Mostly more bitching

I am so frustrated with how the week is going. My eczema has become overwhelming. I literally could not function yesterday because it's so bad around my eyes. It itches worse than the chicken pox and my eyes were so swollen yesterday I couldn't see clearly. Now today the swelling has gone down some, even though the itch is still just as bad. But now the rash has decided to take over my whole face. My cheekbones, my cheeks, my lips and the area right around them itch! Add to this my itchy neck rash that I've already had for a week, and I am scratching like crazy! It's not a pleasant experience. My students look at me with a funny face, trying to figure out what's wrong with me and if they can catch it. I kind of wish they could so that I would have an excuse to stay home!

Have I mentioned yet that I have dry skin on my nipples? Well I do! And it's not attractive or comfortable!

H1N1 - the swine flu - it's here at school. We got our first confirmed case yesterday. And even though they're not supposed to tell us who it is that has it, it's one of my band students that I see three times a week. The last time I had him was Friday. And now he's out with H1N1. I called the doctor just to be safe, and they said, "Well, if you start to exhibit symptoms, just let us know and we'll call you a prescription for Tamaflu". I'm sure that they are tired of hearing pregnant woman worrying about it, but I thought that I would get a bit more sympathy than that!

I am fuming mad right now. The music director at our school who is in charge of all the church music gives lessons in my classroom after school on Wednesdays. She teaches two brothers right in a row. Sometimes I'm in here getting things done, some times I go home. But no matter the case, she's always in here right at 3 to start the lesson. I'm sitting here, playing on the internet a bit and deciding to write in my blog before heading out, and I realize that it's 3:15 and she's still nowhere to be found. I go up to the office and have them buzz her. She walks right past the office and down the hall, without stopping in to say anything.

I run (waddle) after her, and ask her if she's planning on having a lesson with her student today. She nonchalantly tells me, "Oh, I'm giving his brother a lesson in the church right now and I told him that he could sit in your room and practice. That's ok, isn't it?" No it's not fucking ok. I am not responsible for babysitting this kid! I no longer have to be here. My required time for the day is up. And here I sit, lying and saying it's ok because I don't want to cause a scene. And I like this woman, I really do. She plays the piano for me in our Christmas shows so that we don't have to perform to canned music. I really don't want to start shit with her. But I don't feel good and was planning on getting out of here as soon as I could today. She changed her routine, put responsibility on me, and did not let me know ahead of time. This definitely does not help my eczema epidemic!


Daven must not like when I get upset, because he is kicking like crazy now! I'm sorry, Daven. Mommy will try to calm down.

If you hadn't noticed, A and I decided on a spelling. I had originally wanted -in, he wanted -en. We couldn't really come to a compromise. Then I remembered where I got the name from in the first place - a band called Davenport Cabinet. So I backed down, changed my mind, and decided on Daven. It feels better now that we have a definite name and spelling. I love you, baby boy. And I love you, A.

This concerns me

Today my heart has been acting funny. I'll be sitting or standing, and out of nowhere, my heart will start to beat really fast. And really hard too - I can feel it in my throat and when I put my hand on my chest. It lasts for a few seconds and then goes away. It started at about 10 this morning.

Throughout the day, it seems that it is happening more frequently. Now it's doing it about every 10 minutes. I keep drinking water, hoping that getting hydrated will somehow help. I did have caffeine, but it was at 7:30 this morning, and I (shamefully) have caffeine just about every day. So why is my heart doing this? Do I need to call the doctor? I know that being pregnant makes your body do and feel all kinds of strange, so I don't know if this is one of those weird but normal things, or if I should be scared.

Believe it or not, my eczema is worse now than it was this morning. I wish there was something that could be done about it. I'm dying here! The itch is unbearable, and now my actual eyes are burning.

Thank goodness it's the end of the school day and I can go home. I really could use a margarita!

Another Monday

At least it's not raining! ::knocks on wood and crosses fingers:: And it feels like fall today. I'm actually a little chilly in my classroom right now with my windows open. I'm sure I'll still have to turn the ac on once my students get in here though. They have a lot of hot air and tend to heat up (and stink up) the room.

I need to save up some money because the fall weather does mean that my skirt wearing time is now limited. I've gone for quite a while with only the bare minimum in maternity clothes. Still just one skirt, a handful of shirts, and a few pairs of undies. But now I'm going to need to invest in a few pairs of work pants, more shirts and long sleeves, sweaters, and a winter coat. Oh, and this isn't maternity related, but I need a new pair of leather gloves for the winter. Something happened to mine last year and I can only find one of them. This makes me sad because my mom bought me those gloves and I loved them! ::sniffle:: So I need to gear up for winter.

