3 more days!

Wow, I remember when the countdown was 100 days, and now we're only down to 3!  3 more days until our sweet second daughter is born.  I'm very excited and anxious.  Don't you hate it when you're about to go through something, and you keep hearing/seeing horror stories about it?  For example, my latest People magazine came in the mail on Friday, and there's a whole article about an actress who just had a baby via c-section.  Well, a good part of the article talks about how she almost died from the c-section.  So, I've been a little bit on pins and needles since then.  I know, I know, people have c-sections all the time and are fine.  I know I went through one and it was perfectly fine.  Let's hope this one is the same.  Please just say a little prayer for Wednesday morning that all will go well!'

We had a great long Thanksgiving weekend.  We didn't really attempt to do any Black Friday shopping, but we did go to Walmart Friday late-morning, and it was like a ghost town!  Either everyone was already gone, or people in Loganville were just avoiding it as much as possible.  Stephen's cousin and his wife came in town Friday afternoon.  We made chili, and they all went to their high school football team's game in DeKalb County.  Sadly, their team lost, but they had fun anyways.  Saturday morning, we went to the Mall of Georgia to do some Christmas shopping.  Sydney missed her nap but fell asleep around 4 PM.  Needless to say, she didn't go to sleep until 10:30 that night!  It's okay... she helped me cheer on the Dawgs (I was grossly outnumbered watching the game).  Congrats to the Dawgs, even though I don't really think we have "bragging rights"... that was such a messy game, on both sides!  But we'll take it!

 Sydney wearing her new UGA shirt (thanks, Aunt Kendall!)

 Miss Independent- putting her shoes on for church.

Tonight, we're heading to a local Italian restaurant with our neighbors.  It's becoming a little tradition- this time last year, we went when my neighbor was pregnant and days away from delivering.  She had the eggplant parmesan and delivered the next day.  We're going to try the same tonight!  We'll see if I have the same kind of luck.  If not, I'm only 3 days away, and that will be fine, too.  At least we have a good excuse to get to hang out. 

That's all for an update now!  Countdown... 65 hours.  Crazy!



Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  I hope you had as wonderful a day as I did.  I love the holidays, as you have so much time to be able to spend with your loved ones.  You don't have to worry about work, answering emails, writing lesson plans, doing chores around the house.  You can just sit around, be lazy, relax, and enjoy the ones closest to you. 

My mom and dad came over to join me, Stephen, and Sydney for a late lunch.  My brother and sister always do Thanksgiving with their in-laws, so it was just the 5 of us.  Mom made the turkey, dressing, salad, and gravy, while I made the squash casserole, pumpkin pie, and rolls.  I was quite proud of my homemade squash casserole and pumpkin pie- neither of which I have tried to make before.  Needless to say, we were all in a bit of a food coma after lunch, but had fun running around with Sydney, watching football, and hanging out. 

After they left, the three of us played outside for a while.  The weather was perfect this afternoon!  We took a long stroll around the neighborhood, going down to the lake to see the fish.  It was a very fun day.  I am so thankful for the wonderful family I have.  I am truly blessed!

OK, and I finally went around last night and took some snapshots of a few things.  Here's a little photo update for you:

 The Thanksgiving table set-up.

 Updates on the nursery... not quite finished, but getting there!

We're going to get a mirror to go here... but meanwhile, I'll hang this cute banner!

 We moved the changing table to the nursery, and got Sydney this toy organizer to go in its place!  As organized as Sydney is, she LOVES it. :)

 The Elf on the Shelf in hiding...

 She found him!

Our tree...

Also, I want to give a shout out to my sister and brother-in-law... today is their 10 year anniversary!!  Happy anniversary!!  10 years ago, at this exact time, we were dancing the night away at a ballroom at the Roswell Mill.  It was a cold, drizzly night (and the Dawgs had just lost to GT) but it was an awesome wedding!  (plus, since then, they have produced two absolutely adorable nieces for me, which I appreciate!)

Gobble, Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving week!  I've been out of the blogging world for a few days... I don't really have anything exciting to say, but I thought I would write anyways!  I don't even have any very recent pictures to add.  Seeing as our hospital bags are packed, I've left the camera in that and keep forgetting to take it with me to any picture-worthy places.

On a side note, do you like the blog facelift?  I thought I'd go ahead and decorate it for Christmas!

So, what's new?  Friday was my last day of work.  Surreal!  We have this whole week off, and I'm going to take next Monday and Tuesday as personal days.  I figured it would be best to give my sub an entire week to get acclimated.  I actually feel really good, like I tied up all loose ends.  I'm not stressed like I'll have to be running over to the schools to get things in shape.  So, that is quite a relief!

