So much news!

I have so much news to report... I will do my best to remember everything and get it all in.

First, last Thursday while sitting in my Dr's office waiting for my name to be called Jason and a surprise walked in - yep, my Mum all the way from Australia! I could hardly believe it and think I spend most of the day in shock and checking that she was really here! I had absolutely no idea she was coming!

The next thing that happened was during my Dr's appointment - I got off bed rest!
So taking full advantage of the situation (being off bed rest and my Mum visiting) we went to Disneyland on Friday. It was very nice to see all the pretty Christmas decorations, reindeer etc. but best of all just to be with my Mum. We managed to visit lots of stores while she was here, and finish up our Christmas shopping and get in lots of cups of coffee (decaf for me) to catch up on over a years worth of talking!

We also had a lot going on with the Youth Group last week, we went caroling on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights at three local convalescent homes. It was great to visit with the residents, and hand out Christmas gifts.
We have a few more things this year to look forward to, tamales on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day with Jason's family, New Years and then I think we will start the count down to our little girls arrival.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you as nice a surprise as I did!

Baby Shower

My baby shower was on Sunday. It was such a fun day and Andrea did an amazing job!
There were fun games, lots of great food, and we got lots of things for little baby Wright...
My best friend Kristen came down and surprised me for it which was the icing on the cake!
Enjoy looking at the pictures.

30 Weeks, not long now....

Here is a photo of me at 30 weeks... I am very happy to have made it this far and our little girl grows a little more every day she waits to make her grand entrance into the world.

Jason had this week off so I had company which was great, I also got to go out to the church Thanksgiving feast and to his parents place for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday which was great.

Surprise 80's shower!

Last Friday afternoon, I was sitting at home, expecting another night on the couch (although I was pretty excited because I had friends coming to visit) when Jason told me that I should get ready because I was going out!
Not a big deal normally, but when the only time you have left the house in the past 3 weeks was for a visit to the Doctor it is pretty exciting.

He had cleared with my Doctor for me to go to the Youth Group 80's party, just so long as I promised to stay sitting on the couch all night. No problem, I am really good at that. He had even been sneaky enough to get the friends who I thought were coming over to play along with the whole thing.

We got to the party, and I was confused to see some very non-80's decorations - they were pink and shiny (which I guess is actually pretty 80's) but they had 'Baby Girl' written on them... yep, they had fooled me, the 80's party was actually an 80's party/surprise baby shower!


The outfits were fantastic, and some of them didn't look that different to ones I am sure I have worn - leg warmers, baggy t-shirts with leggings, big crimped hair etc. The boys even made an impressive effort.


There were a few shower games that the youth participated in and Jason and I laughed at - drinking apple juice from baby bottles, guessing the baby food flavors etc. glad I wasn't expected to participate!












The night became even more of a surprise when the youth rolled out a baby shower present for us, an awesome stroller! Our little girl is going to be riding in style and comfort! I was shocked, I think you can tell by my expression! We also got some adorable outfits which I am having a lovely time imagining our baby in.



So, thank you youth group, we love it!

Bed Rest Update

I went to my Doctor on Thursday (my first time out of the house since I was put on bed rest), and things are good, the baby has calmed down for now and with continued bed rest things are looking good.


So for now I am allowed to lie in bed, lie on the couch, sit on the couch, go to the bathroom and get snacks... that is it. It has been challenging being obedient to the Doctors orders, but some advice from friends has reminded me that it will be all worth it in the end :)


It looks like I will be on bed rest until our little one arrives, but I have been given the all clear to go to the hospital maternity tour this Wednesday, and to go to my baby shower in December... next visit I will work being allowed out for Thanksgiving.


As you can imagine I don't have any very exciting stories to share... but feel free to share some with me!

Please Pray

Unfortunately today I was put on bed rest due to some mild contractions I was experiencing.
So for the next few weeks I am home on bed rest, hopefully after that I will be able to get up again...
Feel free to email, call, or recommend some good time-fillers...

