The Final Stretch.... Literally

Yes, I'm in the final stretch. It seems like baby will never come and yet, she may only be 2 weeks away. We are terribly excited and yet, sort of living in denial. It just never seems real until the baby arrives and then, like a punch in the gut ( ha ha ), life is forever changed. How exciting will it be to watch Annaka meet her new sister! I think I am most interested in how this introduction will go. I'm sure Annaka will be quite fascinated with the new baby but, disappointed when Mommy is so busy with the new one. It will be a crazy week, I'm sure!

Yeah, I'm insane, but I think this baby will be early as well. I've had a good number of quasi-painful contractions and even one visit to L&D to make sure that one two hour stint of contractions weren't actually being productive. (FYI, never underestimate how a little dehydration can affect pregnancy.) Secondly, Annaka couldn't wait to bust out either. Unfortunately, she and I both, had a pretty tough first week together. I'm guessing it would have been nice if she had a little more time to pull some of her coordination together before making her entrance (or exit depending on your point of view). Annaka had a bit of a tough time feeding for about three days. This probably could be attributed to a few different things and being born two weeks early is one of them. I, however, tend to think it was because of the stadol that was administered during labor. The reading I have done after that time indicates that babies can suffer some difficulty latching on and feeding when this drug has been used within so many hours of delivery. Lesson learned, no stadol this time around. So, to make the experiment valid, I need to have this baby two weeks early as well. LOL Yes, it makes me a little giddy to think about it. I'm getting big and tired. I would like to be able to bend over and put my socks on, get down on the floor and play with Annaka, wear a pair of underwear that doesn't look like a climbing harness that's about to give, and not have to chase dinner with a couple of Tums.

Just for fun I decided to include a pregnancy ticker here for all to admire. So, if you don't catch this post for a few days to a week, the time should still be accurate. Notice that I have not included any pictures of myself. To post my own picture precariously close to this freak of nature in the ticker would be delusional. This caricature of real life is depressing to say the least, but it's better than posting one that shows the development of the baby and "what it's supposed to look like" at that point in gestation. Besides they are always accompanied by some stupid saying from the baby like, "I'm big enough now to kick the air out of Mommy's lungs and starting to wonder if I'm going to fit on the way out!" Who writes this crap?!?! Yes, I'm sarcastic. I'm 8.5 months pregnant.

How To Watch TV

So, today we came home from school and I turned the TV on for Annaka. She kinda gets into some of the PBS shows that are on during that time of the day. Most days we don't make it back in time but, today we were home a little early. So, there she is watching "Word Girl" on PBS and from the best seat in the house, it appears. Here are some pictures of how she likes to watch TV.

It's March and it's Snowing Again

Ever since we received the first three feet of snow it has not warmed up enough to actually melt it. Last week, we thought spring may have been on it's way. Then it snowed last Monday and, yet again, yesterday. Normally, I'm a huge fan of snow. However, we are in mid March and there hasn't been much of a reprieve. Let's just pray for some sun.

Now, since I haven't posted in quite a while I'm going to subject you all to a most terrible post that seems to go on forever. Completely contrary to the very nature of blogging, I know.

New Orleans

In mid February, I had the very cool opportunity to visit New Orleans on a school conference. We were there learning how to get better parent engagement in your schools as well as exploring as much of the area as we could. I find New Orleans to be a very exciting place with much to see and do but tends to attract a very "interesting" group of people. During the evenings you really had to look to find entertainment that wasn't meant for the trashiest of people. As for the history of New Orleans there are many wonderful opportunities to explore. One museum, not limited to the scope of New Orleans, was the WWII museum. It was incredible and drew you into the story of WWII from the point of view of the soldiers who were there. I highly recommend visiting that museum at least once. Of course I must mention the artists. There are artists everywhere. Many of them are quite good and many were mediocre at best. But, if you're a gallery hound this is a good place to explore.


Seattle

The last weekend of February I attended the T Cubed International conference in Seattle. I wish I had something fun to say about this one but I literally never went anywhere other than the convention center and my hotel. It really doesn't help when you're 7.5 months pregnant and been on your feet all day. Let me say the conference was great! I feel like I have a much better idea of what I should be doing in my classroom with my calculators!

Annaka

She is growing up into quite a character. We have all kinds of conversations together. Lately, she has been fascinated with the new baby chickens we brought home. Caleb's idea is to raise some chickens for eggs. We'll see how well it will work out. For a pretty small investment we could end up not having to buy eggs for like, uh, ever, I guess.

We were pretty worried that the hardest person on the chickens would be our dog, Jindol. We even held one chicken down for him to sniff fully expecting him to attempt to eat it. Apparently, he doesn't feel that these little peepers need to be exterminated. We just have to make sure Annaka doesn't get into the chicks without us. She just gets too excited to handle them with a completely gentle touch. I'm sure it won't be long before one pecks at her hand and sends her running.