Also...

An update on Adam for those of you who are interested: we get to talk to him almost every day now via email. He has an email address that he can check on a computer in his room. That has been great. If you would like to email him, the address is adam.trantham@afg.usmc.mil. Email is not quite the same as a letter, but since he has been there for 5 weeks and still hasn't gotten any mail, email is nice. Also, we have been able to email him pictures at that address, so when the baby gets here we can send him pictures every day. He posted a picture on Facebook, but as everyone doesn't have Facebook (Aunt Terri), I thought I would put it up here too.

38 weeks

Finally got some pregnancy pictures I don't hate. :-D My photographer husband is so great. :-D

Nesting in the snow

Well, we have been back at school for a week and a half now and I have only seen my kids for 3 and a half days. Last Thursday was an annual leave day for winter weather, then Friday was a two hour delay that turned into a 12 o'clock dismissal. Since my kids get bused in from all over the county, they didn't arrive until 10:30 and started leaving at 11:15. The only thing we had time to do was eat lunch!

More snow this weekend made for three closed days in a row (no school tomorrow either). I may not see my students again before I have this baby! I'm not complaining though. It can be a little crazy feeling, but it is nice to work at a job that gives you unexpected days off and doesn't need you to risk life and limb to get to work. Josh and Daddy have no such luck. Josh worked an unexpected shift last night because someone couldn't get to work and Daddy is offering rides to anyone who works for him in Haywood County that needs to get to work. Apparently people suffer from mental illness no matter the weather.

Yesterday, Josh didn't have to work at the store because it didn't open and I didn't have to go to work, so we used our time at home to scrub every inch of the kitchen. I'm talking emptying out drawers, rearranging cabinets, scrubbing the inside of the refrigerator, we did it all. I am completely aware that this is a classic case of nesting, but it feels great to get it done. How nice of Haywood County Schools to give me time to satisfy all those urges! Josh was a great sport about it, despite the fact that deep cleaning was not on his list of things to do on a day off. He's the best.

The roads in town are pretty good today. They have been scrapped a lot and the sun has come and melted quite a bit of the ice on the roads. The snow mounds will be around for weeks I am sure, and the water on the roads will freeze tonight, but for now it's not too bad. I stayed at Scott and Lisa's last night since Josh was working. Everyone gets really jittery these days about me staying home alone in bad weather. Something about labor or whatnot. :-D Scott went out late last night to shovel the driveway "in case we needed to get out." My family is so sweet.

Josh and I were able to get to the doctor today for my weekly checkup. I am not dilated or effaced at all, but the baby is engaged in the correct position for the main event, so that is a step in the right direction. So far he is awesome at being born. :-D

So, for now, it looks like we are on track for the due date or there abouts, which is fine with me. He was nudging me last night as I was going to sleep and I was thinking about how those little interactions are almost over. I can't wait to see his sweet face and kiss his cheeks, but I don't want to take any day of this for granted. He is a good little baby.

Baby Countdown Begins!

Since the beginning, I sort of put off thinking about the big day until after Christmas. Now, it is January 2nd, and it is time to think about it. :-D Our due date is three weeks from tomorrow, woohoo!

Today Mommy and I washed all our little guy's clothes and hung them up. We also finished setting up the nursery: cutting off tags, unpacking sheets and blankets, etc. I packed the diaper bag for the hospital with teeny outfits and warm things for him to come home in. I also packed a basket full of board books to put next to my chair in the living room for us to read together. hehe.

We had our last shower yesterday at Lisa's house and it was awesome! Thanks so much to everyone who has blessed our baby so richly these last 8 months. We have everything that we need for him and we haven't spent a penny. Our God and our friends are so good to us.

I go back to school tomorrow after break. My students are starting to get a little nervous about me leaving. All year we have talked about me having the baby "after Christmas." The time is here, and they are very concerned about when I will leave and how it will feel for them. I have a great substitute for my leave, and I am sure they will be fine, but any prayers people are willing to offer for my students would be great.

We still don't have a name for this guy, but we do have short list of names we like. I don't know if we will be able to decide until we meet him, which is driving our families a little crazy. Any suggestions?

Baby is HUGE at this point. He takes up every spare space in my tummy. The doctor says he is head down, but it doesn't keep him from twisting and kicking. His new trick is to stick his toes under my right ribs and wiggle them. He's cute. :-)

I was looking back over some of my previous posts and I couldn't believe what I forgot to show you! When we were at the fair in October we visited all our Village of Yesteryear friends, including Karl Johnson, a fantastic scissor artist who cuts people's silhouettes free-handed in the village. When he found out about the baby, he asked if we had an ultrasound profile, and of course I had it on my phone. He was able to cut the profile from the picture on my phone! Isn't that cool? We will find out soon if it looks much like him. :-D

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!