it's officially...

...a GIRL! we got to take another look at our baby today and now we know for sure! so yay! I uploaded the pictures they gave me at two of the sonograms, so here they are:

18 weeks... pretty much a skeleton baby. this made us giggle a little about how creepy it looked. That's the front view of the face on the left side, then the left hand to the right of that (she was kinda laying on her stomach).


And then this one is from today, so 1 day short of 27 weeks. Luckily her cute little cheeks have filled out some, so she doesn't look like a skeleton anymore. So that's the front view of her cute little face on the right, then she's curled up with her knees to her chest, which is what you see on the left.

Things I've learned about parenting today:

1. Without consequences, we cannot learn.

We have a student who has been nothing short of difficult since the first day of school. If anything is expected of him or he is asked to do anything at all, he throws a complete fit. It starts out just whining and yelling, but when he doesn't get what he wants, he very quickly escalates into throwing things (not little things, but like computers, phones, etc) and hitting anyone he can get to. The best part is that his mother has issued a hands-off policy with this student, meaning if he hurts other people, we cannot restrain him or put him in a time out room. Today, as soon as he got here, he was spurting out things that his mom had apparently been saying about us over the weekend. He has autism. That's what he does -- repeats everything he hears. He is a smart kid and can recognize when there is tension, so already he knows that there is tension between his mom and the people at school. So, whose side is he supposed to take? It got to the point where the school administration had to be in there, taking away everything he could use as a weapon and separating him from the para he'd been beating on all morning. Then, they called his mom to come in, where she began to give him ice for his self-inflicted pain and stroke his hair, telling him everything would be okay. That calmed him down for a little bit, but that is after a para had to go to the hospital with 2 black eyes, a migraine, and many bruises, etc, phones and computers were broken, and the rest of the classroom got cheated out of a morning of learning. He has had no consequences for his actions, so how will this cycle end? Everything we try to accomplish at school is contradicted at home, as well as the integrity of our work being questioned, so how does she expect her son to ever succeed?

That's all I have time to write for now, but as you can see, it's been a long day.

back to school

Well, I've been back at my normal job since last monday, which would explain some of the lack of posting. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, but I won't mention all of it. I am alive and well, though it's getting harder every day to sleep comfortably. I'll take time to post pictures and more detailed info about my whereabouts, but here are some things to mention now.

• my little brother Eric was ordained an Elder this past Sunday. yay for that. congrats, Eric!
• we're almost completely unpacked finally. our bedroom looks much better now than it did a week ago, that's for sure.
• Luke also started work last Monday at a junior high in town. He works in their library as a computer lab tech, which he seems to be enjoying for the most part.
• Reading scriptures and praying everyday with your spouse really does make a difference. We have recommitted and I am glad.
  

And well, YAY FOR THE OLYMPICS! I've really enjoyed watching the different events and am so impressed with the persistence and diligence these athletes have! I am especially proud of the several USA swimmers who have received medals. I don't even need to mention Michael Phelps, but I will, because wow! That 7th gold was so intense with him winning by 1/100th of a second! I just couldn't believe it! And I cried at the All-Around female gymnastics competition where we won the gold AND silver. So cool. The past week we've really been coming home, taking a nap, then watching the Olympics until it's over. I don't know what we'll do when they're over :P

Also, I have to say that one person really does make a difference. We got a new teacher in our classroom this year and it has already caused so many positive changes. I didn't want to go back to this classroom at first, but with this change I think it's going to be a great (though still PLENTY exhausting) year. Yay for that. Oh, and I strongly believe that our department should be warned about fire drills... I had a student break down into a complete anxiety attack today. She completely lost control screaming, crying, biting down on her hand as hard as she could, flailing her limbs, etc, and it took me quite a while to get her to listen to me enough that I could pull her out of her chair and get her to walk outside with me. It was about 20 minutes before she could even start to settle down. It is so hard to see what little control these kids have sometimes. I am grateful to understand God's plan, especially that there was a pre-existence where we dwelled with God and were able to make decisions about our time on earth. I know that the physical, mental, and emotional strains these kids experience are only temporary and that they will be blessed in the eternities because of their willingness to endure those things.

ramblings of a pregnant woman

My husband is one of those people who can't wait for birthdays, so basically I already got my birthday present from him (my birthday isn't until August 29th), which was a new camera! To show my excitement concerning said camera, I will display a preview of our living room as it is so far. I'll post better pictures later once the whole apartment is put together.



