Ebb and Flow

My wife is a saint for putting up with me. I become stressed as events get closer - I heap unrealistic expectations on my ability to accomplish, and I become more and more tense as the event draws closer until I am just about incapable of conversing about or focusing upon anything else.

Then it comes, and for better or worse it is accomplished or at least finished, and I pedulum-swing to the relaxed end, leaving my computer alone for days and declining to answer my phone at all, unsure of what day it is.

I almost just tried to compare this to giving birth and post-partum depression, but let's be honest - I don't have any harrowing stories of physical trauma to regale anyone with afterwards, so there's a pretty stark difference.

The whole point of this is that Heather is saintly for putting up with me, and I hope that I am as big a support to her in the physical/emotional aspect of pregnancy as she is with me in the emotional/stressful aspect of my job.

---PART 2---

We got to spend time with Jordan's little one this week. I thought it would be a bit of a breath of relief, like "OHHHH, this is not so hard after all. psh. i was psych'ing myself out for no good reason"...

...no.

I had no idea what to do.

Hopefully, 11th-hour instinct will be strong with me.

-Levi

Happy Birthday Daddy|Grandpa|Mike

Today is my dad's birthday!! Happy birthday, Daddy. We love you so much!

ouch.

Yesterday morning I slipped on our front porch and fell down the steps:
Pretty, huh?

One minute I'm getting ready for work - in a dress and tights no less - and the next I'm in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the steps with shoes and handbags strewn about and my neighbor (from 3 houses down) yelling in my direction, "Are you okay?!". awesome.

Thank God my shins and left knee broke the fall enough that I didn't land tummy-down or with too much of a jolt. Lincoln's been moving around just fine and everything I've read indicates that the trip was probably little more than a mild roller coaster ride for him. And, Levi's taking good care of me. Last night he rigged up an ice-pack/towel/elastic headband leg-cast contraption that stopped the throbbing enough that I was able to sleep. He's a sweet husband.

This morning, back in action, I won the battle with the porch steps (wootwoot). Here's to hoping that you too defeat any pesky stairs that you come into contact with this slippery season.

27 Weeks

Snow!

When I left my office yesterday I found my car like this:

SNOW!! The huge flakes were falling so fast that within a few minutes the ground was completely covered and everything looked beautiful. Feeling festive on the drive home, I turned on Christmas music for the first time this season and made big plans for our evening involving Christmas decorations and hot cocoa. Traffic was crawling, but I made it home just fine, where, to my dismay, there wasn't even a hint of white wonderlandness. So, instead of spreading good cheer we watched the Dark Knight - maybe we'll get decorations up this weekend. Maybe tonight. Josiah's coming over to hang out with us. You might remember him...

It's too cold to ride bikes and we're fresh out of guns - glass ornaments and tree lights will have to suffice. Watch out.

Dr's Appointment - 27 Weeks

We had our 27th week doctor's appointment today. Between 25 & 28 weeks, they run a test to check for gestational diabetes, which means that before my appointment today I had to chug a syrupy sugar-drink that they sent home with me after my last appointment. They drew blood (to see how my body is processing the sugar) and I should have the results in a few days.

Levi and I got to hear Lincoln's heartbeat, which is always breathtaking, and the doctor says my tummy measurements are right on (so, apparently huge is exactly where I'm supposed to be). She also assured us that the discomfort I've been feeling around my ribs is normal - due to my ribcage expanding to accommodate my lovely new "barrel shape", and the shooting electrical-shock-like pains that I feel periodically are simply nerves that are disgruntled by this new said shape of mine.

Otherwise, everything looks good! We'll start having appointments every 2 weeks now that we're in our third trimester. Crazy, huh? I can't believe how quickly the first two have gone by. Thanks for your continued prayers!

Still no luck finding the camera, but we'll take one with the phone soon so you can see how much Lincoln and I (and Levi) have grown.

Lots of love!

We finally got to meet Jhet!

Home for Steph's Shower

Over the weekend, I was able to travel to Texas for my sweet sister, Stephanie's, baby shower. Noah Michael will be joining us in February - we can't wait to meet him!

Congratulations, Stephanie - we love you!

So cute!

Haley is going to be a wonderful big sister!

Catching Up...

Sorry - I have been terrible about posting for the past couple of weeks! To catch up, here are some highlights:

• Levi kicked off another leg of his on-going fall/winter tour at the CMJ music festival in New York City. A member of the festival staff attended his show and posted this review on the official CMJ blog.
  
• Q4 is a crazy time for my company, so work has kept me going non-stop. Other than that, I've just been busy getting HUGE (our camera has pulled a disappearing act so we won't have photo updates for a while. Hopefully it will make it's grand return soon...).
  
• Levi drove through the night after a show in Detroit and finally got home (after being gone for 3 weeks) at around 8am. He put his hand on my tummy to say hi to Lincoln, who responded by jumping around like never before - so sweet! Apparently I wasn't the only one who missed Levi!
• We drove to Ohio to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family (we have so much to be thankful for!). My parents, along with Stephanie and Haley, drove up from Texas, so we had a huge group including my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. My cousins, Emily & Nathan, invited all thirty (yes, 30) of us to their home for a delicious meal and a wonderful time. It was great to see family that I don't get to visit often enough - and it's so much fun for me to share Levi with them (my grandpa even talked him into a impromptu living room show :)).
  

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!