back to the grind...

I've been having teacher work days since last Thursday, but today is the kids' first day of school. They are all quite excited to see my big belly since in May, I was much smaller! On Saturday at Josh's football scrimmage, I saw one of my now-2nd graders. She told me, "Man, you got bigger!" I said, "Yes, I did!" To which she replied, "But only a little bit. I don't want to hurt your feelings." I told her that was very nice of her while I was fighting back laughter. :)

My day hasn't been too busy, but I have only had two classes so far. My mornings will start off with 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th grade, and then kindergarten. During 3rd hour, I have two students learning new instruments. They're great kids and on Josh's team, so it's going to be a fun class. Then I have my prep time and lunch until 12:30. 5th hour, I'll have my high school choir, then my 5th and 6th grade class during 6th hour, and then last hour of the day will be Jr. High, alternating between band and choir depending on the day. I didn't have my elementary kids today (except for kindergarten, she still brought that class...) since they do their big "Back to school rules" thing in the mornings. I'll see them first thing tomorrow morning.

So, we're back to the grind. I have it in my mind that I only have about 6 weeks and then a nice long "vacation" (aka maternity leave), so it's kind of hard to get back into the swing of things! Especially when you're used to eating whenever you want to during the day and now that's reserved for when I have breaks. That's a bummer.

it's begun already.

I started washing all of the baby's clothes today, so I don't have to worry about it later. The first load was all his onesies, socks, and a few outfits. And wouldn't you know, I got done folding all the clothes, and there is ONE LEFTOVER SOCK. Now how in the world does that start already?! I have no idea where the one sock is. Apparently, our washing machine likes to eat tiny baby socks as much as it does our big adult socks.

sad, sad day

It is a sad, sad day in the Sandlian house. My favorite maternity jeans, the real-waist button up ones, will not button this morning. I thought about wearing them still and just not buttoning the button, but the zipper will not zip up either. Time to say goodbye to those. Good thing I have some elastic-waisted ones that do not have to button up. I must have grown a lot in the past week.

Sad, sad day. :(

I'm on my way to the football field, where Saratoga will be scrimmaging Hanna at 10:30. Wright wanted to come too but I think they're scrimmaging Midwest now or something.

I feel huge.

Can I just tell everyone how HUGE I feel right now? I'm really uncomfortable because of it. My maternity shorts don't fit anymore, I don't think. They were hurting my belly so I took them off when I got home from Laramie and put on a pair of Josh's athletic shorts. They feel much better. My maternity shirts are all too small too. They don't cover my belly anymore. Oy. I hope my school clothes fit, otherwise I will be teaching in Josh's shorts and t-shirts. :)

I don't even have to tie Josh's shorts tighter because my waist size is bigger than his now. 41.5 inches. I don't know how I'll last another six and a half weeks.

The good news is, after all those wonderful restaurants I ate at last week, I only gained TWO pounds in the past two weeks! HOORAY! I was dreading getting on that scale but it wasn't so bad. :)

I have another appointment in 2 weeks and we'll do the Group B Strep test then, as well as another ultrasound. If the placenta is still in the way, or the baby is breech, we'll probably schedule my C-section. If neither is the case, we'll let it go naturally. I keep telling the baby to hurry and get his lungs finished so he can be born at any time. I'm ready to be done being pregnant. My hips hurt so bad I can't hardly walk sometimes, and I get shooting pains when I roll over in bed. I WILL miss feeling him move around in there though- that's the part of pregnancy I'll miss the most!! :(

back to the grind...

Sorry it's been so long since my last post! We had a wonderful trip to Chicago and just got back on Wednesday. My grandma that lives in Chicago got to see my sister's 8 week old, and she was SOOOOO excited about it. So I think Josh and I are going to have to find a way to get back to Chicago for a couple days during our spring break. Grandma needs something to look forward to, and babies, especialy her great-grandsons, are just the ticket.

