Welcome to the Third Trimester!

The days continue to fly by! I went to the doctor on Thursday for my glucose test. The stuff you have to drink, tastes just like flat Sunkist (thanks for the warning Stacy!). It wasn't horrible but I don't want to drink it again. I'll get the results in a week or so. I met with the nurse practitioner while waiting for my blood to be drawn. She was happy with everything so far. She did warn me about pre-eclampsiya. My blood pressure hasn't gone up but I guess it is consistently higher than they would like. She wants me to walk everyday and cut back on sodium. Since I don't add salt to anything, I guess I just have to eat out less. That should get better since I only have 8 more days of school left so I'll feel more like cooking.
We made up Rachel's bed. We hope to hang the letters this week. It's really starting to come together.
We'll be busy with yardwork and house projects for the next few weekends. There's always something to do!

Rachel's Room

We got a call from Babies R Us on Monday that the crib and dresser were in. We decided to skip the gym that night and go pick it up. After getting everything home, we realized that we would need help to get the furniture in the house so it sat in the back of the truck until our friends came over on Friday night. Rich and Greg had their work cut out for them because that furniture was heavy . They unpacked the dresser and Tracy & I cleaned up all the mess. I wanted them to put the crib together but I didn't want to press my luck!
Greg ended up putting the crib together today. The room is starting to come together. We hope to get the mattress in the next couple of weeks so I can go ahead and make up the bed. I really want to see the complete picture! We're trying to decide if there is room for a rocking chair or not. I always knew the bedroom was small but didn't realize how small until we put her furniture in.
I'll be 25 weeks tomorrow. I'll be busy at work this week with End-of-Grade testing. The countdown is on....17 more days with students.
I went back to work from jury duty on Thursday. By Thursday afternoon, I was ready to go back to jury duty!!!! I told several of my friends that it was a shame I had to wait 2 years to serve again b/c it was quite nice being away from all the kids for a few days. We got finished on Wednesday b/c the guy took a plea bargin. Guilty on 2 counts of armed robbery. Each sentence carried 38-54 months. I guess once, he figured out that you could tell it was him on the second video, he really had no choice. Glad he is off the streets for awhile.

The Rachel Report

These are the letters that Greg painted for Rachel's room.

Tomorrow, I will be 23 weeks pregnant. Time really flies. I had my 22 week appt on Wednesday. Rachel weighs 1lb 3 oz. She measures on the 22 week mark. I got a couple pictures but her arm was covering her face (wonder who she gets that from???) so no really good ones. I've gained 2 lbs but please note that Rachel is 1lb 3 oz of that!!!!!!!!!!!
We went to Babies R Us on Wednesday night to order her crib and dresser. We went on Wed to use the 20% off coupon that a friend of mine gave me. The rest of the world was there trying to use their coupons too. They didn't have the furniture in stock so we ordered it. We should be getting a call in the next couple of weeks to pick it up. Greg is really looking forward to putting it all together.......yeah right! We were out of our minds and also decided to register that night. Who knew there were so many choices? After 3 hours in the store, we were finally ready to go. We've officially sworn off that store for awhile!
I go back to the doctor again on May 28 for my glucose testing. I have to drink a sugary drink and sit for an hour then have my blood drawn to see how my body processes sugar. If I fail, I'll go back for a 3 hour test later. Let's really hope I don't fail! I have the option of getting a 3-D ultrasound that day too. Greg has told me I shouldn't get it b/c insurance doesn't cover it and it will be a couple hundred dollars out of pocket. He also says that we will see her in person soon enough. I agreed at the time, but I may try to convince him otherwise in the next couple of weeks!!!!
I have 29 more days of work. I'm looking forward to a summer of doing nothing. I was called for jury duty on May 11th so I may even miss a few days of work b/c of that. I know that I was only called b/c I opened my mouth a couple weeks ago when my friends were getting called and mentioned how I've never been called in Wake Co. I should learn to keep my mouth shut!
Greg is staying busy at work. He was off yesterday which was nice to have the whole weekend to hang out with him.
We hope everyone has a great week!

