I just had to share two of the three paintings that my sister-in-law Emma has done for the baby's room. Aren't they adorable and isn't she talented?
Thursday, May 28, 2009
So long, farewell
Well, I made it. I am officially not a teacher anymore. It has been a great year and I have had a wonderful experience during my two years at Coronado. I will miss certain aspects of my job, like the students, but students come and go so they would leave eventually anyway if they weren't already graduating this year. I will really miss a few of my co-workers, especially my across-the-hall neighbor, Cecilee, who became a good friend and my daily lunch buddy. She was even the first person I told (after Chad) that I was pregnant. So it goes without saying that I will think back about my relatively short time here with mostly positive memories (except for this. Oh, and this. And a few other things that I chose not to blog about because of the very public nature of blogs). Now, it's time for the next thing.
Speaking of the next thing...I have been pondering my new profession a lot lately, thinking about how I will be using my time differently and what my new purpose will be. Obviously, my main job will be to make sure our child stays fed and dressed and loved, but what else is involved in my new job description? Well, one thing that I have started focusing a lot on lately is how we will be spending our money. We've had a few good months as DINKs (that's Double Income No Kids to you acronymally-challenged), but now we're about to be SIKs (I reeeeeally wanted to think of something that started with "C," so it could spell a word, but anyway, I've already wasted too much time on this AND I took out the "W" cause that wouldn't work). Enter the new Montandon family budget! We've budgeted before, but it's always been more of a self-imposed thing, since both of us have usually had some source of income. So, June starts our first month on our new, much more limiting, budget. I also subscribed to the Sunday paper so I can start clipping coupons. And for those of you who like to make suggestions and give advice, please feel free to leave comments about what else has helped you save money. Other things that will be higher on my priority list when I am a stay-at-home mom are being better about cooking at home and doing weekly menus and keeping the house clean (Chad keeps saying that he is waiting for my "nesting instinct" to kick in because our house is a mess). I also plan to spend much less time on the computer and more time studying my Bible. I have been thinking a lot lately about how much time I spend on the computer and what a waste it is, and I know it will only become worse if I don't make a conscious effort to minimize my computer time. So, there you have it.
Still reading, not wordy enough for you yet? Well, in baby news, I am 32 weeks today and I start my "every two weeks" dr. appointments tomorrow. My church friends are throwing a baby shower for me next Saturday, so that will be fun to ooh and ahh at all the cute little baby things. It seems like the closer we get to a due date the further we get from a name we both love. So, that's all the news on that.
I guess that's it! Time to go home and take a nap.
Speaking of the next thing...I have been pondering my new profession a lot lately, thinking about how I will be using my time differently and what my new purpose will be. Obviously, my main job will be to make sure our child stays fed and dressed and loved, but what else is involved in my new job description? Well, one thing that I have started focusing a lot on lately is how we will be spending our money. We've had a few good months as DINKs (that's Double Income No Kids to you acronymally-challenged), but now we're about to be SIKs (I reeeeeally wanted to think of something that started with "C," so it could spell a word, but anyway, I've already wasted too much time on this AND I took out the "W" cause that wouldn't work). Enter the new Montandon family budget! We've budgeted before, but it's always been more of a self-imposed thing, since both of us have usually had some source of income. So, June starts our first month on our new, much more limiting, budget. I also subscribed to the Sunday paper so I can start clipping coupons. And for those of you who like to make suggestions and give advice, please feel free to leave comments about what else has helped you save money. Other things that will be higher on my priority list when I am a stay-at-home mom are being better about cooking at home and doing weekly menus and keeping the house clean (Chad keeps saying that he is waiting for my "nesting instinct" to kick in because our house is a mess). I also plan to spend much less time on the computer and more time studying my Bible. I have been thinking a lot lately about how much time I spend on the computer and what a waste it is, and I know it will only become worse if I don't make a conscious effort to minimize my computer time. So, there you have it.
Still reading, not wordy enough for you yet? Well, in baby news, I am 32 weeks today and I start my "every two weeks" dr. appointments tomorrow. My church friends are throwing a baby shower for me next Saturday, so that will be fun to ooh and ahh at all the cute little baby things. It seems like the closer we get to a due date the further we get from a name we both love. So, that's all the news on that.
