22 Weeks

I found one from 22 weeks.

23 Weeks

I missed 22 weeks, but here's a picture of me and Zoe at 23 weeks.  Not really taking it as a belly pic, but you can see the belly in it pretty well so I guess it will work :)

20 Weeks

20 Weeks, we're halfway there!!

4D

We went to the doctor again yesterday to do a detailed ultrasound at 20 weeks.  I'm half way there!  It's hard to believe.  It was so great to get to see our little Wheat in such detail.  She was moving around so much while we were looking at her.  It was good because we were able to see many different parts of her, but it didn't bode well for trying to get a good 4D picture of her face.  Oh well, we were so glad to see her moving around.  She is above average in weight, but it's all length not width :)  I told the doctor we were trying to have the longest baby born in this country.  He said we had a good chance but there is a Danish couple who will probably be fighting us for the record.

So, it's not a great picture because she kept moving around, but here is her little head with her hand (with all five fingers) by her mouth.

Boppy

Living overseas tends to make you a little bit more resourceful.  We don't have everything available to us that we did in the States, and even if it is available, it is usually outrageously expensive.  In the States, it seems that a common staple for new moms is a Boppy pillow.  I have seen similar pillows over here, but they are not quite as big and they are quite expensive still.  So, I decided to make my own!  On Pinterest, I found this tutorial for making a slip cover for your Boppy pillow.  I thought to myself, I can just make this cover and take it to the pillow man down the street and get him to fill it up for me.  It might not be exactly the same, but it should be good enough and I won't even know the difference.

So, I purchased my fabric in the souq, costing me roughly $1.25 for a meter.  I decided to make another as a gift, so I ended up buy two matching fabrics to make a double sided Boppy.  I printed out the pattern I found on that website and got to work.

Here are my two cut and sown fabrics

Andrew and I walked down the street to our pillow guy.  He was obviously from a village or something because his Arabic was incredibly difficult to understand, but we left the pillow cases with him and a few hours later Andrew went and picked them up.  It cost us approximately $5.

The finished products

I am pretty pleased with the results.  I am sure it is not the same as a real Boppy pillow, but I won't know the difference and this one only cost us about $6.25 rather than the $40 it would cost for the real deal.  This is the actual pillow, so if it gets dirty you can't really wash it in the washer, but I am thinking maybe I'll make a slipcover for this pillow.  I don't know yet, we'll see.

18 Weeks

Here's my 18 Week belly pic.  Not the best pic of my face, but just focus on the belly :)

Easter in the Middle East

In our part of the world, things tend to move a bit slower.  That was my first thought when we showed up at a local church on Easter morning and they were just celebrating Palm Sunday.  In actuality that is not why they were a week behind our Western churches.  I remember growing up in Catholic School, there were several students in my class who were Greek Orthodox, and they always celebrated Easter a week after the rest of us.  Here in our current country, there are several varieties of Christian.  The King decided that he didn't want the Christians celebrating all their holidays on different days, so he made them all come to an agreement on holidays.  So, we celebrate the Eastern Easter and the Western Christmas.  It was really neat this year to be able to attend an Arab Church and see how believers here celebrate these holy days.  It was also very encouraging that we actually understood most of the Sermon in Arabic!

Happy Easter from the Middle East!

On another note:  We're having a baby girl!  It was very anti-climatic at the doctor's office when they told me she was a girl.  Partly because it's just not very Arab to hype something up and make a big deal about it, and partly because in their eyes, girls just aren't as good as boys.  But we're incredibly excited about our little girl!  Andrew was actually hoping the whole time that she would be a girl.

This past week I've really been able to feel her moving around in there.  I felt her some last week, but this week I am feeling her more and more.  It is exciting and surreal all at the same time :)  We can't wait till she gets here.  We plan on naming her Zoe Phyllis.  Zoe means life in Greek.  I have always loved this name, thinking if I had a little girl I wanted to name her Zoe in hopes that that she would bring life and joy to all those she comes in contact with.  Zoe is the Greek word used in John 14:6 where Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  Phyllis was my Grandma's name.  She passed away when I was 13 years old, but I was very close to her and she had an incredible impact on my life.  She loved the Lord, and even though she spent years battling cancer and continual pain, she always kept an optimistic view on life.  I can think of no better name than Phyllis for my little daughter.