The boys all had a great time working at the PGA. Us girls had a fun time shopping. :) Let's see- Sunday we ALL went downtown to see my grandma. Monday, we girls went to the Woodfield Mall. Ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, and my nephew Ryan loved seeing the lights inside. Tuesday, we went back down to the city and explored Navy Pier. It was a beautiful day to do that! Ryan had his first ferris wheel ride and slept through the whole thing. Wednesday, we went to the PGA practice round. Kristen and I got a lot of great autographs, mainly thanks to Ryan. MAN, people stop to talk to you when you have a cute baby with you!! Even Rich Beem, the 2002 winner, stopped to talk to him. Pulled the blankets away from Ryan and everything. Next time I go to a golf event like that, I'm going to make sure I have cute kids with me! :) Wednesday night, the whole gang headed out to Wheaton for Chicago Deep Dish pizza at Gino's East. The best pizza EVER!!! My two cousins, Chris and Catie, met us out there and it was great to see them.

Thursday, we just took it easy. Dad didn't have to work so he, Mom, Kris, Ryan, and I went back to downtown to see Grandma one more time. The afternoon, we just took it easy while all the guys were working. Friday, my grandma Smith left for the airport and Josh flew in. He had enough time at the hotel to say hi to me, change his clothes, and off he went to the golf course. He was pretty excited to get out there!! Friday afternoon, we took Lennie to the Babies-R-Us store- she'd never been to one and she found out she loved it!!! :) Saturday, we took Kristen and Ryan to the airport so they could fly home. Saturday night, the whole gang went out to my aunt and uncle's house for a BBQ of ribs from my uncles company, Rose Packing. SO DELICIOUS. And it was nice to have a "real" meal after eating at restaurants every day for every meal! Sunday, Mom and Lennie and I went to IKEA. HOLY COW- next time I need to furnish a house, that's where I'm going!! I bought some good stuff for the baby's room and could've bought a lot more! Sunday evening, the whole gang went out to Millrose Restaurant, a restaurant my uncle's company, Rose Packing, owns. It was delicious!!!!!! Everyone needs to eat Rose's meat sometime. Actually, you might have already without knowing it. I think McDonalds gets their sausage and stuff from Rose, and Pizza Hut also. After that restaurant, we all went mini-golfing and that was a great way to end the trip. Monday morning, Craig, Lennie, Josh and myself were up at 3:15 to leave for the airport at 4. Very early morning!

The baby did great during this trip- no complications from my previa at all. We brought Dr. Keeler some PGA Medinah golf balls as a thank you for letting me go on this trip. :) We have a doctor's appointment today (last one before school starts- I'll have to start using sick days again to go to the doctor!!) so I'll update when we get back.

Some better news!

The doctor's visit was pretty good yesterday. I gained 6 lbs in a week and a half though- oops. :) The nurse said that was good though and that I look great so to quit worrying about it. I'm up to 148. 2 more pounds and she'll have to move the big heavy part of the slider to the 150 mark!

The baby has flipped again, he's breech now. His head is in my upper right. He likes to flip! Dr. Keeler said he might stay like that, because babies like to have their heads where the placenta is not, and mine is so low, the baby might stay breech. But the placenta, we found out, isn't covering my cervix. It's just right on the edge of it, so I have "marginal placenta previa". I COULD deliver naturally, if it's far enough away from the cervix. BUT, only if the baby flips again and isn't breech. If he's breech, it doesn't matter where my placenta is. So, it's a waiting game still. I have to have another ultrasound in 4 or 5 weeks to see if the placenta has moved and the baby has flipped. We don't know if it's moved really, because Dr. Keeler couldn't get that good of a picture last ultrasound. So either it's been like that the whole time, or it's moved up a tiny bit. We don't know. But I got the OK again to go to Chicago and just to take it easy like I already am. And Dr. Keeler said about 4 times how jealous he was that we get to go to the PGA, so Josh and I thought we better find him something small from the tournament and bring it back for him, especially since he's letting me go. :)

The baby is a little on the small side right now, 30th percentile at 3 1/4 pounds. Dr. Keeler said we won't be having a 10 lb baby, that's for sure, and I said that was just fine with me! Kristen said she thinks starting at 34 weeks, the baby should be putting on about a 1/2 pound a week, so ours might be around 6 1/2 lbs when he's born. Just an estimate of course. But small is good, I won't complain. :)

It was a long, tiring day yesterday. Josh and I went up with my sister, brother-in-law and new nephew to Worland for the weekend and met the rest of my family there. My cousin Robyn is stationed in Hawaii with the Navy and was home on leave. So we had a big family reunion there. It was great to see everyone and everyone got to see Ryan and hold him- he was the most popular person at the reunion! :)

