The Fanning Four

So the other night I had a dream that I was at the hospital- not quite sure why I was there, I wasn't a patient. But I was walking around and was clearly in a lot of pain, I was audibly groaning. So a nurse stopped and asked me if I was ok. I told her that my feet hurt really badly. She said, "Oh, it's probably because you're dehydrated." She then proceeded to give me apple juice through an IV. Yummy!!! Needless to say I went and bought some apple juice yesterday and am already halfway through the bottle!! Mmmm, there's nothing like a cold glass of apple juice on a hot summer day!! Speaking of hot summer days- check out what my amazing husband got for me: Oh yeah!!! It's absolutely perfect and Bethany and I LOVE it!!!! So, if you're looking for me, that's where I'll be- apple juice in hand!!! We continue to waddle along through the pregnancy. I'll be 30 weeks on Saturday- t minus 10 weeks and counting! Tom looked at me yesterday and said, ...

My mom has always commented on how children seem to always pay attention to me when we are out and about. And she's right- they look at me, smile at me, talk to me. And I often find myself helping children reach things in stores, playing peek a boo in restaurants, or washing their hands in the bathroom when they can't quite reach. So am I the pied piper of children? Definitely not- I think it's just simply that I pay attention to them and this is not a common thing for adults to do. For the most part, in a child's daily interaction in the adult world, they are essentially ignored by strangers. There are several factors that make them invisible to many adults. 1. They are significantly shorter than their grown up counterparts. Passers by must look down to even notice them. 2. They're viewed as less intelligent, unable to carry out the ever important "adult conversation". What do they possibly have to say that is of any importance to the average adult passin...

Who is Charlie and what is his horse doing in my leg?!?!? That's right, one of the dreaded symptoms of pregnancy showed up in the middle of the night last night. I woke up literally screaming in pain from a nasty Charlie Horse. If my reaction to that pain was any indication of how I will handle labor, we're in for a long haul! Sorry I've taken so long to write. I sat down to write many times but no words came out. But alas, here I am... Bethany, Tom, and I have been doing well. We can now watch my stomach and see her move. Last doctor's visit 2 and a half weeks ago she was 1.9 pounds. She's getting bigger for sure! We had a scare a few weeks ago when an ultrasound showed a cyst. I volunteered to be a patient for the sonography school finals at our local community collge and when the professor did her check she saw the cyst and printed a picture off for me to take to my doctor. Fortunately my doctor said it is nothing to worry about and it should go away on it's ...

The belly touching has started- I don't mind too much unless it's a complete stranger. I must be getting bigger though because way more people feel compelled to give my belly a rub and complete strangers make comments about my obvious pregnant state. Here's the latest pics from 24 weeks 2 days:

Well, the last two weeks have seen much progress in making room for baby Bethany! Tom has worked diligently to help get the room ready for her. This involved doing some major rearranging/cleaning in the garage to make room for the guest room furniture so that the guest room could become Bethany's room. On top of getting ready for Bethany, we are so fulfilled by the other activities in our life. We lead the young adult group at our church and were so happy to have 15 people there last night (including two new people). We have seen so much growth since we started and are so excited to see the work God is doing. I have also started a new sixth grade girls' small group and can't express my excitement to be back with middle schoolers (I'm a youth ministry addict for sure!). What does it say about me that I'm 27 years old and some of my favorite people in the world are middle schoolers?!?! Boy bands, make up, shopping trips to the mall, high pitched laughter, and a chance...

We had a doctor's appointment on Monday and it went well. We have now seen all the doctors and the midwife in the pracitce (any one of of them could be the one on call for Bethany's birthday!). We have our favorites but I trust all of them to do a good job taking care of us during the delivery. Everything looked good and the heartbeat was strong. It is always so reassuring to hear her heart beating!! But also reassuring on a daily basis are her little kicks. I started feeling them almost a month ago and they have just been getting stronger and more frequent since then. She seems to kick the most when I'm about to eat a meal (she gets excited cause it's food time), when I'm playing my oboe or at orchestra rehearsal (that's my little oboe prodigy!), or when I am trying to go to sleep (she's thinking, "Hey! Why aren't we moving anymore?"). No matter what the reason for her movements- I love them!!! On another note, I have been having a very strong...

"Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart, like Why are we here? And where do we go?And how come it's so hard? It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving. I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together". I love the lyrics to Jack Johnson's song, Better Together because it addresses an issue that is close to my heart- "questions" . My greatest emotional and spiritual struggle in life is worry and with worry comes many difficult questions. In fact, these questions at times have caused great distress in my life as I struggled with the what ifs, whys, whens, and hows of life. Miraculously my worries have not consumed me during this pregnancy but I still find myself asking many questions and like this songs says, love is the answer for most of these. Will I be a good mom? Love is the answer Will she know her Creator? Love is the answer How will our marriage fare in the adventure of parenthoo...