big sister maia

Maia recently decided her penguin should be laid in a manger. Sometimes her dollies are put down for a nap and everyone is instructed to be very quiet. Occasionally, Phil the dog also has a blanket laid on him and he is to remain very still and go to sleep for an indefinite period of time.

In faith, I take this all as a sign that my growing girl will make for a nurturing big sister.

By contrast, I try not to dwell on the fact that she likes to poke my belly. When I tell her excitedly that the baby is kicking, she likes to elbow it. I think she is expecting the baby to come out singing and skipping like her. She may be in for a rude awakening. Yes, there are things I choose not to see as a foretaste of things to come.

While watching the party in my belly today, I asked Maia what she thought we should name the baby. Her suggestions included:

mommy

daddy

Jessie (her girlfriend)

Gideon (her new cousin)

and....my favourite....

BEAR.

We should be able to go with one of those, don't you think?

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A few conversations from recent days for your reading pleasure....

Maia: I have the hiccups.

Monica: I can see that. You know the baby gets hiccups a lot too, even more than you do.

Baby: [kicks]

Monica: Hey, feel my belly. There's a foot moving right here.

Maia: I'm just doing hiccups right now.

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Colette is Maia's favourite dolly. The other day, I heard this from the other room:

Maia: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, NINE! ..... I'm coming to find you, Colette!

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Last week, Maia had an extra dose of the grumps when she and I were battling colds together.

Monica: Maia, I know you feel lousy. I feel lousy too. But I still choose to be happy when I'm feeling lousy.

About an hour later, after reflecting on this concept of choice...

Maia: Mommy, you're lousy and happy.

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Tim: You're very cuddly today, Maia. You're a 'cuddlefish'.

Maia: This fish is hungry.

jehovah jireh

Jehovah Jireh, my Provider
His grace is sufficient for me, for me, for me!
Jehovah Jireh, my Provider
His grace is sufficient for me.

My God shall supply all my needs
According to His riches in Glory
He shall give His angels charge over me
Jehovah Jireh cares for meFor me, for me!
Jehovah Jirah cares for me.

© Merla Watson

There are two reasons this old song makes me smile.

One: Because an old youth pastor who was dancing along to this song actually broke his foot doing the steps. Not that funny, I know. But for some reason, it always seemed a little humorous to me.

Two: Because He has proved it to be true in our lives.

In a conversation with Tim recently, I found myself listing off the number of times we've been lavished with unexpected gifts of provision in recent months.

Friends gave us an extremely generous and unexpected cheque a few months ago that helped us catch up when we were falling behind and has allowed us to stay 'in the black' ever since. We were able to get two nights at a nice hotel last weekend for our marriage conference at half the price through a friend in the business. This week an insurance company cut us an unexpected refund cheque. Our visit to our financial advisor last week was so encouraging....not because we've got any significant investments or anything, but because she believes we're making good choices and are continuing to make headway on our debt in spite of the income we've given up so that I could be at home for these years.

Here's a good one. Just when I'm thinking of booking a pedicure (something I've only ever done once before to spoil myself before Maia's arrival), a friend sends me flowers and a card in which she offers to give me....of all things... a pedicure. What friend does that? (A very sweet one who also listens to the Spirit, I suppose!)

Tim's had a nagging injury that has kept him from running for a few weeks now. He had an appointment with an pedorthist who, without giving a reason, decided there would be no charge for the appointment. What?! He did, however, prescribe orthodics, which would cost us $400 and wouldn't be covered by our insurance. Tim casually mentioned he was thinking of getting orthodics to another friend in the health profession who offered to get them for him for a quarter of the price. Wow.

And there's more I could tell. These are just the ones coming to mind today.

Back when we made the decision for me to leave elementary teaching and to take on some private piano students instead, we knew we were taking a leap of faith with our finances. It has never seemed like a logical financial choice. But we've always known that God's ways are not our ways, and throughout history He has asked His people to do things that didn't make sense. And He has blessed them by providing for them when they followed His lead.

So although we still think at times we might be crazy, we return to the sense of peace we had when we made this decision, and we look at the track record of how God has provided for us since then. Jehovah Jireh indeed.

mo and mo

My dear friend Monica had twins a week ago today. A girl and a boy, named Rachel and Levi. (Wee little fact of interest: Opposite-sex twins make up one-third of the twin population, about one in 240 births.)

