7 months and one week

I didn't take a picture last Monday so this is a week off of my seven month picture, but here I am in all my growing glory. The shirt I'm wearing used to be my favorite maternity shirt, but after reviewing this picture I am now aware that my belly has shortened it by many inches and it may need to be retired.

I'm still feeling good. My ankles are enormous which at the moment is more amusing than annoying. Honestly, by the end of the day it is as if someone has poked a straw into my feet and inflated them just to the point of popping. Then I go to bed, and they slowly deflate so that in the morning I have normal feet, but by the next night I wonder if my feet might just fly away. And I have had a really gross cough for over three weeks now. Coughed so hard I bruised a rib or pulled a muscle or something horribly painful. But that's getting better now. Most importantly, my energy is still up and I continue to live in awe of the love we have for this little life inside of me.

My favorite memory from this month was from Mt. Carmel. Rory was holding my belly and the baby extended a foot or something for super prolonged periods of time. This was different from the quick, hard kicks I have been getting lots of lately. This was slow motion and we felt so close to our baby in these moments of contact. We were sitting on the deck at Mount Carmel and I guess I just hope that I never forget the magic we felt, feeling so connected to our little baby; feeling so much like a little family.

back from vacation

This vacation was one of our best. I unplugged for almost the entire week, not opening my laptop except for one late Tuesday night. And it felt good to be disconnected for a while.

We were at Mount Carmel for the week, but I wasn't in charge of a thing this time. A camp like this is the easiest way to vacation because meals are prepared, beach access is steps away from your cabin, there is plenty of downtime for reading and running and napping (Rory on running, Becca on napping) and there are plenty of new friends to be made. But you're not obligated to any particular social schedule, and if you don't finish a conversation, you know you still have six days to catch each other either over lunch or at the beach or with popcorn at the canteen.

We're home now and I'm taking it really slow today. Finished my vacation book, enjoyed another nap, worshiped with our church community and even got groceries and the laundry done so that I can take on the week ahead.

And now we're off to get a bucket of chicken to take to a nearby lake, squeezing one more evening of summer-loving into our technical vacation time.

just a quick hello

This is the view from the windows of our sweet little cabin. Lovely.

We are on vacation in every sense of the word and enjoying so much the calm and quiet of this place. I'm working through my stack of books and magazines, napping every day, working up some serious swimsuit tan lines, enjoying long, thoughtful conversations with new and old friends and more than anything loving how Rory and I are both on vacation together...neither one of us is preoccupied. We are fully present here together and it's the greatest.

I've been thinking though all sorts of deep things too. Vacation is so good for this. To actually have the time to reflect and process life is such a gift. Like today I was pondering lotion boogers, and if there is any way around them. Does everyone's pump lotion clog up like mine does? And do other people have to change shirts some mornings because the lotion booger plugged up the pump, causing projectile lotion to spray everything within a three feet radius, except into your ready, cupped hand?

See, I think you need vacation to really process the important stuff. And that's what I'm doing.

baby quilt

*My camp staff surprised me on Sunday morning with this baby quilt. They all pitched their money together and won this beauty for me. When Rory saw it he said, "I never saw that one! If we had seen that one, I would have chosen that one to bid on." So good pick, camp staff. It is the softest fabric in the world and has got us very excited.

*I've gotten some emails lately asking if they missed the post telling what gender our baby is. But you haven't missed the announcement. We're going to be surprised. And we're still really excited this is our choice. Some people are not excited about this choice of ours and it's amusing. The people who are bugged aren't particularly close to us...just people who groan when we tell them we're waiting to find out. Like the inconvenience is on them. Ha! I promise we are not waiting to find out the gender just to annoy people :)

*We made our first trip to Babies R Us last week and were overwhelmed and a bit dazed and confused. Rory consoled himself in a glider rocker most of the time, soothing himself back and forth. I took in some oh-so-normal conversations between husbands and wives where husbands would say things like, "I just don't see why we would spend an extra $150 because you like the headboard on that crib better than this one here that is so much cheaper"

*We have our first Minnesota doctor appointment tomorrow morning. I am eager-beaver to meet our new doctor.

*I had a dream last night that I had my baby and was telling it very matter-of-factly that it wasn't time to come out yet, that we still had 3 months to wait. And the baby (who looked much like a miniature old man) said it just wanted to see who I was. And I told him how excited I was to be his mama and held him for a long, long time and then told him he needed to go back in because the womb was the best place for him to grow strong right now. And then I put him back in the same way he came out.

take me away

We're leaving tomorrow for a summer vacation. I have dreamy dreams of sitting by a lake with my husband, living in our swimsuits and sunglasses, sipping on icy drinks and working through this stack of books and magazines I got at the library yesterday. We've got some Martha Living in there, Oprah, home decorating, low-drama fiction and Eugene Peterson, just for good measure.

Oh, Vacation. I am so ready for you.