Just Waiting

So work is officially behind me and now I want nothing more than for Baby Dane to make his appearance (though I'm still a bit scared about how all that's gonna go down!!!).

My last day at school was Friday; and while it was hectic with last minute stuff (esp parent emails and grades b/c they were due Friday also) the day was good and the kids were sweet.  My parapro had a surprise 'baby party' for me complete with a gift and pettifors for the kids.  They loved it.  They also asked a lot of questions- which I did my best to answer!  (you can imagine!)  It felt oddly refreshing to close my classroom door and leave school.  Such a mixture of emotions.  But overall glad that it worked out the way I had 'planned'.

Saturday we had a busy day.  We started with breakfast at one of our local haunts followed by a playdate for our Sadie pup and then I accompanied Z on a 2 year old baby photo shoot for some of our friends at Stone Mtn. Park. It was beautiful weather outside and we ended up making a whole afternoon of it!  Photos, playground, lunch, and a sweet treat from the yogurt shop before going home.

YUMMY!  Patrick ate his plus some of his mommy's!  :)

After saying bye to our friends, we headed home, freshened up, gathered up Sadie, and headed up to my sister and her husbands house for their 2nd Annual St. Patty's Beer Fest.  As usual, my awesome hostess of a sister had a yummy spread of food, fun games, and (for the drinkers) a great selection of beer.  It was fun to hang out with all the girls.  Dane was in major kicking form and my feet were mega swollen so I had to sit most of the time, but it was fun regardless.  2 other pregnant friends were there and we swapped stories and the latest dr appt news, too.

All boys!  Preston will be here late April/ Early May; Brady will be here in 2 weeks; and Dane (should!) be here any day now!  :)

Teresa, Mary, my sis Kelly with me & Dane.  Love these girls!!!

I had to have picture proof that I was at a party 39.5 weeks pregnant!  hahaha!  :)

Sunday we were mega lazy.  And it was pretty great!  haha!  We laid around and watched movies, hung out, did laundry, and enjoyed (and spicy!) thai dinner.  I heart low-key Sundays!  I'm going to spend some time with my mom today so I don't go crazy sitting here home alone wondering if my water is going to break!  My next dr appt is tomorrow morning.  I still can't believe how close we are to the due date!

Catching Up

Well, well. I knew it'd been a while - but a month-- oops! I don't have any pictures ready for this post, it just struck me this morning that I needed to update so... pics will come later! haha!

Let's see, the last time I wrote I was hating morning sickness and LOVING our first u/s. Some things never change! We had our 2nd u/s this week. It deserves it's own post, so I'll save that for tomorrow :) Now, the morning sickness never got worse (knocking on wood now!) but it has continued to stay with me. I have an underlying yuck feeling all day and night. ew. And, whoa, if I let myself get hungry-- it's all over. I am a mean, nasty, hungry machine! I get cranky and moody. I hate it. You should see all the stuff I pack to go to school! I carry 2 lunchboxes! haha!

Speaking of school, it started back and it's busy as ever. i hate august. It's so hectic and stressful trying to unpack a classroom, get things set up the way you want, all while attending meetings, learning new curriculum, hoping for a big enough class to keep all your teachers on your grade level, and this year- balance the 'ew' morning sickness factor. One of the ladies on my grade level that's been teaching Kdg for 27 years always says "Teaching K is like childbirth- if you remembered

how bad it was, you'd never do it again." Now I've always laughed at this comment b/c it never hit home for be before, but this year I was like"what!?! Childbirth isn't THIS bad is it!?!" :) It's just hard to have 20 five-year-olds (and a couple of 4 yo) for a full school day that, for some, is their first school experience. They are so clueless! Rules, routines, walking in a line, heck- lining up in the first place!, bathroom breaks, and of course- actually teaching them something all day.... whew! They just wanna play and eat. I'm with 'em! Sounds good to me! haha! They get more settled everyday and by October we'll be smooth sailing.

Let's see-- my brother-in-law turned 30 and my sister threw him a fantastic party last weekend! Let me tell ya, she should go into party planning. This party was like a mini wedding reception. Rented tables/chairs, cute linens, centerpieces, a video room where people could leave video messages, signs for all of the food and drinks stations, a band, and ya'll, she made the food herself. For 45 people. And it. was. amazing. She loves cooking and it shows! She did a fabulous job with everything! I was so happy for her! It made her so happy to throw her husband that party! My husband took a bunch of pics. Click here if you are interested in checking them out! Oh, I've got a picture for here... one of me and my mom and sister! yay! :) PS> My boobs are getting big. :( And my belly, too!

