January4

January 4, 2002

Week 33 (tomorrow starts Week 34)

Happy 2002 Natalie! This is the year we'll get to not only meet you but also experience many of your "firsts"! First smile, first tooth, and lots of others! By Christmas next year you'll already be ten months old, and that's something I can't hardly imagine. More and more now, I think about what you are going to look like, if you'll have mine or your daddy's hair (I hope not) or will get lucky and get hair like your Aunt Sarah, Aunt Nanny, or Aunt Julie's. They all have wonderful hair! I think about what color of eyes you will have and what your personality will be like. Will you have long skinny legs like me and your grandma (and your great-grandma and great-great-grandma)? We already know you will have long fingers just like Daddy and me, since we saw your hands in one of the ultrasounds. Will you have toes like mine or like his? We've often wondered how you will look like both me and your daddy at the same time. It's so amazing to think about: two people who were complete strangers not too long ago, now suddenly we will have this person who is half of each of us. God had planned that though, and knew about you a long time ago. God said that before he even began forming you inside of me, he knew you. Every single one of your days and your purpose for being on this earth was planned before any of us even knew you were coming! He knew you, who your mom and dad would be, your personality, the color of your hair and the shape of your toes! Mostly I just pray that you will be healthy and that we will be good parents to you. I'm going back and forth these days with feeling growing excitement and anxiousness for you to get here and also more scared about how our lives are about to change, and wondering just how I'll be able to handle having a little person who is completely dependent on me! Mostly I'm just excited about it, but right there along with the excitement at the same time, right around the edges, is always the feeling of "how am I going to do this?" I just keep telling myself, millions of people have done this before us, we'll be able to also! And we know we will have the help of the best father imaginable, who wants you to and will help you to become everything he's already planned for you. I know he'll be helping us out with the job of helping you to grow. Sometimes I get to worrying about just how we will provide for you, but then I remember how hard we tried for you to get here. After trying for so long, we were suddenly pregnant, so I know that timing was not just a coincidence. God has never let us fall before; he moves in our lives always what seems like for us to be at the last possible moment, but we just have to try to understand that it isn't the last possible moment, it's just God's perfect timing! So I know that's what you are too.

I just can't believe it's 2002 already. With less than 50 days to go until February 23, I've become more and more aware how it really could be any time now. There's no big holidays standing in between then and now to look forward to, so from here on we're just focused on getting ourselves ready for her increasingly imminent arrival. This weekend we are really, truly, and for certain this time, getting the office cleaned out and changed into a nursery. Mom and Brett came over last night to help us out with measurements of all the office equipment, and then we planned out on paper how it will be laid out in the kitchen area. It's going to be a little cramped for Phil, but it won't be too bad, and it won't be for that long either. We have taxes due for his business in a couple weeks, and after that we will hopefully be able to rent him an office space in Gahanna, but in the meantime I just couldn't stand the thought of going yet another weekend with nothing getting done to get ready! I know it's just completely pregnancy hormones, and more than a little illogical because honestly all I really need to have set up right away is a bassinet in our bedroom, but that's nesting for you. I can't deny it, I have the overwhelming need to get the nursery ready for our baby! On Saturday, Brett and Phil will be moving the office equipment into the kitchen, and then once we get everything else cleaned out (lots of stuff are just going to have to be put aside for a little while, like my scrapbooking table and keyboard), we'll get started on painting the walls on Sunday. Yes, I'll have the window open and I'll be avoiding the fumes! :) So hopefully by next weekend, we can have all the painting done and the Noah's Ark border up, and we can have a place to put stuff after my showers. Plus my two friends from church who are giving us their furniture (the crib and changing table) I know have been patiently waiting for us to be ready for them to bring them over; I'm sure they'll be glad to hear they can get the stuff out of their houses! Next week will already be really busy though, not only will we be finishing up the painting and such I'm sure, but it also starts our month of lots of appointments! Monday night will be our first of four weekly childbirth classes, and Tuesday we have our second breastfeeding class. Wednesday night we have church, so...well, at least we'll have Thursday and Friday to get the finishing touches done before next weekend! It just feels really good to have a plan to get things done at this point. I've been doing okay with waiting as long as I have, but now that the new year is upon us, I'd started to feel that imminent arrival thing and I just don't feel like I can wait anymore. I know this is something that I can't even get Phil to completely understand, and he's been living this with me the last eight months. Sometimes it makes me feel like I'm going crazy; I go from one emotional extreme to the other these days. I guess maybe this is just the one area that I know I CAN do something about right now -that is, getting my "nest" ready- so I just have to get it done.

