White Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Last night at the Christmas Eve service, the baby was so excited about Jesus being born that he was somersaulting. It was completely distracting to both me and Sara. Sorry, Dr. Prince. I don't have a clue what your meditation was about. :-)

We were brainstorming with the youth last week about what lessons we learn from the Christmas story. Want to know the lesson I have learned this Christmas?: If you are about to have a baby, don't leave town without your mother. I mean, how terrible must that have been for poor Mary? I'm sure in a city as crowded as Bethlehem was, she had a woman or two around to help her, but not her mommy. It just wouldn't be ok with me. My mom would have been coming with us. :-D

I am at my parents today. Josh and I traditionally spend Christmas Eve and early morning with my family and then head to his family's house for Christmas evening. This year Josh had to work a 12-hour shift today (yuck!). He managed to make it out before it started pouring snow and got to work safely, but at 4:15, there is 6 inches of snow on the ground, and it is still coming! It is beautiful, but a little stressful. Hopefully I will make it to the Fleenor's and Josh will make it home from work. Prayers would be appreciated.


The snow really is beautiful, and there is something fun about being snowed in. Mom and Dad stayed with us last night, and despite their plans to go to Charlotte today, Mommy has made it clear she will lie down behind their car before they will leave today. So we have had a nice lazy Christmas morning.

One of my big Christmas presents was a new camera, the better to update the blog with! So I tried it out on the snow and the family:


Mommy and Mom have been watching old home movies. I think they are pretty happy. :)


Dad is watching Fox/sleeping.


Daddy and the girls took the dogs on a walk in the snow.


As my mother requested, a picture of her gorgeous Christmas present from Sara. Sara has been working on this ostrich egg for months and the work has been worth it. It is stunning, and huge, and took an insane amount of work. Lucky Mommy. :-D

Great Christmas, all around. Hoping for safe travel and to get to see my honey again this Christmas. Pray for safe travel!

Sick?

So I got to school today and was feeling fine. By 7:50, I was beginning to wonder if I needed to drink more water or something. I was really light headed and hot (which, if you know me at all, is not like me) and I decided to lie down in the Social Skills room, the bonus classroom next to ours that my mental health staff use for their therapy, office, etc. It is conveniently equipped with a couch. After 20 minutes or so, I was feeling better, so I headed back to class. By the time I sat down in my room, I was hot and dizzy again. On the way back to the couch, I called Mommy, who wisely insisted that we go to the doctor. Because I was feeling so lightheaded and nauseous, she came to pick me up. My fabulous staff called a sub and ran the class all day without me. They are the best.

Mommy and I went to the doctor and my blood pressure was fine, my temperature was fine, and my sweet baby's heartbeat was normal. Their best guess was that I have a stomach bug, and suggested I sleep and try to drink a lot of fluids. Mommy was wonderful and took the day off to take me home and take care of me. It's been years since she picked me up at school to take me to the doctor. :-) Lots of ginger ale and a nap later, and I feel mostly better, just totally exhausted. I never did actually throw up, so it doesn't seem like a stomach bug after all. Who knows?

Happy to be mostly healthy again, and sooooo thankful that the baby doesn't seem to be affected at all. He kept nudging and flipping through the whole thing. Little trooper. :-D

34 weeks

Only 6 weeks to go! We have made some major strides towards getting ready for this little guy. We have strapped the car seat in the car, so we are ready if he gets here really early. Also, we are training Leela, our dog, not to jump in the car seat.

I had a GREAT shower at school. Everyone was so generous! Among the loot was the baby monitor we wanted that monitors the baby's breathing and the high chair we registered for. It was amazing. I work with such great people.

We have taken a step back in trying to name the baby. We had sort of settled on a name a month or two ago, but last week I started getting cold feet about it, so we went back to the name book. We have a short list now, but I still can't settle on anything in particular. I keep having dreams about the social security people coming to the hospital room and pressuring us to name him. I guess I need to see him.

Only a few days to Christmas break, and then only a few weeks of school until we get to the date! Woohoo! Can't wait to meet this kid!

