33 weeks

The weeks are flying by and my little boy is going to be here before I know it. House renovations are still going on, so Josh and I are now staying at the Palm Street Bed and Breakfast; otherwise known as his mother's house. She's been gracious enough to let us live with her for a week and a half while our house is being painted. I talked to the painter yesterday and she thinks she should be finished with everything by the early part of next week. I hope so! I'm ready for my life to return to some state of normalcy before Eli comes. I have my first shower this weekend in back home, so the baby gear is going to start piling up and I'm going to need a place to store it. I don't want to put it in his room until all the work has been completed. Please pray that she can finish by next week!

Other than being displaced from our home at the moment, life is still pretty much the same. My kiddos at school are doing great. I'm starting to learn their little personalities and get to know them better. I've got some really great kids this year and I'm going to miss them while I'm on maternity leave. It's weird to think that in less than 7 weeks I'm going to leave them. I know they'll be fine, but I'm going to miss their little jokes, smiles, and funny comments. In fact, I had one of my students, Noah, come up to me today and tell me, "Mrs. Wilson, I'm the best Noah in the whole entire world!" LOL! How funny is that? I love hearing those kinds of things come out of their mouths. They're so funny and will say just about anything. Noah also always leaves my classroom everyday by giving me a hug and patting my stomach and saying, "Bye, baby!" He's so precious! Today during one of my reading groups, Eli got the hiccoughs. All my students are so interested in hearing about Eli move and they always ask me if he's moving, so I decided to let them feel it for themselves. I let them gently place their hand on my belly and it was the coolest thing...their eyes got so big and wide when they felt him move! It was so much fun to share that experience with them!

I went to see Dr. Daigle today for my next to last 2 week visit. How crazy is that? She said that the next time I come they are going to start checking me to see if I'm dilating. It's hard to believe that I'm that close to the end! She said everything looked and sounded great. Eli's heartbeat was in the 130's and 140's and he was moving around alot. In fact when I leaned back for her to measure my stomach, you could see his little hiney perfectly as a little bulge on my left side. Dr. Daigle saw it and laughed. Once again, I'm so thankful that this pregnancy has been so wonderful. I have loved and enjoyed every single minute of it.

Here are the 33 week belly shots. My aide, Sondra, comments every day how she thinks I've grown overnight. I'm starting to believe her!

Childbirth 101

This past Monday night, Josh and I went to our first (and only) childbirth class. For some reason, the hospitals around here do a one night three hour cram session as their class. I guess if you don't get it that night, you get to do your learning during labor and delivery. I wanted to be as informed as possible, so Josh and I made sure to attend this meeting. Overall, it went really well. I think Josh learned more than I did. I was very thankful for the nurse leading the class. She did an EXCELLENT job! She showed lots of diagrams and pictures of how a woman's body changes during pregnancy. Josh got to see exactly why I breathe so heavily now and why heartburn is now a daily occurrence in my life. Thank goodness for Tums is all I can say! My favorite part of the class was when we practiced our breathing techniques. I hope how we did in class is no indication of how we'll do when I really go into labor. Every time I would look at Josh and try to breathe I would get a case of the giggles and that would mess up my breathing. I tried to stare at things above his head or right between his eyes, but he kept redirecting my attention. He's already said that when I go into labor, he's going to write the word "RELAX" on a piece of tape and tape it to his forehead. We had fun, but on a serious note, I was very glad to have Josh there with me. I could not imagine having to go through labor on my own. I'm so thankful that he's going to be by my side cheering me on and encouraging me. He's going to be a great coach! We also got to tour the hospital facilities. I was very impressed with the hospital. All the nurses were extremely nice and the rooms were beyond clean. I hope I luck out and get the big labor and delivery room; it was really nice! They also said that the night after a woman has a baby, they give the mom and the dad a nice steak dinner. How's that for service? Impressive! One of the last things we did in class was watch three live births on tape-yes, I said tape...that should indicate how old this video was! The video was a total flashback to the 80's--big hair, ugly clothes, goofy glasses, and the doctor's didn't even wear gloves! Our nurse pointed out that everyone would be wearing gloves when we delivered...thank goodness! Can you even imagine? Gross! Anyway, we got to watch a natural childbirth with no meds, one with meds, and then a c-section. I'm all about the epidural now as were the rest of the women in the class with me. Josh was slightly grossed out and maybe a little horrified, but he'll be okay once the real thing happens! We go back next Monday for our infant CPR class and breastfeeding class and then we're on our own! We'll have a little less than 6 weeks before we're tested to see how well we paid attention in class :)

Hannah Hope Hargon

Hannah Hope Hargon has arrived! This morning around five o'clock, Josh and I both received a text on our phones from Josh Hargon telling us that Diane was about to have the baby. Unfortunately, both of our phones were on silent and in another room so we didn't even get the message until around 8:15 this morning. Josh Hargon was able to get in touch with Nicki and she called and let us know that Hannah Hope had arrived. She weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz.

Josh and I decided to go see the family after church. They told us that the baby would be back around 12:00, right around the time church would get out. A few weeks ago, I started painting a door hanger for Diane to use at the hospital and eventually on Hannah's nursery door. I had everything painted but the date, weight, and length. Now that Hannah was here I wanted to finish it so I could give it to Diane at the hospital. I rushed home and finished it quickly before church started. I'm very pleased with how it turned out!

