20 weeks

You're at the halfway mark — congratulations! Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (The way your baby is measured changes now.) He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (although some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

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Oh, what a lovely weekend! Friday night T and I went up to Traverse with my parents for the weekend. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. I dropped the guys off at the golf course in the morning and then my mom and I went downtown shopping for the morning. We met up with M and her mom for lunch - they just happened to be up there that weekend too! Lovely time! The afternoon was spent laying on the beach - enjoying the sun, the beautiful view, and having nothing to be done right at that second! Saturday night we had a great dinner and then went swimming. Sunday was not so nice (weather-wise) - cloudy, cool, and misty. We dropped off the guys for golf, then went to the mall. On the way home, we went to one of our fav rastaurants - The Cherry Hut in Beulah. Love love love that place. We got several pies to go and enjoyed them later! I then slept pretty much the whole way home.

In TC, I went to an organic store that sells different kinds of cloth diapers that I'm debating on buying. It was great to actually see them all - although they didn't quite have all the kinds that I've read/researched. We spent almost an hour looking them all over and then decided to buy one of most of them to try out which kind we liked the best. My mom and T had that glazed over/totally confused look by the time that we left. There are lots of options and it's hard to know which way to go. My dad came in, but was instantly bored and spent the whole time looking over all the bamboo cooking utensils and things. We walked out of there spending $120 on a small package of all these different diapers. It doesn't seem like much for all that you pay, however when I look at the long-term spending that we would do with disposables, it's a huge savings. One of the calculators I looked at showed that an initial investment of between $300-$400 for cloth would be comparable to spending around $3000 for disposables for 2-3 years- and that's only for one child! With cloth, we can reuse if we decide to have another baby. Or if not, I can sell them! So anyway, I know I sound like a geek, but I'm excited to go home and play with my new diapers!! :)

I'm still working on figuring out my new phone. The problem is: it's a SMARTphone and right now, I'm not very smart! The baby seems to take most of my brain wattage. But, the more I play with it, the more I learn, and that's a good thing. A friend of mine got the same phone so we're learning it together!

Appointment update

I did manage to get the the doctor this week for my triple test (although they called it a quad- so apparently it measures 4 things!). They called last night and everything came back normal. Hooray! :) This is an optional test that measures for genetic abnormalities. We decided that if we were going to have a baby with special issues, we wanted to know as early as possible to get prepared.

In other news, I have my next ultrasound appointment for Oct. 7! At first, when I met with my doctor, she said that we should probably wait another month for another ultrasound, to appease my insurance company. Then she said, "Well, how about 3 weeks", and by the end of the appointment she said 2 weeks! I sure wore her down! :) At that point, I will be over 21 weeks -so we're anticipating some really good photos this time. Keep your fingers crossed that little fuzzy is cooperative!!

This weekend we are headed up to Traverse City and I can't wait to go. It will be fantastic to get away for a few days. There's also a store up there that sells the kind of cloth diapers I'm leaning towards, so I'm excited to actually see them myself instead of just reading about them online. T's parents are coming to stay with the dogs. The last time we went away was up to Ludington this summer and the dogs went to their house for the week. Unfortunately, our old man, Smokey, has a bit of a nervous stomach and had a hard time. It's not like their house was completely foreign to him - he lived there for many years, for crying out loud! But, he was out of his normal comfort zone and ended up having to go to the vet. The day after he got home, he was completely fine. Silly boy! So this time, they're coming to our house to hang out for a couple days. Plus, T has some projects for his dad to do.

Last night was filled with lots and lots of laundry, cleaning up, packing, and TV!!! My fav shows were finally back on! I had to tivo Grey's to watch when we get home on Sunday. So if you watched it and I see you before Sunday night - don't tell me what happened!! I laughed until I cried during The Office. Wow, that's a fantastic show. :) I do love my tv! :)

This morning, I did something incredibly dumb. I was about to pour myself a glass of orange juice, and I decided to give the jug one more shake. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I had already opened the lid. Yep, OJ everywhere! My hair, the floor, the counter, everywhere. Luckily, I still had my robe on so it didn't get all over my school clothes. A big, sticky mess is always a fun thing to have to clean up 10 minutes before you're planning on being out the door. Ugh!

