L O V E

In honor of Valentine's Day, this post will be all about LOVE! Broken up into a few different parts, though...

I'd like to start with a cause that's very near and dear to our hearts- the LOVE146 organization which fights against child sex trafficking. Check out this inspiring video:

http://love146.org/valentines

So to try and do at least a small part, Steve and I aren't doing any gifts this year, but are making a special dinner in and making hand-made cards. We'll donate what we would've spent to this worthy foundation instead. Check it out!

Second, I was really feeling the love yesterday as I had my first ever baby shower down at my parent's place in Alexandria, VA (which was sooo beautiful with all that snow!!!) predominantly with family and some close long-time friends of mine and my family. It was so incredibly special. Practically a reunion as some of my cousins and aunts I hadn't seen in years! I couldn't believe the generosity of these women and the afternoon was such a blessing. I do think our little Maelee will be quite a well dressed little girl - people just can't resist those adorable outfits! Here's a sampling of some pics, followed by a slide show of more.

The spread- AMAZING cupcakes, tea sandwiches, chicken salad, pasta salad, marinated veggies, and fruit skewers. YUMMY!!!

Little gifts for the ladies who helped

Adorable little gifts for everyone that attended (tea, tea light and chocolates)

Game supplies! Pictures of babies (everyone had to wear one and try not to say the word "baby" - if someone heard you say it, they could steal your picture. Winner was the person with the most stolen baby pictures), toilet paper (name how many squares went around my belly- what do YOU think???), and a sheet with our little girl's name (how many girl names can you come up with using all of the letters in her name).

Some of the loot- people were SO generous!
And had a blast with the ladybug theme (see picture below that Steve took in FR that became inspiration behind room decor)

Everyone brought a book to help start her library!

Some special mementos from when I was a baby- the specially made dress since I was a preemie and couldn't fit in normal clothes.

My mom's good friend and wife of their pastor actually found this adorable "flute player" onesie online!!!

Here I am with my sweet Cindy who has been a dear friend since 4th grade (!!!), and Deb and Deb! The Deb in the middle took care of all the food and goodie bags and did such a fabulous job!!! The Deb on the outside is Cindy's mom. We lived next door for six years in MD.

The "Metheny" Ladies!
(my Aunt Carol, Dad's sister; my cousin-in-law, Lori, my dad's newphew's wife; my lovely momma with her poor fractured elbow from falling in the ice; me and my preggo self, my cousin Cathy, Dad's neice; my cousin Colleen, Cathy's sister; Hannah, Lori's daughter; and my Aunt Donna, my Dad's brother's wife)

The Delaware Ladies!
(Mommy; Lucy, my Aunt Viv's sister; my Aunt Viv, my mom's brother's wife, moi; Kim, my cousin Sam's wife; Cyndi, Aunt Viv's other sister; Mandy, Lucy's daughter; and "Auntie Coop," a dear friend of my mother's and family friend)

Cindy's and my crazy bellies! Her little girl should be arriving very shortly after ours- can't believe it!!!

With my love at the end of the party

It was an amazing day!

Thirdly, I'm feeling especially strong emotions of love towards two very special family members right now - my Too-daddy and our little girl-to-be, Maelee. (My husband grows dearer and dearer to me as his support just increases more and more with this pregnancy, but my gushing over him can be found in other posts here.)

My Too-daddy: A few weeks ago, we got the devastating news that my sweet Too-dad has bladder cancer. He may be 85 but doesn't look (or act!) a day over 65 and this definitely came as a shock to us all. I think we just had naive hopes that nothing could ever hurt him... So it's been hard to swallow and your prayers over his treatment and recovery would be very much appreciated. There's also a small spot on his lung so he'll start a 16 week chemo treatment this Friday. We got to enjoy a short but sweet visit with him on our way back to NY from VA so it was great to see him, but this will definitely be a difficult journey for all of us.

My sweet Too-daddy and me back in June

My little Maelee: I'm feeling this little baby's movements more and more each day and we've finally started things rolling with her room. I have frequent dreams about her and can't believe how much I can already love her... It really is amazing and I can't wait to meet her! We had our first birth class last Thurs, which was quite informative (almost too much so!) but very exciting and encouraging at the same time. This really is happening!!!

