No fun in the Outer Banks :(

We really screwed up. We were supposed to be in the Outer Banks this weekend with Molly and John. They rented this beautiful house on the beach with a pool and a hot tub and everything you could want, and we totally forgot about it.

I don't know if we both have a case of pregnancy brain or what, but it's ridiculous and embarrasing to entirely forget about a planned vacation. We thought about hopping in the car when we realized yesterday and driving down, but we hadn't made any plans for the dogs! We both feel like total idiots.

Well, we finally did it. We went to Sam's Club early yesterday morning, sat on some really comfy furniture, and decided it would be the day to buy the new living room. It consisted of:

• Sam's: Don't have what we want, but let's spend $300 anyways.
• Room Store: Let's try every couch and recliner in the store, hem and haw a bit, take a few pictures, and decide to go to Lazy Boy.
• Lazy Boy: Are you kidding me? $4,000 for the same couch that was $2,000 at Room Store, but not even as comfortable?
• Call to Faith: "Yes, Boscov's has furniture but it's kind of picked over. But Jess got all of her living room and dining room furniture for $700 at this rental place in Glen Burnie."
• Sears: No, we don't have furniture.
• Call from Faith: "The place is actually in Baltimore."
• Macy's: This is the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in. My exact words to Seth, "I don't think I'm going to get up." Proud new owners of a chocolate brown leather recliner!
• Call to the store in Baltimore: "No, the only sectional we have is blue with a nice red, white and blue chair to match." No thanks.
• Room Store (x2): This really is a great couch. "Do you like it?" "I like it. Do you like it?" "I like it. Do you think the dogs will destroy it?" "Nah." Proud new owners of a (relatively inexpensive) brown sectional sofa!

Kind of feel like we shouldn't have spent the money, but we really needed to. Our hand-me-down furniture has seen better days and better comfort. Now that it's being delivered this week, I can't wait!!!

School days, school days, dear old golden rule days...

I think I'll just make a nice, bulleted list of how our year is going so far...

• On the first day of school, many students were curious as to whether I was part of the Bigelow Tea family. I don't know how to adequately get my response across in writing, but this is a large cultural jump from being asked if I was related to Deuce.
• As I mentioned before, 3-4 days/week I get to eat my lunch in the same manner as most American adults - without choking. It makes a HUGE difference in not feeling stressed out and sick for the rest of the day. I also can make copies, get ready for the afternoon, etc. if I forget to do something first thing in the morning.
• There is no schoolwide behavior plan, so it's up to me to create my own. Funny, I don't really need one.
• I had 4 criers on Friday. Not used to criers, especially when there's no good reason! I just felt like telling them "You can't cry. There's no crying in fifth grade!" and momentarily worried about toughening them up for middle school. Then I realized they'd be going to SP Middle School and they'll probably just get babied there too. Anyway, I'm still going to toughen them up a bit - nobody likes a crybaby! :)
• I don't check homework. This is because everyone does it. It's so nice to not traipse around with a clipboard full of names at recess trying to corrall all day's the offenders.
• Leaving home 5 minutes before I have to be at school is absolute heaven!

Now, I don't want it to sound like everything is roses. It is a huge, drastic improvement over what I'm used to and I appreciate that more than I can express. Being pregnant and teaching though does have a unique set of challenges, including feet that hurt from the moment I wake up in the morning and not nearly enough breaks in the day to use the bathroom. I also find that I'm a lot more disorganized and scatterbrained than usual, which apparently comes with the territory. Drives me crazy while teaching though!

We're baaa-aaack!

Oh my goodness. Can I really be logged in on our blog? We have been having major internet problems and decided to switch providers, but won't have service until next week. I can't access the blog at school, so we've been MIA. Believe me, I have something to post every day and will as soon as possible!

