{Day 1+2}

It's November, the 30 official days of thanksgiving!

I was going to create 30 thankful posts, but I sort of blew it with the rant about how miserable I feel yesterday (oops).

Too back up, and fix my error:

November 1st: I am thankful for pregnancy symptoms indicating that everything is perfect with our baby! I'm also thankful for hitting 10 weeks today. (1st trimester and I only have 3 more weeks before parting ways :)



November 2nd: I am thankful for moments of brilliance when I'm teaching. They are few and far between, but I love it when:

(1) I'm actually wise enough to take a normal, every day moment and turn it into a life learning moment for a student.

(2) I'm patient enough to LISTEN when it counts.

(3) I finally explain a concept the way it makes sense after explaining it 20 times before without success.

(4) I think of a new way of teaching that involves 100% student engagement, and it works!

(5) My students prove (for the thousandth time) how special, unique, gifted and wonderful each one truly is.

Aw, shoot

It's been about an hour and I'm already feeling guilty about my previous post. It helps that I'm feeling better :)

Please don't judge me for being grumpy about feeling crummy.

I am excited about this tiny person!!!

TMI & Rant - think twice before reading

The most common question now that we're completely out of the closet about our pregnancy is: "How are you feeling?"

I'll give the benefit of the doubt to about 20% of the people asking that they actually do want to know and are okay with honesty, but I'm assuming the rest are hoping for a quick and simple "Great - I love being pregnant!" or perhaps will even accept the more truthful, "It's going okay."

If you are a part of the 80% who really don't want to know, I encourage you to stop reading now, and I promise to not take offense. This will be a lot of personal information.

I realize that ALL symptoms are a blessing, because I know the baby is doing great. Plus, they say the more symptoms you have, the healthier your baby is. Well our baby must be in the absolute pink of health!!

Otherwise, here's honesty for you .... 1st trimester is miserable!

Ouch. OUCH. Ow. OuChIe. oUCH. OUCH. oW. Owchie.
Everything hurts. Except my feet. They'll probably be next?

I'm rocking a sinus infection that I can't treat, which means constant headaches. Neck pain & back pain. My breasts hurt like crazy. My stomach is upset about 75% of the time - either nausea, or what I ate to get rid of the nausea didn't agree with me, and the latest & greatest: ACID REFLUX. Oh my gosh, it's horrible. I actually had to go to the doctor for the heartburn, and (thank you Lord!) received some prescriptions which are giving at least a very small amount of relief. No more chili or spicy shrimp for me!!

I am not normally a baby or a wuss. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and am rarely whiny, even when sick. I'm taking this moment to whine & enjoy it! Especially since the guilt of griping will probably catch up with me in the next few hours.... :)

Billions of women have been pregnant, and I'm sure most of them have been miserable too. But bunches of people get the flu every year, and they are still allowed to complain, so I'm reserving the right as well.

I'm not scared of labor a bit, but I'm terrified of the next 3 1/2 weeks - Second Trimester come quickly!! And bring some relief with you, please!!!

Happy Halloween Weekend from the *3* of Us!

I owe posts about our new car, our weekend at the ranch, and probably one or two other things?
However, I will leave you with these attempts at a good picture of "the 3 of us" :)







We really liked all of these, and picked one to "announce" to the rest of our friends that we hadn't told personally yet.

I realize my face is ballooning. It's a pregnancy symptom and I can't help it :( I think it comes with the nausea and the fatigue. I'm still waiting for the "pregnancy glow" - maybe I should tell Bryan a facial would help?! Kidding, kidding ... mostly :)

You may notice that the shirt I'm wearing was actually created by someone with skill and access to some type of manufacturing, while I cut up white duct tape in an attempt to create Bryan's :/ Not the best job, I know :( But I really did try!! For his costume, he's actually going for Steve Jobs (obviously passed away now) - notice the Apple logo for the heart :) And Jobs almost always wore a black turtleneck tucked into jeans, so we feel it was pretty accurate. Anyway, my point was don't judge too harshly about Bryan's skeleton costume, haha. It was an honest attempt.

Tonight we're off to Andrea's 30th birthday dinner at Shogun - YUM! and then to a Halloween Party at Kirsten & Brandon's house. Should be fun! The puppies are loving their Halloween because they're at Willow Creek Ranch getting to run around, play, and frolic with 20 other doggies who always need an outlet for their energy :) We'll pick them up Sunday, and enjoy the peace for a little while, start missing them, and be glad to pick them up soon!

