a nice moment

woah.  two posts in one day.  I know....crazzzy.  

After I got off work, I had about an hour before Kyle got off work.  I thought it might be nice to pick him up today so he wouldn't have to walk home (it's not a long walk, but, still, sometimes its nice to have a ride).  After trying to decide how to waste an hour, I eventually decided I would just park outside his building and play solitaire on my phone.  

So, I did.  I won Klondike 1-draw 6 times in a row!  That's got to be a record.  

When Kyle came out, I decided that it might be nice to take advantage of the nice fallish weather and just spend some time together.  So, we went to starbucks.  I got a white chocolate raspberry mocha.  Mmmm.  It was the best one I've ever had.  It was perfect for holding and sipping as we sat outside, watching the city traffic walk, drive, and ride by.  Feeling both, a part of the busy city passing by, and feeling very close at our little table for two.  Kyle got some sort of iced drink, but they accidently made him a hot one...so he ended up with 2.  

We sat outside and enjoyed the crisp air as we both shared the events of our respective days.  Sipping coffee drinks also makes us both a little more loquacious than usual.  We took turns being super chatty. I enjoyed hearing Kyle rehash his day...and enjoyed telling him about mine.  

Now, I don't want to make it sound like we never talk.  We talk every day. We share our days events everyday, we spend lots of time together actually...but every once in a while, it's nice to just sit and relax and sip a drink and enjoy each others company in a different way.  And the fall weather, I think, just enhanced the experience.  I'm really happy to have such a good friend in a husband.  

It was a nice moment.  

Live from BHS

I got to work this morning and opened my computer so that I could review a report I had typed up a few days ago.  And to my lovely surprise, I found that I suddenly had a wireless signal!

Now, I have 4 ethernet ports in my little hole in the wall office here, but none are active.  I've been trying for about a year now to get one of them turned on.  So, imagine my surprise when I'm suddenly able to get online.  Yay!

Now, I know what you're thinking.  "There goes her productivity"  Well, while you might be right, I'm going to try not to let that be the case.  I'm still pretty motivated to get things done around here.  :)  

However, it is SUPER exciting for me to be able to check student records, histories, and attendance (especially attendance) online from here in my office instead of roaming the school for a free computer to use for 2 seconds.  

So, I'm happy.  

from CNN

CNN: "Kyle could become a hurricane on Saturday"

Hmm.  Maybe I should let him sleep a little longer.  I wouldn't want to mess with that. 

TV

It's that time of year again!  The time of year that they started advertising in June...or maybe before.  Season Premiers abound.  

Last night, we had a few people over for an Office watch party.  I had a lot of fun.  People brought snacks, and I made a veggie tray.  We had beets from Schrutes Beet Farm, Dunder Mifflin paper plates, pictures of the characters taped up with other decor...oh, and post-it notes with quotes from the show all over the place.  I forgot to take pictures, but it was fun.  Well, here's one picture of my paper clip garland...we added cutouts to it later.  Yeah, not the most exciting picture in the world, but you get the idea.

Anyway, after everyone left, Kyle and I settled in for ER and Grey's Anatomy.  I don't know if any of you readers follow ER or not, but after taking about a...oh, I dunno...6 year hiatus, Kyle and I started watching it again a couple of years ago.  This is its last season and I won't tell you what happened, but I will tell you that I basically cried through the whole thing.  Even Kyle paused the show at one point and turned to me and said, "I think I need a hug"  I agreed...and after our brief hug break, we finished the show.Grey's, of course, was very Grey-ish.  I'm looking forward to the season.  There are all the other shows to look forward to as well!  Yay for TiVo!  

Tonight is the presidential debate!  Kyle and I started a tradition before we started dating I think of watching all presidential, primary, or VP debates while eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream. So, while I'm of course invested in our political system and what the candidates have to say - I'm also super psyched about the Phish Food in the fridge.  :)

In other news:

It is Cold and rainy up here today...which is gross when you have to go to work, but not so bad when you get to curl up at home.

