31 weeks

Well it's been a busy, exhausting couple of weeks back at work. Today I made myself leave at 4:45, and it felt early since I've stayed until at least 6 pm the last two weeks. I am pretty excited for a new school year though! It feels great to not be a first year teacher anymore. I actually got a great compliment this week from my new boss..she said she had no idea I was a 2nd year teacher! She thought I had been doing this a lot longer, because I seem so confident and prepared. Ha! Little does she know, I pretty much wing it on a daily basis. :)

It's been so fun to see my kids from last year and their reactions to my belly!! They are so excited and just want to hug and pat the baby when they see me. They say the funniest things like, "What did you feed the baby for lunch?"and "Are you going to play with your baby when you get home?"  Today I had a kid put his ear to my stomach and say  "She must be sleeping because she isn't saying anything!" These little conversations remind me of why I love my job!

1st Day of School!!

Tomorrow I have my 32 week appointment and I am kind of nervous, because I think I've gained at least 5 lbs since my last appointment 2 weeks ago! I've been so busy that I just scarf down food any chance I get..including more fast food than I normally eat in a month! I need to get back to my meal planning and cooking that I was so good about all summer.

This week's pregnancy symptoms have been rougher on me than normal. I experienced ankle swelling for the first time after meet the teacher night…but I think 14 hour work days might even induce swelling on the non preggo person's body. I've had heartburn around the clock, no matter what I eat, but the Tums usually help for a couple of hours. I'm pretty used to the heartburn now and it doesn't burden me too badly until it wakes me up for a middle of the night puke session (yep, disgusting and it's happened twice this week).  I told Jon that if the wive's tale is true about heartburn being an indicator of hair for the baby, then Avery will should resemble Rapunzel. ;-) Another thing that's back and worse than ever,  hip pain. Except its not the dull/sore pain that I normally experience, but an excruciating pinched nerve type pain that has brought me to tears more than once. The heating pad and warm bath are becoming great friends of mine.

Besides these discomforts, I really have been feeling great! I love feeling this little girl becoming stronger in her movements! I am just reminded daily that this little life inside of me is such a miracle!! And Jon is the cutest expecting father ever! Seeing him so  genuinely excited just makes me even more in love with him. I can't believe we only have 8 weeks (more or less) until we are parents!!

30 weeks

This week has been awesome!! Saturday, I had an AMAZING baby shower with an incredible group of ladies!! Everyone completely spoiled Avery with some of the most thoughtful and generous gifts. We are so blessed to have so many people that already love our baby. We got soooo many cute things!! It just makes me even more excited for her to be here so I can see how cute she'll look in all her goodies!  :)

The rest of the weekend I was pretty exhausted, but you can say that nesting officially kicked in! Jenn and I stayed up late Saturday sorting out the gifts and popping tags, and putting away a lot of the stuff. Sunday after she headed back to Oklahoma, I went to town on reorganizing the closet to clear out space, and starting the baby laundry and by the way... Dreft smells so good!! While I was doing all of this Jon had Brandon over, so I put them to work too. He hung up the curtain, and the artwork we have so far.  Oh and I am so excited, because Jon just ordered my glider/recliner that I've been wanting, tonight!! I can't wait to see its true beauty in person. If it's anything like the ones I've sat in at the baby stores, it is soon to be my favorite seat in the house! He is pretty much the best husband/father-to-be ever! This nursery is almost ready for baby!! EEEEKKK :)

Yesterday I officially started back to work. We've had meetings/trainings all during the day, so I've been staying after to finish my room and Jon came up to help yesterday too. Today I was too tired to accomplish much, but I was still somehow there until 6. I hope I am productive tomorrow or else I won't be ready for Meet the Teacher on Thursday… It feels good to be back though. It's great to see all my work friends again and I am getting anxious to meet my new kiddos!

29 Weeks

 Abby already likes to snuggle with her sister! :) Ohh I love this puppy, but she's going to be in for a rude awakening! I hope she is sweet to Avery though and not too jealous!!