I guess that's it! Time to go home and take a nap.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Two months and counting...but who's counting?
Well, my loyal blog readers, yesterday marked exactly TWO months until my "official" due date. To you, that means yet another tiny little infant to look at pictures of and hold every once in a while. To me, it means that in two months or less or a little more, mine and Chad's lives will be completely and forever changed. I don't know what it is about the two month mark that has made it so real for me and has kicked me into high gear about needing to be ready...maybe it is the fact that I personally know several people who have had their babies 1-2 months early, so it's the realization that he could literally come at any time and I really DON'T have two months left.
Aside from the fact that we won't be able to teach at Blue Haven this summer which still makes me sad to think about, I feel like this pregnancy has been perfect timing with my job. At 7 months pregnant, I'm just getting to the point where things are getting pretty difficult to do. By the end of the day at work, I'm tired from lugging around the extra 30-or-so pounds, and it seems like every day I have to figure out what outfit still fits that is appropriate to wear to work and what will go with the two pairs of comfortable shoes that I have left. Unfortunately, my knit yoga capri pants and tank tops do not fit into this category...and this is my go-to outfit every day when I come home. I am really happy that for the "homestretch" I don't have to lug myself around school every day and I'll really only have to try to look somewhat presentable a few more times in the pregnancy...all other times I'll be at home concentrating on staying cool. I think I will probably take Emma's lead and buy myself a little pool to lay around in in the backyard.
Three more days of school! :)
Aside from the fact that we won't be able to teach at Blue Haven this summer which still makes me sad to think about, I feel like this pregnancy has been perfect timing with my job. At 7 months pregnant, I'm just getting to the point where things are getting pretty difficult to do. By the end of the day at work, I'm tired from lugging around the extra 30-or-so pounds, and it seems like every day I have to figure out what outfit still fits that is appropriate to wear to work and what will go with the two pairs of comfortable shoes that I have left. Unfortunately, my knit yoga capri pants and tank tops do not fit into this category...and this is my go-to outfit every day when I come home. I am really happy that for the "homestretch" I don't have to lug myself around school every day and I'll really only have to try to look somewhat presentable a few more times in the pregnancy...all other times I'll be at home concentrating on staying cool. I think I will probably take Emma's lead and buy myself a little pool to lay around in in the backyard.
Three more days of school! :)
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Baby's room
One of the questions I get asked a lot nowadays is what the "theme" of our baby's room is going to be. I don't feel like we really have a theme; in fact, we are not even painting his room a different color. It is a khaki color that we painted two years ago when we moved to our house, and with the recent painting Chad has done in the rest of the house, no one really felt like painting that room again. I'm totally fine with that though; I like the color or else I wouldn't have chosen it in the first place. We also already had a deep red area rug and red curtains in the room, so I wanted to use the color red so we wouldn't have to redo everything. When I first started looking at bedding, before we knew whether we were having a boy or girl, I didn't really get too excited about anything I saw. I'm not a fan of all the pastel baby stuff that's out there, and I wanted some of the bedding to "grow" with our child so we wouldn't have to buy new stuff when the baby wasn't a baby anymore. So, I found the perfect bedding:
I ended up getting the quilt, the sheet, and the bedskirt, all a gift from my mom. I am using a bumper that my sister gave me that is just a blue denim color. Although I love the bumper that comes with the bedding, I felt like it was a lot to spend on a bumper, and it turns out they're not selling the bumper anymore so it's just as well I didn't want it. The thing I love about this bedding is all the different colors that are in it...not too "primary" and not too pastel. Also, we think we'll probably keep this room as the nursery, which means whenever we have another child, this little boy will move to the green room (those of you who have been to our house know what I'm talking about), and I think the quilt will still work in there. I will be stealing Pottery Barn's idea of hanging the quilt on the wall, probably opposite the crib. Above the crib, my sister-in-law Emma, who just happens to be a very talented artist, is doing some paintings from images on the bedding. She will paint one square as the frog, one as the helicopter, and then the middle painting will be rectangular and will have our child's name (using the letter styles from the quilt, once we pick a name!) in the middle with more of the little objects around the border. I can't wait...I think it is going to turn out so cute. I had the bedding shipped directly to Emma and she says that it's even cuter in person than in the pictures, so that got me even more excited.
