What a Week!

The past week has been bananas! The first week of school is enough to make it a whirlwind but there was a lot more going on than just that! Today begins day 8 of being sick with a pretty nasty cold/allergies. I've been sitting here in my pajamas all day trying to figure out why I can't seem to keep my eyes open and then I remember how crazy it's been!

Sunday - I wake up feeling sick - sore throat, congestion, etc. Not the best way to start off a new school year. I rally through and try to enjoy the last day before the circus starts!

Monday - First day of school...enough said. It was a good day! My feet and back hurt something terrible by the end of the day, but my cold/allergies feel better when I'm busy working. Rather than coming home and putting my feet up, we leave to grab dinner on the run before we meet the girl who is buying my car to fill out some paperwork. 

Tuesday - Second day of school - the hardest part of the first week is talking nonstop. It's inevitable - you can usually be the type to plan the most student-centered lessons, but the first week has to be teacher-centric (going over procedures, explaining where everything is in the classroom and how certain assignments need to be completed). While we were working, my Mom (bless her!) stayed at my house waiting for the Rooms to Go delivery man to bring our new dining room table and china buffet!!!! Yay! It makes me laugh because one of my pregnant coworkers told me she'd gone home after the first day and laid on the couch and napped until her husband got home. I came home to see my new table (love it!) and spent the entire night cleaning out everything from my car and setting up our buffet. After over 2.5 years, I was finally able to unpack the china, special serving pieces, and glassware that we didn't have room for in our kitchen. We've been able to use a great deal of the kitchen gifts we got as wedding presents since right after the wedding, but all the really special pieces that wouldn't be used often had to stay packed up in closets since there wasn't room for them...until today! I'm so happy to finally have this done! It's awesome to have access to all the beautiful wedding gifts we were blessed to get. Now I know I didn't have to come home and do this all night. Lots of people would have waited until the weekend, but 1) I am nesting big time, 2) I've been waiting a long time to do this, 3) I knew there would probably be no time this weekend.

Wednesday - Good day at school! Another day of talking my head off! I don't know if it's being sick or pregnant, but I find myself perpetually out of breath when I'm talking! I like my kids so far - knock on wood, they seem so much more mellow and young (in a good way) than my group last year. Of course, there will be challenges but I've been praying for a nice group for this year in particular with being pregnant and out on maternity leave. I don't honestly think my heart and my self-esteem could take another year like last year. I know this is the honeymoon phase, but I have a good feeling so far. After finishing up at work, I fill out more paperwork for my car sale, run by the vet to buy Aurora's cat food, and then meet to exchange my car for a big fat check! Holla! It was sad to say goodbye to my little car but I felt so happy to have it done. Selling a car on Craigslist is akin to Medieval torture - I've never encountered so many strange and screwed up people in my life. So the fact that this nice, normal, legit girl ended up buying it is so wonderful. Cam came and picked me up, we ran to the bank, and then to Target for some essentials. Shoutout to my Campbell - he also took our little Aurora to the vet this morning before work. I've been very worried about her these past few weeks as she hasn't been herself at all. It killed me to have to miss the appointment  (stupid job!), but one benefit of Cam and I being on such different work schedules is that he can do things like this and not miss any work. And our little girl got a great report from the vet - she has gained a pound (she had lost weight when we took her in March, which worried us b/c she is so small to begin with) and doesn't seem to be suffering any bladder problems. The diagnosis is just that she really likes to be outside and doesn't like it when she can't be and she's dealing with having a little brother at home! Here's hoping that all hell doesn't break loose when we bring a real human baby home next year...

Thursday - Cam takes me to work this morning since I'm carless. It works out well because I had a microwave I needed to bring up to school and it was really too heavy for me to carry in my delicate condition (teehee). Between that and some school supplies I got for my kiddos, both of our hands were full! After school, my mom and baby Grace picked me up right after the bell rang so we could make it to my credit union before they closed. I did some paperwork I needed to do in anticipation of getting a loan for my new car and then we ran to Babies R Us so mom could pick up a high chair seat for Dolly to use at her house. Then we stopped by McDonalds and had a snack...don't judge! I take her car home so I can borrow it for work on Friday.

