My Husband and Pictures

Geoff has been in South Texas since Thursday morning, and while it's only been 2 days it seriously feels like 2 weeks. I think on our wedding day I felt like I could never love someone so much and lately I think, I love him a thousand times more than when we were married. I have a truly amazing husband who reminds me often we'll never be rich because he gives too much away, but in reality, what really matters during our lives is that we loved others well and put more time and energy into relationships with others than anything else. What an important life lesson.

And he has made sure I am well taken care of while he is away - he's ensured I am not left alone at the house at night in case I go into labor 6 weeks early, and I have received so many phone calls from friends calling just to check on me thanks to his urging them to do so. And while I hate that I can't be with him during what is really a difficult and sad time, I'm thankful for this reminder that there is no one more perfect to be my companion on this journey of life. I can't wait for Mary-Michael to meet her amazing dad.

Speaking of Mary-Michael, I must say that after her second shower she is just about set with everything material she needs. I continue to be amazed at how generous our friends and family are. Three of my very dear friends from UVA (Faith, Ashleigh and Christian) threw me a beautiful shower last Saturday. They are awesome! Here are some pics from that day and from the shower the previous weekend.

The Crib

Here are some pics of Keesha and Geoff putting together Mary-Michael's crib. You can also see we are in the middle of painting...more pics coming soon.




Carla being nosy.


The finished product.


The proud parents...scary, huh?!

Sadness and Celebrations

It's a sweet and sad time right now in the Lawrence household. Geoff lost his only living grandparent on Saturday. His grandfather was deeply respected and loved by Geoff and many others. I never had the chance to get to know him well as he's always lived in south Texas, but from what I know about him, he was very worthy of admiration. Earlier in the week we found out that my Nana's housekeeper who was like a family member growing up passed away, a friend from Needle's Eye lost his girlfriend to breast cancer and Charlene's step-daughter gave birth to a baby that died only hours later of hydrocephalus. While at a memorial service last week Geoff and I were reminded that when we leave this earth, our life and what we did with it is represented in that small dash that separates the day we were born from the day we died. What are we doing with this dash? Things that are worthy? honorable? Things that matter?

I sat here earlier with tears worrying my stress level is already impacting Mary-Michael and the last thing I want is for her to feel that stress or be hurt by it. I hope she knows how much she is loved and nothing else.

Amidst these things we did celebrate Mary-Michael's impending arrival with a baby shower this weekend. My mom and company did such a beautiful job of making it special for me, and we are so blessed with so many generous family and friends. I felt so loved and grateful knowing that already Geoff and I have a great support group and many willing sitters for our baby girl. I will post pictures soon as well as pictures of the nursery as it transforms.

Desperation

Today I was craving a sip of Coke so bad, so I went to the fridge and attempted to open the 2 liter bottle. After several attempts bare handed and then with a towel, I grabbed a knife...yes, a knife. I cut a hole in the side, poured a small glass and sealed the hole quickly with scotch tape. As I was doing this, I muttered "This is seriously crazy." And it was, but that Coke sure tasted good!

The Bad Kids in Class

When I decided I wanted to try to give birth naturally, it seemed like a smart idea to take a class to learn how to cope with the pain, so off we went to our first Confident Childbirth class tonight. After arriving 2 minutes late with our pillows and dinner in hand, we listened to a detailed lecture on the labor process, had an anatomy lesson and watched a video on coping techniques. You've seen them: the breathing, the music, the birthing ball. There was a lot of moaning in the video, which I feel like will just make me laugh or at least Geoff laugh, but clearly I have no idea since everyone seems to moan in labor.

Then it came time to practice what we watched. Of course this began with breathing. Geoff and I had to turn and face each other and practice deep breaths while the instructor talked us through our "contractions." We were doing so well at stifling our giggles until I told Geoff to stop looking at me because it seemed to make the laughs come on stronger. When I opened my eyes and saw him looking away with a smirk, I just burst out laughing, which caused the rest of the class to get out of their "zone" and look at us. Oops. Thankfully, most of the others started giggling, too - I guess we weren't the only ones who found gazing into each other's eyes while practicing deep breathing during fake contractions to be awkward.

Thankfully, this lesson changed quickly to breathing AND massaging, which I liked very much! We now had a chance to use our pillows and do a lot of practicing, which felt exceptionally good. Our homework is to practice the breathing (oh dear) and the massaging (yay!) at least 3 times before next week's class. I think we can handle that and hopefully learn to stop giggling.

All in all, we both agreed we already feel more comfortable with the labor process and how both of us can be a part of it even though I'll be the one actually delivering our baby girl. Makes me very excited!! Bring on the moaning (in several weeks, of course)!

31 Weeks and Celebrating "America's Team"

Here's a new side pose in my brand new Dallas Cowboys maternity shirt. Since all of Geoff's family are Texans it's hard to not root on "America's team" (Geoff's term, not mine). Now that our family NFL team has been decided, Mary-Michael will only have to choose the college team to root for...VA Tech or The University (UVA)...not a hard choice in my mind!

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe it's 2010 and that a decade has passed since the world was frantic over Y2K. I can honestly say that I am so excited for this year ahead and lately, as each day passes I am more and more eager to meet our Mary-Michael. She is going to be here in 2 months! This realization hit me when I woke up the other morning feeling a bit frantic that I didn't have her room ready, owned no diapers nor most of the other baby necessities. One thing I know for sure - the girl is not short of clothes as her closet is already full thanks to generous friends and family (particularly Nonnie (my mom) and Mimi (Beth)). She is sure sure to be better dressed than either of her parents.

Today, we are going to look at baby furniture, and I am determined to make a decision as I've spent way too many hours searching online only to decide that I really don't want to buy anything unless I can see it in person. So, off to USA Baby we go!

Geoff and I have both enjoyed some much-needed time off from work, which has allowed us to catch up with friends and see a whole lot of family and not feel rushed! It has really been nice. I'll leave you with a few pics from the last few weeks.


With my Aunt Diane on Christmas Eve


Christmas at the Lawrence's (notice the beautiful new set of pearls from my wonderful husband)!


Celebrating New Year's at our home with wonderful friends


Dan and Sherry Lee on New Year's Day morning


Geoff with Curtis and Amber's new baby boy on New Year's Eve (2 weeks old!)