So, why do I have a case of the Mondays today? Well, even though I slept quite a bit, I had all these strange, vivid dreams that kept waking me up. I woke up feeling like I'd hardly slept at all. As much as I try, I can't eliminate my stress. I've talked about how I've been stressing over bedding - well my dreams were about me trying to buy the bedding of all things. I've been stressing about it so much during the day that now I'm stressing about it in my sleep too!

Then I woke up, and things were weird because A was already gone. He's golfing for work today and had to leave early. I hope you do well today, A!

I couldn't see very well so I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Yep, just as I suspected. My eczema on my eyelids has gotten worse. This always seems to happen. It always has to get to the point where I look like a cartoon villain and am completely miserable before it will get any better. My eyelids are all red, swollen and puffy. I can't open my eyes all the way. My vision right now is blurry. And my eyes still itch like hell, despite the fact that they also hurt like hell. So I've got the Vaseline gooped on and am trying my damndest not to scratch or rub. I'm fighting a losing battle with myself. It's unbearable. You may think I'm being overly dramatic, but have you had to deal with this condition? I didn't think so.

This is me, but without the celebration:

Happy Monday, y'all.

Saturdays ramblings

I love turkey bacon sandwiches. A made me one for lunch. It was delicious. I could have eaten 5 of those sandwiches!

There is nothing on tv on the weekends anymore. Except for damned football. Screw football. Why is everyone so obsessed? I don't know what I would do if A loved it. I would let him watch it, but I would be so bored! The game to me is just so boring and friggin pointless. I don't think I will ever like it.

It's quarter to 3 in the afternoon and I am still sitting here in my pjs. My ta tas are practically hanging out of my cami, but I don't care enough to take a shower and get dressed. Plus, I don't want to change out of my panda pj pants!

I am so sleepy. My kitty Mia woke me up this morning by licking my nose. I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up. Then after breakfast I fell back to sleep. Not sure how long I slept for. Now I'm ready for another nap. I kid you not. I can barely keep my eyes open. But I'm trying to stay awake because this is what I did last weekend. I literally slept all day last Saturday and I know that A must have been bored out of his mine. But oh how I want to sleep!

My feet are cold. I do not like cold feet.

I really want sushi tonight for dinner. But something tells me that A's sister is going to back out of our plans to go out to eat.

::yawns::

21 week belly

I'm a post whore today. I'll admit it. But even if I had all of these thoughts organized at one time, it would have been too long for a single post anyway. Hopefully I'll stop at 3 posts for the day and give it a rest!

You can't take me anywhere!

Being pregnant has made me lose my filter. I have been lucky enough so far to not go crazy on any of my students yet, and for this I am thankful. However, the patrons and employees of Kroger have not been so lucky.

Last night after dinner, A and I stopped at Kroger to get some snacks. I had a hankering for some double chocolate chip muffins, and he wanted something from the ice cream section. Hey, he's the baby daddy. He can have cravings too! As usual, we run into people we know and are stopped talking way longer than we were actually shopping.

We finally got around to getting our stuff, which somehow ended up including a new set of Tupperware (my fault) and all in all, it maybe took us about 3 minutes to get our shopping done.

We headed up to the front of the store to check out, and I notice that the lines are quite long. Since we only had a couple items, we made our way to the u-scan. Oddly, even though it was still early in the evening, half of the lanes were closed. Weird. They were open when we came in.

One of our friends that was working that night happened to be right in front of us in line, since she was on break and was buying a frozen dinner. I asked her why half the u-scan was closed. She said she had no idea. She she hollered at the guy working the u-scan, "Hey, why are those lanes closed?"

"Because I don't want to watch both u-scans."

Then, without a thought in my head, I shouted out, "Pussy!"

Lots of snickering occurred.

Quite a few glares of pure disgust.

Luckily, none of my students from school were around.

I really have no idea what came over me or where my filter went. I honestly felt bad afterwards. But there was no taking that one back!

21 weeks, and stressing over bedding

Carrot baby!

Little Dav should be as long as a carrot this week. Keep growing, baby! I'm not sure how I feel about the comparisons for the past weeks. I see these pictures and imagine my baby as a stick baby. I can't help it. I'm a visual learner, and look how skinny this carrot is!

