Just wanted to let ya know...

We're having ANOTHER baby GIRL!!!! I'm very excited to give Ali a baby sister... and I'm excited to raise two girls- TOTALLY not the way KK nor I would have picked our family had we had the choice... but the more I ponder it, the more I'm likin the idea of having WOMEN rule this household!

I'm never fully understand men (i.e the one I'm married to)

So I went upstairs during my plan period to say HI to my husband earlier today. I was telling him the things I am going to get done over Winter Break while Ali is at daycare. Here is the list I gave him:

1. Clean out the guest bedroom and get it ready to be re-carpeted and converted into Ali's new room.
2. Move and organize everything in the basement so we can turn an area of it into Ali's playroom
3. Clean out the oven

The ONLY one of those 3 itty bitty items I asked him for help with was moving the bed that is in the guest room down to the basement after we dismantle it. I am excited to get these things done and feel a sense of accomplishment on some items that have been nagging at me for a couple months now.

And this is how he responds: I don't want you to make a list of all these things you want to get done over break, just so you can get pissed off when they don't get done. We need to relax over break, that is what it is for. First of all- I have 3 THINGS I want to do! And they are not hard nor monumental items! I did not say- let's re-tile the bathroom or something for pete's sake! And this also gets my goat- why is it rude or jerkish of me to ask his help in moving some furniture (he was huffy about me saying "you can help me with that, right?"). Seriously, that man. Of course, me being prego and totally emotional, this totally hurt my feelings. I told him the 4th thing on my list was going on a date, but I didn't want to have too many things on the list... and then I got up and left. I do not get it. At all.

Wordless Wednesday

A Post of Pics

I buckled down and uploaded the most recent pictures from the camera... so I decided to do a random post of them to fill ya'll in on the happenings at our house:

Here is a picture of me from yesterday- 19 weeks along. I cannot believe how big my belly is getting, and so quickly! YIKES! But I love the sweater dress! It is super comfy and stylish... Sorry for the bad angle- I had to use the self-timer :)

... and see Jack, our dog, in the background? He is going to live with my mother-in-law.hopefully some time this week ( I will post about THAT tomorrow)

My mom (i.e. Nana) bought this little table for Ali over the weekend. She insisted that Ali have her own craft/drawing/eating area... and she was right! Ali loves it! She sits there all the time, and loves to man-handle move it all over the house. And see her baby sitting on the table? That was my "baby Lauren" when I was growing up; Ali LOVES it- baby has taken the place of Elmo... warms Momma's heart!

I just love this pic of Ali's piggie tales- we call her shrek baby :) Her teacher at daycare did her hair pretty on Friday- so cute! And the reason Ali is not paying attention to the camera? Because she is watching Elmo videos on the computer- KK got her turned onto that- nice job dad- she now begs and throws fits for them!

Farmer Ali- notice the rain boots tucked under her overalls- a friend gave us the boots and Ali will not take them off- I have to hide them because they fall off easily... And she loves to wear her winter hat too!

Our dorky, yet childproof, Christmas tree. As you can see, Ali wants to touch it sooo bad- she thinks the round ornaments are balls that she must get her hands on and throw.

Here she is running away when I asked her if she was trying to touch the Christmas tree-

lil stinker!

This last picture is of Guy Michele (pronounced GEE) holding his favorite fan- Ali! Guy is a 7"1' player on the team that KK coaches. He is such a sweetheart- he is from Monaco and hardly speaks any English, but he loooooves him some Ali! And she loves him too! So cute to see that big guy holding our girl :)

Monday challenge

At least it's the LAST MONDAY before a much-needed Winter Break! Believe me, I am counting the days til a 2 week vacation from work, 9th graders, and annoying co-workers.
It finally snowed here last night- bringing the temperature gage up to a balmy 25 degrees for today... which surprisingly doesn't ache in the bones as bad as the 9 degree weather we were experiencing last week. At least now I can wear my cute maternity sweater dresses and not freeze my tush off! (Which I did take a 19 week pic of this morning... will upload and share later!)
We did, however, watch an awesome presentation today as a school. It is called Rachel's Challenge, and it was started by the family of Rachel Scott, the first student killed at Columbine High School back in 1999. Rachel would have been the exact same age as I am- and her message of spreading kindness and compassion, one person at a time, really hit me. I was really inspired by how much she felt and how deep she thought about impacting the world with the simple act of kindness at such a young age. I hope the impact the presentation had on me affected my students the same way. I hope my students can think about how they treat one another- and be compassionate that everyone comes to school with a different set of problems weighing them down each day- and that they are expected to get beyond those problems to be a "normal" high school student.
The presentation made me really regret the times I was not kind as a teenager. I remember being hurtful to my peers- and I remember people being hurtful to me. I hope that by telling my students this- we really opened up some good dialogue in class today- that they will be impacted and make a difference. It really makes you think about what you say and how you say it- I especially feel this being a teacher, and being a teacher of impressionable 9th graders.

