I'm so sad.... Our kitties at first seemed to be adjusting to Lawson's arrival okay. Obviously they were distressed, but it didn't seem major. Until Shadow started biting the end of his tail.... We assumed he had a bug bite he was scratching, but as the days went on and it didn't get any better, we had to take him to the vet. Brad took him in last week and the vet said he developed a form of OCD in response to the baby - licking his tail until it was raw. Yep, bloody and raw at the end. We had small drops of blood on the walls and carpet. We tried antibiotics and that didn't work, so yesterday morning Shadow had about 4 inches of his tail amputated. Waaaa.... It was so sad...

Brad dropped him off at the house and then left for his night class. Shadow ran and hid under the bed and stayed for a few hours and I left him alone since I was busy entertaining Lawson. But by about 9pm I heard him running around the house like he had been doing when he bit his tail. Once I got Lawson rocked to sleep I went to check on him and yep, he chewed out his stitches and was bleeding all over the house. I found him curled up in Lawson's closet in the basket full of baby blankets! So, I have two beautiful blankets covered in pools of cat blood! The house looks like a crime scene. I wound up having to take him to the all night vet (45 minutes away!!!)! Brad met me after work and the vet restitched Shadow's tail (another $200 - awesome....) and this time gave us one of those cone shaped collars. Oh, and Lawson woke up just as we left and screamed the entire 45 minutes home. Awesome. It was after 2am before the three of us got to bed.

Shadow isn't adjusting well to the collar, but I think it will keep him from eating his tail. He keeps running into walls and furniture, and he can't crawl into his usual tight spaces. I find it heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. I also think he looks like Little Bo Peep in his collar and bow.

I can't believe my baby is a month old already! The last four weeks have been a blur... In honor of his advancing age, we introduced him to a bottle this weekend. Since I'm nursing, we've waited so he wouldn't have what they call "nipple confusion". All three of us LOVE the bottle! Brad finally got to feed Lawson, I got a break and Lawson got a bunch of pumped breast milk very quickly. If only I could keep up with the pumping enough to feed him a bottle every time.... alas, I don't think that's going to happen.

He's been a bit cranky this weekend and hasn't slept much. However, when he did, he was sure comfy:

Here's Lawson all dressed up for Church today. He got lots and lots of attention.

Here are some pics of Lawson's first tub bath. It was much nicer than the sponge bath - we're so glad his umbilical cord stump has fallen off. However, as you will see, he still doesn't much care for getting clean. He's 100% boy....

Pre-bath:

Post-bath:

Holy moly, can my kid pack away the food! I'm nursing Lawson and we still have a few hiccups in the procedure, so I've been hoping he was getting enough nutrition. He caught a slight virus that landed us at the pediatrician yesterday. When the nurse weighed him, he was 9 lbs, 6 oz! He's gained 2 pounds from his original birthweight in just three weeks. Clearly, he's getting enough food. The doctor joked about how Lawson must really like to chow down. He's outgrown his newborn sized clothes.... he only had two outfits (the rest are 0-3), but they hung off him in his first couple of days. Now it's time to wash them and put them away for the next baby. I'm so sad he's growing so fast...

Lawson is one athletic kid! He's been really good about picking his head up for a while now. It won't be long before he can hold it for a long time. He's got insanely strong legs - he's trying to crawl with his legs, but that dang head is just too heavy to hold up long enough to get moving...

He's also rolling over. The first time he did it was at 5 days old - I set him on his back and he rolled onto his side. The pediatrician was surprised, but said it was likely an accident. It probably is, but he keeps doing it every couple of days. This picture is of him after I put him down on his back. While I'm proud of his athleticism, I'm terrified of this early mobility. So, I'm not too excited that he can do all this stuff yet. I'm really okay with him being stationary for a while longer.

Awesome news (at least for me)! I can wear my wedding ring! My fingers swelled up so badly that I quit wearing the ring in about April, so it was fabulous to put it on again. It's snug, but not uncomfortable. Hopefully, I'll go completely back to normal finger size soon. I also slipped on my favorite brown leather shoes today and they fit. As late as last week, I couldn't get them on my puffy feet. I'm just so thrilled my swelling is better. I'll get more pictures of Lawson up soon. Trust me, I have plenty.

Well, Mom and Dad went home yesterday and so we're back to being on our own here. Lawson had a great time with his grandparents (and vice versa). The poor kid's retinas are close to burn out with all the great pics we took, but it was worth it. Here are some of the cute moments from their visit.

Lawson's second Aggie game. He still slept through it, but we got this priceless photo out of it.

He's a bit too young to smile for real, but he's close. A good mixture of a little gas and genuine excitement will produce a heartwarming reaction.

