Through the Seasons

Before we left Africa I was counting down – mainly because I wanted off the campsite.  Over four months of camping for a girl who doesn’t like to camp is a bit much.  So now we’re back and I have no idea how long we’ve been here.  Has it been a week?  Two weeks? 

I think I’m all messed up mainly because of Christmas.  We got back and got busy just settling in but also shopping for Christmas presents.  Then wrapping them.  By the time we were through getting a few essentials for ourselves and getting these other things done it was Christmas.  We spent time with my family and then Jonathan’s.  Now it’s all over.  I think.  The New Year is quickly approaching.  I never realized how fast that comes after Christmas!  I’m not quite ready for it all to speed by.  I think because I wasn’t here for the whole month of December so I’ve had an abreviated version of the holiday season this year.

Hopefully now we can get into a routine where we go to sleep and get up at basically the same time every day, where we eat meals and snacks at regular times (we’ve been way off on that up until now), and where we have times of busyness paired with times of rest.  I’d also like to get back into getting up somewhat early in the morning to have my quiet time then write my blog entry.  I haven’t had that routine since before I got pregnant.  And yes I know so please don’t tell me – there will be no routine after baby comes.  But baby isn’t here yet so I hope to enjoy a little routine until then!

Other than just body clock kind of stuff our adjustment back to the States has been pretty easy.  They say it’s usually quite hard but I don’t know what they mean by hard and I’m sure we haven’t experienced anything bad.  Yet anyway.  Unless I’m totally missing something.  There is one thing that happened today and I thought, “Remember how much you don’t miss that when you return to Africa.”  What was this thing?  Car commercials.  Ugh. 

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Finally.  I am sleeping much, much better.  I can even stay up past 8pm now.  The main problem I’m having is with the poodle.  He starts his barking and whining when he hears my parents get up at 6am.  I’d like to sleep later than this – at least long enough to get 8 hours!  But it won’t happen after the baby comes either so I guess I should just get over it.  But why start sleep deprivation now? 

Another factor in my sleep is that I wake up in the early morning (say 4am-ish) to go to the bathroom and when I lay back down Asher is up and moving around.  A lot!  The longer I’m up, the more I’m aware of being hungry so I end up eating a little snack and then lying down again to wait for him to settle down.  This all takes a good hour to hour and a half.  (Yet another reason I need to sleep past 6am.)  But at least I have time for a nap during the day although I rarely take one.  It is usually an option and I’ll probably need more naps the further into my pregnancy that I get. 

Speaking of…  I’m 7 months now… 32 weeks on Friday.  At my last appointment I discovered I had gained 9 1/2 pounds.  According to my mom’s scale as of now I’ve gained 11.  So I’m still on track although I’ve really been enjoying the food since I’ve been back and really need to pull in the reigns a bit.  Jonathan and I also plan to start walking since we just don’t walk here like we did in Africa and I think that really helped me through my early pregnancy.  One of my books says that I should expect to gain a pound a week from here on out - that would put me at a 20 pound weight gain.  The recommended weight gain is 25-35 pounds so I figure now that I’m back in the States I’ll be in there somewhere.  I really have been enjoying the food here…  Mmmm…

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Christmas – that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance.  It may weave a spell of nostalgia.  Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance – a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved. 

                                                                                                            ~Augusta E. Rundel

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Amazingly enough, we have been here a week and I’m still trying to totally adjust my body. I did make it until 9:00 (instead of 7:00) before feeling sleepy last night. And I have been sleeping a little bit later although that’s still my hardest task. It’s easier to force yourself to stay awake than it is to force yourself back to sleep after you’ve woken up. And just lying there doesn’t work. The fact that the dogs are loud in the morning doesn’t help a bit. I think without them I’d be sleeping much later. Instead I’m usually up between 6 and 7 a.m. Maybe I’m getting ready for baby. I don’t know. I’ve always thought pregnant women shouldn’t have to prepare to be up all night before the baby arrives. That should be the time they get to sleep and rest up. But what do I know!?

My food schedule is also way off. I feel like I eat all day long. There’s so much food available here especially right now around Christmas! My mom has made snacks and cakes. Of course we also have fruit available (clean fruit!) but what do you think usually wins out? Sheesh. I’m going to have to reel my food intake back after Christmas. I sure can’t keep this up! I should weigh to see how I’m doing but I’m too afraid to and I’ll be weighed at my next appointment which is January 3rd.

Speaking of the doctor, I had my first appointment last week where they just gathered my information and previous records. (I feel sorry for them having to sort out the African papers.) Then they did a couple tests that I should have already had by now but of course were never mentioned in Tanzania. I won’t know the results until my next appointment. In Tanzania I had a total of about 5 check-ups. I come back here and find out I have to go to the doctor every 2 weeks! Soon I’ll have to go every week! Good grief. But I do feel better having that kind of care. I can’t wait to see how they say I’m doing when they really check me out in January. They did change my prenatal vitamins and iron supplements from the ones I got in Africa to ones they know and trust. Can’t imagine why they felt that necessary…

Now today is Christmas Eve – yay hooray – and I think we’ll just mainly rest. My mom does her big Christmas meal tonight and then we go to a candlelight service at 11pm. I may have to sleep some before that to make it through such a late service. I’m also still working on one gift. Talk about cutting it down to the wire!! In fact, I should get started on that right now…

Merry Christmas Eve!

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Well, we’ve settled on a name for the baby and we’re ready to announce it.  Drum roll please…….

His name is:

Asher Chad McCall

Asher is one of the twelve tribes of Israel and means “gladness”.  Chad is the name of Jonathan’s brother who was killed in a car accident when they were teenagers.  We’re going to call him by his first name:  Asher.

