And the award goes to:

ME! The award goes to me! hahaha... I would like to thank my mother for not judging me (at least not verbally) when she walks into my garage and sees the large pile of laundry that needed to be done. (sigh) I feel 100 times better. The pile...well, that one, is gone! WHOO HOO! Now to just finish the actual laundry from the past two weeks. I really need to get a handle on this! :) Are you impressed? You should be! I finished it today and still was able to get in my nap.

Aint no mountain high enough!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow will be 10 weeks! I know of about 3 couples that just found out they are having a boy. I wonder, will I be part of that trend? Or will I have a girl? Honestly, I have no feeling either way. I will say though, that I'm feeling less totally exhausted. I'm still taking a nap in the afternoon, but I've missed it a couple of days and I didn't feel like I was going to hurt someone the next day. So either I'm getting used to it, or my hormones and all of that stuff are getting into their groove.

I still haven't taken my tummy pictures yet. I am doing that tomorrow at 10 weeks! I keep forgetting until I'm on here and thinking of Kelli.

So here is what my garage looks like right now. Impressive isn't it. This is the "before" picture. This is the picture that Wes and I see everytime we drive into our garage because we never want to do this laundry! Disgusting isn't it?! Well, as of right now, that mountain is nonexistent and the basket is being emptied. Don't mind the huge stain on the floor. No, it isn't a massacre, one day I was driving out of the garage and ran over a red spray paint can. Now basically everything on that side of the garage is red...once again, sorry Steve for running over your paint can.

A "new" hair cut

Well, I got my hair cut today...finally... Let me start by saying that I like it, it's fine. It's pretty much like I always get my hair cut. She asked me if I wanted the swoopy bangs and as much as I wanted to say "YES!" I said "no..." because I have the fear that if that hair gets in my face and I can't get it to stay back, I might do something drastic like just cut the swoopy bangs right off! So, I opted for the original. Nothing new, nothing fabulous, but I like it :) (sigh) oh I mourn the days of dying my hair...come on 1st trimester, let's get this over with!!

What a week!

So much has happened this past week! And it has all been fantastic!

1. School is OUT! WHOO HOO! Not that I don't like my job, but there is a time and place to be very excited about our wonderfully long summer and the time and place is NOW! It was fantastic! The kids left on Thursday, we left on Friday...and we don't have to be back there until August. (sigh) that is so great!

2. Memorial Day weekend: all my cousins, well, most of them, and aunts and uncles came to visit us! We have a very involved family and so it's always fun to see them and catch up. We went to the zoo, the Ranger game, church, and of course...we ate a lot. Loved it! (pictures to come...)

3. Church: Voddie Baucham preached. I've been hearing Voddie speak for a long time now. He's been at Super Summers, Hot Hearts, camps, etc., and every time I hear him I feel like he absolutley loves Jesus. He always brings up really fascinating scriptures from the Bible and explains them in a way that is quite possibly over the heads of half the audience. But, I really do like him, and it was really good for all of my family to hear it. :)

4. The pregnancy: Nothing new to report. Today I am at 9 weeks and 4 days! It's so crazy that I'm entering in the 3rd month! I did cave on the Friday of when school got out and had a teeny tiny cup of diet coke. I was kind of feeling bad about it but then I was smiling from ear to ear because a lady came in that was already showing and she had a big ole glass of diet coke to drink! So, I don't feel bad about it at all!

Well I am definitely pregnant!

Not as if I were really questioning that anymore, but I did tell Wes on the way there that I would feel really stupid if I wasn't actually pregnant.

But I LOVED being at the doctor! It was so much fun! My first order of business was the ultrasound which was my favorite part. She was fishing around in there making sure everything was ok and just talking to us. Then she turned the screen towards our faces and said, "Well there it is." And it was SO cute! She showed us little arm buds and little leg buds and it's big ole head! And it was just squirming around in there! And it was kind of hard to see at times because she said the baby was kind of to the side/back of the sack and if it would just move forward a little it would be easier to see since there wouldn't be as much fluid. I was like, oh great. We already want it to do something and it won't do it! haha...

The baby measured to be 8 weeks and 3 days old and we thought it was 8 weeks and 1 day old so we were pretty right! The due date is 12-28-07, right in time for Christmas. He said when time gets closer, if needed, we can talk about inducing on a certain date. The baby's heart rate was at 156, which she said was nice and strong and everything looks picture perfect! Thank you Jesus!

I go back in two weeks for some blood work and then two more weeks for an exam.

