Cutie Pie

I'm back from my sonogram, and just as I suspected, everything looks fine. There's plenty of amniotic fluid, and they say the baby weighs 4.3 lbs, which is in the 54th percentile. (How can they really tell how much a baby weighs from a sonogram anyway? Oh well.) Apparently I'm just "hiding the baby well". Anyway, I thought I'd share the latest shot of our little sweetheart. In this one she's looking straight at the "camera" and sporting some BIG lips, along with wide eyes, a nose, cute chin and a fist. I think she's adorable, but I'm her mom, so I don't count. :)

Getting Bigger...

I'm at 32 weeks now, and I'm starting to get bigger. Despite this photographic evidence of my big belly, my students say I'm still little, and my doctor says I'm measuring small. I'm going in for a sonogram today to make sure that the baby is gaining enough weight. I'm not too worried. We have long torsos in my family.

Phew!

It's been one of those weeks where I've had a lot on my plate. We had a big joint activity for mutual last night that I was in charge of. Sometime yesterday afternoon I began to worry that I had bitten off more than I could chew. It was a missionary work activity, and started off with the youth receiving a "mission call" and entering the "MTC" (Relief Society room). We had an LGM (Large Group Meeting) introducing Preach My Gospel and the missionary purpose, and then they split into districts by language (we had Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Tagalog). They learned to introduce themselves and testify of the Book of Mormon in the language, and then they learned to teach a short first lesson on the restoration. Their "MTC teachers" were volunteers from the ward who had served in different parts of the world, and the full-time missionaries assigned to our ward. From there, they went to the "field" where they completed their To Do list of missionary tasks (sew a button, tie a tie/put on knee highs, find a scripture) and also went to their mission country (a table in the gym decorated with things from the country- we had the Philippines, Venezuela, France, Madagascar, Spain and Portugal) where they approached the "investigator" (volunteer from the ward), taught the first lesson, and sampled a food from the country. Once everyone finished this, they went "home" from their missions (back to the RS room) and a full-time Elder from the ward talked about how they can prepare for full-time missionary service and a member of the bishopric talked about things they can do to share the gospel now. Anyway, I was nervous because there were so many people involved, and so many things to get done in a short period of time, AND because our youth tend to be a bit unruly most of the time. When all was said and done, though, I think it went really well. The youth had fun (except for a couple who had decidedly bad attitudes and refused to fully participate---but that's something we deal with every week) and I hope they gained an increased desire to share the gospel and to serve missions some day. The volunteers and missionaries were awesome, and we never could have pulled it off without them. I'm glad we did it, and I'm glad it's over!

Today, I had my fourth and final observation (the department chair and principal come and observe me teach a class) for the year. I wasn't TOO worried, since the first three went well, but it's always a little bit stressful getting ready, and just praying that the students will be on their best behavior (since behavior issues tend to be my biggest concern). This observation was also of my largest and most difficult class. But the studets were (almost) angels and everything went off without a hitch. The principal and department chair were very complimentary, and (as I usually do) I felt like I was tricking them into thinking that I'm a good teacher. Oh well. I'm glad that's over too. Smooth sailing from now until the end of the year (knock on wood).

With those two "big" events and several other issues (including house-buying stuff- more news to come) this has been quite a week, and even though it's only Thursday, I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief!

Talk About Productive

Tuesday was one of my most productive days yet. I started out by waking up early, reading my scriptures, making breakfast and heading to the bank before arriving early at work and getting some planning done. I taught my class and then headed home. I planned next week's joint activity and sent out emails to coordinate with those who will be helping. Then I made a batch of homemade bread, cleaned the kitchen, made some tortilla soup from scratch, and made chocolate-dipped strawberries and chocolate-walnut clusters. When Jon came home, we had dinner, washed the dishes, read scriptures together, and then I headed out to pick up my visiting teaching companion and visit one of our sisters. After our appointment, my companion and I drove by the house we made an offer on so that she could see it, and then I dropped her off at home. I headed to JoAnn Fabrics to pick up some things for projects I am working on and got home in time to watch the movie that had come in the mail from Netflix with my honey.

And that's not all!

I was even so productive as to quit watching the movie half-way through so that I could writhe on the floor in pain until Jon took me to the hospital where I was examined and given morphine, which barely took the edge off the torture of kidney stones. I stayed there for about 15 hours, during which time I eventually passed the stones (hopefully all of them!) and even managed to throw up every time I moved from my bed to go to the bathroom.

What did you do yesterday?

Baby Talk

We got a travel system for the baby from my mom. Thanks mom! I think it's super cute.

After we put it together, Jon came pushing the stroller into the kitchen and said "I have baby!" I looked in the stroller/car seat and this is what I saw...

Also, several people have given us baby clothes, and here are a few outfits that I think are adorable.

(thanks Lisa & Sue!)

(thanks Sue!)

(thanks Alisha!)

(Okay, I actually bought this one...it's just so TINY!)

Finally, I am at 30 weeks! Only 10 more to go (that actually seems like a long time...) Yesterday while we were sitting in church, I put my hand on the top of my belly, and I totally felt the baby's head! It was so cool! We felt it several more times throughout the day. It makes what has up to now been super abstract just a little more real. Anyway, here's my belly...

Top Ten Things I LOVE About Being Pregnant

10. Gaining a measure of empathy for those who suffer from indigestion/heartburn (things I had never previously experienced).
9. Feeling gratitude for my general good health during my non-pregnant life.
8. Buying tiny, cute articles of clothing.
7. Feeling the baby kick (as long as it's not in the ribs or the bladder).
6. Hearing Jon talk to the baby.
5. An excuse to refuse to wear clothing that is not comfortable.
4. Thicker hair...for real.
3. Something on my body finally sticks out more than my bum.
2. My students (and Jon) will pick things up off the floor if I drop them.
1. A good excuse to get out of absolutely anything I don't feel like doing...and to do whatever I want to, for that matter!

Awesome

So, I just found out that "up to 6 weeks paid maternity leave" actually means "as-many-unused-sick-days-as-you-have-saved-up paid maternity leave". I started the year with 10 sick days. I have about 6 left. Cool.