2.28.2010

Yay! I"m Full Term and Done With Work!

I was officially full term last Monday! I had a doc appt on Wed., and there hasn't been any more progress as far as dilating, which I expected. I was 1 cm dilated with Sophia for about a month. So, we wait . . .

Friday was my last day of work. I am glad to be done for now as I just don't have the energy to do a good job, and I simply can't stand on my feet for even a half day. The kids were sweet and several gave me hugs and wished me luck. They all wanted to make sure I was going to send pictures of the baby once she arrives, so it was very sweet. I hope she doesn't decide to come this week - I need some time to just relax and finish up getting everything ready before baby arrives.

Paul has a science conference this week in the Woodlands (about an hour away), and many of our good friends will be in town for it. So, it will be a very busy week for him, but I don't think he's going to stay the night up there. He does have a poster to present on Thursday night, so I REALLY, REALLY hope nothing happens before then! Then, on Friday night we have about 5 people coming to stay with us and hang out. I'm excited to see everyone, so Zoe can arrive any time after Saturday, but not before!

I must say I"m getting rather irritated with people. On Friday a lady asked when I was due, and so I told her March 17. She looked at me and said 'Are you sure it wasn't Feb. 17??'. I was a bit taken aback, since I am aware of how stinkin' HUGE I am right now, but it's not like you have to rub it in!! I said, well, look at my husband, he's a big guy. But, I don't think she was listening. It also seems like people are looking/talking at my belly, which is understandable, but annoying. Oh well. It's almost over! And, many people have been very nice, so I guess it balances all out. One lady told me my skin looked nice, and lots of people open doors for me or offer to help me out. But, it's never the nice people who stick out in your mind! Anyway, there's not much else to report. I'll keep you posted!

2.21.2010

Opossums and Pains

This week we caught a opossum in our garage. He apparently got in somehow, got into a bunch of water bottles and old easter candy and somehow got stuck under a ladder that fell over and dented Paul's car a little. :-( I discovered him, but had to get to work, so Paul took him to animal control. They said they'll take him far away and release him somewhere, but not sure how true that is. I just hope he won't find his way back to us! The night before that, Thunderball got into a fight with a stray cat that comes around and eats all the cat food and got a nice bloody food. Paul was able to wash him up and he seems fine. I LOVE living where we do - with the creek and wooded areas behind us, but we are wildlife central! I can handle the furry mammals - I just don't want to come in to contact with any of the poisonous snakes that come around here. Our neighbor had one in her pool (water moccosin? not sure) as well as a snapping turtle, so I would say those little guys are especially not welcome!

So, our renter wants out of his lease early. I know he's going through a divorce and someone spray painted 'sex offender lives here' on our garage door (he fixed it and repainted), but something else must be going on because he wants to get an apartment. So, either he's having extra legal troubles or he's getting not feeling welcome in the neighborhood anymore. There are lots of kids and when the sex offender thing happened they were all very concerned that we rented to a sex offender. He's not one according to the registry and all we know, but there must be an ugly situation to provoke that. I don't think random people just run around spray painting that on random garage doors. Anyway, so our house is now back on the market for sale or lease, and we've had several showings, so that is good. We won't let the renter out early unless we sell or lease the property. Apparently we had an offer for a 6 month lease to a person with bad credit and 2 dogs. Jeff, our realtor, quickly said NO. So, I hope something happens, and with the tax credit going through April maybe we'll get some kind of offer.

**37 Week Update!!**
So, I'll officially be 37 weeks tomorrow. I am 1 cm dilated, but I was that way for about a month with Sophia, so it doesn't really mean anything. The baby continues to move alot, and I continue to be uncomfortable. I have pulled a muscle in my right rib area, and it HURTS pretty bad. I think it was from coughing alot when I was sick and then picking up the kids at some point probably didn't help it. My doc said it pretty much won't go away until I have the baby. Yay. It makes getting comfortable for bed very difficult and I'm pretty sore in the morning, but there's nothing I can do. I've also been having lots of Braxton-Hicks (fake) contractions. I thought maybe I was going into labor last night, but they went away. I didn't have those with Sophia at all, but I guess they can go on and on and pretty much mean nothing as far as when I'll go in to labor. This week is my last week at work (!!!!) and the following week Paul has a conference in the Woodlands (1 hr north of here) that he needs to go to. He may stay the night 1 night, but we have 5 friends coming to stay the night at our house on that Friday, so it would be very inconvenient of the baby to come before that! So, I guess she's in the clear to arrive any time after March 6! Anyway, that's about it. Sophia will only be referred to as Sophia or 'Big Sister', and Thomas told the babysitter last night all the things he was going to do to help Baby Zoe. So, they are ready, or at least as ready as they are going to be!!