Our updates:
* You'll see the little one's new pictures here! We had a scan on Friday to check for Down's Syndrome and some other chromosomal abnormalities. If you're keeping track, bebe's nuchal fold (the amount of fluid behind their neck that they measure for this screening) measured 1mm, which is about as small as it can be. This is wonderful news, since they like to see anything under 3mm and I am nearing that "advanced maternal age" label which is utterly ridiculous and rude. :)

* 4D Ultrasound is the greatest! The little one actually looks like a little one! Now no more excuses (MOM!) that you can't ever tell what's what on a sonogram :)

* We had a monumental shopping trip yesterday, missed a vacation, and school is going well. I will fill you in on another post so I can try to upload this one. Fingers crossed!

I like to call it "how the other half lives"

These are pictures of my classroom. Or as I like to call it, “how the other half lives”. I never thought trailer livin’ could be so good! There’s this little concept called ‘outside of the main building’ that puts me in this sweet and safe little bubble and leaves my door closed for most of the day. For me, who prefers to be totally left alone while working, this is heaven on earth!
I’d also like to point out a few other things that are leading me to realize I may have made the right decision after all…

• We have ½ hour (that’s 30 – count ‘em – 30 whole minutes) of recess. I don’t know, but apparently these people realize that 5-10 year olds need more than 10 minutes of physical activity a day if we expect them to sit and pay attention the rest of the time. What a novel idea!
  
• I’ve already had 8 parents offer to help, and school hasn’t even started yet! This compares to the 1 offer I had last year, and the 0 that showed up.
  
• I only have recess duty every third day. This means on the other two days, I not only get to eat my lunch, but I have an extra ½ hour to prevent the nasty indigestion that creeps up when you try to prepare, heat and eat your lunch in 20 minutes.
  
• I don’t have to eat the school lunch if I forget or don’t feel like making a lunch one day. I am now allowed to act like an adult again and run out to get something to eat if I so choose!


• When I met a bunch of my students on Thursday, they were all washed, combed, and cleanly dressed.
  On a similar note, when I met the parents, they all spoke to me in a respectful way, nobody cursed or blamed the system for their problems, and nobody used the phrase “I seen” (and you know how much that last one means to me).

Now, I'm absolutely sure that there are downfalls that go along with these positives. But growing up in New Milford, this is finally familiar school territory to me and here's hoping that all goes well...

Three Months

We hit the big 12 Week milestone on Thursday. What’s it been like so far, you ask?

Month One: OMG (can’t believe I just wrote that), we’re having a baby!!! Yep, 11 tests confirmed it!

Week Five: OMG, we’re having a baby, and all I want is a glass of wine to get me through this funeral.

Week Six: OMG, we’re having a baby!!! But only if nothing goes wrong. I hope nothing goes wrong. Seth, I think something’s wrong. Uh oh, something’s wrong. Yippee, nothing’s wrong and look at the cute little picture of our baby!

Week Seven: Yes, we’re having a baby but I’m way too tired and fat to talk about it.

Week Eight: We’re having a baby, which is obviously much more important than anything I planned to do around the house this summer.

Week Nine: We’re having a baby but, uh oh, trouble again. Awww…there she is with her little heart just beating, beating away.

Week Ten: Listen to me! We’re having a baby and I’m the one who has to deal with it, so get out of my way!

Week Eleven: Yippee, we’re actually having a baby! But shhhh….it’s a secret.

Week Twelve: We’re really having a baby – and I have a firm (though large!) stomach for the first time in 5 years! And I thought I was supposed to be gaining weight?

The Never-Ending Story

Or was it just a 9-hour fantasy football draft? Oh yes, you read correctly. NINE hours. Not including the hour we were there waiting for other people to show up.

Now, you may have to be or have been pregnant to understand the sheer agony of those words, but let me try to explain. It went something like this:

4pm: Where is everyone?
5pm: Okay, let’s get started. Hold on, we’re having some technical difficulties…
6pm: Whew, so glad the first round is over. I’m sure things will go much quicker now.
7pm: Seth, please make your pick. Seth!
8pm: Great! Round 6. Only 13 to go.
9pm: Apparently this would be a lot more fun/interesting if I was drinking...
10pm: Seth, please make your pick.
11pm: That hardwood floor is looking pretty good after sitting in this chair for the past 7 hours. Can we honestly still have 6 rounds left?
12am: Could we please stop arguing about who sucks more, the Redskins or the Eagles? I think I would prefer reffing a 5th grade fight to listening to anymore of this!
1am: SETH! Make your pick! You just got buzzed by the timer AGAIN!

