Misery...

Earlier this week, I started to come down with a cold. Nothing terrible. Just a little congestion.

As the week progressed, I could feel myself getting more and more worn down. On top of teaching all day, which can be exhausting in itself, I had parent-teacher conferences this week. I actually love parent-teacher conferences: visiting and getting to know families and telling them all the wonderful things their child is up to. But they are very draining. Talking all day at school and then all night.

By the end of Thursday night, my voice was starting to crack. When I got home, my voice was pretty weak. When I woke up this morning, I could just barely talk above a whisper. I really, really wanted to call in sick, which I don't usually do.

I have only called in once in the last three years at GTA and there are two reasons for that. One reason is that I've been trying to save up all of my sick time for eventual maternity leave. The second is that, as a teacher, it is more work to write lesson plans and clean up the room the next day after a sub than to just go to work.

So I decided to go to work today. Thankfully, students only have a half-day on Fridays, so it's not too bad to teach on a Friday when you're sick. I made it through the day, but it was difficult and exhausting. I am so tired of talking (or trying to talk anyway). I am so tired of listening. I am just so tired! And my voice is gone completely. My students were amazing today. They were quiet and were great listeners, but it's still so tiring having to talk all day long.

And on top of that, I had a puker today. Poor little boy told me he was sick, and I started walking him to his homeroom teacher and puked all over the floor. Sick kids are the saddest thing in the whole world.

When I got home today, I told Dave that I don't want to talk and I don't want to listen to him talk. I just want to sit. Maybe sleep. Maybe watch TV, maybe not. So Dave decided to go downstairs and spend the evening playing Playstation.

Here I sit on the couch. Like a bump on a log. I am in complete misery. I'm not big on taking medicine; I rarely take anything when I'm sick, not even tylenol or motrin. And I especially don't want to take anything when I'm pregnant. But I have to say, if I weren't pregnant, I would be taking everything in sight to take away this misery.

I am so thankful for the weekend, and I'm hoping that I am able to recooperate and feel better on Monday. Just in case I'm not better though, I wrote some lesson plans.

An All-Around Wonderful Day...

I have a new niece!

Kennedi Elizabeth Nowak arrived today at 3:22pm. She is 6 lbs. 7oz. and 19.5" long. A normal sized baby to most, but a little bitty peanut in the Nowak family. Kennedi and her parents are doing
great and are all so very happy.

This picture will have to tide me over until I am able to go visit. They live in Lansing, which is about a three hour drive from Traverse City. I'm hoping to go down and visit this weekend. I have to babysit on Saturday, so the only day I could go is Sunday, but I have a bit of a cold and don't want to go and get her sick. Fingers crossed that I feel better!

And the other great news of the day...

I had my OB appointment today and everything went swimmingly.

My doctor said I'm measuring right on track and I have only gained 12 pounds since my first appointment. I have to say that it sure feels like I've gained more, but I will take it and I won't complain! Our sweet boy's heartbeat was a strong 160.

I now start my bi-weekly appointments and am beyond excited about this! However, my next appointment will be the gulcose test, which I'm really not looking forward to. I have had to take the test before because my doctor thought I might be diabetic. The thought of drinking that stuff again seriously makes me sick, but I will do it for my sweet little pumpkin.

Pregnancy: 25 weeks

10.25.11 –  25 weeks

Eh...not my favorite pregnancy picture. Long day of parent-teacher conferences, a slight head cold, and a little wet from the rain. But considering all that, this photo could be much worse.

Sometimes February just seems so far away. Especially when I think that it’s only October. But then I remind myself that it’s almost Thanksgiving, and after that time will fly by. The few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas always go so fast because there is so much going on at school and with family. Fifteen weeks isn’t really that long, but it seems like it when you’re waiting on a baby.

According to thebump.com, our sweet boy is about the size of an eggplant. He is about 13.6-14.8 inches long and weighs 1.5-2.2 pounds.