2.13.2010

My shower!

My friends at school threw me a shower last Wednesday after school. It was simple, but really nice, and Paul and the kids were able to join us. We had cake, punch & fruit and everyone was very generous. We recieved several super cute little outfits, an awesome diaper cake and a bunch of gift cards! I am so lucky to work at a great school with great people. That is definitely one of the advantages of being at a small school - the entire staff knows each other which creates a more family like atmosphere. Since we don't know tons of people here and our closest relatives live an hour away in Houston and Katy, it's nice to have someone to celebrate with.

The kids had lots of fun and a fellow teacher's wife brought their 2 kids (who are the same age as Thomas and Sophia) and they ran around playing with balloons and eating cake. There are a few pictures below of the cake and gift table, but I don't have any others.

**ALMOST 36 WEEKS UPDATE**
I'll be 36 weeks on Monday. The baby noticeably dropped from last Sunday to Monday. That can happen anywhere between a few days to weeks before labor. I can breathe a bit better, but now my lower back hurts more and she seems to push down & stretch out which hurts. As a result, I've significantly slowed down. I have 2 weeks left of school and then we have some friends visiting in town for a meeting, so I hope she doesn't come early!






2.07.2010

Pregnancy Week 35 Update

Tomorrow I will officially be 35 weeks along, so only 5 more weeks to go!!! I am officially very uncomfortable, especially at night. My back hurts in the morning and the baby is starting to like to stretch out, which hurts. But, I'm thankful because last time my back starting hurting somewhere along month 5 and never stopped. The baby seems to be fine and moving around ALOT! My doctor says she's probably right along target, size-wise, but then again last time she thought Sophia was maybe 7 pounds the day before had her (she was 9 lbs). I have 3 weeks of teaching left, and I"m very excited about that. I really hope that I go to my due date just so I can have some relaxation time before the baby comes.

I've also had a cold for about a month now. It started going away, but then Sophia got sick last week and at the same time my cold started resurging. So now I"m coughing again and am pretty stuffed up. I imagine it doesn't help that I can't get a decent night's sleep. Oh well. We put Zoe's crib together and put her bedding on it, and we just about having everything we need for when she arrives! I LOVE her bedding - it's so much cuter than it looked online:



Sesame Street Live!

We took the kids to Sesame Street Live yesterday, and they had TONS of fun! They sat so well throughout the whole show, and were both clapping, singing and waving to all the characters. Elmo was the definite favorite as it seemed to be for most of the kids there - it seemed that everyone had an Elmo shirt on! The show was very well done, the singing and dancing was great, and it was alot of fun!

They sold all kinds of souvenirs, but it seemed like the cotton candy was at the top of the list for most of the kids. I am not so sure that an arena full of toddlers all hopped up on cotton candy is a good idea, but we had to succumb as well. During intermission a guy came out with about 200 Elmo balloons, so Paul took the kids down to get one thinking they wouldn't be too expensive. Well, after standing in a long line he discovered that they were TEN DOLLARS!!! For a stupid balloon!!! It really is a good strategy on their part - get the kids excited, get the parents to stand in a long line and don't tell the price, so that parents are forced to buy the severely overpriced balloon (which better be filled with Gold confetti) just to avoid a major tantrum. So, Paul made a deal with Thomas to get the $4 cotton candy instead of a balloon. Sophia still got a balloon. Luckily, we went to the 10:30am show, so Thomas had all day to burn off all that sugar! At least the balloon is mylar and we should be able to enjoy Elmo's head in our living room for awhile.

Sophia was so great throughout the show considering she'd had a fever for the past 2 days. Thankfully, it was gone the morning of the show. But, she threw a very impressive tantrum the ENTIRE way home - all 35 minutes. She was totally pooped and took a good nap. Thomas and Paul later went to the Monster truck show with some friends leaving me and Sophia to have much enjoyed girl time together!