15 weeks and Feelin' Fine!

Hello to all and Happy Thanksgiving! I am sitting at home right now enjoying a morning off. This is a much needed break for me and lots of my coworkers I am sure. School has been a little crazy lately. At ECHS so far this year we have had 7 bomb threats which resulted in evacuations and one incident where a gun was brought to school. The guy said he was going to hunt for squirrel behind the school. At this point I may actually believe him. I am so thankful that the Lord has protected us from harm and I know that He will continue to do so. As PKJ(Pastor Keith Joseph) preached about on Sunday...HE alone is our SOURCE!

Thankfully, my second trimester has been great so far. Nausea-free and relatively uneventful. I am still waiting on that BURST of energy everyone keeps talking about. I still fall asleep during CSI. I seriously need Tivo. Maybe Santa is reading this:) I'm detecting a little belly bump, but not much to speak of. I can still wear my pre-maternity clothes with the wonderful Bella Band that Richard bought me. With this contraption I can wear my pre-maternity pants unbuttoned or unzipped and it keeps them up and covers them. It kinda looks like I'm wearing an undershirt. It's so nice. I highly recommend one to all pregos like myself.

My students and I have taken to calling the baby "Little Baby Doty". They laugh at me because I blame anything and everything on LBD. If I forget something...LBD's sucking my brain. If I trip over something....LBD is making me clumsy. If I yawn out loud in class....LBD is draining my energy. You see, he/she is a very handy scape goat. Poor little one can't even defend itself. My students are very sweet about the baby and always want to hear which fruit we can compare it to that week (I get weekly emails that say...'this week your baby is the size of a lemon', etc).
Here's a pic of me and my VERY pregnant friend BekaRay. She is due on Dec 28th. Can't wait to meet Miss Lynlea Ruth. P.S. Richard and I celebrated our 2nd Wedding Anniversary last Tuesday! Time flies when you are in love:)

Farewell First Trimester

It has been an exciting week for my family! Thursday marked the end of my first trimester. Little Baby Doty is doing great and growing quickly:) I have not yet had to wear maternity clothes, although I was given a super comfortable pair of maternity jeans that I wore just for fun the other day. Elastic waist bands are amazing.
In other news, my sister and her husband had their twin boys yesterday morning! Andrew was born at 9:00 am weighing in at 5 lb 12 oz and 19 in long. Chase came just two minutes later weighing 6 lb 4 oz and is also 19 in long. They are too precious for words. They look like two little old men with receding hair lines. My sister is a baby making machine. She only pushed 3 times and got two kids. What a woman. I am praying that our delivery will go that smoothly.
If you're wondering why I haven't updated my blog in weeks, it is because I have simply been too tired to do anything except eat and sleep after I get home. I haven't been really sick, a little nausea, but nothing too bad. My biggest problem is extreme fatigue. I haven't felt like eating much and I just seem to hit a wall at about 8:30 every night. My husband is usually left to clean up the kitchen and try and make sure I brush my teeth before I'm down for the count:)
Our house if for sale, so everything always has to be clean and straight before we leave to go anywhere, so that has kept us busy and been a little difficult. I never thought that being able to leave a cup in the sink when you are rushing out the door was a luxury. Pray for the Lord's timing on our house selling. We know that it will happen when God says go, but we are hoping that it's sooner rather than later. My friend, Meagan, is going to keep the baby in August when I go back to school, so we would really like to be able to move before the baby is born. God's timing is perfect and we will wait on Him, no matter how crazy it makes us:)
Here's a picture of my sister and I on Tuesday just to give you an idea of how big her belly got with the boys. I can't brag about my little bump next to her mountain!

Love At First Sight

Richard and I went on Wednesday to our first ultrasound. It was such a miracle. You should have seen that little heart beating. Contrary to popular belief and expectations...there's only one baby in there:) As I suspected they would, they changed my due date to May 21st. That happens to be the day before school gets out! God's timing is so perfect. I love being in His will. Everything is so much better. I am already so in love with our baby. The only bad thing is that I have to wait until next May to meet him/her.

The Big Announcement

After we went to the doctor last Thursday, I went to Walmart. I had an idea about how I wanted to share our good news with ECHS. I bought the materials and went home and made myself a little shirt. It said "Baby Rebel On Board". Mrs. Larson would be proud because I even used the Effingham "e" for both "e"s in Rebel. I had a really good time watching the reactions all day. I spent most of the day saying "Do you like my shirt?" and then I would wait for the realization that Baby Rebel On Board meant I was pregnant. Some got it a little faster than others. Some needed a little help 'understanding'. All in all, I was very happy about the way the annoucement turned out.

Friday started out really well. My first period class won the Spirit Award. They decorated the classroom with posters, streamers, and chalk (on the board:) ) and went all out in their Rebel attire. They were painted blue and looked like crazy people, but we had fun. I also made up a cheer like the Hillshire Farm commercial that we did when the administrators came in to judge. It was a hit. We ended up doing it for the whole school at the pep rally. With all the spirit and excitement that Fridays game brought, we still couldn't pull out the win. There's always next year I suppose.

First Pre Natal Visit

We had our first doctors visit today. I had to leave school a little early to get there by 3. I have to admit that it was nice to walk away from school because of something to do with my real life. I have been slightly stressed out with work lately...going early, staying late, bringing stuff home. This is mostly due to my involvement with Homecoming. I have to do so much during the day that many of my normal duties (grading papers, etc) are piling up a little bit.
Richard met me there. He brought me food, which made the belly very happy. I am hungry by about 3 after eating lunch at 11:30! We were there for about an hour doing all of the fun first visit stuff. They told us that the due date in May 13th. This could change after my first ultrasound, which is next Wednesday! It felt good to have a medical professional tell me that everything looked good. Until this visit, all I had to go on was the pregnancy test I took at home and my own feelings. My favorite part of the doctors visit was the goody bag they gave us that was full of useful things. It was our first baby gift!
Until now, I have been so blessed to not have morning sickness. I have been a little nauseated when I get hungry, but other than that, the only symptoms that I'm dealing with are a mood swings, a little fatigue, and sore ta-ta's. I am thanking God while that lasts!
The baby center website said that our little one is the size of a lentil bean this week. I don't know what that is, but I bet it's cute:)
Richard is THE best husband in the world. Not only did he bring me food to my appointment today, but he had the house cleaned top to bottom (vacuumed and dusted, might I add) when I got home today. I love how excited he is about the baby. It makes me love him even more.
Stay tuned for pictures of how I announced my pregnancy to my students and co-workers!