Back home - family update

We made it back to Maryland in one piece, thankfully! After so many full days in Cincinnati, the quiet around here has been both a blessing and a bit unnerving. Thankfully Ryan and Jenny are here to help break up the silence at times - though they are very quiet compared to the Lyman household :) Benjamin adjusted to being home right away - was back into old habits immediately. I am very glad he is getting better at adjusting to "new" environments. He was confident and comfortable more quickly than I had prepared myself for! It is nice to be able to sleep in our own beds - Benjamin has definitely been enjoying it most - averaging 14 hours of sleep each night since we returned! It's nice to have a rested boy on my hands each day.

And the extra hours alone are welcomed by me, as I am definitely in nesting mode! I have found myself occupied with many little projects and the planning of other little projects for when Bram returns...no heavy lifting or painting for "the preggy" (as Bram affectionately calls me.) I reach the 8 month mark this coming Saturday, and boy do I feel it! At my last midwife check-up they informed me that I gained 8 pounds in the course of 3 weeks - par for the course with my pregnancies. At this point in my pregnancy with Benjamin I actually gained 10 pounds in about 2 weeks! But after that the weight gain plateaued as I was losing weight and he was gaining it. So if I do the same thing this time I will have gained 28 pounds. Not too bad in my estimation :) The baby turned head down over the weekend (both a blessing and a curse, as you other Mommies are well aware!) and despite the cramped quarters, he or she has not settled down in the activity department. It feels as though I have two little feet constantly kicking the upper part of my belly. Ruthie Hempel told me that if it's a girl, she's a dancer, and if it's a boy, he's a soccer player. I guess we will just have to wait and see!

Bram will return a week from today! It has been such a strange trip for him. We had prepared ourselves for 4 weeks of intermittent email contact, but instead, for the past 2 weeks we spoke on the phone everyday and even got to be together in Cincinnati for 4 days! The sub needed some major repairs and all the testers (of which, Bram is one) had nothing to do but sit and wait for the repairs to be completed. For the last week it was always, "We will leave sometime tomorrow" which didn't turn out to be the case until Wednesday morning. We said our goodbyes for the week and praised God for the blessing he had given us in the time we did have together. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us over this time...your faithfulness to us has been a huge blessing! We have been granted such undeserved gifts over the past 2 weeks and we know it is attributable to your prayers for us - thanks again!

The next post will have pictures and videos of our time with Lymans, so stay tuned!