Three at the pool

We've started a new family tradition of swimming on Sunday mornings when we can. My swimmer husband is my coach. We are trying to prepare. He keeps saying, "come on, keep going.... labor will be 24 hours!" Scary. 

I am excited about how in a short while I can walk around in the kiddie pool (behind me) with our baby. I think baby swimsuits are the cutest ever. 

Video

I was on TV again! Well, YouTUbe. This time explaining whether Jesus really performed miracles or if they were just "stories".  This is the second of eight videos...

Baby gifts

My five-year-old student (actually, her mother) gave me a really special gift for our baby... handmade shoes, bib and a card made by my student. It's very special to receive handmade things. Her mother's site is this one: https://www.facebook.com/fitadevies.pt

She sells things. 

My students are getting anxious for the baby's birth and so am I, although I have nothing prepared. I'm counting on my next week of vacation for that. I feel social anxiety about being introduced to someone new. I have absolutely no idea what she looks like or is like... and it's a little scary. She is totally beyond my imagination. 

Baby shower

We hosted a coed baby shower (gasp!) ourselves (the horror!) and despite some complaints of "coed?", I must say it went pretty darn well. As my clever husband said, it was a way to introduce our baby and get our community rallied up for her. 

It included fun games like blindfolded diaper changing, baby jeopardy and a babysitting lottery. Our guests were super good sports and fun to have over. The most touching part was the "Dear baby" letters we had people fill out at the end and they were heart-warming to read. Out favorite piece of advice given to our baby: when in doubt, do it! 

These baby cookies were a gift from an attendee...

Dates in the rush hour

I haven't blogged in a while... 

Life has been intense in mainly good ways, but definitely overly busy ways. I stiiill don't have the baby room ready or practically anything baby ready. My pregnancy was going great until this week, when I feel like I've been beaten up by a small gang every day. Our house is barely clean and we barely have food to eat, but we manage to make it. 

One really great thing we've instituted and been able to stick to every week is a date night alternately organized by me or my husband. It's fun because we really look forward to it and try to keep it a surprise. We've continued to stalk Lisbon's bishop (see Dom Manuel Clemente below) and go to his conferences. On Valentine's Day (our 6-year dating anniversary) we were able to go back to the coffee shop where we had our first date six years ago... we hadn't gone back since! We have also gone to Pasteis de Belem, eaten at our favorite Italian place and gone to see the Gulbenkian orchestra play Ravel...