October

In a bid toward greater efficiency this week (read: less time sitting and thinking of what to say), I thought I'd provide a largely pictorial version of the month of October. Of course, I would never leave you without context and commentary.

October 2 - Visits from Friends

Scott & Amy came over from Indiana to take in the wonders of SW Ohio. The result? A trip to Hidden Valley Fruit Farm. Pros? It was Apple Cider fest, which means more unhealthy food, a bluegrass band, and lots of fellow farm-goers. Cons? Picking your own apples was so expensive that we actually saved money by purchasing ones that other people had picked--that and the incredibly long lines to purchase said apples.

After church on Sunday, we had a lunch for 8 (+1 sleeping 1 yr old). Jath busted out some amazing soup, we pulled some chairs up from the basement, and I rushed out the door to NYC while a house full of people enjoyed still-hot homemade bread!

October 9 - Our Baby Gets Some Furniture

Thank goodness for IKEA, power drills, and a small car with a freakishly large trunk.

With quilt hangers installed a few days later, we're getting ready for December.

October 17 - Baby Shower in Indiana

The middle of October brought us back to "The Middle" (also a fantastic show on ABC for those of you who can identify with all things Midwest). Jath's friends Robin and Amy and our sister (in-law) Lauren hosted a baby shower. They spent all day Saturday--seriously, all day--baking, cooking, putting together party favors, planning activities, and watching the movie Babies for inspiration. I, on the other hand, played tennis, played Kan-Jam, ate Pizza King pizza, and hung out with friend Jason.

The shower was a great success (read: our car was loaded down with thoughtful, useful gifts) and it was great to see (for 5 min.) our long lost friends Steve & Jolie (VISIT!)

October 24 - Family Sleepover 2010

This past weekend was our annual family get together--artfully termed the "SFSO". In only two years, it has become by far one of my favorite weekends. From judging the quality of one another's favorite family memories around a Friday night firepit to climbing onto a hay wagon for family pictures taken by the cashier of a local farm, we have way too much fun with very few supplies.

The matching sweatshirts compliment the matching blankets from last year. Not pictured? Hours of Kan-Jam (seriously, Google this game then go find a way to play it), the spiciest entree I have eaten in several years, 10 carved pumpkins, Lucy & Toby's non-stop running around, Mark & Lauren's frankenfuton, and late-night s'mores.

In summary, October's been a good month.

food for thought

It would seem that we have been a bit delinquent in our posting for October, meaning we will either post like crazy this week or just do better next month. I can't wait to see which one we choose!


This post will be about food. I found a smattering of food photos on our camera from the last several weeks so I thought it might be fun to share.


We'll start with some dinners. Robin had the pleasure of experiencing most of the food below and was probably the reason we even have pictures of them. So thank you Robin for finding my cooking photo-worthy :)

Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken
over brown rice with broccoli

Spinach Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Eggplant Lasagna
(this had lots of yummy veggies in it)

Autumn Chicken Pot Pie
(butternut squash was what made it distinctly fall, so good)

Now on to lunch. I originally took pictures of my lunch because of how simple and kindergarten like they all were. Hey what's good for a six-year old is good for the pregnant lady and so tasty! Remember an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

green beans, cheese and crackers, sliced apple
oh and lots of water of course

Trader Joe's Organic Joe's O's and sliced apple

whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and sliced apple

I have no pictures of breakfast. They aren't usually very exciting anyway. Just a bowl of cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios, Quaker Honey Graham Oh's, Cinnamon Life) with organic milk and a sliced banana - for all that good potassium.


Dessert. Oddly enough I don't have very many pictures of desserty things which is weird because that's probably what I make the most. This month alone I made Molasses Cookies, Chocolate-Chip Apple Pumpkin Bread, Oreo Pie, and Double Layer Pumpkin Cheese Cake. Here are some things I/we made and did take pictures of.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
not so recent but such a pretty picture!

Braided Lemon Bread

Monkey Bread with cream cheese glaze

The Best Coffee Cake. Ever.
Made by Aaron and repeated by Aaron. A new favorite
and no stranger to the blog

So where's the chocolate? I know it's shocking how lacking in chocolate all those desserts were. Well this past week I got something in the mail to make up for it. My wonderful husband got me my very favorite box of Godiva chocolate in honor of our pregnancy home stretch. Only 2 months to go! Sweet as candy that Aaron.

Milk chocolate assortment.
Just what the doctor ordered

Mmmm such good food deserves a pregnancy peek. Thankfully my increasing girth has more to do with the growing baby inside than any of the food pictured above. Here we are at 30 weeks.

Toby and the Baby

It’s come to my attention that there has been little to no mention of our Toby on this blog. I’m shocked, as it would seem that our whole lives revolve around the 14 lb miniature schnauzer. That is until lately. My fears are being confirmed, Toby has already taken a backseat to our baby.

