Sunday Social!

We're going to try something new this week - I'm linking up with Ashley for the Sunday Social for the first time!  I'm kind of sad that Ten on Tuesday is no more, so I was kind of excited about stumbling on this!

This week's questions are all about fall, which I am never as excited about as other people.  Fall makes me sad to see summer go!  But I'll admit, this whole marinating-a-baby thing does indeed make you super hot (temperature wise) so I might be looking forward to it more than I have been in years past.

1. What is your favorite fall activity?  Halloween, hands down.  I love costumes, I love handing out candy, I love listening to my same favorite Halloween songs on repeat ("Superstition" by Stevie Wonder, anyone?)  It's just the best.

2. Do you follow a football team? If so which one and why?  I "follow" a football team in that I endure football when PB has it on the TV and I glance up from Pinterest/Facebook/Twitter/my Kindle from time to time.  I do like going to UNC football games when I get the chance, but I just like basketball a whole lot more than football.  Can't help it. Just don't have the attention span.

3. What is something fun about fall in your area? Hmmm.  Can I say Halloween again?  I mean honestly, I don't know of anywhere else where people decorate their yards more than they do for Christmas and thousands of kids go out to trick-or-treat.  I cannot emphasize Halloween enough.

4. What are your favorite fall outfit staples?  BOOTS!  That is one thing I adore about fall.  I'd wear boots every day if I could, and that becomes socially acceptable in the fall.  Boots to work, boots with jeans, boots boots boots!

5. What things are you looking forward to most about this coming fall season?  I'm looking forward to finding out whether this baby is a boy or a girl!!!  I must KNOW!  

6. What is your favorite fall holiday? Traditions?  I don't know if I mentioned...Halloween?  I always hand out candy at my parents' house because there are SO many kids who show up.  Literally, over a thousand kids.  I just can't get enough!

In which I discuss baby names...

...and hope not to offend anyone.  Seriously, if I knock the name of your niece/cousin/best friend, I'm really sorry.  I might actually like the name on them, but I am REAL funny about baby names for my own particular chicos/chicas.  In ways that may not make sense to you.  See below.

So, as mentioned, I have a set of criteria regarding baby names, if you will.  

1.  We gotta call the baby what we name the baby.  No naming the baby Hortense Kelly and then saying, "But we're going to call her Kelly!" Also no naming the baby Katherine and dooming her to a life of "But I go by Katie."  The kid's name has to be the kid's name, end of story.

2.  On the note of Katie - I know a lot of them, and that name brings up an interesting point.  I never know how to spell your gosh darn name.  Or what it's short for.  Is it Katie? Katy? Caity? Caitie? Is that short for Catherine?  Katerina?  Katherine? Caitlin? Kathleen?  I can't.  No names with ambiguous spellings.

3.  Also, no names with spellings you make ambiguous yourself.  I don't need you to throw a "y" in there, an "ae" where it should just be an "a," and so forth and so on.  First of all, for girls, I think it makes your name way too frilly and precious and I need it work for you if you decide to be a brain surgeon.  For example, why does it need to be Alysyn instead of just Allison?  How many times will that poor girl have to spell her name?  

4.  Nothing, and I repeat, nothing in the Top 100.  Make that top 500, really.  Or anything rapidly on the rise.  I really do like a lot of the names in the top 100, especially for girls (I'm thinking of Emma, Aubrey, Lillian, Vivian)...but I can't do that to a kid.  I don't need her to be one of five girls named Ava in her class.

5.  Nothing for a boy that ends in "n."  Is it me or is every other little boy you meet these days named Aidan, Brayden, Hayden, Jayden, Austin, Colton, Grayson, Landon, Lawson, Logan, Rylan, Tristan, or Weston?  Maybe just here?  Because I feel like soon, we'll be able to write one long rhyming poem with all the boys' names of kids under the age of 5.  

So what do I like?  Well, with all these darn rules, I'll admit it's tough to come up with something!  I really like old names though.  But I get a LOT of snuffling laughs when I tell people our names.  