Our A/C is off, all the windows are open and we're LOVING IT!! I wish this weather would come and stay put. Going from hot to cold to hot makes my sinuses and allergies scream in protest, but I could handle it if it would just come and stay for a while. I got to wear a jacket last night and it made my heart glad :) Also I hope it kills ALL mosquitos. I'm covered, and I do mean covered with bites - neck, shoulders, tummy, legs (really bad), arms, everywhere - how do they even GET into some places??? Bryan says I look like I have a disease, but I swear it's just mosquito bites. Die, miserable creatures! Let the cold overwhelm you!

On that note, Happy Halloween!!!
Oh, and when did ABC Family quit playing great Halloween shows like Casper the Friend Ghost this time of year!? I love non-spooky fun!!

Why, hello Peanut

Today was a pretty awesome day. My gut was a bundle of nerves and butterflies (and baby, too) while waiting for our appointment at 11:30 this morning. (What new Mom isn't always paranoid?) Turns out there was absolutely nothing to be worried about.

Say hello to Peanut!!



Looks like a pretty stinkin' cute baby to me :)

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Hi Peanut!

Mommy & Daddy got to actually see you today! It was the first time Daddy got to really know that you exist. I’m pretty sure he wanted to wave, but resisted and just squeezed on Mommy instead. You were squirming around like you were trying to figure out what to do with those teensy tiny arms and legs. Planning on being an athlete, hm? You’ve got a little while to go before you can throw a ball, but we’ll make sure you learn.

Your heart was beating strong and steady at 143 beats per minute. It looks like a little flicker on the screen, so imagine how small your heart must be! You have an official “due date” now – May 30^th, 2012!! That makes it more real for me too. (When you get to know me, you’ll realize Mommy is a very goal-oriented person.)

The midwife took lots of blood to make sure Mommy doesn’t have any infections or problems that could affect your development, and we’ll find out about that in a few days. The next appointment is next Thursday and it will be a really long one to check absolutely everything.

This is really happening little peanut! You’re still growing right on schedule, and are looking extra adorable (which is to be expected, I suppose :)

Thank you for letting us take a peek at you today!

Love,

Mommy

Texans vs. Raiders

Dad had some tickets to the Texans' game against the Raiders. (Yep, A&M played Texas Tech on Saturday- and beat the hell out of them! and then the Texans played the Raiders on Sunday.)

My parents were very sweet and offered to let Bryan & I join them. The tickets were even in a suite!! Because of the rain we thought we'd be running late, but made it in p-l-e-n-t-y of time, and watched the warm ups, and watched the stands fill up.

Mom & Dad rocking Texan red :)

It wasn't planned, but Bryan & I wore the corresponding color, blue :)

They played hard (and fairly well), but still lost - doh!

I was so dang cold the entire game, so I used the little handkerchiefs they were handing out as a freebie at the door as a very mini-blanket. Burr!

Bryan & I both had a great time - thank you for taking us!

A&M vs. Arkansas House Party

So, to get caught up, let's start with the A&M/Arkansas game. It was the first away game, and Bryan and I were longing to have some friends & family over to enjoy the new screen Bryan built.

But before the game, Ronnie was AMAZING and installed crown molding in our game room for us!! Meanwhile, the dogs mostly wrestled and looked cute.

Somehow he's able to just measure and cut, measure and cut, no mistakes. I was not only extremely appreciative, but also extremely impressed!

The outlet upstairs was not overly impressed this dude, so we had to plug it into extension cords and run them downstairs to the laundry room to get enough power without shorting it out.

It looks fantastic! Tricky corners and all!

Thank you Ronnie! (And Paw for helping!)
That evening my Mom was also fantastic and helped me (I barely did anything) and Bryan (who actually was working with her) paint the boards and the moulding. Have I mentioned all my family members are awesome? Oh, and Bryan hung all of the paintings where I pointed :)

The next day it was game time!! MeMaw, Paw, Ronnie, Celina, Alexandra, Ronnie, my Mom, Steven, Adam, Ashley, Marley, & Rachel all came over to cheer on the Ags!

I have to admit, Bryan's hard work on the screen paid off. It IS pretty amazing.

That afternoon we also told Bryan's family about wee-Evans-in-progress. They were pretty excited too :)

The Ags lost (stupid 2nd half), but it was fun to see friends & family, get together, eat fajitas, and have a good time. We'll do it again for sure!