In other more exciting news - I got my new smartphone in the mail the other day! YAY! I'm still learning how to use it - in fact, when it rang yesterday, I didn't know what to do!! I figure that I have a lot of quality car time this weekend to play. ALSO, we got our broadband card!!!! Holy crap that thing is awesome!! Love it love it love it!! It's sooooooooooooooooooo much faster than our crappy crappy dialup - we're looking at cancelling our home phone next week. We just want to make sure everything is switched over and everyone knows what numbers to call us before we drop it completely. Big things happening on the ranch! :)

A week from today I turn 31. I'm not so sad about this bday. Last year, I was dreading 30. This year, not so bad.

Have a great weekend everyone! If you're reading this in Michigan - it's supposed to be a gorgeous one! Enjoy it!

19 Weeks *updated

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces, and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. The hair on her scalp is sprouting. This is a crucial time for sensory development: Your baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, taking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.
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I guess that since the baby can hear me now, I should really cut back on the f-bombs. Damn.

Every day this past week I have forgotten to call to schedule another ultrasound. This week! I promise!

I have a sub for my maternity leave! I was very happy to get final confirmation that I actually have someone. AND she's available for all the days this fall that I have to be gone for meetings, conferences, or appointments! Hooray! She came in for part of the morning the other day and just jumped right into what we were doing and started getting to know the kids. Every day I think of something else that I should write down that is just something very routine to me, but that in every class is a little bit different. I'll get started on that one of these days... I'm also hoping that it gets to the point that when I have her come in, I can leave minimal plans instead of the very detailed, 5 typed pages of plans I normally have to leave when I'm gone. If there's a day, late in my 3rd trimester that I wake up and just feel like I can't go to school - I'd love to just be able to call her and know that everything would be taken care of. I've been very spoiled with having the same sub pretty much every day that I was gone last year. During my whole "I think I'm dying" episode with my first ulcer last fall, she was able to do that for me for 2 days. It was fantastic. Non-teachers have no idea how long it takes to get ready to be gone for a day - sometimes I have decided not to go to a training or conference just because I didn't want to spend the hours getting ready to be gone. I have also gone to school many times more sickly than I should have over the years because sometimes it's just easier to go for the day than get ready to be gone. It's like you have to plan to be sick. When T wakes up and feels like crap and doesn't go to work, he just has to call sometime that morning and tell his supervisor he won't be in that day. I believe the word I'm looking for is jealousy. Anyway, I'm very happy to have had a decision made and we can move forward making my transition out as smooth as possible!

In other news, I think we have finally decided to ditch our landline. Hallelujah!! I've been talking the last couple weeks with the ver.izon rep for my school district and I think we've finally got it all worked out as to what plan, what phones, etc. The biggest news is that we will be getting a broadband usb card. I borrowed one from my school a few weeks ago to see how it would work at our house - and I was blown away! Yes, I've gotten accustomed to our S-L-O-W dial-up out here in BFE, but that still doesn't mean that I like it. The broadband was much much faster. I'm figuring that we're going to be posting baby pics and sending pics quite a bit in the near future, so an upgrade really needed to happen. Yes, I would be able to send from school, however, I'm sure people would love to get pics of the baby after he/she is 6 weeks old, when I get back to school! I know some of you out there would have a fit! With no landline, that also leaves us able to throw away our current phone system - which sucks my butt. We have a corded phone, and 3 cordless - all the same system. The phone we use the most, in the living room, still works fine. However, the other 2 cordless, since they're not used as often, the buttons have stopped working! All of them - you can't even answer it! We bought this system a few weeks after we got married - which was 3 years ago. Phones should work properly for longer than that! I will be thrilled to death to watch those things go into the trash. I may even post a pic of that momentous event! I bet you can't wait.

All for now - my plans for tomorrow include putting out some of my fall decorations in the house. I love doing that!! Next weekend we're gone up north for a weekend away, and I like to get that stuff out before October. Fun times at my house. :) Have a great week everyone!

