redemption

i stayed home from work sick today.

i had a really great long weekend, but last night around dinner time it was clear that i'd developed a cold. on friday i noticed some rattling in my lungs. on saturday, my throat started hurting. on sunday, i started coughing up mucus and was woken in the night with a painfully sore throat. so the addition on sneezing and congestion wasn't a huge surprise. just annoying. i was in rough shape this morning, but seem to be improving. i'm hoping to be back to work tomorrow.

speaking of tomorrow, we're scheduled for our ultrasound at 8:30! i'm pretty excited. i can't wait to see this little person. we're going to find out the sex. here's your chance for last minute guesses!!!

for the past few family day weekends, we've gone on road trips – quebec city in 2011, and cleveland in 2012. we'd planned to go to philadelphia this year, but since we're going to greece in 2 weeks, we decided to stay at home. instead we did work around the house. installed shelves in our bedroom, bought a large tuperware-type bin for blanket storage, and bought a cupboard from the habitat for humanity restore. we were inspired by the cupboard in andrew and shannon's bedroom, which they use for clothing storage, and decided to get a cupboard for our baby's stuff instead of a dresser that would take up floor space. we went and just looked a few weeks ago and found some in the $20-30 range, but the one we got was $15! it needs some love. we're going to sand it down and paint it. when i say 'we' i mean i will be the creative director and b will do all the work. they're too many instructions for how to paint when pregnant, so b said he'd just do it. i like doing things like that, so i'll be sad to miss out, but i appreciate that he can do it and i'm sure he'll do a great job.

our house is small, but when we did a survey of each room on saturday, we found there's quite a bit of space that is not well utilized. it's good to know we have some wiggle room with space.

shannon lent me a number of movies to watch while i'm sick. i just watched 'the best exotic marigold hotel'. when it first came to the theatre's my mom really wanted to see it. i think it was partly because it's british, and partly about people in their golden years like her. she's actually just heading off on an exotic adventure herself. she's going to south africa! a librarian friend of hers has been setting up libraries in different african countries in recent years. this friend has invited her to come along many times, but my mom keeps turning her down. well... i guess this time the timing was right because she's been wanting to go on a trip and the opportunity arose, so she took it! it was interesting talking with her yesterday, because my mom is the one who taught me to travel. all my life she's been traveling back and forth to the UK and she taught me the ropes. but now the tables have turned and i'm telling her "make sure you ask if your bags will be checked all the way through or if you have to transfer them yourself" and "do you have a money belt?" and "a 15 hour flight isn't too bad. you'll be ok". as much as i felt wary of her initial consideration of this trip, i'm proud of her for making a bold move and taking part in an adventure. i think it will do her good.

give us life,
give us vision,
give us love.