One of many of Lawson's classic facial expressions. This kid's face is made of rubber - he is so expressive. This is probably a wind up for a good poopy diaper, but it makes me laugh!

More cute faces:

Stay tuned for more pictures and news.

Hullaballoo, Caneck, Caneck! Today was Lawson's first Aggie football game. Well, on TV anyway. He was dressed for the occasion in his Aggie duds, furnished by fellow Ag, Aunt Mary Beth. Unfortunately, he peed on himself (and Daddy) within the first 5 minutes of the first quarter and so he had to change. Glad I did the pictures early, although I really wanted a father-son pic. Maybe next Saturday.... I think he enjoyed the game. He ate himself into a coma and spent most of it passed out, but I'd like to think his contentment was due to the satisfaction of an Aggie win. It was also fun to watch Kansas State totally kick some Longhorn butt. Whoop!

Lawson Alexander Wineman is here!

I went in to the hospital Thursday night (the 20th) to start cervidil for my Friday morning induction (it's a drug that helps prep the body for labor induction). Cervidil gets you ready and then they give you pitocin the next morning to actually start the labor. Cervidil causes a very small percentage of women to go into labor, but I wasn't the slightest bit dialated, so we weren't expecting me to be one of those women. Imagine everyone's surprise when my water broke and I started contractions (2-3 min apart) around 3:30am! They decided pitocin wasn't necessary...

However, very soon the baby started showing signs of distress - his heartrate was dropping and he wasn't getting enough oxygen - they gave me an oxygen mask to breathe through for about an hour. At 8am, my dr arrived and gave another internal exam. After 4.5 hours of labor, I wasn't the slightest bit dialated!!! The baby still hadn't descended into my pelvis and so basically, I wasn't going to dialate. The dr said we had to do a c-section...now. Within minutes, nurses swarmed around me and I was prepped for surgery. At 0849, Lawson made his appearance - 7 lbs, 4 oz., 21 inches long. Even the surgery was difficult. Turns out, he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his body which was partly to blame for him not descending. He was so stuck, it took a while for them to pull him out through the incision they made - they eventually used a vacuum to remove him. He was immediately put under an oxygen dome, and was rated an Apgar 1!!!! (babies are rated 1-10 on how well they fare after delivery, 1 being the worst) He improved rapidly, but they still wheeled him out to the nursery right away, where he stayed until Saturday. I finally got to see him Friday night, 9 hours after he'd been born. That was so hard. Dh was able to go to the nursery and take pictures to show me, but it wasn't the same. Poor little guy was hooked up to so much stuff. It was scary, especially since I had such an easy, comfortable pregnancy. But, the good news is he's completely fine now. We saw the pediatrician yesterday and he got a clean bill of health and is on track developmentally - you'd never know he had such a traumatic entry into the world. He's a total cutie and we're completely in love. Hope you like the pictures! Remember, if you click on a picture it comes up in a new window so you can see it better.

One last picture before leaving for the hospital:

Lawson with an IV, hooked up to various monitors:

Proud Papa:

Yay! I FINALLY got to see my baby!

Lawson's first bath. He really didn't like it:

Post-bath. Snug as a bug...

This is one of my favorite pictures. He just looks so sweet:

At home in the bassinet. This is my favorite thing he does - the startle reflex that shoots his arms up in the air like he's on a roller coaster.

Lawson's first at-home bath. He still hated it, but at least he had a cute towel to dry off with.

That's it for now. We've been taking pictures every day since we've been home, so there are lots. Check back often for updates.

Ohmigosh....I am getting so huge! I really need to take another picture and get it posted up here because I'm really something to see.... I'm not waddling, but man it's an effort to get up from a chair or from bed! Brad keeps laughing at all my "oofs" and "yerks" as I try to move. He does give me a boost, though. Rolling over in bed is about a 30 second ordeal as I twist in small increments, trying to get to the other side. I feel like a turtle stuck on its back.... Thank goodness this is just a phenomenon of the last week or so and I find it as funny as everyone else around me, so it's all good. But I think I am officially tired of being pregnant. Bring on the baby!

I've got a baby update for you! I'm scheduled for an induction a week from today (the 21st). Unfortunately, I'm not really dialated much (almost, but not quite 1 cm) and the baby hasn't moved down as much as he should have by now. So, the dr is giving him one more week to work down on his own and then he'll induce labor to get him out. Another unfortunately is that the reason he isn't moving down might be b/c he can't fit in my narrow pelvis and therefore I'll need a c-section. I know it's not the end of the world, but I'd really prefer not to have one. Oh, well. One way or another, I'll have a baby by this time next week!

In other exciting news... due to the decrease in temperature around here (I'm assuming), the swelling in my feet has gone down. I can actually feel the bones on the top of my feet again! I'd almost forgotten they were there!