And, to prove that I am truly a pregnant woman, I will display my favorite dessert at the moment. Yes, those are fruity pebbles and this is one of the few sweet things I crave. It's hard not to be jealous of something so awesome. To make it really good, you'd have to mush up the cookies and mix it all in together. Yummy.


That is all!

a word to the wise

So, we are done with the horrible excuse of an apartment forever and are in our much much better apartment now, trying to get everything unpacked. We've made quite a bit of progress, but there is still a long way to go! I'll take pictures when we're finally situated.

Now comes the word to the wise. While it seems beneficial to borrow a truck from a friend who was more than willing to give it up for us, it is NOT beneficial to then lose the only copy of the security-coded key. Luke is notorious for wearing cargo shorts where things just fly out of his pockets from left to right and this loose key was no exception. We called the doctor's office, checked the car, tore apart the apartment (as much as we could), and no luck. So, now we've called Ford and asked about the cost to get a new key made... they all say, well if you have one copy of the key, it's much cheaper. otherwise we'll have to make 2 copies of the key and you'll have to pay for both of them. I kept thinking, would I really be calling you if there was another copy of the key!? That was yesterday.

So last night, as I was trying to falling asleep, which really didn't take too long, I felt the strong urge to check in the car one last time before getting the truck towed to Ford today. I got up, threw on some clothes and trekked out to the already toasty car to search one last time. Was in the compartment in the side of the driver's door? No. Was it under the driver's seat? No. Was it under the back seats? No. Was it under the passenger seat or in the compartment of the passenger's door? No. Anyway, I was about to give up and go inside (it was pretty hot by then), when I noticed a strange piece of black clothing in the compartment to the side of the back seats. I reached in to see what it was and what fell into my hands? The key!!! I literally yelled out "Hallelujah!" and couldn't help but smile at that point. I really thought we were never going to find it. Anyway, a lot of prayer and thought went into this search and I am grateful to Heavenly Father for hearing my plea and I know that is why I was so drawn back to the car this morning. I didn't think about looking anywhere else but there and I know that is because our Heavenly Father can direct our thoughts to the things we need to be focusing on right in the moment. Anyway, that is the story of the lost key and I am so glad it has a happy ending (Except I'm very sorry to Casey, who was very gracious in letting us use it in the first place, for being out of a car for an extra day because of this)!

On another note, Luke and I are going to Olathe tonight to celebrate the homecoming of my very dear friend Jenn from her 18 month mission for our church in Fresno, California. I cannot wait to see her and I can't wait for her to meet Luke!!!!!

it's a...

well, it's an 85% chance girl! the doctor was pretty confident that it was a girl, but said she didn't get a convincing enough look to say she was 100% sure. and now she wants to look AGAIN during our next visit. sheesh.

we're pretty sure it's a girl! haha... it's hard to rely on 85% so we still feel pretty up in the air about it. it was fun to take a little look at the baby though!

Walmart & Target bags everywhere!

Well, since we don't get the newspaper, we decided to use all the Walmart and Target bags from under our sink to pack all the fragile things. So far it's working well and we have many to spare. Every time I finish a box, I get this gratifying feeling like we're that much closer of getting out of this dump and well, yay for that. And while a house is a LONG way off for us still, I feel like this is a move up for us, which is definitely a good thing.

Some of the things I REALLY like right now:

• Walmart brand vanilla ice cream (it's Blue Bunny just in a cheaper box, did you know?) with crunched up Golden (vanilla instead of chocolate) OREOS in it. YUM.
• www.failblog.org - SO FUNNY.
• free digital scrapbooking websites (I can link to some in a later post if you're interested)
• duct tape
• feeling the baby move pretty much every day now
• finding Ben Folds Five (the CD with the piano on the cover) for $3.50 at Goodwill - I'm SLOWLY rebuilding my CD collection since all my CDs got stolen earlier this year, which includes burning copies of a lot of the ones I had backed up on my computer.
• all the boxes Becky collected for us from work (THANK YOU!!!)
• using large plastic totes for moving

I am really looking forward to this next week. We get out of this dumpy place on Tuesday, then my best friend Jenn gets home from her mission on Wednesday!! Also, Luke's brother is coming into town and staying with us starting Tuesday night and my little brother Eric and brother-in-law Chris have a birthday on Thursday. MOST IMPORTANTLY, we have an OB appointment on Wednesday, which will include another sonogram, meaning we better find out the gender of our child this time! If not, we'll live... and we'll be able to tell said child many stories of how difficult it was before it was even born (I hate that I have say it), but we're hoping!