1:20am: Okay, fine. Stay here and drive yourself home. I am (finally!) going to bed.



So, was it worth it? Did you at least get some good players? Not sure - here's some highlights - you be the judge...

• QB Drew Brees


• RB Marshawn Lynch


• RB Thomas Jones


• RB Rashard Mendenhall


• WR Santonio Holmes


• WR Brandon Marshall


• TE Tony Gonzalez

I also took some young players that could pay off big time like DeSean Jackson (Eagles), James Hardy (Bills), and Limas Sweed (Steelers). Speaking of the Steelers, we celebrated the 5-year contract of James Farrior yesterday - looks like my favorite jersey still has some life in it!

Wow! I can't believe it - we finally have *limited* internet connection back. I have been dying to post all week!

First, I want to thank those of you who reached out to me after my sad last post. I was definitely in a really yucky place and all the kind words and thoughts really helped to lift me up. Thank you! We are both so lucky to have wonderful family and friends.

I am adjusting pretty well to my new school (I will post more on this later), and actually had a pretty good 2nd half of the week. Everyone has been very welcoming and, some administrative difficulties aside, I think I will really like it there. I already know I love the 5 minute commute!

A few quick things to share:

• According to who you ask, we may be out of the dreaded first trimester! We hit 12 weeks on Thursday and I actually have been feeling less tired the past few days. Unfortunately, the nausea and food aversions I've developed over the past few weeks don't seem to be going anywhere :(
• I ordered and received on Thursday the "Hi Bebe" fetal heartbeat doppler machine. Now, you may say that $80 is an awful lot of money to spend. But I say, the peace of mind it gives me to hear the bebe each evening is worth waaaay more than that (and believe me, Seth would agree!). Bebe's hb continues to measure between 160 - 170 beats per minute!
• We have what's called a Nuchal Translucency screening test on Friday at 8:00 am. This is a test where they do an ultrasound to check the amount of fluid behind the bebe's neck. An elevated measurement can indicate chromosomal disorders such as Down's Syndrome or Trisomy 18. They also do bloodwork in combination with the u/s, but this comes later. It's usually only offered to women 35+, so I had to do a lot of back and forth between Dr. Penn's office and Blue Cross. It will be covered though - my argument is, does 7 months really make a difference? The funny thing is, we're really just having it done to see bebe on u/s again - I simply can't wait for 20 weeks! Unless they found some type of fatal abnormality, it wouldn't affect our decisions anyway. Unfortunately, a good friend just found out through this test that her baby has a 50% chance of having such a problem which is so scary - please keep her and her baby in your prayers that it resolves on its own.
• We have our fantasy football draft today. Apparently Kirk has spent much time and energy arranging a multi-media presentation akin to The Meadowlands on NFL draft day. Not sure how it will all work out, but keep in mind as the season wears on that I have not researched anything at all (kind of busy and preoccupied these days!) and will probably end up with a losing team as I did last year before the wedding...

I wanted to share my disgruntled opinion on tomato gardening. Is it really worth everything that goes into it to have a billion tomatoes for 2-3 weeks and nothing the rest of the year? I've been putting tomatoes in everything! I will be making a panzanella (Italian bread salad) to take to Kirk's today, with the sole purpose of getting rid of a bunch at one time! Here's how I make it:

• Tomatoes cut into large chunks
• 1 red onion
• Italian/French bread cut into large cubes and left out overnight to harden
• Olive oil
• A couple cloves of finely chopped garlic
• A few splashes of balsamic vinegar
• Fresh mozzarella cubed (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Basically, mix everything together except the cheese and bread - those need to be thrown in at the last minute since they'll get soggy!