Oh, and Kyle wins a gold star and a pat-pat for being a super huzby and talking to our management.  He convinced them to let us move into our new apartment a week early so I could "start setting up the nursery a few days sooner"  :-)  Yay!  So, now we're moving on October 19th I think.  

That's all for now...gotta get ready for the debate!

memories

I thought I would try my hand at a list of things I don't want to forget about this pregnancy.  I've been told that pregnancy causes you to loose function of 10% of your brain...so, I'd best do this while I'm thinking about it.  I'm sure there will be more lists later, this is just for starters. :)

1.  Looking into the mirror after getting the plus sign and not recognizing myself.

2. The way that, while totally still freaked out, Kyle insisted we go buy prenatal vitamins that night. 

3. When Kyle and I were both very sick, but he still took care of me through all the morning sickness, nausea, and fever.  How he put so much time into making me dinner every night, never deterred by the fact that I could never eat it. 

4. Hearing the heartbeat for the first time and smiling...and watching Kyle smile.

5. Riding the T home and thinking "Did I just feel the baby kick for the first time, or was that the burrito I just ate?"

5. Seeing the ultrasound and how strange it was to see her kick and feel it at the same time.  

6. Flying to Florida and feeling her kick super hard for the first time.

7.  Flying to Hawaii and deciding on the name Abigail with Kyle.  I kept looking out the window at the clouds thinking in my head "Hi Abigail, now you have a name.  I'm mom.  Nice to meet you"

8. Watching myself slowly outgrow my taekwondo uniform and wearing Kyle's old belt when mine stopped fitting.  

9. The way that Abigail can be having her own little dance party, but the moment Kyle puts his hand on my belly, all stops.  He calms her. 

10.  All the quiet moments at home, in my office, or elsewhere when I just rub my belly and think sweet and loving thoughts- totally convinced that Abigail hears them.

Autumn

I was taught the seasons of the year just like anybody else.  But, growing up in Arkansas always put a little kink in the way the weather was supposed to work.  Summer was hot, and then a month or so after fall started, it would get cool.  A few weeks later you might have another random week of summer (I remember once wearing shorts on my birthday in mid November)  Then winter came.  Sometimes you noticed, sometimes it just slipped on by and melted into spring.  We usually got at least a few weeks of complain-worthy coldness.  Spring meant pollen and when the pollen was washed away and the rain turned into humidity -  it was summer again.  

Well, New England is different.  

Up here, the seasons work like they're supposed to work....the way you learn about in grade school.  And not only that, it's like clockwork!   Kyle and I remember observing the uncanny and abrupt end to summer last year.  The day after labor day, the temperature dropped 10 degrees.  It's like the mayor has a thermostat.  The first leaf fell on the first day of autumn.  The first snow flurries were right after Thanksgiving...etc.  

Yesterday was a beautiful day.  It wasn't too hot, not too cold.  Sunny.  Today, the first day of fall, was....well, I can't say cold because I know what's coming, but chilly.  It was overcast all day, windy and brisk.  Like clockwork.  Kyle and I have had our air turned off for over a week now.  We just keep the windows and patio door open all the time.  It keeps things airy and cool, and saves us a little money on the electricity front.  It's one of the perks of living up here - you really can use your windows to regulate the temp in your home.  

Anyway, I just wanted to share.  Pretty soon the leaves will begin to turn colors and the fall season will be in full swing.  I love the changing of the seasons.  

weekend

Kyle and I have had a pretty laid back weekend.  Nothing overly exciting to report...but hey, that's not a bad thing for a weekend.  

On Saturday we decided to go explore a new region of the area in search of a Target Greatland.  It wasn't really that far from where we live.  About 20 mins away.  We get within 1.3 miles of the store and hit traffic.  Ugh.  The problem was that some genius decided that construction had to get done and that they needed to merge traffic from the interstate plus 3 other highways into one lane.  Again. Ugh.  I exaggerate not when I tell you that it took over an hour to to move .8 miles and about 20 mins for the last .5 or so.  