I would like to think that I'm starting to get better. I still feel like hurling in the morning, but if I drink a soft drink when I get to work, that normally makes it better. And I have eaten a full dinner the past two nights in a row! Add to this that I can feel Dav kick often and I'm feeling more optimistic than I have in a long time.

What I don't like is the restless leg shit that has come out of nowhere. I haven't read that this is a symptom of pregnancy, so why do I have it? It's the worst at night, when I'm watching tv on the couch with A.

Also, this eczema business needs to calm down. The fact that I have it on my eyelids and around my eyes is NOT cool. I've been trying not to scratch it, because if I do then my lids will swell and I'll look like Quasimodo (sp?). I've also got it on my cheeks, neck, arms, hands, and legs. And I'm pretty sure it's all attributed to stress. Stress about getting bedding for the crib.

Tiny Rockets 4 Piece Crib Bedding Set by Sumersault
$199.99 + shipping


Sumersault Tiny Rockets Crib Bedding
$199.99 + shipping

Keep in mind that the $200 for these sets only includes the sheet, bumper, dust ruffle and quilt. Everything else seen in the photo can be added on extra, for a LOT more money. A LOT.

So this pretty much breaks down to $50 a piece for the bedding. And I could go cheaper, by say, only buying the themed bumper and quilt, and pairing that with other, less expensive sheets. But no. That's not an option. You either have to buy the 4 piece set or none at all. It's such a farking scam. A and I are prepared to hand out serious cash for the crib, but there is no reason that baby bedding has to be so expensive.

Also, our theme isn't exactly a popular one, so there aren't that many options. I'm not sure why more people don't want to do an outer space / planets / rocket ship nursery for their baby boy though. I like the idea. I just wish there were more affordable options.

I've seen sheets with stars that we could buy just by itself. But the only stand alone bumpers I've found are solid colors. And we refuse to just do a pain, solid color set in the crib.

A mentioned asking his grandma to make the bedding. This would be wonderful. I've never seen her sew, but she's supposed to be good at it. And I'm sure she'd be willing to do this for us if we ask. I just hope that she's better with her sewing machine than she is with her organ (or her keyboard, or her guitar...)

Is it so wrong that I want to give my baby a fun nursery without spending a fortune? I'm sure we'll get it figured out, but for now I can't help but stress about it.

Keep kicking, baby Dav!

Last night A finally felt baby Dav kick for the first time! We were laying in bed and I could feel him moving. I put A's hand on my belly. Nothing. Then I moved his hand a little and a moment later he asked if that was just the baby kicking. Yay! Go Dav! Good boy for letting daddy feel that you're in there!

Hopefully now that he's felt him move, he'll be able to feel him every night. And I'm sure the further along I get, the easier it will be and the stronger the movements.

I am the happiest momma!

Unfortunately, I still feel pretty bad. But being able to feel Dav move around every day makes it more tolerable. I can especially feel him when I'm sitting at my desk at work, all slouched over with bad posture. Of course, this doesn't exactly make me want to sit up straight!

I've also managed to do something to my left arm. Don't know what or how, all I know is ow. It hurts in the muscle that they give you the flu shot in. (Speaking of which, I really need to get one of those...) I'm ok to type and play the piano for class, but whenever I try to put my arm back any, like to put on a jacket, scratch my back, etc, it's shooting pain. I must have pulled a muscle somehow. All I remember is night before last, I was sitting on the couch with A watching tv. All of a sudden it started hurting. It bothered me that night and kept me from sleeping well. Yesterday during the school day it wasn't too bad because I didn't have to reach behind me much and I was staying active. Last night though, the pain came back in full force. I'm hoping that this goes away within a couple of days.

Oh! Oh! (This is what happens when I remember something)

Dav has more stuff! My friend from North Carolina (I think, or is it South?) send Dav his first puppy! It's so soft and cuddly! I love it so much, I could totally keep it for myself. But I won't! Thanks, Nik!

Also, last night at Target I bought Dav his first blanket (slicky). It's blue, has the soft shiny trim around the edges, and also is embroidered with a puppy and the words "Love you from A-Z". I'm sure he'll get plenty more blankets, but I wanted his first one to be from me and A.

Well crap. Here's my 7th/8th band, minus the 8th grade, who are in D.C. I guess I should go be a teacher now. ::cries:: But I don't want to!

Ebay helps to ease the blopples

I've still got a pretty bad case of the blops, but I scored something on Ebay today that I can't wait to get in the mail.

