37 weeks in Frisco

Joey swept me away last weekend for our last official babyless vacation for what I can imagine will be a long time. We had such a blast. I wanted to do the touristy thing this time since we usually just stick close Union Square for some marathon shopping. We took the trolley to Fisherman's Warf and ate at the world famous Scoma's restaurant, which was delicious. We did a bit of shopping, but I'm not really in the condition to be making any purchases since hopefully very soon my body will change drastically (hopefully). I did manage to find some sunglasses and a pair of shoes. 2 pregnancies down and my feet are a full size bigger than they used to be. Ouch!

Judah stayed at home with his grandparents and had a blast. I don't think he missed us at all. Since he's talking so much, he's been telling us all of Gigi and Papa's secrets. He got a Madagascar giraffe at McDonald's and he was telling me all about the movie, which to my knowledge he's never seen. He also told me 'surf's up' the other day then said 'watch it'... hmmm, I wonder it he watched that one too. I just love to tease Joey's parents about it, but it is slightly strange and new to me that Judah is beginning to have a little bit of a life independent of Joey and I. I guess that's growing up for you.

The pregnancy is going really well. I still feel ridiculously good, but my doctor assures me that the baby has dropped and things are progressing, I'll spare you the details. She'll let me go up to a week overdue and if things haven't progressed much more I'll have to have another c-section. Otherwise she might be able to break my water and see how things go. We are busy getting bags packed and things in order. I can't believe how much peace I have though. At this point with Judah I was so anxious to get the baby out that it consumed me. Just going through his traumatic birth gave me eyes to definitely trust God's timing an methods. We can't wait to meet our baby girl, but are so happy to enjoy these last few weeks with Judah, trying to pour into him and soak him up as much as possible.

Hill Happenings

I thought it was time for a long overdue update to all our fans out there. We've been busy getting ready for the baby and keeping up with the one we have at home. I have been in nesting overdrive for the past 2 months, so I've been consumed with projects and cleaning and whatnot. In the midst of that we've had a really enjoyable fall, if you can really call this fall. I still sweat most of the time for no apparent reason, luckily I have an excuse. The weather and the leaves are turning slowly, marking the quickly approaching arrival of our daughter.

We have decided on a name for our girl... Annaleigh Marie. I wrote a post a while back on her namesake, Leigh, if you are interested in that story and Marie is a Hill family name. We have been calling her Annie, except for Judah who calls her baby Nanny. He is really starting to get excited for her to 'come out.' He commands her to come out every day, but I have to explain to him that she's not quite ready yet. He already has a list of things that he wants her to do with him, including riding in the back of the jeep at the park. Mommy's too big to fit back there but he figures Annie will be small enough to take for a spin.

Some of Judah's favorite things right now...

- PARK
- his new big boy bed with NEMO sheets (although he won't sleep in it, he loves to play there)
- anything NEMO
- books
- dancing to Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions, preferably Froggie Went Courting and 'Flute Song'
- playing his guitar bat, or guitar fork, or guitar tennis racket, or guitar anything, even air guitar
- surfing with daddy
- closing doors (this one is borderline OCD, he can't focus on anything until he's sure for the 5th time that every door in the room is closed)
- oh, yeah, huge victory in Sunday School and Bible study, after 1 year of major separation anxiety he's finally staying in class!!
- repeating EVERYTHING you say, I've been totally busted a couple of times... yikes
- soccer

There's so much more I'm sure. This kid is passionate about everything he does. We are really enjoying this season with him and cherishing these last few weeks with just the three of us.

Here are the latest pictures... Halloween, my nursery project, my lovely baby shower, and of course random Judah pics

progress

This afternoon I took the family to the beach. I threw a surfboard in the car just in case, which made Judah really excited. So when we got there he wanted to go to the water, and he wanted me to bring the surfboard. The 56 degree water didn't bother him at all.

Here is a sitting reverse paddle out one-hander.


Here is Judah flopping backward on his first wave (the pic doesn't show him recover from this, but he did!).


Here is a video of his 2nd wave. He loved it.

the fall

"the fall" as in the season that follows summer, not the sinfulness of mankind (that's a topic that's best had in person, not on a blog, right?). here are some photos from a day here on the central coast that resembled fall. I am sure we have a lot of sunshine left and time for some Indian Summer action which I enjoy, but Katie really loved the gloomy weather, so that was cool. You know your spoiled when you look forward to rain.

here is my boy judah with slobber on his chin (drool runs in the family, sorry son).


jumping over the cracks, so we don't break mama's back!


judah roots for the cubs, and so do I. this day happened to be there last game of the season (they lost again, ouch).