31 Weeks

Yep, still getting fatter. :-D

Funny kid story: My students were asking about the baby the other day and I told them that he kicked me so hard that morning that it woke me up. One of my students told me the baby was probably cold because I was sleeping with my mouth open.

Makes sense, right?

For more funny stories from Bridges, see my school blog on the side bar.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Promised Pictures

Me as Juno. Turns out a Juno costume is not the most flattering look for a pregnant lady. There is no picture of my husband because he did not dress up. Loser.



These are the hats I made for Josh for his birthday. I think they turned out super cute. The big one looks great on Josh. He basically lives in it since I gave it to him Saturday. Can't wait to put the little one on a cute little head.

Non-Pregnancy Related Update

First: an apology. I have not put up the pictures of our Halloween costumes yet, which I am very sorry about. I cannot put them up tonight because they are on Josh's camera which is with him in Atlanta at a worship tech conference. I will put them up. Promise.

Had some cool things to share this week, so I thought I would add a little post to the baby blog:

One of my students graduated this week out of our program and into a regular class. We had a graduation party with his parents and grandparents, presents, congrats cards, the works. Also, the students got to have a Q&A with the student about what it is like to graduate and how to achieve that. It was so great. Those are the really proud moments. If anyone wants to learn more about my class or the kids in it, I have a blog for that too, updated weekly by my kids: http://teacher.haywood.k12.nc.us/bridges/



We had a Missionary Support day at my mom's house this week to help Sara with her Eggs for Eggs project. All of us put aside Thursday night to do lots of things to help her get ready for the holiday season. Daddy printed business cards and wrote up a press release about some of her upcoming events. Robin and Mommy drained eggs and brainstormed new designs. I helped dye the eggs and offered general moral support :-D. Sara was able to get lots of eggs done in preparation for her appearance at Dalton's Christian Bookstore the day after Thanksgiving. She is going to be there demonstrating her craft and showing off her marvelous eggs. Come see her!

Also, Robin TOTALLY made my day today by showing us her champion watermelon eating skills. Seriously, she has won competitions for her speed. I am a believer. She is really fast. And, she is a super sport because she is letting me post a video for all to enjoy! HOORAY!



Tomorrow is Josh's 24th birthday! I have to say, I am real glad he was born. :-D Baby and I couldn't have anyone better. Everyone call him and say Happy Birthday.

27 weeks

27 weeks and baby is definitely showing. He is super cute. We like him.

Sadly, I failed my diabetes screening test last week. Didn't study hard enough. So tomorrow I am taking a day off work to get stuck 4 times at the hospital. Pray that it is not diabetes. I will never survive on that kind of diet.

To make it less horrid, Josh is taking the day off too and we are going on a day date after it is done and I am found to be N-O-T NOT diabetic. Then we are going to a friend's Halloween party. Josh is wearing a sweater vest and going as Chandler from Friends. I am going to be Juno. "This is what happens when you have sex."

Pictures to follow.

THANKS!

Pregnancy update: I am totally balancing my Yoplait yogurt on my stomach as I type this. :-D

Thanks so much to all the awesome Bartholomew women who threw Jessy and me such a great shower last weekend! I couldn't believe all the cute goodies we came home with. Special thank you to Gina, Betsy, and Katie who sent presents from afar. Gina, those outfits are so sweet! Betsy, I love the wrap you made. I wanted one of those anyways, but having a handmade one makes it super special. I have a soft spot for handmade gifts. :) Katie, that kit of your favorite Mommy tools is the cutest shower gift idea I have ever seen. I fully intend on copying you at the next shower I attend. Also, that fruit chewer was one the things I wanted the most!

