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!

23 weeks

Here's a picture of me taken at 23 weeks. Last week one of my students said, "Wow, you're getting really big and round! Your face is even getting rounder!" Awesome. True, but thanks. Baby boy M has started moving around more, but seems to get a little shy when I try to get Chad to feel him moving. I think Chad thinks I'm lying. :) And when I came home from work today, Chad had assembled the baby's crib, which my dad shipped to us a couple weeks ago (thanks dad!), moved the guest bed to the 2nd bedroom, and moved the trundle bed that was in THAT room to the shed. We are planning on moving quite a bit of our furniture to the cabin in May or June when the weather gets warmer, so until then, we've got lots of beds, sofa beds, etc.

Last week our UIL meet was snowed out because it was up in Canyon, near Amarillo. I was so happy because I got to sleep in on Saturday and actually have a weekend. Then we found out today that the meet is this Friday, which means I get a day off school and STILL don't have to go to UIL on Saturday! I was already taking off tomorrow because I have a dr. appointment right in the middle of the day...so that's two days off of school this week. Sweet. Can you tell I'm ready for summer?

So, things are good around here. Signed, Round Belly/Round Face

Miscellaneous stuff

The latest news...I resigned from my job today, meaning I will not renew my contract for next school year (I'm not just leaving right now). I am happy and kind of sad at the same time. I know I will not be sad when I have just had a baby and everyone else is getting ready to go back to school and I don't have to go (thanks Cecilee).

Cabin news...The cabin is now hooked up to the well, and we have to wait for it to get warm enough to turn the water on. Once the water is on, the electrician will hook up the electricity to the tankless heater...if the breaker was to be turned on with no water hooked up, it would burn out the water heater and we'd have to replace it. Sooo...that might be another process, getting the electrician out there after we are ready with the water turned on. Our builder sent us a bill for the railing on the loft, so the cabin is a little more inhabitable now, but probably won't be fit for children for a while yet.

Random observation...Has anyone out there noticed the names that some baby boomers (for lack of a better term) are giving themselves as their "grandparent" names? You know, stuff like "Hottie" and "Fox Daddy" (I'm making these up, but you get the idea). When I was growing up, all my friends' grandparents were grandma, grandpa, meemaw, peepaw, granddad, nana, etc. I've started hearing some pretty crazy names folks are choosing for their grandkids to call them (this doesn't apply to my parents or in-laws, btw). Has anyone else noticed this?

Odds & ends...mostly pregnancy related

It's spring break...which means we have officially finished yet another yearbook. I know, you faithful blog readers out there just LOVE this time of year when I'm all like "yearbook this and yearbook that." Well, you don't have to hear about it any more...until May, when they come out, and I'll talk about it again. Hopefully this year it will be nothing like this. I'm pretty sure it won't though, because I'm pretty sure I will refuse to be up at school lifting anything by myself, especially 40 boxes of yearbooks weighing in at 50 lbs. each, when I am 7 months pregnant. I am super excited about this year's book. It is definitely the best one out of the three that I have advised, and my staff this year has been a dream come true. And I'm not just saying that because some of them read my blog. Here is a picture of me at 21.5 weeks, taken yesterday. This is how I really look, compared with last week's picture that made me look larger than I actually am. I am almost to the point of growing out of most of my t-shirts...the ones that had plenty of room to spare pre-pregnancy. I was under the false impression that these would be my go-to shirts when nothing else fit. Well, they won't fit for much longer. I guess lots of pregnant people start wearing their husband's t-shirts when theirs get too small...too bad we share ours. Oh well.

At the end of last week I took on the project of researching the best baby stuff so I would know what to get that was the safest, most reliable, most durable crib/carseat/stroller/pack-n-play etc. First, I went to Babies-r-Us to see what they had and to try out the strollers and lift the carseats to see how heavy they were. Bad idea...I got totally overwhelmed and after collapsing two strollers and not being able to un-collapse them, I left quickly before anyone could see who the idiot was leaving collapsed strollers all over the place. I needed a better plan. So after spending literally hours on Consumer Reports and other review websites, I finally found (what I think are) the best things. I made a spreadsheet (don't judge me or my type-A tendencies) of what I think we need and where it will come from, and now my anxiety about the whole thing is gone. I know this is extremely interesting to you, otherwise I would not be writing about it on my blog.

I have an appointment at my new doctor today. A while back I told you that I was probably going to have to change doctors because our new insurance was dropping my current doctor. I won't actually meet the new doctor until April, but I feel at peace about it because I know of other people that have gone to him (yes, him...yikes) and they say he is great. Even Tammy Camp said he is good...and you guys know what that means.

