked me what I thought was harder: Easter or Christmas.  Both seasons are crazy-busy for us, but Easter seems to be more intense, possibly because it's shorter, so there's less time to squeeze in all the services/activities, etc.  

As much as I love Easter (and Christmas), I am very happy to be home in bed right now, gearing up for a nap, and catching up with all these blogs/pictures I've had on hold.  

Here's our Easter Sunday photos (plus a few extra baby bump shots)

Ekklesia Band and St. Luke Youth did the Sunrise service.  Unfortunately, due to thunderstorms, we had to hold it inside.

The Ekklesia Band, and some of the crazy S.L.Y.

In the later service, I did the children's sermon.  Ricardo was really far away, so I'm not sure these shots are all that sharp, but you get the idea.  

8 Baptisms this morning!

Baby Bump! (last week at 34 weeks). 

Baby Bump today (at 35 weeks--I think there's a noticeable difference). 

Ricardo and I after the service. 

Baby's Room

We are not done yet, but here are the pictures so far.

The crib was first.  Yay for Ricardo, he did it one night when I was at youth group.

I worked on curtains next...

Two of 'em

Detail of the print.  I'm not done quilting this yet, and I just realized that I hung it upside down for the picture too.  ha ha ooops!

A bigger-picture view of the room....so far.

Just keep swimming...

Getting ready to fall asleep (I hope! Alarm is set for 4am-the youth do the sunrise service tomorrow morning, and we need to get there around 5:30 for setting up/rehearsal, etc.)

But it's been awhile since I've updated the blog.  Perhaps there was nothing interesting going on, or perhaps it's Holy Week, and it goes with the nature of my job that it has been super-busy.  I'm pretty beat!

Yesterday was 10 on 10, and while I tried to take pictures, I'm not sure I got 10, and not sure I got 10 consecutive hours.  It's all about good intentions.  Perhaps next month.  

So, a brief photo journal of this week to catch you up with my life...and maybe next week I'll have a more organized post.  

I went to see our friends John & Debra's new baby boy...Congrats on such a handsome little guy!

Not for the squeamish...I took Ricardo to get allergy tested.  This is just a couple minutes into the test--poor guy is SUPER allergic to nearly everything!  After 6 or 7 minutes (of the 20 total the test is supposed to take), the allergist came in and told the nurses to wash it all off and get him an antihistamine right away.  At least now we know what he's allergic to (every blooming tree, grass, most plants, dust and pollens), and he can be treated for it.  

Sewing more...next post I'll put pictures of the baby room (so far...)

Here's the baby carrier I'm making. The pattern is a wreck, I'm half-way making it up! I hope it turns out.  Notice the numbers?  Baby's father is a mathematician. 

Good Friday was beautiful.  We worked outside for awhile, it was sunny but not very hot.  Ricardo took a little play-break...notice he's still wearing my pink gardening gloves while he scores his goal?

Showers (Storms?)

Yesterday was a "get-together" at Ricardo's work, for his co-workers to celebrate his coming baby.  They had asked me if I could come, since many of them don't know me.  They planned for a lunch/potluck/with cake at noon so professors would be able to drop in before and after their classes.  I was imagining an informal gathering with lots of handshaking and meeting and eating.

I was wrong!

The whole department was invited (which is not just math--Ricardo's area, it's called "College Readiness" and includes math, reading, and writing), so there were people there that even Ricardo did not know!  It was a full on shower, with chintzy pink decorations, a stuffed bear on the cake (yummy cake!), and some "academic" shower games (not too bad).  

3 hours later, Ric and I are still loading stuff into the jeep (the trunk wasn't big enough, we had to fill the backseat too).  They spoiled baby girl, and gave us some really special (handmade blankets and boppy covers) and practical (wipes! shampoos! products they know and use with their own!) gifts and we are grateful.  

One of the gift tables.  yep...just getting started.  One of the math professors joked that they don't teach gift wrapping in "geek school", which is why nearly all the gifts were in bags. 

 34 thank you notes to write, plus one more unknown, since when we got home and I'm unpacking everything we found a gift that I had not opened at the shower!

No card, no label, a bag and gift we did not recognize.  I checked the list that the department's administrative assistant had kept for me (she's wonderful, since I didn't know very many people at all, she wrote down everything, and then TYPED IT UP in a spreadsheet and e-mailed it to me!)  But...there's nothing that matches this gift's description in the list, so I'm sure it's one that didn't get opened.  So sad, because I don't know who to thank.  I e-mailed the admin. assistant to see if she has any investigatory ideas.  Any suggestions?

I hate it when that happens...by the way, if any of you gave us that oblong cut glass serving plate for our wedding 3.5 years ago, THANK YOU (if there was a card, it must have gotten dislodged at some point, we still don't know who gave it to us).  It is likely someone who is no longer speaking to us due to the absence of a thank you card for a lovely wedding gift.  

So, we survived shower #2.  Bigger than shower #1, and there's no telling what shower #3 will be: because it's the church one.  I am imagining a thunderstorm rather than a shower, and am so glad that Momma B is coming up for that one!

P.S.  I forgot to mention one of the best gifts of the day was from the interim dean of  the department...he gave Ricardo a book called "Fatherhood is Not Pretty".  

We have a fat, healthy baby!

I went in this morning for my 33 week (we got a little off on the weeks over the holidays) check up.  I had an ultrasound scheduled for before my appointment because I had not gained weight at my last visit, and my Dr. wanted to just double-check baby's growth.

After the ultrasound, she came in and said "Well, you have a healthy, perfectly growing baby!"  She said she was looking at the pictures and wondering why she thought we needed to do this--but happy that we did and that we don't have to regret or worry about anything.  

Gained 3 lbs, measured bigger, so apparently I just have a body that's good at hiding my fat little baby (4.8 lbs!!) and not to pay attention to anyone who has a negative opinion on my "show-y-ness" (or lack of it).  

We had the sonogram tech double-check the gender if she could, which was a little tricky because at this point there's not always a good view since baby's getting so much bigger.  She did get one glimpse though and said that yes, it looks like a girl.  

I guess I'll start cutting tags off clothes, etc!

We also got one picture--no great views, since our girl is just as obstinate about showing her face.  We got a tiny glimpse of a profile (seems like even less than last time, if that is believable).  She's facing my spine, so it's not easy to get her to smile for the camera, but we did get to stare at her nose for a second, and then the tech snapped a profile view, which is what you see above. 

We're very excited and curious to see what she'll look like, since we're not getting any hints from these photos!