The Neglected Blog

Hello there one and all! Okay, it has been months since I've updated the blog, but I have a great excuse: I'm a procrastinator. Hmmm, that wasn't nearly as impressive of an excuse as I hoped it would be. I guess I shouldn't have procrastinated about my excuse either. Alright, let's just move on from this. It is now water under the bridge, in the past, bygones are bygones, you forgive me and I forgive you...

And now for a cool video about what we've been up to these past couple of months!

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Okay, okay - I procrastinated about making a video as well. It's this whole pregnancy thing. If it doesn't involve food or napping, I'm not very motivated. It's a great excuse, almost as good as the tumor, but not as depressing. I'm four and a half months along now and I got myself a little bit of a belly going on, which is pretty exciting. The baby hand-me-downs are already starting to roll in! Some of the stuff I had no idea even existed let alone what they are supposed to be for. The other day I received a device called an "electric sterilizer starter kit." At first I thought it was for if you decided you didn't want any more children, but when I opened the box I discovered it was for sterilizing bottles. Boy, was that a relief!

It's been a lot of fun being pregnant. First off, I haven't had any morning sickness. Second is all the physical labour I get out of now. It cracks me up all the things that people advise me not to do. "Don't walk up the stairs too quickly," "Don't stand too long," "Don't sit too long," "Don't eat sandwiches with mayo on them," "Don't lift the dish soap, it's too heavy for you," and so on and so forth. I don't know where people come up with these things, I don't know if they know either. But at the end of the day, I get out of a lot of chores.

Another fun thing has been the kid's club we work with on Saturday mornings. Each week I get great questions and great advice! Kid's always want to know whether the baby is a boy or girl. I tell them I don't know. Then they ask how will I know to which I say that the doctor will tell me when the baby gets big enough. Then they ask how the doctor will know. Then there is a moment of silence after which I offer them some gum. Problem solved.

A 6-year-old boy at the kid's club excitedly informed me of a great trick his mother could do while she was expecting his little brother. She would put a Malteser, a small round chocolate candy, on her belly and the baby would kick it off. The boy described in wonderment how they would watch the chocolate ball fly across the room. I have a few more months before I will be able to try that out for myself, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Another 6-year-old asked me how I was able to keep my stomach from eating the baby. Now there was a terrifying thought! She was pretty concerned about the welfare of the baby and myself. I was able to calm her down explaining that the baby has a separate room from my digestive system, but has access to get food from it whenever it wants and also dispose of its own wastes as well.

In other news, LifeFORCE has started up again! HOORAY! We have two teams training here in the UK this year. One we'll be sending to Eastern Canada and one will be going to Malta and Spain. Plus a team from our Canadian training base will be coming here from January to May. This is the first week of training and we've got a great group of people (excuse my boasting).

As for Project Gambia, that's still on the go as well. We have three schools registered for the program. We'll be starting the training with them in December and the first group will be going to The Gambia in early February. It looks as though Danny will be going with the first group, but the other two groups go in March and April, right around the time I'm due - so he is GROUNDED! Yeah, I'm always spoiling his fun! I'm a little sad I won't be able to go myself, last year was so incredible! But I have new adventures to look forward to (like poopy diapers. Joy.)!

There's lot's of more things I could write about, but I can't remember them right now. I made a list but that giant procrastination monster must have eaten it. Pesky thing.

Here's a random thought though that I'll leave you with in closing: With the Christmas season quickly approaching many children have the new video game console by Nintendo at the top of their Christmas wish lists. This lovely little device is called the Wii, which is pronounced 'wee.' So heads up to all you folks working as Santa Claus in the malls this year: When a child sits on your knee and tells you in all earnesty that they desparately want a 'wee,' don't panic. Chances are you won't have to use the spare pair of Santa trousers that day.

Until next time, take care and God bless!
~Alycia DeLong