It's a...

I am elated to announce that we are having a happy and healthy (and active!) baby BOY! The doctor spent a lot of time with us and is confident that our little boy is perfect in every way. I can't thank everyone enough for your prayers and encouraging words. It was such a comfort to us. I love my nephews and can't wait to have our own little boy! These pics below are of a foot and diaper changing position. You'll have to click on it to see it larger.

A prayer request

I have a prayer request. Today I got a call from my OB saying that my alpha fetal protein levels were mildly low. This could be a sign of down syndrome. While 60% of the time, this test shows a false positive, I am still concerned. We will have an ultrasound done on Friday. Please pray that everything goes well and our baby is healthy.

Baby Update

A quick baby update...I just started feeling the baby move this week! It is the neatest thing and makes it feel more real! I'm 16 weeks now and feeling great! 3 more weeks til I find out what I'm having!!!

Firsts and Lasts

I was tagged by Elizabeth and thought this was a good one. Here it goes!

First Memory:
Making a magnet for my mom and dad in Bible School that said "Thumbody loves you" with my thumbprints going across. I was 3.

First Kiss:
Jerrod. I was almost 16.

First Concert:
George Strait Music Festival.

First Love:
Josh

First lust: Brad Pitt (I was in love with him before he was big) and Tom Cruise

First thing you think in the morning:
Can I make it in time with one more snooze?

First book you remember loving:
There's a Girl in the Boy's Bathroom

First pet: A cat named Smokey

First thing you think of when you hear the word vacation:
Right now, the excitement and antipation of our New York City trip in December.

First best friend:
Audrey and Kimberly

Last time you dressed up:
yesterday for a reception a fellow teacher at my school (my mentor last year) who got the Region Elementary teacher of the year award!

Last thing you ate:
breakfast burrito for lunch

Last CD you bought:
Black eyed Peas

Last time you cried:
Yesterday afternoon for like 2 minutes and last night for my friend receiving her awards. (I'm a little emotional lately!)

Last time you told someone you loved them:
Getting off the phone with Josh after school

Last really fun thing you did:
Really fun date (yes...I actually went on one!!!!!!!! I didn't back out this time to veg on the couch!! Read this blog if you're confused.) with Josh Friday night. We went to my favorite restaurant and got Crab Cakes, Coconut Shrimp, and Creme Brule (sp?)...it's all about the food to me! Then we went to Starbucks for my favorite drink, and then to Motherhood Maternity to buy me something. He surprised me with this in celebration of our pregnancy.

Last thing you watched on TV:
The Office, and then I fell asleep watching the next show.

Last Halloween costume:
Josh and I went as nerds who are stuck back 15 or so years ago.

Last Concert attended:
Amy Grant and Vince Gill together.

Now for the fun part...I tag the following

Kim
Suzanne
Amanda
Nicki
Kristen
Rebecca

Next Big Thing

Today I had my 12 week appointment, and I got to hear the heartbeat! I didn't realize I'd get to hear it, so it was a nice surprise. Josh came with me, because he heard the doctor say that we'd hear it this time, but I missed that somehow. It was beating 160 beats a minute...pretty fast! I almost burst with excitement when I heard it and looked over at Josh, who couldn't wipe the smile off his face. I never knew how exciting this would all be!! It helps me stay focused and remember why it is that I'm breaking out, gaining weight, not fitting into 95% of my pants, etc. It's just so neat and such a new, bizzare, cool experience to hear your own baby's heartbeat for the first time!! Anyways, just thought I'd share that moment with you guys!

An Unwanted Visitor

I had quite the exciting morning this morning before work. Right after Josh left, I was greeted by an unwanted visitor...a snake...in my bedroom! I was standing in my bathroom and thought I saw something in the corner of my eye. I looked over, and a snake was staring right at me. I froze and it slithered quickly under the bed. Not knowing what to do, I called Josh (who has an EXTREME phobia of snakes) and asked him to come back. Now, those of you who know him at all, know that this was very hard for him, but I had morning duty at school and didn't have time to fool with it, so he came back to help me. With my sister's direction (she gardens a lot and has had to do this plenty), we coaxed it out from under the bed, Josh picked it up with a shovel, took it over to the tile, and chopped it in half! I was so proud of him!! Luckily it was just a garden snake, but now we're both scared to go to sleep tonight! Josh says he's even scared to come home today! The funny thing was afterward when he was vaccuming the dirt up, he was blocking the doorway, so I tapped him, and he just about had a heart attack! The look on his face was hilarious!! I posted a picture of the snake...no it's not huge, but a snake is a snake!

