(Okay, I just thought this was funny.)
No, I will definitely NOT be a twilight mom.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Okay! okay! This is the last post for today, I promise!
I forgot to mention in my first post today: I can feel our baby kick and move! On Tuesday Dec. 21st, I was sitting at home reading a book in the recliner when I felt a little brushing in my lower abdomen. Baby kicks the hardest when I am eating and often catches me off guard with his/her punches to my poor tummy. We have an aggressive little one on our hands. Most of the time, it feels like when your tummy does a little flip-flop when nervous.
(Okay, I just thought this was funny.)
No, I will definitely NOT be a twilight mom.
(Okay, I just thought this was funny.)
No, I will definitely NOT be a twilight mom.
Lindquist 2010 Christmas letter
This is our annual Christmas letter, penned by yours truly. It wasn't until I was at Kinko's and the copy machine had spit out about 65 of 68 copies that I realized this wasn't even the final draft I wrote. Oh well.
December 2010
Merry Christmas to our friends and family,
It’s always at various and random times during the year we’ll have experiences that cause me reflect on them as jewels to include in our annual Christmas letter. Then I actually sit down to write the letter with the intention of squeezing in a year’s worth of new thoughts we’ve had and things we’ve done and I can’t seem to recall with clarity what I really, truly want to include. It never seems to convey how we’ve developed as people- shouldn’t we mention something that we haven’t posted on Facebook? A Christmas letter shouldn’t be a laundry list of the jobs we’ve worked, trips we’ve gone on, or our newest little hobbies. Especially now, as we prepare to expand our family of two to three, our Christmas letter should reflect what we’ve learned as well as to what we’re looking forward.
We are expecting our first baby around May 14th! We learned we were expecting on September 27th, when I was 8 weeks along, and as I write this I will be 18 weeks tomorrow. They tell me the 2nd trimester is the “cute” stage of pregnancy because you’re sporting a little basketball-sized bump and you don’t need to waddle when you walk (yet). I never thought I would anticipate so much my tummy getting bigger. You may have heard by now that we are not going to find out the sex when we go in for a sonogram later on this month. And to top that, we’re not sharing the names we’ve picked until baby arrives. We’ve received some surprised reactions from many, but we figure that there’s no better surprise than baby telling us for themselves on their birthday and then announcing their name to everyone.
As I think of the arrival of our first child a short 4 ½ months away (!) , I think of how my time is really no longer my own. Actually, since we got married 3 ½ years ago, we’ve both realized this more and more. Our time, not to mention our hopes and dreams, revolve around each other and they will certainly around our new addition. Parents chuckle when I tell them we are expecting our first, “You don’t even know how your world will change.” I politely smile and think how God really is giving me a taste of my own medicine. We don’t have any friends or family nearby who are currently pregnant or have children of their own (except for my parents). I’ve always favored figuring things out on my own as opposed to someone showing me a step by step example (there’s so much more gratification) and now I really get to figure things out independently.
As I progress in my pregnancy, questions arise in regards to my work as a Nursing Assistant at ManorCare, a geriatric facility where I’ve worked for the past 2 years. I can’t do the heavy lifting and frequent bending my job requires past 20 weeks. I am working with ManorCare to find some lighter duty tasks to see me through the rest of my pregnancy, but so far, my employer has been coy in giving me a straightforward response. Joe reminds me that God has always provided for us throughout our life together, often times in unforeseeable ways.
Speaking of providing, Joe has been a wonderful provider for our family and a good steward of the income he earns as secondary choral teacher for the Steilacoom School District. This is his third year in the district and his first teaching at both the middle school and high school. He eats his lunch on the road between the middle school in DuPont and the high school in Steilacoom and is steadily growing tired of ham sandwiches. He shares his victories of the kids finally matching pitch and his struggles in teaching 15 year old girls how to sing like women. He earns a little extra on the side teaching beginning guitar and piano lessons after school. His approach to fatherhood is blossoming. He dutifully reads his wife’s copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting before bed many nights. Although there is a small section of the book just for fathers, I really think a book should be written entitled, What a Husband Should Expect When His Wife is Expecting. Joe relishes the thought of holding a tiny baby but had to work harder to stay interested when registering for baby things. He mentions to me how we feel as though we are outgrowing our transitory 20’s, yet still feels somewhat impermanent because we have not yet bought a house complete with a hefty mortgage.
Our dream of being homeowners is a goal we hope to accomplish in our 30’s along with getting me through nursing school and established in my field. In the meantime, we have to be patient. As time and money allow, I am fulfilling my prereqs for nursing school one class at a time and, if I’m not careful, I just might have enough to apply for nursing school. I am taking the spring and summer quarters off from school to be a mom and will start back up in fall 2011.