At our visit with Dr. Teague on Monday, I told her how I'd suddenly been feeling a whole lot of pressure way down low within the last couple of days, so she did a manual check to make sure my cervix was still closed up. She said it was, which was a relief! She told me the baby has definitely started to drop though, which is why I'm feeling pressure now. She still gives me lots of sharp (sometimes pretty painful!) jabs in the ribs too, so she's not that low yet, but I've definitely noticed a difference with not being QUITE so out of breath all the time, and now I'm truly waddling like a duck when I walk. Even walking really short distances exhausts me now (not to mention I feel like I have to stop for a bathroom break every few feet). On Monday after my appointment Phil and I went shopping to find a new pair of dress shoes for him (Christmas money from Grandma Hedrick!) and we had the grand idea to go to Polaris Mall to look at Sears, JCPenney, and Kauffmans. The first store we went to was Sears and we should have just stayed there. Instead, after finding a pair of nice shoes there, we thought we'd just see what the other stores had, so we had to walk through the entire mall to get to each of the other stores, only to end up back at Sears buying the original pair. By the time we got back there, I just had to collapse in one of the chairs while Phil paid for the shoes. I was so very tired, and I just couldn't believe how badly my feet hurt. I keep forgetting that I can't do most of the things I could do even a month or two ago! You would think I wouldn't be able to forget, but even with a bulging tummy full of squirming, kicking baby, I just don't realize how much more difficult it is to do the simplest things, like walking! :)

Here's some good news, I found out yesterday that I managed to carry over 7 days of paid time off from 2001 into this year! I had been trying to save up my time because I could carry over up to 10 days, but after getting sick a couple times and little things here and there, I'd lost track of how many days I had used. So it was a happy surprise. With 7 days extra into this year, that means I can take all 6 weeks of maternity leave at 100% pay! (Our company allows you to "buy up" your short term disability pay, which is 80%, up to 100% using time-off days: one time-off day equals 20% weekly pay, or in other words, it makes the 80% STD pay go up to 100%!) So I'll be using 6 of my days for that, assuming, that is, that everything goes well (uncomplicated labor and delivery, no C-section) and I only need the 6 weeks. Since I had no idea how many days I'd be able to carry over and I didn't want to use this year's days off in advance of accruing them, I didn't think I'd be able to take the whole time at 100% pay, so it was a very nice surprise yesterday! And it will definitely give us one less thing to think about during those early few weeks when we'll have a lot of other things on our minds!

As a final note, Phil's ad for his legal practice came out in the Columbus Christian Blue Pages last week, and he's already gotten several phone calls in response to it! A couple of the people he has met with he wasn't able to help, but considering the book has only been out for around a week, we are very excited to have gotten that response with it already. We were so blessed with this by some people at our church; they got together and paid for a half-page ad (costing about $1700). It turned out really nice, and it's the biggest, and the first, ad in the entire section of attorneys!



