Um, yeah, I guess

So, Halloween is also Nevada Day. Yes, this great state I live in was "born" on October 31st. The great thing about this is that I don't have to work on the last Friday of October. Yahoo! This year, that day fell on the day before Halloween so of course, all the kids were super excited (as was I).

Anyway, to try to get them to understand that we don't have HALLOWEEN off but NEVADA DAY, we study about our state symbols.

We learn about:

The state tree: The pinion pine for those not in the know.


Our state bird: The mountain bluebird

Our amazing state "flower": Sagebrush (just so you all know, this is what dries up and becomes tumbleweeds. Fabulous.)

And finally, our state animal: The Desert Bighorn Sheep.

It's this last one that is the subject of today's post (took me long enough to get to the point, eh?) So, we're reading our story in our small group and we get to the bighorn sheep page. We read the little blurb about the sheep and look at the picture. One of my kids gets all excited and calls out "Oooooh, like a Dodge!" ??? Then it connects. He has connected the ram horns with a Dodge Ram truck.

Score another one for Consumer America. *sigh*

I couldn't do anything but smile and say "yep."

It hasn't stopped!

Apparently the water at my school is still magic pregnancy water. I thought everyone that wanted to/could have kids got pregnant last year. You would think that 9 babies in a year would be enough, but noooooooooo. There are two more already this year! One of them is the teacher that teaches next door to me. We were pregnant together LAST YEAR! Her baby was born in February and now she's pregnant again and due in April. YIKES I say. Although she wanted them very close together, so she's happy with it.
Anyone out there want me to send them some water? ;) I personally am avoiding it. I don't want to miss a minute of time with my little one.

Worst.Morning.Ever.

Ugh.
Started out with a happy, smiley baby that just wanted to be held. She was cooing and smiling and kicking her little legs in happiness. Then I had to put her in her car seat and drive her to the sitter. She just screamed her little lungs out the whole time. This makes for a very sad mommy.

We left the sitter (Mike and I drive together) and got pulled over for "speeding." It's a completely BS ticket and Mike and I are planning to fight it. We were keeping up with traffic AND going the speed limit. In fact, when I called my mom and told her our speed and location, her first words were, "Oh, you got pulled over for going too slow?" Umm, nope. "Were you in a construction zone?" Nope, just an asshole cop.

So we leave that ordeal and continue driving to work (for which Mike is already 20 minutes late). Mike drops me off and I walk to unlock the gate to go into my classroom. OH CRAP! Where is my purse?! I turn to watch it driving off on the top of the car. I'm frantically waving and screaming, hoping Mike will see me. I'm running as fast as possible to catch him while carrying my breast pump bag, my school books, my lunch bag, AND wearing a dress. Lovely.

Sadly, I did not catch him and as I'm walking to the freeway (hoping that it may have fallen off as her turned the corner) I start crying. My camera is in there. My keys are in there. My ID is there. My phone is there. How in the hell am I going to replace all of that? Alas, the purse did not fall off before Mike got on the freeway.

I walked back to school and into the office to call Mike and see if MAYBE it had stayed on the car all through his drive to work. As soon as my principal saw me, she asked what was wrong. I explained though sobs and she dialed Mike's cell for me. Mike answered the phone with "yes." OH THANK GOD! Apparently, he saw and heard it fall off on the freeway and stopped to get it. Yes, people, he stopped to get it. On the freeway. In 7:30 traffic. Thanks be to whoever was watching out for him that he didn't get hit by a car.

He drove back to my work and gave me my purse. Everything was just fine. You would never know it had been on such an adventure. Then, he went to work 40 minutes late. Fabulous.
From that point on, the day was normal if not pretty good. But seriously, I don't think I can handle another day like that for a very long time. No one should have to. ::sigh::

Now I will end my day by giving a smiling Bridget a bath, swaddle her, and send her off to sleepytime. A good ending to a perfectly crappy morning. G'night all.

It's been so long I've forgotten

I have no idea where I last left you guys off.  Was it two weeks ago?  Three?  I have no idea so I'll just start with basics.  