**Sunday night update: I can't believe that I forgot to mention all the work that my parents and I did on Saturday! I had a brilliant idea a couple weeks ago to have my mom and I make pasties - yes, those tasty UP treats. My grandparents grew up in the UP and we've made them many times with them. However, now, when my grandma comes to visit, our time seems so short and pasties take quite an effort. This was our first attempt on our own. Of course, my grandma insisted that we also make our own pie crust for it. That was very very hard. A few things went not quite as smoothly as I remembered, but we'll be better next time. We only had to call Grandma twice. In the end, who was the one who could roll out the best crusts? Of course, my dad, the chef. He should have been there the whole time, but he was busy this weekend WINNING the club championship at the golf course!! :)

Later Saturday, we had a spectacular time watching MSU spank the crap out of Notre Dame. :) And who was that team who lost to ND last week?!? hahaha... MSU football is fun again!! I don't have to keep saying, "Only __ more months until basketball starts" after one embarrassing loss after another.

And in a strange turn of events, you know how earlier I blogged about when T has to call in sick? Out of nowhere, he got a crazy nasty cold! T is a very busy guy - not one who likes to just sit around. I call him my worker bee. :) And who am I? Of course, the queen! :) HA! Anyway, he spent a lot of the day napping, sneezing, blowing snot, and coughing. Very not like him. How he got this I have no idea - I'm the one who spends every day with snotty dirty kids. He works with, apparently, a bunch of snotty dirty adults. So who knows, maybe tomorrow morning will be one of those times he just has to call in and stay home.

Have I talked about how excited I am about TV? I think I already did in another post, but I will reiterate how incredibly happy I am for new tv to get going!! Also, if you missed the Emmy's on Sunday night - go to youtube and search for Josh Groban's performance. It was absolutely hysterical!! Very not "Josh-like" - he did snippets from memorable tv theme songs. Including the South Park theme song - WITH all the characters' voices. It was awesome!! He also rapped the theme from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Too funny!

18 Weeks

Head to rump, your baby is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, although he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.
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T has told me that I can no longer refer to the baby as a "blob" (although that's what he/she resembles in our pictures!). So we have instead decided to call him/her "fuzz", since the pics also make it look like a fuzzball. Better than "lint". :)

Oh let's see... last week was pretty much wrapped up in the excitement of the pending ultrasound. This week I need to call my doctor, because I realized that I left my last appt. without waiting for them to give me my triple test. Whoops! Not that I enjoy having more needles poked into me, I just need to go have that done. While I'm at it, I can probably get another allergy shot as well. Why have only one needle?!? How about 3 more?!? :) Then, I can also discuss when I can schedule the NEXT ultrasound and then the excitement can grow from there.

Other news this week... school is back in full swing. I actually completed 5 full days of teaching - first time since sometime last May - back before I was pregnant. Most days I felt pretty good, a couple I was totally exhausted when I got home. So far, I seem to have a very nice class. After last year's challenges, this is a welcome change. :) I have a few tricky ones, but every class has those. I do have two students who seem to get a lot of my attention because of talking, etc. One's a boy and the other's a girl. I find myself saying their names most often. I was telling that fact at lunch the other day, and our first grade teacher said that my baby is going to think their name is one of those because I say it so often. That's also another sticky point. How in the world are we going to come up with a name for this child when I have a certain memory of a lot of names because of all the children I come in contact with on a daily basis, and have for the last 10+ years?!? We do have a few name books, and right now we just look through them and laugh at the funny/bizarre names. I think that when we can narrow down boy/girl, then it will become a little more serious. :)

