Brag time

Can I just brag for a minute about my husband? We found out today that Chad passed the NCLEX! So he is officially an RN. But, the part I really wanted to brag about was the fact that Chad only received the minimum number of questions when he was taking the test...at 75, the computer cut him off. Apparently that means you are either doing really well or you are really stinkin' it up. So I knew after Monday when Chad told me that he only got 75 questions that he most likely passed, but it is always a relief to get the actual test results! I am continually amazed at Chad's talent and abilities and how he has so many gifts.

So things are good around here. God continues to bless us. It's been a fairly busy week for me, and the weekend will be busy with a UIL meet and trying to get another yearbook deadline finished. We had a 2-hour delay today for school, which is fine with me because I got to sleep in and we don't have to make up the day later. Tomorrow I will be 15 weeks pregnant and have another dr. appointment one week from Monday.

Also I want to say happy 30th birthday to my sister-in-law, Emily! Hope it's a good one.

Stay warm everyone!

Finding clothes

So over the past few weeks I have been searching for some "in-between" clothes, since I am getting bigger but don't have a huge belly yet. And while I'm sure I have many more options than were available a few years or decades back, it has still been pretty slim pickings. There are a couple of issues that I have to think about...one is it's winter and the possibility of wearing dresses and skirts (or basically anything I want to for that matter) is still a little far off (I am not a pantyhose or tall boot wearer...plus pantyhose/tights is one more tight thing around my waist. No thanks.). The other is the tiny little issue of work and having to look somewhat presentable. So, I've found 4 pairs of pants...two black trousers, one pair of khaki utility-type pants (not very dressy, but I've already worn them to work) and a pair of jeans from Old Navy, where I've found a lot of clothes so far (mostly for summer). So I guess I'll just rotate these 4 pairs of pants until it gets warm. Nobody will care, right? It's kind of ironic because I really don't get many "normal" clothes at Old Navy because they don't really fit me right, but the jeans are perfect. I think I scared Chad when I tried them on and said something like "man, I wish I knew about these jeans with the stretchy wide elastic band before I was pregnant!" And then he made me promise that after the baby is born and I eventually go back to a "normal" size that I won't just wear maternity clothes still. I went to Motherhood but left pretty quickly, as the lady was a little bit too "attentive." I told her I was looking for the kind of low-rise pants with the elastic band, and she informed me that no one was really making those anymore, but try these 5 different types of pants with the really tall, stretchy panel (I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had already bought 4 different pairs of pants with the waistband I had described to her).

So anyway, that's what has been going on in my life lately. I have been hating thinking about what to wear to work every day...can I wear this maternity shirt, or will it make me look too big since I don't have much to fill it out yet? But I can't wear this normal shirt with these maternity pants, because it's not long enough to cover up the waist. Anyway, it's a minor problem. I am happy that my stomach is getting bigger, because that means there's a growing baby in there! We are getting excited. Only about 6 more weeks until we find out what "it" is!

In other news, Chad's NCLEX is Monday, so keep that in your prayers. He won't find out for a couple weeks if he passed. He will also start the internship part of his graduate nurse position next Thursday, so he gets two whole days where he doesn't have to work and doesn't have to study for the NCLEX!

Well, now I'm just postponing the inevitable, which is going to the grocery store, cleaning, and grading, so I guess it's time to go. I still have pictures that my sister-in-law sent me that she took when we surprised Chad's parents with the baby news at Christmas, but they are on my work computer so I keep forgetting to post them. I will eventually though.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A post with pictures!

So much has been going on in December and January that I have forgotten to post some of the pictures that we actually remembered to take. Chad's graduation was on Friday. Too bad we couldn't go...Excelsior College is in New York. Anyway, he received his diploma in the mail today.

Yes, I already have a baby bump (that phrase was for you mom). This picture was taken of me today, 2 days shy of 14 weeks. Is this normal?!?! I am still in my work clothes here and had already unbuttoned the top button before I even got home. Time for more of the stretchy clothes. Apparently the baby is now the size of a clenched fist. I still haven't gained any weight...apparently everything is just "redistributing." Now that I am getting bigger I will try to get pictures and post them on a regular basis...I always love looking at pictures of people and their pregnant tummies.