If it's a boy (which I'm convinced it is)....it's going to be:

Ira

And if it's a girl, it's going to be:

Frances

I know.  Not the usual.  Ira was PB's great-grandfather's name, and I just really like it.  And Frances was my great-grandmother's name.  Both of them are safely outside the top 500 (not that you're surprised about that).  So there you go  - I know most other people wouldn't pick them but that's sort of what I like about them.  

Now I have to wait until September to find out which one it's going to be....I may lose my mind before then.

9 weeks!

So as it turns out, I think most people don't do these every week before 12 weeks because guess what folks, there just ain't much going on.  I'll count myself lucky that I'm not throwing up (not at all, not even a little bit).  But actually, I've lost 3 pounds since the last weekly photo we took - there's no baby belly to speak of as of yet.  I'm sure I'll make it to walrus status here directly, but right now? Nada.


PB has been working nonstop because of a lot of mess going on at his job, so that's made summer break a little bit of a drag in some ways.  Literally, he's worked every single day for at least 12 hours since July 1st - sometimes he even packs clothes and just stays the night. So that translates into a lot of Netflix and Kindle time for me because there just ain't much else to do and I've been tired enough to use it as an excuse to ride the couch a lot. Exciting times!

Thoughts on the Weekly Photo: Belly? Baby? Is she making this up? Also I just came back from a very sweaty walk with the weenies, so I'm sparing you my sweaty face and gummy hair.


Marination time: 9 weeks


Weight Gain: -3 pounds.  I don't know why, because all I do is feed my face.  ALL the time.


Clothes: Clothes all fit, except I've relegated myself to the Wal-Mart stretchy bras I bought, and a new Target bra I bought in an ungodly size.


Fruit of the Week: We're at green olive size this week!


Name: I have lots of opinions about baby names and I can just about guarantee you won't like 'em.  I've gotten lots of snuffling laughs at my baby names, which is cool...but come on guys, what did you expect from a girl who names wiener dogs Peggy Sue and Brenda Lee?


Moving: The Bump tells me it can, but obviously I ain't feeling any of that said movement yet.


Sleep: Sleep is hit and miss.  Some nights I sleep like a rock, other times I wake up 40 times to go the bathroom, other times I've lazed about too much all day and don't sleep at night.  But daytime tiredness is a recent development that blows my mind.  Today, for example, I was so tired I felt like I had the flu.  I actually TOOK A NAP.  I don't take naps.  I've even been quoted as saying, "Naps are for lazy people."  Wow, times are changing.


Cravings: I feel like this week's cravings have been brought to us by the letter P.  Peaches, pineapple, pretzel thins. I'm out of peaches and down to one can of pineapple...this might be a problem.  


Annoyances: Still have amazing, unquenchable thirst all the time, especially at night.  I can't stand meat.  PB eats two hot dogs for breakfast every morning (yes, I'm aware that's not normal) and now the smell of hot dogs at any time makes my stomach flip.  The thought of eating a meatball, a piece of sausage, a steak or a piece of chicken makes my lip curl.  When I cook, I'm basically making two meals - something with meat for PB and a lot of side items for myself. I can handle it if it's all mixed in to something, like maybe chicken and dumplings with just a chicken taste - I just can't bear the thought of chewing up meat.


Highlights of the week: We're going to the beach for a few days toward the end of the week, so I'm excited about that! Otherwise, I have been mostly laying here like a lump.  There's been a lot of Olympic-watching though because I completely adore the Olympics! Oh, summer break and having no responsibilities...

It's Official...4 Weeks

I know, I still can't believe it myself, but I think we are officially 5 weeks into this deal.

I know, I am the only person in the world who would even give anybody a hint that they were pregnant until after the first trimester.  But let's be real, y'all, I am not a secrets person. I keep a secret about as well as a four year old.  Or maybe worse.

My thinking is that I don't have any reason to be worried, I only have reason to be excited and enjoy it. And if God has other plans, then y'all will hear about that too, but for today?  Every time I worry, I just think about one of my favorite old verses - "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."

But I thought I would start doing little weekly updates, more for my own purposes than anything, and I think it'll be fun to watch the progression from where we are now (which doesn't really feel any different) to where I'm sure we will be in another 36-ish weeks (walrus).