We have gotten to a real discussion of names, since we now know that we're having a boy. It's amazing how many names I had on my original "boy names I like" list that I would never name an actual child of my own, much to Chad's delight. Chad and I have a few we can actually agree on, but are still throwing them around, and probably will for quite some time. I am constantly talking to the baby, referring to him as different names, to see which one sounds good. Then, I pretend that he is already born, and I talk to Chad about him: "You will never believe what ______ did today!" "Can you go get _____? He's crying." Chad's not actually around when I am having these fake conversations, but I think they help. Honestly, I am just relieved that we at least have a couple ideas of names that we can both agree on. Is my vagueness killing you, or am I the only one obsessed about names enough that I am literally DYING to know what other people are going to name their children? P.S. if I have discussed boy's names with you before, none of those are on our short list because Chad nixed them. Quickly.

Chad finished his internship at the hospital, which means he is a full-time, full-fledged nurse. He got assigned to the unit he wanted to be in, which is great, and will now be working 12 hour shifts 3-4 times a week.

It's a...

We had our ultrasound today and found out we are having a baby boy! We are so excited. I was surprised...I really thought it was going to be a girl for some reason. Maybe it is the fact that we are so accustomed to little baby girls...for those of you who don't know, we have 7 nieces and only one nephew. So, the first thing we did after our appointment (after eating of course) was head to the mall to buy clothes for our little boy. This is probably the only time ever that I will buy baby clothes full price, but I couldn't resist. I mean, look at this stuff we got! How could anyone resist a 6 month old in that pullover sweater with the coordinating shirt and tie? Impractical, I know...but totally adorable.
Here we are, both posing with a side profile of our son:Chad and I have decided that we are not going to make it a habit of posting pictures of our kid's "parts" on the internet for the entire world to see, and that includes pre-birth pics...so you'll just have to take our word for it.

It is the weirdest thing to go from referring to the baby as "it" to saying "him." One of the first things everyone asks us (including our sonographer) is if we have a boy name picked out. And as luck would have it, we don't. I knew I liked our sonographer when he suggested that we read the chapter in Freakonomics about names...to which I replied I already had, and I owned the book! He liked to talk...which my friend Amy warned me about. But he was a super nice guy and took some great pictures. He informed us that he doesn't guess about a baby's sex, and that the last time he was wrong was the early '90s.

Our prayers have been answered that everything looked good in the sonogram and that the baby appears to be in perfect health. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! We are so blessed! Thanks for being excited with us.

20 weeks...

Well, just as soon as I mentioned in the last post that I was going to start taking my weekly pictures when I was EXACTLY that many weeks, I didn't take a picture that next week, so here is one at 20 1/2 weeks. Tomorrow is the day we get a sonogram and find out what we are having. The suspense is killing us. For those of you who want to know, I will be posting to the blog soon after my appointment, which is at 2:00, so I'd check around 5:00 or so. I like big bags, and I cannot lie. I bought this diaper bag this weekend when I went to visit my dear friend Emily, who had a baby shower in the D-FW area. We managed to get a little shopping in and this was one of my finds. I love it. It's really bag and has lots of compartments inside.

And here is a picture of Emily and me at Em's shower on Saturday. We had so much fun hanging out the past few days! This will be Emily's second child, so I figured I better get over there to see her, since our visits will be getting even fewer and farther between.

Spring has sprung!

Well, kind of. It's been really warm here so I'm assuming it's been even warmer south of us. Today Chad had the day off so he got out in the yard and was able to start working on the garden again. You know it's spring/summer when our blog consists of lots of garden pictures. This year Chad is extending the garden (the area in the picture where you can see the "looser" dirt was grass until today) and raising the bed. I will keep you posted on the progress.

This is a picture from just a couple weeks ago on our street...

And here is Chad, working outside on just your typical February day in the 80s. And just for my sister-in-law Emma, here is another picture of my growing belly. Today marks 19 weeks, and one week from Monday we will know what "it" is. I also started feeling the baby move ever-so-slightly yesterday, which was great and really weird all at the same time. I will try to take pictures on the exact week mark from now on. Not that any of you care, but I just like for things to be "even" (OCD much?). I know the last picture I posted was taken just 4 days ago, but it seems like even today it is significantly rounder than on Sunday. Maybe it's just the dress.

Don't you just love the squintiness and the pastiness of this picture? It's almost like you can tell it's still winter.

So, I realize it's been like 5 weeks since I posted a picture of myself...so here's another one, at 18 1/2 weeks. Two weeks from tomorrow we find out if the baby is a boy or a girl, so we are really looking forward to that.

We had a good weekend...cleaned the house, had a little mini-birthday party for my friend Amanda who turned 26 today (I wish I had taken pictures of that, but forgot), finally finished the taxes and got them ready to mail off, etc. We lead quite the exciting life.

Not much else going on. 3 weeks until Spring Break!

Today is a good day

Happy Valentines Day! Chad has to work, so you get the pleasure of reading another blog entry by yours truly!

