Just got off the phone with my great friend Ashley, who is also pregnant (about 10 weeks behind me), and she found out today they're having another girl!! I'm so super excited for her and can't wait to see the ultrasound pictures. Her baby and our baby will be so close in age and it will great for them to have a buddy.
I know this is cheesy of me, but really enjoyed my parents friends who had kids around the same age as me. I guess it's because I really don't know my cousins and most of the cousins I do have are my parents age (my parents are both 8-10 younger than their next oldest sibling). I know that our baby has a greater chance of having cousins her age than I was, but Matt and I are states away from our siblings- so she won't be able to see her cousins a whole bunch anyway. That thought makes me real sad.
But on the other hand, I have a lot of great friends who have had or are going to have babies right around the same time as me. Garrett has a baby girl who will be 8 months older, I have another friend- besides Ashley- who is 12 weeks behind me. I have three wonderful friends who had babies last February/March so she will be buddies with them.
Just had a moment and wanted to share with you the blessing of our Lord and savior!
Me, Ashley, Addyson (her 1 year old), and the ol' horse this summer.
Way too much time has passed since I last wrote. Mostly because life has been too busy. And to be frank, when it's not busy I'm passed out- aka storing up energy for the next round. Thankfully things have settled down enough that I'm awake at the crack butt of dawn on a Saturday and I can write this. Amen right there!
As I've been driving to work each morning, well the mornings I don't carpool, and I've wished I could type and drive. I feel like there is so much about this pregnancy that I haven't been able to write down- so God bless you reader, here goes about two weeks worth of what I can remember.
I've enjoyed being pregnant, especially in the second trimester. I have however found out slowly but surely that the third trimester is a whole new ball game. (sorry for so many cheesy sayings :-) There is less energy to go around, and a greater desire to eat anything and everything in site. My students bring breakfast back to class- oh my, the thought crosses my mind to eat their food! Who desires to take food from a hungry child?! Madness! I had only gained 2 pounds from the end of August to late September. Well I just had another appointment- brace yourself- this past appointment was only 2 weeks after the last one and I gained 4 pounds this time! Yikes. I don't want to be huge, but I just want to eat all the time. I was telling Matt, that even when I'm not hungry my body wants to eat. I just spent the last three years of my life getting into a healthy body and keeping it that way, not wanting to throw that away in a mere 2 months. So anyway, that is something I've been working on- only eating a peanut butter english muffin every other day and not two a day ;-)
Some stuff I have been loving though is that she is soooo much more active this trimester. She is moving and grooving and she has a schedule. She loves to get wild in there when I come home from work and put my feet up, as I lay on the couch. Matt can usually enjoy the crazy from the chair across the room, she's so nutty! He can feel her more and more, which I love! This morning in bed when I was laying there I had Annabelle purring away on my legs and her wiggling around like a crazy girl in my belly. It didn't take me long to get uncomfortable (another pet peeve of 3rd trimester, nothing is comfortable for very long!) and I was thinking of Matt is laying away sleeping and dreaming while I was uncomfortable with both "kids." LOL...it made me giggle to think of our family growing and changing!
Another thought I had mid car ride, was how much faster time seems to go now that I'm back at work. We only have two months left- WOW!! That is big. I remember the first few month of being pregnant and thinking this was going to be the longest 9 months because ever week seemed to last a thousand years (a little over the top, but it's me talking here). I have been a little grateful for the speeding up of time. Not that I want life to fly by, but I find myself getting so ready to meet her. Does she have a full head of hair? Is her face round or oval? Will she be a fuss bucket or mellow? What will she smell like (I hope that isn't too weird to wonder)? What will Matt be like with her? Will she like swinging in her swing or rolling around the neighborhood for walks with me in her stroller? I'm sure it's normal to wonder all of these things, but I'm getting ready for answers. On the other hand though, I very much enjoy the selfishness of having her in my tummy, all to my self, safe and sound too!
Anyway, I'm going to end this with saying I feel so blessed to have what I have and be trusted with this wonderful life. Thanks be to God for all of it!!!
Well the first week of school is under my belt and I couldn't be happier. The title of this entry is one that sums up the week. The students were wonderful. The class size is great. I just really have nothing to complain about. I'm very appreciative of God placing me here. I'm truly blessed and I need to remember that daily when I head into work. I'm also glad that, this being my last year of teacher before I stay home with our baby and her future siblings, it will be one I can go out smiling on.