These surveys are a la Elefantitas Alegres, because I so loved hers when she was doing them!

Thoughts on the Weekly Photo: You might think I already look pregnant.  That's because I pretty much ate a whole watermelon in less than 24 hours.  Oops.  Also, wow, definitely remembered to take these at 10:30 when mama was ready to go to bed!

Marination time: 4 weeks

Weight Gain: Probably the last time I get to say this - I think I've actually lost a pound! Don't know how in the world that happened, but it did somehow.

Clothes: Nothing fits differently except my bras.  And I am definitely going to need some new ones of those.  Whoowee.

Fruit of the Week: thebump.com has this fruit chart that lets you know what sort of fruit or vegetable your baby compares to on a particular week.  Yeah, it's strange.  But kind of interesting.  This week, it's an appleseed.  TEENY! See, I told you that's a watermelon gut and not a baby.

Name: We're still working that out, at least on the middle name front.  I'm sure that'll deserve its own whole post!

Moving: Um, it's the size of an appleseed, so no.

Sleep: I had a little trouble sleeping the first two nights we found out because my mind was just racing. But otherwise, I'm sleeping great!

Cravings: Fruit! Watermelon!  But let's be honest, when do I not crave watermelon?  PB just feels like he is obligated to cut it up for me now since I am his baby mama, so I actually buy them from the store!

Annoyances: Hopefully I'll never have to fill in this section with "I throw up all the time," or "I have big purple spots all over me," or anything like that.  I don't really have any annoyances this week.  I'm thirsty all the time, which is weird for me - but I guess that's not too much of an annoyance?

Highlights of the week: Getting to tell everybody!

some news...

Yep, we're...

We're having a baby!

We just found out...my best estimates say the baby will be here March 3. 

I still don't think it's sunk in for me.  But now you get to look forward to all sorts of pregnancy rambling from me!  

Quite an adventure, and we're so excited and blessed!

Ahh, summertime!

Well, that much-anticipated time of year has arrived.  Finally at last - summer break!  I was really sad to see the kiddos go, but wow it was amazing to sleep in on a Thursday morning.

Yesterday was a teacher workday, which I almost used flex time for, and should have.  But then I thought, No, it will be a really easy, short day...let me just go sign in and hang out for a little bit.  So I parked around back near my classroom so I could put one last box in the car and be ready for a quick escape to start summer break.  

Well, I had been there for less than an hour when this happened:

Yep, the trash truck hit my car.  And then didn't have the common human decency to say, "Hey, I hit your car," or "Here's our insurance information," or "Whoops, I screwed up," or even "Kiss my butt." It's a good thing the children weren't there, because they didn't need to see Mrs. B waving her arms and yelling non-6th-grade-approved words when I saw what had happened.  Yeah, $900 in damage to your brand new car...happy summer!  It'd make you cuss too.  

I called our sweet resource office who truly is great and he called the trash company for me.  I told him I knew there was no way in the world we could prove a hit and run, because no one actually saw it happen, but that I should probably get a police report so I could give it to my insurance company.  He called for a car to come out and give me a set of report numbers, and he is so sweet and competent that I was starting to feel less like I might assault a schoolbus full of orphans.

Then the other lovely officer comes out and tells me I'm parked in a no parking zone.  Hey buddy, it's public vehicular area.  The SCHOOL put up a no parking sign.  I could put up a no parking sign in the Wal-Mart parking lot and it would have about the same effect.  The trash truck just hit my brand new car that I have had for all of two weeks.  I need you to stop talking about the no parking zone.  In fact at one point while standing in my classroom, I said, "Well really, you're parked right beside me in a no parking zone.  Does this mean I can take this broom handle [grabbing my broom] and bust out your windshield?  And then say 'Oops, you were in a no parking zone!  Hate it for you!'?" 

I felt like Samuel L. Jackson in that scene from Pulp Fiction.  You know, the one where he says:

Except instead of "what," I would've been saying "Say 'No Parking Zone' one more time..."

