lost count

I have decided that I love the third trimester. This has come as a relief, because I HATED the first two trimesters. I am sorry to be negative- but honestly, I was feeling like I was growing more of a large tapeworm from Brasil rather than a baby. I didn't know it was possible to throw up so many times. But I guess with suffering grows love, right? And let me tell you, I am quite attached to little Maggie already.

Here I am at ..... something weeks. I don't know, I lost count. It doesn't even help to count months because the whole idea of being pregnant for 9 months is wrong... its actually longer.. almost 10 months.... so let me just tell you my due date: December fourth. This last part has really gone fast, and I think the rest of it will go even faster. (please excuse poor quality of photo..)


Here are some funny things I have found about my pregnancy:

1. First 2 trimesters I LOVED baked potatoes, spaghetti, coca cola, mexican food, and scrambled eggs. Actually, eggs any old way... and that was about it. Any other food- including water- made me sick.

2. In deadly revenge from not having consumed any sugar for 6 months- right now I cannot get enough of chocolate. I have never craved chocolate like this in my life. Oh that and frozen waffles. Thankfully, I have returned to eating curry as well (my staple dish!)

3. Maggie has the hiccups all the time. At least once or twice a day, for about 10-15 minutes. It is quite funny, but I feel bad for her- she is so little and it seems to shake her whole body. I guess she takes after me.. we all know I have a problem with hiccups.

4. My already bad memory seems to have gotten worse. I forget things even more often than usual, which is scary. For example... I can't remember what else I was going to write about on this post. I only made it to point four... I was pretty sure there were other things.

There you have it. There isn't any more. Well, anymore that I can remember...

tetons and baja

I guess I am catching up on my summer posts. Here are some family pictures from this summer-especially featuring Sheralie's family.

Monroe Clan by Yellowstone lake.

Mr. Jeffrey on the boat- quite a happy kid.
Laird loved driving with my Dad.
The Whole crew who went white water river rafting on the Snake river. I passed- thinking that I was quite nautious on dry ground, and I didn't think others would appreciate me throwing up the whole time :) Jeffrey was quite courageous- Laird did not go, you can see he has his blanky which would not have made the voyage either....Did I mention Laird's love for weapons? Sheralie told me he recently named all of the kitchen knives (The weapon knife, the mango knife, the hunting knife... what a kid)I love this shot. Pete was quite patient getting Lucy to eat her yogurt.
I tried to teach Jeffrey about the dam... I didn't have too much to tell him, where is my engineering husband to explain practical things. I only know fonts...
Lucy on the boat... probably the happiest she was the whole trip.
This is more of how Lucy was the whole trip....

Baja...yum.

So yes, I feel like everyone is caught up on our summer... now that it is finally the end of September.

indiana pictures

In august we spent a week with the Dan's family in Indiana. It was lots of fun, we swam in Lake Michigan (as it turns out not Michigan lake...) looked at Amish people, went to some baseball games (yay!) and just had a great time.

Jonah and James (cute nephews)

Jared (who looked so cute with all this food on his mouth) and Kailey

Dan was the king of sandcastles and finally convinced me that Lake Michigan can have waves (although very tiny ones)

There were mudpits which I did not visit... but still got attacked

We saw the Cubs and the White Sox... I was so happy to get my summer baseball fix.


We also visited Aunt Mary who is 101... Incredible Lady- isn't she lovely?

Daniels parents- Bart & Judy. Thank you for hosting us!

feeling a little domestic are we?

Maybe its the nesting urge... maybe its the fact that I have finally felt healthy the last month... or maybe its the fact that I am home all day long working... and about 2 PM on some days I feel like I can't possibly think of another creative idea...

But anyways, with all of these things going on, somehow, I have started becoming more domestic. Its been little by little- I started a goal to do something each day (to keep myself from going insane) At first it was cleaning my house... going through piles that have just sat there...then organizing addresses... and then slowly, I started doing really crazy things. Such as:

1. I made freezer jam. (peach-rasberry...) I can't brag too much about this.. I was in Idaho and my aunt and grandma taught me... Freezer jam is the best! Its EASY. You just mash, mix, add sugar... done! Easier than cookies. (Pretty picture from Idaho this weekend:)


2. I canned!! I never thought this would happen. It was a lot of work. However, I loooove canned peaches, so I thought I would give it a go. It seems to have turned out alright... I only did half the peaches though... I only had enough energy to work on it an hour and half as it turns out.... so I have to finish tomorrow....or saturday... or just eat all of those fresh peaches. Its a toss up.


3. I made cookies and dinner today.. Lately it has been just dinner. I haven't been able to eat anything sweet this whole pregnancy- and I still have to be careful. But this recipe is for healthy cookies without butter, without refined sugar or flour.... bananas, oats, almonds, coconut... chocolate of course... pretty tasty.


I am exhausted. Time to get back to work and do some design... just one last lovely pic from idaho from this weekend:


ps. I can't brag too much.... Just last night as I was feeling so proud for being domestic I spilled a TON of freezer jam all over my floor. That was a pain cleaning... Its hard to get on your hands and knees when you are 7 months pregnant.....

Because I missed Africa today.

I have recently been reading a lot about Africa, ok let me rephrase that....( I always read a lot about Africa)

This summer I read a few more books about Africa that were just lovely. It made me miss Africa. Michael just got back from Mozambique and talking to him has reminded me a great deal of how much I loved being there.

Here are some quotes that I just loved from two of the books I read:

From the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (which I highly recommend)

"If chained is where you have been, your arms will always bear the marks of the shackles. What you have to lose is your own story, your own slant. You'll look at the scars on your arms and see mere ugliness or you'll take great care to look away from them and see nothing. Either way, you have no words for the story of where you came from-we are our injuries as much as we are our successes"


"I took a deep breath and told myself that a woman anywhere on earth can understand another woman on a market day. Yet my eye could not decipher those vendors: they wrapped their heads in bright-colored cloths as cheerful as a party, but faced the world with permanent vile frowns. They slung back their heads in slit-eyed boredom while they did each other's hair into starbursts of astonished spikes. I was pale and wide-eyed as a fish. A fish in the dust of the marketplace, trying to swim, while all the other women calmly breathed in that atmosphere of overripe fruit, dried meat, sweat, and spices, infusing their lives with powers I feared." (page 88)


And from Finding Beauty in a Broken World,
by Terry Tempest Williams:

"What is real to me is the power of our awareness when we are focused on something beyond ourselves. It is a shaft of light shining in a dark corner. Our ability to shift our perceptions and seek creative alternatives to the conundrums of modernity is in direct proportion to our empathy. Can we imagine, witness, and ultimately feel the suffering of another?" (page 199)


"If you do violence to me, you do violence to yourself because we are all human beings." (page 228) (writing above the door of a church where many were killed in Rwanda)


I finally, a quote that I think sums up much of what I feel for Africa:

"If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will."
Mother Teresa


There you have it. Read about Africa- those books are great, as well as the best website of all: allafrica.com

(All pictures, except for first one from Yellowstone 2009, taken in Mozambique 2004)