First off, for those of you who asked, Ta da! Here I am. Six months as of last week.

As you can see, baby’s growing. I’m still feeling great! Everything is going very well. Lots of baby movement, which is still fun and exciting. A consistently active period includes Sunday morning worship. Last week, I almost had to sit down during one song that had a loud drumbeat. Baby was either terrified or praising God with all his/her strength.

Meanwhile, Josh and I have been blessed to meet more people, especially fellow Mars Hill attenders. And as we interact with local Seattleites, we’ve come across some interesting differences. We present…

Cultural Differences Between the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest.

1) The Unspoken Shoe Rule. In most households, you remove your shoes before walking inside. We figured this out after we were some of the first people to arrive for community group. As the others trailed in, everyone paused in the foyer to take off their shoes. I’ve never been so embarrassed to be sitting in a circle of chairs. It was like Duck, Duck, Goose, only it was Socks, Socks, Socks, Socks, Socks, Socks, RUDE SHOES!
The next week, I learned my lesson and kicked off my slip on shoes as soon as I walked in the door.
And was the only one with bare feet (and embarrassingly chipped toenail polish.)
Exception to the rule- if you’re not wearing socks, you keep the shoes on. (There were two other girls who kept their slip on shoes on the whole time. Where were they the previous week??)
And yes, it’s due to the rain. Since it’s so common to have rain and mud on your shoes, people are in the habit of taking them off regardless of the current weather conditions.

2) Clothing. It can be 50 degrees out, raining, and you’ll see guys walking around in short sleeved shirts and girls wearing flip flops. As I’m wearing a sweater and coat and carrying an umbrella.

3) Political conversations. At first we thought it was due to the election, but that’s over and there’s still a lot of politics being discussed. Most recently, a group of about 15 people launched into a spontaneous debate over the merits of public and private schools.

4) Less sports, more technology. Let’s say there’s a group of 5 guys. Three of them will work for Microsoft. 1 will work for IBM or Expedia. And Josh, the Googler, is the other guy. Most likely, they’re not talking about college football, which is just NOT as big a deal here. I don’t even know the names of University of Washington’s Big Rival. Or if they have one.
Here, if I overhear a group of guys talking, it’s a given that the words, “iPhone,” “app,” and “launched” are going to be in there somewhere.

5) Straight talk. Seattlelites tend to speak their mind more. It’s not offensive, just very straightforward. Hence the political discussions. (If you’ve heard the Mars Hill podcasts, you get an idea based on the preaching style.)
Similarly, I never realized how often I’ll make a general invitation that I don’t follow through on, though I plan to. “Let’s have lunch sometime,” or “We should go out for coffee,” and it never happens. Or it happens weeks later after an email exchange.
Here, it’s more “Let’s have lunch on Thursday. Does noon work for you?” and that’s that.

6) Communal umbrellas. There’s Forum/Avenue style outdoor malls here. How does that work with the massive amounts of rainfall? How about yellow golf umbrellas that magically appear outside your store? Each mall has these umbrellas that you take from the parking lots and leave outside the store. The only downside is that you have to really consider if it’s worth going inside each store, because there’s a chance your umbrella will be gone by the time you come out. Then you have to find an umbrella to steal from a shopper in the next store. I tend to feel pretty guilty participating in “Musical Umbrellas.”

7) Dogs. We’ve already kinda covered this one, if you remember Doogler Day. But wow, people love their dogs here. There’s just so many of them. Remy’s actually a great conversation starter. People on the sidewalk and in the elevator love asking about him and then telling me about their dog. And it’s really common to see dogs tied up outside a Starbucks or restaurant. It’s hard to know who the owner is because everyone smiles and stops to pet them.

So there you have some of the differences we’ve learned so far. Granted, nothing too drastic. =) Hopefully, after things are a bit more settled in the spring, some of our Southern folks can come visit! We’ve been keeping a list of “Places We’d Like to Take People” and then you can experience Seattle for yourself.

Here’s some images from our latest ultrasound. The technician did that helpful thing where she labeled each picture. She’s also the only person who claims to know the sex of the baby. Tantalizing! 

