Waiting, Waiting, and Waiting.......

Now those of you who have had children you can just laugh at this post! 

Well it has been quite the last few months but it seems that we have finally reached the end.  Norris and I laugh that it feels like I have been pregnant for years!  We never thought month nine would ever get here and now it is finally here!  In my head I told myself that I would be late and have the baby in May, but now I am getting all confused.  At my appointment the doctor told me I would not make it to my due date. 
So now the waiting begins.  When will the day finally come?  When will I get to meet our baby?!?!?!  In the last few days if I go anywhere people seem shocked that the baby is still in my belly!  That does not help people!!!!!!!!!!!!  It is funny how quickly people forget about the waiting part of pregnancy.  They forget the desire you have to meet your little one that will be different than anyone else.  There will be no one else in the world that will be like OUR baby!!!  How exciting!

So the waiting has begun and who knows how long it will last....one week, two weeks or a month!!!!!  Only God knows........  

Preparing for Baby

So since I can't go to work right now I have had a lot of times on my hands.  I thought I would have a lot of time to catch up on things but the days have become quite full.  When I am not to busy I have begun to sew.  Now you can't judge me...I have never done anything like this before.

These are some overalls I made.  One of them is for a girl the other for a boy...since we do not know what we are having I had to make one of each.  The boys set turned out better because it was the second pair I made!

This is a little thing that goes on the crib that you put diapers in.  I like the polka-dots!!!  This was really hard for me to make.  There was a lot of stuff to do to make the sides fold in and there was a lot of ripping out seams and starting over!  But that is the great thing about it....you can always start over!

I also made a little bag that can fit some wipes or other small random things that I can put in the diaper bag!


I also made some bibs for the baby....Now this was a really easy thing to make, but I love the material!!!!!!!

The last two things I made were burp cloths...  Again it was a very easy pattern but I love the material!

I think the little giraffe is my favorite!

I am now working on a quilt but that is going to take me a little bit longer!  I will add it when I finish but it might be the day before baby comes! 

35/36 weeks

Well it has been a while since I did a belly update so I thought I would do a little update on baby Ham!

How Far along are you?   35/36 weeks depending on which doctor you talk to!

How big is Baby? I don't really want to think about it!  I think that if they are right in their predictions our baby is going to be 10lbs at birth!

Weight Gain? Oh dear yes, but it seems to be fitting into the allotted amount!

Sex? We hope to not know until the big day!

Maternity Clothes? Yeah...gotta love maternity pants

Stretch Marks? None yet!  Hope Lotion helps!

Sleep? I feel very blessed that I have had no problems sleeping!  I hope this can continue to the birth!

Symptoms? Just lovely Braxton Hicks contractions.  Not painful just a reminder that things are getting closer!

Movement? YES!!!  It is slowing down because he/she is running out of room!!!!!

Food Cravings? I really wanted some cottage cheese the other night! 

Labor Signs? Praise the Lord not yet!

Belly Button in or out? Still flat but I think soon it may pop.....

What I miss? Zipping up my jacket, bending over, and standing up without having to push myself up!

What I am looking forward to? Being back with Norris!

Best moment of the week? Only 30ish days left!

Changing Dreams

That was the church title this week.  What do you do when your dreams change?  How are you going to react?  Are you going to grow toward God and your covenant with him or are you going to stray from him and get angry.
Well Norris and I have been changing our dreams for the last month.  We always thought that we would be having our child together in Egypt.  Well there was a little "Revolution" that caused us to have to change our plans.  
It is not over yet but God is in charge as he always has been. I have to be quite honest with you this has been very difficult for me. I am sorry I did not share sooner but it was hard for me to deal with what God was giving us! I love my hubby and I need to rely on God and not Norris! Anyway enough rambling....

Well here it goes. I am going to try to explain what has happened in February. I am not sure all of this will make sense but I just want to let you know what has been going on in our life. What a change it has been….

So about three weeks ago the protests in Egypt began. We were not affected by protests as they were in a very localized area of the city. Norris and I would never go to that part of the city unless we were going to go to the museum. After all the stuff started to happen our school did a great job of communicating with us and making sure we were safe. The grocery stores shut down and the banks closed and the school decided it was a good idea to get us out of the city. They did this on Monday the 24th of January. We took a fun 8-hour bus ride to Sharm el Sheik on the point of the Sinai. It was actually really fun. I know that sounds funny but it was 80-90 degrees on the Red Sea hanging out at a 5 star resort with three buffet meals a day. What more could a 7 month pregnant woman want!
As we were in Sharm the peaceful protests sadly turn violent. On Saturday the 29th it was clear this was not going to be an easy transition. The people wanted “freedom” and they felt they could only get that with Mubarak gone. As Norris and I watched the news and heard from our school we knew we had a difficult decision to make. Was it safe enough for me to go back to Cairo and have the baby or should I come back to the States and have the baby? We weighed a lot of different options and talked with our school a lot. We decided that the best thing would be to have me come back to the U.S. until I had the baby and then meet Norris back in Cairo after the birth. Don’t worry yes Norris will be back for the birth of our baby and he will get to spend some time with the baby and me! It is really hard not to be able to tell the future. If we knew that things would be fine in Egypt until June then I would be in Egypt in a heartbeat. That is our home and where our life has been for the last three years. Don’t get me wrong, I love America, but Norris and I have made a home in Egypt. But since we can’t see what the future is going to hold only God can see that we have decided this is what is best for the baby to stay here.