Emma

Pattern of Good Works

It has been another great week this week.

I spent the first 3 days in Murrieta at my old college for a Pastor's Wives Retreat. It was great to get a few days away, and to hear some wonderful, inspirational teaching.

The theme was being a pattern of good works (Titus 2:7), the retreat theme was centered around that verse, and 1950's vintage pattern pictures - very creative.

I also got to catch up with my best friend Kristen, who I hadn't seen for far too long, and another great friend from college, Janina.

With Kristen at the Conference

I then had a Dr's appointment to check on our little girl, and got a nice surprise when the Doctor used the ultrasound machine to do the heartrate, not just the doppler. She couldn't find her doppler and the machine was in the room! How awesome!

We are both doing well, and as the weeks pass it seems like time is flying and she will be here before we know it!

With Jason's Aunt Nancy at the Conference

22 Weeks

Just wanted to quickly put an updated picture up - my belly has really started to pop and I got my first comment about being pregnant from a random stranger this morning.

I was in Starbucks and he said "Is that what the kid wanted" when they handed me my extra hot non fat hot chocolate" to which I replied "yep, no coffee", I think I even managed to sound like I enjoyed hot chocolate as much as coffee...

Another baby milestone this week was Jason feeling our little girl move for the first time. It was great, and he is convinced she is a soccer player.

Half Way!

Yes, today I am officially half way there... that is if our little girl decides to make her entrance on time. Anyone want to make a prediction - my offical due date is January 31.

Our baby's latest tricks include moving like crazy and then stopping the second Daddy puts his hand on my belly, sleeping on my bladder, and poking some tiny body part into some kind of internal organ that hurts like crazy! I thought the uncomfortable part of pregnancy wasn't until you were big!

We have started planning a little more now that we know we are having a girl but are still resisting the temptation to go out and buy an entire wardrobe for our little one. It's tough!

I have definitely decided that our girl will not be dressed entirely in pink, as cute as it is I don't want her having an aversion to pink into her 20's like her Mother does... seriously, every picture of me in my parents album up until age 11 I am dressed in pink... with one exception of a blue dress that Mum made me... I think it was my favorite due only to its colour... it can't have been the drop waist and square collar (sorry Mum, I am sure it was high fashion back then).

We have also started looking into what it will take to get our baby a passport ASAP, we are planning on visiting Australia in May of '08 for my brother's wedding, and of course that gives us limited time to get through the process of passport applications. Apparently the birth certificate the hospital give you doesn't count. After a few weeks (processing time) will have to line up with the millions at the Orange County registrar's office, and then get the certified copy and then we will get to join another line for passport applications, and then probably get to panic a few weeks before our flights because the passport hasn't arrived yet (because the US is backlogged because you now need a passport to go to Canada and Mexico). Should be a fun experience... as fun as flying with a 3 month old will be.

So, we will hopefully get to see all of our Aussie friends sometime next May... I am already shuddering at the thought of a Canberra winter... I acclimated to California too quickly!

It's a girl!

We have had an amazing week this week!

The week started with news that my brother Chris had proposed to his girlfriend Martine and then got even better.

On Tuesday I felt the baby move for the first time, it was an incredible experience and hard to describe. The best way I can describe it is as bubbles surfacing under my skin.

Then today we went for our ultrasound. The first thing our little one did was give us a clear shot between her legs showing that, we are having a girl! We suspected as much, due to my really bad morning sickness, but it is really great to know for sure.

She then went on to play a game of cat and mouse with the ultrasonographer, moving every time they tried to take a measurement, or get a clear picture. It was pretty funny.

She spent most of her time face down, curled up looking very comfortable. At one time she even held her finger up to her lips in a 'shhhhing' motion. We think that was her way of telling everyone that her name is a secret!

Shhhhhh!

We have decided that we will wait until after she is born to share what her name will be with everyone, partly because it is fun to wait, but also because I want to make sure she looks like she fits the name we have picked out for her!

Foot and 16 weeks

Time for an update...