Of course, Kyle didn't mind too much because that meant he could listen to the hogs play bama...which was a whole other kind of frustration....

Anyway, Target turned out to be about the same size as every other target we've been in.  C'est la vie.  We ate lunch at the Texas Roadhouse, which we had never visited before.  Maybe we were just tired, but it was really good, and they stuffed us with food.  We left feeling very satisfied.  We pretty much just came home (via a creative route because I refused to sit in the same traffic on the way back) Kyle watched football, and I fell asleep.

Today was a pretty lazy day too.  We made a budget, so that's good.  I cleaned and did some organizing.  Kyle watched football.  Tonight we went out for our Sunday burritos (a strange tradition that we've fallen into) and then went to see Burn After Reading.  We liked it.  It was...interesting.  Cohen-esque for sure.  

Anyway, Kyle's back to watching football now (oh me, it's a long season isn't it?) and I'm just getting ready for another work week.  Happy Mondays to everyone!

preggo humor

Here are some funnies for today :)

28 weeks

Here's the 28 week picture.  

It's getting harder to post these, by the way.  ;-)

third trimester

Welcome to the beginning of the end...

Today marks the first day of the last trimester for us.  12 weeks left, 3 months to go, oh how time flies.  I'm sure that it's going to start flying even faster now.  I think being in school makes that happen...having a routine and a schedule and deadlines.  Deadlines Always make time go faster.  Here is how my life is divided for the next few months: 

September- testing kids at school and writing reports in order to stay ahead of the game.

October- friends coming to visit the first weekend, school seminars on the other weekends, we move into our new apartment on the 25th!!! Then, Halloween.  

November- the one month countdown begins, then you have my birthday, and then thanksgiving, and then...a baby!  

Throw in some social events, some red sox action, all the doctors appointments, the changing of the seasons and setting up the nursery...oh, and all of Kyle's activities too...and I think that December will be here before we know it!  

Last night, a little before midnight, I read Kyle the small excerpt from "what to expect" about the third trimester.  One of the things it said I should expect was heartburn.  So, Kyle tucks me in.  I kid you not, 10 mins later, I'm sitting up with this uncomfortable warming in my chest.  "Wow" I thought,  "that book was dead on"  Well, I've never had heartburn and wasn't sure what I should do about it.  That action, however, was soon decided for me.  I tried to go back to sleep...but I broke out in a cold sweat, my heart sped up.  I suddenly had flashbacks to the first trimester.  I knew this feeling all too well.  

I'll spare you the lovely details.  Long story short is that I had a bad taco for dinner and my body made SURE that there was NO trace of it left in me.  It was miserable.  Kyle took care of me of course, like he always does.  I eventually got back to bed and feel fine today.  But, man, I hope that's not an indication of what the next 3 months have in store.  

Anyway, we're happy to have made it this far.  Oh! And if you haven't...you should click on my friend Hannah's blog to the right here and look at the pictures of her brand new Baby Boy! He's adorable.  :-)  Check ya later. 

stripes

When I was little, my family took a vacation to Biloxi, MS.  It's really the only family vacation that I remember that didn't involve a whole family reunion of some sort...it was also my first time to the "ocean"  (the gulf counts when you're little).  Since this was my first beach experience, I learned lots of things...one of which were that jellyfish were small invisible creatures that floated in the water waiting to sting you.  Well, that settled that.  I was NOT getting in the water.  

So, my parents bought me a floaty.  A tiger floaty - to protect me.  I believe this is the moment that I decided I loved tigers. I wasn't afraid of the water anymore.  They've been my favorite animal ever since. 

.  

When I was a teenager, I decided that I would pursue a career as a tiger trainer.  I wanted to work in a wildlife refuge or animal farm where they took care of tigers.  I looked into it pretty seriously, before something else distracted me.  

When I started working at Taekwondo as an instructor, it dawned on me one day that the little kids we taught were called Tiny Tigers.  So, in a way, I Was training tigers.  I was just training them to listen, follow direction, kick, punch, and take turns.  

