TMI

You've been warned.....

So I'm sitting here with no pants on as I write this post. Why? Because it feels like NONE of my pants fit anymore!!! It's so frustrating! I've only gained 20 pounds my entire pregnancy but my stomach is sticking out to kingdom come and all of the elastic feels super tight. It actually makes Max uncomfortable too when I sit. He squirms more. It's awful. I'm actually thinking of looking for those underwear I bought like months ago that I swore would NEVER fit me, just to see if they do!
-------------------------------------------------------------
So I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions about 4 an hour the last several days. They've started to slow down today, but they're super uncomfortable. My doctor said that I'm not dilated at all yet, which is good, but that if I get 6 or more in an hour I need to go to the ER. Then he says, "So are you still working full time?" Ummm, yes! I'm going to work until he tells me I can't work anymore. I don't want to waste any sick pay. I'd rather get paid for staying at home with Max. And I think he's tired of being in there. He won't stop moving! All the time. Stretching, pushing, kicking, punching, bumping. I'm going crazy! At some point I thought he was supposed to get too big to move this much. When is that going to happen?!?!?!
-------------------------------------------------------------
My transmission also exploded yesterday. I was driving down the highway at 70 miles per hour, okay probably more like 75 miles per hour, and all of the sudden the engine started making this horrible sound and the car started to slow down. When I tried to hit the gas, I got nothing. So I put on my emergency flashers, cut over three lanes of traffic, and drove up the berm at 20 miles per hour. Fortunately I was at my work exit and I was able to drive at 20 miles per hour down the street to the mechanic I trust. They looked at the car and told me the transmission casing is cracked. So they can't rebuild it, they have to replace it. Several thousand dollars later, I'll have my car back on Thursday. *sigh* Just when we were getting our savings account back where we wanted it from the June flood.
------------------------------------------------------------
I've been taking a lot of abuse from parents via email at work lately. I'm not sure if they don't realize how rude they sound, or if they don't care. Here's an example: (This is just a portion of a letter from an irate grandmother. Her son (the student's father) had been sent a letter at the beginning of the year explaining a long term assignment that was given. The dad signed that he understood the assignment and that it was a long term grade that would more strongly affect his son's quarterly grade. That obviously wasn't enough for grandma.)

"As you can see, I am very unhappy about the situation...even though his Father signed the paperwork, he was not aware that Student X was not fulfilling his assignment. Now that we are aware of it, we will make sure there is not a repeat of the situation. Perhaps some thought should be given to some kind of an alert to parents before the 11th hour has been reached...even though by the 7th grade students need to take more responsibility."

No, perhaps some thought should have been given to the fact that PARENTS are responsible for asking their child if their homework is done. Now, didn't I just mention that dad was made aware of the assignment 9 weeks ago? That he acknowledge that he understood it was a LONG TERM assignment. Doesn't that make it HIS responsibility to be aware or whether his son is working on this assignment? I didn't realize that it was my job to send home a second notice to every parent that they should be periodically asking their child if they do their homework and school projects. I obviously wasn't thinking when I assumed that PARENTS were responsible for keeping track of these things AT HOME. Silly me.

I have about a million things that I could blog about.

My baby shower was fun, delicious food, good company, and wonderful/generous presents. There are very few things left on our registry that we "need" vs. "want". It was disappointing that people had to cancel. Some didn't even call to tell me. I can understand having to miss the shower, but to not even call....they definitely missed out a good time. The Lisa Quiz was by far my favorite part of the shower. Karen and Sarah F tied for first place in answering 8/10 questions correctly. I deftly tricked them on who my first boyfriend was, and they both guessed that I was a fatter baby. :) Here's a copy of the quiz in case you feel brave enough to take it....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Lisa Quiz

How much did Lisa weigh when she was born?
6 pounds, 13 ounces
7 pounds, 13 ounces
8 pounds, 13 ounces
9 pounds 13 ounces

What was the name of Lisa’s first boyfriend?
Adam
Nick
Phish
Kendall

What instrument did Lisa play in UD’s marching band?

List the names of Lisa’s dogs:

Which of the following does Lisa want to do in this political election?
Barack the Vote
Be a Maverick

Where did Lisa teach before working in Vandalia?
Troy
Tipp City
Piqua
Sidney

True or False: Lisa got pregnant on her FIRST TRY.

Which of the following is Lisa’s favorite movie?
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Pride and Prejudice
Sponge Bob Squarepants: The Movie
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

True or False: Lisa and Kendall have been together since she was a teenager.

What nickname do Lisa and Kendall call their unborn child?
Baby Bling
Million Dollar Baby
The Money Pit
The Nugget
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had an interesting day at work today. It was the end of the quarter and the kids had a half day and we had the afternoon to work on grades. I had an irate grandmother harassing me via email. The funny part is that I think SHE thinks that she's a big shot real estate agent in town and that she can intimidate me with her name. She's obviously not heard of me. And she's in for a rude awakening when her grandson hits the 8th grade. If she thinks I'm a hard 7th grade teacher....hopefully they request that her grandson be placed in my Nemesis's class. She was basically trying to bully me into changing his grade, even though it was his fault his grade had dropped to a D. What she failed to recognize is that like Wyatt Earp, I am "an oak". I got the assistant principal involved and spanked her ass via email. :P

Next week the 8th graders go to Washington D.C. This is the first year I am not going. I'm happy. I'll get to stay back for the week and follow sub plans for another teacher that is going in my place. My goal is to get my long term sub plan binder together. I only have 7 weeks til Max is due to be born. I should probably get all of my ducks in a row, just in case.

