Rub a dub dub...

Well, usually I give baths, but this time daddy gave the bath. The first one actually. I usually bathe her in the tub, but daddy doesn't want to bend over the tub, so she went in the kitchen sink. She is so cute. Daddy is merciless when it comes to getting clean. I tend to rush through bc she gets unhappy (although she is getting used to the tub time and is actually starting to like it)...so I do a quick clean. Not dad!!! Scream all you want...you're still getting clean!!! haha. Enjoy!

New Pictures.

Well, here are a few updated pics for all of you. For those of you who are on facebook...I have WAY more pictures there. It is just easier to upload pics to one place...so I probably won't be sending out vast amounts of pics via email.

Life for us is starting to fall into a routine of some sort. I go walking about 3 mornings a week and this provides a really solid morning nap for Delia. If we miss our walk, the nap is hit or miss and usually doesn't last more than about 30 minutes which makes her miserable. She needs a good solid hour and a half in the morning to stay on track. I feel like our days are so full and yet I don't even have to leave the house! Between the laundry (which is mountainous!!!) the diapers...the bottles...and then the every day clean up and straighten up it is insane!!! I am in the process of going through all of my "stuff" and giving a ton to goodwill. I just went through my clothes in the closet and need to bag it up and put it in my car. Next I have three boxes to conquer today in my closet. I was going to try to visit a friend in the hospital who just had her baby yesterday, but it isn't going to happen. I am so nasty and have been spit up on three times.

Enjoy the pictures...Delia chillin with Maggie (the least likely to show interest bc she is a scaredy cat! and she is actually very receptive to Delia!!)


Sleeping in the car seat and snuggling at a friend's house.

Cute bib says it all...and waving hello!

sleeping in the glider & burp time.

our favorite cloth diaper...cheetah print! and snoozing.

snuggling with mom.

Going on 33 weeks.

It has been a crazy two weeks! Just busy with life I suppose. Last weekend my mom and I went garage sale-ing and had a great time and got quite a few finds! We only have two more big baby items that we needed...a crib and a changing station. Well, at our first stop we found a decent crib for $30 (which included a mattress!)..for another $10 we got a mattress cover, some sheets, blankets and a couple of cute outfits. JACKPOT! So we got it. Then the rest of the day was sort of a bust...until we got to a church yardsale. We got there 15 minutes before it ended and I got the steal of the century!!! A motorized litter box for $2.50. Yes, that is right, the decimal is NOT in the wrong spot!!!! It is a Litter Maid Elite with an ionizer. I googled that joker when I got home and it retails for almost $150!!! Since I have been pregnant, the litter box duties have fallen to Chris and he has been a good sport, but I definitely know he hasn't been thrilled. He thinks that they poop too much and thus we should feed them less. I already feed them less than a 1/2 cup of dry food each a day. Poor kitties...hungry bellies! So, this has been literally a God send. Because I have seen his affection for the cats diminish since he took over the poop scooping detail and I don't want him to ever resent them. He talks about how they should be allowed to go outside way more now than before. :( So, thank you God for this find!!! It works like a champ too!!! It scoops automatically several times a day and you have to empty the tray every other day...the cats were like, WHOA! What the heck? at first, but they are used to it now.

Then we had our first birthing class. Not what I thought. It was more informative than hands on at this point. We will not be taught any breathing...just relaxation techniques and massage points etc. We watched a birthing video and saw a 10 cm circle in our little book. Let me start off by sharing that this circle is MUCH larger than I had envisioned 10cm to be!!!! Lord have mercy!!! There is a reason you can't look down there and see it for yourself! haha. Holy smokes! We have some nice people in class with us and our teacher is super nice!!! Old enough to be my mom and sweet as candy. She is a country mountain girl for sure!!! haha. Sorry if you don't know what that means. Anyhow, the future classes will hold water births, c-sections, relaxation techniques, touring the birthing center, meeting pediatricians. It should be fun.