Point being, I've always liked them.  

Now, I'm pregnant.  And my baby girl must have realized that I liked tigers and decided to help me grow stripes.

Yep, the stretch marks have arrived.  I basically look like all the stitching around my belly is coming undone.  Like frankenstein's forehead...but around my hips and abdomen instead.  Yay for genetics.  :-/  However, as I try to cope with the fact that my skin is tearing apart...I find that if I just imagine them as tiger stripes...they're not as bad.  I'm growing my own Tiny Tiger, after all.  It's only appropriate that I dress the part.  

glucose & rhogam

Just an update.

We went yesterday and I had my glucose screening.  This consists of me chugging a bottle of orange sugary stuff (tasted yummy, actually) and then getting my blood drawn an hour later to check for gestational diabetes.  I'm becoming a pro at this blood drawing stuff...I mean, as long as I don't see the needle, or the blood, and keep my eyes and ears focused on whatever Kyle is doing to try to distract me, then I only break out into a very small sweat.  :)

Then, we went and saw the doc.  I'm not telling how much I gained this month...but let's just say that I can't have any more ice cream for a while.  On a happier note, my blood pressure was great and my big ol' belly was measuring perfect at 27 weeks.  Abigail had the hiccups on the doppler...which I'm pretty sure is a result of chugging the orange syrup.  

After doc, I went to go get my rhogam shot.  This is the shot I have to get because Kyle and I have different blood types, and since we don't know which one little Abby is inheriting...I get a shot just to make sure there's no fighting about it.  I can't remember the last time I had a shot.  I won't lie...I didn't like it.  It did not last long and wasn't that bad...but, it still smarted.  

However, I just tell myself that this whole needle thing is something I'm going to have to get over. 

Last observation: I had to go to labor and delivery to get my shot, so I got to see where we'll be going when Abigail decides to make her debut.  They had me wait in one of the empty delivery rooms.  It was VERY strange to sit in there and imagine that in a few short months, I'll be the one on the bed screaming at the smiley chart of pain indicators.  I looked at the little baby cart and tried to imagine what it will be like to see the nurses and doctors cleaning and measuring Abigail for the first time.  It suffices to say that it was a bit overwhelming.   

justification

One of the things I love about Kyle is his responsibility.  He does a great job with organizing our financial affairs, keeping track of our schedules, and making sure we do all the things we need to do for this and that.

However, one of the other things I love about Kyle is that he and I can justify just about anything.

For instance, we bought our big TV in '06 " so Kyle could see" the World Cup matches.  We bought a new car " so we could fit" a stroller and other baby gear in it.  We've taken dozens of trips all over the country for very good reasons, attended sporting events, theaters, and all sorts of fun things that we probably didn't *need* to do, but did nonetheless...and always with a very good justification.  

So, tonight I had a bowl of soup around 6pm.  This meant that around 9:30, I was super ravenously hungry again.  We have food in the house...I just didn't feel like making it.  Kyle mentioned ordering food, but I felt guilty about spending the money.  I couldn't just order pizza and wings when I had food in the kitchen that would fill me up just as well...I needed a reason.  

About the time I'm racking my brain to come up with something, Kyle remembers that the US Soccer team is playing tonight.  The rest goes like this:

Kyle: Hey, the US is playing tonight!  Do you want to order some wings?

Me: We have food here, we shouldn't spend the money.

Kyle: Yeah, you're right...but you can if you want.  I mean, it's soccer, and it's exciting...

Me: I need a better reason.

Kyle: Hmmm.  Let's see... (much thinking)

Me: Got anything?

Kyle: Tomorrow is 9/11?

Me: Perfect. 

I'm now enjoying my anti-terrorist 9/11 pizza while Kyle enjoys his freedom-filled chipotle wings.  Life is grand. 