Last night we attending the Pheasants Forever banquet supporting the local chapter than T is very involved with. I must say, it's usually an incredibly boring night. Very long. However, last night, my mom and I ran one of the games and it made the night go by much faster- and funner! I also got a steal on a very cool framed print during the live auction (I've never bid/won anything at an auction before) - and it's now hanging above our fireplace! I also won ANOTHER print from playing a plinko type game. Most of the games work like this - you pay like $10 and play and get so many tickets for how well you did. At each station, there's usually 2 prizes - a gun and a print. Of course, the banquet is filled with mostly men and what do they want? Guns! What did I want? It sure wasn't a gun! When it came time to announce the plinko winners, they drew the first ticket (who gets first choice) and it was a guy who took the gun. I still had a chance! The second ticket was mine!!! I was thrilled! T also won a gun during one of the quick raffle drawings that go on during the evening. You can also buy sheets of tickets to put in for drawings for different tables full of stuff. At one of the tables they had a kayak! How fun would that be for our lake?!? So I bought a sheet of tickets and put them all in that bucket. Unfortunately, I did not get pulled first. I did get pulled near the end of that table and took home a gift certificate for a local restaurant that I like. All in all it was a very successful evening!! :) And not boring at all. :) It also helps to have fun people at your table and we had a really great group with us. Although I wasn't at our table most of the night - I was manning our game at a table across the room. T didn't even know it was me who was the high bidder for my print. I caught his attention after I won it and he was a little surprised! There are always quite a few prints that are auctioned off, and they usually don't do very well at our banquets. A lot of the people that go, have been for a lot of years and already have prints, or they're just not into wall art. So, you can get hella deals on nice, framed prints. T and I went to the state banquet a few years ago, and the prints there went for well over $400. At ours, the same ones usually go for under $200 (I only paid $100 for mine!). A steal.

This next week looks pretty uneventful, I think. I like uneventful. It's lovely. :) New tv will be starting soon, and that always makes me happy. The Office starts again in less than 2 weeks and we're counting down the days around our house! Have a good week!

IT'S A...

Unfortunately, we were unable to get a clear picture. :( So, we'll be going back in a few weeks! Ugh! It was somewhat disappointing, but it was also incredibly awesome to see the baby in there moving all around. T got the good show - he got to see the whole thing as the tech was labeling and taking pictures. I got to see some of it. The live shots were very cool, watching him/her in there just doing it's thing!

We also found out that the baby is measuring 17 weeks 3 days - a little younger than we have been anticipating. So maybe this Valentine's baby will be more like Feb 20 or so. Who knows! He/She also weighs a whopping 7 ounces!

Okay, here's the pics we got of our precious blob! It's a shot of the face basically looking right at the camera. :)

THURSDAY!!!!

OMIGOD!!! It's this THURSDAY!!!!

When I got home from school yesterday, there was a message on our machine - I crossed my fingers that it was the hospital calling to schedule - and it was!!! As soon as the woman said "this is Metro Health calling...", I started dancing around the kitchen. I had to play the message twice so I could get the phone number right.

We were hoping to get it done in Lowell at one of their regional centers, but the first appt. there wasn't until the 30th - so we're going right to the hospital. It's really not that much further, and we really don't care how far we have to go to get a look at this baby!

I'm hoping that the next 2 days don't drag on and on - I'm going to try very hard not to count down hours, but knowing me, I would bet that would happen. It's also not until Thursday night - that way I don't have to take off a day of school so early in the year. We still have not decided on my long-term sub, and I'd like to have that person in for me as much as possible when I have to be gone before my maternity leave. Finding that person was going to be tops on my agenda this week - since I can't make that decision myself, I needed to get with my principal about it. However, there's been a student death from another building over the weekend - the other building that he's also the prinicpal at, so he's quite busy this week. Given the circumstances, next week will do just fine.

THURSDAY!!!

17 Weeks

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.
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Sweat, huh? I'm sure baby was sweating along with me the first 2 days of school. 92 degrees is not the optimum learning temperature. Luckily, it looks like those nasty, hot days are behind us and it's actually starting to feel a bit like fall out there!! YAY! I LOVE FALL!!! The colors, the trees, the pumpkins, the caramel apples, the sweaters, my bday, etc. Love it!

I had my 16 week appoitment this week. We couldn't get a very good read on the heartbeat - way to TOTALLY freak me out!! She could hear it 4 different times, but then would lose it - and she said she heard it moving a lot. Awesome, me and my ADHD baby! I still haven't really felt the baby yet. Although I'm not really sure what it is that I'm supposed to feel. I've read and heard that it's like little flutters, little tickles, etc. The other night, I thought for sure that I felt SOMETHING - but now I'm not so sure. Ugh! The word has also been passed along to the hospital to call me to schedule the ultrasound!! Could me in as little as 2 weeks, or as much as 4. As soon as I have a date, I'm sure I'll be just shouting it from the rooftop!