On Wed. we had our next doctor visit with an ultrasound. I got all worried and worked up because I really wanted to be a little more sure than 90% with the doctor telling us not to go crazy with pink items. I know we can't be 100% sure until we see this little person IN PERSON..but you know. So, the visit started off with my blood pressure being higher than normal. So far this pregnancy has been smooth sailing...weight gain on track, bp normal/low, all heartbeats right on, u/s images all on track developmentally. So, there was concern. The u/s tech started doing images. She can't tell us anything medically speaking, but we did see some really fun pictures of this baby. Punching, making fists, and we got the money shot! It is a girl!!! So, Delia Ann it is (unless we find out differently when this child arrives). There was one really cute shot with her little legs folded indian style and over her body (so we could see her little foot!) and one arm over her forehead (this is how Chris sleeps and rests a lot!) with her hand in a fist. She took my bp again and it was lower (my bp is super sensitive to my emotions) and left us. The doctor came in and took my bp on both arms making me relax my arm with him holding them. Then he did the u/s again. Chris asked how the baby's head looked and his response was "big". We both were quiet and Chris was like, what does this mean? Is it big in comparison to her body or is her whole body big. The doctor proceeded to tell us that she is measuring 2 weeks ahead on the developmental charts. Ok...so now I am like, hmmmm. I know I may be the ONLY pregnant woman to say this, but I do not want her to be early. This may sound selfish, but I was really looking forward to the month of June being mine. Mine to rest, finish preparing, read, etc. I know LOTS of women work right up til they go into labor, but I was counting it a serious blessing to have about a month off from working. Then he went on to tell us that at the rate she is growing, she could be big and may get as big as 9+ lbs. I of course new where this was going, his next question was "how tall are you?" I told him 4'10"-4'11". He was like, hmmm. As he continued speaking about growth rates I just jumped in and said, if she gets that big I will have to have a c-section won't I? He was like, whoa, slow down! and then he laughed bc I was cutting to the chase and skipped a bunch of the discussion. haha. But yes, that would be his recommendation. Now, let me just cut in here and say he doesn't prefer c-sections and does NOT do them unless he has to. He went on to tell me that I have to toe the line and not gain anymore weight. That we need to do whatever we can to create the best case scenario for a vaginal delivery if I don't want a c-section. Chris went on to tell him of all of the monsterous babies in his family 12 pounders and all. The doctor said, well you may just be destined for big babies then we will have to see. Then he told me he wanted labs done on me. This was because of my bp & the size of the baby (she is at about 6 lbs when she should be at about 4.5-4.75 lbs). So, I was told that I needed to collect my urine for the next 24 hours in a jug provided by the hospital & it needed to be kept on ice or in the refrigerator. I was like, uh oh...I have to work and I have to go to the bathroom like every 40 minutes! I filled that jug right to the top! Now, you know I teach middle schoolers, and I thought that they would make fun of me. They were amazed at how much an individual can pee at one time. When I told them I went 32 ounces in one sitting they were like, whoa!!!!!!!!!! But they were mostly concerned about the tests and hoped for the best. That morning I had a total meltdown. I broke into tears and felt like a failure for gaining too much weight at this point and that I might have to have a c-section. I am really concerned about how this will affect breastfeeding (which is really important to me). However, the blessing of working with so many women/moms is that they all rallied and several of them have had c-secs and have nursed and assured me that I can do it! So, I have come to terms with the fact that a c-section could be in my future and that we need to do what is best for all of us. But in the meantime I am weighing myself every day and eating wisely and walking 3x a week. I am doing everything I can to move towards a normal vaginal delivery, but am trusting God for what is best.

I am attaching a few pictures of the past couple of stages so you can see the progression. The yellow shirt is on May 6th and the orange is today, May 16th. Let me know what is new in your life!!

Well, I just wanted to post some more pictures. It is heating up in NC. I took my classes to the Knoxville Zoo the other day and was fine until I entered the gift shop and realized just how hot I was. The school bus has a/c, but it wasn't doing much good for me. We got home like three or so hours later and I was all splotchy and hot and actually had to take a cold shower to regulate. Chris took me to dinner because he knew I was tired and he didn't want to cook. :) So we went to one of my favorite places called Mama G's. It is Itallian and I had tortellini in alfredo. Holy smokes it was amazing. I slept hard that night. I will have to be extra careful as we near summer to not allow myself to get too hot.

I ordered new glasses yesterday, so in a few weeks I will post more pics with my new glasses and my ever expanding baby bump.