WHEW!  Well, we finally got it all straightened out, I got the silly little report I wanted, which said what I wanted it to say, which is that we knew the trash man had come to the school that morning, that no one else was back there and that there are tire marks and grease all over my car as would have come from a trash truck.  Also that there was a skid mark where a quite large vehicle actually moved my car when it was hit.  Now say, "No Parking Zone" to me one more time.

Whew, I got all amped up just writing all that out again.  

So let's switch gears to today, the beginning of summer.  Started my day with a little bit of Kindle time and a delicious cup of coffee with Almond Joy creamer on the screened porch.  I started an awesome new book called All I Can Handle about a mom who has three daughters with autism, which is fascinating for this autism nerd.  

And then later, I'm going to the Colbie Callait concert uptown with some teaching friends!  I think it's a pretty darn good way to kick off a month and a half of vaycay time.  Here's hoping all my teaching friends are off to a lovely summer start too!

Spring Break!

I'm telling you - having a job with a spring break is pretty darn awesome indeed.  I have a whole glorious week off, and it feels amazing!

So what have I done during this glorious week off, you ask?  Well, I started it with an amazing lunch with a few coworkers and a fun little shopping trip to Trader Joe's.  Yes, I live out in the sticks and get inappropriately excited when I get to go to Trader Joe's.  Especially when you get a free sample (and then buy a whole jar of) cookie butter.

If you haven't had any, you need to get yourself to TJ's and buy some immediately.

Things took a nosedive when I got home though, and I came down with the most awful stomach virus I think I have ever had.  Judging from coworkers' facebook statuses, it looks like it hit a lot of us at school.  Darn kids and their germs!  It was a terrible, awful weekend. 

I finally improved a little and turned the corner with a trip to the Urgent Care and a Zofran tablet.  This was fortunate, since we were heading to Savannah for a little mini-spring-break trip on Monday.  As some of you may remember, we got engaged there on 8/9/10.  I am just in love with the whole atmosphere of Savannah, it feels like being in a novel to me. Maybe getting engaged there improved my opinion of it, but I just adore it because it feels like the whole place is covered in magic.  It's close enough to drive though, definitely nice and warm for spring break, and has all that fun nostalgia.

We wanted to take the dogs this time, because I hated to ask anyone to keep them, and also because Savannah is a really dog-friendly city and I thought it would be fun.  I found this place that's part of a big, historic house, sort of a little apartment on the back with its own fenced-in, private courtyard.  

It was so gorgeous!  It was sort of neat to be in a neighborhood, in a house too, because I kind of felt like I was living in Savannah.  It made for a really neat experience.

Here's our fireplace in our bedroom.  Look closely and you'll see PB's head!

There's me chilling with Brenda Lee on the big comfy bed.

Y'all, this bathroom was amazing.  It was giant, with the world's most giant clawfoot tub.  Those huge bottles are full of lavender scented shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.  It was so divine, you don't know how tempted I was to steal some when we left.

There's PB on the couch in the living room.

We went out for pizza the first night and sat outside at a little table with the dogs underneath.  How can you beat this view?

 I was still feeling a little out of sorts, but it was nice to be able to eat something besides chicken noodle soup and crackers for once!

We had a nice little courtyard that all of us enjoyed when we were back at the house.  In the mornings, I'd sit out on the porch with a Diet SunDrop and let the dogs play while I read.  Perfection!

We walked around on the second day and did a little exploring.  Here we are back in Lafayette Square where we got engaged almost two years ago!

We also took the dogs to a dog park, which really made me wish that we had one in town.  I do love my little town but there are some things we just don't have, like Trader Joe's and a dog park.  They loved it, but here was the end result:

PB and I went out to Tybee on the last night, to grab some of our favorites - chargrilled oysters.  Grilled oysters on the half shell with butter and parmesan...too delicious.  We ate at Uncle Bubba's on the water, and got to hang out outside for awhile before dinner, enjoying a beer by the water.

All in all, it was a really fun little getaway.  It's nice to be home and back in the routine though.  I can't believe spring break is over halfway finished!  It's flown by!