This week our little pumpkin is moving like crazy. I can feel him rolling around and kicking all over the place. I can even see my belly move when he kicks. Dave says it looks like I have the hiccups or something. I could sit and watch it for hours {except that he doesn’t do it for hours because he takes many breaks}.

I definitely feel a little bigger this week. Partly just because I can see my school uniform shirts getting shorter. I’m going to have to get some bigger ones.

As food goes, I am loving bread lately. My favorite is the Meijer take and bake bread. Ten to fifteen minutes in the oven and I have a fresh, hot loaf of bread. I am also loving Halloween candy. Not good. Well, I mean it’s good, but it’s not good for me or for my little one. I try to limit myself to one or two fun size bars a day, but to be honest, I usually eat a few more than that.

I’m getting very excited for my baby showers! I have one coming up in just a few weeks, and one the first weekend of December. I can’t wait to get together with friends and family to celebrate our precious gift from God.

I am able to wear some non-maternity shirts still, but they are definitely getting short. I did buy some maternity shirts and pants recently, but decided to return most of them because I don’t know when I will wear them. Because I wear uniforms all week, it’s not worth the money to buy too many maternity items. I think I have enough to get me through. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from wanting more.

I am still able to sleep quite well and am so thankful for that. I will be especially grateful for that this week, since it’s conference week, meaning a few late nights at school without breaks. I will be one tired mama-to-be!

I don’t know what I’ve gained, but I have an appointment tomorrow and should find out my weight gain from my first appointment. My stretch marks haven’t gotten any bigger. They’re still quite small, but I have added another two or three of the same size. It’s really funny to me that they’re only on my right side though.

That’s it – just 15 more weeks {give or take one or two} until we get to meet our sweet son.

It's raining babies...

It's raining babies in my family these days!

I posted in my weekly pregnancy journal about how one family member announced her pregnancy. Well, just a few days ago, another family member announced that she is pregnant too and thinks she is due in July.

Many years ago, I thought {and even said out loud to a few people}, "I don't care who has babies before us, but when I get pregnant, I want to be the only one in the family."

I didn't want to share the spotlight with anyone else. As it turns out, we are the last on both sides of the family to have a baby. But the funny thing is that now I am so excited about all of these family members having babies at the same time as us. I love that our sweet son will have so many cousins close to his age!

Also, this will make niece or nephew #13 for me! I can't even believe that.

Life Lately...

Yesterday, one of my first grade students decided to write down a list of baby name suggestions. The first name he wrote down was Flamer. When I read it, I thought perhaps I read it wrong, like maybe he was trying to spell something else. But then I looked at the next name, which was Pale Boy, and I realized that this was no mistake. He explained that they were superhero names. Some other names he showed me later: Tan Man (his brother's name is Tanner, so I'm guessing that's where that came from), Snow Boy, and Sandee. Sure gave me a laugh.

School pictures were delivered today. Yes, I am among the lucky few who get to take school pictures as an adult. You know you're jealous.

I'm not a huge fan of this year's photo. My smile looks fake, and my face looks chubby. But the beauty of it is that I don't have to send these out to friends and family like I did when I was in school. And...there's always next year.

I ordered my paper and ribbon for Baby Nowak's scrapbook last week and a bunch of it came today! I got my paper...

Sage green paper for each page of the book, with blue, yellow, and dark brown for the photo mattes.

And one pattern of ribbon {I ordered two different ones. The other one is blue with green and brown polka dots}...

I put ribbon on the bottom of each page, alternating the two patterns. Of course, I will share pictures when I actually complete the album (which may be a while, just so you know).

Also, Dave and I went to Lowe's and Home Depot last weekend and looked at some paint sample cards for Baby Nowak's room. It's so stressful to me to pick out a paint color, because it never looks the same on the wall. I always lean toward the medium colors and Dave says that they will be too dark. He's always right of course and we usually go with the lighter one. But something just draws me to the deeper tones.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the top color on the right. For once, I was drawn to one of the lighter colors and not the middle. I think it would look perfect with the furniture and the green and brown in his bedding, etc.