This morning we slept in and skipped church. It was much needed after waking up every single day (including Saturdays) at 5:30am. We just laid around and watched a couple of sermon's on tv and the baby was moving like crazy!!! He would put his hand on my belly and push with his finger, and she would actually push back. We both were like, how cool is that? He puts his mouth on my belly and talks to her too. Apparently, babies hear lower frequencies...so he talks to her in his deep voice. :)

My mom and I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and bought some super cute newborn outfits that are summery. I really want a second sonogram to see if this child is really a girl. Oh my goodness what will we do if the other 10% is right??? *sigh*

Well, just wanted to post more pics.

Love y'all!

Cute stuff

Well, several years ago I bought a new bed after hurting my back. It cost me quite a bit of money and I thought it was a good bed. However, when Chris moved here, I gave him my bed bc he didn't have one here and he has repeatedly told me that my bed is HORRIBLE! Then we got married and two people on my bed is even worse. We both wake up with HORRIBLE backaches and I have a hitch in my hip. He has told me every single day since Oct. 17th he has told me that once we get his bed I will realize how bad my bed is. Well, this past weekend we drove to his dad's house in NW TN to pick up his bed and a few other things he had in storage. I have to say, the man is right yet again. We slept on his bed while we were there and I never sleep truly good when I am away from home so I couldn't make a real assessment of the bed, but after coming home last night and sleeping on it, dang it all!!!! I love his bed. My back doesn't ache and my hip hitch is significantly lessened. I only woke up once to pee (which in and of itself is nearly miraculous!) and I am thinking that it isn't that I had to go the bathroom so often before as much as I would wake up more often and when I would wake up, I would realize I had to use the bathroom. So, I am looking forward to much more quality sleep.

Also, his step mom got the baby a bunch of really cute clothes. To let you know his dad's sense of humor, when she arrived (she currently resided in Memphis and drives up to TN on the weekends until she can retire) he took her aside and said we changed the baby's name to Rebekah. This resulted in this kind, sweet woman using expletives. haha. Because as you can see...she got a bunch of the stuff monogrammed! She has a friend who monograms things, so that is nice and the stuff is so cute!!! So while things aren't important to me, I thought I would share the cutie things. All I can is that this baby better be a girl! :) There is one more bib that I didn't post that says "mommy loves me" and has her name on it. Just didn't want anyone to think I was being left out and daddy wasn't ;)

I was also amazed to see his dad's home. A year or so ago three tornadoes went through his town at once and actually combined forces. His house was left unharmed because he lives in a hollow with two high ridges on either side of his home. However, all of the trees down was crazy. Then a few weeks after that a huge wind storm blew through and due to the tornadoes...the trees had been loosened which resulted on a HUGH tree falling straight through the middle of his home. So he has been in a state of serious repair. Chris might go up and help him if his job ends and leaves him a few weeks or so between jobs. Chris thinks that he can finish it up in a few weeks...it is just more than a one man job between the ceiling, floor, moving all the furniture around and adding a back room and a deck/porch. The roof has been done and it has all new trusses. I guess we can all sit back and thank God for our blessings, huh?

Well, I hope you are well!!! Drop me a line soon!
moe

If bigger is better, then I am doing just fine!

Bigger is better! Isn't that what they say? Not sure if I totally agree, but I will say I am getting bigger. I can feel my body changing. I have checked out books on natural painless (is there such a thing?) childbirth and nursing. I plan to ONLY nurse for the first year of this child's life (with pumping/bottles for night and daddy shared feedings...but no formula if I can help it). There is a Le Leche League in Waynesville, about an hour away and I will attend a meeting next month. According to my books the best way to learn to properly nurse is by observation. So, I will go and hear these women, observe and take in as much info as I can and keep reading. I will miss next month's meeting because I won't have the day off from school, but I do have one friend here who just had a baby and she said I am more than welcome to observe and ask questions whenever I want. Then I will hit up the next Le Leche meeting in June and then this sweet child will arrive in July and hopefully I will have a good headstart and be a successful nursing mom. My own mom (who was a Le Leche League leader and nursed all of us) is concerned that I might freak out if this doesn't work out. Most of you know I had breast reduction surgery when I was 16 (which is the second best decision I made...after accepting Jesus of course) and this can hinder your milk production. But from everything I have read online, it should be ok...I might have to pump to psyche my milk ducts out and make them produce more than their share since I might be lacking some duct work. Again, it is an opportunity to trust God. He knows how badly I want to nurse my babies, so I trust He will make a way for that to happen.

