28 weeks!

This pregnancy is just flying by. I am already at 28 weeks! In less than 3 months we will have a precious baby boy and we are getting very excited. We are still trying on names for size and I don't foresee having one picked out before he is born, but maybe. We'll see. And I just realized there are only 4 weeks left of school, one of which is a three-day week filled with final exams and early releases. This year is practically over!

Don't you love how the shadow from the flash makes me look even bigger than I actually am? I do.

We are going ahead with our plans to go to NYC tomorrow despite the nationwide media frenzy and panic regarding the swine flu. Oops, I mean influenza A, the WHO has decided not to refer to it as swine flu anymore because the pigs were getting their feelings hurt. It's supposed to rain all weekend in NYC, so maybe between that and the flu thing we will be the only ones out and about. One can hope, right?

I asked Chad what he was most excited about and he said "the food." I am most excited about seeing "Lion King," and on Broadway no less. Be on the lookout for pictures from our trip next week. I will have lots of time because Chad is working a lot.

NYC-ya!

What's new

Just thought I'd post an update. No pictures as of late...I've been meaning to take my "27 weeks pregnant" picture, but then I think, "Well, I'm about to be 28 weeks so I'll just wait till then, plus I don't have any make-up on, plus I'm wearing a t-shirt where you can't really tell I'm pregnant" etc. etc. So I'll take one soon. Moving on.

The weather has warmed up here and we went to the nursery to check out what they had, and I bought some more tomato seeds and some carrot seeds as well. I bought Celebrity seeds which were my favorite out of the 3 varieties we planted last summer. The carrots never took off last year because right after we planted them, our garden flooded from a big rain. Chad is in the process of devising an underground irrigation system for our garden...more to come on that later.

One week from today, we will be in New York. I took off Thursday to go to the Dr. to take that blood glucose test that tests for gestational diabetes, which takes a while, so I just took off the whole day. Anyway, the rest of the day I made our itinerary, complete with mapping out our route from place to place, which subways and buses to take, or which streets to walk on, etc. to get to where we want to go next. The one thing you can't do when you have a limited amount of time in a place like New York is fail to plan ahead...so I have everything planned out. We'll take lots of pictures and I'll tell you all about it when we get back.

Chad is now registered for his first semester of Master's classes, and I think the first day of classes is the week after next. He is taking business statistics and some other class that sounds very masters-like but he'll have to tell you what it is. In the course of all this grad degree talk, we decided that we "needed" a laptop so Chad could do his schoolwork. So we are now the proud owners of a new Macbook computer. Then dad told me about this thing called a Time Capsule that Apple makes that is basically a wireless router and universal hard drive in one. So we got this stuff yesterday, and I set up the Time Capsule as our wireless network, set up the Mac to connect to the internet with it, set up our printer to print wirelessly from the laptop, and set up the desktop to connect to the internet through the router as well. The Time Capsule backs up everything on the laptop and the desktop, and we should be able to access everything that's been backed up onto the hard drive from either computer (haven't tried that yet). Pretty cool technology. So now we don't have to be stuck in that back room in the uncomfortable chair when we want to use the computer...no, I am on our comfy couch blogging and catching up on DVR shows.

Well, today was the regional UIL competition and as far as I know, my two students who were in the news writing competition will be going to state...one won 1st place and the other one placed 4th and will compete as the alternate. I don't know how they did in the other competitions.

That's it for now. I am surprised you have read this far after my lengthy explanation about the Time Capsule. Have a good weekend.

First baby shower

Today my 7th period class put together a baby shower for me. It was so fun and they were so thoughtful to do it. They really went all out...got a cake, bought presents and food, and even decorated a little. These are little mini-cheesecakes with pacifiers made out of lifesavers and jelly beans. So cute. One of the little outfits that a student gave me. And another one. This is the baby's first Polo Ralph Lauren outfit. Boy is he going to be stylin'. This is my class. They are really good kids, and I was just completely touched with what they did for their journalism teacher today.

Start spreading the news...

We're leaving in two weeks for a little mini-vacation to New York!

I am so excited. I have been bugging Chad about going on a trip before I can't travel anymore, tiny new baby comes, etc...and that window is closing very quickly. So I am taking off a couple days in early May that Chad already has off and we are headed to New York for a long weekend. It was important to me to go to a place neither of us had been before, and I've wanted to go to New York for a really long time. Chad couldn't really care less where we go. Last night as we were looking over his schedule, we basically decided on the weekend that we'd go, and he told me I could pick (which means I get to plan the whole thing as well...it works for us!). I booked the entire trip before even telling Chad where we were going. We won't have much time there, but being the planner that I am, I will make sure we get the most out of the time we are spending there! Plane tickets, hotel, and tickets to "The Lion King" have already been purchased. I will be sure to take lots of pictures of our last vacation as a family of two.