We left early yesterday morning and headed home. We stopped in Thermopolis really fast to see Josh's Aunt Bev for a few minutes, then headed on home. We got home about 12:30, and Josh went to get the dogs from the kennel. Boy, were they glad to be home! We got great reports from the kennel lady though, so they had a fun time at the "Puppy Hotel". Poor dogs, we had to leave them in the backyard right away so we could get on to Laramie for my doctor's appointment. After the doctor, we met Josh's cousin Jason and his wife Joni, as well as Jeffrey for dinner. Jason and Joni are up in the Snowy's camping for the week. It was good to see them and catch up on stuff. We don't see them too often since they live in Kansas City.

After loading up on school supplies at Staples and their sale, and getting my B paper bound at Kinkos so I can mail it today, we finally were able to come home to Saratoga. Long day!

some good news!

We had a FAST doctor's appointment today! It was scheduled for 10:50 and we were out by 11:00. We got there at 10:30, so that probably helped. Anyway, I hit the 20 pound mark- I'm up to 142. And tonight I measured around my belly, and my waist is now 40 inches! Oofta!

We didn't have an ultrasound, but by feeling, Dr. Keeler thinks the baby flipped from 2 weeks ago and is head down now. The body parts we are feeling the most are probably feet. The baby actually stayed still for 15 seconds so we could get more than 4 beats of his heart, and then he started moving again after we were done listening. Good baby. :)

We talked about Chicago, which I was a little nervous about since it seemed two weeks ago that he did NOT want me going. But, since I haven't had any problems yet, he told me right now it would be silly for him to tell me to stay home. He said I just have to take it easy from now until then, watch for any problems at all, and we have an ultrasound scheduled for Aug. 7 just to check on things. And while I'm in Chicago (if things still look good on Aug. 7) I just have to make sure to take it easy. But right now, I still get to go. YAY! They way Josh and I figure, I'll be closer to any hospital in Chicago than I am staying here at home- it's 40 miles to the nearest hospital here, 96 miles to the hospital we go to, and in Chicago there's probably one every 5 miles. :)

Then, we just hung out at Kristen's until my defense at 2:00. We had a chase around Registration and Records this morning trying to get my degree check done. The guy I had to get to sign my papers was busy, so they sent me to another lady who, very snottily said, "Did you get an email saying you could come today?" I said, "um... no...." and she told me I had to go to the grad school because she couldn't help me. I told her I KNEW my papers are here, because my friend Erin saw them yesterday, and she said, "sorry." So I went over to the grad school and the lady said, "I sent them over yesterday!! I know I did, because I sent all of you music people, and I remember because you all did things wrong and I already chewed out your dept. head". So BACK to the other place I went and finally got to talk to the guy I was supposed to, and he said, "Yeah, I have them right here!" Sheesh. Got my work out, that's for sure.

My defense went well though. The professor I was worried about pretty much just kept his mouth shut and didn't make things hard for me. The special education professor on my committee was super nice (and it helped that she knows Jeffrey and LOVES him), and the other committee member said he learned a ton from my paper that he didn't know already. I have to change a few errors I made and just caught, and add a paragraph or two to my conclusion, but other than that, I passed! They all signed off on my form and I brought it to the grad school as soon as they signed it! So I'm officially done. That's so nice!!!!!

We're headed to Lingle tomorrow for the weekend. My friend Erin is throwing me a baby shower so I'm looking forward to that on Sunday. Our dogs will be super excited to learn that they get to go with us this weekend. When we went to Gillette last week, they had to stay in the kennel and they made sure to tell us how mad they were at us for leaving them when we got back. They LOVE going to Lingle. They have lots of room to run around and Craig and Lennie's dogs to "play" with.

29 weeks

Here we are, just 11 weeks away! Man, time flies. Here's a picture of my big belly. No stretch marks (yet, knock on wood) but some fine looking blue veins and some scratches from who knows what- probably my cat, who you can see in the background being totally lazy on the glider that will be going in the baby's room.