Life here is ok. We are finalizing our taxes tonight!!!! Which isn't as easy as it always used to be since he drove a truck and has to go through a bunch of receipts to write off etc. Whereas in the past it took me like 45 minutes TOPS to do my simple taxes. But once it is done, we can heave a sigh of relief until next year.

It snowed here yesterday all day. It wasn't cold enough for it to stick, but it flurried like crazy with wind gusts blowing the flakes around all day long. The kids were loving it. We are finishing SAT testing tomorrow and then Easter break begins. And let me tell you that 3:30 tomorrow afternoon can not come quick enough!!!! BRING IT ON!!! No big plans. We will go visit Chris's dad for Easter and then I am laying low for the entire week. I will sleep in, rest, read, and snuggle with my three fur children. I hope to feel refreshed by the end of the break. Lord knows I need it.

Well, I hope all of you have a fabulous Easter reflecting on the great sacrifice Jesus made for us! Let me know how you are doing.

moe & delia ann

From the inside out!

Well, more big news!!!! Today I felt her move from the outside!!!!!!!! Every time she moves I put my hand where I feel it and see if it can be felt from the outside...and today...I swear she kicked my hand. Maybe she didn't KICK it, it might have been her head or even her butt cheek for all I know...but it was able to be felt from the outside. This means that Chris will be able to feel her moving very soon. He is so excited. I think he has felt a little jipped of feeling movement...I have assured him that soon...very soon...she will be moving so much that we will be able to SEE it! I always thought that pregnancy seemed to take a long time with other people. I feel like I blinked and five months of my life just whizzed by. Man!!! This child is going to be here so soon I can hardly believe it.

I took more pics...enjoy them!

So, my big news is that yesterday I felt this child and it seemed like she might have been break dancing inside of me. :) I have felt her flutter, but this was different. She was like moving big time and then paused, and then moved really big again. So big in fact that it warranted a text to Chris while he was working. I have been thinking about WHO this child will be. I can't wait to meet her (I use the gender loosely in case the dr. was wrong...I don't want my heart to be set on Delia Ann and then out pops Doxie Munroe). Will she be feisty and wild? Will she be super outgoing knowing very few bounds? Will she be a bookworm? Will she LOVE animals like I do? Will she love to cook like her daddy? Will she be laid back? Of course all I hope for her is that she LOVES Jesus like crazy. I pray this every day! That the Holy Spirit is already talking to her and imparting wisdom and love to her so that from a very young age she knows the Lord. I just can't wait for her to arrive so I can meet her and get to know her. I think that up until now, it has all be very surreal and I have only believed that I am pregnant because the Dr. tells me I am and bc mother nature doesn't visit me each month. But now that she is moving around in there and I can tell that there is a human in there, I am getting so excited. I have common fears too...will we have all we need, can we afford this, will she be healthy, are we going to have to move right after she is born, can we handle me not working, etc. But then I think about her and I am like, wow. A life...a soul...is being entrusted to me. Awesome!

I am including some pics of me in the last couple of weeks so you can see how we are progressing. they are in reverse order, not sure why...i uploaded them in order...the first was taken on 3/17, second on 3/9 and the third on 2/29. again, the weight gain is on track, so as I get bigger, I just try to remember that I am NOT a heifer, I am pregnant and I am using self control/self discipline and I refuse to "live it up" as many people have told me to do since this is the only time in life I can get away with it. I may get away with it until July, but I so don't want a 10 pound baby and I don't want gestational diabetes and I DON'T want to lose a million pounds after she arrives. Well, I do, but I want to lose the million I intended to lose before I got pregnant...not the million I gained when I got pregnant! haha.

Love to all of you...let me know how you are!
moe

Fluttering

Well, it is official...I am 99.9% positive that I have felt her move! Yesterday I felt fluttering and was apprehensive to call it baby movement...even tho all of the books say that is what it feels like when your baby moves. But then I felt it again and was like, I think that was baby movement. Then today I felt it again off and on throughout the day and am almost totally sure it was little Delia Ann moving around in there. Woo hoo!!! I am so excited. I went to the library and got four books to read aloud to her. The books all say she can hear us now. I got three little books and one longer book that is more for me because I thought it looked good (I love juvenile fiction) and I will share it with her. One of my most favorite memories is of my mom reading aloud to us at the breakfast table. She read stuff like Black Beauty, The Secret Garden, Heidi, The Black Stallion (i think). All books that were far too difficult for us to read on our own, but fabulous stories that we were blessed to hear. We would sit at the table eating our Malt-O-Meal and she would read. I hope to carry this on for my kids. Thanks mom!!!