Friday - I've never needed a Friday so badly! For the second night in a row, I've barely gotten any sleep due to congestion. I oversleep, waking up at 6:50 when I've got to be at work at 7:45. Technically I really need to be at work at 7:35 at the latest thanks to a new traffic system they've enacted this year at school. They've eliminated a ton of staff parking, so now if you're not at work early, you won't have a place to park. Lovely! I teach my first real history lesson of the year on exploration and colonization. It goes well and the kids ask lots of good questions! During third period I notice that my vision on my right side is blurry and I'm seeing spots. During my planning time next period I run down to the nurse and ask her to take my blood pressure. After my sister's experience with preecalmpsia, I know that seeing spots usually means something's up with blood pressure. Sure enough my bottom number was high - not alarmingly so, but obviously enough to make me feel weird. I go back upstairs and eat my lunch and take a break, and start to feel better. The nurse had me come back during my lunch break a couple hours later and my blood pressure was the same. She gives me strict instructions to put my feet up this weekend and not do any housework. Haha-have we met? After work, I head to my parent's house to drop off my mom's car. I find out that my grandma has fallen and broken her hip. She is almost 90 and is just getting over a terrible knee break back in April. She's in the hospital but they are waiting to do surgery because she has a fever. It's been a whirlwind day for her, so I wait to go visit until later in the weekend. In the interest of getting stuff done, Cam picks me up and we run to Carmax to look at a car that has popped up on their website that we're interested in. The car is awesome - we've been looking at cars and doing lots of research for several weeks now, and this one just feels right. We tell the guy we want the car and are ready to put down earnest money/whatever we need to do to hold the car and he informs us that Carmax doesn't hold cars. Shoot. I don't know if the car would've sold to someone else that weekend, but with it being a holiday weekend with lots of big car sales going on, it seemed like it could happen. Dealership guy is able to hold the car through 9 pm on Saturday. We go eat Mexican food and then head home and fill out an online prequalification application for a car loan through my credit union.

Saturday - Cam picks up some breakfast tacos and we turn on the season opener of College Gameday!!!! Such happiness! I call the credit union when they open up at 9 am and they tell me that I need to go wait at a branch location in order to try to get the loan processed that day. I drag poor football-deprived Cam with me to the credit union and we sit. The credit union gives anyone sitting in a branch lobby priority in the queue for a loan officer. The loan officer calls me and we sit and work out the terms of the loan over the phone (very bizarre). Then we sign the paperwork with the branch manager and head to Carmax. I call USAA and add the car to our insurance policy so Carmax will let us take the car home. After signing a bunch more paperwork and writing a big check, we get the keys to my beautiful blue 2011 Ford Escape! I am in love with this car y'all! It is beautiful, roomy, and easy to drive! I've never had a car that was this new...so I drive home feeling like I'm living pretty high on the hog. Cam races off to his Fantasy Football draft party. He is the Commissioner of his league this year so this is a big day for him! I hang out at home and rest a little and then do some forbidden housework. I know, I know...but I'm nesting and I can't relax until my house feels cleaner. I also spend the day monitoring things with my grandma. Her surgery goes well and she gets moved to a regular hospital room. My mom is at the hospital from 6 am until very late in the night. My Uncle Steve flies in from California. My poor grandma has a pretty rough afternoon/evening. Her heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels are all over the place and things are pretty worrisome. Surgery at her age is never going to be a breeze. My sister and I really want to go to the hospital, but my mom encouraged us to wait until Sunday. There were 4 family members there already and lots of medical people in the room all day. My grandma is exhausted and we worry about overwhelming her. They give her a blood transfusion and check her lungs for blood clots (all clear) and she starts to feel a little better. 