Still feeling pretty good. I get worn out really easily and don't have much lung capacity left. And getting comfortable? Forget it. Just sitting here, I'm feeling like all of my insides are being shoved up into my chest cavity. Not a comfortable feeling! The latest development for the week is cool though. Friday, we began being able to feel body parts in my belly! We don't know what they are, but we can assume from the position he was in at our last ultrasound. He sticks those little body parts out a lot too, making big lumps in my belly and really entertains us! If you push on the lumps, he either pushes back or moves real fast, it's pretty funny. Even just poking around my belly, you can feel parts. It's so cool. NOT cool when you're trying to sleep and it feels like he's running on his treadmill in there, but cool all the other times. :)

We spent last week at my mom and dad's house. It'll probably be the last time we get to go without a baby in our arms!! Soon, school will be starting (goodbye, summer!!) and football season will be in full swing, meaning our baby isn't too far away, either!

We have another doctor's appointment on Thursday morning to check on things and see if I get to go to Chicago or not. I don't know if we'll have another ultrasound though. I KNOW we will by week 32, because if the placenta hasn't moved by then, I'm on bedrest. I don't know if we'll have one this week though. I'm also (FINALLY) defending my paper on Thursday and then I can be done with this Master's degree. It seems like every time I turn around, there's another road block in the way. It will be good to have it done. Then on Friday, we'll head to Lingle for my baby shower on Sunday! I'm looking forward to that.

Our dog Birdie is deathly afraid of thunder. The only room in our house without a window is our guest bathroom so when she hears thunder, she heads back to the bathroom to hide. Here's a funny picture of her this afternoon. She was IN the bathtub for a while, but then must have thought the rug was more comfortable but she was still safe with the shower curtain over her. Dumb dog. :)

doctor's appointment yesterday

Good news and bad news- good news is we don't have to return any clothes, he's definitely a boy! Bad news is, my placenta is too low still and covering my cervix. If it doesn't move, I'll be scheduling a c-section. If it doesn't move by 32 weeks (I'm almost 28 now), I'll be on restrictions and not allowed to lift anything, do any housework (RATS! :) ) , walk to much, etc. because the placenta could detach and that would be life threatning to me and the baby. I asked what about Chicago since I'm going there at 32 weeks, and he scheduled me for another appointment in 2 weeks before I go and we'll talk about it. If I haven't had any health problems, no signs of contractions, no bleeding, etc., I can still go. IF I don't get to go, my sister Kristen will get my plane tickets changed to her name and she'll go in my place so Grandma G can meet Ryan. So either way, one of us will get to go! And for any of you reading this that hear Lennie talking about maybe not going if I'm not going, SHE IS GOING. You need to tell her that- she'll love Chicago so she still needs to go! Never mind the fact she already paid for her plane ticket! :)

We had the ultrasound this morning to check on the placenta but couldn't see much. He is turned towards my back so we got to see his butt and the back of his head. :) His head is up by my right ribs (so he's been PUNCHING my ribs this week!) and his feet are in my left lower area. He's diagonal right now. Much different from my last ultrasound where he was horizontal and his head was the thing on my left lower area! Didn't get to see his face though since he's turned the wrong way. Sill very wiggly though, Dr. Keeler had a hard time getting measurements on him because he wouldn't sit still long enough. :)

Yesterday afternoon after meeting with some of my professors to try to get this master's degree completed, we went and hung out with my sister and nephew for a while. Ryan is 3 weeks old already! He's filling out a little more. His preemie clothes now fit. :) I think Kristen said he's about 6 1/2 pounds now. He was a bit grumpy yesterday though. Amazing however, how Uncle Josh could hold him and Ryan would quit crying and fall asleep. Must be magic! Good to know though- our kid cries, he goes to Daddy. :)

oh, so tired.

Oh man, it's been forever since I updated this! I can't believe how busy I've been. I'm so exhausted. But it's all been for a good reason. I finished up my summer schooling today!! Our big final tests were this morning. I'm just waiting around now to hear from my committee chairperson so I can get my B paper bound and turned in and hopefully I can get that defended this week. I HAVE to get it defended by next Monday- my chairperson is leaving for Bulgaria on Tuesday! Hopefully he gets back to me soon so I can go home! I can't believe I'm finally done. Now I can spend the summers at home and not have to move away for a month or more! This summer was a bear- tough, tough. I'm glad it's over.