Other fun stuff...today has been wonderful. We woke up and just chilled in bed for a while. We watched the baby kick around in my tummy and got out the "BebeSounds" thingy we were loaned. We got to hear her heart beat- oh it is such a beautiful sound! She's been rockin' and rollin' in there today. I've gotten a bunch of house work done. Homemade potato soup is cooking on the stove and cupcakes are in the oven. (I won't mention that these are Matt's birthday cupcakes I was suppose be make last week, and no I don't think this makes me a bad of a wife ;-)
Now I'm procrastinating school work that needed to get done tonight. Matt is out mowing the lawn. He is so cute. He gets all excited about going to the local gardening store to buy fertilizer and dirt. I tell ya, this man is one of little means, and that suits me just fine. I like when he gets excited about his new hobby, aka our lawn. Next week he has us going to these free classes they're offering at the local botanical gardens. He's so pumped, I love him so much!
"Two are better than one, because together they can work more effectively" Ecclesiastes 4:9
Matt and I out and about last weekend, enjoying each others company.
Well what a week. It was full time back at work and getting the classroom ready for the little kiddies. And what a week it was. I did so good- low stress for the most part all week. My classroom came together and didn't look to shabby for Open House on Thursday. I enjoyed meeting my new students. They all seemed so wonderful. I hope they feel relaxed about Tuesday, because I don't. I made it all the way through the week before the stress of the school year starting set in. Needless to say, after a full nights sleep (12 hours to be exact) I feel more relaxed and ready to conquer these first few months.
I've spent some time today getting more stuff ready. I still need to head to Lowes and buy a rug and some bins. There is no storage in the room so I need a place for their extra supplies, like boxes of tissues, baggies, and hand sanitizer. I've been praying for the first day to go smooth for them and me. I know that God has put me with these kids and at this school, so I need to trust in Him and it will all work out.
Now I'm off to enjoy the weekend with Matt and Annabelle. We're headed to a friends house for a backyard fire and s'mores. It's been a beautiful day and it will be a wonderful ending. Just to keep you posted little Lauren is doing great, kicking around as I type this. I know I'm going to miss that once I'm not pregnant anymore- which is only a little ways away. Wow time does fly!
Today I enjoyed, as the title states, my last day of summer. Tomorrow and the next day we have staff development and then I head into school Friday to do some much needed work on my classroom. Thankfully a good friend, Shawn, has offered to come in and help me. I am so grateful she can do that.
So what did I spend my last day of freedom doing? Well I got up, ate, and went back to sleep. Oh, even the memory of that is wonderful. Then I officially got up again and cleaned up the kitchen, headed to the shower, and opened some windows. After a scorcher of a summer, we finally had a day below 85 degrees. So with the windows open I finished up my presentation. Amen for that! Then I met Matt for lunch and enjoyed some lovely special time with him. I just love him! Then I headed to wally-world for my homework folders, I buy for my kids every year.
After all that, I headed home to put together the glider that was delivered right before I went to meet Matt. This I have to deliberate on. I really didn't want a glider, so I wasn't as excited as I have been for other things going on in the nursery. I put it together though and sat in it. Not horrible, but not what I "wanted." I'm sure it will do it's job just fine. But then a wonderful thing happened later. When Matt brought the mail in this evening- there was a babies-r-us coupon book with a 15% off coupon for gliders. I quickly got the customer service number and called them up. They nicely awarded me with a refund. Woohoo! It was $26.25- that's big money to me. I keep thinking that we paid less money for something I didn't really want in the first place- bonus! I do have to say though, as I sat there it was wonderful to imagine sitting there with the baby once she's born...I really can't wait until she's here!!!
I've spent the remainder of my evening cleaning up the desk, which was a mess from working on the presentation and getting things ready for tomorrow morning. I don't even want to know what it's going to feel like getting up at 5:30- yuck times a hundred!
Well today I ventured up to my classroom. Overwhelmed would be a good word to describe how I felt. Upset would be another word I would use. Upset that I was overwhelmed would be the phrase I would use.
It's nothing like my old classroom. I spent a lot of time realizing what I had lost in the move. Simple things that I had become accustom to. Stupid stuff. Things like a sink, a closet, a teacher desk built for someone with stuff, etc... Then this is where the upset part came into play. I got upset with myself for being so superficial and needy. I can teach anywhere and with or without most things. Why was I getting so upset about these "things?" How is the sink going to make me a better teacher? Maybe this down grade in desk size is an tangible sign of that.
In 2 Corinthians 8:9 Paul writes "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich." Maybe I need to look at my poorness of "stuff" as a way to relate to Jesus. He had it all but gave it up for us. What I had in my old school, in my old classroom, needed to be given up so that I may come back to what truly matters- the students. Not that I ever feel like I was into teaching for any other reason (certainly not the money), but maybe with my struggles last year I forgot some of the basics that matter the most.
My prayer for this year is that I do come back to the basics. The basics of life. Faith, hope, and love. I pray that I have faith that God has placed me where HE needs me, to do HIS work. My I never loss hope that with God I can thrive and live a complete life- no matter where that may be. And that I love the world around me as God loves me everyday, and unconditionally!!
Me, Ashley, Addyson (her 1 year old), and the ol' horse this summer.