Worse than a kid on Christmas Eve!!!

Well, I was advised to drink caffeine and eat some sugar before our ultra sound so that the baby wouldn't be curled up sleeping. So, I did just that...this led to having to pee a million times :) and being really excited on top of already being excited! We got to the doctor and they called me almost immediately...what the heck? Chris wasn't even there yet!!! They weighed me and I expressed my concern over feeling like a heifer lately and the nurse assured me I was gaining weight at an ok rate and that while the dr. is nice, he isn't THAT nice and he would definitely tell me if I were porking out too quickly! :) So that is good. We get into the ultra sound room and Chris arrives and then the tech comes in and tells us that the Dr. just had to leave to delivery a baby!!!!! So she could do the U/S and tell us the sex, but that she couldn't tell us anything else because she isn't a doctor and we would have to come back later when he was back. :( So she spread the gel on my belly and went to town. We saw little Lima Bean and it was waving and punching and putting its butt in the air (like it just didn't care!) and while saw femurs, arms, the spine, butt cheeks, little feet, a cute profile shot, fat cheeks...it would not make its private parts public. :( I was so sad. I almost cried. I don't know why it is important to me to know the gender. It helps me visualize who this child will be so that when I talk to it, pray for it, think about it...to know it isn't some ambiguous being...but a baby with a gender. My baby with a gender and a name! So we went and ate lunch and I drank a huge sugary Cherry Coke and at 3:45 we went back. This time we waited in the office for 30 minutes of sheer agony until we were called. Off to the U/S room we went, the dr. came in and assured us he would do his best to get this baby to flip around and show us who it is! He wasn't kidding. He pressed, poked, prodded. Took pictures, measured the head, the abdomen, the back, etc. The heartbeat was strong, the fluid was clear, the baby is healthy and gave the dr. nothing to complain about. He was able to get a shot between the legs but there was some amniotic fluid there. His final conclusion was that he would be willing to bet money in Vegas that this is a girl...he is 90% sure it is a girl, but since it wasn't the "money shot", he couldn't say 100% for sure. He told us not to paint the room pink yet. haha. Not a problem, there is no room to paint, and even if there were, there is no money to buy pink paint. But until next month when the sonographer does us the favor of looking again or the 3rd trimester when the dr. looks again, this baby is gonna be Delia Ann to all of us. If it turns out to be a boy, no problem, I will love it all the same. But I am going to the library to get some books to read to her and now I feel like I can talk to her and pray a little more specifically...but at the same time, Jesus knows if this is truly a girl or a boy and he since he is our great intercessor...if I am praying specific things about a "girl" then he will translate it for me. :) Isn't he just too kind! But for now, I am excited about it being a girl. I wanted a girl this time around. Mainly because this baby is due so close to the 4th of July that I can just see my middle school boy wanting to have parties with other boys and blowing their thumbs off or something crazy that boys do since they are missing the other leg of the x and got the y chromosome! haha. A girl will just want a slumber party, a trip to the lake, etc. I do feel a little sorry for this child that they will have a summer birthday and friends will be out of town. But we'll see. Maybe she can have two parties...one in May before school gets out and then just a family party in July. If we move to Montana or Wyoming, maybe we can do some fun tradition like Yellowstone or Glacier National Monument. If she takes after me, she will prefer going to see bears than having a bunch of gossiping drama queens over. :) So, I have told some people that I had a dream it was a girl and like the dream I had about the birthing tub and Chris...perhaps Jesus is talking to me in my sleep!!! :) At any rate, we are so excited and we love the name. Delia which comes from the Hebrew name Odilia and means "I will praise the Lord" and Ann in the Hebrew origin means "grace of God". I should feel her move in the next week or two. I thought maybe last night and this morning...but we ate Mexican to celebrate...so maybe it was the frijoles moving around. haha!!! I will keep you posted!!!

So tired.