One thing Rachel's Challenge challenges people to do is write down their goals. Since being married to KK, I have never sat down to write goals that I want to accomplish in my life. Nor have we discussed goals for our marriage and family.Tonight when we have dinner, this is a discussion I am planning to have with him (he was at the presentation too- I'm excited to hear his thoughts!)
I really encourage you to go to the Rachel's Challenge website and see this amazing girl's mission. It surely brought a new light to the holiday season- and reminded me to treat ALL people (especially my students) with kindness and compassion- every single day.

C..Co..Cold!

The picture above is what I am using as a focal point to keep myself from freezing to death. You know what the fore casted HIGH temperature is today where I live? 15 DEGREES!!! Seriously, 15 degrees! That is only 12 degrees higher then my FREEZER! It's achingly cold. Horrifically cold. Like going to your car after school hurts your fingers down to their bones- and the only thing that can warm them up is running them under hot water when you get home. It's bad; so bad, that I need to buy a bag of chips for my Christmas party tomorrow, and I'm seriously debating getting out of my car one more time then I have to at the grocery store. Maybe I can order them online and have them Fed-Exed? :-)

And other then being cold, I am finding myself exhausted. That's the only word I can think of to explain my current mood. Like all I want to do is sleep. I think it's mentally and physically. I love my husband, and I love being married to a coach. But having him travel for 4 day weekends, 2 weekends in a row, makes me sad. It is hard to be a single, full-time working mom- I salute you people! ..and of course I need to remember that I am 4 1/2 months pregnant... and I need to take care of my body not just for me, but for our little bambino growing in my tummy. So only 2.5 days until Friday, and I am going to pick up my baby from daycare, go home, do something easy and fun like bake some cookies- veg out and watch some Christmas movies... and go to bed at 7:15 when I put Miss Ali down. Rest and relaxation- man that sounds sooo lovely!

... So for today, I will just change my desktop background to this:

...and wish I was laying right there! Stay Warm, bloggy friends!

Hair in Flames!

Sorry everybody, I am so busy running around like my hair's on fire, I have no time to post! KK was gone Thursday through Sunday- same thing again this week... we had my parents and brother for dinner last night; I've got a meeting at school till 4:30 and then my teen pregnancy support group at church at 5:00- open gym for softball tomorrow- a ladies' Christmas gathering on Thursday!!

YIKES!

The Picky Eater and 17 weeks prego!

My daughter has become a finicky eater. My 28 lb, 99th percentile for weight 15-month old, has decided she will only eat what she wants- mainly carbs (can you blame her?) She has sworn off all meat that I can tell- no turkey, ham, hot dogs, lunch meat, bologna, nothing! She is still eating some fruit and a number of vegetables- but it is seriously hit and miss.
I know many people all over the world survive without meat in their diets- but this is not a way of life I have ever experienced or had the desire to. So this momma is struggling with dinnertime- what in the helk to I feed this girl to make ME feel better? Is she getting enough? Or is she going to be starving to death? Last night, for example, Ali at some veggie chips and green beans. For Dinner. That's it. She refused the turkey and bananas I offered- incredible.
And this morning, she did not eat anything! We offered her apples and waffles and even tried a peanut butter and jelly sandwich ... and I ended up throwing a granola bar at KK on the way out the door- hoping he could get her to eat a little something in the car on the way to daycare.
The good news is, I guess, that she is still eating, and of course drinking milk (her favorite) so I know she's getting some nutrients. I am just out of ideas on how to feed her a well-balanced meal, or if at this point I should even worry about it...

And on my other baby front- I'm 17 weeks today! Whoo hoo! It's AMAZING to me how fast we are moving along in this pregnancy... Ali keeps me so busy that I don't have time for the days to drag by- it's awesome! I'm still feeling good and growing daily- I go to the doc today after work; I'm anxious to hear the heartbeat (that sound never gets old) and see how much we've grown :) I'm guessing quite a bit since Thanksgiving- hee hee... Here is what my "preggo forecast" is for this week's development: www.baby-gaga.com
Don't be too shocked but... your baby is EVEN bigger than it was last week, not to mention getting cuter, and smarter every day! As you’ve come to expect, there’s no shortage of growth and development this week: your fantastic little bean stalk has added yet another half inch to their overall height-- making them nearly half a foot long! Their little limbs have reached (or are within one week of) their relative proportions, and will continue to grow evenly with the rest of the body after this week. Reactive listening has begun for your baby, even though their ears are not yet structurally complete or fully functional. Meanwhile, different parts of their astonishingly complex brain are developing to process your little one’s hearing and other senses, (you know, sight, smell, taste and touch). Mind boggling factoid of the week: if you’re having going to have a little girl, her ovaries have already produced millions of primordial egg cells, which, within a few weeks, will develop into actual eggs! Phew… just wait till she’s a teenager eh?