Brad and I had a fabulous date afternoon/night yesterday! We watched our Aggies play Fresno State in the first televised game of the season. The game went into overtime and so we had to miss the end b/c of our plans - we left thinking the Ags lost. Lo and behold, they pulled it out! No need for that kind of stress - our boys really fell apart there in the second half. I'm so glad it's football season again. It's especially fun to watch home games and get a glimpse of the students and campus and stuff.

As I said, we had to leave b/c we needed to grab dinner before heading on to see Rob Riggle at a new comedy club in town. Rob is currently a correspondent on the Daily Show and we love him. He's gorgeous, smart AND a Marine (wonder why I like him....). He's also from a suburb of KC so he had lots of funny things to say about the area. His humor was a bit sophomoric, but he's so physical you can't help but laugh your butt off! We had a fabulous time! We topped off the evening with a big ice cream cone from Cold Stone. It was so nice and we really tried to savor it b/c goodness knows how many more opportunities we'll have for a while....

I just got back from a yummy lunch with my friend, Tracie, at my favorite restaurant in town. It's a tea room run by some local Brits, but they also serve hearty pub-grub. I had the most fantastic plate of bangers and mash! But, the highlight of the meal was the butterbeer I ordered. For you non-Harry Potter fans, this post will make no sense and I apologize. If you are a fan --- isn't that cool??!! I guess the Harry craze is causing companies to market all the made-up stuff from the books. You can buy Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and apparently, order a butterbeer. It was non-alcoholic and tasted like one of those butterscotch candies, only in liquid form. It was delicious for the first few sips, but eventually I had to stop drinking it because it tasted too sweet. But, it totally made my day.

So, since we're pretty much ready for the baby to arrive any day now, Brad and I decided to have a little time to ourselves this weekend - we'll be a big family soon. So naturally, we went where all grown-ups go for a day trip - the zoo! The Kansas City Zoo had two koala bears on loan from San Diego through Labor Day and we just had to go admire the cuteness. Neither of us had been to a genuine zoo in years and we had a blast. We wore ourselves out walking all over the park, but it was worth it to see those cute koalas, meercats and monkeys/apes. Here are some of our favorite pics. The koala and gorilla ones were taken through glass, so they're not super sharp.

This gorilla put on one heck of a show. He had this HUGE habitat, but preferred to throw him/herself on the ground in front of the window. Drama Queen!!!

I luv Meercats.... These little sleepy ones were just so cute! Yes, that one with his face in the ground is definitely sleeping, not grooming.

So, about these birthing classes... We went to our fourth one last night and we have enjoyed every single one. Next week is our last class and then it's go-time. The nurse who runs the class is very helpful and while she definitely has an agenda (she wants us all to deliver naturally), she makes a lot of sense. We've spent a little time on what kinds of medications are available to us, but most of our time is spent on pain management techniques. I'm really going to do everything I can to have this baby naturally. I've learned a lot of good techniques and I have confidence this is do-able. However, I'm not so cocky to think that I'll never need the drugs. If the pain is more than I can handle, I'm all about 'em. It's scary to think about how close we are.

Last night, we toured the labor/delivery unit - talk about a surreal experience. In just a couple of weeks, I'm going to bring a baby into this world in one of those rooms we saw. It's a small hospital with a very attentive staff and I'm completely comfortable working with these people. Plus, they have the coolest baby photo studio. They don't just snap a photo of the baby in the nursery tray - it's an honest-to-goodness studio with backdrops and props and such. We saw some of the pictures and they are so cool! Just 25 days until the due date......

We've been home for a couple of weeks now, but it's amazing how projects stack up. Classes at the Staff College have started up again and Brad's at the junior college teaching an American history class as I type this. Yep, he's basically taking over my spot at the JC since I'm not teaching this fall. It's good for making up for my lost pay and he really enjoys teaching US survey.

We've also started birthing classes - three down so far, two more to go. I'll blog about those in detail a little later. All in all, they're going well and we're learning A LOT!

The big project we've been working on is the baby's nursery. Last weekend, Mom, Dad and Aunt Nita came into town to help us get things going. **Side note - my cousin, Brian, and his wife, Michelle, just moved to town b/c Brian is attending the Staff College this year. It'll be nice having them around. They came over for dinner one night and hung out with everyone.**

We worked our little tushies off and Mom even had to extend her trip by a couple of days so we could finish. We had such a good time and the nursery looks fabulous. I'm so happy with how it turned out. Hope you enjoy the pics! As always, I encourage you to click on the picture to make it bigger - you'll see the details better.

Here's the view as you walk in. It's clear this is a Mickey-themed room right away....