We’re very ready to meet our Asher. 

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Am I tired?  No.  I’m absolutely exhausted.  So what’s the deal?

I feel unsettled and my body clock is almost opposite of the current time (actually 8 hours different).

I wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning (which is 12 or 1 in the afternoon to my body) and my mind starts going.  I start thinking of things I want to get done and things I don’t want to forget.  I end up just getting up to start my day planning on a nap later.  Yesterday no nap happened.  Hopefully today I can relax enough to get one in.  I really do need to rest.

So right now my eyes feel tired and scratchy.  I can hardly think straight.  And my body hurts.  It’s only noon.  To my body, that’s 8pm.

Yesterday we spent the whole day doing laundry, getting Christmas cards out, unpacking, and cooking.  Today, I’m finishing laundry, Christmas cards, and unpacking.  Hmmm…  And if we want to eat we’ll be doing some cooking.  Now, doesn’t that look a lot like yesterday?  No wonder I don’t feel like I’ve made progress.  But we have because everything is now about done.  Yay.

I just pray I can sleep well tonight, get a long night’s sleep, and wake up rested for a change.  The next 2 days we’re running errands and doing Christmas shopping.  Friday I plan to rest.  This weekend I have plans with my mom and then – boom – it’s Christmas.

I must be out of my mind or a glutton for punishment the way I push myself.  And I think it began when the wheels on the plane touched American pavement.  I haven’t been so busy since before I got pregnant.

Jonathan, on the other hand, is so smart.  He slept 12 hours the first night, still got things accomplished yesterday, and woke up at a decent time this morning feeling refreshed.  Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever learn how to take care of myself…

(I’ve never posted 3 entries in 1 day.  I think there’s a rule against that in the blogosphere somewhere so I’ll stop for today.  On with a little laundry and hopefully a little sleep.  G’night.  I mean… G’day.)

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When we arrived into New Jersey I was very tired – and still very pregnant. Therefore, I was also a bit emotional. Not to mention the fact that I was arriving to my home country from Africa… Oh, and we were late and running around. And I was sick from the turbulence. Those are my excuses for letting weird things choke me up…

First, we did our rushing around trying to make our flight. Once we realized we had missed it, we slowed down the pace. Leaving the customs area, we walked through main sections of the baggage claim area.

I saw a Starbucks and teared up.

I looked out the window and saw a row of yellow taxi cabs and almost cried.

I saw a winter day with snow on the ground and again with the tears.

After finally figuring out the situation and checking in for our new flight we walked through the airport and I was just giddy to see a TGI Friday’s, all the gift shops, Subway… but… the best thing was the smell of pizza. And I knew I just had to have a slice. We just never passed anywhere serving pizza. It was like a cruel joke. Jonathan finally stopped an airport worker and said, “We smell pizza. Where’s it coming from?” After looking at him like he had 40 heads she said, “Over there.” And we found it! I asked Jonathan to get me 300 slices but he came back with only 1. Good thing too because it was plenty. Heehee…

It was so nice sitting in the airport, eating pizza, watching an amazing sunset: pink and coral, clouds rolling quickly past constantly changing the appearance of the sky…

That was our first States experience on arrival and one I’ll always remember… even though it was an airport experience and to top that it was a New Jersey airport experience.

Now that we’re back I’m still trying to get used to certain things. The one main hangup I keep having is the water. I’ll go to brush my teeth and think, “Ugh. I don’t have a bottle of water in here.” I started cooking some oatmeal this morning and paused before putting water in the pot. I asked Jonathan, “I can use tap water right?” I mean I know the answer in my head and from the past. I’ve just been so scared of water for so long that it just seems scary to run water out of a sink putting it directly in my mouth or on food.

Other than that though, we’re doing well. We’ll do some Christmas shopping this week. Hopefully the stores won’t completely overwhelm us. I’m making a list to take with me of a few items we need personally along with gifts we’re getting for others. I made a rule for myself that I can’t buy anything off the list. I’m too afraid I’m going to want one of everything because, “I can’t get that in Africa.” But if I use that as a basis on what to buy I’ll buy one of everything. So. A little restraint is in order!

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Okay.  We’ve arrived.  I just logged onto the internet for the first time since getting back.

We did end up getting out of New Jersey Sunday night.  We flew US Air to Charlotte arriving at 7:30pm.  We were supposed to get in at 4:00 but a 3 1/2 hour delay in the whole process from Africa to the States really isn’t so bad.

We’re both so happy to be safe and sound at my parents’ house.  Our time right now is on trying to get settled in.  I know we should be resting more than anything but I really want to get things done and get organized.  Good grief.  I don’t know why doing always comes before relaxing for me.  Speaking of…  laundry calls…  More updates soon.

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Well, we’re in New Jersey…  And on a side note, the internet here is FAST!  Wow!  Anyway…

The Amsterdam flight left a few minutes late.  Then it landed in New Jersey a little later due to the winds.  We had an hour to get everything done.  It didn’t happen.  So here we are with a lot of our fellow passengers waiting in line to get re-booked on another flight.  The plan is to catch the next available flight and for it to be as soon tonight as possible.

The turbulence coming in was terrible.  Forty-five minutes of it.  I wasn’t scared at all.  But it affected me in a terrible way.  I didn’t end up getting sick or passing out though so that’s good.

So now we make a couple credit card calls (we only have Tanzanian cell phones now) and continue to wait.  We’ll keep you updated…  Check Jonathan’s blog for more travel updates and pictures.  (www.jonathananddana.com/jonathan)

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And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?  It came without ribbons.  It came without tags.  It came without packages, boxes or bags.  And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.  Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. 

~Dr. Seuss

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