11 Week Bump Update

Baby is the size of a lime!

Mom is feeling... 
Great! I haven't had any morning sickness at all, which has been a major blessing! It also makes me nervous, though, not feeling anything. I really don't have any symptoms other than some cramping (weeks 3-6), exhaustion (mostly in weeks 7-8), constantly having to use the restroom (weeks 5-9), and THIRST (weeks 7-current). I have been grateful for the minimal symptoms, especially because dealing with morning sickness while teaching would have been hard!

Food cravings/aversions:
My aversions aren't too bad. It's not that I get sick when I eat certain foods, I just think about eating them and they seem nasty. The most surprising has been that I don't seem to want burgers or coffee anymore. Meat in general has been a bit of an aversion. Recently I've been craving bagels and breads a lot (not great for the baby weight haha), and yesterday Austin had to order me a pizza because that is ALL I wanted! He got Freebirds, which I usually love, but I didn't even want to look at it.

Wearing the shirt Lindsay made me for Christmas!

Bump update: 
No bump yet, just some bloating...which has been with me for a few weeks now. I feel like my belly looks bigger at the end of the day, but that's probably just from the pizza ;).









Gender thoughts:
I keep thinking boy for some reason!

Recent events and happenings: 
We just returned from Austin, TX, where we spent a late Christmas with Austin's family. It was a lot of fun! We went to Mozarts, which is a dessert and coffee place that's outdoors with a light show, and that was a lot of fun. We also ate at my favorite restaurant--Hula Hut! At the end of our time there we all went ice skating (pictured above). I was careful not to fall ;). It was great seeing all of Austin's cousins again. Some of them live in Austin, and others in Oklahoma, so it's not often we're all together.

Looking forward to... 
My appointment next week! It will be my 12 week. We don't get to have a sonogram, since we've had 2 already, but my doctor will listen to the heartbeat with the doppler. I can't wait to hear it again!

BABY MINOR!

We are so excited to be expecting baby Minor in July! It was a very hard secret to keep--considering we found out all the way back in October on Halloween. Halloween night we were getting ready to go to our church party when I decided to take a pregnancy test, knowing it would probably be negative. The week prior to this we were in Illinois for my mom's 50th birthday party and I had been having some cold symptoms, which I had read could be early pregnancy signs. This was my only clue...and not really much of one!

I took the test and walked away from it for a few minutes to get my costume on. When I went back to look I was shocked and yelled "Austttinnnnnnnn?" He came in and I showed him the test. There was a very faint pink line! We were SO excited and it felt so weird to then be with all of our friends but not say anything!!

I 

I took a clearblue test the next morning and it said "not pregnant"! I wasn't too concerned because I know they are more sensitive so I waited until the next day and took one again--- PREGNANT!

At this point I was only 3 weeks along. I made a 6 week appointment with my doctor to confirm the pregnancy. Those 3 weeks were a hard wait!

At the 6 week appointment they took blood and we talked with the doctor. She scheduled me for an ultrasound a few days later. The ultrasound showed the baby was 6 week and 2 days.

I came in again 2 weeks later to confirm growth and another sonogram confirmed that the baby was now 8 weeks 2 days. Here are the two sonograms next to each other :)

 8 weeks 2 days

 The doctor gave us a due date of either July 19th or 20th and just let me pick the date to write down. I told her the 20th, because it's an even number hehe. It's the math person in me....

We can't wait for July!

The first thing a teacher should do: pencil system!

What was the #1 time waster my first year of teaching? "Miss I need a pencil!!" Now that it's my 3rd year I'm no pro, but I thought I'd share some time saving and headache saving advice! Its easy for teachers to go through close to 100 pencils a week. 

Failed systems:
Pencil in exchange for a shoe- smelly
Get one from a friend- loud and time consuming
Points off an assignment- then what's their grade based on, responsibility?
The worst of all is "figure it out"... Middle schoolers? They can't figure out how to put deodorant on let alone how to pull a pencil out of thin air. 

Successful system!:

For this system I implemented last year I bought 5 mechanical pencils or pens (not regular....they sharpen down to nothing in 1 day). Hotglue them to popsicle sticks. Hotglue ribbon every 2 inches to a stick or ruler or the wall. They have to sign out the pencil on their way in the door BEFORE the bell rings. This makes for a classroom full of seated children, pencil in hand, ready to learn!....when the bell rings! The dream right!? (I just had to threaten for the first week of school that if they walk away with one I'll come to their next class and embarrass them and it worked like a charm!)

Do a quick glance-check by the door when the bell rings to make sure they are all back hanging there! If you see one missing hold the class back for a few seconds--it doesn't take long for someone to realize they have one or fess up for taking it!

Side effects may include work being turned in, names on papers, saved money, and a happy teacher!

**I tried this once using 30 of these in a bin, and they all got stolen within 2 weeks. Make sure you only use 5-7 and that you make them visible to you at quick glance!!**