Since learning I was expecting I’ve been mourning over Toby being bumped down the attention chain. I know it has to happen, it’s natural and certainly expected that a baby come before the needs of a dog. But still it makes me sad. In fact it makes me very sad.

Little Toby has admittedly been our pride and joy since the day we brought him home at a mere 2 lbs. Even Aaron, who originally had concerns not just about the breed we/I chose but owning a dog in general, fell immediately in love. Toby had us from day one and the fact that he behaved so well and was easily trained only made it more so.

In the two years that we’ve had him he’s become our cuddle buddy, our constant companion and truly a piece of our family. He loves us like crazy and we love him too, so the thought of him feeling unloved or unwanted when baby comes breaks my heart.

There is a sweet but sad book called McDuff and the Baby which fits right in here. McDuff is a good dog who has a good life with his owners Fred and Lucy. He gets to do all sorts of fun things with them and of course he loves them. Until one day when Fred and Lucy bring home a baby. The baby cries and pulls McDuff’s hair. They can’t go on the same kind of walks and overall McDuff feels replaced and forgotten. (This is where I start to tear). 

Then one day Lucy notices that McDuff won’t eat. (Now I cry). So Fred and Lucy start doing all the old things they did with McDuff before the baby came like read him the comics, let him eat sausage and vanilla rice pudding and take him on walks in his favorite place. In the end everyone is happy again and there they all sit Fred, Lucy, baby and McDuff hand in hand happy to be a family together. (By now I’m sobbing, barely able to be consoled).

I know things are going to be different, there’s no way they won’t be, but both Aaron and I have vowed to do our very best to let Toby know he has not been replaced. He might have to be moved over a little, or a lot, but he’s still important and very much loved.

It now occurs to me after 400-some odd words that perhaps it’s me we should be concerned about…I really need to stop crying.

Toby's McDuff face

Lamaze, or what to do when contractions are 7 minutes apart at 1 a.m.

Jath and I are doing Lamaze, which according to Bill Cosby, falls into the class of "things intellectuals study that people already know how to do naturally." After two weeks, I would beg to differ--respectfully, of course.

Mind you, our Lamaze class is hilariously stereotypical. Exhibit A: our Finland-born, German-trained MD instructor, who happens to have a name that puts vowels and consonants in places one would never think possible. She has a moderately strong accent, which only makes the anatomy discussions more entertaining, and a penchant for randomly asking questions while holding up a large chart and pointing to the answer (apparently, audience participation rates had been low).

Exhibit B? The baby doll stuffed inside a giant knit wool "uterus" that our instructor keeps dropping and wedging into a science-class style pelvic bone. The fact that the baby has made it through said pelvis exactly 1 time so far (out of dozens of droppings and wedgings) does not instill confidence in the class. We did learn, however, that Jath can apparently just bounce around on a giant inflatable exercise ball and the baby will magically get into that 1 position. If you hadn't guessed, my first assigned labor task is to "Get the ball!"

We've also been learning lots of acronyms that will help us remember important information while in the panic of early labor. Fortunately, one of those acronyms is the easy to remember "COAT". Unfortunately, Jath will most likely be giving birth in the dead of winter, when either one of us screaming the word "coat" at each other could result in more than a little confusion. Other acronyms, like "EAT" (early labor, active labor, transition), are not so helpful.

Which brings me to this week's class: the "curious couples hospital tour"--which seems to be a rather insightful if not 9ish-months-too-late name for the event--followed by "videos." Needless to say, I won't be posting about that one.

Good things to come (i.e., it's gonna be a short one)

Apologies for last month's cliffhanger. I'll provide a better ending in a future post, but the long and short of it is that we found a great, young presbyterian (PCA) church in Cincinnati that we've become quite involved in over the last month. Lots of young families and a church with a solid sense of purpose and identity. Needless to say, we're very thankful God has brought this our way, especially in this season of life.

As for me? Work recently has been a mix of lessons learned the hard way and challenges in matching my personality with the line of work I've chosen. Needless to say, that's kept me pretty busy during the day and with a lot to think about at night--hence the lack of blogging.

But many great and wonderful things continue to happen in life. Exhibit A? A BBQ pork sandwich from one "Porky Capone" at last weekend's apple cider fest. It's not an apple donut from Carter Mountain, but it makes 54 degrees and rainy seem pretty nice.

This weekend? Furniture for the baby's room! (i.e., how many IKEA boxes can fit in the Honda).

My *Groby Belly

As soon as I hear that someone I know is pregnant the first thing I do is look for pictures. I’m not sure why but there’s something about a growing belly that’s intriguing and most people just can’t help but wonder what the previously normal looking person looks like with a baby bump. I’m always frustrated when the pregnant person in question neglects to put up any photos. Aren’t they excited to show off their bump? Don’t they know that everyone is waiting to see that beautiful belly?!

