Quick Update

We've had a really crazy schedule around here. Family has been in and out of the house over the last two weeks. We had a great Christmas. It was so nice to finally feel like a complete family at the holidays. A huge hole has finally been filled.

We've had a relatively easy time of it. Max sleeps several hours at a time in between feedings. He typically doesn't get cranky about much, usually just eating.

I feel like things are just crazy busy, even if I'm not doing that much each day. So I just wanted to post that things are going great and we're really happy...and really tired. :) I'll leave with a picture I took today.

P.S.

I've lost all but TWO of my baby weight pounds. :)

Finally Feels Like Christmas

Because of Max's birth, things haven't felt very holidayish around here. Sure we have the trees (We have 4. Yes, 4.) up and the garland on the banister. The presents are slowly being wrapped and put under the tree. But really, our whole lives have revolved around an infant the last 13 days. Between the hospital stay and recovery and a steady stream of visitors, we really haven't had the opportunity to make it feel like Christmas here.

Tonight we have a fire blazing, Christmas music playing, and we're making candies and cookies. It FINALLY feels like Christmas. :) Kendall has the whole week off and we're planning on sleeping in every day (in between our three hour feedings of course) and bumming around. We plan on having a fire every day. It helps that we have a ridiculous amount of firewood. :)

It just feels nice to be home right now. And to know that this Christmas we won't be alone. :) Thank you Lord Baby Jesus.

My Daily Crying Moment

Just a quickie here...

Today's moment of tears: I was sitting in the chair by our Christmas tree, holding Max, and I looked down into his sweet little face while he was frowning up at me and make cute little faces, when I realized that some day he was going to grow up and be a man. And that he wouldn't need me anymore...just like Kendall doesn't need his mom anymore because he has me. And I cried because I knew that I would remember this moment of his first Christmas season, when was just a tiny baby in my arms.

And writing this just made me cry again! :P

Roller Coaster

So I'm still surfing the postpartum wave of emotions. It's okay. I'm not like crazy depressed or anything, I just find myself at moments feeling extremely overwhelmed or extremely sad. Sometimes I cry for no reason, sometimes I feel like my reason is very valid.

My most overwhelming emotion is guilt. I'm sure I'm not alone in this feeling. Is it like something that invades your body the second your kid is born? I feel guilty if I didn't catch his poopy diaper right away and he had to sit in it for even 30 seconds. But then I also feel guilty if I hear him poop, right after I just changed his diaper mind you, and I let him sit in it for a few more seconds to make sure he's DONE pooping. I feel guilty if Kendall has to spend an hour awake at night calming him down so I can sleep. In turn I feel guilty if I then sleep after Kendall leaves for work for the day. I feel guilty if he doesn't burp every time he eats. Guilt is the most overwhelming emotion.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I also feel extremely happy. I find myself at multiple times during the day thinking how great my dogs, my kid, and my husband are. I have great friends who are bringing us food and sending us cards and calling to make sure we're doing okay. Yesterday Jessica helped me fold clothes for almost 2 hours and didn't judge me for the size of the laundry pile. :) My kid smiles (even if they're not "real" yet) after he poops, he loves watching the Christmas lights on the tree in the living room, and he gets the hiccups almost as frequently outside of the womb as he did inside. But now I can actually see and hear them. :)

Life is pretty good, even if I am tired and my kid has pooped through his diaper onto his clothes three times this week. :) I just hope I'm not boring you guys with my kid. I don't really have anything else to blog about right now. My last 10 days have been all about him. And that's okay. I'll leave you with some pictures....right after I change ANOTHER poopy diaper! Just click on the picture below.

Max

Picnik.com

There's this website that another friend of mine found called picnik.com. You can do lots of fun things to photos. This was my first try at it. I thought it turned out pretty cute. The best part is that it's easy and I can make photos like this and scrapbook them and it's a million times easier for uncrafty people like me! Or I can just have a really fun photo album.

Oh, and my dad bought us an AWESOME new Epson printer. I've already printed off like 15 photos and they look just as good as if I'd ordered them at Walmart or Click. :) This helped after my meltdown.

I just have to keep reminding myself that I've only been a mom for a week and half of that time was spent at the hospital with lots of help!

Mini Meltdowns

So pregnancy hormones are still trying to leak out and I get these little melt downs every once in a while. Sometimes I feel stupid because I know it's just the hormones and I'm crying for no really good reason. But I felt like today's was totally justified.

My mom took me to the hospital to get Max's billi levels checked again. He's been wearing the UV light and we needed his levels to go under 12 in order to stop the light. It's a real pain in the ass to use because he can't wear it while feeding and you have to make sure to keep it out of his eyes so he doesn't go blind. At night I've been making Kendall get up to check and make sure he's still alive while wearing it.

While at the hospital, I decided to check in with the lactation consultant because my one nipple has started to crack and bleed and I know that can't be right. I wanted to get some suggestions. When she saw it she told me I needed to stop feeding off of it and give it at least 24 hours "rest" and should pump. She called the rental store and they told her they had a pump. So we rush over there because little Max hadn't eaten in like 4 hours. When we get there....no pump. They gave the last one away. ARGH!!!! I leave the store in tears.

On top of that, about a million different parts of my body hurt right now. My boobs, my incision, my right hand from the carpal tunnel, my bottom (TMI ALERT: I have like 50 zits from the stupid diapers they make you wear!!!!), and I was hungry. There wasn't time to eat before we needed to leave for the lab work. So I just couldn't take it anymore and started bawling in the car. I told my mom to take me home because I was a bad mother for letting my kid go over 4 hours without eating and if one more part of my body started to hurt I was going to scream.

We stopped and got Panera to go for lunch and I finally calmed down after eating and feeding Max off the one boob that's ok. My mom is out at Target right now buying the pump I registered for. And my kid is sleeping in my lap on his "Karen blanket" that they brought when they came to visit the other night. Ask Karen about the blanket, it's a cute story. She meant to bring me a "Lisa blanket" but really, in actuality she brought me a Karen one. :)

So after all of the running around and crying and feedings, I'm tired. I'm thinking of curling up on the Karen blanket too and trying to take a nap.....

Baby Steps

I thought that "Baby Steps" would be an appropriate title for this entry for many reasons...

1. We obviously HAD a baby. :)
2. Life is moving along at that pace.
3. I can't walk much faster than that right now.


We'll start with #1.

So Max was born at 11:42 am on Monday, December 8th. He weighed in at 9 pounds 13 ounces and was 22 inches long. So far he's dropped about 12 ounces, but my milk just came in, so I'm hoping to "fatten" him up again soon. He currently has jaundice and his billi levels are a little elevated so we have to put him under these weird lights and get his lab work done each day, but other than that, he's great. All fingers and toes are present. He's a big boy and doesn't look fragile. Many people comment on how he doesn't even look like a newborn. :) That's okay by me. In my mind, he's the most beautiful baby in the world. He's going to be People's Sexiest Man Alive some day. I mean, look at his father. :)

The actual c-section was just as terrifying in some ways as I thought it would be and in others not at all. I was pretty much in denial on Monday until they came in and made me get naked. Until you have to take all your clothes off and put on nothing but a hospital gown, it's not really "real". Then the mean nurse stuck me with the IV. That sucked. And that's about when i started crying and having mini melt downs. I had to answer a lot of questions. And get poked and prodded and hooked up to about a million different machines.