HIPPO SLIPPERS FOR DAV!

These will keep his feetsies warm whenever he's not wearing footie outfits. I didn't even know they made slippers for newborns! And they're hippo! I'm in love. Plus, I only paid $3 for them, so that's super exciting! I can't wait until I get them in the mail. ::does a dance for baby hippo slippers::

I ate lunch today, which is a step in the right direction. Although I am dizzy. That sucks. I thought that after I ate lunch it would get better, but it hasn't. Lame. And I'm hungry again. But I don't want anything in my desk drawer. Poo.

Great, just fucking great. The teacher next door to me just got made at me because I warned her that my last two classes of the day are art and I would be in her room. Um, I'm sorry, but you don't even have a single class today. That's why I have 3 art classes today - because you aren't supposed to be here. So sorry if you wanted to come in and get things done, but don't be pissed at me for actually having to work every day! Argh! Grrr! Bah!

Ok, I feel better now that I got that out. So anyhow, the slippers. I want them now. Yay!

I've got the blopples

Call it a case of the Mondays, the pregnancy blues, or what I like to refer to it as: the blopples. Whatever you want to call it, I have it. And it's bad today. I'm sitting here at my desk, dreading my first class. The eczema on my fingers is so bad that lotion burns it. I've eaten my banana chips, but I still feel uneasy in my stomach. I cried on the way to work. This is ridiculous.

I want to go home. I was hoping with everything I had that all the rain from yesterday would flood the school and they would have no choice but to close for today (and tomorrow and the next day)

"But you'll just have to make it up at the end of the school year."

I don't give a shit. I need an extra day.

My bummer of a mood is so bad that if I weren't saving every last day I have for when Dav comes, I might take a personal day. Oh wait, subs are impossible to get last minute, never mind. I'd be stuck here anyway.

It's not just bad for me when I'm like this. It's bad for my students too. I'm snappy and frowny. I really don't give a shit about whether or not they are enjoying class. I remember when I was in school and a teacher would be in a bad mood. I thought to myself, I'm never going to let my personal mood effect my teaching. Oh how I laugh now, and say a silent sorry for those teachers that I used to judge. It's impossible to completely separate how you feel from your teaching.

It doesn't help that it's still dark and gloomy outside, and I think it's supposed to rain all week long. All I can think about is getting home to A, and snuggling up. But even then, by the time my work day is over and I get home, I'm already ready for bed and end up falling asleep on the couch. I'm useless right now. I didn't do one damn chore this weekend because I was too busy sleeping. There are clothes in the washer that have been there for a week now. I need to wash them again! ::sighs:: Why am I even worried about the laundry right now? See, this is what I mean! I'm too anxious. I worry too much. And my damn fingers won't stop itching. And my feet are swollen. Shit.

Why can't I just sit at home today and feel Dav kicking and punching instead of being here at this shitfest?

I love you, A

No one else would go out into the pouring down rain to go to Taco Bell to get me a damn bean burrito. I tried to tell you no, that I really didn't want one, but you went anyway. And I love you. Taco Bell is going to know your face in the drive through before too much longer.

For whatever reason, one of the few things that I can always seem to stomach is a bean burrito. No onions, extra cheese. And a little bit of hot sauce. He got me one yesterday. He's out getting me one today. And I feel like such a selfish pregnant woman. A, I love you more than anything!

Yesterday was a bit of a bad day. I woke up with a stomach ache. A went to Target to get my new prescription, but when he got there, they didn't have it. So I had to take my phenegren. I really don't like to take this pill because it makes me all weird. First, everything is great because it makes my stomach stop hurting pretty fast. But then I start getting really sleepy. And then my legs start twitching and jumping because for whatever reason it gives me restless leg syndrome. And then I sleep. And I slept, and slept, and slept. I couldn't tell you how long I slept. All I know, is that I was only up for a few hours yesterday afternoon/night. I felt so bad for A, and I kept trying to keep myself up. My sister and her boyfriend came over, and I couldn't stay awake. And A asked me what I wanted for dinner and I couldn't stay awake long enough to tell him.

I thought that this would have made me stay awake all night, but I slept through the night as well. And now I'm already ready to take a nap. I really needed to get some stuff done this weekend too!

Well, my bean burrito is here! Thanks, A!