Coming soon...Chad has been working hard on a below-ground irrigation system for our garden, which he plans on doing as a raised bed this year. I'll get some pictures soon to show the progress.
I ended up getting the quilt, the sheet, and the bedskirt, all a gift from my mom. I am using a bumper that my sister gave me that is just a blue denim color. Although I love the bumper that comes with the bedding, I felt like it was a lot to spend on a bumper, and it turns out they're not selling the bumper anymore so it's just as well I didn't want it. The thing I love about this bedding is all the different colors that are in it...not too "primary" and not too pastel. Also, we think we'll probably keep this room as the nursery, which means whenever we have another child, this little boy will move to the green room (those of you who have been to our house know what I'm talking about), and I think the quilt will still work in there. I will be stealing Pottery Barn's idea of hanging the quilt on the wall, probably opposite the crib. Above the crib, my sister-in-law Emma, who just happens to be a very talented artist, is doing some paintings from images on the bedding. She will paint one square as the frog, one as the helicopter, and then the middle painting will be rectangular and will have our child's name (using the letter styles from the quilt, once we pick a name!) in the middle with more of the little objects around the border. I can't wait...I think it is going to turn out so cute. I had the bedding shipped directly to Emma and she says that it's even cuter in person than in the pictures, so that got me even more excited.
Coming soon...Chad has been working hard on a below-ground irrigation system for our garden, which he plans on doing as a raised bed this year. I'll get some pictures soon to show the progress.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
31 weeks and ultrasound pictures
Today marks the end of my 31st week, so it's time for more pictures. Also, we went for another ultrasound today (probably the last) and they said everything looked good, and it's still a boy. The baby weighs approximately 3 lbs. right now, which according to them is in the 26th percentire. He was being a little uncooperative about showing us his face, but we got a couple of okay pictures. He is breech right now but just a couple weeks ago at the dr. he was in the head-down position, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens when the time comes. He has a few more weeks to swim around in there.
We did the 3-d ultrasound just because I asked the lady if we could, and it was pretty cool. The first one is of his TOTALLY ADORABLE little foot. Seriously, baby's feet might be the cutest thing ever. And I might be mistaken, but he MAY have his mom's long 2nd toe. Ahh, the legacy lives on. The second and third are of his totally adorable face with his forearm and hand covering up his mouth and chin. Anyone want to start speculating as to who he looks like? And finally, me at 31 weeks.
It's a huge blessing to know that everything is as it should be as far as our child's health and my health are concerned, and I know it has everything to do with God's grace and him taking care of us, and the many prayers being offered up for us. I am so thankful and humbled to think about the many blessings in our lives.
That's it for now.
We did the 3-d ultrasound just because I asked the lady if we could, and it was pretty cool. The first one is of his TOTALLY ADORABLE little foot. Seriously, baby's feet might be the cutest thing ever. And I might be mistaken, but he MAY have his mom's long 2nd toe. Ahh, the legacy lives on. The second and third are of his totally adorable face with his forearm and hand covering up his mouth and chin. Anyone want to start speculating as to who he looks like? And finally, me at 31 weeks.It's a huge blessing to know that everything is as it should be as far as our child's health and my health are concerned, and I know it has everything to do with God's grace and him taking care of us, and the many prayers being offered up for us. I am so thankful and humbled to think about the many blessings in our lives.
That's it for now.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A breakthrough
Well, the official countdown is 11 more school days until the year is over. So, I have once again begun to start packing up my stuff in my classroom. The last time I did this it was different. I was moving to another teaching position, so naturally, I needed to take all of my teaching stuff (turn-in trays, posters with "inspirational" sayings, etc.) with me so I would have them at my new job. But now, I am not going to another teaching job. In fact, I'm not going to any job at all except to my house. So everything has become this big dilemma of whether I should keep it or not. I realize I don't need my turn-in trays or inspirational posters, but what about if/when I go back to teaching? Where will I be? What will I be teaching? Where am I going to put all this stuff until then? Do I really want to start all over again collecting materials if I decide to leave everything here for the next person?