Well, I haven't been sleeping all that well. I am hot, then I am cold, then I am hot again. I can't seem to figure out how to sleep on my side without cutting off the circulation to my hands. So my hands fall asleep and hurt and wake me up. I had bursitis in my right shoulder several years back and now between the 5 degree weather and the sleeping on my arm wrong my shoulder hurts so bad I want to cry. It hurts to raise my arm to write on the board and it hurts to shift my car. Tack onto this that I am not sure what has happened with me but I spend more time sad than happy. People scold me and tell me I should be happy...this is a happy time in my life. And I KNOW I should be happy, but I feel so sad a lot of the time and then when people tell me to be happy I feel guilt on top of that for not feeling happier. I am trying to take it day by day but sometimes that is super hard. I feel huge and fat like a whale. I hate what is happening to my body every time I see myself in the mirror. I just feel so gross. I am also struggling to stay warm once I get cold. Like today at school, I am freezing cold. Almost shivering. :( And because of all of the above, I am so tired. I feel like I haven't slept when I wake up. *sigh*

On a happier note, we find out the sex of the baby in one week. In fact, in EXACTLY one week, I should be about to lay back on the table with goop squirted onto my ever expanding belly and they should be showing me little Lima Bean Wooten and letting us know if LB is a "he" or a "she". When I think about this, I get soooooooooooooooooo excited!!! Then I can start calling LB by its name!!! Although if it is a girl, I might keep Lima Bean as her nickname. :) I have grown fond of the name Lima Bean.

Work is going alright. I have a mound of papers to grade and I am behind in two of the three books I have assigned. A Wrinkle in Time (two chapters behind) and Treasure Island (8 pages behind) and Rifles for Watie (I am actually ahead in that book). Again, all of this work I am doing for the first time for nothing. I mean don't get me wrong, I have gotten to read some really good books that I would not have gotten to read otherwise, but it makes me sad that this isn't prep for next year as I hope to not be working next year. However, with the economy, I am not sure if that will be an option. So we'll see. They are putting an addition onto the building right behind my classroom so it is sort of noisy all day long in my room. It is quite the distraction to the boys especially who look at all of the heavy equipment and the noise. I will be glad when it is done.

Chris is going strong at his job. Although I am already worrying about what will happen when this job ends as it is only supposed to be for 3-4 months. *sigh* then we have at least 3 or 4 months until the baby is born and we are ready to move. But it is all in God's hands, so I guess I will try to rest in that fact.

Nothing else is new really. Just my body changing and my emotions are fluctuating (not so much moody...I am either fine or sad...two modes right now) and the rest of the world carrying on around me.

I hope all of you are well and write to me to let me know how you are.

Love ya!

building an arky, arky!

Well, talk about a crazy and insane week!!! Last weekend was crazy super cold! The low's were down to 3 and 4 degrees at night with wind and a feels like temp of zero. We were super excited to be home over the weekend and building fires and just hanging out. We have both been sick with sinus colds and I think his has developed into a sinus infection which we are attempting to take care of holistically with the neti pot and grapefruit seed extract. I think he is doing much better. Anyhow, on Sat. night I was finishing laundry and we were both chillin in bed (him playing a video game and me reading) when we heard a loud pop/snap. The cats all were alarmed and I was like, what was that...he blamed Maggie for being mischievous in the bedroom. But she was snoozing on a dining room chair. So we shrugged our shoulders and went back to our chillaxin. As I went to put away laundry we had standing water in our closet. I began to freak out as we had our water heater overflow or something when we first moved in and it flooded everything too. So he came and looked, and it wasn't the water heater. A little more investigation showed that it was a pipe (our water source and electrical box is in a storage area on the other side of our closet, but outside) that lead to an outside spigot and it had frozen from the outside in and split the pipe. The pipe was spraying water and there was two or three inches of standing water in that room...and it was leaking into our house. The entire bedroom carpet was soaked, the water ran into our bathroom and out into the kitchen, into the closet and out into the living room. So, we had to borrow a mini shop vac and do what we could and I used every single towel (after I had just done laundry) and even some sheets to mop up and dry out the remaining water. A lot of the water was in that outside room and it was snowing and getting nasty outside as he was sucking up the water in the freezing cold! We had to haul some furniture out from the bedroom into the living room (which we literally already live in...the bed is in the living room like we live in a studio apartment because we don't have a couch). So our Saturday night was spent cleaning and doing flood relief. We then didn't have water until Sunday when our landlord/maintenance man came over to survey the situation and fix the pipe. So Sunday was spent doing laundry all over again. And to add insult to injury during the cleaning process I knocked an entire cup of coffee over on the bed and had to strip it and wash all of the sheets and afghan! *sigh* Needless to say this caused me to have a major meltdown!!!