Some new developments in the baby world- the baby has now discovered that my bladder is not only a good pillow, but a good punching bag! That is the most uncomfortable feeling in the world, to feel like all of a sudden you are going to pee a little in your pants and you can't do anything about it! Not nice. Another development is the baby has found my ribs. Oh, the joys. I thought maybe after the first kick in the ribs, he'd figure out that it hurts and not do it anymore. Nope. He likes those ribs. He's definitely getting bigger- he's moving around ALL THE TIME (hardly EVER sits still- can you have ADHD in the womb? :) ) and it's spread out on my belly now. No longer am I just feeling him moving down low, but now up high and down low at the same time. We have another ultrasound on Thursday, so it will be fun to see what exactly is where so I know if it's him punching my ribs, kicking my ribs, or head butting my ribs. :)

HOORAY!!

Some of you may remember last Christmas, I was so bummed because I couldn't find my Christmas village that I had started the year before. I had no idea what happened to it when we moved. I knew EXACTLY where it was in my house in Lingle, but lost track of it when we loaded everything from the house to the storage unit, and from the storage unit to Saratoga. We looked all over in the garage, where most of our stuff is stored now, and we couldn't find it when I set up my Christmas stuff last winter. I was so sad. I was pretty sure someone had come in my garage and stole it. And only it. :)

Well, Josh called this morning and had been in the garage, and he found my village!! It was in a box in the garage. Don't know why we couldn't find it when we looked all over, but there it was today, plain as day! I'm so happy. I loved those village pieces- Josh had picked out a fire station and a school house for me, my Mom had given me a nutcracker house, and my grandma had given me an egg nog pub, each of those pieces meant something to me. I'm so glad to have it back! I want to set it up tonight, but Josh said it can wait a few more months. :)

lies, lies, lies.

I made Josh call Dr. Keeler's office this morning (because I thought I'd get mad and cry again) to see exactly WHY we had to go see a dietitian. He started off talking to his nurse who didn't know, so she actually got Dr. Keeler on the phone. That never happens!! Dr. Keeler told Josh he never told anyone to send us to the dietitian. He said, "I DID say to go to the lab to get your blood drawn, but not to the dietitian!" Josh said that was fine, lab work was no big deal, but that we were pretty upset about the rest of the hospital visit since nobody would tell us WHY we were there and Dr. Keeler had never told us anything about it. Dr. Keeler apologized and said he'd look into why we were told that by the nurse at the clinic. Josh told him I was pretty stressed and freaked out crying yesterday and he laughed and said "It's not the first time- we can deal with crying mothers". :)

Makes me feel better though, that Dr. Keeler actually DIDN'T send us to the dietitian. I'm glad I was mad enough yesterday to not stick around for that consult- the dietitian won't talk to you unless you go through admitting, which would cost us money! To hear the same stuff Dr. Keeler told us at my appointment on Tuesday, we don't need to pay for that! I wonder why that nurse was making things up, sending us there.

For now, we're trying to keep my sugar levels up overnight by having me eat some protein before bed and eating right away when I get up in the morning. I felt good today, so hopefully that will control things. I also have to keep some candy with me so if I DO have some episodes again, I can get some sugar in me right away. Hopefully, we'll get this under control and keep it that way!

It was super hot here today. My internal heater (aka- baby) does nothing to help keep me warm when it's cold out, but when it's hot out, watch out! I'm hotter than hot!! And things are beginning to get extremely squished in there- my lungs I think are now half the size they used to be and my ribs aren't liking the invasion of things squishing them. :)

sugar

I called the doctor's office on Monday and talked to the nurse about my sugar levels. She told me to come in Friday at 11:30. However, yesterday morning, my sugar level went down to 36. Yikes! So I called again and had an appointment sent for 4:00 yesterday afternoon. Josh was on his way back from Cheyenne, so he was able to come with me. I gained 4 1/2 pounds in a week and a half. Yikes. :) I'm up to 135.5 now.

Dr. Keeler told me what is probably going on is pregnancy-induced hypoglycemia, making my sugar level really low in the mornings. Dr. Keeler told me to come in to the clinic this morning and they'd draw my blood real fast, we'd check my sugar with the glucometer I have, and we'd compare. He said it would take 5 minutes. No problem. Josh and I got there a little after 9, I think, and sat for 30 minutes until they finally called me in, but it was only to tell me that they weren't testing me there, I had to go to the lab at the hospital and then they were going to send me to a dietitian to make sure I get some tips. Ugh. Wasn't planning on spending that much time doing this!