Today we have a wedding for friends, Stacy and Shane, and we're pumped. My husband is photographing it so that'll be fun, too! I m hoping the weather will turn around... it's a little gloomy. Though gloomy looks pretty cool through a camera lens too. :)

Oh, and I became an aunt for the first time today! My sister-in-law had her baby around 2:00 this morning! A little boy they named Bowen. Ya'll, she has been at the hospital since Thursday night around 8:00 waiting to have this little guy. I haven't gotten all the details, but I know she was induced (she was almost 41 weeks), she had multiple epidurals, the baby got stuck in the birth canal, and finally came out face up but with his head turned to the side, and with a turned ankle. It sounds like a LOOONNNGGG process, but we got word this morning around 9 that mom and baby are doing fine. Bless her heart. Sounds exhausting! We are going up to see them tomorrow!

Anyway, really just wanted to say hi and do a quick catch-up on things. Mostly life things, I'll put baby things in their own little posts. :) Now, I've got to go scan our u/s pics from this week. It was so cool! I love ultrasounds!!!! :)

Happy Saturday everyone!

Catching Up (work, reading, dr news)

Oops! It's been over a week since I've posted! Work is so crazy right now that I simply come home, eat, shower, and sleep! It's pitiful! I am up to 27 students in my room--- but help is on the way! A teacher transferred over today and is getting her room ready. 6 of my kids will move to her room soon. The letters went home to their parents today...kinda nervous about how they will take the news!

Aside from work, I spent much of the weekend finishing The Time Travelers Wife. wow. That's all I'll say for now (I know many of you are reading it!). My book club is meeting up tomorrow for a chat and then we're going to see the movie together! Can't wait to see what made it into the movie...

In ttc news, I'm on week 3 of birth control. I feel pretty yucky. And my 'girls' are HARD AS ROCKS and SORE!!! ugh. This is especially uncomfortable sleeping as I am a stomach sleeper. :( Anyway, I am supposed to skip the 'white pills' next week and go straight to a new pack/month of pills Friday night. However the pharmacy won't fill the prescription this early. And since teachers don't have time to pee during the day much less sit on hold for doctors and pharmacies, I've got Zach on the job. His mission is to get me my bcp by Friday afternoon. Poor guy!

While I'm a little apprehensive to mention this (b/c it still doesn't 'feel' right), I got a call last week from the Dr. K's office telling me that after my 6 weeks of bcp's are over Dr. K wants me to come in for a clomid check!!! He says he doesn't think the cyst was that bad especially considering I had just ovulated a couple of days before the procedure was done. He wants to try clomid / IUI !!!!! I'm like, really??? I thought you wanted to see how bcp's did on the cyst and so forth. I guess it seems too good to be true so I am finding a negative--for some reason. So, ladies, this means I'll be doing the infamous 'clomid challenge' and IUI in the next month or so!!! CRAZY!

I have TONS of questions about clomid and the IUI, but that will have to be for another day/post. I'm sleepy!

Last Summer Vaca+ Back to Work

Been a bit out-of-pocket lately. A couple of days after our RE appt, we took one last vacation before summer ended. We joined a great couple for our annual trip together. Last summer we went to Charleston. This summer we rented a fabulous cabin up in the mountains. We brought our dogs, food for grilling out, swimsuits for the hot tub, creek shoes for tubing on the river, sunglasses for our Blue Ridge Scenic Railway trip, and lots of cameras (though I don't have any pics ready to post!). We had a blast and it was incredibly relaxing. I was so glad that the RE appt was behind us--I think it really allowed us to chill out and enjoy each other and our friends.

Upon our return I had to switch to 'school mode'. I hit up the mall for some clothing deals, hit the schoolbox for bulletin board accents and nametags and all that good stuff, and cleaned out & organized my closets AGAIN so everything was ready! Thursday night we went up to the amphitheater and saw/listened to Willie Nelson, John Mellancamp, and Bob Dylan. Thank goodness for ponchos and umbrellas because of course it rained on us! But it was fun.

Until AF arrived. During the concert.

I had mixed emotions. On one hand, this was good news-- it meant that I could call and schedule my next RE appt so we can do the ultrasound and get our plan of baby action ready. On the other hand, this was disappointing news-- our 'try on our own' efforts had not paid off.

Anyway, I spent the weekend feeling yucky and watching FRIENDS. (I own the box set of the series and have been watching it straight through. Of course, this weekend happened to be the episodes where Rachel has her baby!)

Today I started back to school. This week is pre-planning. We have a furlough day Thursday and a no work day Friday and the kids start Monday! So I've got 3 days to get my room together in between meetings and visiting/gossiping with friends! I got a lot done today, thanks to my amazing parapro, but it was a long day. I left my house at 7:15 am and literally pulled in the garage at 7:15 pm. I was so grateful to walk in the door to Zach cooking dinner! yay! What a good hubby!

Now I need to get to bed to do it all again tomorrow!