It's going to be a very busy week, but a good one for sure. Wish us luck!!

you see...

the purpose of the poll was to help us deal with the fact that it's 50/50 and have to wait until the 30th to find out the gender of our child! this tied at 24 nonsense isn't helping the suspense any! :P

i thoroughly enjoy working on saturdays (no i don't) because it's extremely slow... i've only had 3 short calls in the past hour. it forces me to find alternative ways to pass the time. one of my favorites is eating the food that luke packs for me pretty much on a daily basis. he's cute. he made the mustard on my sandwich into a smiley face.

yesterday luke and i went to see the dark knight (that's the batman movie, for anyone living in a cave) for a little day date. i cannot tell you how well-done that movie was! especially heath ledger. it is definitely unfortunate for the movie scene (and his family, etc) that he is gone, but i will say that this is by far the most powerful and convincing role i've ever seen him in. even if the character was extremely creepy and psychotic, i'm glad that he will be remembered for this.... and he absolutely will. overall it was a very well made movie and i was impressed. i would definitely recommend it.

i've been thinking a lot about the things i want to accomplish before the baby comes. some of them are on hold until we find out the gender, but i'm excited to start working on some of these things:

• I've mentioned before that I want to learn how to make a quilt for my baby... I'd like it to be a gender-specific blanket, so that's on hold until after the 30th, though I'm very excited to do it.
• I would like to get caught up on my scrapbooking, especially the holes in my high school scrapbook, like showtime, prom and graduation. those are big ones... and part of being able to do that deals with actually getting those pictures from people who actually have them.
• Organization! Right now our second room is just full of unorganized stuff. I'd like to clean it out/get everything organized so that when we move, we'll actually be able to use it as a nursery (which will be practically empty until we find out the gender and start finding furniture).

those are the main things i would like to work on. i would also like to go through and get rid of a lot of stuff we never use before we move, so that we're not just lugging a bunch of junk with us.

am i too ambitious? we'll see, but i'm excited to get started. that counts for something right?

do you have any project/"spring cleaning" goals that you're working on?

blech.

So we're moving into a new apartment on the 28th and I CANNOT WAIT. i'm really sick of the poor condition of our apartment. even the air quality is poor... it will be really nice too to live on the side of town where our new place is. We have a lot to do before then, but we're up for it.

I'm having kind of a rough day, just not feeling great, so I'm going to follow Kaysi's example and post a yay list for today, although mine might be slightly more surface level because my brain is near shutdown level.

yay for:

• Luke
• banana bread
• Waffle Crisp cereal
• blogging
• Lori letting me borrow lots of maternity clothes
• getting to move into a better apartment in 2 weeks
• vitamins
• Mary in HR who gave me some cheerios to snack on
• not having to work tomorrow (it's kind of strange having Fridays off instead of Saturdays)

what makes you say yay today?

traditions

i've been thinking a lot lately about traditions. my family doesn't have a lot of formal traditions, but we get together for every holiday and celebrate birthdays together. one of my favorite family traditions is Dirty Santa. every Christmas Eve (or Christmas day if people have other commitments on Christmas Eve), each of us contributes an anonymous gift so we can do a white elephant gift exchange. each year there are a couple of repeat gag gifts and we always have a lot of fun doing it. anyway, i want to begin our own traditions as our kids are growing up. i came across some ideas on a baby website recently and here are a couple of the ones i liked:

• Create a "YES Jar". Into it, put all the "NO's" that you're willing to put off until another day: "NO, you can't go to the zoo." "NO, you can't stay up late." Choose one day a month where your child can pick out a few "NO's" and turn them into "YES." "YES you can have ice cream for dinner." "YES you can skip your bath."
• For birthdays, let each family member choose his favorite meal. Then everyone but the birthday boy helps make it. Or write a letter to your child every year on their birthday. Give them the stack when they're 18 (or in my case I'd probably put them in a scrapbook or something like that).
• Give each child a new pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve.

do you have any favorite traditions that you hope to pass down? i'd love any thoughts, ideas, or feedback...so leave a comment.