This is going to be a tough decision since Norris and I rarely spend time apart! I love my husband dearly and I know that the only way I will get through the next two months without him is with God! Hopefully if it all works out Norris will be here the end of April and I will have the baby and then he will go back the beginning/middle of May and then I would join him about two weeks later with the baby!

Thank you for your prayers as we go through these next two months and try to figure out when I should join Norris in Cairo. I can’t wait to get back, but we need to make sure that we are following God’s will for our life!

Intense Gamsters!!

So last year Norris and I were introduced to a game called Monopoly Deal.  It is an wonderful game if you have never played it!  It is just a quick way and a good travel way to play Monopoly.  Well when we were home for the summer we bought the game. 
The thing with the card game is there are some directions that leave some discretion to the player.  The problem that we found is each player has their own idea of what the rules mean.

 

So to make a long story short...We were playing the game with some of our friends and  couple of the questions came up.....

 1. Can you lay down a wild card without having a property in that color?
 2. Can you use all wilds and call it a set?
 3. Can you pay with property if you have money in your bank?

So after these questions came up and there was no answer to them in the directions we decided to call the hot line number! 

Norris spoke with a very sweet lady who answered all of our questions.  I think from now on we will always just call the number if we have a question, because no one can get mad at the hotline!

But the the news you really need to know is that I won all three games!!!!!!!!!!!!

24 Weeks

 

 

How Far along are you?   24 weeks Only about 100 days left!!

How big is Baby? Baby is weighing over a pound

Weight Gain? Oh yes....Thank you to the Christmas Holiday!  Working out is helping I hope!

Sex? We hope to not know until the big day!

Maternity Clothes? Yup you've gotta love being in big comfy clothes.  I am not looking forward to going back to work clothes!

Stretch Marks? None yet!  Hope Lotion helps!

Sleep? I am enjoying the relaxing afternoons of vacation and feeling great!

Symptoms? None yet.  We just pray that God has it all in his control and everything will keep running smoothly! 

Movement? YES!!!  It is the most fun when he/she rolls and I feel his/her whole body turning inside!

Food Cravings? Umm...I think I need to get off the sugar high I am on!!!  That will quickly change when we are back at school!

Labor Signs? Praise the Lord not yet!

Belly Button in or out? It is beginning to flatten.  I have a feeling it will be out soon!

What I miss? Zipping up my jacket.  I don't have one that fits....It is not really cold enough to get a new one but at times I do wish I could zip my jackets!

What I am looking forward to? I want to know if it is a boy or girl!

Best moment of the week? Realizing that I am in my 6th month not my 5th month!  I know that seems weird but I was a whole month off!!!  It just makes the due date feel that much closer!!!!!

Messing around with the Camera

I have a Nikon 5000 that Norris bought for me last year for Christmas.  He got it for me after he lost all of our stuff in India....(that is for a different blog!)
So today was a BEAUTIFUL day in Cairo so I thought I would take some pictures from our apartment.  I am trying to learn about the Aperture stuff and the Shutter Speed stuff.  I can do enough to get by but I want to REALLY learn about this camera!  My mom made a good point about her camera...If she spent the money for the camera she wants to learn all the it has to offer!  I feel the same way....

So here are some of my shots....

This first shot is an aperture shot out on our balcony.

 

Lens: 18-55 mm  Shot at 55mm

f 3.5-5.6-   f/5.6

ISO: 250

So I got it blurred behind the chair, but I need a better lens so that I can get more of the picture blurred!

Now this shot gave me just the opposite.  I got the stuff behind the chair in focus but nothing else!  It looks cool but not what I wanted to do!!!

Lens: 55mm

ISO: 250

f /5.6

1/320

Lens: 18mm

ISO: 250

f/22

1/125

This shot I am trying to get everything in view into focus.  I think that it worked out ok but I feel as though some of the stuff behind the large building is not quite in focus.

My next shots are playing with the Shutter Speed on my camera.  This is much more difficult for me.  I have a harder time getting what I want into focus.

Lens: 55mm
ISO:250

f/36

1/13
Now this shot the car that is moving is in focus but the other things around the car are blurry!  WHAT??  Not sure how that worked but I will keep trying!

Lens:80mm ISO: 250
f/20
1/15
Now this shot is better.  One of the cars moving is in focus and the other black car behind it is very blurry.  Well at least I got one in focus.  I am not sure if I like the longer lens for these shots better or not. 

These next two shots are just fun.  We can see the pyramids from our apartment if it is clear enough and today it was!!!  That is the great pyramid in the center.  To the left you can kind of see the small one and then to the right you can see the corner of one pyramid!

 The fun part is we had no idea we could see the bent pyramid from our place but today we could see it!  You can kind of see it to the left of the photo. 

If you want to give me any advice on my shots I would love it! 

Enjoy your photo taking!!!!!