I loved it! It was so much fun! (sigh) now I just have to wait until the end of August to see it again!

It's tail is gone!

Yay! I've finally reached a place where my baby practically no longer has a tail!! Whoo hoo! It's also losing the webbing around it's fingers and toes (hopefully) and starting to look like a little human! I love that!

And tomorrow is my first doctor's appointment....FINALLY and I couldn't be more excited about this!!

Now, the scale hasn't changed yet, but I do think my pants feel a bit tighter, and I really don't think that's in my imagination.

oh my gosh, I can't wait to go to the doctor tomorrow! I think I just really need to hear that the baby's heart is good and that it's growing ok and all of that.

I'll let you know how it goes!

My kids

Did I mention that I have 133 kids? Well, I do. They range in age from 15 to 18 and they have my heart. I mean, sometimes they throw my heart on the ground and stop on it a few times. But sometimes, they hold it in their precious hands and keep it safe and sound.

Today was one of those days.

High school kids are very aware. They are basically aware of everything. They've grown out of the middle school awareness, you know the kind that tells you that you might have gained weight, or that you didn't bother to fix your hair this morning. High school awareness is like that, only they don't say those things. They say things like "we've noticed you seem tired" or "are you having a bad day?". Granted, they might mean the same things, but they are much sweeter with their choice of words.

Since I've beat the whole tired thing to the ground, I won't torture you by bringing it up again. But I will say, that my 133 kids, with a few exceptions, see that I am tired and they just want to help me out. I love that. And with me being a crazy emotional person plus one, I get teary eyed just talking to them.

Anyways, all of this to say that it's Friday. It's the last Friday of the year. Final exams start on Monday and all of us at school are very excited!

So Mini Martin, if you can hear me, we are about to experience one of the highlights of being a teacher: Summer! :)

Notes From the Underbelly

Are you people (all 3 of you...haha..) watching this show?! I mean! I LOVE it! It is such validation to see your feelings played out on television...haha... that may be sad, but you know it's true!

When Wes and I were watching it last night it got to the end where they are sitting on the couch eating ice cream. Well, guess what Wes and I were doing! Sitting on the couch eating ice cream! haha..ok, so it wasn't the hugest coincidence ever, but still! I totally felt what she was saying! Love it!

I got to spend some time with my "mommy" friends tonight, and that is always so much fun. They are just the funniest parents ever and their kids are so dang cute! Anyways, they were all eating pizza, with tomatoes, which I can't eat because I'm magically allergic to them as of last summer. But we were all laughing about the crazy preggo things like, sore boobs, being freaking tired, and doctors appointments and I just remember thinking, oh my gosh, I know exactly what they are talking about! I am one of THEM now! Funny how obvious life can be sometimes and then you still don't get it!

Nothing new really to report on the pregnancy woes. However, I am strangely craving nacho cheese gorditas from Taco Bell now. Goodbye jeans, hello sweatpants!

We play by different rules I think

I think pregnant women must get/have to play by different rules. For example, fiber. I know that you need to eat a lot of fiber to keep that digestive track rolling smoothly. So, I've been buying cereal with extra fiber, eating pears, apples, walnuts, rich grain breads...just anything and everything that says fiber except drinking Metamucil :) So I am quite certain that I am getting the recommended dosage of fiber a day. But, does that help my digestive track roll smoothly? NO! Not at all! I mean, am I supposed to get even more fiber? Is this a new rule I have to learn now?? Probably so.

Another rule I've learned, which I've shared many times, is that during this early stage, you need more sleep. Yesterday I went to lay down for my after school nap at about 5:00, and Wes left to go teach guitar lessons. I woke up at 9:27!! What?! And then, with no problem at all, went back to sleep an hour later! That cannot be normal, even for me who could sleep all the time anyway. But, if I don't follow my nap rule, I will be psycho the next day.

Yesterday one of my students (and remember, I've already told them all I'm pregnant) goes, "Miss Martin, when do you think you'll have kids?" Most of the class was like "UM HELLO! She's pregnant right now!!" But I was just so excited that she said that! Maybe a little hurt that she obviously isn't completely consumed with every detail of my life (smile), but very happy. Do you want to know why? Because that means I don't look pregnant yet! Although I would love to already be at that stage, it is nice to know that I'm not already gaining all kinds of weight when I'm not supposed to be. I step on the scale, it hasn't moved yet, but I feel like a huge person all the time. So thank you sweet student for noticing I'm not a fatty... yet!

Where have I been?

