A City Life For Me

We are praising the LORD for a healthy new addition to our family…and he is a BOY!  Mommy, Daddy, and Nolan Obadiah   After laboring through through the night, Ben and I took a cab to the hospital.  We were concerned about parking, and the cab had been recommended.  Our driver went through a red light, and we were subsequently stopped by the police.  They let us continue on when they saw I was in labor.  I have never driven so fast through Brooklyn, or gone through so many red lights! The midwife on call was the one midwife in my practice that I had not met yet, but she was so nice!  I tried to walk and labor some more for an hour before being admitted to a room and receiving an epidural.  I was exhausted and the medication allowed me to sleep…finally! There was some trouble with the baby’s heart rate around 8:30 a.m.  I was concerned that we would have a repeat of my labor with Elaine, and that it would end in a C-section.  Th...

Today is my due date.  I am 40 weeks pregnant!  And…I think that the contractions are starting.  Stay tuned for the announcement about Baby Hamilton #2!

After the long weekend working at the church, we were pretty exhausted on Father’s Day.  Elaine gave Daddy her card and present before church.  I made French Toast for breakfast.  Showing off her artwork to Daddy. She was so excited to color in his card! We gave Ben a baseball t-shirt. At our church, it is a Father’s Day tradition for the men to wear a Filipino barong.  Ben was excited this year when Chito gave him a barong to wear! I thought it was funny when Faith Jackey (who is 4) walked up to one of the men and said, “Hey – my dad is wearing that shirt today!” My two favorite people all dressed up! After church we came home for a nice long nap.  Seriously…I think we all slept soundly for four hours!  Then we grabbed a McDonalds and headed for Brooklyn Bridge Park.  We arrived around sunset, and the view was spectacular! The Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan skyline Elaine wanted to throw rocks into the water, so Ben was hel...

Ben had organized a church workday.  Because of the jobs that had to be done, it really turned into workdays .  On Thursday night two ladies shampooed the auditorium chairs.  Then Ben and Chris Hyden, one of our teens, finished the job.  On Friday night we took down everything from the classroom walls so they could be spackled and prepared for painting. As Ben looked at the sign-up sheet of volunteers for Saturday, he began to think that we wouldn’t get everything done.  What a blessing to arrive Saturday morning to a host of volunteers!   Several men from the Russian congregation came to paint.  Ladies came to organize the kitchen and feed the work crew.  Teens came and worked very hard!  Even Elaine helped out.  We not only finished the task list, but also accomplished several things that were not on the list! Shampooing the Chairs… Cleaning the Baseboards… Washing the Toys…     Painting the Classroo...

Money Saving Mom has recently changed her strategy on Freezer Cooking.  Rather than try to do a whole day in the kitchen with three kids to care for, she is doing one hour segments each week.  I decided to give it a try and whip up a few meals for after the baby’s arrival.  There’s not much variety here, but it will help!  I did all of this in an hour and fifteen minutes… I made: 2 lasagna 4 bags of Southwest Roll-ups + one bag of burrito mix (just need some more tortillas 2 small bags of shredded chicken – for pizza 2 large bags of shredded chicken – for casseroles 1 batch of chocolate chip cookies (not pictured) Coming today or tomorrow I am going to add: 3x pizza dough 2x Stromboli dough 2x Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls (We have a tradition of having homemade pizza or Stromboli every Friday night!)

On June 11th, Ben’s sister entered a new phase of life: high school graduation and college preparation.  Ben’s parents are also entering the empty nest phase.  We drove up to Massachusetts for Meredith’s graduation ceremony.  Meredith was homeschooled (all the way from Kindergarten…and both she and Mom survived!) so the ceremony was special and unique.  Meredith will attend Bob Jones University in August. (it was on this trip that my camera died, so some of the pictures are not so great.  But…they are all that I have!)   Meredith’s chosen colors were orange and teal.  Some ladies at the church did all of the decorations, and it was beautiful!  There were even a couple of families who came dressed completely in orange and teal…something special for Mere’s special day!   I had contemplated not making this trip.  I was 37 weeks pregnant, and we had just returned from a long road trip to NC for Kenny’s wedding.  Then we foun...