Not MY plan!

It's starting. The dreaded swelling has begun. I dreaded this moment from conception, but I knew it would come. And boy did it come quickly. Just as Cinderella's carriage turned to a pumpkin at midnight, my hands and feet turn to sausages at 3pm.  It's clock work, 3pm I swell. This should make for an interesting evening wearing 4 inch heals at my sisters wedding! I think it might be a "heals for the pictures and ceremony than straight to flats" kind of night! (don't worry I'll take pictures!) I am okay with this. I have come to terms with the idea that my hands and feet will be looking "pleasantly plump" for the remainder of my pregnancy.
Who am I to complain?  My small complaints are so minor to the miracle that is being created inside of me. She is probably writing a blog in my tummy complaining that "Mom doesn't ever take time to put her feet up." And so it is. Maybe the time has come when I allow myself to rest instead of pushing, pushing, pushing, myself. It's hard, my energy comes back but my physical restrictions kick in. For instance; I can no longer open the window behind my sink, reach the paper towels, lift the trash out of can,  reach my top cabinet where I have always kept my olive oil, paint my toenails (whaaa, time for pedicures), file papers in the bottom filing cabinet of Maddy's classroom, wear much jewelry past 3 pm (the old swelling thing), or touch my toes. The list will get longer I promise. All this and only 6 months!
 I was at the car wash yesterday because something must have been spilled in my car and it wreaked of mildew (not a fun smell when your nose is that of a bloodhound). So at the car wash this kind elderly lady tried to convince me that there was no way I could only be 6 months. "8 months" she said. "you must be further along!" After I assured her I was only 6 months I informed her that I was so large because "the good Lord had blessed me with a healthy baby." She smiled and said "God bless you and your children." I don't think she was expecting that answer. But what a great way to show this kind lady that I had a powerful creator om my side that made me to carry babies just the way he had designed me to. She may not have thought twice about it. But I know that at that moment I changed my perspective on my growing body. The Lord was gracious enough to give me a body able to carry 3 children. How could I curse that. What a blessing. It was at that moment I remembered a nurse telling me when I delivered 35 week old twins at 6lbs each. "God has a unique way of working, if your body hadn't gained all that weight your babies would have only been about 4lbs and most likely in the NICU." What a reminder that God has a plan far greater than mine, or my Dr.'s.

"For I know that plans I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

And she is a kicker!

It was the perfect Friday night. The whole family snuggled in our bedding watching T.V and laughing! Hannah Grace didn't want to miss out on the fun and started kicking away. Zack had been trying for weeks to feel her, but she is most active in the evening when he is, well, not so much. So last night as she began playing soccer I grabbed Zacks hand and he felt it... and then Kenz, then Maddy. The whole family got to feel her hanging out with us. She is already so much a part of the family.. However I am a tad bit worried that she chooses the night time to get crazy. I hope she decides she is an early bird like the rest of the Toews clan.