Sweet Maelee in the big belly at 30 weeks

Finally, I'd like to leave you with the famous passage from Paul's letter to the church in Corinth about love. A few ladies are working on memorizing scripture together this year and these are the verses from the last couple of weeks- very appropriate timing!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast;
it is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I Corinthians 13:4-7

As I've been reading these words over and over, and really trying to get them to seep into my mind, they seem to keep coming up in various situations and revealing just how NOT loving I can be... whew. Quite convicting. But such great reminders.

May you experience TRUE love this Valentine's Day!!!

"Before the Baby Arrives" List!!!

In keeping with tradition (if having just two previous lists can even count as tradition...), we had to come up with another list/challenge for the blog.

Click here for the first, and here for the second if you're wondering where I'm coming from.

So, what better goal than things to do before the arrival of our baby girl!!! We're cutting it pretty short, given that I'm into the 3rd trimester and these next two months are going to be c-r-a-z-y with finishing this degree and making sure I meet my teaching obligations, but what the heck. Nothing like a challenge! Ok, here goes!

"Before The Baby Arrives" List
(in no particular order)

1. Finish getting the apartment ready! At this point, that mainly entails going through lots of papers/documents, etc, and trying to get more organized and be more space efficient.

2. Finish Maelee's Room!!! Lots to do here - finish getting rid of all the random stuff in there that doesn't need to be in there, paint a couple pieces of furniture, and DECORATE!!!

3. Finish this degree!!! Almost there- the big defense is 2/16 with the recitals on 2/26 and 3/5. Then, I just have to keep teaching pretty much up until she gets here!

4. Go on more intentional date nights!!! Just the two of us.
4A. Restaurant week.
4B. Brunch and a movie (since movies are much cheaper earlier in the day)

5. Go to a Broadway Show! Just the two of us.

6. Take a "Babymoon!" Even if it's just one night away, we gotta do it.

7. Babysit for friend's kids while we still can! Have gotten a pretty good start on this, but still have a couple other special families we want to help out while we can.

8. Pregnancy photos - the for real kind with both of us. Steve couldn't talk me into doing a belly cast.

9. Learn how to swaddle.

10. Finally get new prescription glasses. I've been wearing the same pair that I got when I first needed glasses, in my senior year of high school. Scared. And they're ugly.

Hmm, that ended on a pretty not exciting note, but ten seemed like a good number. Please feel free to make suggestions if can you think of anything we should add!

As for an update, January hasn't been too exciting... just a lot of apartment work and school work, but we have been LOVING feeling this little life and her more pronounced movements (that we can actually see from outside the belly!) and we're getting very anxious to soon meet her. Our childbirth classes start next week- can't believe it!!!

If you want to remind me how huge I am for someone who still has about 2 1/2 more months to go (as WAYYY too many people have so lovingly informed me of...), here are some recent belly pics, even though they're already outdated at this point since there never seems to be time to update this site:

At ~ 24 weeks

At ~ 26 1/2 weeks

And at this point, I'm at 29 weeks but don't have a recent picture- luckily, there hasn't been too much expansion since the last one. Thankfully, Steve's "What to Expect for Dads" book pointed out that most women gain the most in their 6th month... would've been nice if my book assured me of that!

Just so you don't think I'm being silly or dramatic, here are some actual statements some people have recently said to me regarding the belly I'm sporting:

"Oh my gosh! You're gonna have a FAT baby! She's gonna weigh 9lbs!"
"AAH! My friend is due any day now and you're as big as her!"
"You're not due til April??? Wow, your baby is going to be massive!"

There are more, but those pretty much cover it. Yeah, thanks for the encouragement, people... Note to the wise- even women who have an excuse to have a big belly still don't want to be constantly reminded of it, and no, I actually don't want a fat/big/massive baby. (Although even if she is, she'll still be beautiful to me and I'll love her all the same!!!)

That's all for now!

What's in a name?

It's been almost a full month (well, as it tends to be, it's taken just about a week to actually get this post up...) since we've been able to call our little girl by name and I have enjoyed feeling her sweet movements and talking to her. More big belly shots to come soon!