3 cheers for the fall [season]!

ps - photos generously taken by my good friend & talented photog ken kienow. http://www.kenkienow.com/ -thanks KK!

terminal illness

for those of you that don't know, I (joey) do a little bit of traveling for work. I love my job, i love the company, the people, the challenges of the job, but I don't love the travel. Airplanes & Hotels used to symbolize fun/vacation/adventure or relaxation, but they now represent time away from my two best friends; Katie & Judah. So I have a few conversations throughout the day with them, try to pray for them, think about them a lot, and usually look at pictures. I usually show the photos off to people on the airplane, or my customers. I am sitting in a terminal right now with some typical delay, so I thought I'd blog to share the pics. Enjoy...

21 Weeks

So I hear that when you are carrying a girl you tend to carry them "all over." I never really understood what that meant until now. Apparently I'm carrying her mostly in my booty. Either that or the 3 helpings of dessert a day are starting to get to me. Seriously, how hard is it to know that every month you're going to gain at least 4 pounds. As women we already struggle so much with body image and the bombardment of society telling us what's 'really' beautiful. Unfortunately even being pregnant I'm really not doing well with the expanding waist line. When I was pregnant with Judah I think I was just naive to the fact that it is so hard to get the weight off afterwards. They tell you that breast feeding will melt it away, but that was not the case for me. I think that's why it's been so hard for me, knowing that realistically it will be another year and lots of sweat before I will wear my normal clothes again. I guess that until we're done having kids this will be a constant up and down battle, but it's worth it.

On a separate note, Judah has been really into my belly lately, well, not just mine. He thinks that everyone including him has a baby in their tummy. He goes up to whoever is around, male or female and tries to lift up their shirt while saying 'baby'. Please don't get offended if he does this to you, he's just a bit confused. He gives baby sissy lots of kisses and lately is really into giving raspberries. It's really sweet and I hope that there's a part of him that will start to understand that she's really in there.

Leigh, spirituality & massage...

My sweet brother Howie gave me a gift certificate to Sycamore for a prenatal massage for Mother's Day/Birthday. I'm sitting here now, greased up with my mind racing after finally taking advantage of one of life's simple pleasures. This post has some random topics that all came out this morning in conversation with my masseuse. First of all, a little know fact to most of you is that I have a rather large tattoo on my lower back that is a cross with the initials of a very special friend who passed away 6 1/2 years ago. I've been thinking of her quite a bit lately as Joey and I are pondering names for our daughter. Ever since I was pregnant with Judah (and thought he was a girl) I had felt very strongly that I wanted to name my first daughter after her. So back to the massage... the woman commented on my tattoo and began asking me about it and then began to share some very interesting spiritual thoughts with me. Before I get into that, I really would like to share Leigh's story with you which is a huge part of my coming to know the Lord.

We met in college at UCSD and were in the same suite. She was a passionate lover of Jesus and the only Christian in our circle of friends. I had totally walked away from the Lord and became very much involved with... let's just say, some very unhealthy, self-destructive behavior. Somehow Leigh and I were still close friends and she loved me so well and accepted me despite my occasional unkindness to her.

Leigh had a very rare adrenal disorder that put her in the hospital at least once every other month with crippling migraines. I was the only one with a car and so I became her ER buddy, which gave me such an awe and respect for her faith in a good God despite such hardships in life. She lived and breathed Christ, without saying a word most of the time. She believed with all her heart that God would heal her in his time, even if healing came in heaven.

By the end of freshman year we had decided to live together the following year. I think that I was deeply afraid that her light would expose my own sin and darkness and much to my shame, I asked her not to live with us when it all came to pass. She was wounded, understandably, but we were able to restore our friendship and remain close.

That summer I came to live in SLO and was challenged by a good friend (after being dumped) that I needed to find my joy and life in Christ again. God transformed my heart and gave me a desire for Him, his word and his works. When I returned to SD in the fall, I shared my conversion experience with Leigh and she took me under her wing with such joy. She discipled me and helped me find fellowship and stand strong in my faith in spite of the temptations I had all around me.

As I grew in my faith that year I felt the Lord calling me away from UCSD. I sensed that he was giving me a clean start somewhere, which led me back to SLO. I visited Leigh 1 month before she died and believe that was one of the greatest gifts God has ever given me. She went home to be with the Lord on February 6, 2002 from complications with her migraines. Although she was very ill, it never was seen as a life threatening condition, but the Lord wanted her to come home. Despite the pain of such a loss, I know that she is where her heart has always been, with her first love Jesus. No other person has had such an impact on my life, loved me when I was ugly, and laid her life down for me as a sister.

I really struggled in my faith when she died and backslid for a time, but the Lord has been so gracious to me and given me even more appreciation for my hero of the faith. With all that said Joey and I would be honored to give our daughter her name, Leigh-anne. What a rich legacy. We are thinking that it will be her middle name, but haven't made any concrete decisions yet.

Okay that was a bit exhausting, so maybe I'll save the rest of the post for later...

By the way, who is your hero in the faith?