Sunday - Cam and I hang around the house and try to rest a little. My grandma is doing better this morning - such a relief! We run a couple errands and then meet up at my parent's house to go visit her. My grandma seems good given the circumstances, and my mom says there is a world of difference between how she seems today compared with yesterday. We get to visit some with my Uncle Steve and my cousin Jerry - it's sad how it takes something bad happening for us to catch up with each other, but it was nice to see them. We head home and hang out at my parent's house. My parents made dinner for us - yummy steaks and potatoes. My appetite is back - I haven't been eating very much over the last few months, but tonight I eat almost everything on my plate. We watch the season finale of Breaking Bad (amazing!) and then head home to feed our little animals. It is a wonderful feeling to know we have a whole other day to rest! Unfortunately my overindulgence at dinner comes back to haunt me and I feel miserably full until the next day! I wake up several times in the night with terrible indigestion/heartburn! Blah! After throwing up until I was 15 weeks along, I was looking forward to the "glorious second trimester!" It's definitely better than throwing up, but the heartburn (even with medicine) and congestion are about to do me in. But truthfully, I really love being pregnant. It is an amazing feeling and I'd throw up/have heartburn every day for 40 weeks to get to have a sweet little baby.

And that brings us to today. Now do you see why I haven't gotten out of my pajamas today? This isn't meant to be a "poor me" post, it's more of a journal of a crazy week for me to look back on. Some day when I'm beating myself up for being lazy, I'll come read this - lol!

18 Weeks

Total Weight Loss/Gain: I'm up 3 pounds.

Size of Baby: The baby is about the size of a sweet potato!

Maternity Clothes: They are much more fun to wear to work than regular work clothes.

Sleep: I sleep like the dead right now. My body is exhausted!

Movement: Nothing yet - I can't wait to feel something!

Cravings/Aversions: My love of candy is back! And it's almost Halloween = perfect!

What I Miss: Being able to carry heavy stuff myself.

Gender: I'm so looking forward to September 14th! It's what's getting me through these first few crazy weeks of school. I'm totally unsure what it is - I guess my gut tells me girl but then I doubt myself and think boy. Had to go to the doctor last week for a little issue (nothing wrong!) and the heart rate was in the 140s, which is right in the middle. I think it jumped back up into the 150s though once she found it.

Mood: Pretty good! Stressed but good.

Milestones: We got our baby furniture! I have love/hate feelings toward Babies R Us, but they put the furniture we had been eyeing on amazing sale and we jumped on it. We got our crib FOR FREE! It's awesome! I also finally sold my little coupe today! It was a little sad to say goodbye to that car! It was sporty and young - I bought it because of that, knowing it would probably be my last chance to have a car like that. So now the search for something kid-friendly can really get going!  I'm excited to have something bigger and more roomy! And by the way, I think it's safe to say the nausea is gone. I haven't thrown up in over 3 weeks and it is amazing! Pepcid AC is helping my heartburn a lot too - better living through chemistry.

Medical Concerns: None, thankfully!

Anything Else You'd Like to Share: My feet are killing me! I can hardly walk on the hard kitchen floor when I got home at night. It's always like this the first couple weeks of school, but this may be a little worse. I have the full pregnancy waddle going on already - all because of my feet hurting! And apparently this point in the pregnancy brings a lot of back pain, which I'm definitely having. My spine kills me at the end of the day. Can you say whiny much? It was neat telling my students about being pregnant! 8th graders are so funny - some of them are excited and some of them just stare in horror. Pregnancy is very gross to most of them I think. I figure their parents owe me some sort of fee - having a teacher be pregnant and possibly go into labor in front of them will essentially be like free birth control for the next 10 years at least!

What I Look Forward to: A three-day weekend! And hopefully having one day where I stay in pajamas all day!

17 Weeks

Total Weight Loss/Gain: According to my scale at home, I've gained about 2.5 lbs total.

Size of Baby: According to the Bump, our baby is about the size of an onion.

Maternity Clothes: Love them! I got to wear a cute new maternity dress to two events on Saturday. It was comfortable and I felt good wearing it - score!