Oh, and the US is winning.

weekend

Not a whole lot to report at the moment.  Kyle and I had a good weekend trip down to Cape Cod this weekend.  We went down for a taekwondo tournament.  Our original plan was to stay the whole weekend and explore all the Cape-ish things to do down there.  However, due to the rain from Hanna, we decided that exploring the beaches in the rain didn't sound like too much fun....so we came home.

Anyway, Kyle competed at the tournament and placed in sparring and took 1st place in weapons!  I was super proud of him.  We met more taekwondo people and enjoyed getting to know the people up here a little better.  The tournament was fun, overall, but it was also really really humid.  The gym floor was sweating, and everywhere you turned you saw martial artists sliding around (and falling down) due to the dampness of everything.  

I was proud of myself for fitting into my uniform for the occasion and staying in it all day.  I wore one of Kyle's old belts since mine doesn't fit anymore.  :)

So, that was the main activity.  Today marks 27 weeks in this pregnancy.  Abigail is still getting bigger and stronger.  She's starting to kick higher too.  We have our next doctor's appointment on Thursday, so I'll let ya know how it goes. 

over and out.

good start

So, as noted previously, today was the first day of school.  

I got up this morning and took a shower and got dressed in my favorite little preggo dress.  I fixed my hair and sprayed my moonlight path spray.  I packed and grabbed my brand new computer bag (a nice professional looking one, instead of the canvas messenger bag of last year)  and I was on my way out the door 10 mins early.  I rode down the elevator to my brand new ride, swung my new bag in the backseat, and headed out to the school where I parked and marched in with a target bag full of office supplies in one hand, and a new dry erase board in the other.

School was great today.  Who doesn't love the first day of school?  I spent the day setting up my office.  It turns out, I won't have to share it much this year after all!  I will share it some of the time, but more for storage space than actual work space.  So, I spent all day marking my territory by hanging posters, arranging my office supplies, and labeling my hanging files (sooo excited about my hanging files!)  What you should understand, is that my office is not an impressive space by any means.  It's small, it has no windows, the walls need paint, there is no air and it's hot.  But, imagine sharing it with 2 other people!  I LOVE my little corner of the high school.  And, the whole thing makes me very optimistic about the school year.  

After school, I met up with a girl who sold me a cute little microwave that I can use in my office (I heart craigslist).  Then, I went to Target (again) and got some more stuff.  Kyle and I went to taekwondo tonight, but stopped at outback on the way home for a little nicer dinner than our normal Wendy's or Subway.  

So, I guess tomorrow has a lot to live up to.  Today was a great day.

My office yesterday:   

And today: 

back to life.

I officially started back to work yesterday, but tomorrow is the first day that the students are back.  I've been running around to first of the year meetings, turning in paperwork to the downtown office, visiting the psych office to pick up this and that, and setting up my office space at the high school.  

I'm, in a way, happy school is starting back.  A fresh clean start is always so nice.  I know that by next week, I'll be singing a different song...but for now, it's kinda nice.  Of course, I had to go get new office supplies, which always helps.  Among my favorites are my new robin egg blue 3-pocket wall file and my big new dry erase board...oh, and my new wall posters (starry night and another artsy piece)  I also got a box of kleenex with a really cute pattern on it.  :-)  It doesn't take much to make me happy.  

Over the next few days, I'll keep setting things up and getting re-situated into the school.  I have to wait and see if I'll be sharing my office with 2 others like I did last year, or if they've been relegated to another location.  It would be nice to have my own space. 

Next week, I anticipate I'll start actually seeing kids.  

In other news, Kyle and I officially have our new car.  We drove her home tonight.  We still like it.  I was a little sad giving Zoie away, but we did it quick, and I KNOW she'll go to a MUCH better home.  (sniff)

And, in still other news, I'm feeling more pregnant every day.  We've entered the phase where my body starts to complain more.  My feet and back and hips ache more.  My breathing is shallower than in the past.  I move awkwardly when getting in and out of the car etc etc....

Ok, that should do as a quicky update.  I'll have more to write as school gets underway.  Thanks for reading. ;-)