Letting the Secret Out

I’ve always thought I was good at keeping secrets but it wasn’t until this fall that I was really tested. Ben and I found out we were expecting at the beginning of November and despite being uncontrollably excited we decided to wait until Christmas to tell our friends and family. I’m convinced, however, that my family was subconsciously doing everything possible to get the secret out. My parents were offering to take us with them to the Philippines in July and were waiting to hear our answer. Even though I’ve heard the glorious stories from my sister about Filipino hospitals (like having to buy your own IV bags and drive 20 miles to pick them up) I decided taking a trip in July just wasn’t going to work into our 2010 summer plans, but we couldn’t let them know this until Christmas. After being asked several times if we knew whether we would go on the trip Ben and I decided we should just spill the beans early and let them know that Little Baby Lewis couldn’t make that trip in July so we would have to go another year.

So the weekend before Thanksgiving on the spur of the moment we decided to let Mom and Dad Lucas know they were going to be grandparents. We rushed to the store and bought a little outfit that says, “Who needs Santa when you have Grandma” and we bought a Happy Thanksgiving Grandpa card for my dad. So that is how Grandma and Grandpa Lucas heard the news.

It was so tough to keep the secret from my sister, as we would Skype every Wednesday morning and I would be ready to expel my breakfast due to morning sickness but couldn’t let on. One Wednesday however I decided it was time to tell. My sister often give me a mini language lesson and teaches me a few words in Tagalong. So after a quick review I told her I wanted to pick out the words this week. So I proceeded to ask her how to say baby. Her eyebrows raised and she answered bata. I said no…infant. She then looked up the word and gave me a reply. Did she get it yet? I wasn’t sure so I went for the grand slam and asked how to say aunt. A big smile came across her face and we celebrated over Skype.

Ben was in charge of how to tell his family, all eight of them. Knowing his family’s love for word games, he came up with his own. Before we all sat down to Thanksgiving dinner we wrote up name cards in code for each person. We took the first letter of their first and middle names and then added a prefix. So there was A.L.R. and A.B.L. and A.G.L. and A.H.L and so on with the A’s all standing for aunt of course. Then there was G. De and G. Do, being Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Doug. Ben was D.B. for Daddy Ben and M. N. for Mommy Noelle. We told them they couldn’t have dinner until they figured out the code. After a good while (especially when tummies are hungry) Ben’s mom finally gasped “I know it…you’re pregnant.” Eyebrows furrowed around the table as the sisters still couldn’t put it together how A.H.E. and A.H.D. meant their sister in law was pregnant, but it quickly came together for them too.

Well if you’re exhausted reading this just think how exhausting it was keeping a secret for over a month. Thankfully there will be no more secrets for a while, with the one exception….is Baby Lewis a boy or a girl….and only God knows that one.

Here's a picture. I'm 13 weeks in that picture but I think I'm cheating a little because my back is arched.

Dishwasher Story - (posted by ben)

our ancient dishwasher was on the brinks of dying, so i couldn't resist the $125 rebate and 10% off coupon for Lowes to get the Dishwasher down from $400 to $215. if you're observant or have met me for any length of time you'll likely have realized that Noelle calls me a money nazzi for a reason. i'm cheap. so i wasn't about to let Lowe's sell me their $99 installation.

7pm last night a $200 installation fee even was sounding pretty attractive after i was drenched with water.. I had shut off the waterline under the sink as the directions said, but didn't realize the water supply line wasn't coming from the sink (as normal dishwasher supply lines do) but from the basement. so as i became a human sponge Noelle ran down stairs while I frantically tried to guide her to the main water shut off to.. you guessed it, shut it off. once everyone's mind cleared, and i successfully got my thumb wedged over the spurting pipe as the human sponge had been filled to capacity, i was able to give coherent instructions to Noelle as to where the water shutoff is and which direction to turn the handle... then i asked her to bring a bottle of shampoo up - can't waste all that water i was holding!

3 hours later and one trip to home depot and back, i'd gotten the tubes and fittings i needed to finish the job, the instructions that accompanied the dishwasher long since discarded and replaced with a walking and talking fix-it genious - my sister in law, Holly. when all is said and done, i got a bath a day earlier than i would have otherwise, saved $99, got a high that no one should get over installing a dishwasher, but i'm still overflowing with a sense of accomplishment, and most best of all, had a great time working next to my sister in law - the brains and COUGH brawn COUGH of the operation. hey, i have to give credit where credit's due :)

My First Surprise Party

This past week, we pulled it off!! The first time I ever planned a surprise party and it worked!! It started 3 weeks ago when Jon, a great friend of ours told me his idea to have a surprise wedding cake for his and his wife's 15th wedding anniverary, since they never had one at their wedding. It took off from there. I was nauseated when I had to drop the pretend invitation to Shona over the phone, my knees were buckling but thankfully it came out cool, calm, and collected. Either that or Shona is really gullible. (Thanks mom for helping me practice over the phone). The night before the party I couldn't sleep. Poor Ben, I was tossing and turning. Then the night of the surprise arrived. They dropped of the kids while they went to dinner. The best part of my scheming...I came to the door in a hoodie and jeans as if no big thing was going on. After that....the chaos started. I had 45 minutes to get the kids fed and the place decorated. Then the people arrived. Our home was overflowing with people. The kids were watching stealthily from the upstairs window and Jon and Shona walked in and Shona was incredibly surprised. Unfortunately I missed her reaction due to a stubbed toe, not mine, her daughter Faith's but I heard it was great. Here's a little video of the anticipation, I was supposed to follow it up with her reaction, but that poor little toe thwarted that plan. Enjoy.

