So Gross!

I started a new routine of taking the dogs for a walk in the evening. After we get home I go back out for a walk by myself. Yesterday after I got home from my walk, they wanted to go outside to play. No sooner did I let them out and shut the door, did a little bird fly into the door. It didn't stand a chance. The dogs were right there and it took the little guy too long to get back up. Horrifying isn't the word as I watched Sammy literally chew on this bird like a toy. I grabbed the pooper scooper and tried to get it away from her. Finally, when she felt like she had enough, she dropped the mangled carcass on the ground. It was horrible! Sorry to all of you that are wishing you didn't read this, but I have to share the sickness that I have to deal with. And I thought Benny pooping in the middle of the road like a horse was bad.

Well, on a brighter note, I've subbed the last two days down at Hope, where I did my student teaching. It felt so good to be back with the kids and have them run up and hug me. I know the school, I know the routines. It was good. They've got a policy not to use the same sub too many times, to rotate it through so it's fair, even when requested by the teacher. However the principal came down and told me that she liked me down there and it's good for the kids in that setting to have some consistency. So hopefully I'll get to sub whenever I'm requested. I must say though, that my wheels were already spinning this morning while I was getting ready on things to do with them. I thought, wait, I'm a sub, I don't make plans or anything else. It's much different than student teaching. Now I'm getting paid and I'm doing less work. I come in and just do what the teacher has planned.

Back to Work

The school year officially started last Friday. I got my first subbing job yesterday, which surprised me. I think it will be my only job this week, but it's the first week and I didn't expect much. It's usually pretty slow at the start of the school year. I was pretty excited to get back into the classroom and be with kids again. But when I got there I found out the teacher was an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher and he's still doing prep and testing. So, I wasn't in the classroom and didn't really have much to do. On top of it, the teacher was a guy I graduated with. All my friends have jobs and I'm hearing about others from my class that have gotten jobs. It's a little sad, I want a job and my own classroom too! I know that not applying this year was what I needed to do, and I'll be much happier with my decision when little Nate comes, but right now it's a little depressing. But, I'm happy to be getting back into work, either way. I'm ready. I feel like I've had enough time off this summer and I have gotten many of things done around the house that I've wanted to get done. So it will be good to work for a few months before baby comes.

26 Weeks

Little Baby Nate is about 1 2/3 lb. and 14 inches long, and English hothouse cucumber. His ears are more sensitive and he continues to inhale and exhale amniotic fluid. He's continuing to put on fat, getting ready for the outside. His little testicles are beginning their decent into the scrotum as well. Hey, it's all part of the process.

I had a doctor appointment this morning. I had to drink the yummy orange drink for my glucose test. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would--they say it's gotten a lot better. The worst part was the needle. She hurts me everytime and it hurts the whole time, not just when the needle goes in. His heartbeat sounded good and strong. I'm still measuring ahead one week, at 27 weeks, but the doctor said it's in centimeters and it doesn't concern her up to 3 cm. I've gained 7 lbs since my last appointment 5 weeks ago. And while I hope not to gain that every month, the doctor wasn't concerned about my weight gain. She says I'm right on track and where I should be, and that I'm tall and it wouldn't surprise her if I hit the 30lb. mark before it's all done. What!?! Okay, we'll see. Although I don't think I'll be changing my eating habits any time soon. I like to eat and Nate tells me I should and I have to listen to him. So, if I hit 30, I hit 30. My blood pressure was high (142/62) when I went in, but they checked it again before I left and it was back down (122/62). That worried me a little but the doctor said it was fine and she would only be concerned if it stays elevated. She said everything looks good with my pregnancy.

I hope with his hearing increasing that he will get used to the dogs too. They started barking at a rabbit outside the window this morning and all I could think is, how is this going to work with a sleeping baby? I hope he'll be one of those babies that can sleep through anything otherwise I'm in for long days and nights. Or I'll just have to resort to beating my dogs--haha, just kidding.