So in the past, when I packed up my belongings, I've just thrown everything into a box to be dealt with later, because I'm sure I'll need it eventually. This time, I'm not so sure. Everything is a big WHAT IF????? I think, WHAT IF, 8 or so years from now, I think back to this handout I threw away instead of keeping?
I had no idea when I came to work today and decided to start cleaning out my stuff that my day would be full of so many decisions. So far, I've packed three tubes of hand lotion, three books, and some yarn. I did finally throw away two lesson plan units I wrote my senior year in college. Forgot I had those.
Sometimes typing out my thoughts on a blog can be so therapeutic. I have realized through all this fretting, that there is no way I will ever be able to find a handout that I once used. I mean, I just threw away notes from a media writing class that I took in college that have been sitting on my classroom bookshelf for two years that I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I HAD. So I guess the moral of the story is if I've forgotten by now that I have it, I'm not going to ever use it, so I should get rid of it.
Thanks for talking me through it, blog readers.
So in the past, when I packed up my belongings, I've just thrown everything into a box to be dealt with later, because I'm sure I'll need it eventually. This time, I'm not so sure. Everything is a big WHAT IF????? I think, WHAT IF, 8 or so years from now, I think back to this handout I threw away instead of keeping?
I had no idea when I came to work today and decided to start cleaning out my stuff that my day would be full of so many decisions. So far, I've packed three tubes of hand lotion, three books, and some yarn. I did finally throw away two lesson plan units I wrote my senior year in college. Forgot I had those.
Sometimes typing out my thoughts on a blog can be so therapeutic. I have realized through all this fretting, that there is no way I will ever be able to find a handout that I once used. I mean, I just threw away notes from a media writing class that I took in college that have been sitting on my classroom bookshelf for two years that I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I HAD. So I guess the moral of the story is if I've forgotten by now that I have it, I'm not going to ever use it, so I should get rid of it.
Thanks for talking me through it, blog readers.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Random updates
What!? Another week is over?
This week has flown by. Maybe it's because I didn't go to work until Tuesday, and the yearbooks came in Wednesday, and we distributed them today, so I have been busy at school. We've gotten some really good feedback so far, and I haven't had any bad parent phone calls yet, so I would say it's been a successful yearbook distribution so far.
Chad officially started his graduate classes, including a business statistics class. I don't think he's going to have so much fun with that one.
I went to the doctor yesterday. He said that right now the baby weighs about 2.5 pounds and everything looks good. The baby's mother is gaining plenty of weight too. We went ahead and made all my appointments until the due date...only 7 more to go! And that is if I make it the full 40 weeks. We are getting really excited about how quickly the time is passing and how soon our little boy will be here. Also, the soft, comfy chenille glider armchair we ordered a couple months ago is finally in, so we get a new piece of furniture tomorrow. Woohoo!
I hope everyone has a good weekend. I for one will be sleeping late tomorrow and turning the air conditioner way down.
This week has flown by. Maybe it's because I didn't go to work until Tuesday, and the yearbooks came in Wednesday, and we distributed them today, so I have been busy at school. We've gotten some really good feedback so far, and I haven't had any bad parent phone calls yet, so I would say it's been a successful yearbook distribution so far.
Chad officially started his graduate classes, including a business statistics class. I don't think he's going to have so much fun with that one.
I went to the doctor yesterday. He said that right now the baby weighs about 2.5 pounds and everything looks good. The baby's mother is gaining plenty of weight too. We went ahead and made all my appointments until the due date...only 7 more to go! And that is if I make it the full 40 weeks. We are getting really excited about how quickly the time is passing and how soon our little boy will be here. Also, the soft, comfy chenille glider armchair we ordered a couple months ago is finally in, so we get a new piece of furniture tomorrow. Woohoo!
I hope everyone has a good weekend. I for one will be sleeping late tomorrow and turning the air conditioner way down.
Monday, May 04, 2009
New York trip
Well, we are already back from our trip. We only got back a few hours ago but I figured I better post these pictures tonight or it wouldn't get done for a while. I would have taken more pictures but it rained a lot of the time and I didn't want to pull my camera out. I have tried to put them in order...