A lot has happened in December- one more semester is down (whew!) with two more recitals out of the way and the final paper finally approved and submitted. We've also enjoyed lots of fun times with friends this joyous season and are very close to being done with our new home! The baby room will be the next project, but we at least have some ideas, so hopefully it won't be too overwhelming... :)

I'm off of school until the end of January but I already see it being filled with the last requirement of this degree- the final recital and the "oral dissertation" and paper that goes along with it. Ugh. Not looking forward to this. The recital I'm excited about, and am hoping to present both at Stony Brook and in the city. But the other stuff totally freaks me out - I basically have to know anything and everything about the pieces and composers, including lots of analytical and historical stuff. I'm not a fan of research or analysis so I'm definitely anxious to be done with this last portion!!!

So with the update out of the way, on to the fun stuff- where our little girl's name comes from.

Maelee Marguerite

takes its root from many special women in our families (when pronounced, the emphasis is on "Mae," like "daily").

Mae is my mother's middle name (and if you know me at all, you know just how important my mother is to me), and this was taken from her mother's sister's name - our "Aunt Mae" (Aunt pronounced in the southern way, like "awnt," not "aaant"). My grandmother, my "Nanabug," was an amazing woman and she had two precious sisters; I even had the pleasure to see my sweet "Aunt Mae" just yesterday!

My "Too-Daddy" (grandpa on mom's side), my "Aunt Mae",

me (at ~ 23 weeks), and my mommy

Mae is also the middle name of another incredible woman, my grandmother on my dad's side - "Elsie Mae." We think it's pretty cool that Maelee will just happen to be born 100 years after MomMom who was born in August of 1910.

My Sweet "MomMom" at 23

I adored both of my grandmothers (and my mother more than words can say!) and I miss my Nana and MomMom dearly, so the name Mae means an awful lot to me.

Lee comes from two special women on Steve's side, taken from the name "Atheleen." Steve's mother's middle name is Atheleen, in honor of her mother's first name (which was taken from her mother's middle name!). While I unfortunately did not have the opportunity to ever meet Steve's grandmother, I know she was quite a woman and our little girl would be proud to be named after her.

Steve's "Grandma Jones," Atheleen Alva, at 22 yrs old

Finally, my precious Nanabug was named "Terethia Marguerite," thus our little girl's middle name- Marguerite. I could go on and on about how I felt, and still do feel, about my Nanabug and can't believe next May will mark 15 years since we lost her to the awful sickness, Creutzfeldt-Jakobs disease. Her smile and southern belle charm could melt anyone's heart and we still affectionately recall her "nana-isms" and the endearing way she would call her loved ones " dahlin' " (ie: darling). She had the biggest, sweetest heart and will always be a very important part of me.

My Beautiful "Nanabug" at 17

I feel so blessed to be as close with her husband, my Too-Daddy, as I am. Since my dad's father passed away before I was born, he's been the only grandpa I've known, and I also happen to be his only granddaughter. We share a very special bond between us, to say the least - in my eyes, this man can do no wrong. I'm also fortunate that after the passing of my sweet Nanabug, my Too-Dad found another very special lady, Mary Catherine, and I'm excited for my little girl to have "great grandma" moments with her.

My sweet Mary Catherine and Too-Daddy, me and my man,

and my awesome parents at Christmas Eve

Anyhow, I truly could keep going with stories and superlatives to describe each one of these fantastic ladies, but you get the idea. Each of them had/have a deep, personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and they are all uniquely admired in their own ways. I'm absolutely thrilled for my little girl to come from such incredible women and am so excited to be able to honor them in this way. I can't wait to someday tell her all about each of them, and to soon see her with her own grandmothers.

Cappuccino with Raspberry or Mint???

The BIG sonogram was today!!!

(Began this post soon after scan on Wed, 11/25 . . . )

We got to see the arms, hands, and fingers; the legs, feet, and toes; the heart and all its chambers; the amazing spine; the sweet head with cute little nose; and (almost!) everything else! Technology is absolutely incredible...

We weren't sure we wanted to find out the gender right there in the room with the technician and decided we'd try our best to have her not tell us. I was surprised we didn't completely give in, but it was easier than I thought to look away for the few quick minutes she "checked" given that I could hardly tell what I was looking at for so much of the scan anyway!