Here's the glider my sister-in-law, Jill, lent me. Mom made the quilt that's draped over the ottoman. I love the wall-stickers!

I bought the letters at Hobby Lobby, Dad sanded and primed them, and Mom painted the extra colors on the sides to make them "pop" off the wall. It was a pain to do, but they look so cute....

Dad made this shelf! I love all the characters looking down on the crib...

I've had this bookshelf since college, but with a fresh coat of paint, it matches the nursery perfectly. Add a personalized clock and the Guardsman/Beefeater bears I bought in London last March and viola!

Let's see.....So, after the wedding we headed back to Virginia, stopping to see a couple of friends along the drive back. Due to the wedding festivities, I didn't go to a Harry Potter midnight party. Bummer, but I got my book just the same at a Target on Sunday. Side note -- while in Lexington, I had a round of practice contractions that made me a little nervous. I had great plans for my final week in Virginia - I was going to spend every day in DC - but I took the contractions as a warning that I needed to take it easy and remember that I was 8 months pregnant. So, I spent almost every day of the last week on my friend, Susan's, couch reading Harry Potter. She'd finished it by the time I arrived and was so good about not spoiling anything. I loved the book so much and cried and cried when it was all over. Such a sissy.... :)

Besides reading, I had a blast. I went into DC for one day and got to see a lot for someone in my condition. I walked through a couple of monuments I'd never seen and FINALLY got to the Holocaust Museum. It was an amazing display and I even bumped in to a survivor who came to the junior college where I teach to speak this past spring. I got to spend an evening with my good friend, Mike, who's wife is newly pregnant (there's something in the water, I think) with their second. That makes 4 friends pregnant with me right now - how fun! I also had dinner with an old friend, Stephannie, from grad school. It was wonderful to get caught up with both of them. I also spent a couple of evenings just hanging out with Susan and her fiancee, whom I'd never met before. Good food, lots of ice cream (*grin*) and a couple of rounds on the Harry Potter Scene-It game. Life is good.

By Friday, it was time to leave. I picked Brad up a little early Friday afternoon and we walked through the new Marine Corps Museum there at Quantico - it's really well done. After that, we started driving west. We stayed in Lexington Friday night and then began the big push back on Saturday. That afternoon, we arrived in Louisville, KY to see Brad's old roommate, Greg and his family. After visiting for a while, we drove up to Cincinatti to see the Reds get stomped by the Cubs. Brad and I even got to try Skyline Chili. Interesting... You can tell how hot and yucky I felt from this picture, but we had a great time.

Sooo....... I've gotten behind before, but never quite like this. I'm going to have to post in installments here to get everyone caught up. Let's see, I left off last time with me about to spend the week in Lexington....

It was fabulous. I really miss the community, the church, and all of our friends. I got to see a few former students and lots of friends - it went by way too quickly. I was delighted to discover two friends there are pregnant, due in the winter! If we move back to Lexington someday, our kids will be in the same grade - how fun is that??!!!

The week was fast and before I knew it, I was back in the car to pick Brad up and drive to New Jersey for his dad's wedding. The wedding was amazing! It was very small - just immediate family and a couple of friends. There were 30 people there, 8 of whom were Judy and Dave's grandkids. It made for a fun, relaxed atmosphere. The ceremony was lovely, but the reception was the bomb! They rented out the upper floor of a restaurant (with views of Manhattan) and we spent the next 4 hours eating a 7 course meal! They interspersed each course with dancing so we didn't get too stuffed, but man did we eat a lot! It was all very gormet and fancy - YUM! Here's a pic of Brad and me all dressed up. He was the Best Man and so he got to wear a tux.

Horray for Virginia! We've been here for a little over a week and we're having a blast! We spent last weekend in Lexington, getting to see a bunch of friends here and there, before heading up Sunday night to get Brad settled in at his quarters in Quantico. While Brad worked, I spent a couple of days with my sister-in-law and nieces and then headed to the Richmond area to see a high school friend. I managed to see some Civil War battlefields along the way that I'd never been to, which was fun.

Friday night, I picked Brad up and it was back to Richmond for some VMI buddy time. Our friends Matt and Kristin hosted a big BBQ party on Saturday and we got so see a bunch of folks. Sunday was also Harry Potter movie day! Lot of fun there!

Saturday was our 6th wedding anniversary and we were happy to spend it together in the same country. Last year, I was in Korea and the year before, Brad was in Iraq. We did our big anniversary festivities last night - we went to a cool French restaurant and then saw Henry IV, part I at the Richmond Shakespeare festival. It was awesome.

Those are pretty much the highlights. I'm back in Lexington for the week and have a ton of friends to see. It's going to be a lot of fun! I'll try to get another update in here soon.