Many of you have not had a c-section, so I wanted to at least give the "highlights" without getting too long here....

They let Kendall stay with me when the nurse anesthetist gave me my epidural only because she heard that Kendall was a doctor. Totally worth the student loans for that moment alone. After they got me prepped in the room, they had me walk to the O.R. That was terrifying. I barely remember walking there I was so panicked. But what was I going to do? Turn and run out the door? Maybe.....

They had me climb up on the table and then they gave my my spinal/epidural. I totally blew it out of proportion in my head. All I felt was a stick from the numbing medication. And then a zing down my left leg when she gave me the medication. It worked VERY quickly. It started as just a cold feeling and quickly worked it's way to becoming a paralytic. That was a little scary not being able to move everything. The prep work was scarier than the actual surgery. LOTS draping and scrubbing and counting and things I couldn't see. Kendall was amazing and kept me calm. I asked them to NOT tell me what they were doing because I didn't want to know. The worst part was when they pushed on my stomach to get him out (he didn't want to cooperate) and then he was out! Disappointingly, I did not get to see him all gooey. I will regret that for the rest of my life. VERY upsetting. The screen they had up was just too high and the doctor was in a rush.

All of the nurses started gushing about how big he was and how much hair he had. My amazing husband didn't budge. He knew I was terrified. He just kept holding my hand. And then I sucked it up and told him to go be with his son. It took multiple coaxings on my part that I would be okay and then he ran over with the camera. I could cry right now thinking how excited Kendall's face looked. It really is the BEST moment of your life. Kendall ran back with some pictures on the camera and I got to see him for the first time. And then my kid peed all over the OR floor. LOL! The nurses just laughed and let him do it. Kendall got to see it. I didn't. But I'm sure it's a moment he'll never forget. And then, before I knew it, he was bringing him over to me and I gave him his first kiss. And it was over. :)

Recovery could take up a whole other blog entry. If you really want to know, email me or call. The least gruesome thing to tell you is that I have like 40 staples in my gut. Ask Karen, she saw them (because that's what good friends do, show each other their battle scars). And even four days later they still itch and burn sometimes. And what they say about childbirth is true for c-sections too, you have NO SHAME afterwards. You don't care what people do to you. And you don't care because you got the prize. :)

I'll try to write again tomorrow to talk about #2 and #3. :) I think this is enough to absorb for now. Plus, my kid is laying on my newly flatter stomach and isn't getting enough kisses from his mommy. So I have to go. :)

One Last Blog

Not sure when I'll be able to get on here again this week, so I thought I'd post one last time before heading to bed. In 13 hours my son will be born. I write that here and I say it out loud, and it still doesn't feel real. Kendall and I both agree that it's still pretty surreal.

Because it's scheduled and not a middle of the night rush to the hospital it seems almost like it's not really happening.

My mom is here, Kendall's parents are staying at his brother's house. Everyone is ready to head to the hospital with us tomorrow at 9:30. That's kind of weird. It's so planned. So orderly. So type A personality. :) Just the way I like it. While I'm still not thrilled about the "method" of delivery, a scheduled day and time are right up my alley. I even got to do laundry tonight. I'll be putting on makeup tomorrow morning. I'm even going to flat iron my hair. Now watch me have my water break at 3am. :P

My last minute fears now include:
1. Breast feeding for the first time
2. Knowing how to hold him (I always feel weird holding babies- I'm hoping holding my own just feels natural)
3. Getting sleep tomorrow night
4. Pooping for the first time after surgery (sorry if that was TMI)

I ran some last minute errands, saw the movie Madagascar 2 (B+), had a good dinner at O'Charley's, and made one last Target run. I even vacuumed the family room floor so that it's clean when we come home later this week. I feel prepared. But I still don't feel like I'm having a baby tomorrow. :)

I'll get pictures up ASAP. Thanks for all the well wishes you've been sending.

One last funny thought. Kendall and I were discussing how a c-section seems less traumatic for the baby. Instead of being squeezed out, they just get pulled out through a bigger hole. Kendall said it was like the difference between being pushed out of a car door and being squeezed through the eye of a needle. Still a shock to the system, but somewhat less traumatic in the long run. :)

Almost Time

I feel like there is absolutely no comfortable way for me to sit right now. UGH. I'm so glad that this is only two more days of feeling this huge. But I'm also still terrified of this whole process.

We went to the doctor yesterday and asked a lot of questions. Kendall knew most of the answers already, but I needed to hear them from the OB's mouth. Unfortunately, several things are not happening the way I want them to. First, Kendall can't stay with me when they give me my epidural/spinal. So I will have to hold some strange nurses hand while I cry. Second, he doesn't get to cut the cord. Because they have a sterile and non-sterile field in the room, Kendall would have to scrub in to cut the cord, and then he couldn't hold my hand while they were taking Max out. Kendall doesn't seem upset or disappointed (or he's a really good faker to make me feel better) so I guess I can't be too upset. I'm so lucky to have such a good husband.

We can, however, bring a camera into the room. I was worried that they wouldn't let us. I want that picture of me strapped to the table with my little hat on. Crying because I'm terrified. And I want the picture of them holding up that slimy baby when they pull him out of me. And of course, I want the pictures of him turning beet red and screaming while they check his lungs and count his fingers and toes. So that made me feel better.

I am fully prepared for him to not cry when they pull him out. And for him to be blue. I've watched enough c-sections to know that because they aren't "squeezed" out, they don't have the same coloring or lung function yet. I'll probably still freak out until I hear him cry, but at least I know that he might not at first.

I am scheduled for an 11:30 O.R. time, so he should be out by noon! I can't eat or drink anything after midnight on Sunday, so I'm sure I'll be pretty cranky by the time their done. I'm hoping that the elation of seeing my 10 pound child makes me forget I'm hungry. The nice part is that we don't have to be there at the crack of dawn and can take a little time in the morning to sit with the dogs and leisurely drive to the hospital.

All of our Christmas decorations are up and the lights are hung on the bushes. We've purchased all of the Christmas presents and just have to wrap them. We plan on spending Saturday and Sunday doing "couple" things. Movies, dinners, lazing about. Getting coffee. Things we can't do without a babysitter in two days. :)

So at work today I told the rest of my team that Friday would be my last school day. I had already been planning on taking some time off before baby (guess that won't be happening now) so they were surprised to hear that it was because he was actually on his way. Several of my co-workers agreed that we should ditch our plan period and go to the Pizza Hut Buffet for one last hurrah. :) That will be nice. We're going tomorrow in case something happens at my doctor's appointment in the afternoon.

I talked to another teacher who has had a c-section. She said she laughed during hers because everything felt like jello. Okay, I'm not anticipating laughing but it at least made me feel a little better. So did the comments from the moms who have had one before.

I'm still extremely nervous and spent most of last night either awake and thinking about it, or asleep and dreaming about it. I am totally ready for Max to be here. I'm just not ready for him to be here in that way.