Last week Jason and I went to San Diego with the Youth Group. It is a much anticipated end of summer event which involves a day at the beach, dinner in Old Town (with a visit to the candy store) and a baseball game.

Unfortunately on my arrival I fell on a patch of uneven road (yes, right as we got to San Diego), twisting my ankle. I did a really good job of it and couldn't walk for the rest of the day, my knight in shining armor (Jason) carried me to the beach, where I sat most of the day.

I went to get x-rays the next day and found out I had fractured a bone, chipping a piece off. It's really not too bad though, and the swelling is going down more every day.

I am supposed to wear a walking cast for 4-6 weeks but we will see...

Pregnancy is going well, I am 4 months, and my foot took my mind off the morning sickness temporarily, although now it is back in full force... this baby is going to have some explaining to do when it arrives...

We have scheduled our next ultrasound for September 5th and should be able to find out the gender of baby Wright. We plan on finding out because I like to plan way too much!

I would like to point out to all my Aussie friends who are currently in the depths of winter that I have a tan... yes, photographic proof to the right.

Anyway, hope you are all well, I will update again once we have some more news.

The Fair and The Festival

So here is my weekly update.

Friday night we went to the Orange County Fair with our friend Andrea, it was really fun and the first time I have been.
There was lots of fair food (cotton candy, funnel cakes, ice cream). I had a nice big corn on the cob and Jason had some kind of BBQ meat with potatoes.
There were some other interesting foods there - deep fried twinkies, deep fried cheesecake, deep fried snickers, deep fried avocado and my personal favorite, a Krispy Kreme donut with fried chicken in it, I am not making this up and I took a photo to prove it! (Check out the third sign at the top of the booth - if you click on the photo you will get a nice big version)






We also got to look at lots of different exhibits, including a giant 3000lb horse - it was so big but the pictures don’t do it justice because you cant get perspective of how HUGE he was. Just picture Jason standing next to a horse and it still being more than a foot taller than him.

Then this week we went to do another cultural thing (a little more cultured than the OC Fair). There is an art festival in Laguna every year called the 'Pageant of the Masters', part of the festival is a nightly performance of the 'Festival of Living Pictures'.
Now, I am not a huge art buff (although I do appreciate art) but this is the COOLEST art show you will ever see. Basically they take works of art and recreate them with real live humans. So they make a giant back drop, and place the characters in the picture, they then hold the position for about a minute or two. It's hard to explain how amazing it is, but the people posed in the pictures are painted and dressed to look EXACTLY like the real work of art.
I have included a photo of the last supper from the festival (yes this is the one with the people, not a picture of the actual painting), this is the closing piece every year.


So, we have had a fun week. My baby update is that this week I am 13 weeks. I have still got morning sickness (so much for it going away in the second trimester - I am still hoping), but apart from that am doing well.

Yes, I’m pregnant – why did we wait?

By now you will have worked out that yes, Jason and I are THRILLED to be expecting our first baby.

Some of you may be feeling a little out of the loop thinking, ‘but I didn’t know they were planning on having kids yet’ or ‘why did they wait 3 months to tell me?’ well the simple answer is that we didn’t really want the world to know we were trying because I had been told in the past that I may have difficulty getting pregnant and we didn’t want to share our news too soon because its fun to have special secrets between family and we wanted to test our parents patience… just kidding.

So now you understand here are the details…

• Our baby is due late January/early February a few weeks after our 5th wedding anniversary… I am sticking with Jan 31 as my due date because I don’t want to wait any longer than that.
  
• I have been having some charming morning sickness so please pray that this miraculously disappears as my first trimester is over.
  
• I do not look pregnant yet but am doing the rubber band around the button trick with my jeans.
  
• We are hoping to find out if we are having a boy or a girl but this won’t be for another few months.

We will be attempting to blog semi-regularly and posting lots of photos as things progress. Please feel free to pass this link on to anyone who was not included on this email because I have lost their email over the billion email address changes I have had in the past few years.

Thanks for praying and we love you all!