Still all smiles

I'm still finding it hard to believe that we saw our baby yesterday and that we now know we are having a boy! I am so happy! And he's healthy so far, too! Nothing wrong with his size, any of his extremities, the placenta or the amniotic fluid. He's just floating around in there growing!

The ultrasound also confirmed what I thought was movements I had been feeling. I kept second-guessing myself. Was that the baby? Or was it gas? But when I saw the baby move and felt him at the same time, it was very reassuring. He was punching me as if to say, "Leave me alone! Quit bugging me! Get out of my house!" Sorry, little one. We couldn't help it! I could have watched you all day!

So in all the other pictures I put up in my blog post last night, I realized this morning that I didn't share with you the fruit of the week. Oops! Keep in mind, this week's comparison is for the length of the baby, not how skinny he is!

Banana!

We're halfway there...

AND IT'S A BOY!!!

(Team Peen)

A and I are so excited! We are having a baby boy! Our big ultrasound was this afternoon, and I was super nervous. Partly because I was just so excited and anxious, and partly because I thought I was going to pee myself.

For whatever reason, you are supposed to have a full bladder going into an ultrasound. Something about your pee in your bladder helping the baby show through with the machine they use. Whatever. I know the paper they gave me said I was supposed to drink 20 oz. and not pee, and A tried to stop me, but when we got to the doctors, I had to pee. I drank quite a bit right after that though, to try to make up for it. I'm glad that I did, because we were in there with the tech and our little one for quite a while and I think I really would have peed my pants otherwise.

A, my mom and I went into the room and they squirted the warm gel on my belly. We saw the baby right away! The tech took some time to do all the measurements she needed to do. Our little baby is weighing in at 12 oz. which is right on target. We saw the head, spine, heartbeat, little legs and arms, and a face. It was so awesome!

Our little bugger was being stubborn though, and had his ankles crossed. The tech had to keep jiggling my belly with wand thing-a-ma-jig to try to get him to move around. Finally, she got the angle that she needed and said that it looks like we're having a baby boy!

She printed off some pictures of our baby boy for us. I was so glad that A and my mom were there to share that experience with me. It is such a relief to finally see our baby!

Here's our baby, head facing us.

His arm and elbow

"It looks like a boy!"

Our baby facing down.

One last picture of baby.

We're so glad to now know we are having our little Davin/Daven Alexander. (Yes, A and I are still debating on the spelling) Even though he made mommy really sick this morning. My 2 week streak of non-barfing is now over. My grandpa noticed my belly when we saw him last weekend, so I guess I'm looking more and more pregnant. Here's my 20 week picture:


Now I thought I would never do this, but here it goes: I'm about to share with you my bare belly! Normally A is the only one who gets that show, so don't look if you don't want. If you're not a fan of stretch marks, you might want to look away. I did warn you!




I've lost more weight. I think I'm down about 20 pounds now from where I started. The nurse said, "Uh oh, you've gone the wrong way again" when I stepped on the scale. My doctor didn't say anything about it though, besides the fact that I need to make sure that I eat as often as I can. I told her about my headaches, and she said I was probably having them so frequently because I wasn't able to eat enough. She told me I need to eat more potassium. Too bad bananas sound gross right now! I'm going to try though. She also wrote me a prescription for a different pill for my belly. Hopefully that will help me be able to eat lunch while I'm at work.

I'm not used to blogging at night! I'm tired! I probably shouldn't write at work as often as I do though! Time to snuggle up with A before it's time for me to go to bed. It's been quite a day!

Tomorrow is the day!

I can't believe that tomorrow afternoon we get to find out whether we are having a boy or girl! All this waiting and waiting, and it's finally almost here! ::jumps up and down::

I'm super nervous about it. Mostly because I have to drink a lot of water beforehand and I'm forbidden to use the restroom! I'm not sure why you have to have a full bladder in order to do the ultrasound, but I'm afraid I'll be so busy trying not to pee myself that I won't be able to enjoy seeing my little one for the first time! I just have these images in my head of me fighting with one of the ladies at the front desk trying to get to the restroom. I also have images where I pee myself in the exam room while they are doing the ultrasound. Neither are good!

I also have fears that when we see our little one, something will be terribly wrong or worse. ::remembers to breathe::

I hope that everything looks good tomorrow. I hope that our baby cooperates and shows us the goods! I don't want to be forced to be on team green! We want to know!

