30 weeks...is it summer yet?

On one hand, I'm so excited that this week has FLOWN by, but on the other hand, I'm ridiculously overwhelmed with everything that I have to do at work in order to be prepared to check out this coming Friday.  I have two rooms to pack up and organize before I leave, and it has to be immaculately done considering that I won't be at work during the first six weeks.  I'm going to have to jump right in to what's going on in September/October, so I have to have all of my ducks in a row before I go or I'll be freaking out about it all summer.  I guess the phrase, "it is what it is" works well here even though I both the phrase and missing out on the first part of the year.  I've been told that when our little nugget gets here I won't mind it so much though!  :-)

Today hubby and I attended graduation.  It was awesome because we have watched these kids mature over the last four years, and this is the first class that we have really been involved with for the full four years.  It's one of the many moments when you're able to see the impact that you have made on the students, and you see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel for many of them.  I can't wait to see what the next four years brings them (and us)!

I had a bit of a meltdown this morning when I couldn't find anything to wear.  I officially feel like a whale, and I know that it's only going to get worse, but I couldn't help but think that everything I put on just accentuated my largeness.  I get that this is part of the process, that it will "melt right off," so I'm not trying to complain (yes, I know I'm complaining), but I do NOT like gaining weight and feeling unattractive.  I'm also not looking for compliments.  I can only imagine that most women go through a phase/stage or whatever of this during their pregnancy...and if they don't, good for them!  I'd love to know where that confidence comes from, and if they could share, that would be fantastic!

How far along: 30 weeks, 5 days
Gender: Boy!
Weight gain: +22
Maternity clothes: Yep!  Many of my pre-preggo shirts still fit, and I'm wearing them regularly; however, maternity clothes are amazing!
Stretch marks: Nope!
Belly button in or out: Still in, but it's not long for the innie world as far as I can tell!
Wedding rings on or off: On...but my hands are swelling a bit at night.  The weather is getting more and more humid, so that's definitely a factor.
Sleep: I had a few nights tossing and turning this week, but most of the time I sleep really well.
Best moment this week: Going to graduation today and watching my amazing student's walk across the stage to get their diplomas!
Miss anything: A night/day without acid reflux!
Happy or moody most of the time: Definitely emotional.
Movement: Still moving like crazy most of the time.
Queasy or sick: Same as last week.
Looking forward to: Finally being done with work for the summer!

29 Weeks...and 7 days at work with students!

How far along: 29 weeks, 6 days
Gender: Boy!
Weight gain: still +20
Maternity clothes: I have one of the best friends in the entire world!  She loaned me two bags of maternity clothes earlier this week.  Everyone that says maternity pants are a slice of heaven could NOT have been more correct!  I'm now set for the last seven days of work plus the rest of my pregnancy!
Stretch marks: Nope!
Belly button in or out: Still hanging in there...
Wedding rings on or off: On
Sleep: Great, but it is frequently interrupted by bathroom trips!
Best moment this week: The three day holiday weekend!
Miss anything: Nothing much this week.
Happy or moody most of the time: Definitely moody at work...but it got much better as the week went on!
Movement: Sometimes he's quiet, and then other times he is jumping and practicing his karate/hockey/football/boxing moves!
Queasy or sick: I've been feeling great this week, but the acid reflux is now occurring daily.  It may be time for some OTC daily meds.
Looking forward to: The last 7 days of work!

After last week at work, all I could focus on this week was getting through and getting started reviewing with my students for the state created final exam.  Thankfully, the week flew by and a three day weekend was SOOOOOOO needed.  Yesterday the hubby and I spent the day cleaning up the inside of the house, and we even braved our closet.  We now have a mountain of clothes that are marked either for donation to the DSS clothes closet or the local Goodwill.  We also decided to do the intelligent thing and put all of our winter clothes in my hope chest until they're needed in December.  This cleared out an enormous amount of closet space for my new borrowed maternity clothes.  Even though we had the best of intentions, we didn't finish last night, so now our master bedroom looks as though someone tried to rob us.  There's always next weekend, right?