Valentine's cards

I went to my friend, Shawntel's, house to make Valentine's cards. I love the way they turned out. I also made three cute pouches that I put chocolate in for the teachers I work with. Everyone at school that saw them, loved them. I stuffed them with Ghirardelli Chocolates so it made them even better. We are going to make birthday cards this week, so look out for those pictures soon!

Snow in NC

It really does snow in NC. It doesn't happen very often but I get so excited when it does. It snowed on January 20th. This made a great excuse to watch the inauguration all day! Since it was a teacher workday anyway, I was even more excited b/c the students wouldn't have to make up a snow day. Unfortunately, school was also closed the following day b/c of all the ice on the roads. So, we'll be at work on President's Day! If it is going to snow here, it always seems to happen around Greg's birthday. By the end of the week, temperatures were back in the 50's and all the snow was gone. It was beautiful while it lasted. I'm still holding out for one more snow day this winter.

Happy 2009!

I can't believed I haven't blogged in over a month. Where does the time go? Here's an update on the last month of our life.
Sometime around the 15th of December I got a cold that I couldn't shake. Nothing is worse than to be sick in December. There is too much to do. Well the upper respiratory infection I had, led to pink eye. Bet you didn't know that upper respiratory infections and pink eye were related b/c I sure didn't until it happened to me! After several different prescriptions, it finally went away. I did have to wear my glasses for two full weeks. I learned that it is important to have an updated glasses prescription because it sucks not being able to see very well. I'll be purchasing new glasses as soon as I have an eye doc appt.
Everyone came to our house for Christmas Eve. We enjoyed a wonderful day with the family and a delicious meal.....even though I cooked the turkey upside down for several hours......I never claimed to be Martha Stewart.
We left early Christmas morning for the drive to Syracuse. We stopped for breakfast at the Waffle House like last year because that is the only thing open on Christmas day. We had a great time in Syracuse and I got to see snow. Not as much as I wanted, but some was better than none. The drive back was HORRIBLE. I swear I will only drive on major holidays from now on. My sanity can't take 12.5 hours in the car.
We enjoyed a week at home before going back to work. We had our house appraised because we've jumped on the refinancing bandwagon. Our new interest rate, saves us several hundred dollars a month. Yeah! We had some friends over for New Years Eve to play games.
Going back to work was hard, but we are pretty much back in the swing of things again. We even made it to the gym twice last week. We're aiming for three times this week but we'll see!
I hope to post more often in the coming weeks. Maybe if I'd stay off facebook, I would have more time to update my blog.

Gingerbread Love

My mom has almost finished putting the lights around the house.

This is the third year that my family and I decorated gingerbread houses together. We go to my aunt and cousin's church in Winston Salem to create our masterpieces. The lady in charge of this has bags of candy and icing laid out over 5 huge tables. You pick what you want to decorate, a small, medium, or large house or a tree, then grab your candy and icing and start working. The best part is when you are finished you can walk away and don't have to clean up anything. This is exceptionally appealing to us because we tend to make a HUGE mess!
It's fun to look back at pictures of our past creations and see how different the houses are from year to year. My mom and I usually use colorful Necco candies to create the roof but this year we decided frosted shredded wheat would be a nice change. We added lights to our house this year. I'll take a picture of it lit up and post that later.
This has turned into a fun Christmas tradition. I hope we are able to continue it for many years to come.
My aunt's house. She was pretty close to being finished at this point. Notice the detail. She even added an overhang at the front door.
Jennifer was working hard on her house. It turned out really cute. She used Necco's on her roof.
Caroline put Necco's all over her roof and then decided she didn't like it so she changed it to frosted shredded what. Her house was very cute especially after some third grade children got in on the design.
Here is my gingerbread tree. This is the second year that I have decorated a tree. I always think it is a good idea until I sit down to start and then my mind goes blank. I do like the way this one turned out. I used M&M's and gumballs on the tree. I tore apart some sour string candy and wrapped that around certain spots. I love the pretzel star on top of the tree and the gingerbread people infront of the tree. The end result was much cuter than I could have imagined.