SO. We go to the lab, where they are PACKED. We didn't have to wait as long as I thought, but had to wait anyway. They drew my blood and sent me on my way. We went to see the dietitian, so sent us to some other lady who apparently was waiting for us, to teach us how to use the glucometer. HELLO, I don't need to know how to do that. She couldn't pronounce my name (Even my FIRST NAME!) and murdered it even after Josh told her my name, SLOW, and she repeated it back, WRONG!! Dummy. That happened about 5 times. She then got all worried because we didn't go through admitting first (nobody ever told us to) and she told us the lab wasn't even supposed to draw blood without me being admitted. Josh told her the lab had all my lables printed out for my vials and everything, and she got real concerned. Josh was telling her we don't need help learning how to use the glucometer because he does it every day on the EMT stuff, and the dietitian was telling us she couldn't give us any "health education" without being admitted, and by this time my pregnant hormones had kicked in and I was bawling because I wasn't planning on spending this whole time at the hospital, I figured I was going to still have plenty of time to study for my test this afternoon this morning, and now I didn't, so on and so forth. The dietitian asked if I had eaten anything lately, and I said, "How could I? I thought I was only going to be away from home for 5 minutes today!" She said she'd go make me a half a sandwich (that I'm sure would've cost me $15) and I told her I was not waiting for her to make me a sandwich, I just wanted to go home. I also told her I don't NEED health education, I just needed some tips on how to keep my sugar up in the mornings, when it's low, and that Dr. Keeler had told me some tips yeterday, and that I did NOT want to be admitted into the hospital so I could pay to get the same tips. (Not to mention, Josh was the manager of dietary, and my mother-in-law still is!!) All this time, I'm still bawling. Finally, both ladies suggested I come back another day "and go through admitting first!!" Fine. So we left. I felt bad for taking my stress and hormones out on them, but give me a break. We didn't need to do all this! Dr. Keeler was in surgery so we couldn't even talk to him.

SO, we didn't get out of the hospital until 10:40 or so. Ridiculous. All this for a 5 minute blood draw.

So my morning didn't start off too well. :( And I still have this stupid test that I'm going to fail because the stupid professor pulls things out of thin air to test us on. But I've decided that I don't get paid any more money for a 4.0 GPA instead of a 3.7 GPA, so if I don't ace this class, I really don't care anymore.

Scary episodes

I've had a couple scary episodes lately. First one happened two Mondays ago, on our first day of summer classes. I didn't walk very far, but when I did, my legs got numb, my belly got real tight, I couldn't catch my breath, and my vision kept getting blurry. I felt like I was going to pass out. I finally made it back to the apartment and sat down, and my vision blacked out. I mentioned it to my doctor at my appointment that Thursday, and he said he wouldn't worry about it unless it happened again, since I don't have a history of heart problems or things like that. We just attributed it to the heat since it was pretty hot in Laramie that day.

I felt pretty good until this past Friday, when it happened again, and it happened again on Saturday while in Target with my parents and Josh. I actually had to sit down in the middle of the aisle to keep from passing out. With my vision changes, I wondered if it might be blood sugar related. So since we were at Target, Josh bought a blood glucose monitor and stuck me with it. HOLY LOW SUGAR- it was only at 45! That's dangerous low. "Normal" is between 80-120. He got me a 7-Up to get my sugars back up. Finally after a day of eating a lot, it got up to 88. He stuck me again before I got out of bed this morning and it was a tad low still- 73. At lunch time it was up to 78.

So now I'm debating whether or not to call my doctor. My next appointment is in 2 1/2 weeks. They'll be doing the glucose test then too. I suppose I should just call and see if they want me to come in. I'm going to be in Laramie this week anyway, so I might as well since the drive will only be 5 minutes instead of 90!

Time to get my laundry in the wash so I have some clothes to wear this week- it would be awfully embarrassing if I didn't have any shirts. :)

He's Here!!

