Excuse me, do you have a tissue?

Throughout this pregnancy I have said (and will continue saying) how blessed I have been.  With all the things that can cause a pregnant woman misery, I have lucked out.

Maybe a week of nausea.

Definite tiredness and exhaustion, but tolerable (bed time was often by 8:00).

Not too uncomfortable.

Very little vomiting.

Hardly any swelling.

Mood swings have been very mild (if at all).

Again.  I have been very blessed.

With that said...

The one thing I've been "plagued" with during the last 9 months is chronic nasal congestion.

Add on top of that allergy and sinus issues that I had pre-pregnancy, and this has made for the last nine months walking around like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and Kleenex never too far away.  If I had a quarter for every time I had someone ask me "Oh are you sick?" or "Do you have a cold?" I could put a substantial savings down for our daughter's college education.

Nope, not sick.  I'm just pregnant and can't take anything that will really get rid of my problem. 

The doctor told me that some women throw up the entire time and some suffer from a stuffy nose.  I'll take the stuffy nose over the throw-up, but it's getting old.  Plus, I have a feeling that this year's allergy season is going to be a doozy.  Great...  I'll have the baby and then be thrown full force into pollen, dust, and whatever else is in the air that will cause my eyes to water, nose to run or get clogged, and sneezing to continue.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.  Once the baby is here I will be able to start taking the higher powered medicine and get an allergy shot.  Those should help clear things up at least for a while, and hopefully my new found talent for snoring at night will go away too.  :o)

Images Around the House

Just a few pictures taken around the house since we've been here.

Playing ball in the field across the street.  Now, sit...

 And GO!

The beautiful sign my mom painted for the baby room

Sweet puppies guarding the crib.

Our new horse friends that come to visit across the street.

I love living here!

To Do List:

1.  Pack a bag for the hospital for baby, Ethan, and me.

2.  Wash and fold all of baby's new clothes.

3.  Fold and put away all the clean clothes that are sitting at the end of our bed (I believe somewhere I had a resolution about not letting laundry sit...yeah, that's not working out well).

4.  Clean house and keep clean so that when we go to the hospital and people come by it will be clean and I won't have as much to do at the last minute.

5.  Get batteries for all the baby things that come needing batteries but not actually including any.

6.  Fill out paperwork for pre-registering at the hospital, disability insurance, and maternity leave.

7.  Print off and send in Kansas taxes.

8.  Try to figure out how that breast pump works.  (Might just take it with us to the hospital and have the lactation consultant show me :o))

9.  Get a pedicure.

10. Sleep.

Much to do... no idea how much time is left to do it!

The Countdown

16 days until baby Jacqueline's due date.  If she wants to come sooner, she is more than welcome!

15 receiving blankets (plus many many other soft other blankets)

14 cute little hair bows in a multitude of colors

13 lab puppies throughout her room to watch over her and cuddle with her.  We are counting on her growing up to like puppies just as much as we do.

12 times a day I hear Ethan say how much he loves her and can't wait to hold her.

11 books that are ready to be read to her at bedtime (or anytime) so she can be

10 letters in her beautiful princess name.

9 cute little outfits picked out just for her by her daddy...not one of them has any pink on it!

8 bottles ready and waiting.

7 little soft toys and rattles to keep her occupied and happy.  I hope they work :o)

6 "must have" items that came with the words "some assembly required."  Luckily all of them were relatively simple and Ethan was able to get them together without the use of any bad words!  (I put together one of them).

5 handmade quilts from so many people who love her already!

4 packages of diapers given to us...they won't last long!

3 little outfits ready to go to the hospital.

2 pairs of cute little girl shoes pink and full of sparkles!

1 set of very excited parents who are ready and waiting...

Are you kidding me...

Warning:  If you are unable to read sarcasm, this probably isn't the post for you...

I just browsed through a catalog for over-priced cleaning supplies.  It made me laugh scough out loud. 

Let's make cleaning fun!
Ha...Yeah right.  Fun.

There are MANY more words I could have used there instead of "fun."  Like, "go away" or "easier" or "magical like Harry Potter" (I mean that literally, with a wand and everything.)

The women were all dressed very neatly (in their skinny jeans!) with their hair expertly fixed and make-up done perfectly.  HA! 

Maybe it's just me, but I usually wait until AFTER I have scrubbed the bathroom, vacuumed floors, and dusted to take a shower and get cleaned up.  My cleaning attire usually consists of a pair of dirty sweat pants (why dirty another clean pair?), a t-shirt or tank top and my hair thrown up in a messy bun.  Bra and contacts are optional.