Okay, I have to brag. My handsome and brilliant hubby has had one heck of a morning and it's only 8:30. His Marine promotion went through and he just found out he's now a Staff Sergeant. Besides the obvious boost, he gets paid a little extra - just in time for his active duty time starting next week! He also learned that he'd been recognized by the Command and General Staff College for his writing. He got an award for his article on VMI's history that was published in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography last year. So, yippee for Brad!!!!

And the chaos continues.... we leave for Virginia in a matter of hours! Brad is going on temporary active duty and will be working for the Marine Corps for the remainder of the month. I get to tag along and play with all my old friends while he's working. *grin* So, that means I need to get back to packing. Brad comes home around noon and then we're off. I'll try to blog some while I'm out there, but if you don't hear from me, you'll know why.

I hope everyone had a good 4th! We had a really good day - spent most of it trying to recover from the Texas trip and gearing up for the Virginia one. We had dinner with Sean and Tracie and then drove over to the high school for fireworks. The show was really very good - especially considering the size of the town they live in (they live in a teeny town across the river in MO). We were really near the "guns", so each firework shook the bleachers we were sitting in. The noise woke up the baby and he started freaking out a little. Oops! I'm glad we went this year, b/c I'm sure we'll have a few years of seeing fireworks from a distance so the kids aren't scared by the noise.

I also took a trip to my garden yesterday to see how everything was looking. Holy moly, can I grow vegetables! I picked my green pepper, which was at full size, a couple of grape tomatoes - there are dozens on the plant, but they're not red yet - and two HUGE cucumbers. We took one over to Sean and Tracie's last night and it was SO good. I actually grew something edible! Here are my veggie friends. Remember my first green pepper - the one that was slightly bigger than a dime? And, the one cuke is so thick, I can't get my hand around it!

And, I'm back from round two. I flew in late last night from Texas after a fabulous week with my family and friends. Mom and I did some fun baby shopping and I enjoyed my last quiet grown-up visit to Allen. Next time I'm there, I'll be bringing chaos itself with me.

I also had another baby shower. Mom and Mary Beth threw it for me and what a nice party it was! Several good friends came into town to participate and a few of my mom's friends who I knew well came, so it was a good group. We played silly games, ate sweets and oohed and ahhed over the cute baby gifts I got. I wasn't sure if I was going to get it all home, but I managed to squish most everything into my suitcases. This is going to be one spoiled baby! Most of the party shots didn't turn out, but here is the pretty table and the quilt my mom made for the baby.

Oh, by the way, we decided on a name for the little guy: he'll be Lawson Alexander. Lawson is a name that runs in my family - my great-grandfather, grandfather, uncle and cousin are all Lawsons. Alexander is the family patriarch in Brad's family who came to the US from Poland and most of his family is named after him. Our families are pleased with the respective names and we feel better having it all picked out.

We're back from Boston. What a great trip! We celebrated Brad's grandma's 85th birthday (we also threw in her sister-in-law's 80th b-day and Brad's 30th for the party). We had perfect weather, good company and lots of fun. Here are the birthday folks:

Here's the close family: Brad, me, Brad's mom, sister Jill and her girls. Aren't we cute?

Jill and cousin Amy threw a surprise shower for me, which was awesome! It was so nice and I got a bunch of cute stuff. We had fun doing the cousin hangout thing - always a good time - and I got to see my friend Kelly from RCHS for lunch yesterday. It was a bummer coming home, but I leave for Texas in the morning. The excitement never stops!

Oh - and I also found out my glucose test was normal. Yay for no gestational diabetes!

Yesterday I got to take a glucose test to determine whether or not I have gestational diabetes. It's a routine test they give to everyone and it's yucky. They give you this nasty, super-sweet drink (10 oz. worth), make you wait an hour and then draw blood to determine how well your body broke down the sugars in the drink. The blood drawing doesn't bother me, but I didn't think I was going to make it through that bottle of orange liquid sugar. The only time I have felt worse about drinking something was when I dunked my Aggie ring... I should find out today or tomorrow what my results were.

Here's a howler of a good story. Mary Beth just started dating this new guy and for those of you who know my little sister, you know she's got the attention span and tolerance of a gnat when it comes to dating. She gets bored really easily, but she seems to like this guy and spent this past weekend with him in Houston without killing him. In fact, they're both quite smitten. They've been friends for a few months, but this is the first she's really mentioned him in great detail. Well, after grilling her for details, I passed on the story to Brad. After a few coincidences seemed crazy, a quick phone call back to MB confirmed the hilarious. See if you can follow this bouncing ball.... When Brad was looking at grad schools, one of his mentor profs at VMI sent him to A&M to meet up with his cousin's daughter who went there. Brad had a great time and decided to come to A&M (where he met me). He stayed in kind of touch with the girl and even met her younger brother at a party once he came to school there - that boy is MB's new boyfriend! The mentor prof, Turk, became an even bigger mentor when Brad started teaching at VMI. We adore Turk and think it's hilarious to consider that if the stars align, we might be related! Both Turk and the new beau think this is crazy funny, too. Small world!