Kendall admitted that he's worried about bringing Max home. We will be bringing him home by ourselves. Personally, I like it that way. My mom is going to come down for the first few days while I'm in the hospital. Then she will go home for several and come back to help me when Kendall goes back to work. Then she will leave and come back one more time for the holiday. We will get to bring Max home without anyone else hovering and that's exciting to me. Because if we drop him on his head, no one will see it. And if I change his diaper every 15 minutes, no one will judge me. Oh, and if we both cry because we aren't getting any sleep, no one will know. :) I've always been a pretty independent person and I like to try to do things on my own the first time. So for me, the fact that no one will be hovering over my shoulder telling me how I SHOULD be doing it is actually kind of exciting. I'm sure that family and friends will be in and out those few days we're by ourselves, but I'm up for the challenge.

And don't worry, I won't be afraid to ask for help if I/when I DO need it. :) Still attempting to think positive.....

It's time

Well, I went for my ultrasound today...........

Max's "current" estimated weight: 9 pounds 13 ounces
Max's current head diameter: Over 10 centimeters, the ultrasound couldn't measure any higher than 42 weeks 6 days. 99.81 percentile
Max's current chest diameter: The ultrasound couldn't measure any higher than 42 weeks 6 says. 99.84 percentile
Max's current femur length: 50th percentile

Needless to say, my prediction that I was having a "man child" are accurate. I called my doctor and asked him to call me back so we could discuss these results. He did, and by the end of his conversation with Kendall (I couldn't talk to him, I was too upset) and a two minute conversation with me, I was told I'm having a Monday c-section. No time scheduled yet. I will find that out at my Thursday check.

If I'm dilated on Thursday, there is a possibility we will do the c-section as soon as Friday because of the fear of me actually going into labor. The concern? He won't fit. It's just not physically possible. So if I went into labor, he will get stuck. No doubts. While we (me, Kendall, and Dr) all agree on that, I'm extremely disappointed that everything is turning out this way.

I can't even say that I'm very excited right now. I'm scared. Plain and simple. They're going to cut my gut open and pull out my baby. I'm being totally selfish right now. Yes, I'll have a baby. Please don't point that out. Yes, I'll be done with pregnancy, please don't point that out. The fact is, they're cutting me open, it's going to be weird, and sterile, and not at all what I imagined. And on top of that, I will have a painful recovery. Most likely a lot more painful than the vaginal way. So while I appreciate the positive sentiments and thoughts, I'm still processing. I'm TERRIFIED.

Here is my list of "positive" things I'm trying to focus on to gear myself up for this surgery:

1. His birth date will be December 8th- the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Christmas on Campus to those UD people). Very fitting since he's our "miracle" baby the same way Mary had her miracle baby.
2. I only have to make it 5 more days, maximum.
3. Max seems excited. He's squirming a lot. Or maybe he's just picking up on my stress.
4. He's fat. I wanted a chubby faced baby.
5. He has hair, according to the ultrasound. Not sure how much, but I wanted hair.
6. He's still a "he". Got to see his little scrotum today (okay, sorry if that grossed you out.).
7. Our cleaning lady comes tomorrow so we won't have a lot of time to sh*t up the house before we leave for the hospital. Which means Max will come home to a CLEAN house.
8. I will have 17 days to recover before Christmas. Which means I should hopefully be feeling good enough to celebrate.
9. We only got one package of newborn diapers as a gift and asked for 0-3 month clothes instead of newborn stuff, so at least we planned ahead well.
10. He COULD only be 8 pounds.....

Tick..Tick..Tick..

So just a little over two weeks to go. I'm obviously VERY ready. I'm also panicking that I'm not ready to leave work. It's so weird to think I'm leaving the education of my "kids" in someone elses hands. Have I left enough info? Materials? Guidance? I'm sure I won't think about it much once Max is born, but right now I'm anxious.

I bought some compression socks. I totally feel like an old lady wearing them. But they help a little. At least they help keep some of the swelling down so that Kendall can rub the rest of it away more quickly at night. I wish I could say that I got to enjoy a the foot rub, but they're pretty painful and I usually grimace through them and try not to cry out because it makes Kendall feel bad.

In addition to that irritation my right hand has now gotten swollen enough that it's irritating one of the nerves. My thumb, index, and middle fingers are now constantly numb and tingly. It's super annoying. And makes it hard to do stuff, like type. Or put on makeup. Or grade papers. Or eat. I'm seeing a physical therapist two days a week (hopefully only 4 more visits) to try to alleviate the issue, but it's pretty much a vain attempt.

I'm headed to the doctor for an ultrasound tomorrow to determine just how large he is. If he's big enough, I'm hoping that my OB will help me along early. Like next week. :) I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go back to work starting next week even if I don't have a baby. I think I just need the time off. I'm exhausted. And I'd rather be miserable at home. I didn't think I'd feel that way. I thought I'd work til I had him, but I'm ready now to just stay home and rest. At least as much as possible. I'm not sure how Kendall will feel about it, but then again, he's not the one carrying around an extra person, so his vote doesn't count for much. :)

I'll try to write about something more upbeat later. Sorry to complain so much.

My life right now

Did someone say something about napping and resting?? I am definitely NOT napping and resting. (Sorry Laura)

I get like 30-60 minutes of sleep in a row at night. Then I wake up, roll over (or should I say FLOP over), and try to pass out again, or I struggle for several minutes to sit up to go to the bathroom. I am exhausted. If I could get 2 hours of solid sleep between feedings with a baby, that would seem like heaven right now. I guess worst case scenario I have a baby that never sleeps and it will just feel like pregnancy never ended.

Went to the Dr today. NOT dilated at all. Already having uncomfortable cramping though. Oh, and I had to CRY to get him to schedule an ultrasound at 38 weeks to see how giant my baby is. He was like, "What's the rush? We know he's going to be big?" And I was like, "Because I need to mentally prepare for a giant baby and a c-section." And proceeded to cry.

*sigh* 20 days to go......

I Only Have One Thing to Say

GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21 Days to go.

Music Review

I have a very eclectic love for music. I'll listen to anything from Mozart to Men at Work. I love the 80's, the 90's, and modern rock. The Beatles rank in my top 5 favorite groups of all time. Then again, so do the Jonas Brothers right now. :) I'll listen to ZZ Top and then change to the next CD and bounce along to Katy Perry. Lately though, I really feel like I've been into rock. And hard rock at that.

So when I bought the Nickleback CD, Dark Horse, I was excited. I really liked their last CD because I thought it had a great blend of slow and fast, naughty and nice, and just songs you can sing along to but also rock out. Their second CD doesn't disappoint. I think they find the same balance of wicked and wondering that I enjoyed on the last album. Out of 11 songs, there are only 2 that I don't really like, and only one of those two that I would actually skip on purpose. I predict that at least 3 songs AFTER "Gotta Be Somebody" will hit the radio and become hits. This includes "Next Go Round", "Never Gonna Be Alone", and "If Today Was Your Last Day".

"Next Go Round" is naughty and falls into the same category as "Animals" from their last LP. Lyrics include lines like, "I wanna cover you with jello in the tub/ we can roll around for hours without ever coming up/ I want you naked with your favorite heels on/ Slap John Deere across my ass/ And ride me up and down the lawn."

