Mother's Day Present

Although John was hesitant to call me Mother yet and thus deserving of a Mother's Day gift, I let him know that it was an indeed hard work growing a baby for 9 months.  Just sitting down watching TV, my body is lazy hard at work growing a baby.  :)  I'm not sure if he quite buys my logic, but he did take me out for a dinner celebration. 

Living in Sierra Leone where the one thing you miss most other than family is food, 'food' presents are truly cherised in my book!  We waited to celebrate Mother's Day until Restaurant Week.  Restaurant Week has always been a week in the fall (and now also one in the spring!) where nicer restaurants offer a 3-4 course meal for a set price.  It is much cheaper than if you eat there any other night.  The restaurant uses this opportunity to advertise and probably hopes you will spend extra money on booze or other beverages.  You usually get to choose an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert.

Here we are dressed up and ready to go!

We chose a fondue restaurant that I've always wanted to go to.  I should have taken more pictures of the courses but being hungry and excited to take part in the 'fondue' experience, I mostly forgot as you will see.

Course #1:  spinach artichoke cheese dip.  We got veggies, bread, chips, and granny smith apples to dip into the delicious fondue pot.

Course #2: a selection of raw meats and veggies that you let cook in the fondue broth for 2 minutes.

Here are most of the meats and veggies (2 kinds of steak, chicken, shrimp, cheese ravioli, broccoli, potatoes, and mushrooms) They also gave us about 5 kinds of dipping sauce to dip them after it was cooked.  My favorite sauces were the teriyaki sauce and a stinky strong blue cheese dip.

This is the cooking broth.

Course #3: dessert platter with dark chocolate fondue.  Although we forgot to take pictures before we devoured the plate, there were strawberries, bananas, brownies, CHEESECAKE!!!!, and pound cake.  We tried the graham cracker encrusted marshmellows but both decided we didn't like uncooked marshmallows so we skipped the oreo encrusted mallows. 

Our empty plate except for the oreo encrusted mallows...

The dark chocolate dipping sauce...

Two happy and full people enjoying a few last date nights before our little miracle enters the world and sleep becomes a novelty...

Next up:  John and I had a maternity (and I guess paternity lol!) photo shoot on Sunday with my cousin Stephen so hopefully I'll be getting those photos soon to share with you all. 

Also, my cousin Megan is coming to AZ from WV tomorrow (yay!).  I am very excited for her arrival with her 7 month-old son Sully.  She wasn't supposed to come until early July for Baby Campbell's birth but her grandma died :(  My family and I will be attending a funeral for Vivian Simms on Thursday.  It is wonderful that she is coming and will be here for my baby shower, but sad that it had to be in these circumstances.

Update and Belly Photos!

Hello everybody that reads my blog (hi mom!) Sorry for being so MIA the past few weeks since John got home!

Just a little update about what's been going on in our lives...

• John has been back for about 3 weeks and I've been soaking up every second!!! He left to visit some of our friends and supporters in Oklahoma City.  They are VERY involved with Sierra Leone and loved hearing the updates of all the cool things going on there in the past 6 months.  Crystal, Brandon, Shanna, Jerome, and Greg... thank you for being so wonderful and hospitable to John while he was visiting!  And no Crystal we aren't sharing with you our baby's name! lol!
• Last week I worked a day at my mom's dental office doing hygiene.  I've been trying to work a little but everything I had lined up to work fell through.  I even had purchased some maternity scrubs to use but this is my first opportunity to use them. I HAD A BLAST!!! I really LOVE cleaning teeth.  I know that seems weird to most people but it's not just the "cleaning of the teeth" that I love (although thats a big part of it) I love the interactions I have with people and learning about their lives.  Its definitely a lot easier in the US because 1)American's teeth are generally cleaner 2)Everyone here speaks English
• John started to do some consulting/contracting work for his boss at Patriot Towers where he worked before we moved to Sierra Leone.  His office is VERY supportive of the work we are doing in Sierra Leone (the boss Dale even wants to visit us soon and work on some projects).  They are also very flexible with John's schedule as baby time approaches and we have obligations with friends, family, and supporters.
• Yesterday we went to a crash course birthing class at Paradise Valley Hospital and did a hospital tour.  It was great for us to visit and ask questions.  I am shooting for a birth au naturale (without drugs) so I had lots of questions about support in that arena.  Many times, hospitals and nurses would rather give patients an epidural because it makes patient care/management easier for them.  This hospital seems to be really supportive of whatever you choose. 
• John and I are reading a book called Husband-Coached Childbirth.  Its the "Bradley Method" for those of you who have heard of it... Its about the husbands taking an active role in coaching the wife through a natural childbirth. 
• Below are some pictures of my growing belly (beware... bare belly shot so shield your eyes if it is too much!)