I just had a fantastically mind-blowing "old" moment. I was playing around on Facebook, looking at pictures and found a fun set of pics put up by an old student of mine from St. Michael's in Texas. She posted a picture of a classmate holding a newborn baby with another classmate (her new husband) standing over them! Granted I taught these kids 5 years ago and they were seniors then, but it still blows my mind to see them married with kids! Violet and Shane are plenty old enough (23) - so it's not like when my 10th grade student got knocked up by her boyfriend. Man, time has really passed quickly... I feel incredibly old. Since their little girl was born last week and my little boy is due in September, my students' kid will be a year ahead of mine in school! Not that they'll ever meet, but still....

Today is Brad's 30th birthday!!!!! No more 20s for him! We had a big day of celebrating yesterday. After church, we headed downtown to see the Royals beat the Florida Marlins. The Royals don't usually win, so that made the game even more fun!

We've been anxious to get rid of this obnoxious willow tree in our backyard since we moved in and it finally came down yesterday afternoon. It's a nice tree - if it were somewhere else. It looks really ugly in our yard. Plus, willow tree roots are strong and are famous for breaking water and sewer lines in suburban neighborhoods. Shawn and Sean came over and helped bring the tree down. Shawn did the majority of the work - we think he was looking for any excuse to get to use his chainsaw - while Brad and Sean manned ropes to make sure the falling tree didn't crash into the deck, the fence or the power lines. (yikes!) Unfortunately, they did the work so fast, I didn't get a chance to take many pictures. We'll rent a wood chipper to take care of the branches and Shawn cut up the trunk to make a nice wood pile for our fireplace in the winter. Our yard looks so much bigger now without that monstrosity. Once we get the stump removed, we might put in another tree that fits the yard better or we might just leave it as open play space for junior. But anyway, here's the work in progress:

While the men worked, Sean's wife Tracie and I chatted and I made fajitas for dinner - yum! I also made Brad a birthday cake, which turned out to be incredibly tasty. All in all, a good day.

Okay, okay. I know I've been away WAY too long. Sorry 'bout that. There just hasn't been that much stuff going on. Now that I'm not working, I spend a lot of time reading, working in the yard or in the house on something. No major excitement. Until yesterday...

I realized my veggie garden was getting bigger and I needed to get supports for my plants. I bought some and went out yesterday to get everything staked and I couldn't believe my eyes! I have vegetables growing!!!! None are quite ready to eat, but it won't be too much longer. Check out my cucumbers - if you look behind the yellow flower, you'll see a small cuke growing. I have about 10 of these growing right now.

I have a ton of grape tomatoes and those don't get real big - some look big enough already - just have to turn red!

And finally, my green pepper plant is sprouting a lovely pepper. It needs to get much bigger before I pick it off, but it's so cute!

After spending a few days in an I can't believe I'm done stupor, I've been working hard around the house. I devoted a ton of time on Monday to my flower bed out front. All the work Mom and I did was undone by pesky weeds that needed yanking. I wound up gently retilling everything - only this time I had to do it around existing plants! What a pain! I got all the weeds out and put down some mulch to keep them from coming back as bad. I hope it works.

Here are some images of the front bed. My gerber daisies are healthy, but they only shoot up one flower at a time right now. Grrr.... I also have a ton of bulbs that should be coming up soon. That's why there's so much empty space in there - in a month I bet it'll be really pretty. It had better be!

And there was much rejoicing. aaaaa......... As I expected, yesterday's milestone was much more dramatic. I just finished entering my grades, which makes me feel good, but I'm still surrounded by work. I have bajillions of graded papers scattered on the floor in various rooms that need recycling. I have a list of students who wanted to be notified of their grades via email, which will take a while. All the materials I pulled out of file folders to help me grade need re-filing. The list goes on... I am mostly just exhausted. Things got a little hairy in that last hour, but I got everything in after checking and rechecking.

I don't mean to whine - I'm happy to be finished. I'm just not yet at thrilled. It'll take a while to hit me. Maybe tomorrow after I have a chance to tidy up I'll feel more like celebrating. I hope everyone has a happy weekend!