Now, those of you who have been there, feel free to leave comments suggesting places to definitely go, and places we can skip. Keep in mind we only have a couple full days.

Shoulda thought of that

Last night I had a startling revelation. I was watching "American Idol," and the baby started kicking. Only this time, for the first time, I could SEE him kicking. And then came my startling revelation. This kid is getting bigger...and he has to COME OUT. I know what you're thinking..."Duh, you idiot." Because that is what I was thinking too. But seriously. Does everyone who is pregnant have this revelation at some point and get kind of panicky?

Feel free to make fun of me, either in the comments section or behind my back. I don't care. The main point of this post is REALLY to document the first time I could see the baby move, not really to document the panic I felt after I saw him wiggling around in there.

Long time no blog

It seems like a while since I've posted to the blog. Lots of stuff has been going on lately. Here is some of it, and I will try to be as organized as possible with the topics:

1. We have decided that we won't be able to teach at all this summer at Blue Haven. The session we applied for, at the very beginning of the summer, didn't have any openings, and there were two other options...2nd and 5th. We can't go for two weeks because of Chad's job and because I don't think I'd have much fun being up there for that long, and 5th session is right when the baby is due. We are really sad, but we are hoping to get some cabin time at the beginning of the summer. And who knows, maybe the baby will come early and we'll feel up to taking him to camp to show him off. He'll need to meet with his doctor anyway, and that's where she'll be. We're extremely sad that we won't be able to be teachers this summer, but I am also a little relieved that no one is going to be depending on us since we will be in a most undependable situation.

2. Chad is going to start a Master's in nursing program through Excelsior. They don't require a Bachelor's in nursing before going to a Master's, just a bachelor's degree of some kind, so in total he will need 38 hours to complete his MSN. He plans on starting this pretty soon, with the hope that it will be out of the way while our son is still really little.

3. I finally met my new doctor. I like him a lot. My next appointment is at the beginning of May, which means I'll be 29 weeks or so, then I'll have one more ultrasound around 32 weeks. The next thing I have to do is take that test where you drink that stuff and they tell you if you have gestational diabetes.

4. I went shopping in Austin with mom and Erin this weekend and it was lots of fun. I had a blast finding cute little boy clothes for super cheap. I think the most fun thing about shopping for boys' clothes is that most of them aren't cute (unlike girls' clothes, which are pretty much all adorable and too much of a temptation for me), so when you find something that is, especially if it's cheap, it is even more exciting. My favorite boys' clothes are the ones that make them look like little men...sweaters, jeans, half-zip pullovers, etc. Erin passed along lots of hand-me-downs from Kellen, and I've just started to go through them. In a matter of a couple of days, the baby's room went from completely bare to this...

I love hand-me-downs! With both of us being youngest siblings whose brothers and sisters have had 8 children altogether, we are benefiting from everyone else's stuff, and they are being gracious enough to part with so much of it to help us out. Emily also sent us a care package with lots of goodies in it. Our favorite part had to be the card from Riley. It was so sweet and Emily said she did the whole thing herself, with no prompting with what to say in the card. I don't know if you can read it or not, but it says "I hope your baby feels good when it comes out." Hilarious and adorable. I plan on putting it in his baby book, but I'll probably have to put a caption under it that says, "You didn't."

5. While I was in Austin shopping, Chad went camping in New Mexico. I don't have much to say about that, but he took some pictures and I'll see if he wants to post those and do an update.

And last but not least, a photo of me @ 25 weeks pregnant, taken last Thursday.

I hope everyone has a good week.

I love Saturdays

I am really appreciating today. One reason is because the UIL district meet that was supposed to be last Saturday and got canceled because of the snow got moved to yesterday, which means we all still get a weekend. So, we got back last night, and my journalism team won 2nd place overall, and I have 2 on my team who will be competing in various events at regionals (which is in town...yay!). A little more explanation...there are 4 journalism events, and 10 5A schools per event, and each school can enter 3. So there were 30 kids per event, and 6 possible "places." If you place 1st through 3rd, you move on to regionals. In one event all 3 of my kids placed, in 2 others, 1 placed, and in one, 2 placed. So I'm pretty proud of them...they did well. AND I'm glad we came back yesterday, so we all still have a weekend.

Another reason I'm appreciating today is because Chad came home from his shift at 7 a.m., made cinnamon rolls, eggs & bacon for me and my friend Amanda who spent the night last night, and then went to sleep. What a thoughtful husband!

So, I'm already past the 24 week mark, and I will post a picture soon. Happy weekend everyone!