Wedding Weekend

I definitely fell in love with the Niagra on the Lake region when we stayed there for a friend's wedding in mid September. We stayed at a B&B right across from the river upstream from the falls. Our hosts were a very cute Italian couple. I think it may have been the first time I ever had an Italian breakfast. Mmmmm! The highlights of the stay was that the bed was so high up you needed a footstool to get in, the sitting room was extra spacious, and I was able to do devotions on the beautiful balcony.

(note the adorable footstool!)

Friday night musings - ben's smashing blog debut

not feeling particularly inspired... yet... but anything's better than working on school work...
Noelle is at a Sarah Groves concert with her friend Megan. i'm still wondering how i could have passed up the chance to rock out with them... i'm sure other guys reading this are also scratching their heads. perhaps i should introduce myself as this is my first blog posting.. nah, but know this, when in doubt, i'm probably being sarcastic. ok- if you're reading this i'll be shocked because it'll mean Noelle didn't delete my post. not that she's cruel like that but because my idea of writing is to entertain myself and hope someone else is amused.. not sure that goes with the whole "home renovs and our unbelievably exciting life" posts to date.. so i'll keep my fingers crossed. anyways, i'm disappointed nothing creative has come to mind to write about, but i'll wrap up this kickoff blog post from Noelle's piece of work of a husband with a couple lines from my favorite song this month..

but I know that I've gotta make a change

I don't care if I break,

At least I'll be feeling something

...

I don't wanna go through the motions

Home Rennovations Part 2

Back in the old days when we lived in out apartmetn in Brighton we had beautiful crimson floor legnth curtains in our bedroom. However when we moved our bedroom came with 3 small windows and not one huge window. So for a year my curtains gathered dust in a closet instead of fulfilling their purpose. So...I called on my good friend Johanna to come over and teach me how to make valances. Well I guess I got in deeper than I realized becuase I didn't have quite enough fabric and therefore we needed to jerryrig the pattern. Well, it ended up turning out great. I'm very pleased with the curtains and now my walls have color.

BEFORE and AFTER

ONE LAST LOOK

A close up but don't look too close Ü

Exhilarating

No words needed for this post. Soo much fun. Thanks Mark and Briana!!

Strawberry, Blackberry, Rhubarb Pie

My family came up for a visit in August and we decided to go on a 3.4 mile hike at Blackcreek Park. We were rushed on time so we were hauling! However, we kept passing massive amounts of blackberry bushes and they looked so tempting! After awhile we just couldn't take the temptation any longer and we starting picking despite our lack of time. And that's when I noticed my sister surrounded by a massive swarm of mosquitoes, they were everywhere. They were around my mom and I too. I screamed Run telling everyone to abort the blackberry mission and get to safety. It was quite the memory. All that to say that we only picked about half the blackberries I would have needed for a pie. So...I got creative and made up a recipe for strawberry, blackberry, rhubarb pie. It was delicious. Ben can vouch for that (I hope!) So I posted a picture on my blog so someone can show my Grandma Jo. Mmm...wish I had a piece now.

HOME RENOVATIONS PART 1

Since Ben had changed jobs and had to earn vacation time all over again, our summer has been pretty sedentary. However, since Ben and I can't sit still we decided to do some home rennovations. I wanted new window coverings, however 44 inch wide windows arn't so common. Neither are 35in windows. (Side note: No doors or windows in our home are normal sized, I told this to a friend and he said Well the 60's were a time for experimentation for home building, I wasn't impressed). Well, Overstock.com just so happened to be clearance-ing out some odd sized blinds...yes 44in and 35 in! So by the time they were delievered to our door, they were installed by Ben in a total of maybe 1.9 hrs with dinner inbetween. Not too shabby.

My Blog Title

When prompted to enter a title for my blog, I at first though "Oh No" seeing Ben and I just had a conversation today about my lack of creativity. But within seconds I thought of one of my favorite movie quotes from Anne of Green Gables where Anne states "My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes and dreams." I like to pull out this quote when I'm feeling overly dramatic about how tough life can be, but all in all I have a wonderful life, so I decided this just wouldn't work as a title for my blog. So I shortened the name to Hopes and Dreams, because I anticipate most of posts will be about things I am hoping for the future and dreams I am accomplishing in the present as each day goes by.