Let's see... school started this week. So far, my class seems MUCH less challenging than last year. I feel bad for the fourth grade teacher. :( Sorry!! Right now, I'm at 21 kiddos - which seems like a breeze compared to my 27 of last year. I'm really trying to stay on top of things this year. I'm so used to just being able to come in on weekends to get work done, or stay late any night I want. I really want to try to squeeze as much planning into my prep time that I can, so that I can try to get as much done during the day that I can. I want to be able to just go home at night without a ton of papers or other work. I thought that if I could start out real organized and stay that way - it will be a habit by February! Although, I'm saying that right now, while I'm at school, which is where I have been for the past 6 hours (and yes, it's Sunday).

Um, in other baby-related news: stretch marks have made a definite appearance on my lower belly. Being a "size large girl" most of my life, stretch marks are really nothing new, however, these are different. Way more red, way more of them. Eek! I'm not really concerned since I don't believe that itty-bitty bikini bottoms or low-rise jeans and belly shirts will ever be a part of my wardrobe (or ever have been, for that matter), but it's still a little alarming to look at! Truthfully, I didn't really think that I would get them. My skin has expanded and tightened numerous times over the last 15 years or so, depending on the diet that I was on. I thought it would just strech back out, without much fanfare. Apparently not. I am, for the most part, still wearing my normal clothes. I have a few maternity tops that I've worn a couple times, but only because I wanted to try them out, not because I really needed to wear them.

Have a great week, everyone! :)

16 Weeks

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length . Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too.
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I have my 16 week appt. this week, and then the next appt. will be the ultrasound!!!!! As you can tell, we're a little excited around here to get that first look at the baby!! Yes, we are planning on finding out if it's a boy or a girl. Everyone asks me - some people are ticked that we're finding out, some people tell us we're so smart. It's all in your own choices. For us, with the baby coming in the middle of the school year, and me going back to school when my 6 weeks are up, we need to be prepared! Plus, it's our first one and I want to have everything all set - nursery walls done, clothes in the closet and washed, no "gender neutral" around here - pink or blue all the way!!!

In other news, it's Labor Day. Also known as the last day I get to sleep in until weekends, basically for the next I don't know how many years! I get to meet my class tomorrow morning bright and early! Luckily, my district got smart a few years ago and has us start the year with a half day. Everyone's so excited and this way, they can get to school, get a little taste, and then go home and take a nap. :) Although the teachers have to be there all day, I'm excited that the hottest day in who knows how long is our half day, so in the afternoon I can get work done other (cooler) places or keep the fans with me where ever I am. 90 degrees is a super way to start the school year. HA!

I actually made my way into the kitchen this morning! Basically since the middle of June when I started feeling not so great, I've been on strike in the kitchen. Sure, I can manage a bowl of cereal or chips and cheese, but a meal? Nope! Hasn't happened in a very long time. Poor T, he's pretty much been on his own for dinners this summer. Evenings aren't good for me for eating. Nothing sounds good, nothing smells good, etc. Usually, T would make his dinner and then fix me an extra ear of corn and that's what I'd have. Sometimes I'd eat at the counter with him, but usually, I was confined to my couch. My appetite has somewhat been coming back - we'll see what happens once my life returns to a normal rhythm with school. I have a feeling that I'm going to be coming home and crashing. Anyway, T and I are going to my parents' house for a little Labor Day thing and I made a peach cobbler with fresh peaches! I've never done that before, but I gave it my best try! We'll see how it turns out. :) I know a lot of you know about what I call "adventures in cooking" - all my stupid mistakes because I just didn't know! My grandma says that anyone who can read can cook. That is such a lie. It's just not true! Because I can read very well, I even teach kids how to read, and some recipes are just hard. Ugh.

Anyway, happy holiday everyone!