After church, Josh, Nicki, and I all went to the hospital to see Diane, Josh, and Hannah. We talked to Diane for a little bit and then got to see Hannah. None of us had our cameras with us, so I couldn't take pictures on my first visit. Josh's mom and I went up there later that afternoon to see them again and take these pictures. Hannah is precious! I can't believe how small she is. It makes me want to hold Eli right now :) Hannah has a head full of black hair and looks just like her big sister, Marlie. Mom, Dad, and baby are all doing great. Congratulations to them!

Hannah Hope Hargon

Diane, Josh, and Hannah

The Finished Nursery Sign

Me holding Hannah Hope

The House Renovations Continue

On this episode of House Renovations, we look at the Wilson family. Josh and Amanda Wilson are a happily married couple expecting their first child, a boy to be named Eli, in November. Josh and Amanda are wanting to update their kitchen and bring it into the 21st century. So far, they have laid a new countertop and backsplash. Next up on the updating process is painting the cabinets and new cabinet doors. Unfortunately, neither one of them quite realized all this would entail. Amanda, the struggling cook that she is, has completely lost control of her kitchen. Her meals, though they weren't great to begin with, have completely stopped because of the renovations. All of her dishes, pots, pans, and various other kitchen gadgets that she never uses, have now found a home on her living room floor. Nice accessories to the decor, don't you think? Josh and Amanda have resorted to eating take-out or dining in with family members. Any willing friends or family members that would like to cook for this displaced couple please comment below :) Thankfully, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. The painting and the rest of the renovations should only take the rest of this week. We'll check back in later this week and see if the Wilson's have regained control of their kitchen and whether or not the living room floor is still littered with appliances. For now, we'll leave you with some pictures of the progress that has been made at the Wilson house so far.

Freshly primed cabinets and cabinet doors

Another shot of the freshly primed cabinets and doors

Temporary location of the Wilson's Kitchen

32 Weeks

I feel like singing the song "Final Countdown" from Rocky; those of you that are avid Rocky fans know the song I'm talking about. We're getting closer and closer to D-Day (delivery day!) Little Eli is growing bigger and bigger and I'm starting to notice. His kicks, especially the ones in my side, are getting stronger and harder each day. Some of them really take my breath away!

We had a week off from school because of Hurricane Gustav, but are back into our normal routine now. My kids at school are doing better and better each day. I think teachers get amnesia year after year. We forget how hard it is to "train" our students at the beginning of each year because we are still in end of the year mode when we start school in August. We're so used to working with first graders that already know how to find page number 16, open a folder, walk in a line, tear out a workbook page, write on small lines, etc., that we forget how much training and practice went into making them so independent. My new group of first graders have already made a lot of progress since the beginning of the year and we're only on week four of school. I can't wait to see how much they will grow and change-not only in appearance but in ability-by the end of the school year. I'm doing great at school as far as the work load goes. I was worried that being on the go so much would make me really tired, but so far I'm doing fine. I'm tired when school gets out, but seriously, what teacher isn't? I try to sit down whenever I can so my feet can rest, usually during our reading center time and our shared literature time. I have a feeling I may be sitting down a little more by the end of this month.

Here are the 32 week belly shot pictures. I can't wait to print all these pictures out and put them in a scrapbook. It's fun to go back to when I first found out I was pregnant and to look at my stomach then and now. WOW! Talk about some serious skin stretching! There are days I think my skin couldn't possibly stretch anymore, but I guess it'll do what it has to do to accommodate my growing boy.

Dr. Seuss Baby Painting

Crystal, a childhood friend of mine, just had a little baby boy this past week in Baton Rouge. The baby was due Sept. 2nd (right in the middle of Hurricane Gustav!) but he decided to wait until Gustav had passed before making his arrival. Anyway, I wanted to paint her something to use in the nursery. She let me know that they decorated the nursery in an animal theme with a Dr. Seuss reading corner. That became the inspiration for my painting. I hope she likes how it turned out. I had a lot of fun painting it and it only took a few hours, which gave me something to do today since we were out of school again. No worries...we go back on Monday.

Stage 1-Border

Stage 2-Characters (Horton, the fish from The Cat in the Hat, and The Cat in the Hat)

Stage 3-Bible Verse

*This is the finished product*

31 weeks

I went for my two week check up today with Dr. Carey. I wasn't supposed to go until 3:15 this afternoon, but because of the hurricane they called and asked if I would be able to come in earlier. Dr. Carey said everything looked great and normal. I only gained a pound since my last 2 week visit (Hooray for me!) making my total weight gain for this pregnancy 22 pounds so far. I figure I am on track to gain about 30 pounds total. They say in your last trimester you gain about a pound a week. I have 8 1/2 weeks left so that would put me right around 30 pounds total. I'm so thankful that most of it has gone straight to my belly. I look like I'm hiding a basketball under some of my clothes! My next appointment is in two weeks and I'm excited because I get to see Dr. Daigle. She was the doctor I saw when I first found out I was pregnant. I found out last week that she and her family are moving right before Eli comes, so she probably won't get to deliver him, unless he decides to come a few days early. She's a wonderful doctor and I'm really going to miss seeing her at these check ups. 

I subscribe to the babycenter.com newsletter and every week they email me letting me know what's going on inside my body at this stage. According to their website, this is what Eli looks like right now. He's close to 4 pounds and 17 inches long. My little boy is getting so big! Pretty soon, I'll be pushing feet out of my rib cage so I can breathe :)  I can't wait! Below this I've also posted pictures of what I look like now that I'm 31 weeks pregnant.