Monday was MLK day and I finished the laundry and put it all away and hung out with my friend Sarah for the day. It began snowing pretty good that afternoon and then got down to 13 and the high for Tues. was only 25 so they called off school and we had a snow day. I spent the day reading books that I assigned to my middle school English classes. If any of you like historical/juvenile fiction, let me recommend "Rifles for Watie" by Harold Keith. It is based during the Civil War and it is beyond excellent. If you have a kid in the age range of 12-16...this is a great read. I could barely put it down!

We went back to school on Wed. and hit the ground running making up for lost time and starting a new semester. My sinus cold is finally winding down but I ate something a day or two ago and suffered from HORRIBLE heartburn for almost 24 hours straight. I hear a lot of pregnant women spend their entire pregnancy with heartburn. I can thank the Lord Jesus that this has not been me. I joke that God never lets my first time in anything be overly traumatic because he knows I won't ever allow a second round. The first time I went backpacking...it didn't rain at all and I didn't get a single blister. I thought, well this sucked, but it wasn't too bad. The next year and every year after that I had blisters to the point of toenails falling off and it rained like mad! But I was hooked. So I haven't had any morning sickness and only slight heartburn. I wonder what all of my future pregnancies will be like! haha.

Well that is it for news. Just thought I would fill you in. Hope all of you are well and I would love to hear how you are doing!

140 bpm

Well, today I had another Dr. appointment. The visit started off with them taking blood from me to run tests to see if the baby might have some sort of defect. I made it clear that no matter what we found out, it wouldn't change the final outcome...we are having this baby! Well, three pricks in the arm and still no blood and the nurse gave up and had someone else try my hand. That was successful. then we listened to the heartbeat. It was beating away in there...140 beats per minute. I have heard (an old wives tale) that if the baby's heartbeat is consistently under 150, it is a girl and if it is consistently over 150 it is a boy. We will know next month. On Feb. 12th (just before Valentine's day!) whether Lima Bean is a girl or a boy!!! I don't really care, but for whatever reason, I am sort of hoping for a girl. I always wanted a boy first, but maybe because almost all of my friends already have boys, I want a girl. Plus I LOVE the name we have picked. Delia (Deal-ee-uh) Ann Wooten. But of course all I really want is a healthy baby.

So I am sorry I haven't written anything in so long. I have been fighting a sinus cold all week and have had a sore throat! And last week was our first week back to school after the break and I am feeling so much better that I have been teaching up a storm which generates more work for me to grade. Tomorrow is the last day of the quarter and I am hustling to get all of my grades into my grade book and averaged so that I can enjoy my three day weekend! We have Monday off for MLK day. Get excited.

The other big news is that Chris finally found a job! He is doing construction clean up for our new performing arts center. It is all indoor work right now and I am thankful for that because it has been very cold here (high's being in the low 30's). The only bad thing is that he is standing/walking on concrete all day and it is super hard on his feet and back. He needs different shoes and we are looking into getting him a pair of z-coil shoes if we can afford it when he gets his paycheck. I am just so glad that it isn't just my small wage we are having to live on anymore. So that takes a huge amount of stress off me. Just pray for him and his back (he hurt it severely, like couldn't walk and then could only drag one leg...4 or 5 years ago when he worked for BMW). Pray that he stays out of pain and that the Lord would continue to provide for us.

I would just ask that you would pray for me as my entire body hurts. My back is in severe pain and Lima Bean is pushing on my sciatic nerve and for the most part I feel like I got hit by a car. All of this is to be attributed to my body changing and making room for the baby. But pray for me to get good rest. I am already not sleeping well. I can't handle it!

Well, that is all the news here! We are in for a cold night tonight...low of 5 degrees! Brr!!! We will have a fire in the fireplace tonight! The high is only 26 degrees tomorrow. chilly!!!!

Love you all!!! Keep me posted on YOU!