"Never Gonna Be Alone" and "If Today Was Your Last Day" are have soaring music and lyrics that most people can connect to.

"Never Gonna Be Alone" is full of lines that people in a relationship can connect to, "You're never gonna be alone/ From this moment on/ If you ever feel like letting go/ I won't let you fall/ You're never gonna be alone/ I'll hold you till the hurt is gone."

"If Today Was Your Last Day" has thoughtful words that aren't necessarily original, but combined with the music, make for another number 1 hit, "If today was your last day/ And tomorrow was too late/ Could you say good bye to yesterday/ Would you live each moment like your last/ Leave old pictures in the past/ Donate every dime you had/ If today was your last day."

I also found that I connected to other songs on the CD on a more personal level because of my own life experiences, and there were also several songs in addition to "Next Go Round" that were naughty enough that I'd have hot, sweaty sex to them. As Kendall would say, "The highest endorsement of them all." *wink*

Isn't This Great?!?

Jerk in a Ford Five Hundred

My blog title sounds like a country song title....LOL!

Okay, but seriously, I'm driving home on the highway from my haircut today and the weather is already bad so I'm driving slow, when this car comes flying up on my bumper. There was no way I was going to speed any fast than I already was, mostly because I hate it when people ride my bumper. Plus, I was already passing a long line of cars and wasn't going to get over until there was a clear break.

What really irked me was that suddenly I noticed that we were passing a line of cars in a funeral and the Ford was being impatient. Now my hormonal, pregnant butt already gets emotional, so the funeral made me tear up a little. What a dreary day for a funeral. Plus, the line of cars was really long, so I was wondering if it was someone young. On top of that, the jerk was still riding my bumper, even though at this point it had to be obvious that I couldn't go any faster. I know it was obvious because he swerved into the berm to see why I was driving so slow.

A few minutes went by and the hearse pulled over into my lane and the traffic people from the funeral home slowed our lane down so that people could get over. Now I know that technically it's not illegal to get into a line of cars for a funeral, but I was being respectful and slowed down so that the cars could get over in front of me. This seemed to enrage the Ford Five Hundred.

The first chance he got he CUT OFF someone in the funeral line so that he could speed up and get ahead of them. I turned and yelled at his overly tinted driver's window and then secretly hoped he'd get pulled over for speeding. And then I felt better. :)

Clarification

Okay, so I totally laughed out loud at the comments on the last blog.

1. I'm not concerned in the LEAST with my husband seeing it. He's my husband. He married it. He can deal with it. It's more the nurses and the OB. Whether they've seen it before or not, people talk. Why do I know that? Because my own husband has commented on some of the "places" he's delivered from in the past.

2. I was totally being sarcastic about suffocation. I'm hoping people get that I was joking....but now I'm worried that someone didn't.....

Excellent Question

Viki asked an excellent question in my bootcamp entry..."So, if your belly sticking out too far for you to see down there, what the hell are you supposed to do?"

I have two answers for that....

1. The mirror. I've already done it that way once.

2. My husband. And let me tell you...he's not complaining one bit. *wink*

The Economy

I paid $1.71 for gas yesterday. It only cost 40 bucks to fill my 26 gallon tank. That ROCKS.

So everyone has been talking about the economy and how it sucks. And how we should all be worried. I get the investment aspect for our retirements, but really, we're all barely 30 or in our early 30's, don't we have time for things to rebound? I'm not sweating my retirement account. It's secure. It's diverse. Am I stupid to have such faith?

But what I don't relate to at all is the job security issue.

I called my brother today to talk about my mom's Christmas gift. We were discussing how much money he could kick in on a large ticket item. What struck me was that he said with the state of this economy he doesn't know if he'll even be employed for much longer. He's a painter. His job directly correlates to whether or not people are building new homes. So it makes total sense. But I don't have the worry, so it never occurred to me he might be trying to tighten the purse strings a little this year.

Because of the nature of mine and Kendall's jobs, we don't really feel the effects of the sagging economy. Because really, we work in two professions that will always exist. Education and Medicine. People will never stop getting sick (good thing he's not a plastic surgeon!) and kids will always need to be educated. Now I guess my job could get cut due to levies not passing, but with the amount of time I've been working, my seniority saves me. Unless I really start to suck as a teacher, my job is safe. And even then, think about how many crappy teachers you had growing up? Yeah, even the crappy ones still get to keep their jobs.

Kendall's job is secure because Miami County is already hurting for family doctors. He's full all the time. Even if people start losing their jobs and subsequently their health insurance, he'll still have a job. He may take a pay cut due to insurance companies becoming more stingy than ever in what they'll pay for, but when it comes down to it, he'll never lose his job completely.

I realize that we are very fortunate to have chosen the careers that we did, but I also think some of it was intentional. While we ultimately picked our jobs because they were something we wanted to do, we also tried to think on a practical level, and that involved job security. Did anyone else out there pick a job that way? Anyone else not really feeling the crunch?

It's a Monopoly

So we finally had our last of FIVE baby showers this past weekend. Yes. I said five. I'm exhausted! We have so much stuff we don't know what to do with some of it! It's exploding out of the closet and the drawers on the dressers are rapidly filling up with clothes and blankets and sheets. We are extremely grateful to all of our generous friends. I'm still pushing through the thank you notes that I try to write in between grading papers and taking some time for myself.

We looked at our registry yesterday and there were several things that we still considered "essential" that we wanted to purchase. This included baby bottles, a second car seat base for Kendall's car, the changing pad for our dresser top (poopy diapers don't change themselves!), an extra cover for said changing pad (in case the poopy gets on the first one), Kendall's man bag, and one of those fleece covers that goes over the outside of the car seat so you don't have to put your kid in a winter coat all the time. So we checked our list online and then headed for Babies R Us with coupons and gift cards in hand.

When we arrived at the ONE AND ONLY store in the greater Dayton area (40 minutes from our house) we printed out our list to confirm the location of each item. I should start by saying that we checked at home that each item we wanted was still available in the store. We've had experiences in the past, buying for other people, where things just seem to "disappear" from the store and aren't available anymore. It's extremely annoying. And we weren't going to drive all the way down to the store if they didn't have what we wanted. Amazingly, the list said everything was still available.

What a load of crap! We we arrived and started searching, we found that the man bag Kendall wanted was just "missing". It was still listed as available in-store, but was nowhere to be found. No biggie. He compromised and got one that was very similar to the original.

Then we went in search of the car seat base. Nope. No base. The employee that we spoke with said that Evenflo bases were no longer being carried in their store. The Cincinnati store had 15 if we'd like to drive down there though. We would have to special order the extra base and it would take at least two weeks to get to the Dayton store. I was mad. We put that to the back burner, but we kept searching for the other items.

On to find the fleece cover. There was a rack for the covers. There was a price tag for the covers. But NO COVERS! Empty. Same for our back up cover that we had almost registered for. Now isn't it COLD outside? Shouldn't they have extras of these things ordered? Back stock?