Sleep: I sleep pretty well but am still having lots of heartburn, especially at night. I woke up very late Saturday night and literally felt like I could throw up - not because of nausea, but because of pure acid in my throat. I had accepted that heartburn was just part of pregnancy, but my Dad gave me a little speech the other day and urged me to call my doctor. So I did and now I'm trying out some meds that are pregnancy safe. It's important for mommy to still have an esophagus when baby arrives, so I'm glad to be trying some new things. 

Movement: Nothing yet. 

Cravings/Aversions: No one thing in particular. When I'm hungry for something, I'm all about it though! 

What I Miss: I normally eat sushi once a year or less. In the last week, due to various social situations, I've eaten at sushi restaurants twice! Trying to figure out what to eat has been interesting.

Gender: Counting down the days until September 14th! A bunch of Facebook friends think it's a boy. Several people I saw this weekend think it's a girl based on how I'm carrying. We shall see!

Mood: Okay. I feel like I've been handling back to school stress pretty well, but I've had my moments this week.

Milestones: Hmmmm. Can't think of anything specific right now! 

Medical Concerns: None, thankfully! 

Anything Else You'd Like to Share: At the end of my work days I usually feel some pain/stretching in my abdomen. I'm trying not to push myself too hard but there is a lot to do right now! Baby is the priority of course! I've had professional development this week. In the past 3 days, I've sat through 11 different breakout sessions. Sitting for that long is painful right now. My bum, my back, and my ribs are killing me! Maybe that will make me appreciate that my job doesn't require sitting all day. Also, I feel like my bump has doubled in the last week! I read that the baby doubles in size very quickly at this point in the pregnancy.

What I Look Forward to: We booked a little babymoon/my 30th birthday getaway to Fredericksburg in November. I'm so excited!!! By then it will be our first real time away in a year and a half and I cannot wait!!!!

16 Weeks

I'm going to start doing these weekly pregnancy updates that I've seen on other people's blogs. It's a fun way to track the info! I hope to be able to keep up with it after I go back to work on Friday.

Total Weight Loss/Gain: Since my first weigh-in at the doctor's office at about 6-7 weeks, I've gained 3 pounds. I'm not sure what my exact weight was before I was pregnant but it was pretty close to my first weigh-in, so I'm counting from that.

Size of Baby: According to Babycenter, our baby is about the size of an avocado!

Maternity Clothes: Yes! Love them! Some of them are a little big sometimes, but I feel so much more comfortable in them than regular clothes. My sweet mother-in-law bought me some new clothes that will help me transition back to work!

Sleep: I sleep pretty well, but have extreme heartburn every night before bed. I feel like a fire-breathing dragon! Milk and Tums, Milk and Tums...

Movement: I'm not sure?! I've been feeling lots of weird pains/feelings in my abdomen for the last few days and I'm wondering if some of them are movement. As a first timer, I'm still not sure!

Cravings/Aversions: No one thing in particular. When I'm hungry for something, it sounds really good though! 

What I Miss: Lately when I see people drinking a glass of wine, I think about how that would taste and kinda miss it. I'm not a huge drinker though, so I think this is more a byproduct of alcohol being off limits right now. I did have a strange dream the other night that I was at a social function and had a cocktail and didn't realize what I'd done until after I drank it and then I was totally consumed with guilt. Never too early for mother's guilt is it?

Gender: We find out in 1 more month! Can't wait! I keep going back and forth, but right now I feel like it's a girl. A few weeks ago, it was a boy. Cam is still solidly thinking it's a girl. We had Chinese food recently and the Chinese word on the back of my fortune was "daughter". Could be a sign! We will be thrilled either way - there are so many fun things about either gender.

Mood: Pretty good. Trying to stay breezy and not stress before I go back to work. I'm making a pretty concerted effort this go round not to stress so much when getting ready for the school year. I will admit to having a completely irrational crying session yesterday due to feeling guilty for yelling at the dog. Bad puppy mommy!

Milestones: 16 weeks today! I can't believe we are nearing the halfway point. That's just crazy! I also haven't thrown up in over a week. That could change at any moment, but maybe it could be the beginning of a milestone? 