I will post more belly pictures later this week, but I wanted to tell everyone how wonderful it feels to be loved by such a fantastic family. "I thank my God every time I remember you." (Phil 1:3)

Love, Emily

P.S. I was writing my official thank you notes today and remembered another person who sent a gift from Florida. Thanks for the great bib and cup set Molly! They are so cool! That was one of Josh's favorites from the day. You Florida girls are the best. :-D

Progress in the Nursery

On Saturday my lovely mother came over and helped me start to set up the nursery. In the last month or so our spare bedroom has gone from being a catch-all storage/library to being an completely empty, but spotlessly clean, nursery. Daddy picked up the crib we got from Susie in his new truck (yep, Doug Trantham is driving a truck. Look out.) on Friday night, and Mommy came over to help me put it together and start making stuff cute. Thought I would put up some pictures:


View from the hall





Cute crib. The crib was purchased for our friend Eric 12 years ago and was first put together in this house, since Susie and Larry were living here at the time. They had the good sense to save it and the generosity to offer it to us.
Lisa got this awesome crib set at a consignment event a few weeks ago. We love the colors. It has some of that green I keep being drawn to. The blanket, the decorative pillow and mobile have airplanes on them, in honor of Dad Bartholomew and Josh's secret fantasy of being a pilot.





Josh's Wardrobe. Scott and Lisa's house is so old it doesn't have any closets, so they have lots of wardrobe pieces in their house. Josh carved his name into this one as a kid, so he got to keep it. :-D We changed out the hardware to give it a little freshness. The closet is a neat storage place and his little onesies fit perfectly in the tiny drawers.


Rocking Chair from James. Mildred and James (Nana's sister and brother-in-law) gave me this chair that was my great-grandmothers when I went to college and I rocked my way through my bachelors degree. It is super comfy. Bring on the next phase of life!


Closet PACKED with awesome hand-me-downs. We hung up the smallest 0-3 outfits, and as you can see from her signature rubbermaid boxes, my mother has been here. Baby's clothes are smartly organized by size so I will be able to find the sizes I need and store the clothes he grows out of. Brilliant, right?





Papa made this cradle for me. This is actually in our room. It looks really sweet with the blanket that I made. We put the pooh-ka-lou we got at Disney World in there, waiting to meet the baby.

So, lots of progress, and some to go. We still really need curtains and some cute wall art, but it feels good to have the crib and closet set up.

Pregnancy update: I continue to feel good. School is proving to be more exhausting than last year. I have decided to blame that on the baby. He is kicking all the time, especially late at night and early in the morning. He has hiccups pretty regularly which is really fun for us. He usually throws little temper tantrums when he has them: there will be big thumps in rhythm (the hiccups) with lots of little nudges and squirms in between. I totally understand, baby. I hate the hiccups.

My darling aunts are throwing a shower for me this weekend during the girls' weekend out, along with Jessy. We are getting really excited about that, especially getting ready for baby Leila, who's due date is rapidly approaching. The sooner, the better, right Jess?

22 weeks

Baby bump continues to grow! We got to have another ultrasound and see our beautiful boy again. (They checked, he is definitely a boy:-D) We got to go again because during the first one he was resting against my spine and they couldn't see his spine. Our dads came with us this time, which was cool. He is still in the breech position (which explains all those kicks to my bladder). His spine is perfect though! The ultrasound seemed to have a lot more detail this time, I guess because he is bigger (around a pound. Such a heavyweight!) but the pictures they printed for us aren't great. There is a really cool shot of his hand where you can see all the fingers and thumb. His hands were both up around his face, which is how his dad sleeps too. His legs were also folded up in front of him, which you can see in the one thing we have that looks like a profile. It's not nearly as good as the last one though.


Little hand. :-D


Feet pressed together


The ultrasound tech said he looks "cozy". Looks uncomfortable to me.

Our nursery room is cleaned out, but empty except for the cradle and a few little knitted things. Our closet, however, is PACKED thanks to tons of awesome hand-me-downs! Thanks Jasmine, Jessy, Carrie, and Katie!

Registered!

We are registered! We went to Asheville today and spent for-ev-er at Babies R Us and Target looking at everything you could possibly need for a baby. Who knew this little guy would take so much gear? (I know, every mom that ever was, but hey, I'm new at this. :-D) The number of choices was mind boggling. We left literally out of breath from all the deciding. But now it is done and can be viewed online at the BabiesRUs website and the Target Website. Search for my name and we should come up. Remarkably, there are 26 other registries at Babies R Us that have the name Fleenor. As you browse, if you see anything particularly random or weird, bear in mind that Josh had control of the scanner. :-D

Super Sister

Sara is starting a new project with her Ukranian Eggs called Eggs for Eggs. I could write pages and pages about how awesome she and it are, but instead, I will direct you to her own blog: Eggs For Eggs