Of course, the painting will have to wait until the office furniture is moved out of his room and we take down the horrible wallpaper border, but it's exciting to me to finally be starting something.

I don't discriminate...

One of my former students came to me yesterday with a little surprise.

Her dad works for Russell Stover. This past weekend was the big University of Michigan vs. Michigan State football game and they had a few too many of these boxes of chocolates laying around.

I tend to not care about collegiate or professional sports. If I had to choose one, I would say I'm more a fan of Michigan State {not the team this box of chocolates promotes}, because I like the school better. I don't care about the sports. But in all reality, I don't care at all.

So anyway, the student comes in and says, "We had too many of these, but I didn't know if you were a Michigan or Michigan State fan."

I asked her if it really mattered who I was a fan of. Chocolate is chocolate, am I right? She said it didn't matter.

Seriously, I don't discriminate against chocolate! I'm a BIG fan of chocolate.

Pregnancy: 24 weeks...

10.18.11 –  24 weeks

SIX MONTHS! VIABILITY! Such exciting things happening with just this one week.

I had a dream this last weekend that I was at school and had to be rushed to the hospital because our baby’s heartbeat was too fast {somehow in my dream, I could feel the heartbeat and could tell it was too fast}. When we got to the hospital, I was told that they had to take him, and I was so upset because he was way too early. The doctor said that he needed to come out, and he might not survive When I argued, she said {and it wasn't even my doctor} that I couldn't wait for him to be full-term anyway, because he would be 21 pounds, and that just can’t happen. It was so weird, and so scary. Obviously, it was not realistic, but it was scary to think of my little one having to come too early.

This week, I definitely have a sweet tooth. When I’m home at night, I just want to snack on Nutella and Halloween candy. But at school, I want pretzels and Cheez-Its {which is really weird, because I usually don’t like Cheez-Its at all}. I still could do without meat and, most of the time, wish I could just eat mashed potatoes and peas. But I don’t.

This weekend, Dave and I went to look at the rocker/recliner that I picked out for the nursery. He liked it just fine, especially the price! The price is comparable to the gliders that most people get, but I really want a more comfortable chair. It has to get me through the wee hours of the morning, for hopefully three children. Just for kicks, we checked out some other chairs at Art Van, and the prices were outrageous in comparison. We didn’t buy it yet, and probably won’t for a little while because we don’t have a place to put it yet {our boy’s room is still an office at this point}, but I’m excited to have the decision made. Here’s a peek at our sweet son’s nursery furniture…

I had picked out a matching bookshelf, but it doesn't look like it will fit in the room. Bummer, but I still love the rest of it, and I will surely find a perfect spot for his books.

The chair will actually be a chocolate brown, but there wasn't a picture of it online. This color would make me too nervous to keep in a child's nursery.

I just love it!

Our wee one is moving a lot these days. He seems to really enjoy my Language Arts class, as well as meal times, and then any time that I'm relaxing at home. Then, while I'm trying to get comfortable at night, he seems to be searching for a comfy position as well. He starts rolling and kicking all over the place. I absolutely love this. I never felt the "swimming" feeling or whatever before; I went straight from nothing to kicks, so it's fun to feel him rolling around in there along with his kicking. Oh yeah, and one thing he likes to do is kick down, which feels weird. Like, really weird. Of course, I love my boy to move it, move it, however he sees fit, but I definitely prefer it in my abdomen than in my vagina. Just sayin'.

I officially hate my demi-panel {the ones with the shorter elastic waist} pants. My belly pushes them down all the time, so they give me a saggy-looking butt. I’m constantly having to pull them up, and it’s driving me bonkers. I have two of these types of jeans, and only one of the full-panel, so I will have to wear them sometimes, but I don’t like them one bit.

Dave and I are still going with the name we’ve chosen so far, but we both know it can change. I don’t want to announce and end up with some monogrammed blanket or something and then change his name. So…no big announcement yet. Plus, we’re still arguing over discussing middle names.