Friday evening we checked in our hotel in Manhattan. The original plan was to take the Staten Island Ferry Friday night, but the weather was rainy, so we decided to just walk around the city instead. We stumbled across a lot of things that were on our original "to see" list. Grand Central Station was just a few blocks from our hotel, and they had a bunch of places to eat in there, so we got some Chinese food...
And then watched all the people as they commuted home for the weekend. 
We passed the New York Public Library, which was beautiful. 
I lost count of how many GAPs and Starbucks we passed, but I have never seen a GAP so big. 
Times Square.
Radio City Music Hall. 
NBC. 
We came back to the hotel fairly early and crashed, since Chad had still not slept since the day before (we left for our trip less than 2 hours after Chad got off night shift at work. He had a blast traveling all day).
Saturday:
We got a bit of a late start on Saturday...slept in and had a nice, leisurely breakfast which I can't forget to mention. It was my favorite restaurant that we went to while in New York, and looking back I probably would have gone there for every meal had I known then what I know now (which is, that it was the best one). It's called the Comfort Diner and it was just a couple blocks from our hotel. I had the lemon blueberry ricotta pancakes and they were soooooooo good. I can't remember what Chad had. I was too busy enjoying my pancakes. All I remember was that I offered him a bite and he took it. Why did I DO that?! Just kidding...but it was really good.
Saturday morning it was really nice outside, so we did the Staten Island Ferry. Basically it's a free ferry that just goes back and forth from Manhattan to Staten Island and back, and you can see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, etc. Here's a photo I took of another ferry with the Statue of Liberty behind it.
The rest of Saturday we came back to the hotel, changed clothes for the evening, and went to Joe Allen's which is a restaurant by the theater district. After Joe Allen's we went and saw "The Lion King" which was great, and the perfect length for a Broadway show. We were really close in the orchestra section and it was fun to be in the part of the audience that the characters came by in the aisles as they were performing. Saturday after the show we went to Serendipity, which is a famous little place that was actually in the movie of the same name. They are famous for their desserts and frozen hot chocolate, so I had to get one of those. It was good. We walked back to our hotel and called it a night (it was probably 1 or 2 am by this point).
Sunday:
Sunday was rainy again alllll day long. It was fine, because first on our itinerary was to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What an amazing place. We saw relics from every time period, and famous paintings from the likes of Picasso, Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, Pollock, etc. They also some traveling exhibits that were really interesting as well. The suits of armor were cool too.
After the Met, we took a bus further down 5th Avenue to FAO Schwartz. I am pretty sure we went to one of these once in Vegas, but I wanted to go to the one on 5th. I looked for a really cool toy to buy for our kiddo, but nothing really caught my eye. We had fun getting out of the rain for a bit and just exploring though. This was also the point when I decided I like taking the bus much better than taking the subway...mostly because it's more fun to see out, the bus is more clean, and I don't have to climb a bunch of stairs. :)
After FAO we went to Maxie's, a deli on Times Square. Chad had seen something where they claimed to have the best cheesecake in New York or the world or something. Our meal started off with this...
So I tried the cole slaw and it was pretty good, and then I took a bite of the pickle. It was the worst pickle I have ever had. It didn't taste like a regular pickle. It tasted...off. It was so bad I had to spit it out into a napkin. Classy, I know. So now I don't know if all pickles in New York delis taste different or if it was just that one. The cheesecake was good though. 
Whew! It is still Sunday and we are nowhere near finished! After lunch, we decided to go to the Empire State Building. I had already bought tickets (they advise you to pre-purchase your tickets so you don't have to wait as long), so we were going even if the weather was rainy. So here is a picture of Chad waiting for one of the many subways we took while we were in NY. We took the subway a lot b/c it was right by our hotel and so convenient. 
So here we are on our way up to the observatory at the ESB. This was after they had told us there was zero visibility at the top. This is what I get when I tell Chad to look enthusiastic for the camera. We are in the elevator and we took these so I could say that at least we saw the Empire State Building. I should add that we rode up and down in an elevator all by ourselves...there was literally NO ONE there. We walked through lines and lines of velvet rope, and it was at that point that I was extremely glad we didn't have to wait for two hours with a bunch of other people only to get to the top and be crowded out. 