We hope that this letter finds you well, not stressed by the short days and long Christmas preparations, and looking forward to God’s blessings in 2011.
Blessings,
Joe & Katy
Leo & Millie
December 2010
Merry Christmas to our friends and family,
It’s always at various and random times during the year we’ll have experiences that cause me reflect on them as jewels to include in our annual Christmas letter. Then I actually sit down to write the letter with the intention of squeezing in a year’s worth of new thoughts we’ve had and things we’ve done and I can’t seem to recall with clarity what I really, truly want to include. It never seems to convey how we’ve developed as people- shouldn’t we mention something that we haven’t posted on Facebook? A Christmas letter shouldn’t be a laundry list of the jobs we’ve worked, trips we’ve gone on, or our newest little hobbies. Especially now, as we prepare to expand our family of two to three, our Christmas letter should reflect what we’ve learned as well as to what we’re looking forward.
We are expecting our first baby around May 14th! We learned we were expecting on September 27th, when I was 8 weeks along, and as I write this I will be 18 weeks tomorrow. They tell me the 2nd trimester is the “cute” stage of pregnancy because you’re sporting a little basketball-sized bump and you don’t need to waddle when you walk (yet). I never thought I would anticipate so much my tummy getting bigger. You may have heard by now that we are not going to find out the sex when we go in for a sonogram later on this month. And to top that, we’re not sharing the names we’ve picked until baby arrives. We’ve received some surprised reactions from many, but we figure that there’s no better surprise than baby telling us for themselves on their birthday and then announcing their name to everyone.
As I think of the arrival of our first child a short 4 ½ months away (!) , I think of how my time is really no longer my own. Actually, since we got married 3 ½ years ago, we’ve both realized this more and more. Our time, not to mention our hopes and dreams, revolve around each other and they will certainly around our new addition. Parents chuckle when I tell them we are expecting our first, “You don’t even know how your world will change.” I politely smile and think how God really is giving me a taste of my own medicine. We don’t have any friends or family nearby who are currently pregnant or have children of their own (except for my parents). I’ve always favored figuring things out on my own as opposed to someone showing me a step by step example (there’s so much more gratification) and now I really get to figure things out independently.
As I progress in my pregnancy, questions arise in regards to my work as a Nursing Assistant at ManorCare, a geriatric facility where I’ve worked for the past 2 years. I can’t do the heavy lifting and frequent bending my job requires past 20 weeks. I am working with ManorCare to find some lighter duty tasks to see me through the rest of my pregnancy, but so far, my employer has been coy in giving me a straightforward response. Joe reminds me that God has always provided for us throughout our life together, often times in unforeseeable ways.
Speaking of providing, Joe has been a wonderful provider for our family and a good steward of the income he earns as secondary choral teacher for the Steilacoom School District. This is his third year in the district and his first teaching at both the middle school and high school. He eats his lunch on the road between the middle school in DuPont and the high school in Steilacoom and is steadily growing tired of ham sandwiches. He shares his victories of the kids finally matching pitch and his struggles in teaching 15 year old girls how to sing like women. He earns a little extra on the side teaching beginning guitar and piano lessons after school. His approach to fatherhood is blossoming. He dutifully reads his wife’s copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting before bed many nights. Although there is a small section of the book just for fathers, I really think a book should be written entitled, What a Husband Should Expect When His Wife is Expecting. Joe relishes the thought of holding a tiny baby but had to work harder to stay interested when registering for baby things. He mentions to me how we feel as though we are outgrowing our transitory 20’s, yet still feels somewhat impermanent because we have not yet bought a house complete with a hefty mortgage.
Our dream of being homeowners is a goal we hope to accomplish in our 30’s along with getting me through nursing school and established in my field. In the meantime, we have to be patient. As time and money allow, I am fulfilling my prereqs for nursing school one class at a time and, if I’m not careful, I just might have enough to apply for nursing school. I am taking the spring and summer quarters off from school to be a mom and will start back up in fall 2011.
We hope that this letter finds you well, not stressed by the short days and long Christmas preparations, and looking forward to God’s blessings in 2011.
Blessings,
Joe & Katy
Leo & Millie
Christmas in Orange County & 1/2 way done!