In most ways it seems like my pregnancy has flown by and will be over before I know it, but sometimes I feel like "Wow, I still have 11 weeks? That's a long time!!" But I know once we have Avery here, time will only seem to go by quickly. I'm so excited for everything coming up, that I have been obsessively making to-do lists and checklists to make sure I don't forget anything. Although, I am sure I probably still will.


After my baby shower this weekend (I can't wait!!) it will be time to shop for all of my post-partum needs, any other must-haves for newborns, get the carpets cleaned, add the finishing touches on the nursery, pack the hospital bag and install the car seat. Holy moly, sometimes I still can't believe we are having a baby!!

On top of getting ready for Avery, I am trying to set up my classroom as well. It's kind of tricky because I don't even know what all I need set up for first graders, and I can't hang anything on the walls without climbing on furniture. I've got to get Jon to come help me at some point. Plus, my new room is just ugly. Each wall has some awful painting that needs covered, but I am kind of at the point of not caring so much. As long as it's functional for learning, I guess it doesn't have to be cute. Monday is my first official day back for staff development, so no more sleeping in or midday naps for me! I am starting to get excited though. Especially since I know most of the kids already and should have a really sweet bunch.




Here is a picture of me, about to get see Baby in 3D!! I was so thankful to have my best friend Shannon with me, because Jon couldn't get off work in time for this one.

                                           





Here is her side profile and hand.                              Here is her sweet little face!
I get emotional every time I look at these. I can't wait to kiss that little nose and love on her!
                                  I'm so amazed by how perfect she is already!!

28 Weeks

I have a feeling August is going to go by fast!! This week I've had trainings for work,  I have stuff to get done in my classroom, an ultrasound, physical therapy and we are going to the lake for the weekend! It looks like my precious summer is coming to an end. :-(

The crib came in yesterday and Brandon and Jon put it together for me already! They also did the bookcase/changing table a few days ago so the nursery is almost done!! We need to hang stuff on the walls, get bedding, a changing pad and a glider, but we've definitely made a lot of progress. It's so crazy that our little one will be here in only 9-12 more weeks!!

The boys working on Miss Avery's stuff!

Finished bookcase with the changing table attachment

Being goofy putting the crib together.

Jon sent me this picture while I was at the gym last night. Since we don't have bedding yet, he put all my shopping bags inside..haha! I love seeing him as excited as I am about meeting our baby! We talk about her every night and about our hopes, dreams and fears for her. I'm so lucky to have a man that is already so invested in his daughter. I just know she's going to be a spoiled little Daddy's girl!

Right now I am the most excited about my ultrasound on Thursday. I hope Little Miss is wide awake and putting on a show, because I am going to a different doctor to get some 3D/4D images for this one appointment!!

27 Weeks

This week marks a couple of big milestones… First of all, I am officially in the 3rd trimester, the last leg of pregnancy, so that's kind of bittersweet! I am one of those crazy women that has really loved being pregnant, so it's crazy how fast it is going by. On the other hand, I hear that things are about to get pretty uncomfortable and in a few weeks, I'll be more than ready for it to be all over and just meet my baby. Also, 27 weeks is a big milestone in baby development. At 2 pounds, if Avery is born now, she has more than a 90% chance of survival. Of course we are very eager to meet her, but we want her to stay in the belly for at least 10 more weeks when she is full term and much chunkier!!

Also this week, I celebrated my 25th birthday. Other than going out to dinner and responding to the 80+ FaceBook messages, this was less than exciting… I spent the day at a literacy training and it just didn't feel much like a birthday. Maybe it's because I have been so focused on baby things and gearing up for back to school that my birthday just kind of snuck up on me and was over before I realized it.

Other exciting stuff…my inlaws ordered our crib last night and it should be delivered in a week or so!! I am looking forward to (Jon) putting it together. :) Oh and I passed my gestational diabetes test! The drink wasn't as bad as I imagined, but it wasn't very good either. I was just worried about passing, with diabetes running in my family, and because I felt like major crap with a huge sugar crash afterwards. But I did pass, which means it's totally ok to continue the daily ice cream eating! Haha :)