At this point I'm super pissed. I'm 35 weeks pregnant with two swollen ankles and a stomach that sticks out to kingdom come. People have repeatedly asked me if I'm having multiples and I'm not having a good week (and it was only Tuesday). My doctor had just finished telling me that he wasn't even going to do any ultrasound until week 39 to determine if he's "too big". So not getting this item was the last straw.

I found an employee who was actually willing to help me and asked him to look in the computer for any back stock on my items. He was very friendly and apologetic. He suggested that I speak with the manager since NONE of my items was in stock. When he called her, she tried to HIDE in the back and repeat what we had already hear about our car seat base. He pressed her to come out and we waited. And waited. And waited.

When she finally appeared, she seemed irritated that someone might actually want to speak with her. I firmly, but politely told her that I thought it was ridiculous that three of my essential items were completely missing from the store. She tried to repeat that I could have them all ordered and shipped to the Dayton store, ready for pick up in two weeks. I gestured to my stomach and said, "Does this look like it's going to make it two more weeks? Furthermore, I live 40 minutes away. Can you have these things shipped directly to my house, since you have to have them shipped somewhere anyways?" She told me that I would have to PAY for shipping.

At this point I almost lost it and told her that I thought Babies R Us was ridiculous, inflexible, and unreliable and that it was obvious that the she and the store didn't care because they practically have a monopoly on some items. I told her I would rather buy the items off Amazon.com, where at least I could get free shipping during this holiday season. I think she just didn't want to have to deal with me anymore because she told the employee to just bill the shipping to her asst manager FedEx account.

Now why couldn't she have done that in the first place?!!?!?! I am thoroughly fed up with Babies R Us and refuse to shop there for any further items. I'm going to buy everything via the Internet or Target from now on.

Lessons Day 2

1. I really don't want a c-section. I was watching the video and thinking how jealous I will be if Kendall gets to hold Max for a whole hour while I have to lay there while they sow me up. Not to mention the fact that it sounds incredibly painful to recover from. I know that I have to do whatever is best for the baby, but part of me hopes that I'll go early and we won't have to worry about him being too big.

2. Did you know there is more than one way to be "romantic"? I didn't until I watched this ridiculously cheesy video today. At least they didn't try to "demonstrate".

3. Putting a clothespin on my finger cannot possibly be as bad as childbirth. Yet the instructor thought it would put some of the pain in perspective for us while we practiced breathing. My clothespin didn't even hurt...that's how I know childbirth has to be worse.

4. #1 from yesterday is still the most valuable thing I learned from the whole weekend.

Lessons From Birthing Bootcamp Day 1

1. Make sure it's not a "jungle down there". While you may not be able to see it, the nurses, your doctor, and your husband do. Not to mention the fact that your poor child could end up suffocating in it. If you don't know what I'm referring to, call Kendall. He can explain it to you in medical terminology.

2. Getting an epidural still looks traumatic. The needle looks huge. I'm sure I won't care if I actually want one though. I also noticed that in the "real life" situations they showed, all of the women who had epidurals were smiling afterwards. That alone sold me on one.

3. I know WAY more than the average person about this whole process. Having the desire to research it on the Internet and a husband who has a vast bank of knowledge on the subject have made me "too advanced" for portions of the class. I don't feel I gained anything from the morning session and learned very little except for 1 and 2 in the afternoon.

4. Don't mess with a pregnant lady's lunch time. The instructor decided she was going to cut our lunch time short by half an hour. I was not happy about this. I did not arrive back to the class until I was finished with my lunch and was NOT apologetic. I'm sorry, if the schedule says I get an hour for lunch and you try to cut it to 30 minutes including the time it takes to get lunch in a busy hospital cafeteria, all so you can go to a little kid's birthday party tomorrow, you shouldn't have agreed to teach the class.

5. I can't reiterate #1 enough. I'm still thinking about it. I may need to go get a machete now and start working on it. It may take a while.....

"O" So Happy!

Obviously I'm happy that my guy won. :) I'm not gloating or anything, but I'm leaving my sign up for a few more days. :)

I was supposed to have an OB appointment yesterday and when I showed up, the waiting room was empty. I knew that wasn't normal. My doctor usually runs an hour behind schedule EVERY time I see him. So when I went to the desk and they told me he had to leave to deliver a baby, I wasn't surprised. But I did tease the nurse and say, "I expect this same dedication when my son is born." She laughed.

My OB is a very vocal Republican. So is his partner. We knew each other pre-baby so we have a different type of relationship. I rag on my doctor and he rags on me. After one appointment I went out into the hallway and loudly said, "I just don't think I can let you deliver my baby with these types of political views...." The nurses know that I like to rile him up. I've even worn Obama t-shirts to two appointments.

So when I left my "appointment" yesterday, I asked the nurse for a sticky note. I placed my "I made a difference" sticker on the paper and then wrote next to it, "I VOTED FOR A WINNER. How about you?" and signed my name. I'm sure he'll get a kick out of it, especially now that his guy lost. :)

So if you know anything about the Fairly Odd Parents, you know that Cosmo here is a little clueless sometimes. He says and does things that your typical ADHD child would say and do.

I've been feeling an awful lot like Cosmo lately. I feel like my mind is constantly jumping around to new thoughts and ideas. I forget that I've done things. I forget TO DO things.

Sometimes my mind will go from one topic to another without even realizing it.

So, in honor of Cosmo, and my super prego-scattered brain, here is a list of random things I thought about today alone: (Those of you that have seen the show before will appreciate my thought process on some of these. They really are Cosmoesque)

1. How can someone STILL be undecided on the election? The vote is tomorrow. Why would you wait to decide until you walked into the booth? At that point, aren't most of those people really just playing eenie meenie minie moe? They can't honestly think they're going to walk into the election booth and just know.

2. Ooooh, a tractor on the main road! I like tractors!

3. I don't like chewy Sweetarts. I only like the old-fashioned, traditional, crunchy ones.

4. Why won't my son stop squirming around!!?! Am I making him more prone to ADHD when I eat sugar? Like now for example, right after Halloween when we have a ton of leftover candy, am I going to make him a more hyperactive kid because of this sugar?

5. When was the last time I saw gas under $2? I tried to research this answer and the closest I came up with was in the late 90's. If anyone else can answer this more accurately, let me know. I filled up the other day for $1.93. Which led to my next thought...

6. I really should buy a 55 gallon drum and fill it with gas right now. Because gas prices are going to shoot back up and I would have TWO tanks of gas saved up that would cost me the same amount for one tank at 4 dollars a gallon.....

7. I wonder if Max really will come early. Wouldn't it be nice to have a Thanksgiving baby?

8. Mmmmm Taco Bell.......

9. Do I really want to be a teacher for the next 20 years? (I have this thought on a DAILY basis recently.)

10. Why is it 70 degrees in November?!?!?!?!

Ohio Issues

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/upload/publications/election/Issues_08.pdf

The above link actually takes you to Ohio's issues in this coming election. It is from the state of Ohio directly and gives both sides to the issues. It also explains in plain English what each issue is really about. I figure this helps back up Karen's blog from the Enquirer. She was pretty accurate on the issues.

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!
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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?!?!?!
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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.
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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....
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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
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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??!!?

National "That's What She Said Day" October 13th

I'm a bad girl...