After we find out for sure, I really do need to get started on the registry. I think we are going to register at Babies R Us and Target. We're looking at having the shower the weekend of Thanksgiving. Not on Black Friday, of course, but maybe the Saturday or Sunday after that. This could change, depending on when people can make it. Shouldn't be too much of a worry, since hardly anyone showed up to my bridal shower!

I really hope that we can get things going on our second floor of the house soon. I really want to be able to buy and put together the crib (ok, well A will be the one putting it together) and decorating the nursery. But none of this can be done until the remodeling of the upstairs is complete. Right now, it's gutted and filled with black dust. Ick!

By this time tomorrow, I should be able to call my LO by his/her name! ::jumps up and down again, and then does a dance::

My sour friends

I am now a proud owner of a big bag full of fun-sized boxes of chewy lemonheads and friends! Aren't they precious?

Let me just say now that I wish I worked with A's coworkers instead of my own. I wouldn't be able to do his job, but I would still switch him if I could. They are so much nicer there than at my school.

So a few days ago, one of them let A know that Big Lots had lots of lemonheads for cheap. I can't deny that I was super excited when he got home and told me about it! And I get the friends too? Woo hoo!

I had some extra time today at work because of a field trip, so I decided to go to Big Lots on my lunch break. I was a bit discouraged at first, because they weren't anywhere to be found in the candy isle. Pouting, I grabbed a few other things and headed towards the check out.

I would have missed them completely had this woman not clouded my original pathway with the worst stranger fart you could imagine. It made me cough. I was lucky I didn't gag. She walked faster. You're caught! Stinker! Silent fart of death!

So when I took a different path through the store, I can across the Halloween candy stash. Praise baby Moses and turkey bacon because that's where I found my friends! And for only $2 for the whole bag! They are now cradled safely in my purse for me to take home.

I have to be honest and say that I do not particularly care for the green apple flavor, but the other ones are amazing! I'm sure that A and I will sit on the couch together tonight and share our sour faces as we enjoy some of these. Plus, they seem to help me with my tummy problems.

Thanks, MB, for letting me know about this deal! ((hugs))

Yogi Tea - Woman's Mother to be

I picked this tea up over the weekend at Rainbow blossom, a small health food store in New Albany. I'll take just about any silly thing to help make me feel better. Plus, I had tried Yogi Tea before and as far as tea bag teas are concerned (I prefer loose leaf tea), it's pretty good. This tea says that it is especially for mothers who are expecting. Hoorah hooray, I bought it.

What I love about this brand of tea is that each tea bag has a nice little quote on the tag at the end of the string. Things like, "Tranquility is the essence of life". Profound stuff like that. Not quite as good as the jokes on the wrappers of Laffy Taffy, but still nice.

I started reading the back of the box while heating up a cup of water for my tea. At first, everything sounds normal. "What a better way to find soothing comfort during pregnancy than with a gentle cup of tea?" Exactly, tea box, just what I was thinking myself!

"Our Woman's Mother To Be supports your body's changes with a balanced, organic formula." Excellent. I'm so glad that it sounds like this is going to be good for me! Hooray, tea box!

I read further down.

"We add raspberry leaf, traditionally used by Western Herbalists to help strengthen and prepare the uterus."

Huh? I'm sorry, what did you say, tea box? What was that about my uterus?

The microwave had dinged by this point, and I dipped my tea bag as I pondered this last statement.

How can drinking a cup of hot tea help to strengthen my uterus? What does that even mean? If I drink this tea everyday, will I have a ute of steel? When my baby gets bigger and starts kicking more, will it sound like steel drums being played? I hope my little one brought his/her drumsticks!

Seriously though, the tea isn't bad. True, I don't taste anything special about this particular tea and I certainly could not tell you if my baby cave is getting any stronger, but the tea is good. It pretty much just tastes like peppermint tea. Although it has all kinds of different things in it, peppermint is what I taste the most of. I can't see that I'll start every day with a cup of this tea, but it is nice to drink. I think I prefer the taste at night though, to the morning. Something about peppermint makes me want to go to sleep!

As for the tea's claim to help with my tummy aches and give me more energy, I think it's too early to tell. I have my doubts though. Maybe it will be the miracle I need to feel super during the work day! ::sarcastic laugh::

19 week belly pic (and some ranting)

Ok, so you might as well go ahead an notice how freaking big my boobs are. Yes, they have always been like that. But now they are bigger. And I have yet to find a supportive bra to help hold them up. They aren't small enough to be G cups anymore! It will be interesting to see when my belly gets to be bigger than my boobs! Haha. I'm sure it will happen eventually.