No Chad, like THIS...
It really wasn't that rainy when we got to the top, just a little chilly (maybe mid-50s). Enough to scare everyone else away. There were maybe 10 other people at the top. 
View to the top from the observatory deck. 
Zero visibility? I think not. 
He was keeping us company and eyeing me while we were up there. 
After the ESB, we were worn out. Probably a combination of sleep deprivation, walking around NYC all day, and the weather. So we went back to the hotel and rested for a couple hours before we ventured into Brooklyn for the evening. My friend from A&M, Brent, lives in Brooklyn and does freelance graphic/web design for a living, so we met up with him for dinner and to hang out for a little bit. We had read about this place or maybe seen it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives: 
Tiny little place, line out the door, cash-only pizza that they make right in front of you. Yum. Then we walked a few feet over to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory right by the river, also yum. I had read in a guidebook that on a pretty, warm day, this place has lines out the door too. Once again we hit it at just the right time and even got one of the three tables inside.
This was right outside the ice cream place and in front of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline. If you ever visit New York I highly recommend going to Brooklyn at night so you can take the bridge and skyline in. Chad and I agreed that it was definitely a highlight of our trip. Also, this is the only picture we got together the entire trip, so thanks Brent for taking it for us. 
Another view of the bridge (I probably took 30).
Sorry for the blurriness of the next one, but that's what you get when you combine walking photographer+low light and no flash. After dinner, we walked back into Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge. Once again, it was the perfect night to do it...it had stopped raining and was just nice and cool outside, and we didn't have to fight crowds. 
Friday evening we checked in our hotel in Manhattan. The original plan was to take the Staten Island Ferry Friday night, but the weather was rainy, so we decided to just walk around the city instead. We stumbled across a lot of things that were on our original "to see" list. Grand Central Station was just a few blocks from our hotel, and they had a bunch of places to eat in there, so we got some Chinese food...
And then watched all the people as they commuted home for the weekend. We passed the New York Public Library, which was beautiful. I lost count of how many GAPs and Starbucks we passed, but I have never seen a GAP so big. Times Square.Radio City Music Hall. NBC. We came back to the hotel fairly early and crashed, since Chad had still not slept since the day before (we left for our trip less than 2 hours after Chad got off night shift at work. He had a blast traveling all day).Saturday:
We got a bit of a late start on Saturday...slept in and had a nice, leisurely breakfast which I can't forget to mention. It was my favorite restaurant that we went to while in New York, and looking back I probably would have gone there for every meal had I known then what I know now (which is, that it was the best one). It's called the Comfort Diner and it was just a couple blocks from our hotel. I had the lemon blueberry ricotta pancakes and they were soooooooo good. I can't remember what Chad had. I was too busy enjoying my pancakes. All I remember was that I offered him a bite and he took it. Why did I DO that?! Just kidding...but it was really good.
Saturday morning it was really nice outside, so we did the Staten Island Ferry. Basically it's a free ferry that just goes back and forth from Manhattan to Staten Island and back, and you can see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, etc. Here's a photo I took of another ferry with the Statue of Liberty behind it.
The rest of Saturday we came back to the hotel, changed clothes for the evening, and went to Joe Allen's which is a restaurant by the theater district. After Joe Allen's we went and saw "The Lion King" which was great, and the perfect length for a Broadway show. We were really close in the orchestra section and it was fun to be in the part of the audience that the characters came by in the aisles as they were performing. Saturday after the show we went to Serendipity, which is a famous little place that was actually in the movie of the same name. They are famous for their desserts and frozen hot chocolate, so I had to get one of those. It was good. We walked back to our hotel and called it a night (it was probably 1 or 2 am by this point).Sunday:
Sunday was rainy again alllll day long. It was fine, because first on our itinerary was to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What an amazing place. We saw relics from every time period, and famous paintings from the likes of Picasso, Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, Pollock, etc. They also some traveling exhibits that were really interesting as well. The suits of armor were cool too.