So I've been avoiding the phone calls from Dell's service department. I've been screening their calls to see if the person calling is American or Indian. If they're Indian, I don't answer. So far, they've all been Indian.

The nice thing about Dell is that they also have a 24/7 chat service you can use the solve your problems. So today I logged into that with my reference number and chatted with a rep. They were obviously still Indian (the guy's name was Vinay) but at least on the computer I don't have to "hear" his accent. Isn't that awful?!?!!

But at least it helps me keep my sanity. Plus, I'm a fast typer, so it's not like it's holding me back that much since I had to repeat myself like a million times per sentence on the phone anyways! LOL! ;)

Update

Well, I still haven't gotten a hold of the guy who takes care of the long term sub hiring. I've decided to call and send him an email every day until he gets back to me.

My mom went to the doctor today. They did a scan of her kidney, no visible cancer. They did one of her bladder, no visible cancer. So while we are extremely relieved to hear that it's not cancer (at least at this point) it's still frustrating to know that she's having weird bleeding and no explanation. I was pretty sure it was going to be cancer. She's been in remission for almost 15 years from her first cancer. They say that most survivors of aggressive cancers die from a secondary cancer. So I keep waiting for it to happen, I'm preparing for it to happen. I was very relieved to know it's not time yet. (Doesn't that sound awful?)

She also got a bill from her insurance company this week stating that they weren't paying the bill for her hospital stay. The note on the statement said that after reviewing her medical files, they found that it was medically unnecessary for her to have been admitted to the hospital for 3 days. How is that their call? The DOCTOR admitted her, she didn't ask to stay. Who says, "Yes, I'd like to stay in the hospital for my 55th birthday and let you poke and prod me for several days while I get no sleep and smell icky"? So she's waiting to see what the hospital says.

On another ridiculous note, our laptop asked me to install the newest Windows service pack last night. Being the dedicated person that I am, I did. And then when I went to reboot the computer, it refused to boot Windows. Thank GOD we paid for the 5 year warranty and service plan from Dell. The most annoying part of the process is that I've now learned that Dell has outsourced their service department to India. I'm sorry, but what the crap? The guy I spoke with could barely speak English. I know the whole world doesn't have to speak MY language, but when I call Dell from AMERICA, I should get someone speaking AMERICAN. It took twice as long to try to troubleshoot my problem because I had to ask him to repeat things and I had to enunciate for him to understand me. After 45 mins I needed a break. The problem is still not fixed. I'm going to use their live chat service tonight so that at least we are typing the same language.

I told Kendall that when the warranty expires on this laptop, we're getting a Mac. :)

So I'm really not happy with my job right now. I don't feel like our administration at both the building and district level are really on top of things.

I feel like every day I'm getting emails telling me I need to do something ASAP. Some of them are easy, some take some planning.

In addition to that, I'm really unhappy with this 7th grade class that I'm teaching. The boys in the class are total jerks. And I never feel like I'm more than a day ahead of myself. I feel like I'm floundering. And the sad part is, I'm staying until like 4 pm most days and still feel that way.

I feel like I walk around in a cloud most days and I'm just so eager for the end of the day to come when I can just go home. I'm wondering if some of it is a pregnancy fog. I'm worried that it will only get worse when my maternity leave is up and I have to go back to work after having Baby M.

Job sharing is sounding better and better....so is being a trophy wife. I still don't think I can be a full time stay at home mom, but I'm telling ya, this job is getting harder and harder. I just feel like there are a million hoops I'm being asked to jump through. I didn't feel this way at all last year. I'm so eager for the next 11 weeks to go by, just so I can get away from my job. Isn't that sad? Of course I'm super excited about finally meeting my kid, but the idea of not having to go to work every day and deal with all of that crap is just as exciting to me right now.

I really need to figure out what's going on....

Oh, and they still haven't found a long term sub for me. I'm getting really stressed about that too. That's a whole other drama that I just can't get into without getting upset....

A Quickie...

I finally had to succumb to the DD bra.....*sigh* It's a sad, sad day.....

Maybe I'll get lucky and shrink to a B like Karen did....*smirk*

Here's the other updates:
1. Hate my job
2. Only 11 weeks til baby
3. 4 baby showers in the month of October
4. My mom was sick and in the hospital last week and that why I haven't really posted. She's home now, but we still don't know what's going on. She has more tests this week to determine the real problem.

Chuck!

This is for Karen who said she had never heard of Chuck. It just highlights what the show is about.

Listing

1. Poor Maggie- She really wants to lay in my lap, but there isn't much lap left right now. She keeps trying to get in it and she sits next to me and paws and my stomach. Like she can make it move or something. It took her a good 10 minutes to settle down next to me while I was surfing the 'Net on the laptop. She kept trying to figure out ways to rest her head on my lap or my stomach, but nothing seemed to work. So she gave up on that and is laying the other direction with her butt partially on my lap and her head on a pillow. What a spoiled little doggie....

2. Did anyone else do this when they got married? Checked their registry to see what people had purchased so far? I'm SOOOOOOO tempted to go look and see what people have purchased off of our baby registries! I can't help it! I want to know what I don't have to buy! :)

3. We got our first official "registry gift" in the mail the other day. Friends from Colorado sent us one of the bibs that we registered for and some baby toys. It was quite the surprise and we were very pleased to see that one of the things they got off of our Target registry was on clearance. It pleased us because, one it didn't cost them a lot and two we got it before it disappeared off the shelves. Target seems to do a lot of that. It's annoying.

4. What is up with this stupid weather? It's the end of September and it's still in the mid 80s here! This is once again extremely annoying as my warm weather maternity clothing was NOT designed for my larger belly. All of my comfortable expandable pants are for colder weather. I don't know what I'm going to do if this weather lasts much longer. I'm heading to Target tonight. Maybe something will be on the clearance rack......

5. Many of my TV shows are getting ready to start their season premiers. Here's the thing- since many of them went off the air with the strike and didn't come back in the late spring, I kinda don't care. There are only a few that I can say I'm really looking forward to. The others I'm just going to TIVO and see if I'm still interested. On my short list of "still excited" shows: The Office, Grey's Anatomy, and Chuck.

6. I leaned forward on the couch and Maggie is now trying to stand on my leg. All four of hers on one of mine. She's getting so needy! I just kiss her on the head and tell her she's crazy.

7. You'll never guess who is still obsessively mowing their lawn??? *grin* You got it. And we keep mowing one day after her just to make her come out and mow again. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Long awaited....

I can't say I'm thrilled with this picture of me, I look too much like my dad's sisters in it....but at least it's a photo...


And just because it gives you some perspective on how my belly looks to me and because it's a funny picture....

I finally caved and created a Facebook page.

ps. I'm officially starting to get tired of being pregnant. I LOVE that M is active and that I'm reassured everything is okay...but I'm tired of not having many clothing options (I refuse to buy anything else that is meant for hot weather) and my stomach getting in the way of doing things, like BENDING OVER!

I Think She Nailed the Part

??

I keep hearing this advertisement on the radio in the morning while I get ready for work. It's the voice of a child reading off a list of countries that are scoring better on standardized testing than the United States. Jamie Lee Curtis then chimes in that parents may become angry while listening to this message. What I find unfair about this commercial is that it makes Americans sound like idiots.