Today is a good day. I ate a delicious breakfast of blueberry waffles, strawberries, and mixed berry yogurt (shout-out to all the "Office" fans out there!). I'll spend the rest of my day doing taxes which hopefully won't take that long, grading a few papers, shopping for Chad's Valentine's gift, and making the house look presentable. I don't think it will be as bad as it sounds. "Doing taxes" just means filling out a few blanks and sending it to the accountant, who actually files the taxes. Totally worth the money.

It was a good week at school. I have another yearbook deadline coming up, which will be number four, and Thursday was the day that my kids had to have everything on their pages finished. So we're having a party on Monday to celebrate completing deadline 4 and Jan/Feb birthdays, and I threatened them that if they didn't have everything on their pages done, they would get no food. They would just have to sit in the lab and work while everyone else was having a grand old time at the party. So guess what? They all (well most of them) finished! Yay! Only one more deadline to go after this.

Yesterday I found out from our UIL coordinator that there is no more money to travel. So we might be missing the last two practice meets before district, and who knows what we are going to do about traveling to district. This is a positive thing from the "I don't want to travel for UIL anymore on the weekends" standpoint, but a negative thing in that the kids need practice to do well at the actual district and regional meets. I have kids that could go to state this year if they practice enough.

I got my Valentine's day present from Chad early. I got exactly what I wanted!

It is a supersoft robe from Gap Body. It is soooooo soft. It's really lightweight and comfortable and I will use it every day of the year. I have learned (and Chad has learned), over the years, that for the most part, I like to know ahead of time what my gifts are going to be. So Chad always asks now what I would like. This year, I knew exactly what I wanted. I already have the pants in this material, and I'm telling you, there is nothing more comfortable. After I got the robe I told Chad that pretty much anything from Gap Body made out of this material is the perfect gift.

So you're probably wondering what I am getting for Chad. Well, I am still on the hunt. I know what I am going to get him, which is a blender, which totally reminds me of "Father of the Bride" when the fiance gets the girl the blender and she freaks out. I know it's not the most romantic Valentine's gift in the world, but Chad makes smoothies. A lot. And he makes them out of frozen fruit, which is really hard to blend if you don't have a good blender. So half the time he's making smoothies, he's yelling at the blender for being sub-par. So that's what I am getting him. There is a certain blender that I'm looking for, but I have yet to find it in town (after going to two whole stores), so I might just have to order it from Amazon and stick the print-out in his card. Lame, I know. Anyway, I'm betting money on the fact that he won't be reading this blog at work today, so he will still be surprised.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Well hello there!

Not much going on, I'm just still up at school trying to kill some time (I have students working on projects for photojournalism...I'm not just here for fun at a quarter til six.). I could be grading a stack of papers I have, but why do that when I can just blog about the things that have been going on this week? Things are good here. School seems to be flying by, and every day my students comment about my belly, so I must be getting bigger. I will be 17 weeks on Thursday. We go for our 20 week appointment and find out the baby's sex on March 9. I had another doctor's appointment yesterday which ended in me discovering that I will probably have to change doctors due to changing insurance and the insurance I'm changing to simultaneously dropping my doctor's practice from coverage. We think it is because my doc and the other one in her office that deliver babies aren't sending enough business UMC's way. Anyway, we are praying that when the insurance board reconvenes next week about this, they will change their mind. I really like my doctor for a lot of reasons, and will be really sad if I have to change doctors. Oh well, people have to change doctors all the time, right? Doesn't make it fun, especially if it's a doctor you see multiple times within a year and that you are entrusting with delivering your child.

In other news, we sold our car, just two days after posting it for sale...didn't even have to put a for sale sign in the window! This was just another confirmation that one should always buy Hondas and Toyotas...even if they are 13 year old cars, they tend to hold their value and sell quickly. Or better yet, you get to keep your car for 13 years and it still runs great. It's a win-win situation.

The UIL meet went well. I am down to 2 more deadlines for the yearbook. The newspaper is coming out tomorrow, which means I don't have another newspaper deadline until after spring break...yay!

Hmmm...what else...trying to stall until I think of something else to write...(won't you be glad when I have a baby and post more pictures on this thing? Hang in there). I guess that's it for now.

The latest news

Chad has been working on a regular basis and got his first full-time paycheck this week! He is enjoying his job, too. Yay!

I am now 16 weeks along and have a Dr. appointment on Monday. Unfortunately this is not the one with a sonogram where we get to find out what the baby's sex is. Have to wait until March for that! You guys wanna start making guesses and voting on names?

I have a UIL tournament tomorrow at my school. This totally stressed me out last year, but this year I cannot afford to stress out about UIL.

We are selling our green Civic. It makes me kind of sad. I drove that car for two years in high school, all through college, and for our first 5 years of marriage. I am sure I'm not the only one who gets sentimental about getting rid of old cars, right? But the good news is we got a new car, a 2008 Camry from mom, that will fit all the baby stuff a lot better than our little Civics! I am hoping we sell it this weekend. We posted it yesterday and have already gotten 4 bites. We'll see.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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.