Junebug Update!

I went for my weekly OB appointment this morning, which included an ultrasound of my little guy, and we were given some pretty surprising information!!

After taking measurements of Junebug's head, belly, and femur, the ultra sound technician said that he weighs around 9lbs 3oz, to which I responded with, "WHAT?!?" I couldn't, and still can't, believe it. He's huge. Now, I know that these things are just a guesstimate, but holy cow, this kid is huge. I'm hoping and praying that he'll really only be 8 something.

Oh, and here's the really interesting part. Because of JB's size and due to my high blood pressure as of late, I will be induced on Tuesday! We have to check in to the hospital at 4:30 am...goodness. We're excited, but I'm also hating that I'll be pumped up with pitocin. So, please pray that this induction goes quickly and smoothly and most of all, please pray that I will not have to have a C-section.

Soon I'll be blogging about my baby boy! I'll be sure to post pics before the end of next week. :)

Retirement

My last day of "work" was this past Monday. My friend Megan and I joke around that we're retired since neither of us will be going back to work after our babies are born, but we both recognize that we are about to embark upon the hardest work of our lives--child rearing.

Anyway, I hung around with my coworkers in the cafeteria as we at lunch together on a teacher workday one last time; I finished packing up my classroom, took one last look around, thanked the Lord for giving me the opportunities I have had over the past three years, shut the light, and went on my way. As excited as I have been about the baby coming and being a stay at home mom, I couldn't help but shed a few tears. Ok, I cried a couple of times about it on the way home, and I'd be lying if I said that it's not making me a little teary-eyed now, but trust me, this is exactly what I want. I can't wait for my little boy to be here and to be his primary caretaker instead of sticking him in a daycare. I think I just know that my life is going to change in a major way, and as much as I want this change, I'm still going to spend some time grieving the loss of my life as I have known it for the past 29 years, but especially for the past 7 years that Adam and I have been together. I'd like to think how I'm feeling is normal! I keep telling myself it is...

Yesterday was my first official day of being a stay at home wife--I guess I really won't be a stay at home mom until Junebug arrives. I have been working harder the past two days than I have worked the past week as a teacher! I have been cleaning up a storm, partly because I think that the "nesting" syndrome has taken over, but also because I just know that certain things have to be done before this baby comes home and my house becomes full of people who want to meet him. I've been cleaning, organizing, reorganizing, throwing things away, and doing what feels like a million loads of laundry. Hopefully I'll be done by the end of the day tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I have an OB appointment, including an ultrasound, at 9:45 tomorrow morning. Hopefully we'll get an idea of how big is baby boy is! I'll post an update by the end of the week.

Only 9 more days til my due date! :)

I've been a bad girl & Oh, baby!

Ok, so I've ignored my blog for MONTHS now, but I do have a good excuse! I couldn't take maintaining another thing in my life for the past 5 months or so. First of all, I'm pregnant, which means that as each month has passed by I've been more fatigued and swollen and the combination of these things had made me put the unnecessary things in my life on the back burner. Second, I served as my school's yearbook adviser this year and let's just say it was a thankless, stressful, WAY UNDERPAID, responsibility that I both loved and hated at the same time. Stressful deadlines + pregnancy did not work well for me.

Needless to say, those two things in conjunction with preparing for the baby--getting the nursery together (which is still not done, by the way), attending birthing classes and breastfeeding classes, and enjoying the time I had at each of my four baby showers (what a blessing!) as left me with zero energy and very little time to do much of anything else.

That being said, I'm back. My little boy is due in 22 days and I am feeling a little overwhelmed lately. Ok, a lot overwhelmed lately. I'm still working and although school is out for the summer next Friday and things are winding down, this is still a very stressful time for teachers, especially teachers who are 3 weeks away from giving birth! I'm in the process of cleaning out my classroom and getting grades done. I want to be able to walk out of here with the students and not look back!

I'm stressed out at home, too. I have such an overwhelming desire to "nest" but that desire is being thwarted by work, exhaustion, and my swollen elephant feet--they hurt! I do little things here and there but I so desperately want to be at home from now until the baby comes, preparing for his arrival. I want to clean my house, wash his baby things, and reorganize things that have been driving me crazy, like my laundry room and a certain kitchen cabinet. I need to clean out my freezer and make room for the yummy things my mom will make and freeze for me when she and my dad come down to see the baby. And speaking of mom and dad coming down, I need to clean the guest room which has become the place where things go lately when I don't know where to put them. I need to pack my hospital bag, find a pediatrician for the baby (hopefully, this will be taken care of by tonight), and pick a paint color for the baby's room. Do I need to go on? I'm sure I could, but I'm getting stressed just by making this list!

I know that this stress will soon pass, I just wish it would be over with sooner than later.

I promise to be a better blogger from now on--Lord knows I'll have plenty to blog about in the coming weeks!

Christmas Catch Up and Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!

It's been awhile since I've posted. Adam and I left our house on December 20th and went up to NJ for Christmas. We stopped in Washington DC on the way up--we spent the day walking around the National Mall area and then spent the night--and we got to NJ on Sunday afternoon. We had a very nice Christmas with my family and we even spent the 26th exploring the historic part of Philly with my parents.

We headed home on Sunday morning (the 28th) and spent 11+ grueling hours in the car...yuck! We hit a ton of traffic, mostly in the Baltimore and DC areas. No surprise there.

Now here it is, the last day of the year. I can't believe it! It really is true that time goes by faster the older you get. It's kind of scary!

Sometimes I feels like it will take FOREVER for June to get here so we can meet our little June Bug, and other times I surprised by how quickly my pregnancy is going; I can't believe I'm almost done with my fourth month! (By the way, my next appointment is Jan. 7th.)

So, with this new year that's upon us, I think we could all use this reminder. Slow down.

We get so caught up in things that don't matter that we forget to appreciate the things that do, don't we? I know I do.

Now, I won't make any New Year's Resolution, mostly because I think they are pointless, but when life gets hectic and I'm wishing for the day, week, or month to be over with I'll try to remind myself to slow down. I hope you'll do the same.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Am I a bad mommy (to be) already?

My friend, Beth, brought to my attention that I haven't posted anything about my pre-natal appointments! Yes, I have been procrastinating (which is something I do quite well) because I haven't scanned the ultrasound in to my computer yet, but here it goes.

We went to our first appointment in November. At the time I was 8 weeks and 1 day pregnant. I surprised that the very first thing that they did was an ultrasound! Of all the times in my life that I imagined going to my first appointment as a pregnant woman, I always pictured that I would go in, pee in a cup, get blood work and wait for the "official" results before the appointment went any further. Nope. Not how it went. I'm not complaining--I loved getting to the best part of the appointment right away! Adam and I loved seeing our little June Bug on the screen. Although at the time it looked like a bean. :)

June Bug- 8 wks 1 day Gestation

(picture coming)

We just went to our second appointment on Wednesday, December 10th. (12 weeks gestation) Adam came with me again because we wanted to hear the baby's heart beat for the first time together. The appointment was very short, especially compared to how long I was there the first time, but we did get to hear the heart beat--160. According to the old wives tale, the higher heart rate (I read the heart rate is usually between 120-160) indicates it's a girl, which is funny because my family is convinced it IS a girl. I guess we'll see in February when we have our next ultra sound!

Take a look at the pole on the right side of the page--before you leave tell us what you think we're having! (Yes, we know it's a baby...)