Everyone here is good.  Baby is growing, I'm growing, Mike's growing (much to his displeasure).  I swear, his belly wass keeping up with mine until about a month ago.  Haha!  I would love to update with pictures, but alas, my camera cord has completely run away.  We can't find it anywhere.  ::sigh::

I can't believe how close we're getting.  A little more that 5 weeks and she's due to be here.  WOW!  And we have almost nothing done or ready for her.  Alright Kate, get on top of things.  Our plan is to paint the nursery this weekend and get all her furniture set up.  I think once that's done, I'll feel I have things more under control.  My showers are coming up.  Work shower is at the end of the month and family/friends shower is the second weekend of March.  I'm looking forward to them. Then I can start sorting and returning and washing and all that fun stuff.  ::deep breaths:: We'll make it.

My blood pressure has continued to be high at doctor visits.  Last time was 142/91.  When I take it at home though, it's all good.  I told the doctor that it's just them.  They freak me out.  Still no protein in my urine.  No swelling.  Nothing other than the high bp for any signs of pre-eclampsia. So that's all good.  

The doctor is still being very jump-the-gun proactive about it though and has me doing twice weekly neonatal stress tests.  I get to go in  lay on a recliner hooked up to belly monitors that check for her heartbeat and any contractions.  Plus I get a spiffy little push button thingy to click each time I feel her move.   So far all's well.  Her heartbeat goes a little low at times but then shoots right back up so no one is concerned as of now.  We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

In other news, we got rear-ended today.  Before anyone freaks out, we're all good.  My car is fine except a small dent and crack in my bumper.  I'm just freaked out.  I'm worried about every twinge that *might* not be normal.  Mike's pretty calm about the whole thing.  I have a feeling that by tonight we'll be making a trip to l&d.  I really don't want to be *that* pregnant lady but I would rather be safe than sorry, ya know?  I'll let you guys know what happens.

Now, I'm going to go lay down and rest with a good book, a cuddly pug, and two protective kitties.

Anyone need some "Baby Dust?"

I'm offering to pass it around because apparently, my school has been hoarding it all.  Remember how at the beginning of the year, there were 5 pregnant women and 1 teacher's wife pregnant as well?  Yes, 6 babies due for the year.  Well, then I got my BFP.  That brings our total for the year to 7.  There were really only two others that were possibilities to get pregnant this year.  Oh yes, you guessed it - both pregnant.  Due within 10 days of each other.  

So seriously, it's time to pass this off.  If you want some, let me know.  I'll blow it off in your direction.

A little alarmist, don't you think?

Or WTH is wrong with people!?  I saw this article today and have decided that people are crazy.  Just plain nuts. They like to use whatever scare tactics they can.  I mean, I understand that lead is dangerous.  I do.  But really, are kids going to eat all of the text in a Madeline book?  Chewing covers I have seen.  Nibbling a page or two?  Sure.  But eating just the text?  And probably a few books worth?  No. Kids just don't usually eat books by the time their parents would leave them alone with these kinds of books.  I love my used book shops and I still have all of my books from when I was little.  Heck, I have some books from when my mom was little.  Mike's mom even gave me his books from when he was little.  And I plan to give these books to the baby and I have no fears that she's going to have any health probelms due to lead poisoning. 

What do you guys think?  Are they crazy or am I?  At least I have the librarians on my side.

a quick belly pic post

Me at 22 weeks.

Me and the belly at 24 weeks. And I will no longer be wearing that shirt.

Me and the belleh at 25 weeks.  That shirt wrinkles like crazy.

I don't have any pics from the last few weeks because my camera wasn't working.  It is now, but I'm not getting dressed and ready for a picture.  So I'll take one his Friday at 28 weeks. Holy crap - can you guys believe I'm already at almost 28 weeks?!

Oh, and on a side note, I have outgrown a pair of maternity pants.  They were the first ones I bought and at the time, I thought they would NEVER fit.  They were HUGE!  Then I got some of the comfy belly ones and put the other pair to the back of my closet.  I had to get them out today because all of my other pants were in the wash.  And they are tight!  What?!  You can outgrow maternity clothes?  At 7 months?  And I don't even feel that big.

Already?!

Holy crap, I'm under 100 days!  Holy crap, holy crap!  I have waaaaaaaay too much to still get done (heck, started even) to have under 100 days left in this pregnancy.  Wish me luck people.  This weekend will start "Operation Prepare for Baby."

My school is stupid

Again, I shall regale you with tales of the stupidity that is my school.  You may remember this post from earlier this school year.  Well this time it's not really the administration's fault, but still.  HUGE oversight on everyones part.

