Reflections

So it's been a rollercoaster of a weekend and it's only Friday (our weekend started Thursday). So much has happened that I really haven't had time to process it all yet, most of it was good - and some of it was not. I guess the best way to sort it all out is to start at the beginning.

Thursday morning. We had our 14 week appointment with the midwives. This means I'm in the second trimester (yea!) and it was a really great appointment. We heard the heartbeat (and Penelope, standing next to the "exam table" was dancing to the whump-whump-whump of the baby's heartbeat - too cute). I put exam table in quotations because the table at our midwives looks and feels nothing like the exam tables at traditional doctor's offices. It's much more comfortable and inviting, but I really can't think of another term for it.

Anyway, the heartbeat was 152 beats per minute which is very good. More good news, there's only ONE heartbeat :) No twins for us. Other good things: My uterus measured at the right amount of weeks (which is another indicator that the baby is growing normally and there's only one in there), I gained 1 lbs since last month (which puts me at 5 under from my weight before this pregnancy - although no where near my weight pre-Penny), and my midwives think everything sounds and looks good. My blood pressure was pretty low (90/60) and Marlene remarked that she didn't know how I was standing upright - although low blood pressure isn't abnormal for me during pregnancy (or when I'm not pregnant) but I have been getting dizzy a lot lately so I just have to watch myself.

After our appointment we met up with my parents and drove to Tahoe for my cousin's wedding. The wedding was at a casino, and it was really nice - both Jodi and Ken seemed really happy... Ken even got a little teary during the ceremony :)

The only downer was that during the dinner we found out that my Uncle Wes (my Grandpa's brother) had passed away. It wasn't unexpected but it was still very sad... and this is the part of the weekend (thus far) that I haven't really gotten the time to process. I don't know how much I'll get to tonight (since we're all exhausted) but I need to talk a little bit about my Uncle before I sign off.

I have very fond memories of my Uncle... growing up we didn't see him all the time since he lived in Chico and we were in Sacramento, but we saw him often enough for me to grow to love him very much. He was a bit larger than life - literally - the man was TALL. And bald (well, I'm sure he had hair at one point, but the Uncle Wes in my memories was always bald). He was incredibly intelligent, had a great sense of humor, and was (at least for us kids) a gentle giant. He was a high school principal and could be stern, but that wasn't really a side of him I ever saw. I saw him at holidays or at my great-grandparent's house (both of whom were also very tall and very loving) - and those times Uncle Wes seemed to always be laughing.

Of course, talking about Uncle Wes always reminds me of my great-grandparents who were wonderful wonderful people. I miss them a lot - they passed away when I was in high school and if I remember correctly they were both in their 90s... I have some very wonderful memories of them both and it makes me a little sad that my kids will never get the chance to meet them. But I'm very, very lucky that I got so much time with them, many people never even get to meet their great-grandparents.

Back to Uncle Wes... after my great-grandparents died we saw less of that side of the family. This was for a variety of reasons, one of which was distance. We would still see Uncle Wes on occasion; mainly for holidays.

When Bryan and I got engaged, we had a couple of conversations about who we wanted to officiate our wedding. I felt very strongly that I wanted family involved - someone special... and Bryan gave me the go-ahead to ask whomever I wanted. So I asked Uncle Wes.

He said yes. He even went online and got ordained from one of those non-denominational churches so it could be official (our ceremony was not religious, unless you count Dr. Seuss as a religious leader). He performed his son's wedding a few months before ours (he told me it was his practice ceremony, although I'm quite certain that he did an amazing job and no one would have been able to tell he'd never done it before).

Our ceremony was perfect. I couldn't imagine a better ceremony - it was funny, touching, and delivered in his wonderful speaking voice. It meant so much to me to have my Uncle (well, great-Uncle) be the one to pronounce Bryan and I husband and wife...

So to honor my Uncle Wes - and because I really love watching this - here's our wedding ceremony. The video is a little shaky (we didn't have a tripod) and the sound is so-so in spots, but it's really the only thing I have and I feel the need to hear his voice again. Thank you Uncle Wes, we love you very much.