We had a fun/busy weekend.  It involved going out to dinner, Stephen going to the GT game, me going to my mom's church holiday bazaar in North GA, attending our friends' annual Thanksgiving get-together, and going to Woodstock to visit our good friends and their new baby.  Plus, you can throw in a big shopping trip to Target.  Between the showers at my two schools and one for Stephen at his work, we were blessed with so many Target gift cards that we now have everything we should need for baby #2.  Thank you, everybody!

This week, again, I am trying to finalize everything that needs to be done.  I'm dry-cleaning/washing/ironing all the maternity clothes I borrowed and packing those up.  I'm washing up my after-baby/not back to my normal size clothes.  Trying to get all my Christmas shopping done (gotta love shopping on the internet!).  Taking care of my sick little girl.  Decorating the house for Christmas.  We got the tree up and decorated, and presents are wrapped.  Now I need to do the rest of the house.  I ordered an "Elf on the Shelf" and Sydney is totally into it.  You hide this little elf doll every day in a different spot and the child is supposed to find it.  Then, on Christmas, Santa comes and takes the elf back to the North Pole until the next year.  Just a little something fun.  Sydney calls him "Mr. Elf" and we're on day 3 of hiding him.  Oh, and Sydney took a little sneak peak into one of her presents and saw that it was Dora.  She had a bit of a meltdown, wanting it then.  It's hard to explain to a 2-year old that she'll have to wait another month!

Anyways, that is an update from our end.  I'm doing well, just in a lot of pain, and it's hard to walk normal these days!  I never got like this with Sydney, so I'm thinking it's just the baby has dropped a lot.  I have a check-up tomorrow, so we'll see what they say!

Happy Turkey Day, everybody! 

 Celebrating Turkey week as a... squirrel?

 Are you ready for some football??

Loving this weather!

Rejuvenated

Alright, I am MUCH better tonight than I was last night.  I was seriously so tired last night, I crashed really hard on the couch a little after 10.  I'm happy to say I got a pretty good night's sleep.  Which was good, because today was a busy day!!
We woke up before 7 AM, ate breakfast, and headed to GT.  Our friend invited us to his company-sponsored tailgate, which began at 10.  We hung out with Stephen's fraternity brothers for a little while, went to see the GT players come through (and Sydney's favorite, Buzz), and then went to the tailgate.  We had a good lunch, and had a great time hanging out with friends.  And I must say, the weather couldn't have been more perfect!  It was my first GT tailgate of the season, and I picked a really great one to go to.

Stephen stayed for the game, and Sydney and I headed home.  Sydney took a 3+ hour nap, and while I contemplated the idea of taking one myself, I instead decided to get stuff done around the house.  I got all of the presents put up, organized, washed, etc.  I did my lesson plans for this week.  I wrote out some cards to a couple people.  I uploaded pics to Snapfish and ordered a bunch.  Cleaned up a little around the house.  I even got our Christmas decorations out! (no worries, none have actually gone up yet... just pulled out.  I plan to be all decorated next week when I'm off!)  Oh, and 5 loads of laundry washed.  Pretty productive, I must say. 

There was a surprise party for my neighbor who turned 40 this week tonight.  I completely dropped the ball and forgot to get a babysitter (I'll blame the pregnancy for this, I'm going to use this excuse while I can!), so Stephen and I took shifts.  I took the first shift and got to see the surprise (which was awesome!  She had no idea!!!) and Stephen took the later shift.  I thought I'd be really exhausted after our day, but I'm actually okay!  Going to work off some of the items on my to-do list before sitting down.  One thing I have noticed is my right ankle is SO swollen.  It could be all the walking I did today, which was a bunch.  My right side has been swollen the last few days, and not my left... doc didn't seem very concerned and my BP was low, so that's good.  Anyways, it looks FABULOUS, let me tell you. :) :)

So, enjoy some pictures from our day!! 

 Listening to the drumline while waiting for the players.

 Sydney and her buddy, Buzz.

 She got 2 stickers today.  She is currently asleep for the night and still has both of them on. :)

 Surprise!!!!

So much fun!

Eventful Week

As I type this blog entry, I feel like I could doze any minute... so please excuse any typos, poor sentence structure, lack of humor, etc.  :)  I just uploaded my pics and thought I'd go ahead and post some, while it was fresh on my brain.

So, one more week down, and really only one more to go before we have a week off for Turkey Day, and then the big day is the next week!  This week actually went by pretty slowly.  I had a busy week at work, plus lots of after-work activities (doctor's appointment, neighbor's 1 year old birthday party, dinner with friends, etc.).  Here are a few of the pics from the birthday par-tay.

