Baby's First....Hurricane

Baby E has made it through his/her first hurricane! We stayed at our house for Hurricane Ike but lost electricity Friday night. The in-laws got power back Saturday morning so we decided to go over there and we've been here since. We just went to our house about an hour ago and as we were packing up more stuff, the lights came back on. Yay! I'm so glad we had a place to stay while we didn't have electricity. We lost a lot of food from the refrigerator but compared to what other people are facing right now, I can't complain about that. School in my district has been canceled until Thursday, which makes for a short week since I'm only working half the day on Thursday because that's the big ULTRASOUND day! We're very excited and hoping for a cooperative baby.

School, Pants, Fall

So school has started again and going back makes me value summer so much. I actually thought I was ready to get started this year, but that excitement faded fairly quickly. Actually, when I think about it, I really am glad to be back and to see the kids and the people I work with. I'm excited about watching my kids make progress and seeing what they, and I, can accomplish this year. And I hope I can keep that excitement going throughout the year.

A bad thing about going to work every day is that now I have to find things that I can wear, which is becoming more of a challenge. Many of my pants are too tight but maternity pants are too big. By the end of the day I feel like I've grown an extra 2 inches in diameter. At least I can come home and put my gym shorts back on. I've decided that my goal is to weigh the same as M - he's been going to the gym and eating better so he's losing a lot of weight. If he keeps losing and I gain enough, we can meet in the middle. :)

Going back to school also always makes me want fall to be here. Not that we have much of a fall, but there is a change in the weather, and I love so many things about fall. It makes me think of high school football, leaves, those days when you can feel the air getting cooler and less humid...fall is definitely my favorite season. I'm ready to put out fall decorations in the house and wear long sleeves and have a fire in our fire pit. And we're planning to go camping at the beginning of November. When the times comes, I may regret that but I think it will be fine. We just have to borrow an air mattress. We'll take pictures and tell baby E about his/her first camping trip.

My Friend Henry

Last fall, I befriended a gnome named Henry. Henry is a talking gnome and a great source of fun. He also likes to travel. He says the Travelocity "Roaming Gnome" is his cousin, but I'm not so sure about that. Anyway, earlier this summer he went on a trip to the beach with friends from Waco. He loved the beach, and when he heard that M and I were going to Florida, he really wanted to go back. So he came back to our house, packed his things, and we headed for the beach. Here is his second beach adventure in pictures.

"The Beach" by Henry the Talking Gnome

This is where we stayed. I slept on a bunk bed, but you can't see that in the picture.

I took this picture near the beach. Photography is a passion of mine.

Here I am watching the Olympics. I'm a Phelps Phan.

The balcony. Don't worry - I'm not scared of heights.

Aaahhh...the fresh sea air.

Going to the beach...yippee!!

I'm getting my daily dose of Vitamin D. I do use sunscreen; it's very important.

Getting ready for a swim. The water was nice, although there was a lot of seaweed. It got stuck in my beard.

Why didn't you tell me there was a wave coming??

Gnomes always say "Stop and smell the purple flowers growing on the sand dunes".

I hope you enjoyed Henry's adventure. He's already asking about his next trip, but he may have to go visit someone else if he's going on any more vacations.

The First Post

I've been reading lots of blogs lately and I really wanted to start one. But I couldn't think of anything to write about - nothing really exciting happens in our lives, I'm not too funny, or creative enough to just write things that people would want to read. Then I thought, if I really want to blog, we should have baby. And that's what we did!

I'm now 15 weeks along. The first 3 months went so fast. I've felt good the whole time, which I've been happy about. Then someone kind of ruined that for me the other night by telling me that they know several people who had good pregnancies but then had really fussy babies and difficult pregnancies but good babies. I was actually kind of wondering as she was talking, "Why are you telling me this?". But I'm still chalking the "no-morning-sickness" up to genes - my mom wasn't sick with me or my sister and I've never heard horrible stories about us as infants (though I'm pretty sure my sister was worse...).

The only thing I've realized about not being sick or anything is that still, even 15 weeks into it, I have times where I think "Is this real?". Then I remember that we've heard the heartbeat 3 times now, we have an ultrasound picture, and yes, there is a life growing in me. I get to to have my ultrasound where hopefully we'll find out if the baby is a boy E or girl E in a month and hopefully before that I'll start feeling some movement. I'm excited about that!

So this is our new chapter. Becoming parents is something we've thought about and prayed about for a long time and will for sure be praying about for the rest of our lives now!

The First Baby Picture
(Can you find the baby?)