Now for some ranting:

Today at work was hard to get through. I was halfway through my 4th class of the morning, and I was trying to teach my 1st graders a song with a lot of words and verses to it - "Over in the Meadow". I had just got done going through it, echoing and working up to them singing each verse all the way through when in walks my principle. ::run and hide, it's never anything good when he's around::

"I just wanted to let you know that I was looking at your schedule for today and saw that you have your planning period this afternoon. That would be a wonderful time for you to come see our expert on writing. She'll be doing a demonstration with the 5th graders. It's a wonderful opportunity."

Thursdays are my rough days. Like I've said before, I have 6 classes, non-stop before lunch. I have one planning period in the afternoon, between my two classes after lunch. I am already exhausted and I am on class 4 of 8. Of course I can't say any of this to him.

I think that he's said what he needs to say and will leave me be now, but nope. He's going to take this opportunity to stay in my classroom for the next 5 or so minutes and do a little informal observation. Great. Freaking awesome. The kids don't know the song well enough yet to make it look impressive. They're nervous too, because the principle is watching them sing and he isn't supposed to be there. I hate whenever he watches me, because he never has anything nice to say. But he can kiss my ass, because I even had laminated, colored pictures of the animals we were singing about in the song and they each got to have a turn with an animal, standing up in front of the class. So piss off. I'm prepared.

I went to Chick-fil-a for lunch, and thought I was clever to get the kids meal instead of a regular combo since I haven't been eating all of my food. I couldn't even finish that! Really, this has got to stop! Why can I not eat more than 2 chicken nuggets?

So after lunch, I've got my 7th and 8th grade band students. They were actually being pretty productive and we were getting stuff done. The last 10 minutes of the class, in walks one of our substitute teachers. She says that my principle asked her to relieve me from teaching so that I can go up to the demonstration/seminar early. Of all my classes to pull me out of, my instrumental classes are not my top choice! Not only do I enjoy teaching band and orchestra, but a sub isn't going to know what to do with them. Whatever. I leave anyway.

When I get up to the classroom we are supposed to meet in, I realize that it hasn't even started yet. I got pulled out of my class for nothing, because we didn't even start until 1:15. Then in walks Mrs. S, the writing expert extrodinaire (don't even know how this is supposed to be spelled), and she's high on life. This woman has more energy than I have ever seen an adult have. I'm thinking it must be speed. Her personality is like Amy Sedaris on Strangers with Candy, only not funny, and add really annoying. She did an exercise on how to become a more descriptive writer. I do not do writing in my class. Not allowed. No homework, no tests, no papers. So why do I have to take my only time during the day to regroup and refocus to listen to this woman?

To top it all off, there were no chairs to sit in. The few that were extra that the kids weren't sitting in, other teachers were. Other teachers who were not on their plan, and who are not pregnant. My hands and my feet started swelling so bad. My feet were tingly for the next hour.

I ended up skipping out 15 min. early, because I couldn't handle standing up and listening to that stuff any longer. Sure, it's a great strategy, but not only can I not use it in my class, we've already had a day long inservice with her over the summer. I didn't need to hear it again!

Now the school day is finally over. But I think I am getting a giant zit on the top of my lip. It's swollen, and I can only imagine that it's going to end up one big, nasty, hurty pimple. Because that's my luck. Right now it feels like something stung my lip. I know that can't be the case! I don't think I've had any run-ins with bugs that sting!

Wish me luck at band rehearsal tonight. I don't know that once I have a chance to sit down at home I'm going to be able to get back up! I'm a bit nervous about talking to the director, because I really want to be able to come back after the baby is born. But all I want to do right now is sleep!

Phew! I told you I was going to rant. You should have just skipped it after the picture!

A long update

I pretty much suck because it's been a week since I've updated. ::slaps wrist:: I even took my work laptop home over the long weekend, and have had stuff to talk about! It's been crazy at work too. I almost feel like I can't catch up!

What happened last week? I went to Kohl's and got an outfit for our LO. I meant to take a picture of it. Oops. It's got a hippo on it! And comes with a bib! I love hippos!

A and I also bought the baby his or her first stuffed animal. Yoda! He's really cute. And I think even if we have a girl, she'll still like it. I've told A that if we have a boy, he can do the nursery in an outer space/rocket ships/Star Wars theme. Of course the in-laws stuck up their noses. I think it's a neat idea. I doubt that he's going to be able to find actual Star Wars baby bedding, but A's determined to try! If we have a girl, I'm pretty sure I can choose whatever I want. Trust me, I don't want everything to be pink!