I have a new nephew!! Ryan Dean Winegar was born at 9:05 a.m. on Tuesday, June 20. He weighed in at a whole 5 pounds, 8 ounces, and is 19 inches long. A long skinny guy!! He's in perfect health though. They got to go home this morning. Here are a couple pictures.

doctor's appointment

My doctor's appointment went well last week. I decided I like the morning appointments- It was scheduled for 9:45 and I was out of there by 10:10! They thought my blood pressure was low (104 over something) compared to the past couple times I've been in, but when Josh takes it for me at home, it's always that low. So no biggie. I gained 7 3/4 pounds, so I've gained a total of 9 so far in 23 weeks. I'm up to a whopping 131 now. I've never been in the 130 range, it's a new experience for me. :)

The baby's been moving a lot the past few days. Wonder what's so exciting in there. I didn't sleep worth a darn last night, my back has been hurting so bad that I would just rather not go to bed at all. Last night, I was in tears because no matter what I did, it still hurt. I even tried sleeping in the recliner in the living room, and that didn't do anything either. So I ordered an expensive pregnancy pillow finally this morning. Hopefully that will help, because it will be a l-o-n-g four months if I can't sleep ever!! Last night, however, every time I was awake (which was most of the night- I think I only got good sleep between 4:00 and 5:30 this morning), the baby was up moving around too. Must be quite the party in there.

in school. :(

So we just finished our 3rd day of summer school. It's sure different this summer. Our two morning classes don't meet, they're just "work on your own and check in with me" type classes. One is to type our B Paper, and the other is an instrumentation and arranging class where we have to arrange a song for our own group at school at home. That shouldn't be too hard.

I tried real hard to work on my paper this morning, but technology got in my way. First, my Adobe Acrobat wasn't updated on my laptop that I hardly use except for in the summers, but we have dial-up internet here so it took almost 2 hours to download. Then my printer ran out of ink. THEN I find out that my committee chairperson is only going to be in the country from July 1-17. So I have to be done and defended by then!

I'm living in the same apartment that we lived in our first summer when I met Josh. I think that's kind of neat, it's like making a full circle since this is our last summer. We started and ended in the same apartment. This apartment has lots of good memories for me, that's for sure! :) I'm living with Erin, who I've lived with every summer, and our friend Kris. Kris is the choir teacher in Torrington and he's always hanging out with us, so we told him he might as well just live with us since he was over at our apartment all the time anyway! We gave him Josh's old room- it's the biggest and has it's own bathroom.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, so I'll let you know what happens. Probably nothing too important. Our next ultrasound isn't until next month, so I'm assuming they'll just make me pee in the cup again and measure my belly. We'll see how much I've gained, too. I have a feeling it's more than the 1/4 pound I gained last month.

moving!

I keep forgetting to post this, but the coolest thing lately about this baby is that now when he kicks, you can see my belly moving! It's so fun to watch. Especially when he moves whatever he's moving all the way across my stomach- you can see the whole movement go across.

The baby went to his first football game last night, the Shrine Bowl. I think he liked it- he was moving and squirming and kicking for most of the game. And most of the way home. He's been quiet so far this morning- yesterday must have worn him out. :)

No big news here, but some big news for my sister. Kristen is 37 weeks pregnant now and has been having problems for the past 5 weeks or so. The poor girl- her husband's wedding ring doesn't even fit on her fingers, and her feet and ankles remind me of an elephant's feet and ankles. :) She's been diagnosed with pregnancy-induced hypertension along with pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome and she can't keep her blood pressure down. She has another doctor's appt. today, and they might just decide to induce her. The baby isn't growing enough because her body is so strained, so maybe they should just induce her, get baby Ryan out, so he can grow and Mom can get better! If they don't induce her today, I bet she won't go past next weekend anyway. So I should have another nephew very, very soon!

Tomorrow Josh and I are headed to Casper for the Shrine Bowl. One of Josh's players for the Saratoga team got chosen to play in it, along with the Saratoga head coach and Josh's coach from high school getting chosen to coach. So we'll go up and watch. Then we have to come back because Sunday morning Josh gets his big chance to play at Old Baldy. He's in a tournament there, and then when he's done, it's time to head to Laramie so I can start my last summer of my master's degree. It's only 4 weeks this summer, so that is super nice. I will then just have to get my paper done and defended before July 25!

21 weeks, 4 days

Here it is: Here's what I look like at 21 weeks, 4 days. My waist is at about 37 inches!