I had my pre-admit at the Stratford hospital on Wednesday at the same time as Rich and Mo were just putting their two new dolls in carseats to head home. I only had about a minute with them but it was a delight to see all of them doing so well. I can't even tell you how tiny these little ones are at not quite six pounds. Goodness -- the baby having a party in my belly right now is probably already a little bigger than these two! (The estimate is 6.5 pounds at 37 weeks.) Hoping that I'd catch them at the hospital, I had brought them a few newborn sleepers and then had to hand them over with the realization, "Oh, I hoped these would fit but they're clearly too big!" Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of these little beauties at the hospital, so you'll just have to imagine how miraculously perfect and beautiful these two little ones are....

A funny story about Mo and Mo. On a warm summer evening late last August we were sitting on their back porch having dessert when Monica asked if we thought we'd have more kids. I had a hunch I might be pregnant then but hadn't done the test yet so I said something like, "Yeah, we're hoping to...." Now for some families with four kids you just don't imagine any more for them. But the fact that Rich and Mo have four kids already didn't make me think they wouldn't possibly have more. They're "more the merrier" kind of people who welcome other kids into their home all the time and seem to think nothing of it. The kind of people you could envision having a super-sized family and just rolling happily along with things that would have many of us pulling out our hair. But for some reason I didn't ask the 'growing-family question' back to them. But there we both were, Mo and Mo, both in our first month of pregnancy, and not knowing.

So it's been fun to compare our bellies every now and then along the way. These shots were of us were taken at the piano recital not quite two weeks ago. Doesn't she look great!? (Okay, I know I look like I'm busting out of my clothes but they're really maternity clothes... I promise!)

I'm very thankful Mo, Rachel and Levi were all well enough to go home so soon. Congratulations, Rich and Mo! Love.... the other Mo.

working girl

Last weekend, Tim and I had a great getaway to a fabulous marriage conference in Lansing, Michigan for a couple of days while Maia holidayed with Oma and Opa. We all met up at our place on Saturday again, where Oma and Opa stayed another day, to Maia's delight.

My sweet father can only sit and chat for so long, and then he needs to get up and do something for us... walk the dog... tend to the yard... something helpful. So on this visit he mounted a laundry pole in my backyard (yay to having somewhere to hang laundry so I can cut back on my dryer usage!), trimmed the edge of our lawn at the sidewalk (I guess it looked pretty icky) and started turning over and edging my backyard garden. (Thanks, Dad!) I'd like to be able to do more outside than I can right now at 8 months preggo, now that the long-awaited spring has arrived. It's been absolutely glorious outside here this week. (Thanks, Abba!)

Maia was still in her fanciest dress (which she claimed "Opa wants me to wear" so that I wouldn't stand a chance of turning her down... smart kid) when dad started working in the garden. Of course, my "big girl" had to join in on the adult fun. Before I knew it, she was right in the dirt with her pretty dress and black heels. (I know, what two year old has heels? It's auntie's fault.)

Here, my dad is introducing her to the friendly worms in the garden. Gotta love a girl that wants to get in on the dirt with all its glory, and doesn't let a pretty dress hold her back.

new room

This week we moved Maia into her new room. So the baby room is empty for a while, the guest room is now Maia's room, and our downstairs 'reading room' will host our guests in future (which is ideal for the guests that would rather not climb stairs). Talk about reasons to NEST! I think I may be driving my sweet husband a little nutty with my requests for help to build shelves, move boxes, rearrange furniture and tackle tasks that have been on our 'to do' list since we moved in here almost four years ago. Sweet man. It will all come to an end very shortly. I'm only a week from being 'full term' (37 weeks) and four weeks from my due date. Nest, nest, nest....

So here's a little glimpse into a typical evening with our dancing-singing toddler who loves to dress up and is obsessed with the wolf (from the three little pigs), the night we moved her into her new room. She was just a wee wired.



And here's a little contrast -- Maia napping peacefully in her room this afternoon. (Felt like a nature photographer sneaking into a potentially dangerous situation to capture this just now.)



It reminds me of a line from one of our favourite movies, The Family Stone, where the dad looks at his sassy and sarcastic daughter (played by Rachel McAdams -- another favourite) while she is sleeping, and reflects: "She's nice like this."

spring thaw

Maia looks how I feel about the long-awaited spring thaw.

Early in the winter, Tim and I used shovels to create a make-shift bobsled run that descended from the fence to the edge of our front lawn. Later in the winter, a friend accomplished in minutes what we did in hours when he secretly bulldozed all the snow from our driveway onto the pile by the fence. Well, this is all that's left of that pile.

And as fun as it was to enjoy the snow...

... we're not sad to see it go now!

Tis' the season for taking walks at the beach.... fa la la la la la la la la!

Time to start seedlings that we can plant after the baby arrives.... fa la la la la la la la la!