Time to go listen to some 98 Degrees and play some Mahjongg!

Drumroll Please....

It's a boy. :) In honor of our next president, we're naming him Jo'Bama.

Thanks to Karen and Sarah for helping me perfect his first name. ;) I'll write more about my baby shower later.

The Office

I love this show....

Dr's Appointment

Went to the doctor today. Only gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks. I was pretty happy with that.

While I was sitting in the waiting area, I looked down and my feet and what did I see? Swollen ankles! I haven't had swollen ankles a single time throughout this whole stinking pregnancy! And now they look huge! In a matter of one day. WTF? Okay, so they're not huge. They're just a little swollen. But I still have vowed not to wear a single thing that shows them off again until after Nugget is born and they have gone back to their dainty size.

I'm still measuring big/ahead. I'm only 31 weeks and my belly measures 34 weeks. I'm wondering if that means Nugget will come 3 weeks earlier. I'm so conflicted about it. On one hand I'd LOVE if it happened early. I'm so ready to sleep on my back again and it would mean that by Christmas my body would have hopefully recovered enough to enjoy the holiday. Plus we'd have almost 4 weeks experience with a baby before having everyone over to our house. On the other hand that means that my maternity leave from school would be cut shorter on the other side of break. I want it to last as long as possible before I have to go back to work. I don't want to have to pay for extra day care AND I don't want to have to work that much longer til summer vacation.

What's a girl to do?

Oh, and I'll try to think of something else to write about besides baby stuff. I've noticed that my posts have been leaning in that direction and I know it can get boring to read that crap. So I promise to try and be creative in the next few days. Now if only Nugget would stop kicking me in the gut......

Baby Shower #1

So we went to our first baby shower this last weekend in Cleveland. My family was super excited and showed us that through the overwhelming number of gifts they "showered" upon us.

There was a crazy amount of food including french toast, quiche, fruit, sausage, blueberry coffee cake, and multiple desserts. I stuffed myself and then spent almost an hour and a half opening presents. It was fun because unlike other showers I've been to, everyone watched as I opened my gifts and ooohed and aaaahed. I think sometimes that my friends have been to so many showers that they don't really care anymore. But since this is the first baby in my family for quite some time, everyone was happy to enjoy the "cute" factor.

My next shower is this weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing friends I haven't seen in a while. I have to admit that all of the food and the friends and yes, even the presents, is a lot of fun. Who doesn't like it when they get to be the center of attention for a little while? :)

I'm now only 9 weeks from my due date. I'm in single digits! It's kind of exciting. I'm definitely ready for baby to arrive. We're washing all of the blankets and clothes that we have and I'm finally starting to fill the drawers with important things. We even have diapers and wipes now from my first baby shower. It's really starting to feel like it's "time". I'm pretty emotional about the whole thing. Sometimes I want to cry. Sometimes I want to laugh. Sometimes I feel like throwing up.

I'm really tired of working though. It's been hot, and that kind of limits my wardrobe because many of my warmer weather items don't fit anymore. The end of this week is supposed to be cool again. Highes only in the low 60s and high 50s. I can't wait! :)

I'm not sure which of us was more rude...

So the dogs started going crazy this afternoon while I was reading the news on CNN.com. When I peeked out the window there was a timid looking Asian woman trying to decide if she should ring my doorbell. I decided to be nice and actually go see what she wanted instead of hiding and ignoring the dogs.

When I opened the door the dogs slipped out and I quickly yelled that they were friendly. For most people that is enough and they stand still and the dogs come right back in. This lady freaked out and kept backing up in the yard. The dogs thought she was playing. She started yelling "I'm afraid of dogs!" and was actually glaring at me. Dude, if you're afraid of dogs and you hear mine barking like they are rabid, why would you continue to approach my front door?

So I finally get the dogs back inside and she tells me in a very heavy accent that she is starting a new Edward Jones office in the area and was going around trying to meet people who might need assistance. Now we already have someone through Kendall's work. I have no idea who they are, but that's Kendall's arena so I don't get very involved. I tried to tell the lady that we already had a guy. She wanted to know who it was. I told her I had no idea because my husband took care of that part of our finances. I just pay the bills. She still wanted to push paperwork on me. So I politely took it and told her I would show it to my husband. She asked for my name at this point and I gave her my first name only. Shouldn't that have clued her in that I wasn't that interested?

Then she acutally bends down, looks at my belly and says, "So, are you having a baby?" Like she's talking to my stomach! Maybe it was the language barrier and she didn't realize that her body language and question came off as rude, but I said, quite tersely, "Yes". She didn't pick up on my irritation and asked me if I knew what we were having. I once again simply replied, "Yes". She pressed further for the gender. I told her, "It's a -----------". (AH! I bet you thought I'd slip!) She still wasn't getting it. So she asks me if I've thought about "their" future. I'm like, "Yeah, we have a guy. And our insurance agent is helping us out with some stuff too."

She finally starts to get the hint that I'm done talking when I start heading back into the house. She quickly asks if she can take down my name and number so she can call me if she comes up with anything that she thinks might be good for us. I tell her again, "We already have a guy. Your number is on the papers, we'll call you if we need anything." And she has the NERVE to ask me, "Well then what do you need the papers for?" So I finally can't take it anymore and snap, "I took them to be polite. Do you want them back? I don't really need them." I thrust them back at her.

She finally gets the hint and says no thanks and leaves. I wasn't trying to be rude. It all started out as me trying to be nice. What the crap??!!?