In October, we decided to travel down to Orange County, California, for Christmas 2010. We originally were not going to fly anywhere for Christmas (out to Minneapolis, like we usually do) and just stay in the NW to save money. However, the rest of my immediate family and spouses were all going and we actually haven't spent Christmas down in SoCal since 1996, so it was time for a trip. It truly makes my heart ache to know that we hardly ever get to see my SoCal relatives; if we do get to see them, it's for a wedding or a funeral and we never know when the next time we'll see them will come around. It could be two years or five years. Needless to say, this was money well spent. I often remark to myself when we do get to spend time with my extended family how so many of our mannerisms/facial expressions etc. are alike despite living apart across the miles for so many years. It's almost eerie how many idiosyncrasies we have in common. Plus, this was the last Christmas that my family will not have any grandchildren included in our celebration. Since airfare is so expensive, we decided not to exchange gifts, instead just giving stocking stuffers. (I made a little jar of chocolate hazelnut spread for everyone.) Unfortunately, my camera refused to work past the first day in OC, so I am posting the first few pics from the trip and I promise to post more as I figure out how to download from my phone and I receive the pics I took from Heather's camera.
Joe & Dad playing checkers at home in Oregon
Joe's accompanist, Shirley, loaned these awesome antlers to him when he conducted his all-girl's choir, Celestial Singers, at Steilacoom's annual Christmas tree lighting at the town hall
Grandma makes us Christmas dinner (our flight was delayed in PDX so we didn't actually sit down to dinner until almost 10pm)
Chelsea & Uncle Chuck open gifts
This is St. John's Lutheran Church in downtown Orange, built c. 1913. We attended Sunday services there the day after Christmas with Grandma.
Kris, Heather, me, and Joe after church
This is the traffic circle in the middle of Old Town Orange, with a beautiful fountain in its middle. At night, it's illuminated with vintage Christmas decorations. I expected to see a Santa and Snowman, but a manger scene? That's something you'd never see in our neck of the woods. One holiday season recently, there were picketers/rioters from liberal groups protesting the Christmas tree by the Capitol building in Olympia. (So you can see why I was shocked to see this!)
And last but not least, here is the "halfway done pic". I was 19 weeks, 6 days in this one.
Those are the best pics I have to post now, and I promise to post more soon.
Joe & Dad playing checkers at home in Oregon
Joe's accompanist, Shirley, loaned these awesome antlers to him when he conducted his all-girl's choir, Celestial Singers, at Steilacoom's annual Christmas tree lighting at the town hall
Grandma makes us Christmas dinner (our flight was delayed in PDX so we didn't actually sit down to dinner until almost 10pm)
Chelsea & Uncle Chuck open gifts
This is St. John's Lutheran Church in downtown Orange, built c. 1913. We attended Sunday services there the day after Christmas with Grandma.
Kris, Heather, me, and Joe after church
This is the traffic circle in the middle of Old Town Orange, with a beautiful fountain in its middle. At night, it's illuminated with vintage Christmas decorations. I expected to see a Santa and Snowman, but a manger scene? That's something you'd never see in our neck of the woods. One holiday season recently, there were picketers/rioters from liberal groups protesting the Christmas tree by the Capitol building in Olympia. (So you can see why I was shocked to see this!)
And last but not least, here is the "halfway done pic". I was 19 weeks, 6 days in this one.
Those are the best pics I have to post now, and I promise to post more soon.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
17 & 18 weeks
Sorry, never got a chance to blog last week and as this week would have it, I only have a couple of minutes to blog. Here are some pics of our lives lately:
Week 17
Kimberly and I have been friends since my freshman year at PLU. Dec. 7th was her 29th birthday, so a bunch of us went out and celebrated by going out to eat and then to see the new Chronicles of Narnia flick.
Every year, Joe takes the all-girls choir to sing at the annual Christmas tree lighting at city hall in Steilacoom. Santa reads 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and we all eat those amazing Danish butter cookies I wait for all year long.
Week 18
Our friend Gabri is a budding photographer and needs to build up her portfolio. And we needed a Christmas pic to include with our annual letter. So it is a symbiotic relationship.
I love the black and white profile shot.
Looking forward to the sonogram on Dec. 20th! My mom's coming up to see her grandbaby via ultrasound.
Week 17
Kimberly and I have been friends since my freshman year at PLU. Dec. 7th was her 29th birthday, so a bunch of us went out and celebrated by going out to eat and then to see the new Chronicles of Narnia flick.
Every year, Joe takes the all-girls choir to sing at the annual Christmas tree lighting at city hall in Steilacoom. Santa reads 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and we all eat those amazing Danish butter cookies I wait for all year long.
Week 18
Our friend Gabri is a budding photographer and needs to build up her portfolio. And we needed a Christmas pic to include with our annual letter. So it is a symbiotic relationship.