In no way are the size of each of these countries or their educational philosophies injected to give a clearer picture. The ad doesn't sponsor either presidential candidate. It just sponsors stronger schools. If you go to their website at least there they say that parents need to be involved. But when you look at the countries that are beating us, they are primarily Asian or small European nations. Here's my take on this: America is not only 10 times larger than many of these countries, but we also deal with the greatest "melting pot" of students and parents. We are not only trying to educate children on math and science and reading, we are also trying to educate them on life. In some cases, we are better parents to these kids than their parents are.

Example: Just last week we pulled a kid into talk to him about the fact that in the first two weeks of school he had done little to no homework for his classes. When we looked at his permanent record it showed that he has achieved nothing over a D or F in the last THREE years in our building. He has barely passed each school year and yet, these grades are not an accurate reflection of his abilities. It's obvious that he is a bright child. Spending just 8 days with him I could already tell that. When we asked him what his parents said to him about these grades he responded, "Nothing. They really don't care about grades." He wasn't lying. So tell me how I am supposed to match the graduation rate of Sweden when I have a kid whose parents don't even care that he's practically failed every school year since the 5th grade?! His test scores were actually fine. He can take a test. But how is that helping him in life? There are only 9 million people living in Sweden. There are 301 million people living in the US.

Here are the other top ranked countries and their populations.
Finland- 5.2 million
Canada- 33.3 million
Japan- 127.4 million
New Zealand-4.1 million
Australia-20.4 million
Netherlands-16.5 million
Korea-72 million
Germany- 82.4 million
United Kingdom-60.7 million
Czech Republic-10.2 million
Switzerland- 7.5 million
Austria- 8.2 million
Belgium- 10.4 million
Ireland-4.1 million
Hungary-9.9 million
Poland- 38.5 million
Denmark - 5.4 million
France-61.8 million
Iceland- 301 thousand

Not even one of these comes close to the size of our population. There are more people in the freaking greater Dayton area (over 800 thousand) than in the entire nation of Iceland. I didn't even have TIME to research their income/welfare/economic status in relation to ours.....

Sorry for the tirade.

Cranky

So I'm really getting tired of the crap going on in my school building right now. We currently have three "extras" teachers (music and PE) that only teach 4 out of 8 periods a day. 50 % of the day at 100% of the pay. The administration claims that they are "responsible for kids" two other periods a day, but after looking at their schedules for those two extra periods, I'm not accepting that. One of the two "responsibilities" is recess duty. Seriously?!?!! They're getting paid full teachers salary to have 45 minutes of recess duty?>!?!?!

Now I know that I could have become a music or gym teacher, but this just doesn't seem fair. One of the administration's excuses was that if they hadn't come up with something like this, they would have had to cut a teacher. Now don't tell me that if numbers were so low that they didn't need me that they wouldn't have cut me. I just don't believe it. They'd really pay my over 50k to do nothing just so they wouldn't feel bad about cutting a job? I'll believe it when I see it. And I would have GLADLY taken recess duty instead of getting stuck with an extra class of kids in a subject I've never taught before while getting ready to go out on maternity leave.

In addition to that, one of these three teachers is double dipping. She's getting paid over 3k to "teach" handbells. But she's doing it during her contract hours!!!!! How is that fair? It's supposed to be a club held outside of school hours.

Grrrrrr.........

Two Posts in One Week!!

My Thursday Thirteen

1. Have the new Jonas Brothers CD. I'm not ashamed to say that I LOVE it. It's upbeat and easy to listen to. Even though half of the songs are about not being tied down to a "girl" I just like listening to silly stuff sometimes. Burnin' Up is definitely light and easy.

2. Maggie's skunk breath is getting better. Yesterday morning I got out of the shower and laid down for 20 minutes. When i turned over, her head was laying on my pillow like she owned the damn thing. It was cute. But still a little stinky. It was so cute though that I adjusted my face so I didn't have to breath it in and we shared the pillow for another 10 minutes.

3. Has anyone else noticed how AWESOME Lays potato chips are when you just eat them plain?

4. I just finished reading the entire Twilight series in a matter of a week and a half. I didn't think I'd like books about vampires but Jessica asked me to try them and they were great! I couldn't put them down!

5. Only the top half of my belly button is popping out when I stand. When I sit the whole thing starts to poke out. When I sit and talk, it pops out all the way whenever I place emphasis on something. I have noticed this while teaching.

6. I hate the spiders that live around the twisty knob on our propane tank on the grill.

7. I had a "stubborn standoff" with a kid today. I told him that I had 15 extra years of experience at being stubborn and that he was never going to win. I also told this same kid I would drag him "kicking and screaming" to the 9th grade. Remember- it's only the 2nd week of school. Yeah, he's that bad already.

8. I've decided that red leaf lettuce is superior to green leaf lettuce. It's less tough along the edges.

9. The best part about being pregnant is the kicking. I love, love, love when M kicks me and I press on my belly and then M kicks back again. It's like a fun little game that only the two of us can play. We're playing right now.

10. Sarah Palin is hot. Too bad she's Republican. If she and Obama were on the same ticket, they'd make the hottest team to ever campaign for office. ;)

11. I was so sweaty the other day that I stripped down naked in my living room and just laid on the floor in my 69 degree air. I LOVE central air. The dogs wouldn't stop licking my sweaty arms and face. While it was gross it was also funny. I tasted like a salt lick. Sorry, this one was probably TMI.

12. Now that school has actually started, I'm rethinking the whole, "I want to work all the way til my December 18th due date."

13. I saw two "sweet" cars today. One on the way to work, one on the way home. The first car was a silver Ford Taurus with two black racing stripes (like the kind you see on a Mustang). It was only going 50 miles an hour. You should not be allowed to put racing stripes on your car if you won't drive fast. And there was nothing else pimped out on the car. Weird. The second car was a plain, ordinary looking car that randomly had the words "Party Wagon" painted on the car with what looked like blue house paint. Yeah. I totally tried to get a picture with my phone, but couldn't find it fast enough.

Exhausted

So I never thought I would be this exhausted from teaching while pregnant. I'm really hoping that it's just the heat and once things cool off I'll feel a little better. Things have been pretty miserable in our building since we don't have air conditioning and have poor ventilation.

I checked the weather report at 2pm today and it said that it was 91 degrees outside. That means it was at LEAST 100 in my classroom. And on top of that the breaker kept blowing for my corner of the building. It might have to do with the fact that the guidance counselor and the asst principal both have air conditioners running on my circuit. I kept calling the office to get them to fix the problem. The custodian was very nice and he kept coming up to reset things and moved some of my fans around to try to help. The thing is, now all of the fans are on one side of the room and there is even less circulation of air.

When I told the building principal he said to me, "I don't know what to tell you. You'll just have to figure it out. Try the computer lab, it might be empty." What?!?! It's not your problem!??? That's essentially what he was saying to me. Has he forgotten that I'm over 6 months pregnant? I was pissed. I almost felt like crying. After the second time that the fans went out I made the decision to go up to the lab. I saw the asst principal on the way there and told him I was headed up there. He told me that I should stay there for the entire afternoon and that if anybody else tried to come use it I should send them to him.