28 Weeks...and only 12 days of work left with students!

So anyone that works with young people knows that it can be both rewarding and absolutely soul crushing.  This week was one of those weeks during which I was constantly questioning whether or not I was going to make it the rest of the year without locking myself in my classroom and laughing maniacally at the children on the other side.  At my last doctor's appointment, the doctor offered to have my glucose screening done at the local hospital instead of at the office 45 miles away.  It was a good thing that I insisted I could miss a day because I was seriously in need of a mental health day!  P.S. The glucose test wasn't as awful as everyone tries to make it out to be.  I honestly thought the drink tasted like the HiC we used to have as kids...which made me a bit concerned about the amount of sugar in said HiC, but whatever!  I should get my results back on Monday...here's to hoping I don't have to go back for the 3 hour!

On Tuesday, we had training for the new program that I will be involved in next year, and afterwards I felt emotionally exhausted.  I had forgotten what it was like to push myself to create innovative, engaging lessons and projects.  Now, don't get me wrong; I try my best every day to be innovative and engaging, but it has been 5 years since I've had to create lessons and projects from the ground up.  I've also never had to merge my curriculum area with anyone else.  I can see this being a supremely rewarding situation next year, but I can also see it being full of moments during which both my peer teacher and I will have to branch outside of our comfort zone to make it work.  I have a great partner to work with, and she's ridiculously brave for agreeing to enter into this partnership knowing that she will essentially be on her own for the first six weeks.  Pairing the training and a few other school/work centered hiccups with the whole "about to be a new parent" thing had this preggo in quite a mood by Thursday.  I couldn't imagine having to face the whole year while pregnant.  We will be doing some more training during the last three days of school, and I really am looking forward to preparing for next year.

For a year and a half now, I have been the adopt-a-thon coordinator for a local non-profit group that assists the county animal shelter, and today we had our monthly adopt-a-thon at Petco in town.  Even after all of the mess and stress that I was feeling this week, I was glad to get out and help the homeless animals of our county, and I came home knowing that we had given 2 pups wonderful new fur-ever homes!  June will be my last adopt-a-thon before I go on "maternity leave" from the group, and I know it will be one of the extra activities that I will miss the most.  I know the show will go on without me, and I'm very glad that it will, but I hope that it won't be too long before I'm able to bring our little nugget along to participate.  I know he won't be able to do anything per se, but he will definitely be an animal lover!  How could he not when he will be surrounded by two wonderful fursiblings from the very beginning!

Speaking of fursiblings--it is about time that we started to think about how to adjust our furbabies to our two-legged baby's arrival.  I am hoping that in the next two months both hubby and I are able to shower them with love, affection, and a bit more training to make sure that they understand that there will be boundaries enforced when the little one gets here.  I imagine they will adjust well, but I'm sure they will be a bit confused about the wrinkly, bald puppy once he is here!  For those of you that have never seen our furbabies, here they are:

Now for the baby update:

How far along: 28 weeks, 5 days

Gender: Boy!

Weight gain: +20 lbs 

Maternity clothes: I am still in my regular work pants, but only because they don't have a button or zipper.  Most of my regular work shirts also still work, but the weekends are slowly becoming dress filled.

Stretch marks: No

Belly button in or out: I had a serious innie at one point...now it's not so deep.

Wedding rings on or off: On

Sleep: Still sleeping like a rock...of course I'm getting up to pee at least one or two times in the middle of the night, but I'm not having problems going right back to sleep.

Best moment this week: This week is one of which we will not speak after tomorrow.  There were a few awful hiccups...but today I ran our montly adopt-a-thon at Petco, and that was enjoyable.

Miss anything: I could go for a fruity flavored alcoholic beverage!

Happy or moody most of the time: This week...moody and irritable to say the least.

Movement: I think my child will become either a boxer or a soccer player...

Queasy or sick: Acid reflux was back with a vengeance this week...tums are my savior at night.

Looking forward to: The end of the school yea! << Still this!

27 Weeks...Hello 3rd Trimester and Happy Mother's Day!

I still can't believe that we are in the home stretch!  I have so many things that I feel like I still have to do, and there is no way that 3 months will be enough time to finish everything that needs to be finished before this little guy gets here!  Oh, and we are still no closer to choosing a name!