After the Met, we took a bus further down 5th Avenue to FAO Schwartz. I am pretty sure we went to one of these once in Vegas, but I wanted to go to the one on 5th. I looked for a really cool toy to buy for our kiddo, but nothing really caught my eye. We had fun getting out of the rain for a bit and just exploring though. This was also the point when I decided I like taking the bus much better than taking the subway...mostly because it's more fun to see out, the bus is more clean, and I don't have to climb a bunch of stairs. :)After FAO we went to Maxie's, a deli on Times Square. Chad had seen something where they claimed to have the best cheesecake in New York or the world or something. Our meal started off with this...So I tried the cole slaw and it was pretty good, and then I took a bite of the pickle. It was the worst pickle I have ever had. It didn't taste like a regular pickle. It tasted...off. It was so bad I had to spit it out into a napkin. Classy, I know. So now I don't know if all pickles in New York delis taste different or if it was just that one. The cheesecake was good though. Whew! It is still Sunday and we are nowhere near finished! After lunch, we decided to go to the Empire State Building. I had already bought tickets (they advise you to pre-purchase your tickets so you don't have to wait as long), so we were going even if the weather was rainy. So here is a picture of Chad waiting for one of the many subways we took while we were in NY. We took the subway a lot b/c it was right by our hotel and so convenient. So here we are on our way up to the observatory at the ESB. This was after they had told us there was zero visibility at the top. This is what I get when I tell Chad to look enthusiastic for the camera. We are in the elevator and we took these so I could say that at least we saw the Empire State Building. I should add that we rode up and down in an elevator all by ourselves...there was literally NO ONE there. We walked through lines and lines of velvet rope, and it was at that point that I was extremely glad we didn't have to wait for two hours with a bunch of other people only to get to the top and be crowded out. No Chad, like THIS...It really wasn't that rainy when we got to the top, just a little chilly (maybe mid-50s). Enough to scare everyone else away. There were maybe 10 other people at the top. View to the top from the observatory deck. Zero visibility? I think not. He was keeping us company and eyeing me while we were up there. After the ESB, we were worn out. Probably a combination of sleep deprivation, walking around NYC all day, and the weather. So we went back to the hotel and rested for a couple hours before we ventured into Brooklyn for the evening. My friend from A&M, Brent, lives in Brooklyn and does freelance graphic/web design for a living, so we met up with him for dinner and to hang out for a little bit. We had read about this place or maybe seen it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives: Tiny little place, line out the door, cash-only pizza that they make right in front of you. Yum. Then we walked a few feet over to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory right by the river, also yum. I had read in a guidebook that on a pretty, warm day, this place has lines out the door too. Once again we hit it at just the right time and even got one of the three tables inside.This was right outside the ice cream place and in front of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline. If you ever visit New York I highly recommend going to Brooklyn at night so you can take the bridge and skyline in. Chad and I agreed that it was definitely a highlight of our trip. Also, this is the only picture we got together the entire trip, so thanks Brent for taking it for us. Another view of the bridge (I probably took 30).Sorry for the blurriness of the next one, but that's what you get when you combine walking photographer+low light and no flash. After dinner, we walked back into Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge. Once again, it was the perfect night to do it...it had stopped raining and was just nice and cool outside, and we didn't have to fight crowds. I also took a picture of a little I heart NY onesie and a statue of Liberty Christmas ornament which were the only two souvenirs I got, but I accidentally deleted it and I've been working on this blog post for a while now so I'm not going to try and re-post it. After our little mini-vacation, I can say that I am truly glad we did this. It was just the right amount of time (not too short that I feel like we missed out on anything), the perfect destination (lots to do--all close together), and the perfect time of year that we really enjoyed ourselves. I was glad we went when we did, because if I had been any bigger it would have been really hard for me to get around. I am not kidding when I say that my feet killed me by the end of the day and it was really tough to get up the flights of stairs when we were coming off the subway...so I am glad we went when we did and didn't wait any longer. It was a great way to spend a little time together traveling before we become a family of three.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I highly recommend going to New York if you've never been before.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
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!
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!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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. 
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.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
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.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, April 13, 2009
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:
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. 
I hope everyone has a good week.
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.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, March 30, 2009
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. 
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
Monday, March 23, 2009
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?
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?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, March 09, 2009
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.
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