This is a perfect example of how drastically different my two administrators are this year. Many of the people in my building are very unhappy with our new building principal. He used to be a teacher at the school and then spent one year as our asst principal. The old principal retired and they gave the younger guy his job. He just doesn't have enough experience or the right personality for the job. The new asst principal on the other hand is amazing. It's only his second year as an administrator but he has the right personality to be working as a boss. He's caring, he's always looking for ways to make the staff feel appreciated, and he listens. He gets the job done. I can't tell you how many times I've wished that their job roles were reversed.

I should mention that I've had to bust out my "bitch mode" way too many times in the last week and a half. I've already had to have the "diva" talk with a girl. You know, the one where I say that this room is only big enough for one diva personality, and mine has already taken up all the seats? Yeah. Oh, and we've already caught several kids cheating, had a cell phone stolen, and had a kid tell me that he fell asleep in my room because he was bored. *sigh* It's going to be a long wait til December....

Quick update

1. School has started. My 8th graders seem manageable. I think my 7th graders will be crying by the end of the week. I have about 3 or 4 kids that are definitely going to be a pain in the a$$ until I break them.

2. Maggie is skunkilicious right now. Somehow, she got sprayed right in the mouth, but no where else. We THINK it is living under our deck and she stuck her face under there. I was in a dead sleep Monday night after a long day. It was only about 10. Kendall let the dogs out and when Maggie came back in, she ran to the bedroom and started rubbing her face on our sheets and pillows. I immediately sat up in bed and yelled, "What the f*ck is that smell?!?!?!?!" It was AWFUL. If you've never experienced it before, you're lucky. Kendall literally threw Maggie into the bathtub and we started ripping the sheets off the bed. He bathed her for a good 45 minutes but the smell definitely doesn't go away that way. I called my mom and she gave me a recipe that is supposed to help lessen the smell. We've applied it several times since then and the smell has receded a bit, but she's still pretty stinky. My mom said at LEAST 6 months before it goes away. GREAT. Baby M is going to LOVE her.

3. My belly is ALMOST cute enough to photograph. Expect a picture sooner than later.

4. The baby furniture is all in and set up and we're working on getting the new blind and curtain up. Once those and the giraffe pictures are up I'll take a picture of the room. :)

See you in another week I'm sure......

ps. I have been reading peoples' blogs but honestly haven't had time to comment. So sorry!

For Stephanie.

At least I picked a new, even scarier shot....see below for actual updated post.

An Update

I've been a busy girl since I last posted!

We've painted the baby's room. It's yellow, in case you were thinking we made it gender specific. As soon as I get the curtains up I'll take a picture. The paint we bought was AWFUL, but unfortunately, we picked a shade of yellow that is only allowable in a specific brand of paint. It was a nightmare and we could have probably painted a third full coat on the walls, but we gave up and are hoping no one can tell. :) Painting also included the ceiling and the trim. It now looks fresher and nicer than any other trim in our house. My mom came down to help and it was definitely greatly needed. Who knew how hard one tiny room would end up being to paint? Stupid Valspar....

So that was two weekends ago. We also got to go miniature golfing for the first time this year that weekend. We went to Young's Dairy. My mom enjoyed herself, she hadn't mini golfed in years.
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I've been heading into school quite a bit, setting up my room and getting lesson plans together for the 7th grade reading class that I am teaching this year. I am not thrilled about it. It means extra work for me now and later. All of my 8th grade materials are ready to go, even ready to give to my long term sub. I feel like I'm working twice as hard for one 45 minute period of 7th grade. I'm extremely stressed about having materials for my long term sub. By the end of last week my room was pretty much set up though and at least tentative plans have been set through December for my 7th grade class.

We learned last week that the state has made some changes in classroom safety that we need to comply with as a building. Now keep in mind that the EPA is probably going to condemn our building soon and that we don't meet code for like a million other things, including our furnace and our overhead lighting. It might give you some perspective on how ridiculous some of the new rules are for "safety". Here's just a sampling of two such rules:

1. We are no longer allowed to have curtains of any kind hanging around our room. Not on windows, bookcases, anywhere. They are flammable and unsafe. However, I am allowed to have fabric on my bulletin boards. And keep textbooks. And hang student work. And teach on hardwood floors. None of those things are flammable according to the new safety rules. Nor is it dangerous to stack 50 boxes of paper in the copy room, all on top of each other. Did I mention that each box has 5000 sheets of paper in it. It must be fireproof paper.....

2. We cannot have ANY type of cleaner out where kids can have access to it. This includes hand sanitizer. The kids might drink it. Or get it in their eye. It might cause them to die. I have to have it locked up in a cabinet at all times. But don't worry, the pointy scissors and pencils that we let them use don't have any safety issues. They won't kill anyone. Nor will the compasses that our 8th grade students use in math class. Completely safe. No deaths.
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We lent Dathan and Natalie our car for the last two weeks (the Expedition) to head out to South Dakota to pick up a trailer and haul a pool table home that belonged to the family. It saved them several thousand dollars in plane tickets and rentals. The only thing we asked was that they a) pay for an oil change when they came back from the 3000 mile trip and b) not wreck our car. They can only fulfill requirement A. While out there, they hit a deer. With my car. It's in the shop right now having its front end replaced. I should have it back by tomorrow night. I'm not upset with them for hitting a deer. It can't be stopped. The poor deer's butt must hurt like a MOTHER. What did upset me was that they filed a claim on our insurance without calling us first. Without checking to see if we had a deductible or if it would raise our rates. It's here nor there now, but it was just irritating. And I felt like they kind of gave us a hard time about getting them a rental car and letting me keep their car until mine was fixed. But I won't get into that here.
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My dad and family visited this past weekend and stayed over night for the first time EVER. We had a great time. We went to the Darke County Fair on Saturday and it is definitely one of the best county fairs I've ever been to. It was HUGE. It had lots of food, lots of smelly animals, and lots of interesting people to watch. We ended the night with a cookout at our place and ice cream. While at Dairy Queen, I got a chance to talk with Bill and Sara one-on-one (my brother and sister in case you don't know) about their upcoming school year and we also talked about their long term plans. I was happy to hear that Bill is planning on going to college in two years. I was worried. He's thinking some type of computer graphics or design. Right up his alley. My sister was more interested in talking about fraternities and sororities at this point, but there's still time- she's only going into the 8th grade. We made them homemade blueberry coffee cake, eggs, and bacon for breakfast the next day and my father was very impressed. He ate 3 helpings. :) I think he forgets I'm a grown up sometimes. I even showed them my belly button trick. They all laughed and I was only a little embarrassed.
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The last two days have been spent working and getting a hair cut. I'm pretty much ready for school to start with the exception of making photocopies. I'm planning on spending all day Thursday doing that. I also have an all day retreat tomorrow with my building. It will be good to see all of my coworkers again and find out how ugly our staff t-shirt is this year. I can't promise to write much over the next week or so just because work will be keeping me very busy. But I promise to try. Sorry for the long absence and equally long post. Oh, and I'm posting the cicada picture again, just to "bug" Stephanie every time she opens my blog. HA!