I'll post more later!

I miss my Gram...

I have to admit, I'm feeling pretty lonely right now. I had my first day at a new school, which was pretty hard for me emotionally - starting over in a new place, with new people, and a principal who is requiring me to keep my pregnancy to myself.

I guess I'm just really missing Gram, who would have been on the phone before I even got home today, wanting to know all about it, and indignantly saying "Up their a**" about anyone/thing that didn't go my way. Instead, my phone and my house are silent and I can honestly say that I've been crying now for quite a while and it just hurts really bad.

South Carolina

We were able to stop in South Carolina to visit Grandmama on our way back from the beach last week. It was a short visit overnight, but wonderful just the same. Thought I'd share my favorite pics - we sure did cram a lot into a few hours!

A bit of background

Expectant Survey

Fathers name? Seth, I think :) ~ he can't believe I wrote that!
Are you still with him? Yes.
Were you trying to get pregnant? Yes, for many months!
When did you find out? Thursday, June 26th.
Where did you find out? In the bathroom.
How far along were you? 4 weeks exactly.
What was your reaction? Disbelief and excitement that instead of searching desperately for a second line, one was actually there!
Who was the first person you told? Seth, of course, and then Gram.
How did you tell the father? Just went downstairs and showed him the 2 tests (there were at least 6 to follow in the coming days).
What was his reaction? "excitement, happiness and relief".
When is your due date? March 5, 2009.
Do you have any morning sickness? Occasionally. I'm used to waking up nauseous from low blood sugar so I can't really tell the difference.
What are your fears? Not possible to list them all. Biggest of course is losing the baby.
What are you most happy about? Being able to tell Gram before she died.
Do you want a boy or girl? I go back and forth and would love both for different reasons. But I have a feeling it's a girl.
What does the father want boy or girl? He totally wants a boy.
Do you know what you're having? No, but we plan to find out in October.
Do you have a name picked out? Not yet.
How much weight have you gained? About 3 pounds, but it looks more like 10!
Have you felt the baby move? No, too early for that.
Do you plan on a natural or medicated birth? I believe pain meds were invented for a reason. No need to go all frontier woman and try to tough it out on your own!
What do you think will be the worst part of labor? I know too many people who have had complications and am afraid something will happen to the baby.
Have you taken any classes? Not yet, but am trying (not succeeding) in finding a local prenatal yoga class.
Who will be in the delivery room? Seth and not sure if anyone else.
Are you having the birth videotaped? I seriously doubt it.
Do you think you will cry when you see the baby for the first time? I cry over commercials so chances are, yes.
What do you think the father's reaction to the baby will be? I think he'll be amazed.

We've decided to start a blog to keep everyone up-to-date on our little one's journey, so here we are. We've been so busy and with school starting up again on Monday we wanted to make sure all of our far-flung family and friends could keep up with what's going on!

Today 'we' are 11 weeks and 1 day pregnant. At first I totally despised the term 'we' - I mean, who's actually doing all the work? However, several weeks into total exhaustion, achiness and (let's face it) neediness and bitchiness, Seth has now paid his dues and is welcome to join our little club :)

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and they were able to hear bebe's heartbeat with a doppler machine - so cool that I'm looking into renting one for a few months to have at home. The little one's heart was beating away at 165+ bpm - according to the old wives, a "sure" sign it's a girl! At first I was hugely disappointed because my appointment wasn't with Dr. Penn, but the new doctor we saw (Dr. Keith) is about my age and so cute! After having male doctors for so long it was nice and different to see a woman.

I had to set up my classroom today and wouldn't you know that I woke up this morning feeling nauseous? That's happened about 5 times total, and of course one is on the first day in a while that I really do have to do something since I start back to work on Monday. As I've always been fond of saying, "This would only happen to me".

I got so much done though, but am paying for it now big time with a bad headache and sore muscles. But it feels so good to actually accomplish something!