Christmas Fun in Lake Arrowhead

This Christmas we rented a cabin in Lake Arrowhead. The cabin was beautiful and with 4 dogs running around, it was a very entertaining weekend. On Christmas Eve, we ate at a wonderful resturaunt called "The Raven's Nest". We worked on a nearly impossible puzzle and did a lot of relaxing!

As Requested...

One of my faithful blogging fans (Big K) has requested a picture of the traditional Peruvian food: Cuy (guinea pig)... Enjoy

Back in the Kitchen... but maybe not such a great idea!

For the past 4 days I have felt pretty good. I actually almost feel back to my normal self. I am on Christmas break right now and have been very busy doing all sorts of things. Today I spent the day with a co-worker and friend of mine. She scrapbooked, and I worked on a baby quilt for my brother and sister-in-law. When I got home around 5:00, Eric and I, both sick of take-out, decided to go to the grocery store. I was planning to cook my first meal in over two months! I bought tomatoes and cucumbers to soak in vinegar, rice pilaf, and a Polska Kilbasa. When I got home and began to prepare I realized that I bought the wrong kind of vinegar. Then I browned the rice and added the water and left the pan on the "High" setting on the stove as I began to cut up the meat. After about 20 minutes the whole place was filled with smoke and a horrible smell. The rice is supposed to simmer on "Low" but instead I burnt every last piece of rice. The Polska Kilbasa came out ok, but it was a weird "meat only" kind of meal. An hour later we still had to have all the windows open and fans blowing... the smell was still overwelming. It seems my hiatus from cooking has caused me to forget how! Tomorrow night I have to make chicken flautas for a pot luck... Wish me luck!!!

Belly Shot

Okay folks. I am only 14 weeks pregnant I promise!!! I attribute some of this bulge to a little extra padding I had to start with, the baby (roughly the size of a fist) and a big dinner! Here is my first official "Belly Shot".

First Baby Purchase!

Tonight Eric and I decided to walk around Babies R Us and get an idea of what we will need when the baby comes. We have a VERY small apartment, and only a small spot for a crib. So when we were looking at the cribs, we found one crib small enough to fit in our space... and the price was right- so we bought it! It seems silly since I am still early in my pregnancy, but we haven't bought anything and it was too fun we couldn't resist. We won't set it up for months, of course, but it was a great outing. Since the crib is much smaller than standard crib size, we had to special order bedding. These are the pics of the crib and the bedding set we chose!
This is the "Malawi" bedding set.... And this is the crib... but we won't put wheels on it.

Natural Childbirth

I am now almost 14 weeks along in my pregnancy. These last 2 months have been rough! I am still feeling nauseous and tired. I have occasional good days and I get bursts of energy that I try to take advantage of. Sometimes, though, just the thought of food sends me running.

I have also done a lot of thinking, praying and researching during the last few months. Before I became pregnant, I always just assumed that when it was time to give birth, I would get an epidural and follow the doctor's recommendations without hesitancy. I began to think differently about the issue about a month ago.

My mom and I were staying at a hotel together in November. We were attending the ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) convention. One night we were laying on the bed in the hotel room talking about a variety of things. It occurred to me that I had never asked my mother about her birth experiences. She has given birth to 5 children! I was surprised to find out that she delivered 4 out of the 5 of us entirely without medication! She was not given a choice when she delivered her first son, my brother Chad. There was some sort of complication and an epidural was administered. She does not recommend receiving the epidural. She didn't like the way it made her feel during or after the delivery. She was much happier with the following pregnancies... she felt awake, alert, energized, unmedicated and overjoyed!

I have heard similar stories from other women as well. I always assumed that delivering a child without medication was unheard of these days... but after some research, I discovered that there are plenty of women successfully having umedicated deliveries! I know that there is always the possibility of complications and sometimes intervention is necessary, but I am feeling very confident about the idea of delivering my baby without medication.

Eric and I have done some searching, and after comparing several birth methods and classes we have decided to learn the Bradley Method of natural childbirth... also called Husband-Coached childbirth. Nationally, Bradley couples have a much higher rate of natural childbirth and a much lower rate of C-section (less than half the national average!)

Please pray that the Lord would give us the strength and health to deliver a healthy baby without medication. Once we start our classes (in March) I will post some updates!