What a belly!!!

Well, my students are now including my belly in their pictures they draw of me. I wish I scanned in one from today. The kids were "decorating" pumpkins (coloring a picture and adding the face if desired) and one student decided that I was standing under the pumpkin. All he drew was a head with a sad face (not sure why) and then a big circle that he said was my "bump" and then pointed to my stomach. It was beyond cute! A 2nd grader asked me yesterday if I am "pregnant", if it's my "first child" and if I knew whether it was a boy or girl. Her genuine interest and intrigue told me she must be from a large family... her teacher confirmed that she is one of several kids :)

Well, the diaper bag arrived and I LOVE IT! The ironic thing is that I commented to Brendan the other day that I saw a Coach bag at Marshalls that I liked and would make a good diaper bag (though now that I think back, it was a bit small... maybe a good bag for a quick trip to a friends place or lunch) but the bag was still about $150 which, for me, is too much for something you put diapers (and sometimes poopy diapers) in. When I showed Brendan the one I ordered tonight he "confessed" that he was going to go buy the Coach bag to surprise me, but didn't know if I had ordered the one I found online. Instead of asking me, he checked my blog so as to not seem suspicious. :) I told him it was the thought that counts and that truly I don't need a Coach bag to be used for a diaper bag. He said it was something I could use for more than a diaper bag, but still, I insisted that the brown one I ordered is just fine and I really do LOVE it :) What a great husband!!!

Well, nothing new on the baby front except s/he is growing. My belly was really sore this afternoon at school; I could feel it stretching. That's not very fun, but I do love feeling baby movin around. So neat! Speaking of... there s/he goes :)
~jen & baby

Another Purchase :)

Well, I've been feeling a bit down since we haven't bought much for baby or nursery in a long time so I went to Babies 'R Us yesterday to buy the diaper bag I found online and love and get the stroller/travel system. Well, no luck on the diaper bag. It looks like it's only available online. Then, when I went over to the travel system/stroller area I noticed there's another stroller now that's even cuter than the one that I registered for. Well, darn it all if it wasn't out of stock as well! BOO HOO! So, I came home, empty handed, and decided to order the diaper bag online and see if the stroller was there too, since I might get free shipping if I did it that way. Well, the diaper bag is on order (YAY!) but the stroller isn't even listed on the website even though it's a "Babies 'R Us exclusive." So, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled and check back in a few days.

Last night was the awards ceremony for Brendan's MNSCS (Minnesota State Championship Series), which he WON!!! Well, what do you think the overall winner of the MN Mountain bike series would win? You guessed it... an amazing, grey, cotton T-Shirt! WOW! If that's not motivation to do it again I don't know what is. But hey, I'm beyond proud of my man with skills (cause everyone knows that girls only want boyfriends [or husbands] with great skills). Way to go sweetie! (see Brendan's blog for more details: www.brendansbikeblog.blogspot.com)

Another exciting find occurred today. I went to Marshalls 'cause I love the place AND I can no longer zip up my fleece jacket which I live in. Well, I found a great deal on a fleece jacket that retails for $75 and I got it on sale for $12! But the more exciting find was a onsie with the MN Wild (hockey) mascot (or whatever it is) on it! Very cute and only $5.99 (originally $24 at Sears). Brendan was very happy that I finally found something for baby that is MN Wild. :)

Well, all for now. Vikings are on. Let's just hope they perform like the Packers did! :)
~jen & baby

Squirmy!

Well, I'm now 24 1/2 weeks along and things are going well. Had my monthly check up this morning and all is measuring and sounding and weighing up good. I'm gaining about 1 pound a week, so that's right on track, baby's heartrate is down to about 140 now, so that's good and my uterus is measuing normally (she didn't tell me the measurment, but said it's good). SO, that's all good news.

As with every other appointment, as soon as the midwife puts the heartrate moniter/doppler on my tummy to find baby's heartbeat the kid starts squirming around and kicking like crazy! I'm assuming it's just cause we've got a kid who is a lot like it's dad in there and is very stubborn and doesn't like going to the doctor. OH, an they gave me a flu shot! :( That was painful... ok, not really and I better not complain cause squeezing this thing outta me isn't gonna feel good, I already know that!

After the appointment I cleaned the house a bit and then met my great friend Sarah B. for lunch. MMMM, Subway! It was good, let me tell you! When you're pregnant and hungry, food is just simply amazing! :) She took the pic posted today, so 3 cheers for that one! My head is acutally in it (as with the ones where it's just belly... those are ones that I tried to take myself or Brendan, a.k.a. mr. photography , took).

I can't believe I'm already hungry again! Well, I think I've got one more Jello Jiggler left in the fridge (my latest craving) so it's callin my name and I'm gonna call this the end to this post.
~jen & baby

An Icky Morning

23 Weeks:

Well, had my 2nd official scare this morning. Was sitting at my computer at work and suddenly felt extremely hot but still cold, dizzy, nauseaus, etc. Did end up getting sick and then stopped by the nurses office at school and she looked at me and knew right away something was wrong. She said I looked like a ghost, white as a sheet. A full fledged nurse, she took my temp. blood pressure and immediately had me lie down on my left side :) Blood pressure was a bit low, but after talking to the doctors office later on found out it was normal for me now that I'm in my 2nd trimester, so they weren't worried since there was no fever and I didn't pass out.

After I drank a bit of water and laid down for a bit and felt better, though my principal continued to ask if I wanted a sub, so I took what I thought was a bit of a hint and they called a sub. Thankfully I have an awesome coworker, Chrissy, who got my kids for me from the bus and took them to her room for the morning routine (calendar, sharing, etc.) until the sub arrived and I quickly wrote up sub plans. The sub arrived, I went through the plans and then felt good enough to drive myself home.

I got home around 10am and shortly thereafter my parents arrived to keep watch over me for the day since Brendan was up north of the cities for work. Needless to say, I'm feeling better and I now have a very clean house thanks to Mom :)

For all who have been complaining that I have not updated this in a while (even though it's only been 3 or 4 days) here's the latest picture. :)

23 Weeks down...17 to go

Well. We just returned from a beautiful weekend at Devil's Lake State Park. While the guys were mtn biking (big surprise) a group of us went for a hike on the West Bluff trail. Then, today it was back out to the East Bluff (I think). Needless to say I'm beyond sore and my feet are enjoying doing nothing right now. :)

Pregnancy wise, the heart burn/sour stomach has now set in . No fun, but thankfully easily taken care of with some Tums, which also just provide some extra calcium. Also, the need to use the bathroom several times a night has ended for the time being. I'm sure as baby starts to get bigger the urge will return, but I'll enjoy the break while it lasts. :)