So sitting next to me as I type is a little note card with either "boy" or "girl" written on it (although our little banana/mango was being modest so the technician is only about 80% sure...) along with a bag full of chocolate sticks.

What- chocolate sticks?

We wanted to do something fun, so we took our little card to a local bakery/chocolate shop, and while they didn't have strawberry or blueberry filled truffles (the initial idea) they did have these cute "chocolate sticks" flavored with either raspberry, cappuccino, or mint.

Soooo.... we told them our idea and had them load a bag with the cappuccino filled sticks and either the raspberry ones if "girl" was written on the card, or "mint" ones if boy was written. Later tonight, once we arrive at my parents', we'll all dig in and see what we find!

Can't wait!!!!

Believe it or not, I'm more excited to find out in advance just to have that extra time to start bonding with my little "daughter" or little "son" than to simply start picking out the right colors for clothing and decor. I just can't wait to call this sweet little one by their name!!!

Ok, that's all for now. I'll finish up this post with the big announcement after we've enjoyed our cappuccino with raspberry or mint... :)



And, now that it is almost 1am, we have each bitten into a chocolate stick, and (drum roll, please!) ...

Maelee Marguerite
(explanation of name will be in future post)

I absolutely can not believe it- I was pretty convinced it was a boy! We're thrilled though. We thought it was hysterical that both of my parents happened to grab two cappucino (neutral) sticks and both Steve and I grabbed the raspberry ones! Much to my surprise when I bit in, I could tell it was raspberry right away; it took Steve a while- for some reason, we were all expecting to taste mint:)

We can not wait to meet our little girl and will keep you posted with updates. Here's the most recent belly pics- there has been a major growth spurt w/i the past couple of weeks!!!

Check out that belly!!! Just about at 20 wks...

So thankful for our little blessing. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

Beginnings of a Baby Bump

Before I get to the fun stuff, let me now just say (write) that I think this seriously has been the most insane month yet of my existence. Here's a little update on what has transpired in the last four weeks:

* Found a new apartment and signed a lease within a 24hr period (pics and more details on that to come, all happened the day before leaving the country)
* Took a fabulous nine day trip to France (again, pics and more details to come)
* Moved over a 15 day period (still unpacking and trying to get settled)
* Steve gave two talks as part of a conference and seminar
* Finally stopped working at Lincoln Center (Yay! Any questions about timing- keep reading)
* Had about 25 hrs worth of rehearsals for an orchestra concert, two CCP concerts (contemporary chamber players) and my own solo recital within two weeks time
* Traveled about 35 hrs to and from above said rehearsals
* Gave all four above said concerts/recitals within five days time
* Taught about 16 hrs worth of lessons in a week and half time
* Pulled a back muscle which made above said rehearsing/traveling/performing/teaching/packing/moving/unpacking/being pregnant quite painful in addition to stressful
* Entered 2nd trimester of pregnancy
* And in case I didn't mention before- MOVED!!!

Oh sorry, hope this doesn't sound like I'm complaining. Mainly just stating the facts and vulnerably admitting that this month just about did me in. This was all in addition of course to our life's normal obligations of work, church, practicing, tending to a cat who decided to pee in random places while we were gone, etc, etc...

I had many a sleepless nights, teary breakdowns, and moments of feeling completely overwhelmed that I just couldn't handle it all. Luckily though, it all melted away at our Dr.'s appointment yesterday when we got to hear the sweet heartbeat of our "little mango." Thankfully, God has sustained this precious little life, despite mommy's lack of good nutrition, sleep, and peaceful state of mind over these past several weeks. Praise the Lord!

I should be sighing huge, blissful exhales of relief right now, taking a much needed break from fluting, and enjoying putting together our new home, but unfortunately, not a day went by after the above madness ended before another bomb got dropped. The 30-page paper I worked very hard on this past summer was apparently much too "wordy" (ME, wordy???) and "exhausting for the reader" (according to my advisor who has to approve this final paper, in an email I received the day after my recital, while cleaning our old apartment...) so I pretty much have to rewrite it. And pretty much in just a week or so time since it has to get approved through all the necessary channels before the end of the semester.

Fun times.

Who needs relaxation anyway???