There was a page advertising a kid's mop.  The kid mop was supposed to make cleaning fun for kids (there's that word again...fun).  Wanna guess how much the mop was???

$70.00!!! 

FOR A KID'S MOP.

Even better...the kid in the picture was SMILING.

Now, I may just be only 8 1/2 months pregnant and I may not know a whole lot about raising kids yet, but I do know one thing.  Kids do NOT smile while being told to mop the floor.  Not even with a $70.00 mop! 

Although...if they did find a way to use a magic wand as in Harry Potter, there might be more smiling involved with cleaning.  Until then, I'm not buying any of it!

They will be fine...

In 8 days (counting today) I will be leaving my kids.  (That is provided I have the baby by the 26th)

Leaving my kids for the rest of the year. 

Deep breath...

I knew this was coming 9 months ago.

I knew I would be handing the education of my 7th and 8th graders to someone else.  And I knew I was not going to like it. 

You see, I love my job.  I love teaching and I work hard at it (as do all other teachers I know).  The thought of trying to explain to a sub each one of the kids' personalities, how I handle every single little decision that crosses my mind, how the lesson plans are supposed to go, how I modify or adapt to the unexpected on the fly, how to run the technology, how we handle fire drills, and many many other things that go on day to day in the life of a teacher.  It was all a bit overwhelming in August.

I expressed my concerns to some of my fellow colleagues...they all said not to worry everything would be fine.

"But it's a STATE ASSESSMENT YEAR!"

They will be fine.

But...

They will be fine.

Now we are here.

Days away from handing my kids over to someone else.

And to be honest...I'm ok. 

I have found probably the BEST sub I could to trust with the care of my kids.  She will be wonderful!  She will adapt if something isn't working, she will care for my kids, and at the same time won't take any of their crap! 

I am starting to feel a little more organized.  Desk is cleaned out, lesson plans are ready, and room is not a complete disaster. 

The closer and closer I get to "D-Day" the more and more excited I get for the baby, and the less and less I care about what happens with my sub at school. 

I do care...just less than I thought I would back in August.

And you know what.

They will be fine.

Random Chatter

~  I ordered some nursing shirts from Old Navy.  BIG SCORE!  Not only were they cheap, but they turned out to be really cute (which is always a risk buying clothes online), AND I can fit in to them now, so they double as maternity shirts too! 

~  Tried Dark Chocolate Raspberry M&Ms this week, and the girl scout cookies we ordered arrived.  My goal for the next month will be to not completely devour mounds of cookies and M&Ms.  Maybe I should have given up sweets for Lent.

~  Down to once a week appointments.  Doctor said baby could come at anytime now.  We are very excited, but due to the fact that we are procrastinators there are still things that need to be done at home, bought for baby, and organized for school.  So, I'm really hoping that baby waits until Spring Break to make her debut!

~  Ethan wants a puppy.  I said no.  (Actually I said "not right now...")

~  One thing I am really looking forward to about maternity leave (besides the cuddly little baby) is the fact that our gas bill will be cut in half.  It is crazy the amount of money we spend on gas each month. 

~  Ethan ordered a new camera lens and it arrived on Thursday. He is really excited to get to use it to take newborn pictures of baby Jacqueline.

~  I talk about babies a lot lately.  So many of my friends and family are having babies.  Makes it hard not to go on and on and on...

~  I have LOVED this winter.  I know that it is very important in our region to get moisture in the winter.  I know that I missed not having any snow days this year.  I know that kids missed opportunities to have snowball fights and build a snowman.  BUT I didn't have to drive in it, I didn't have to take the dogs out to do their "business" in it, I didn't have to shovel it, and I didn't sit wrapped in an electric blanket just to watch TV. 

~  I was in the bathroom after our Wednesday night religion classes and there was a little girl in there washing her hands.  She asked me if I was one of the 2nd grade teachers.  I told her I was, and she responded with, "Oh...I think you look like a mom."  It was a sweet comment.

~  I have decided that I want to write in "Jack Bauer" for president in November.  I am not a fan of "party-line" voters and have always thought that I was the kind of person who voted based on the issues rather than the political party.  Right now, I don't like any of my choices. 

~  My mom and dad bought a new camper.  They are thrilled and can't wait to start using it.  It is smaller than the one they used to have (as far as places to sleep), but mom reassured me that there would be plenty of room for Ethan and I to take one bed and Jacqueline can sleep in the bathtub.