Medical Concerns: None, thankfully! Went to the doctor yesterday and everything looks great! It took her about five minutes to find the heartbeat on the doppler. Two weeks ago, she found it much more quickly. I was silently freaking out, but she finally found it and everything sounded good. She says it can be pretty tough to find it at this stage of the pregnancy. The heartrate went from the 120s to the 140s and then up to 150s (where it was two weeks ago). She said the rate can move up and down wildly like that when baby's moving around a lot. Crazy to think about a little baby having a party inside me - ha!

Anything Else You'd Like to Share: I've been having some pretty sharp shooting pains. It freaked Cam out when it first happened because we were laying in bed and all of a sudden, I was jerking around in pain. I don't know how to describe it, but it feels how I would imagine it would feel if a full term baby was extending its arm out in one direction. I've looked it up online and there's a common nickname for this pain, but I'm going to be a lady and not repeat it on the blog. Google if you wish. I've also felt a lot of stretching in my stomach. My doctor said all of this could be movement or just my uterus stretching.

What I Look Forward To: Finding out the gender! Getting adjusted into a comfortable working routine. 

My, how some things change...

I'm only a little over one-third of the way through my pregnancy, but I already feel very different than I did before. And not just in the standard "I don't feel very good physically" way.  In the spirit of keeping a record of everything, I'm going to jot down some of these changes here. These may be pretty boring to anyone else, but this blog is a little life journal for me!

• Candy - I no longer have the same feelings about candy. Anyone who knows me will be shocked! Maybe this is a temporary pregnancy thing? Maybe I'm finally growing up and out of my child-like obsession with candy? I don't know, but I used to consume a lot of candy and now I can eat a few pieces and feel totally over it. 
• Mess - I'm becoming a messy person. I'm used to being an organized neat freak. But now I'm more apt to let things sit. Laundry goes unwashed, papers stack up on the counter, and there are usually three different cups on my bedside table at any given time. I still care and it still bothers me, but not enough to do much about it. It's weird. Last week my water bottle cap wasn't on completely and some water spilled in my purse. Now, old me would have freaked out, removed everything and made sure it dried out completely. But I hardly did anything. It's just water, it will dry.
• Weight - I am not obsessed with my weight right now. This is huge for me. I have spent/wasted so much time over the last few years worrying about my weight, comparing myself to everyone around me, etc. I can attribute this shift to several things. Right now, my body isn't about me - it's about my baby. I know how much weight is healthy for me to gain and I plan to stick to it. But after two and a half years of near non-existence, my metabolism finally works again. It's nice and comforting to feel that. And I just don't eat as much now that I'm pregnant. And throwing up for months will you feel very silly for worrying about your double chin and cellulite. Maybe my old insecurities will return, maybe they won't. But for now, I'll take it!
• Opinionated - I feel very strongly about certain things. I've always been opinionated, but also pretty selective in who I share them with. But right now when I feel something, I feel it very strongly. Like when I went off on the Rooms to Go customer service representative because they made us wait three weeks to have someone come inspect a pillow with a seam that ripped (completely on its own) rather than just send us a new one. Call me crazy, but when someone spends a small fortune on furniture with one store, a free replacement is in order. Or the people who brought a three month old baby into a midnight showing of Batman. Don't even get me started on them! Basically, my sense of right and wrong is heightened.
• Mommy - Even though I haven't had my little one yet, I already feel a connection to other mothers and at times, a slight disconnect from people who don't have kids. I don't mean this to sound bad, but it just is what it is (I hate that saying!). Recently I heard some people talking about how someone we all know had changed since she had her baby. It was put in critical terms - saying she didn't take her job as seriously now. And this person isn't even officially back to work yet. I kept my mouth shut but it made my blood boil. Having a child is a life-changing experience. No one is ever the same afterwards. I hear people talk about the love they have for their children and how it is unlike anything they've experienced ever. I already feel that love, but I know it will be on a whole other level when I actually meet my baby. I am so excited about it! And so that discussion made me think some things. Of course, this woman shouldn't take her job as seriously now. Babies have a way of putting everything in perspective, including the over-obsession and worry most of us have with our jobs. 
• Handwriting - My handwriting has changed! Isn't that weird? It's similar to before, but much less pretty. It's sharper somehow and I just can't make certain movements flow with my fingers. I don't know what that's about at all. 
• One more thing! This isn't really a change, but I must make note of it. I already had acid reflux before I was pregnant. It's a genetic curse in my Dad's family. One time in college my sister lost her voice and her speech became slurred. The diagnosis was acid reflux. So yeah, we've got it really bad. My acid reflux during pregnancy is off the charts. I really, really miss Prilosec. It is a miracle drug and I will never take it for granted post-pregnancy again.