I'm trying to not let myself get too overwhelmed over this paper yet, and just let hubby help me with the massive load of editing set out before me. It will get done. It has to. But I will hate every second of it...

(Have I ever mentioned how much I absolutely detest writing papers???)

But alas, onto the fun stuff, the GOOD news- the recent belly pics. There is definitely a belly there that I can thankfully say is a result of baby and not just pudge :)

At ~15 wks, overlooking hotel window in Paris




At ~17 weeks in our empty bedroom of our dear, old apartment at 71st and 2nd

And next week- the results! As long as our "little cantaloupe" (the size he/she should be around that point) is not being modest, we should know whether we are having a he or a she!

Bets, guesses anyone? :)

We're looking forward to calling our little one by their name rather than their fruitsize name and I think it will continue to make this whole pregnancy thing more real.

Have I mentioned I still can't believe all this?

Keep checking for updates:)

Oh, and here are a couple teasers from our trip...

An Amusing Ride

It has been said that God has a sense of humor.

Well, we are not only realizing this little side more and more, but we are also being constantly amazed by His grace!

Where am I going with this?

Some of you may be familiar with "our little plan" concerning the prospect of parenthood. For those of you who aren't, here it is:

For the past couple of years now, I have dreamed of getting pregnant right around, well, now actually, as in Sept-Oct so that our little bundle of joy might arrive close to July of 2010. Ahh, July. That blissful month seemed so perfect to me in my little dream. I would be completely done with school and all its requirements and obligations, my mom would be on her summer break and able to spend a large chunk of time with the new parents, Steve would be closer to completion of his current phase of work, etc, etc...

Well, God had another idea. But we are oh so thankful for it!

Also part of our "plan" was to hit Six Flags at the end of August as part of our Summer List of 2009 . (It was also part of the list to take a really long bike ride, but at this point, that probably won't be happening for a while either...) This little trip to an amusement park was brought to a screeching halt that morning of 8/21/09 as we got the biggest news yet of our lives:

And since we idiotically hadn't figured out which line meant what, we had to be sure:

While we hadn't actually begun "trying" yet (I know, TMI, sorry...), we did think we were "safe."

Apparently, we weren't.

Ok, so it may only be off by a couple of months, but God is still showing us that He can take our most well thought out "plans" and throw them out the window! There was a part of me that always knew God had His own plan in mind despite our best efforts, and I prayed over the possibility that His plan just might include several Julys (or Januarys, Februarys, Marchs, etc) from 2010 and I asked that I would just have peace and joy over whatever HIS timing might be. I sure didn't think His timing would be earlier than ours, though!!! But, He decided a mid-April baby was much better for us than a July baby anyway, and we are enjoying every minute of this journey that reveals His miracles and mercies more and more each day!

Ok, I know, so what I'm sure some of you really want to see...

My parent's reaction.

Now remember, we had been convincing my dear folks for the past 6 plus years (my dear folks who have been completely itching for a grand-baby since we got married...) that children were still several years away for us, so this was not at all on their radar. They thought they were coming up for the weekend to attend the Lecture Recital I was giving that coming Monday, and they thought the card we were presenting them was simply a belated "Anniversary Card" with two cute pugs on the front. Well, it wasn't.

Here's what it looked like:

Outside





Inside






Inside and flipped

And here's their response...

I knew my mom's first words would be "Wha-aat, Wha-aat???" But I pictured ecstatic screaming, not sweet tears :). It was very fun. Then the excitement really hit with squeals of "I can't stand it, I can't stand it!" All the while, my dad is just laughing giddy-ly.

Wasn't the video camera a little obvious, you may ask? Well, we had wanted my recital to be taped, so we just played it off like we were testing it out before the big day. I couldn't resist. I wanted this moment to be captured and a video seemed like the best way. My parents crack me up and I do love them for it. They could quite possibly be just as excited about our little one as we are- they're gonna be awesome grandparents:). Both sets of soon-to-be grandparents are quite thrilled and anxious!

And just a couple more pictures:

Our "little strawberry" at ~ 9 1/2 wks

(The give-away picture in the above card flipped over so they couldn't see at first)

Our "little plum" at ~ 11 1/2 wks

Belly shots will come when there's actually a belly from a baby, and not just from bloat or the cupcakes I devoured. Here's the most recent shot of us if you want a bit of a starting point.

