Pregnancy, Work, and Moving: What We've Been up To Recently

Hi all! It's been quite some time since I have written anything on here and I thought now would be a great time to give you all an update on what has been going on with us since the beginning of the year.

The beginning of the year started off pretty normal. I still taught piano lessons while the flower farm season ramped down. I decided against working at a daycare this year, as I was adjusting to being pregnant. I took the extra time off to read a lot and just enjoy being pregnant in the second trimester (thank God the nausea went away!).

Andrew had a pretty busy January as he was a part of the 21 days of prayer event at our church. They had 5am call times because the services during the weeks started at 6am! Luckily, he was able to get in plenty of naps when he got home from work. (:

In February, we found out we were having a boy! Our friends had a little gender reveal party for us and made this delicious cake to celebrate the occasion!

At the beginning of March my brother, Glenn, got married to his beautiful and lovely best friend, Allison! Andrew and I had the honor of standing up next to them during this momentous day!

Photo by https://www.hilaryelise.com/

And yes. I'm wearing TOMS.

In March, I went back to the flower farm and was still teaching lessons as normal. By the end of March, I had to make a change to my teaching schedule/platform because of the coronavirus. I went to completely virtual lessons at the beginning of April and it was quite a learning curve for both me and my students. My students and their parents were super supportive and we all adapted rather quickly to the new format! I feel so incredibly blessed that the transition went smoothly.

Andrew started working from home around the same time that I began teaching lessons virtually. It was super nice to have him around more. (: During quarantine, we were able to get a sourdough starter from a friend and have been making a loaf at least once a week. We've found that part whole-wheat gives the bread a better flavor! Here's one of the most gorgeous loaves Andrew has made so far!

I was originally going to have a piano recital at the beginning of May, but because of the state of the virus, we could not do that. I decided to hold a virtual recital and it went so well! I had each of my students learn their pieces (either memorized or a duet piece with me) and then they recorded themselves performing it at home and sent me the video! For the students that had a duet piece, I sent them a recording of me playing the accompaniment part and they just played my part through a speaker while they played their part. Man. Technology is so great! I am so proud of each of them for how hard they worked and that each of them did their part to make the virtual recital work out so well.

In May, Andrew and I moved to a new apartment. It is in the same apartment complex and is only 200 yards away from our old apartment. The new apartment has two bedrooms instead of one and has a lot more living room space! We love it a lot. We had help moving--my dad and brothers, my sister-in-law, my sister, and several friends from our Game Night group came to help move the boxes and furniture so that I didn't have to do much lifting. It was so kind of them all to come and help! We treated them all to Starbucks as a thank you. (:

Potus still is trying to figure out the whole blinds thing.

Currently, we are just awaiting the arrival of our little boy. It could be any day now and so we aren't taking any time for granted. We realize this next season of life will bring it's fair share of challenges and growth for us as we become parents. It still doesn't seem quite real that he will be here and we will get to hold him. Right now, he's just this "invisible" person hiding in belly kicking my ribs/hip bones and pushing down on my bladder. There is some fear and anxiety that I face each day knowing that labor could be just around the corner, but I am SO SO blessed by the fact that I have God's truth to lean on. Fear has no place in this next season. Being a mother has always been something I've wanted to become. Something that God has placed on my heart since I was a young girl.

And the time for that to come to fruition is near and its both exciting and nerve-wracking and amazing...it's all the things.

Several months ago, I feared that Andrew would not be able to be with me during the delivery. That was (and still is) scary for me to think of having no one else that I personally knew with me while I went through something so life-altering and new. Thankfully, they have lifted so many of the rules they had several months ago and Andrew is allowed to be with me. No other visitors are allowed in the hospital, but that's ok because I'm just thankful that I get to have Andrew with me.

So. Here I am at 38 weeks pregnant. Waiting for the next season. Praying for a healthy delivery, baby, and postpartum period. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and Andrew during this time...we have such a tremendous support system and we've often said that we would not be able to do what we are doing without you all. It is humbling and amazing to have such loving people praying for us and surrounding us with friendship each and every day.