I didn't do anything over Labor Day weekend. No laundry, no dishes, no cleaning, nothing. I know that this means I will have so much to do this weekend, but I just couldn't bring myself to. We didn't have any big plans, so I wanted to let A and I relax over the 3 days.

Monday, A's mom made Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, it's September. No, it's not replacing the actual holiday in November. I said a week or two ago how I wish it would hurry up and be the holidays because I really wanted stuffing and gravy and pumpkin pie, and she offered to make a big dinner. My sister-in-law came home from college, so it was a big to-do. Everything was good, although I didn't have a taste for sweet potatoes, which is weird. I first noticed this when we ate at Famous Daves last Fri. A had me take a bite of his mashed sweet potatoes. I normally like them, but didn't. Then I tried to eat one at the big dinner and couldn't take more than one bite. Hopefully this will go away after the little one is born. Man, I wish I could eat this meal again today!

This week has been long. I knew that it would, since it's only a 4 day work week. They always end up feeling just as long. I've been having a lot of growing pains lately, and yesterday my stomach problems were back. Thankfully, I still have managed to keep from throwing up (even after a girl in my class threw up all over my classroom on Tues!) but I couldn't eat lunch. Managed to eat some popcorn at the end of the day, and had some carrots at the (long, terrible, horrible, no good) faculty meeting. But then I felt horrible. We didn't eat dinner until after 8 last night. I felt so bad because I know A was hungry. I just don't get what the baby is trying to do. My LO makes me hurt so I can't eat, and then when I don't eat, he/she gets upset and makes me hurt more.

So now on to today. 19 weeks! Only one week to go until the big ultrasound! Today, the baby is as big as an heirloom tomato.

So why is the quarter in the pictures? I get the pics from BabyCenter.com and they have something for every week. The quarter is there for size comparison, because at the very beginning, in your first month, the baby is smaller than a quarter. It's like the size of a seed or something. Look how big the baby is getting now!

I made this clarification because one of A's coworkers read my blog and was asking about it. If you're still reading this, thank you so much for the lemon heads you send home with him! I really appreciate it!

Today is my hardest day of the week. I've got a class in here right now and I'm giving them more time than I should because I don't have any other time to update this! Community band at IUS starts tonight, and I'm wary about whether or not I will be able to do it. I still want to play, and I want the baby to be able to hear some good music while still baking in the oven. But rehearsals are 7-9, and I am normally asleep or close to it by then. Working while pregnant makes me so drained and I don't know if I can add this back in to my weekly schedule. But I also don't want to lose my spot. I want to be able to come back next year. I am going to try to go tonight so if nothing else, I can talk to the director face to face.

Ok, I really have to teach. Even though my ute is killing me, I haven't choked down my nasty Nutrigrain bar for breakfast yet and I have a killer headache going on 3 days now. Wish me luck!

18 week belly

I know, I know, I already posted today. But now that I can actually manage to take pictures of myself without cringing, I figured I should keep up with it and do it every week. I took this today at 18 weeks. You can judge for yourself whether or not I look any bigger in the belly.

Bell pepper baby

We only have two more weeks to wait until we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I can't wait. Seriously, don't make me wait! I don't know how anyone can possibly wait until the baby is born to know. No idea how they could do it. I couldn't stand the suspense. Having to go through half of the pregnancy without knowing is hard enough!

The baby is getting bigger and bigger, and A and I are so happy! He talks to the baby everyday, which is really sweet. And it's always nice to get a belly rub. I've felt the baby move a handful of times. I'm looking forward to when it becomes a more regular thing, and I'm really looking forward to when A can feel the baby on the outside of my tummy. I'm sure he can't wait either.

Well I've officially made it over a week without throwing up! ::knocks on wood:: Granted, I still feel like I'm going to get sick all of the time, but any day that I go without hurling is better.

I've gone from literally passing out when I get home from work and not being able to keep my eyes open to not being able to sleep at all. I can't get comfortable anymore. I'm sure it's only going to get worse. I get comfy on one side, but before I'm even anywhere close to falling asleep, my hip is killing me and I'll have to roll over to the other side. I do this all night. I'm sure it's got to bug the heck out of A. I don't like being a rollie pollie.

I know we just had it a few days ago, but I really want sushi. I could sure go for some Kobe Spicy crab right now!