Saturday, April 30, 2011

Due Date Come and Gone...

It's official...we'll have a May baby! When in May, only time will tell. Our April 30th due date has come and gone. sigh. Joey really wanted a good excuse out of his parent/teacher meetings that were scheduled all day Saturday (4.30) but alas, our son continues to give us no reason to cancel any plans! So, we continue on with life as normal!
Here is Nica at 38 weeks...

...and at 39 weeks...


and look at us here! 40 weeks!! We made it!! But alas, no baby yet!



Nica's getting tired of trips to the doctor and only seeing baby on screen. What used to bring so much joy, is now replaced with..."hurry up! we want to see you for REAL!!" Nica's never been very good at waiting for something she's excited about.



Actually, Nica has been plagued with visions of becoming the fat man on Monty Python who just keeps getting fatter and fatter and eventually basically explodes, sliming everyone in his way. How can I get this baby out before that happens??? :(


On a serious note, lets all pray for Danny. Thursday night he was rushed to hospital, he had emergency surgery, and although the Lord answered prayers and the surgery went well without the complications that we thought possible, he will be recovering and closely monitored the remainder of this week. I have yet to know if this will affect mom's trip to Shanghai. She was scheduled to fly out Wednesday. I feel at peace with it. Danny is so precious and so brave, let's all pray together that his recovery process is fast and thorough.


I'll keep you all posted with updates about mom's trip and baby's arrival as I know! Joey is an amazing support through each stage of this process. I wouldn't be able to get through all this without him!! Thanks for your prayers,


J&N










Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Hospital tour, fat feet, baptism, & friends!

Last week we got our official tour of the hospital where we'll be ending up soon to meet our little boy! We are pleased with the facilities, staff, and feel comfortable with the arrangements!
Exciting days!


Here is Nica with her doctor: Dr. Cari Jia


The waiting room



Our hosptial room is private, and big enough to have a party in if we wanted! haha, probably won't be in the mood for that, but nice to know the option is there. It's got a big plasma TV on the wall w/ DVD player, a mini-fridge, microwave, even a pull-out couch for Joe so he can spend the night with us!

Joey continues to be a constant support to me, going to great lengths to make this experience positive and special for both of us! He's going to be SUCH a great dad...
I had to capture a photo of him painting my toes. :) Now that warm weather is here AND my feet are so fat that my normal shoes aren't fitting very well, flip flops are perfect attire! He did a great job on my toes, and making me feel beautiful. :)




On Sunday at church we rejoiced with Chianne as she made a public proclimation of her love for Christ and was baptized!! We've gotten to know her through our cell group and are so excited to experience this moment with her! :)




Friends of ours from Germany came back to Shanghai for a visit! The last time we saw Andreas & Christine, their daughter, Paula, was about the size of our little boy right now! haha. It was such a treat to see Paula take her first steps in our home!!!










I have heard about Daniel's spaghetti for so long...and Monday he came over to treat us with it! With a last name like Allegri, you know the spaghetti was amazing!! THANKS, DANIEL!! :D








Vivienne and I thought we should enjoy one more girls-night-out at the Hilton before baby makes his appearance! We both love jazz, and are friends with the jazz trio on the 39th floor. They are amazing!! On a break, we ran back to see Lezil's wedding dress! Wow!! Exciting days!!
If you like jazz and come to visit us in Shanghai, this will be a must-do for us! We love excuses to enjoy their music!



Ralston singing/playing in the background...




Lezil in her glory...









I'll post pics soon of when Lezil and I went wedding dress shopping with Dee! We are both bridesmaids in Dee's wedding in June! But our little family will have to miss Lezil's wedding in July, because we'll be back visiting family in PA & ON. So many exciting events taking place! Hard to fit them all in! The next exciting event??? Can't wait to post pics of our little boy!! Hurry, hurry!! :D

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Erin & Anthony here to visit!!!

Wow, time to update some of what has been keeping us busy the last couple of weeks!

We were so excited to have Erin & Anthony come to visit us from London, ON! It's the kind of thing that we talked about for so long and we looked forward to them coming, and then it went by way too fast! We love looking at these photos to make sure that it really happened! :D

Check this out: they brought us fresh maple syrup!! :D





Erin & Anthony living it up in Shanghai!!



On the bus going to church!!



We love showing people around the unique city we live in!

my hot husband...





Erin & Anthony turned into pros at handling the crowds!




















They did great with the restaurants and our odd choices of cuisine!







haha...although this was the first, it was not the last time that they were dragged up to dance at a restaurant!! haha










We went to Hangzhou, had to capture the train moments. :D

some of the China-countryside images we zoomed by at 350 kms per hour...









I love it that Joey can read Chinese maps.... :D

exploring the city!!

crammed into a "black taxi" or someone's personal van who we finally found to get us to where we wanted--thanks to Joe's great bartering skills! :)





Hangzhou was beautiful, and PACKED with people.



haha, go Anthony!!!





Joe and I hung out this beautiful Starbucks for the day while Erin & Anthony explored on their own











For some reason we kept going back to places with live music and dancers who thought it was great to pull Anthony up to dance with them!! LOL...they even got Joey to dance, too!

























We miss you guys not being here and wish you lived CLOSER!! Looking forward to our next trip together!! :D