Life is Good Quest

So when we were on our honeymoon 3 years ago I saw this in a Life is Good store and loved it, but felt funny buying baby clothes 3 days after we got married. It has been in the back of my mind ever since, but I never ran across it again. When we found out about our little boy I started searching, and I can't even find it on the website. I thought I would put a picture of it up on the blog and see if anyone else out there has seen it. If you do, please please please call me, K? :-D

School Blog

I posted a link to my school blog in the list on the right. This blog is updated by my students every week. The latest entry was written by a 9 year old about his teacher being pregnant. :-D

Baby Boy!

It's a boy! Our little guy did great in the ultrasound. Our ultrasound tech is a heart specialist, so she took all kinds of pictures of his heart. He has all his chambers and arteries and they are connected properly. His stomach and kidneys and brain look beautiful also! She couldn't get a good look at his spine because he was sitting up crisscross applesauce against my spine, so we have to go back in 3 weeks for some more pictures. Darn. :-D The tech and the doctor both assure us that nothing looks funny, they just have to see it. He looks beautiful! Mommy thinks he looks like Adam and Lisa thinks his nose looks like Emily. Maybe it's both. Can't wait for our next glimpse at him. Now to come up with some boy names.

Also, as promised, some pictures of my latest projects. I love the way this blanket turned out. I made these mittens this weekend after we met our little boy. :-D

16 weeks

So, defiantly progressing on the baby belly. I cannot wear any of my dress pants, so for school this week I had to try out the maternity pants for the first time. Comfy. :-D

I also finished the baby blanket I started, but as my husband and his camera are almost never home when I am awake, I don't have a picture of it. It looks like I will need to get my own camera before this baby gets here.

Other news from our house: School has started. Bridges is a lot less intimidating the second time around. The first two days were almost easy. I guess that is the benefit of having all the same kids in the same room with the same staff. I am keeping up a blog there too, if anyone is interested: Bridges Rocks!

Also, our dear Emily Fleenor the original has gone away to school this very evening and left all of us to think about how awesome she is and how lousy our lives are without her. Good thing she is going to have such a good time. :-D

13 weeks

No maternity pants yet, but heading in that direction.

We don't find out if we are having a boy or a girl for 6 more weeks, which makes it difficult to knit stuff. I have made a few things though, starting with these little mittens. After all, the baby will be born in January.



Also I am working on this blanket that is designed to look like a patchwork quilt. It is really fun to knit and turning out to be pretty cute. :-)

12 weeks!

We have made it through the uncertain first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Woohoo!

So far, things are going pretty well. I haven't been sick that much, only a day here and there. I got to hear the heartbeat at the last doctor's appointment. It was beautiful! :-)

We have been spreading the news a bit further now that we are this far along. We got to tell grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc over the 4th of July weekend. We got to tell almost everyone in person, except for Josh's Colorado and Raleigh folks. Everyone was overjoyed.

We have a small collection of baby stuff: a onesie from Disney that we picked out, a sleeper/hat/bootie set from Aunt Ann, girl and boy t-shirts my mom got for Josh for Father's Day, and a sweet little afghan from Jennifer. Baby presents are fun. :-D

Josh and I are enjoying anticipating our little one. We lay in bed in the morning talking about baby names and how we won't be able to lay in bed and talk for many more mornings. We are anxious to find out if it is a boy or a girl, which the doctor said will happen at the beginning of September. Can't wait!

Will take another tummy picture soon!

First Baby Pictures

This is our 7 1/2 week sonogram picture. When my best friend Cayli saw this picture she said "It's beautiful! Is it that spot in the middle?" Ha!

Here is my almost-nonexhistant baby belly. At the rate I am eating, this will improve quickly. :-D

It's Official!

We are having a baby! We are so excited. One of our first thoughts (after "there's no going back now" and "is it a boy or a girl?") was "We need to start a blog!" We have fallen in love with our dear cousins Andrew, Isaiah, and Wyatt and we haven't even met them. What a great way to let distant family in on your life! So, big change is coming around the corner, January 24th to be more specific. :-D