Hooray! I'm (kind of) done! I gave my last final this morning, so all I have to do is finish grading. Since I won't teach there again until the spring semester, I went ahead and packed up all my office stuff to bring home and turned in my keys. It was like clearing out a classroom at the end of the year - fun yet just a little sad. I drove away knowing I won't be back for a long time. We can submit our grades online, which saves me the 45 minute commute. I've been doing really well on my grading this week and I don't think I'll have any problems getting everything done by 5pm tomorrow. Ask me at 4:30, though.....

I'm glad to be done. With the exception of my crazy guy, I've really enjoyed my students this semester. However, it only takes a few.... I had more emails this week and last from panicky students to the effect of "I know I haven't been to class or done any of the work or passed any of the tests, but I really need a C in this course. Can you pass me?" I'm used to this, but not in this volume. Unreal! And yes, I told them all to go jump in a lake (well, much more diplomatically than that, but you get the point). Tomorrow it's all over. Yay!!!!

We had a remarkably quiet weekend here. Lots of working in the yard and running errands, but no place we had to be. It was lovely. I'm finally starting to see some progress in my garden and flower bed, although it's slow. I made dinner for Tracie and Sean (and, of course, Brad) on Saturday night and was so excited to go out and cut off some fresh herbs from the garden to rub on the pork roast. Yum!

Below is the fruit (and vegetable) of my labors. I was so excited to have my first green pepper sprout, but Tracie said I had to pull it off. Something about making the future peppers stronger. She knows a lot more about this than I do, so I yanked it. I did the same for our first strawberry. They're both so small, but they're honest-to-goodness edible things I grew. I think I'm going to like this gardening thing! I have some tidying up to do next weekend, and then I'll take some pictures and post them.

Argh! I just found out that final grades are due much earlier than I thought! Last semester, we had until the Monday after exams to get grades in, but this time they're due on Friday! I give two finals on Tuesday and collect a major paper and give one final on Thursday. Did I mention I don't believe in multiple choice, so all three tests are essay?!!!! The bad news is - next week is going to suck. The good news is, by 5pm on Friday, I'm done with my semester. So I guess it'll be okay. Like pulling a band-aid off quickly - painful, but then it's over. I had planned to spend the weekend grading at a leisurely pace, but I'll be able to spend the weekend playing instead. Can you tell I'm reaching for the silver lining? :)

So, do you remember my crazy finger-pointing rude student I wrote about a couple of weeks ago? We've been getting along fine since then - staying out of each other's way. He comes to class almost defiantly and reads the textbook instead of listening to the lecture or he sleeps ( he's slept through many classes this semester). I don't make a fuss about either thing. My tests are based on lectures and so I figure if someone sleeps through it, they're shooting themselves in the foot - it's their problem - they're adults. And, I have so few students who sleep, I don't take it personally.

Well, this morning he was really tired b/c he came in and fell asleep before class even started and did the head-bobbing thing pretty bad. He sits in the very last row and about halfway through class, got in one really good bob and cracked his head against the back wall. I have to admit to being unprofessional - I chuckled. So did the rest of the class. Serves the bugger right.

Another fabulous activity-filled weekend! Friday, I broke down and went to an honest-to-goodness maternity clothes store and cleaned them out. I've been trying to get by on a couple of things here and there and very little fits anymore. I found really comfortable clothes and I wore them yesterday for the first time and felt genuinely put-together and not frumpy.

Saturday, more yard work. I put some finishing touches on my front plant bed and finally planted my veggie/herb garden on the side of the house. It will probably be July before I'll get any real veggies out of it, but I hope it works! Brad found out about a garage sale on the next street, so we wandered over and came home very happy. For $25, I got a perfect condition Sealy crib mattress and a Laura Ashley bedding set (in the color I wanted anyway). Man, I love these military families! I can totally understand why they don't want to keep this stuff and haul it across the country all the time.

We were glad we got in the yard work when we did b/c it's been raining/storming since Saturday night! At one point, when I was singing in church Sunday morning (as in, standing at the ambo by myself singing a song) a clap of thunder/lightning knocked out the power temporarily, plunging the church into darkness. It was really funny! You could tell the altar servers thought it was the coolest thing that had ever happened in church in their lifetimes. The power came back on right away, we all had a good laugh about God's sense of humor, and went back to what we were doing. I hope that wasn't God's editorial commentary on my singing.... I'm trying not to take it personally. :)

We had friends over for dinner last night - I made a yummy oven brisket to get us in the summer mood. Today, it's back to work. Just two classes left and then finals are next week. Hooray!!!!