This picture is old, but I have started a little tradition of taking a picture of the Christmas tree and posting it to the blog. This year I added the star on top, which I was really glad I bought, even though Emma & I had to stand in line for about 45 minutes behind these two ladies at Hobby Lobby who were buying about 254 things that were all breakable and had to be wrapped individually.

And here are some pictures of Chad painting the trim in the living room. This job was monumental...he painted the living room, kitchen, hallway, entryway, all the kitchen cabinets, and all the trim. Not only that but when he did the hallway and entryway he first had to put joint compound on the walls and then sand them because the previous owners used that sand texture that you dump in the paint and feels like sandpaper on the walls. Ugh. This was one of my Christmas presents, which I was so happy to get...and not have to do it. We had planned on repainting these rooms for a long time, but had never gotten around to it, so once we found out I was pregnant Chad decided it was probably time to get it done.

Look how happy he is to be painting! (What a faker)

Busy, busy

We have been really busy around here lately. I am working on the same old thing (yearbook deadlines, of which I just completed the second--only 3 more to go!), and Chad has had a lot going on too. I don't think I ever mentioned that Chad finally got his NCLEX date, which is January 26 (one week from today!), so he has been studying for that test. He also spoke at a youth retreat this weekend, which preparing for took up quite a bit of his time. He also just officially started his new job last week, so Chad's plate has been pretty full. He is at work all day every day this week for orientation, and I am assuming that I will be helping him study for the NCLEX at night.

That's about it. I am still going on UIL meets every once in a while, but they haven't happened as often this year. I think we have two more out of town meets before district, and of course the one at Coronado which I have to run the journalism events for. This meet last year was right after the holidays were over, and I was completely stressed out about it. This year, it isn't until February, so I have a bit more time to prepare, and I am just not as stressed about it. I know it will be fine. That's it for now.

Tagged

I was tagged by my friend Emily to do a post of 10 honest things about myself. Why do these always make people look super weird and OCD?

1. I am obsessed with names and why people name their children, pets, etc. what they do. I used to read phone books and directories, just for fun. This is why I think it will be quite hard to choose names for my own children (not to mention there's another person that has to be consulted...how inconvenient!), which brings me to #2...

2. I am about 12.5 weeks pregnant. That's probably a cop-out honest thing since I just posted about it and most of you already know, but just in case you didn't read the previous post, you may like to know!

3. I have this weird thing where my sandwiches/hamburgers must be in the correct proportion. I will take off meat if there is too much, I will tear off bread if extends beyond the sandwich fillings, and I don't really like to eat the last bite of sandwiches. The ratio is off. Chad says I must stop doing this so I don't give our kids some weird eating thing. That, I guess, brings me to the next one...

4. One of my big fears about rearing children (of the petty fears, not the serious ones) is that my children will be picky eaters. I know I am jinxing myself. They will probably have bad grammar too, and that will drive me crazy. I have observed multiple children with the same parents who have completely different eating habits, so I am sure there's not much I can do about it...is there? Someone whose kids eat well help me please.

5. I hate confrontation. As a teacher I have to confront people quite a bit, mostly students and parents, and mostly with negative information (i.e. your kid stole a camera and you have to pay for it).

6. I don't like for people to be mad at me or think I'm incompetent. I guess I am a people-pleaser. Sometimes I think when people say they don't care what other people think about them, that's not really true.

7. Ever since I was a cook in 2001 at CBH, I have hated the smell and taste of scrambled eggs.

8. I am a bit obsessive about checking my email. I hate having emails stay in my inbox, so I either reply right away or move it to a different folder so I don't have stuff just hanging out in there.

Okay, I thought of two more since the last time...why do these make me sound so crazy? Don't answer that.