At the zoo, around 11 wks along.

Not much "baby bump" yet, but I did recently enjoy a small shopping spree of peasant/empire waist-style-long tops to hide the soon-to-be "just chubby" looking look.:) I'm right about 14 weeks now, the beginning of the 2nd trimester, so clothes will start feeling snug any day. You'll see many pictures soon to come after our upcoming 9 day trip to France which we leave for on Sunday!

So, school will undoubtedly be a bit more stressful, trying to work out how I will get in the required hours of teaching I owe, giving a final recital while very pregnant and breathing with difficulty, not to mention all of the other requirements that come along with finishing this degree much earlier than usual. And my mom won't be able to stay quite as long as I had originally envisioned, and we might not have quite as much time/money/space as we would've liked...

But, there could always be more time/money/space and all of the above so we are definitely not complaining and we are sooo excited for this little miracle that God has blessed us with. We realize that we are completely at His mercy in this and God continues to work in me in letting go of control- what a lesson it has already been!

Please keep our "little peach" (the term he/she is affectionately referred to this week) in your prayers for continued good health and development, and check back for more updates! I will do my best to be more regular with these posts now that we have some much more worthy news to be posting about!

Art, Academia, and Animals

October. Really? Already??? Not sure how that happened, so this post will just be a quick summary of what happened in September, beginning with the completion (well, almost, but that's for the next post...) of the Summer List of 2009 , and No. 14:

Vist the Guggenheim Museum.

Back in September, we took in a small portion of the Guggenheim Musuem with some good friends, Lauren and Nate Minchen. A bit of it was closed due to some renovations, and it was pretty crowded (Saturdays nights are pay-as-you-like), so it was a brisk tour through each level. Some pretty cool stuff, but we'll need to take it in another time once all of the new exhibits are completed and it's not so cramped...

Pretty cool architecture, though...

September also brought the return of school. Sigh...

But I won't complain too much as I'm done with classes, and for the most part, I'm only going out one day a week to teach. I gave my lecture recital back on the 21st so the prep for that was quite exhausting and called for some extra outings out to the Island, but the next two weeks will just be one day each week. Can I get an Amen? Yeah, I'm enjoying this year A LOT more.

What's a lecture recital, you might ask? Well, you basically lecture on a piece, then play it. So, I chose a piece that a professor from my undergrad wrote- I met with him over the summer for an interview and coaching, and he and his wife decided they even wanted to come! It was quite a treat to have the composer there in the flesh and the recital went well, but I am oh-so-glad that it's done with!!! My parents even came up for the weekend and recital as well, so that was super fun, and will be elaborated on more in the next post ;)

Dinner with the folks after a very happy Saturday :)

With the composer, Stuart Saunders Smith, and his wife, Sylvia after the recital.

With my ever supporting and AMAZING family (above and below!)
(Yeah, I know, there I go with the winking again.... Sigh)

September really flew by, but I almost cringe at the coming months... All (or at least, mainly) good stuff, just crazy:

* we leave for a ten day trip to France in two weeks (another one of Steve's conferences- no, I'm not complaining)
* followed by an "orchestra week" at Stony Brook where I'll have daily rehearsals out there (yes, I am complaining)
* followed by my next recital
* followed by a move!!!

Man, I'm looking forward to the holidays.

Did I mention I'll probably be quitting my LC job by Nov, too? That's a whole story in and of itself, but, let's just say, it's time. It's been time for a while now, but too much ridiculousness has started happening there that it's just no longer worth the lousy pay. Here's one word to give you a very brief description of my biggest reason for leaving- Telefunding. Yeah, it's as lame as it sounds.

I've said all along that one of the main things I love about that job is that it allows enough free time for me to get my own work done, and well, that's definitely not so much the case anymore, so time to re-evaluate...

But, I digress.

Back to a lighter note and the completion of No. 15 on the list:

Go to the Bronx Zoo!!!

We took in this gem last weekend and had an awesome time! Below are pics of some of our faves:

It was a great day and we will definitely be returning. We almost got every item off the list, but we're not sweating the ones we missed. Stay tuned for some further explanations ;)