Today is Mother's Day, and I'm suddenly reminded of what big shoes I must fill starting in August.  Every woman in my life has been an absolutely amazing role model in almost every way of the word, and I know that the expectations are sky high for me.  As the wonderful people in my life wish me a Happy Mother's Day today, I fully understand that I am on the easy side of things, and quite frankly I believe it takes much more than what I am undertaking at this point to be considered a mother.  I'm not ungrateful for the people that are getting a jump start on wishing me a happy mother's day; I simply believe that housing this small person for 9 months does not make me a mother.  I know how much time, love, patience, and dedication that the women in my life put into being a mother, that I do not want to simply attach a title that I have yet to deserve.  My wonderful husband did give me a gift certificate for a massage at the spa in town, so I can definitely say that I will start/continue this journey relaxed.  I know for a fact that I will have a wonderful partner to help me on this journey, and I cannot wait to spoil both of my boys rotten for the next 80+ years! :-D

The three women in the photograph above(among a handful of others) deserve the title of mother, friend, role model, and adviser.  I still have a lot of learning to do, and I cannot wait to learn from them in the next stage of my life.

How far along: 27 weeks, 5 days

Gender: BOY!

Weight gain: +20 lbs :-( Soon I'm not going to be adding this.  I'm not a fan.

Maternity clothes: My jeans no longer fit, so I'm down to just sundresses on the weekends, which isn't a big deal since it has been in the high 80's here since last week!

Stretch marks: No.

Belly button in or out: In, but it's getting shallow.

Wedding rings on or off: On, but my fingers have started to swell up after I exercise.

Sleep: I've been napping each afternoon, but at night I'm still waking up on my stomach a few times each night.

Have you started to show yet: Fo' sho'

Best moment this week: This week was pretty ho-hum by our standards.

Miss anything: A margarita or daiquiri would be nice since the weather has warmed up lately.

Happy or moody most of the time: I guess sensitive is the appropriate way to put it, but only with the hubby (poor thing).

Movement: Like a champ!

Queasy or sick: I've definitely had an "easy" time of this so far.  Aside from being nauseous at the beginning, I've been feeling great since about week 15.

Looking forward to: The end of the school year!

Little Nugget's ETA-->3 months! (26 weeks)

We are officially into the double digits on time remaining on the inside for this little nugget!  This is both equally terrifying and exciting to me.  I know that in about 90 days, our lives will change immensely, and I'm sure this will be an awesome change!  

We are also no closer to deciding on a name, and every time we attempt to discuss it, hubby and I just stare at one another.  I know people have done this for thousands and thousands of years, but I never imagined it would be so difficult!

On the non-baby end of things, I am officially ready to run away from the high school and not look back until September...like yesterday.  Don't get me wrong; I absolutely adore my job, but I am so very ready for a break to focus on getting my house, marriage, and furbabies ready for everything that will be coming in August.  Though that's not entirely accurate; there will be some extra training for the new program that I will be involved in next year, but I'm actually looking forward to that.  It has been 5 years since I started teaching, and I've taught the same material for all 5 of those years, so I'm really looking forward to challenging myself in the upcoming school year.

How far along: 26 weeks, 5 days

Gender: BOY!
Weight gain: +18 :-(
Maternity clothes: My momma took me shopping while I was home last weekend, so I have increased my selection to about 5-10 shirts, a bunch of dresses, but still no pants!  LOL  I'm really thinking I'll just live in dresses from June-August.
Stretch marks: No.
Belly button in or out: In
Wedding rings on or off: On
Sleep: Still waking up on my stomach sometimes and sleeping like a rock, but I've needed naps this week.
Have you started to show yet: Yes...definitely.
Best moment this week: Seeing nugget move from the outside for the first time yesterday.
Miss anything: Not much this week...
Happy or moody most of the time: Less emotional this week, but definitely more tired.
Movement: He's rockin' and rollin' like a champ in there!
Queasy or sick: Still feeling great!
Looking forward to: The start of my third trimester this coming week and finishing the nursery...whenever that will be!