A family member recently announced her pregnancy. I had already guessed it, but I am so excited that she finally announced it! She hasn’t really talked about it too much publicly, so I will refrain from disclosing who exactly, but just know that she is fabulous and I am so excited! Also, her sweet baby is due exactly 8 weeks after mine. I can’t wait for our babies to be buddies and spend next summer together. And I'm so excited that our son will have at least three cousins close to his age; more if another family member gets her way. Isaac was just born in July, so he will be 6-7 months older, and Dave's brother and his girlfriend should have their little girl within the next few few week, so she will be about four months older. Such fun!

That’s really all I have for this week. Still feeling amazing and loving every second of pregnancy {though I can’t wait for it to be over so I can snuggle this little one}.

Testing...

A friend sent this to me this week. I found it fitting {and slightly disturbing} considering it's MEAP time right now.

Pregnancy: 23 weeks

10.11.11 – 23 weeks

Tonight I forgot to take a picture. I came home and put my hair up and my pajamas on right away. So I had to change back into "normal" clothes. Because I didn't love the picture, I decided to take one that wasn't straight on my face.

I like this one better. I just feel like my face looks so tired in the other one - thanks to MEAP {standardized testing for the state of Michigan} starting today.

I read today that the baby is the size of a papaya and that it can now hear sounds from outside the womb. When I told Dave, he immediately got up and started talking directly to my belly. Dave tried this a few weeks ago, and I told him that the baby couldn’t hear him. But tonight, Dave said, “Hi {name we’re calling him for now}. Can you hear me?” It was the cutest thing ever. But don’t tell Dave I said anything; he doesn’t like being “cute.”

In one of my pregnancy books, it says I should read to the baby every day. Dave told me I should do that, and I explained that I read a lot throughout the day, every single day. I don’t think this baby is lacking in any literacy experiences. Today we read a few poems from Shel Silverstein, the last chapter of Ralph S. Mouse and one of my favorite children’s stories, My Name is Yoon. And funny thing...our baby boy kicks a lot during reading. He must enjoy hearing all of my students' cute little voices reading in sync.

I still don’t have any major food cravings. I continue to love salads {I always hoped I would be salad/veggie eater during pregnancy. Hopefully our boy loves peas and broccoli as much as his mommy}. But nothing else really sounds good. To be honest, if I could have it my way, I would eat side dishes all day long, like mashed potatoes, Stove Top stuffing, and those Lipton pasta sides. But I know that’s not really what baby needs, so I force myself to eat protein like meat {even though I still don’t like it}, peanut butter, and Greek yogurt.

This weekend, with the weather in the 80s, I struggled to find weather-appropriate clothes that fit. I ended up finding some things and was about to slip on my flip flops when I realized I needed to paint my toenails. They were in rough shape. Well, folks, that is definitely the last time I will be painting them myself this pregnancy. It was not an easy task – at all.

Somewhat pregnancy related: I started seeing a Chiropractor a few weeks ago. I have been to Chiropractors before, because for as long as I can remember, I have had really bad lower back pain {most likely because of my large chest and a larger than normal arch in my lower back}, but all they ever did was adjust me and didn’t really focus on what was causing my pain or how to correct it. My new chiropractor actually took the time to figure out what’s going on with me – basically, my back is all screwed up – and she developed a plan to correct and heal my back problems. After just a few adjustments, I have to say that I haven’t felt this good since junior high. It’s nothing short of amazing. I’m not only grateful to be feeling better, but I’ve also read and heard that regular Chiropractic care during pregnancy can help with easier/shorter labor and delivery. Sounds good to me!

Sometimes sleep is an issue. I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and be wide awake for an hour or two. And then sometimes, I sleep really well all night and wake up at 4:30-5:00, when I don’t have to be up until about 5:45. Other times, I sleep all night, besides my bathroom trips. It’s a coin toss really.