Girl Scouts

When I was little, I was a Girl Scout. Well, first I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout. I have lots of memories of our meetings, selling cookies, and trips we took. But the memories that stand out the most to me are the ones of my Girl Scout troop leader Wendy. Wendy was my friend Kelly's mom. Wendy was not your typical Girl Scout troop leader, in any sense of the word. Wendy drove a black Mercedes and smoked cigarettes, back when it was still socially acceptable to do so. Dare I say she even made smoking look cool?  Wendy worked full time. She wasn't particularly crafty, although we still did crafts. She had long red nails and wore red lipstick. I'm sure we spent time talking about normal Girl Scout things like nature and ponies, but I remember one of our meetings turning into a full scale debate because one of the girls showed up wearing lipstick. I think we were in late elementary school at the time? Anyway, Wendy brought it up and we debated whether or not it was appropriate for a girl that age to wear colorful makeup. I admired Wendy in many ways. She was different - an archetype of the independent women of the late 80s/early 90s. The strangest thing about Wendy is that one day...she essentially disappeared. Left town with her family and we never heard from her again. Her husband was a cop; in fact, all our Girl Scout meetings were held in conference rooms in the Round Rock police station. We found out eventually that Wendy's husband had gotten a new assignment that required them to move across the county and cut ties with everything. Maybe the FBI? I'm not sure, but one thing I know is that very few Girl Scouts had a leader quite like Wendy.

Odds & Ends

From here on out, if anyone asks how I'm feeling, I'm just going to say, "Okay". If I'm having a stretch of feeling good and I say so, it's like a cue for my body to say, "Oh really? You think so?" and I will be throwing up again in a few hours. It's like I jinx myself. Sunday I woke up feeling better than I have in months. I felt like myself and had energy to do things again. We had a great day and then I continued to feel really good Monday. I thought I'd finally gotten over the first trimester stuff. And then it was 2:30 am Tuesday morning and I was puking again. And then again Tuesday right after lunch at my parent's house. This is new, as up to this point, I've somehow always been able to contain actually getting sick to my own house. Then I literally laid on their couch until 8 pm. I couldn't get up, couldn't do anything. We can now add cherry snow cones and broccoli cheddar soup to the long list of foods I will never be able to feel the same way about. Gross, I know. But it's my reality. For the entire summer. And I'm over it. It's all worth it, of course, but I'm just worn out. I pray that it's over for good by the time I go back to work on August 17th. If I have to throw up in a middle school bathroom, they may have to take me straight to the loony bin. I'll stop whining now!


On a happier note, I bought the bedding I blogged about last week. It is absolutely adorable and I'm so in love with it! And it was a great deal. So if we have a little boy, we are set! 


Are you watching the Olympics? It's so fun! I'm so happy for the U.S. gymnastics team and Michael Phelps. I don't really care for Ryan Lochte. He seems arrogant and he wears a grill. Seriously, a grill? 


There's a Martha Stewart Show rerun on right now that's from the week of Halloween. It makes me so excited for Fall! I can't wait for pumpkins, cooler weather, and boots. I'm also really excited for football season, but sad because it means my Campbell will be gone every other Saturday for the entire day at Aggie football games. He loves it and that makes me happy, but I miss him! I'm super attached to him right now. When he's around, I feel better. Always. Love that baby daddy of mine so much (I know you read this Cam! <3).