	January 4, 2002 Week 33 (tomorrow starts Week 34) Happy 2002 Natalie! This is the year we'll get to not only meet you but also experience many of your "firsts"! First smile, first tooth, and lots of others! By Christmas next year you'll already be ten months old, and that's something I can't hardly imagine. More and more now, I think about what you are going to look like, if you'll have mine or your daddy's hair (I hope not) or will get lucky and get hair like your Aunt Sarah, Aunt Nanny, or Aunt Julie's. They all have wonderful hair! I think about what color of eyes you will have and what your personality will be like. Will you have long skinny legs like me and your grandma (and your great-grandma and great-great-grandma)? We already know you will have long fingers just like Daddy and me, since we saw your hands in one of the ultrasounds. Will you have toes like mine or like his? We've often wondered how you will look like both me and your daddy at the same time. It's so amazing to think about: two people who were complete strangers not too long ago, now suddenly we will have this person who is half of each of us. God had planned that though, and knew about you a long time ago. God said that before he even began forming you inside of me, he knew you. Every single one of your days and your purpose for being on this earth was planned before any of us even knew you were coming! He knew you, who your mom and dad would be, your personality, the color of your hair and the shape of your toes! Mostly I just pray that you will be healthy and that we will be good parents to you. I'm going back and forth these days with feeling growing excitement and anxiousness for you to get here and also more scared about how our lives are about to change, and wondering just how I'll be able to handle having a little person who is completely dependent on me! Mostly I'm just excited about it, but right there along with the excitement at the same time, right around the edges, is always the feeling of "how am I going to do this?" I just keep telling myself, millions of people have done this before us, we'll be able to also! And we know we will have the help of the best father imaginable, who wants you to and will help you to become everything he's already planned for you. I know he'll be helping us out with the job of helping you to grow. Sometimes I get to worrying about just how we will provide for you, but then I remember how hard we tried for you to get here. After trying for so long, we were suddenly pregnant, so I know that timing was not just a coincidence. God has never let us fall before; he moves in our lives always what seems like for us to be at the last possible moment, but we just have to try to understand that it isn't the last possible moment, it's just God's perfect timing! So I know that's what you are too. I just can't believe it's 2002 already. With less than 50 days to go until February 23, I've become more and more aware how it really could be any time now. There's no big holidays standing in between then and now to look forward to, so from here on we're just focused on getting ourselves ready for her increasingly imminent arrival. This weekend we are really, truly, and for certain this time, getting the office cleaned out and changed into a nursery. Mom and Brett came over last night to help us out with measurements of all the office equipment, and then we planned out on paper how it will be laid out in the kitchen area. It's going to be a little cramped for Phil, but it won't be too bad, and it won't be for that long either. We have taxes due for his business in a couple weeks, and after that we will hopefully be able to rent him an office space in Gahanna, but in the meantime I just couldn't stand the thought of going yet another weekend with nothing getting done to get ready! I know it's just completely pregnancy hormones, and more than a little illogical because honestly all I really need to have set up right away is a bassinet in our bedroom, but that's nesting for you. I can't deny it, I have the overwhelming need to get the nursery ready for our baby! On Saturday, Brett and Phil will be moving the office equipment into the kitchen, and then once we get everything else cleaned out (lots of stuff are just going to have to be put aside for a little while, like my scrapbooking table and keyboard), we'll get started on painting the walls on Sunday. Yes, I'll have the window open and I'll be avoiding the fumes! :) So hopefully by next weekend, we can have all the painting done and the Noah's Ark border up, and we can have a place to put stuff after my showers. Plus my two friends from church who are giving us their furniture (the crib and changing table) I know have been patiently waiting for us to be ready for them to bring them over; I'm sure they'll be glad to hear they can get the stuff out of their houses! Next week will already be really busy though, not only will we be finishing up the painting and such I'm sure, but it also starts our month of lots of appointments! Monday night will be our first of four weekly childbirth classes, and Tuesday we have our second breastfeeding class. Wednesday night we have church, so...well, at least we'll have Thursday and Friday to get the finishing touches done before next weekend! It just feels really good to have a plan to get things done at this point. I've been doing okay with waiting as long as I have, but now that the new year is upon us, I'd started to feel that imminent arrival thing and I just don't feel like I can wait anymore. I know this is something that I can't even get Phil to completely understand, and he's been living this with me the last eight months. Sometimes it makes me feel like I'm going crazy; I go from one emotional extreme to the other these days. I guess maybe this is just the one area that I know I CAN do something about right now -that is, getting my "nest" ready- so I just have to get it done. At our visit with Dr. Teague on Monday, I told her how I'd suddenly been feeling a whole lot of pressure way down low within the last couple of days, so she did a manual check to make sure my cervix was still closed up. She said it was, which was a relief! She told me the baby has definitely started to drop though, which is why I'm feeling pressure now. She still gives me lots of sharp (sometimes pretty painful!) jabs in the ribs too, so she's not that low yet, but I've definitely noticed a difference with not being QUITE so out of breath all the time, and now I'm truly waddling like a duck when I walk. Even walking really short distances exhausts me now (not to mention I feel like I have to stop for a bathroom break every few feet). On Monday after my appointment Phil and I went shopping to find a new pair of dress shoes for him (Christmas money from Grandma Hedrick!) and we had the grand idea to go to Polaris Mall to look at Sears, JCPenney, and Kauffmans. The first store we went to was Sears and we should have just stayed there. Instead, after finding a pair of nice shoes there, we thought we'd just see what the other stores had, so we had to walk through the entire mall to get to each of the other stores, only to end up back at Sears buying the original pair. By the time we got back there, I just had to collapse in one of the chairs while Phil paid for the shoes. I was so very tired, and I just couldn't believe how badly my feet hurt. I keep forgetting that I can't do most of the things I could do even a month or two ago! You would think I wouldn't be able to forget, but even with a bulging tummy full of squirming, kicking baby, I just don't realize how much more difficult it is to do the simplest things, like walking! :) Here's some good news, I found out yesterday that I managed to carry over 7 days of paid time off from 2001 into this year! I had been trying to save up my time because I could carry over up to 10 days, but after getting sick a couple times and little things here and there, I'd lost track of how many days I had used. So it was a happy surprise. With 7 days extra into this year, that means I can take all 6 weeks of maternity leave at 100% pay! (Our company allows you to "buy up" your short term disability pay, which is 80%, up to 100% using time-off days: one time-off day equals 20% weekly pay, or in other words, it makes the 80% STD pay go up to 100%!) So I'll be using 6 of my days for that, assuming, that is, that everything goes well (uncomplicated labor and delivery, no C-section) and I only need the 6 weeks. Since I had no idea how many days I'd be able to carry over and I didn't want to use this year's days off in advance of accruing them, I didn't think I'd be able to take the whole time at 100% pay, so it was a very nice surprise yesterday! And it will definitely give us one less thing to think about during those early few weeks when we'll have a lot of other things on our minds! As a final note, Phil's ad for his legal practice came out in the Columbus Christian Blue Pages last week, and he's already gotten several phone calls in response to it! A couple of the people he has met with he wasn't able to help, but considering the book has only been out for around a week, we are very excited to have gotten that response with it already. We were so blessed with this by some people at our church; they got together and paid for a half-page ad (costing about $1700). It turned out really nice, and it's the biggest, and the first, ad in the entire section of attorneys!