Everyone I speak to these days asks me how I’m feeling, and I must say that I feel AMAZING! I am happy, I feel healthy, and I have a pretty normal amount of energy. I am loving pregnancy and life in general right now.

Seven Years...

Seven years ago, Dave and I said those two little words that would change our lives forever.

"I do."

 A lot has happened in seven years.

Though we bought our house about four months before we were married, we have fixed it up and changed things to make it our own.

Our house, a few years ago, when we first had our driveway paved. The outside hasn't changed a whole lot, except that we now have irrigation so our grass is gorgeous now. Oh, and this picture was taken in the early spring when our plants were beginning to come up.

Diesel was already part of our lives before we were married, but around the same time as our wedding, we got another kitty, Triton. Unfortunately, Triton was quite ill and we only had him for two years.

(I don't have any digital pictures of Triton - just prints, and I don't have a scanner, so you only get Diesel pictures.)

My baby, Diesel.

Fatty, fatty, fat cat.

I went through student teaching, which at the time we both thought was the most difficult thing we'd ever done. I worked in a classroom, for free, for two semesters, while working forty hours between Old Navy and babysitting. I was stressed to the max and we never saw each other, which made it worse. But we made it through to my graduation.

GVSU graduation - May 2008

A few friends and family members joined the club and got married too.

Dave's sister April's wedding - April 2005

Many nieces and nephews joined our lives. And the ones that were here before that have grown up before our very eyes.

Us with our nephew, Rafe - April 2009

Dave with Jake - not sure when exactly

We went on our first ever big trip to Kentucky and Tennessee.

Nashville, TN - April 2009

Chattanooga, TN - April 2009

I landed a teaching job! And we thought our lives were perfect.

My first elementary classroom - September 2009

Since we never had engagement photos taken, we had some professional ones done for our fifth anniversary. You may recognize some of them from my blog header.

Anniversary photos - summer 2009

We celebrated five years of wedded bliss in Chicago.

Us at the the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) - October 2009

We got pregnant, and were so excited to expand our family.

8 weeks along with Baby #1, just barely showing - January 2011

11 weeks along with Baby #1 - the day we learned he/she went to Heaven

January 26, 2011

When we lost the baby, it was the hardest thing either of us has ever had to go through, completely trumping student teaching. But we made it through together. There is no one else I could have gone through that with. Dave was just as devastated as I was, but had to be the strong one for me. He was my strength and carried me through the worst days, weeks, and months of my life.

And now, we are pregnant again. We cannot wait for the adventure of parenthood and to see what the next seven years have in store for us.

Positive Pregnancy Test with Baby #2 - June 1, 2011

22 weeks - October 2011

I know that we will see many more challenges and blessings in our lives. But no matter what comes our way, if we handle it the way we started out in this picture...

(together, holding hands)

...we can make it through anything.

Pumpkin Patch...

Today my family met at a local pumpkin patch for some fall fun. We saw some farm animals, ate pumpkin donuts, drank apple cider, went on a haunted hay ride, walked through the hay maze, rode ponies {okay, just the kids did that}, and some of us picked pumpkins to take home.

I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Rafe saying hi to the chickens

Rafe riding the pony

Ella visiting the calf

Mama and two baby goats

Michael tried the hay maze for a minute before turned around.

Ben

Ella riding the pony

Beautiful Belgian horses

Grandpa and his boys

My sister, Jan, with her sons, Ben and Michael

My sister, Colleen, with her son, Rafe

My niece, Audrianna. She has the sweetest little face.

Candace, Natalie, John {my brother} and Audri

Grandma Johnson, my brother Jim, Melinda and Ella

Mom and Dad

Natalie riding the pony

Some of the cousins on the big pumpkins. Rafe didn't like his because it was dirty, so he refused to look at me.

Audri

As usual, there are no pictures of me. I think my mom and Melinda may have taken some of me with their cameras, but people are afraid to use my camera, so I never get any of myself.