9. When I fly, I am obsessed with getting to the airport really early because I hate the idea of missing a flight or being stressed out about getting to the gate on time. When we lived in Arizona it was especially bad, because we lived 2 hours away from the Phoenix airport, and I would insist on leaving really early. Plus, the Phoenix airport is one of the worst to just hang out in. I received this trait directly from my mom. Now even in Lubbock, I usually arrive at the airport (which is just 15 minutes away from our house) way too early. This little quirk about me just happens to drive my husband crazy.

10. Although my parents are both scientists, they never helped me with my science projects in elementary school. I'm pretty sure my mom thought the idea of kids doing science projects was stupid. Anyway, because the little kid had to come up with her own project ideas, I did things like "What will my cat eat?" (not much, since I just gave her a grape, some cheese, and a piece of iceberg lettuce) and "Are childproof bottles really childproof?" (They weren't.)

The cat's outta the bag

Well, now that our immediate family and friends we see face-to-face have been clued in, it's time to tell everyone else...we are having a baby!

I am just shy of 13 weeks along, so this week I will have finished my first trimester! I know, it went fast, didn't it?

People have been asking me questions, so I guess I will answer them for everyone:
1. I have been feeling pretty great, compared to what I hear from other pregnant people. I had some queasiness but no real sickness. I was tired at first in the afternoons, but it's hard to differentiate that from just the normal level of tiredness I usually have from working all day.
2. I have lost a pound since the first time I went to the Dr. My last check-up was yesterday and I got to hear the heartbeat which was AWESOME! The nurse counted the heartbeat as 150. The first time we saw it, it was 120 (for those of you who like to make predictions of sex based on heartbeat).
3. Yes, we will find out the sex, in about 8 weeks. And yes, we will tell you. No, we don't have a preference whether it's a boy or a girl.
4. No, we will not decide on a name way ahead of time, and no, we will not tell you what the decided-on name is until after the baby is born. That way we don't have a bunch of stuff with the name on it and then change our minds at the last minute.
5. The front guest bedroom will probably be the nursery.
6. Yes, Chad is excited. (And of course I am too!)
7. Almost forgot...the baby is due July 24th, which means no 4th session @ CBH in 2009 :(

Feel free to ask other questions in the comments section...I just thought I would answer the FAQs here.

Grandmother

Most of you who read this blog know that my grandmother, Connie Marie Howard, passed away last Monday. She was 87 years old.

Losing grandmother has been a little odd for me. It seems like I was just writing a post about my granddad dying, but that was two years ago. It was hard. He died suddenly of an aortic aneurism, and seeing how sad grandmother was after he was gone was pretty unbearable. With grandmother it almost seemed different. She was very sick for a long time. We knew this time was coming. When the time actually came, I was sad to lose her, but at the same time thankful that God had relieved her the pain and indignity of what her earthly life had become. We spent most of last week just spending time with family, looking through old photo albums and slides. It was a good time spent together, and the funeral was really nice with a lot of nice things said about her.

I have a lot of memories of my grandmother, as she is the only one I have ever known. Growing up, we spent a lot of time at their farm. I can't think about her without thinking about her two favorite things: cooking and fishing. We went fishing a lot together, and I ate a lot of her food. A few years ago, when she could still see and write, my sister gave her a journal to write all of her favorite recipes in for us. I am so glad she did that, not only because we have her recipes now, but because in reading that cookbook you can also see how much grandmother loved her family. She would write comments like, "Make sure that if you are making this potato salad and Denise is eating it, that you leave out the eggs." She was so thoughtful, always thinking of others before herself.

I will miss grandmother, but I am so thankful that I have so many great memories of her. I loved her a lot.

5 year anniversary

5 years ago today our adventure as a married couple started...Exchanging our vows with a very young Shawn Montandon officiating...

Whatever Joey is doing in this picture is hilarious to me...I'm sure the instructions were to be "crazy"...good job Erin and Sara...Still the best cake I've ever had...It was at least 70 degrees outside that blustery winter day.

It really feels like just yesterday that we got married, but at the same time it feels so long ago. And 3 college degrees, 3 moves, and five years later, I still pray that we are just at the beginning of our journey together and that God will give us lots of years to come.