So the plan has definitely been working! YAY! I have been doing great at eating and carrying around some nutritious snacks! Way to go mom! :)

Lately it has been more of the same, but with my new system of taking a nap after school everyday I haven't been a crazy person in a while :) Which is always good news!

On Sunday (Mother's day) I received my 7 week email! I LOVE getting those updates! My little raspberry (that's how big it is) is growing so fast! It (for the lack of a better term) is getting a little apendix and pancreas, some teeth formations, it's bones are hardening...and that sick tail is getting smaller! Oh, and in less than a week I FINALLY get to go to the doctor! May 21 at 3:00 is my appointment, and I am so ready!

Now I've been doing a lot of reading on the whole eating thing since I've had so many issues with that, and it was talking about how sometimes prenatal vitamins can upset your stomach, and if you take them at night you sleep right through that! What a great idea! I have been doing that for the past few days and it works like a charm!

And then there is the whole debate about dying your hair. Ok, look, I completely know that there really isn't a need for me to dye my hair, but I've just done it for so long it totally freaks me out to think that I can't do that again for 9 months! I would feel 9 million times better about not doing it if I could read one study that would show without a doubt, it does cause actual proven harm to the baby. And yes yes, I know, believe me I KNOW that the baby comes first right now and all of that, which is fine....but can I really not dye my hair for 9 months?!?

Oh, and thanks to the wonderfully sarcastic baby-gaga.com, I have a new favorite cartoon to present to you today. Seriously..haha...this is about to be my life. I have not yet dared to step one foot even near those dang swimsuits...haha...(sigh) but, I'm pregnant right! not fat!

Not hungry!

For the first time in my entire life, I am not hungry. I could literally go all day and never eat anything. The only major problem with that is, I AM PREGNANT! So I have to eat something! And I mean nothing sounds good to me. At all. And honestly I was getting really scared about this. It is so hard to force feed yourself. I would go hours without eating and not even notice it because my old hunger pains are not there. Once I do remember, crap, I need to eat, then I will take about 3 bites of something and be totally done with it. Here is where my mom comes in, she is a genius!

The plan:
Take the food that I need to eat today to school. And since I can't bring myself to eat more than 3 bites of something, just have it around me all day. Take 3 bites here, take 3 bites there, and by the end of the day just make sure I've eaten all of that food! What a great plan! So, today is day one of this great plan and I'm going to try it out! I'll let you know how it goes.

Thank you Mom!

(sigh) that's much better

Alright! No craziness today!! WHOO HOO!! haha..that is much better! I got tons of sleep this morning, hung out with my sweet friend Meredith...and even though I wasn't 100% myself, I was still much better than yesterday!!! :) And that feels good.

Today was a hard eating day! I just wasn't hungry! But I ate a ton of applesauce! haha.. then I had a small chocolate frozen yogurt, half of a small fries, and about 6 million grapes! Don't worry, I'll get my protein in by the end of the day.

I really love this little baby growing inside me! Even though I miss my old semisane self, I do love it!

Complete insanity...

Today I only made it 1/2 a day at work. When I woke up this morning I was feeling ok, but I knew I was a bit off my rocker...just wasn't sure how much. Then I go to work, have a 1st period conference and it hits me...I am going crazy. No, I mean, I actually think that something is terribly wrong with me. I email my friend Meredith and tell her that I am putting in for a sub for a 1/2 day. I have to get out of here! Not to mention my spastic colon! geez...

I went down to make sure I had a sub, talked to Amy and she starts telling me about how I should eat applesauce and toast for my stomach. My eyes fill with tears. I scratched my neck and left the room and ran in to Kim and Justin. Justin asked, "what's wrong with your neck?" Again, my eyes fill with tears. AND I AM NOT EVEN SAD! OR SCARED! OR DEPRESSED! I am just going CRAZY!!!!

(sigh) Thank you God for that sub. I didn't think I could last through 2nd period, but I did. Not working this whole day today seriously helped me. I no longer feel crazy, although I hear I can feel that way again at any time. Rest, applesauce, and toast helped. Goodbye week and hello weekend!

Is it normal to fall asleep at 4 p.m.?

I came home from work today feeling...tired...you guessed it. Nothing new here. But today I fell asleep at 4:30 and woke up at 7:00. Now, there is nothing wrong with sleeping your life away I suppose, but I really do have things that I want to get done, and I never get them done because I'm always so tired! haha...little sesame seed baby, you are wearing me out!

I'm still SO happy that my doctor's appointment was moved up two days!! May 21 cannot come soon enough!

That's all for today...after all, it's 10:09 and once again, I'm tired. :)