Baby Face

The baby is facing the camera with an arm on each cheek.

The Crossed Feet 

If it’s a girl, she’s a lady already.

The Arms 

The left arm is a little easier to make out. The right one is quite blurry.

And… The Ever So Gracefully Extended Leg 

This little leg is the cause of some of those kicks I’ve been feeling.

If all goes well, this is the last we’ll see of Baby Teague until we get to meet him/her! That’s approximately 120 days away. =)

Hormones wreck havoc on pregnant ladies. I blame the following situations on my current hormonal make up: Craving bananas at 5 am. Being awake at 5 am in the first place. Fussing at Remy for whining, then feeling so guilty because he’s such a sweet dog that I hold him in my lap and fight back tears. Trying to decide what to have for dinner when I’ve ruled out Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Thai, hamburgers, salads and pasta. And chicken. 

That’s just during the waking hours. Here’s some random, vivid dreams I’ve had during the past few months. And yes, I blame these weirdos on the hormones as well.

-I was back in a classroom teaching. The class was a mixed group of kindergartners and high schoolers. And neither age group was listening to a word I said.

-Driving to teach school one morning, I looked at the clock and completely panicked when I saw I was an hour late. To top it off, my classroom had been moved into a shopping mall.

-Josh took me to a pet store/warehouse where you had to walk between boa constrictors roaming the floor. I woke up convinced there was a snake in the bed and if I moved my leg an inch, I’d feel it. 

-I was hanging out in my high school biology classroom when I realized I was about to miss my ultrasound appointment. My teacher and several classmates gave me a ride and we got stuck on horrible traffic. I had to call Josh, who was waiting for me at the office, to tell him I was going to miss it.

-In another ultrasound dream, the technician offered to take the baby out so I could hold it. Or should I say “her,” since I saw that it was a girl. I felt terrible that I forgot we were going to wait to find out the sex. Josh wasn’t even there. But Mom and Annie were. (Thanks, Ladies!)

-At Mom’s new house, I was going to take a shower. The shower was more like a huge tub that filled up incredibly quickly. As soon as the faucet was turned on, you found yourself standing in four and half feet of water. You also had to climb stairs to exit the shower/tub.

-In the most disappointing dream, Josh and I brought the baby home. It was a boy, and I was really excited to bring out the newborn blanket and let him play on the floor with cute little baby toys. Even though he was teeny tiny, he was able to speak and told me he didn’t want to play that boring game.

-In the BEST dream, I was in a cafeteria of endless food lines and I could eat any and as many desserts I wanted. I could still taste the chocolate when I woke up.

Lauren seems to have it all together sometimes. So to catch up, I’ve been studying up on what’s to come. Here’s what I’ve found so far…

More over here.

Bonus: Today we hit the half-way mark. 20 weeks! I just can’t believe it.

The baby bonding has officially started. We have now BOTH felt our child kick/punch/move!

I have been suspicious that I could feel the baby moving the last few weeks, but it felt more like flipping. This past week, I have definitely felt little kicks and punches. If Josh was home, I would freeze and call him over. But as soon as he put his hand where the last kick had been… peaceful, quiet womb. (I KNEW our child would be shy. Or it could be the calming effects Josh has on people.) Of course, as soon as Josh had given up, the kicks started right back up.

About three nights ago, Josh was almost asleep and happened to have his arm resting on my belly when we both felt a kick! (I felt a kick strong enough to make me jump. The same kick felt like a gentle, single pulse to Josh.) One of our first family victories! We’ve had a few more since then. I’ve heard it’s one of the best parts of being pregnant, and it really is. As Mandy says, it’s very reassuring. I love having a reminder (along with the growing abdomen) that there’s a baby growing and getting ready for us.

Random side note: Now, I could be making this up- moms out there, feel free to correct me. But I’m wondering if it’s possible that a baby is capable of making contact with organs in my body. (More specifically, one that rhymes with ladder but seems a little too unladylike to name.) Because every once in a while, during a kicking session, I get an intense urge to use the restroom that lasts for about 0.5 seconds. Is this my imagination?