Belly Thoughts

As of today we have 4 weeks and 4 days until our due date... what that means as far as us having the little one in our arms is nothing really. A lady at our church just had her baby 3 weeks early and another was 2 weeks late... so who really knows when she will come... I hope it's March 27th at night bc then my parents will be here and the baby will be born on the 27th, me on the 28th and patrick on the 29th... different months but still that would be cool.

I have had an increase in tiredness and have been over all uncomfortable. Some of this is due to the fact that I have a low iron count. I'm going to see a hematologist on Tuesday and hope to get on some medicine to raise those levels which will give me more energy and steer me away from a labor that will force me to not be able to have an epidural. A few good things are that Patrick is doing a fantastic job around the house, especially bc he does not have to work this semester, keeping it clean and keeping me as comfortable as possible. Also, the baby is healthy and moving around like crazy. And my mom is coming out on Tuesday for a conference. She will be in meetings everyday but it will be very nice having her around in the evenings.

We took a birth class last weekend... it was long 9-5 on Sat and 9-12 on Sun but it was good and I'm glad we did it.

Here are a couple of pictures for you. The first is of the tummy at 30 weeks and the second is of the tummy at 35... so exciting... well kind of... : )

30 Weeks

Not sure what's up with my eyes but here is a shot at 35 weeks

Patrick clearly isn't as far along as I am.

This is a Pottery Barn frame. I made a collage using a bunch of letters that Patrick and I wrote to each other while we were dating as the back ground. Once the baby is born we will take a picture of her little feet in the shape of a heart and put our wedding rings on her big toes and put that in the center of the frame. I think it will be cute in her room.

Here is my second project. I took a few of the cards we received from the showers that were thrown for me and made a little collage so the baby will see how much she is loved even though we are far from everyone. This too will go in her room.

The last framed project I have that is not yet completed is the same Pottery Barn frame with 4 holes in it and each one will be filled with a picture of the baby's grandparents as children. This too will go in her room, which she will have in May when Patrick is graduated.

Our Year 2009

Here's a video that I made with pictures from this past year. I hope you enjoy it.

Snow Day. Wait, 3 Days! A Week?

As many of you know, it snowed recently here. The snow started last Friday as a few friendly flakes leisurely made their way to the ground. On Saturday it kept up and by Sunday we were buried in 2 ½ feet of snow. Like other husbands on the East Coast I used all of Sunday morning to dig my way from our porch, across the yard, all the way around the car and then out to the street that had been recently plowed. On our street, they only plowed one lane down the middle of the road. And with 30 inches of snow you can imagine the piles that accumulate on each side of the plow as it works its way down the road. So in order to get our car out onto said plowed road, I had to cut a huge swath through a veritable mountain of snow created by the plow. The beauty is that after you finally get a path cleared the plow comes through a few hours later and traps your car behind another mountain of snow.

So Kim and I had an indoor weekend. And then classes and work were cancelled on Monday. Kim did a half day of work before coming home on Tuesday (my classes were cancelled) and then both of us sat back wishing we had something to do on Wednesday and Thursday as everything shut down again due to another foot of snow showing up Tuesday night. Only this time it came with a lot of wind in legitimate blizzard conditions. So I dug the car out again on Thursday morning.

At some point in there (Monday?) Kim and I walked to the grocery store along with the rest of the entire population of Arlington. You’ll be glad to know that Kim did not accidentally give birth on an abandoned snowy street in between our house and the grocery store although it was a concern.

What did we do while going crazy inside you might ask. The house is organized better than it has been in a long time and is all ready for a baby. Beforehand there was a lot of ‘Zelda: Twilight Princess’ going unplayed- a situation we were able to remedy. I got some schoolwork done, but let’s be honest, a snow day means no school.

Last Friday we were finally back in action. Kim was at work with Jack and I was at school. More snow came Monday night but it was light and we laughed at its pitiful attempts to stop us. Now we have no snow until the Saturday… So if you’re thinking of coming to visit us (which you should be) maybe don’t come until August which is the earliest I can guarantee that these piles will be gone.

Thanks for all your calls and emails. We love hearing from you guys.

Adios for now.

A few shots of the car from the week. The first two are from the first storm and the second is after/during the second storm.

Patrick digging us out, literally.

Our car is behind that huge pile of snow on the right side of the street next to the telephone pole. You can't even see it.

Pictures of our walk after the first storm.

Patrick digging us out after the second storm. The cove our car is in will be there for the next 100 years probably.

I don't think these pictures do justist to the crazy amount of snow and huge piles of ice we have here.

Here is a picture from this week (Feb. 20th). Jack was doing a great job helping Patrick shovel away all the snow. A good Jack quote, "The snow LOVES the water!" with a delighted squeal as he puts the snow in the gutter that was like a little river taking the snow away. Another good Jack quote from the week, "I think I'm going to be in heaven before this snow is gone!" said with a sarcastic voice he could have only learned from me. Funny.

January 27, 2009: A Day that Will Live in Gloriousness

If I’ve already called and told you all this then feel free to skip to the 10% off dry cleaning coupon at the bottom of the page, but on January 27^th I passed the final stage of the Foreign Service Officer selection process.

It’s a multi-stage process that I started years ago when I took the written exam, right after graduating from Western. Over the next couple of years I took the written part two more times before finally passing it in June of 2009. The next stage was to submit several short essays which I passed as well.

The oral section of the exam is the last and supposedly most difficult section. About 20% of people pass the first time with many taking it numerous times before passing. The thing that’s so frustrating is that if you fail you have to start the process over from the beginning.

When Kim and I got home from Christmas break I started studying and preparing. The State Department provides fairly comprehensive study and introductory materials. There are also several independently organized study groups in the area so I had no shortage of papers, files, personal accounts of the exam, etc. to get me started. The oral exam has three parts- a group exercise where six applicants are given several projects and limited resources and have to decide on which projects to fund, a memo writing section, and a 2-on-1 interview. For the group exercise I found a couple sample files on line and practiced with the study groups that meet around here. I also made Kim listen to me give my little presentations that each person has to give during the exercise. For the interview section I wrote up every question I could imagine them asking and then had Kim interview me. They didn’t ask me any of those questions but it was helpful practice.

The day of the exam I felt pretty confident. There were only six of us testing that day and we all got along and worked together well. After each of the exercises I felt I had performed well, but only at the end of the day do they tell you how you’ve done. After completing the final exercise we had to wait for more than an hour before receiving our results. I hadn’t been nervous all day but during this time I started to worry. Knowing that so few pass I was ready to get bad news and take the exam again. But as I sat there looking back on the day I felt strongly that I’d done well at everything. I was worried that if I didn’t pass I really wouldn’t know how to come back and improve a second time. Each stage had gone as well as I had hoped.

Finally they called each of our names one at a time. After everyone else had been called, a professor and I were called in together and told we had passed the oral exam. The examiners were very congratulatory and seemed genuinely excited that we had passed. It was a great day and texting Kim to tell her I’d passed was obviously fantastic.

Now we’re on to the next stage, medical and security clearances. I got my medical clearance on Friday and Kim will finish hers once the baby comes. The security clearance will take a lot longer. I’m supposed to expect a call in a month or so and then an investigator will start working with me to go through my background, contact all kinds of people, and basically make sure I’m not a threat to national security. We’ll keep you guys update but if it all goes smoothly I should be able to start training this summer and then be posted at an embassy by this time next year or even earlier.

Thanks for all your prayers and thanks for reading!

Here's Patrick the morning of the big test. Looking so handsome and confidant with his new suit and nice green tie he got for Christmas from my parents.