So, a few weeks ago we were preparing fire drill.  This may be a little known fact to all you non-teachers out there, but word about coming fire drills spreads quickly throughout a school.  Especially if you are not in your classroom.  I have the advantage of being in the "annex" of our school and so my door faces the school across the street.  The fire truck always does the drill at that school first.  So, if I hear their alarm go off and see the trucks outside their school, I know to expect a drill at out school within the next half hour.  I make sure that I don't start any lessons that can't be stopped quickly (investigating mealworms for example) and I try to keep my kids in the room (no bathroom breaks).  

Well, this drill was set to happen just as second grade was heading to prep.  I quickly walked my kids to P.E. and went back to my room to grab my attendance folder and emergency bag.  I was standing outside my room waiting for the alarm to sound when another second grade teacher came around the corner and asked, "Do you have a pull in your room?  The fireman is just around the corner and I need to find the nearest pull and there isn't one in my room."  Oh crap.  The fireman is just around the corner and here I am standing around.  (another side note to all non teacher people - the fireman do not pull the alarm.  They randomly grab a teacher and say something like "there's a fire in your trash can" and you have to follow the procedure and pull the alarm.  This has never happened to me and is one of my biggest fears in school.  Strange I know.)  Anyways, I say yes and both of us duck into my room.  I turn to prepare myself for the possibility of pulling the alarm.  And there is no pull.  

Wait - What?!  No pull?!  I know I have one! I turn to the other side.  No pull there either.  I swear I'm not crazy.  I know I had one!  Instead all I find is an electric cover.  Like a light switch plate with no switch.  CRAP!  Now what will I do if the fireman comes to my door.  

See it there with the arrows?  That's from the beginning of the school year.

The other teacher and I decide to hide (Yes, we really are grown ups. I swear.)  I turn out the lights and we hide behind the armoire (the one on the right in the picture).

A few minutes pass with no alarm.  Hmm, this is kinda strange.  We brave walking to the window to peer out and see classes streaming out.  Umm, WTF?  I guess we should head out, too.  So we do.  Although we hear no alarm (and believe me, a fire alarm is not a sound you can miss.  and even if you do, flashy lights should be going off as well.)

Turns out, the alarm system in the annex was somehow disconnected and never fixed.  Oh fabulous.  So if there really was a fire, we would have no way of knowing.  And all the pulls throughout the ENTIRE school were taken out.  There is now only ONE pull in the front office.  (the poor teacher that had to pull the alarm was frantic and on the verge of tears.)  Apparently, the school district people came through and "updated" our alarms to make them more sensitive so pulls shouldn't be needed.  (does anyone else see a disaster waiting to happen?)  The problem is, they didn't bother to tell anyone this.  It came as a shock to teachers and administrators alike. 

Yet somehow, we passed our fire drill.  I know for a fact that one second grade teacher was in her room throughout the entire drill (because of the no-alarm-going-off issue.)  Whatever.  Hopefully we all don't burn.

Until next time, be fire safe internet people.  And send some fire safe vibes my way while you're at it.  lol.

 

Wasn't I supposed to be past this?

Alright, I have to vent a bit.

I made it through pretty much the whole first tri with no sickness whatsoever (nausea-wise at least). Yaaay me! Then, THEN, I hit a bit past 12 weeks and the nausea and vomiting starts. WTH?! I suppose I shouldn't complain (and I'm not - much) but I thought that I'd be completely lucky in that department. Bah.

The stretch marks are appearing ALREADY and I haven't even "stretched." That's depressing. It's going to be horrid by the time I actually have a bump worth noting. (Mike swears he can tell when I'm lying down, on my side, in bed. Well, that's a great place to be able to notice my baby bump. In the one position I can't see it.) I was supposed to have those really good, non-strethc mark genes. My mom and my grandmother didn't get a single stretch mark. I was kinda counting on that. But oh no, that gene must skip a few generations at a time. Bah again.

On the brighter side of things, my face seems to be clearing up a bit. I found a toothpaste that doesn't make me hurl. And I have a doctors appointment on Thursday where I'll *hopefully* be able to hear the heartbeat. Seriously, I need some reassurances here. I'm still down in weight. A bit more than 10 lbs now. As long as everything in growing alright in there, I'm totally fine with that though. Especially since I think I'm only supposed to gain like 15 lbs throughout this whole pregnancy. We'll see what the dr says about it.

Anyways, vent over. I just had to get all of that out there.