I love the black and white profile shot.
Looking forward to the sonogram on Dec. 20th! My mom's coming up to see her grandbaby via ultrasound.
Monday, November 29, 2010
16 weeks
Ok, so not the greatest pregnant shot. I really thought it would turn out better because I was wearing a loose fitting dress that I could hold up against my belly to show it off, but I think the black threw it off. (That and the fact that our camera SUCKS.) As I've admitted before, I never had the flattest belly to begin this pregnancy with and honestly, by this point in my pregnancy, I thought people would think I was further along than I actually was. However, I haven't gained ANY weight. I've actually lost about 2 pounds, according to my weigh in during my last mid-wife visit. I really should be gaining about 1-1 1/2 pounds per week from now until baby makes their grand entrance, according to most maternity sites. But I know my body and my body loves to pack on the pounds easily so I am really not worried about weight gain in the coming weeks.
In mid-November, I went to the neurologist per my mid-wife's recommendation to clarify whether or not it would be in my best interest to give birth naturally or have a C-section. You see, 6 years ago, I had a brain hemorrhage on my left cerebellum (ultimately diagnosed as a sporadic cavernoma.) Basically, I was born with capillaries in my cerebellum that, throughout my juvenile brain development, never quite formed the way they should that would encourage normal blood flow and neurological function. (They discovered that my sporadic cavernoma was not congenital, meaning my family would not all have to go in for an MRI to see if they were at risk too.) So, capillaries on my left cerebellum never quite formed properly, impairing my coordination throughout my life. When the neurologist told me this, it finally dawned on my why I've never particularly been drawn to playing sports (in fact, if you want to torture me, make me play basketball) and I've always been somewhat clumsy throughout my life: the blood clot slowly forming was impeding on the cerebellum's job of coordinating the body's movements. I was asymptomatic throughout my life until age 22 when my cerebellum decided enough was enough and my neural functions in my brain could not work around the blood clot anymore. In December 2004, at age 22, I began having severe stroke-like symptoms: my left arm was tucked into my side, slurred speech, extremely poor mobility, etc. Every year of my life, the blood clot was a threat and it took almost 23 years for me to present stroke-like symptoms (about a 1-2% chance per year), when I was effectively done with juvenile neural development. After a 2 week stint in ICU, neurosurgery removing the clot, and 4 months of occupational and physical therapy, I was technically "done" rehabing and, timidly "started my life over again" mentally, physically, and financially.
Throughout my illness and rehab, I never gave whether or not I'd be able to bear children naturally a second thought. I always thought I would be able to have natural births. That is, until my mid-wife suggested that my pregnancy might not be low-risk enough to continue my pre-natal care with her; I might need to switch to an OB-GYN. She basically was concerned about adverse effects of me pushing during labor- are my cranial arteries, capillaries, etc. capable of handling that much pressure? Was I at risk for another sporadic caveroma or other neurological disfunction? She wanted a neurologist to verify this. Thank the Lord, the neurologist said no. I'll be following up with the neurologist in about 10 days and I've got some questions on my mind to ask her. Right now, all I know is I am grateful that I will be able to deliver our baby naturally. It really is an answer to prayer.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
15 weeks
Tomorrow we leave to drive south to Hillsboro to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with us on the 2.5 hour journey. (ps- I am loving the expectant mother's parking at Metropolitan Market. I used to park there when I wasn't expecting if I couldn't find any other parking available, just really quick if I needed to run in and grab something. Now, I park there guilt-free :)
Our camera really does have to go. Last Saturday, when we decorated the Christmas tree and hung the stockings on the mantel, we took the 15 week shot of me. I am really starting to detest our camera's poor picture-taking abilities.
Our camera really does have to go. Last Saturday, when we decorated the Christmas tree and hung the stockings on the mantel, we took the 15 week shot of me. I am really starting to detest our camera's poor picture-taking abilities.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Hello second trimester!
When I uploaded this picture on my computer this morning, I noticed that I finally look pregnant. (14 weeks!) Unless I've told them I'm expecting, no one has really noticed that I'm pregnant. On all those pregnancy blogs, they say the first trimester you just look like "you've eaten a really big lunch", hence the bigger abdomen. Now I am entering my "pouchy" phase, in which I really will need to start shopping in the prego section of Target and kiss my pre-pregnancy jeans goodbye. However, even before I learned I was expecting, I dedicated myself to getting some good cardio in 3-4 times a week and have kept up this habit throughout my pregnancy thus so far. As a result, I have not gained any weight in my first trimester. My weight seems to be redistributing from my thighs to my abdomen. (Knock on wood...)
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