                         Who needs a fork?                

  I have to tell her, "hands up!" so she won't touch anything :)

Friday was an exciting day, as my two schools were coming together to throw a big shower for me.  When I woke up Friday AM, I had some pre-term labor symptoms (I will spare you of the details) and the doc wanted to see me today.  I went in this morning and he confirmed it was the start of labor, but that it could still be days or even a couple weeks away.  Seeing that I'm having a c-section, they aren't really concerned unless I'm in active labor. 

So, I headed back to school and made it to the shower.  It was an all-day drop in, and people had prepared such yummy food.  The conference room was decorated so nicely, and there were so many gifts and cards.  People are so unbelievable.  I have only known these people for 3-1/2 months, and I'm only part-time at each school, so it's not like I work all day long with anybody.  The people I work with were SO thoughtful and generous, it is really touching. 

One thing that really touched me was- one lady I work with got Sydney a gift, too.  The card said, "Sweet Special Sister Sydney".  Inside were all sorts of Dora things (Sydney's new favorite!) including a talking book, pajamas, an umbrella, forks/spoons, bowl/plate/cup, sippy cups, a Dora doll, etc.!  It was so sweet!  Sydney loved it and wouldn't put down her "Dora Doll" all night.

Another sweet thing was that my co-teacher and all the kids in my co-teaching class made me cards.  They were so sweet.  Here are some pics:

Getting some colorful bibs!!

The yummy food...

An adorable gift... see that it's a bunny on a bike?

Sydney kissing her "Dora Doll"

It was a great week.  I'm just exhausted.  I think my mood is catching up to my uncomfortability (is that a word?).  I feel like I've been a little more short, patience-wise, the last few days.  Hmmm, hopefully this will pass soon.  We have a fun weekend ahead of us, I'm sure I'll post another update soon!

24 more days!

Alright, just a little update on the baby-doings.  First of all, check out my whopper of a belly:

week 36

Sydney wanted to "kiss the belly" again. :)

We had a really great weekend.  Again, very productive- went to the gym (which I think I need to stop doing, by the way), shopping, organizing the house, etc..  Late Saturday afternoon we went over to our friends' house... they live in East Cobb and we hadn't seen their new house yet.  We watched football, stayed for dinner, and had a great time!  And... Sydney was actually okay around their dog!  Amazing!  We got back after 10, so Sydney had a late night, but she ended up sleeping in a little bit today.  That was nice, considering it was daylight savings. 

We hung around the house most of the day, after going to church, running some errands, and going to Panera Bread for lunch (Fuji Apple Chicken Salad... yummmm).  I was upstairs for a while, and when I came downstairs, this is what I found:

Silly Sydney... or maybe I should say her daddy is the silly one.



So, tonight I knew my neighbors were taking me out for dinner to celebrate the upcoming new arrival.  Little did I know it would be a full out shower/dinner at Macaroni Grill!  It was SO nice!  They surely did surprise me.  And let me tell you, if I had 5% of the creativity my neighbors have, I would be doing well.  They thought of every little detail... candles on the table, flowers in vases, balloons, nametags, party favors, and way more.  And look at the banner one of my neighbors made:

Here are some more pictures from the night:

So cute!  So, I was showered with wonderful, adorable presents for our sweet new addition.  I am so blessed to have such wonderful neighbors and friends.  :-)

On that note, I am off to hit the hay and start up another week.  Only 2 more full weeks of school!  Countdown- 24 more days until the 1st.  I just pray my little girl stays healthy and safe until she comes out to meet us!

You be the judge!

You know how some children are spitting images of one of their parents?  I don't feel like Sydney "screams" either me or Stephen.  Some swear she looks just like one of us, but sometimes they say it's Stephen and sometimes it's me.  (more so, Stephen).  Stephen and I can't tell.  Well, I just got back her latest pictures and decided to compare it to me at the same age.  See what you think!  (I'll give you my take below).

OK, here's what I think.  The eyes, eyebrows, and face shape are definitely Stephen.  (Thank goodness!  I have quite a long face.  Please don't insert that horse joke here.)  I think the nose and mouth are more like me.  Definitely the cheeks match up, but both Stephen and I had really chubby cheeks as babies/toddlers, so she gets that from both sides.  The hair?  It looks like mine was actually curlier (hard to believe!) and lighter. 

I need to see if I can find a pic of Stephen at the same age to compare.  Isn't it so funny a person can literally be half one person and half another?  I can't wait to see what Taylor looks like!!