The Woman's Mind...an Ever Evolving Thing

Ever had a night like this? This morning Josh and I started planning what we were going to do tonight. We hadn't been on a real date (getting dressed up and staying out the entire evening) in a while. We have been either staying in and hanging out all night, going to a restaurant and then going home and hanging out, or getting pizza or fast food and then catching a movie. We decided that tonight we would actually go to a nice restaurant and then go see a movie and maybe even end the evening at Barnes and Noble. Well, that was this morning. As the day progressed, Josh and I were thoroughly enjoying staying the same way we were when we woke up and working around the house, and I kind of got the urge to just cook tonight with Josh and then going to a movie. Josh agreed that that would be fun. Then Josh found out that Georgia (his favorite team) was playing at 7:00, so we decided to still go to the store to get the ingredients to cook, cook together, and then watch the game. Then, we were getting so much done around the house, and we still hadn't gotten ready for the day (around 5:00), so I kind of felt like skipping the cooking and going to Taco Bueno. Josh laughed (at all of my mind-changing) when I asked him and said that was fine. Then, I didn't feel like putting on make-up, so I suggested we just go through the drive-through. He laughed at me again! So here I am, blogging and listening to a lot of clapping and "YES!"'s and "THERE YOU GO!"'s, but I'm perfectly happy with the way our "romantic date" turned out!

Question

I have a question to all you ladies who have been pregnant before. Did you take hot baths while pregant?? I am a hot bath addict, being cold natured, and have heard conflicting things about whether or not it's okay to take them while pregnant. I know they shouldn't be boiling hot, but what about a warmish-hot one? I have pulled a muscle in my back, and last night all I wanted to do was soak in the tub, but I was too scared. Any thoughts?

Happy Days

Life has been good lately...for several reasons.

1. My nausea has subsided!!! I didn't know how long it would last, but week 7 it went from all day to just morning (which seemed wonderful to me), and then week 8 (this past week) it was almost non-existent! Let's hope and pray that the rest stays like this past week. I even had an energy boost in the middle of the week that made me feel like myself again. It gave me all kinds of energy to focus on school, enjoying this last bit of time of just being a couple without children, and just being excited about the whole reason for going through this...a baby!!

2. The beginning of the year craziness at school is almost over. I feel like I'm starting to settle into my new class and that I'm getting to know them better. I always go through a period of really missing the class/family I had the past year (I'm not always the best at change), but I'm starting to feel more like this is my class (if that makes sense...probably only to teachers). This class makes it VERY easy on me, too, because they are just the sweetest, calmest, cutest little bunch of second graders I've ever seen! I pretty much just go there and teach...and not have to worry about discipline. I think God had mercy on me, knowing that I was going to be pregnant! The crazy thing is half of my class is new to our school, so it could have been interesting.

3. Fall is in the air!!!!!! Yes, it has been in the low 90's, but that 10 degrees makes a huge difference, not to mention the low humidity. It's also something about the angle of the sun hitting the earth...and hearing football in the background!!! I just love it!!! It makes me so happy and brings back all kinds of happy memories and thoughts from the beautiful falls in Arkansas (along with the excitement of being back at school) and happy fall days from my childhood.

4. We just went to our first meeting with our new life group and absoultely loved it! Our leader was the life group minister at his old church and moved here in the spring. He wanted to start up a new group, and since ours kind of died off last year, it was perfect timing for us! We are very excited about forming new relationships and getting spiritually fed in that way.

I hope your days are happy ones as well and that everyone has a great start to a new week!

New Links

I have added some new links to my blog. Some are people who are best friends of mine and some are people who know people who know people I know, and I've never met them...but I love to read their blogs! One in particular to check out is one of my best friends from college, Kim. She and her husband, Adam, moved to New Orleans in May for Adam to do his dental residency. They live two miles north of the broken levee in a suburb of New Orleans and thought they were homeless for a week. They came and stayed with us one night on their way to south Texas to visit her cousin, and were just in shock about what had happened. The happy end to their story is that they were able to go back on Monday to check out their house, and it was one of the few that had not been flooded! They were completely shocked, relieved, and thankful. Of course, there are tons of people who were not so lucky, and she has a great link on her website to a church in Baton Rouge where you can help if you'd like. I think we all have a responsibility to help in some way! Check it out when you get a chance!