Me after my day of working in my maternity scrubs... in my 33rd week.  7 weeks from today left to go!

Tonight my cousin Stephen is doing a maternity photo shoot for John and I.  I will post pics of those as I get them.  Hopefully they will turn out better than my home shots lol!  I often feel silly about posing for shots unless I'm smiling so hopefully he will be able to coach me.  My 'serious' looks end up looking angry, confused, or constipated haha.  

Happy Reunion

This past week I've just been soaking up time since my hubby returned, but I thought I would share some pictures of the welcome party!

Here is the welcome party at the airport...

Here we are all waiting...

Ada loved roaming around in the large airport terminal...

John's home!!! I started crying as soon as I saw him... I didn't think I would but I did!

John hugs his family and meets his 6 month old nephew Joshua for the first time!

My darling niece Ada gave John a face with some attitude until he won her over with some monkey noises. Thats why we're all laughing here. She has been enthralled with him ever since he's been back.

SURPRISE AIRPORT PICKUP!!!

Everytime I've picked up John at the airport from his worldly travels... I've always surprised him one way or the other (or at least I thought I have until John tells me he knew all along)

Surprise #1: The first time it was when we were dating and he went on a 3 week short-term trip to Tacna, Peru.  I was supposed to be working that day in Flagstaff, but I got someone to cover for me and was there at the airport.  He knew I was scheduled to work and couldn't make it but he later told me "I was pretty sure I would see you at the airport."

Surprise #2: (the boy gets cocky) Summer of 2008 5 months after we get married... John goes to Ghana with Engineers Without Borders for 1 month.  Probably one of the hardest times in my life because I got so used to having him around me all the time and I missed him terribly! But I told him I DEFINITELY could NOT be at the airport this time.  When I told him that, it was true, but plans changed and I was able to get off work early.  Again, he said "of course I knew you would be at the airport." -hence the cockiness

Surprise #3: Ok, so this is not really a surprise but its some nice background... John left for 2 weeks (over our first anniversary I might add lol!- don't worry I got flowers later for that!) to do an assessment trip in Ghana for EWB again.  This time, I didn't even try to tell him I wouldn't be there... he just knew.  Plus I think it was on one of my days off.

TODAYS SURPRISE!!!!!!: Okay... so John knows I am coming to pick him up at the airport.  But does he think I am coming alone?? I'm not sure... but boy oh boy do I have a surprise pick-up crew.  We have at least 15 adults and 3 babies coming and we have made some AWESOME signs! People at the airport are going to think we're picking up someone famous!!! If it were me, I would ask John "who is coming to pick me up?" because I am such a type A detailed person.  John, on the other hand, is a big picture, "lets not worry nor think about any of the details till we have to" person. 

Pick up crew includes: Me (obviously!), my parents, my brother & his wife Sally & daughter Ada, my aunt & uncle, my cousin Stephen & his lovely girlfriend Katie (see Easter post for pics of these lovely people), John and I's friends Kati & Ben & their son Tanner.  Even more exciting is that his family his driving from Parker, AZ to Phoenix to surprise him... his mom, two sisters, Amy and Melissa, Melissa's hubby Genaro and their son Joshua (who John hasn't met yet!!! 6 months old already!)

John's family being at the airport is the only variable that I think John might have guessed at.  His Gramps called him in Africa (thinking he was calling his son John instead of his grandson) and spilled the beans!!! Luckily, I was able to play off Gramp's old age and perhaps declining memory (I know I am a bad person!) and say "No... I think Gramps got it mixed up, you know how he is... Your family wasn't able to take off work since you're coming in the evening... I even asked them." Forgive me Lord for the lie! Anyways... we will see if I outsmarted my smartypants husband ;)

I will post ASAP with pictures of the long awaited reuniting!