At least this was all before I became pregnant myself. I always thought that I would be eager to show off my swelling abdomen, but as it turns out…not so much. Here’s the thing, when you wake up one day and find that your shirts are too tight and your pants won’t zip let alone button the last thing you want to do is get the camera. It doesn’t quite matter that the weight gain is a good thing, when your clothes don’t fit it’s not exactly a Kodak moment. Let me be clear, I love that I’m pregnant. Not a day goes by that I am not overjoyed at the miracle of life that grows inside me. It’s a blessing and I can’t thank God enough for the gift he’s given me and Aaron.  However, I have no belly button and I’m pretty sure it’s not just my belly that’s gotten bigger, so please forgive me for not having put up a facebook album following its growth up to this point. Perhaps you can understand.

With that said, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and post some pictures. After all with only 13 weeks left to go I can imagine that there is some genuine curiosity out there. So remembering how enthusiastic I once was to look at others and to show off once it finally happened to me, here’s me and *Groby from about a week ago.

I’m currently 27 weeks and truthfully there really hasn't been a whole lot to see until just recently. The true test will come a few weeks from now when, as my dad so lovingly puts it, "you'll need a Hoveround."

*Thanks to Steve for coming up with an awesome new baby name: growing + baby = Groby. Genius.

What to do with Sundays

Church. I grew up in one. Jath grew up in one. I went to the same one for 22 years (ish). Jath went to a different one every 10 or so years, but the pastor usually stayed the same. Simple summary: before we got married, Jath and I had not done a lot of "church hunting".

Enter grad school on the east coast, where I ended up at a somewhat large Presbyterian (not-Wesleyan, but at least PCA) church primarily because most of my church-going classmates attended that same somewhat large Presbyterian church. When Jath joined me a year later, we continued to go and enjoyed the occasional run in with people we knew, but were otherwise fairly uninvolved. As for the Presbyterian thing, the music was a bit . . . dirge-y (not to mention filled with olde-timey reversed phrasing--e.g., "When into the woods goest I, the Lord methinks upon"). The too-simplistic explanation? Presbyterian = Reformed = low(er) view of man = we are worms = sing as if you were a worm, albeit a saved! worm. Contrast this with my upbringing: Wesleyan = Armenian = lots o' free will = I chose God! = skip the worm stuff = Joy! Joy! Joy! Basically, I'm used to singing in a major key more often than not.

When we moved to northern Ohio after grad school, we quickly found a larger Christian Missionary Alliance church and settled in. By settling in, I mean we went on Sundays and tithed. Both are good things, but we had wanted to get more involved in our church than we had before. Because we knew we would only be there for a year, however, we found a lot of reasons to simply go without doing much more. We enjoyed the music and the preaching (and the rather distracting sign language ministry stage right), but we were excited to move to a more permanent place and find a church we could "really" be involved in.

Which brings us to the last three months. We began our church search as most people of our generation do--Google our neighborhood together with the word "church". The result? A lot of churches that seemed not quite our style, for various reasons. What reasons, you ask? (1) I'm not Episcopalian, (2) I've been conditioned by society to believe that quality website = quality organization and have no reason not to apply this belief to churches, (3) sermon audio can tell you a lot about a pastor.

The next several weeks looked like this:

- moderately sized non-denominational church that opted for the "multi-purpose worship center" design (i.e., gym with a stage)

- small, wealthy non-denominational church currently meeting in small, wealthy elementary school while building a European-style cathedral with what appear to be attached townhomes?

- smaller baptist church that loves being a baptist church, friendly 3-4 people our age

- moderately sized Evangelical Free church with v. passionate worship leader guy, impressive youth pastor, and, at the time, a worship song writing contest

- large (v. large) suburban baptist church with aggressive (but well-organized) volunteer campaign

We went back to the last two several times. As for the E-Free church, we liked the size and the worship music, but it was a bit of a drive, and not in an area we were likely to move to (ask me about the awkwardly-executed conclusion to the worship song writing contest offline). We liked the large baptist church too, but it was also a far drive from home and we were still unsure whether we would find a lot of people attending who were in our "stage" of life (e.g., 7 of the 10 groups that met on Sundays were expressly limited to those 40 and over; the couple at the welcome center seemed completely unsure of what to do when we introduced ourselves and asked for info). Nevertheless, we decided that we could find a niche in a large church, volunteer to help where our skills were needed, and learn from those in a more advanced stage of life.

At least that's what we had decided, until one Saturday evening, when we heard a faint yet familiar olde-timey dirge calling us from not too far away . . .

(to be continued)