Nathan has been busy kicking me and punching me. I used to just feel him on my lower left side, but now he feels all over the place. He's everywhere. Some days he's calm and I don't feel him a whole lot and then I get worried, but other days he's a wild man. I like when he's wild. Well, I do while he's still in my uterus. He can be a nice, calm, cuddly baby when he's born. I fell asleep last night to him doing cartwheels. I love it and I love him. I cannot believe how much I love him already.



25 weeks

My Birthday

Officially another year older. I never feel it though. Well, not all of the time. :) Where does all the time go? Hopefully this next year will pass as quickly as the last and then time can slow down a little bit. Lucas was here this weekend so we spent the day watching a movie, going for a walk, and playing in the water outside-oh boy it's getting hot out there! Jaime came up in the evening and we went out for dinner. We tried a new Japanese place (we usually go to Benihana's). It was good--probably not quite as good as Benihana, but I enjoyed it. I loved watching Lucas' face when the chef was preparing the food. It was so cute. We stopped at Babys R Us because Jaime wanted to get Baby Nate an outfit, which she ended up getting him two! Afterwards we came home for some birthday root beer floats--yep, a candle in the ice cream! And while I missed Michael not being home for my birthday (we were able to chat online earlier that day) it was still a good birthday.

24 Weeks

Baby is just over a pound and almost a foot long, he's an ear of corn! He's still pretty skinny but should start plumping up before too long. His body is continuing to develop to get ready for the outside world. His lungs are developing branches and cells that produce a substance that will help the air sacs inflate. His hearing is also becoming more sensitive and responsive to outside noises, so he's getting used to the loud noises like vacuuming and dogs barking (let's hope so he can sleep through them!).

I'm officially 6 months! It doesn't feel like it though. I don't feel very big--should I be bigger? Some people have their opinion on this. Maybe I'd be bigger if it was a girl and I was carrying higher. Maybe I'd be bigger if I were shorter. Who knows. I used to want to be huge (pre-pregnancy naivety), and still love the look of a round belly, but now understand that bigger means more uncomfortable. Baby is pushing my organs all over the place! He is more active then ever and I can now see him on the outside kicking sometimes. It's incredible.

I went to register today. First at Walmart, which I couldn't do because their gun was stolen and the closest Walmart that does registries now is in Scottsburg, about 45 minutes away. So I headed over to Target. I got this cute little bag full of goodies (coupons, samples, etc.). Then I spent much too long in each aisle deciding what we will need. Some things were easy and simple, others I hadn't even thought about, and some I spent a little more time trying to figure out which one I liked the best. It would have been much more fun to do this with Michael, but I guess that's the way it goes. I also picked up a few more baby things. I said I was not going to buy anything else for the baby until after the shower, but there were some clearance items that were hard to pass up. I got some packages of onesies for $2, a bath towel for $2, some mittens for $1, and an ear thermometer for $10. See, how could I not buy them. So, I left feeling very accomplished and good to have one more thing checked off the list of baby stuff to do.

In Country

Michael made it to Iraq Saturday night. He is still in the process of getting settled in so I don't have a lot of details. He is in a 2-man room, which is made out of connex. The chow hall is about a 10 minute walk, the gym (although not very big) is close, and his shop is not too far. He will have Internet in his room, which will make it a little easier for him to stay in contact with us. Their base is located next to another base (Air Force) and they can shuttle over there if they need to. The mission for them while they are there is maintenance (thank goodness!) and so he will be working in the shop. They are on 12-hour shifts and he will be working the night shift (7pm-7am) for now. Hopefully now he can get into a routine and time will go by quickly. I have sent out an email with his new address, but if I missed you and you want it, please let me know. The mail being sent to that base is extremely slow (one guy's wife sent something 3 weeks ago and it's still not there) and they might not get it that often (he's hearing they might only get it once a month), but I know he'd appreciate mail from home.