Yikes! I've been gone awhile. Lots has happened so I'm going to have sqeeze as much as I can. Saturday was uber-fun. Brad and I hit a mega yard sale on the army post and came home with a bassinet! It's what I was really hoping to find. They can get pretty pricey and the baby only sleeps in it for the first few weeks, so I was hoping to find a nice used one. This was only $15!!! It needs to be cleaned up a bit, but it's sturdy and mostly clean and will be perfect for the 6-ish weeks the wee one will actually use it. It frees up my money to spend elsewhere. Here's a picture of it. Shadow couldn't resist checking it out. :)

Brad and our friend, Sean, worked on our deck later that day. It was in really bad shape, so they sanded and restained the whole thing! It looks so much nicer now. While the guys did that, Sean's wife Tracie and I went shopping at a local nursery for plants. I'm trying so hard to have a garden this year. When mom was in town, she helped me clear out my front landscaping bed (it was in BAD shape) to be redone. I could kick myself for not taking a before picture. After I bought a bunch of stuff with her and with Tracie on Saturday, I spent Sunday planting bulbs and already-started flowers. The herb/veggie lasagna garden is my project for this weekend. I'll get pictures up when there's something to see.

Whew! That's the weekend update (on Wednesday, but whatever....). Enjoy the pics. I cut off the tops of each b/c I was in such a hurry. Neither the cat nor the boys would stay still long enough for me to get a good shot!

Good news! We're having a BOY!!!! My ultrasound was yesterday morning and everything was crazy, but we wound up having a great time. My appointment was the first of the day (the nurse told me it was best so if they got behind, I wouldn't have to wait for a long time w/ a full bladder). Unfortunately, the technician got a flat tire on the way into work and was an hour late! I have an iron bladder, but man that was a long time to wait. It really started to hurt there towards the end! Fortunately, once she finished all the initial measurements, she let me go pee and then I could really enjoy the rest of the experience. The baby looks healthy, which is the most important thing, but it was awesome to find out it's a boy. And it's really a boy. We got a great shot of his willy - with the hands right above it - yep, caught my little one already playing with himself! We're still laughing about that.... I guess it gets pretty boring in there. But, he's an active little bugger - jumping all over the place. I'm thrilled about it being a boy - I didn't care what I had, though. Brad nearly stopped breathing he was so happy - he really really wanted a boy. (what guy doesn't?)

My mom was there with us and after Brad went back to work, she and I went shopping. We'd been so good about not buying anything but once we got the notification to buy blue we went a bit nuts. It was really fun. Surprises are nice, but I'm thrilled to know so I can plan the nursery a little easier and Brad and I can just focus on one set of names. Boys clothes aren't quite as much fun as girls clothes, but I'm having fun shopping for them just the same!

The ultrasound machine was really clear, but the pictures aren't. They're better than nothing, though. Here's our little guy:

What a crappy way to wake up.... I just checked my email and my good friend, Brent, sent a very depressing one. Brent and I taught together at the high school in Virginia and sang together in the church choir. His wife was diagnosed with a brain tumor a couple of years ago and they've had a really hard time. They even moved back home to Minnesota this fall when Sarah's prognosis started looking grim, so they could be closer to family. Well, Brent wrote this morning that the doctors expect her pass away some time this week. I don't know exactly how old she is, but it's not more than 26. Brent has been amazingly strong, but this will destroy him. I'm so glad we got to see both of them in March - we had a layover in Minneapolis on our way to London and they came to the airport to see us. She seemed in rough shape but I wouldn't have guessed she'd be ready to die in just a few weeks...

So, a depressing start to the day. I wanted to get this in here, because hopefully, I'll have good news to report on here soon. My ultrasound is in about an hour and a half! I'm crossing my fingers the baby is healthy and we'll find out if it's a boy or a girl.

So cute! Brad is at a conference in Northern Virginia/Maryland this week (I'm so jealous!) and has been staying with his sister and her two little girls. Maya, our 2 year old niece, has been speaking up a storm here lately but apparently has a hard time with the word uncle. So Brad has a new name - he's Knuckle-Brad. Brad thinks it's hilarious. I wish I could hear it in Maya's voice, but I can imagine it. Kids are so cute. Good thing I think so, huh? The girls are wearing Brad out, which is great - he needs a good reality check of what we're in for....

I'm already a bit of a news junkie - cnn.com is my homepage and I usually devote a good portion of my day keeping up with world happenings. However, for the last three days I've been stapled to the news, trying to learn as much as I can about what's happening at Virginia Tech. I was just starting to burn out a bit and was going to stop and then they just released the video the psycho sent to NBC. Nope, more news time for Casey. I was really panicked on Monday since so many of the kids from the high school I taught at in VA went to Tech (we were only 90 miles north of Blacksburg). They still haven't released the names of all the victims, but I've been all over facebook for the last couple of days and if one of the victims was an RC kid, I would have heard by now. I'm much calmer now and am operating under a "no news is good news" policy. Not that it's any less tragic b/c I don't know these people, but I am happy that those I know are safe and okay.

In happier news, I just got back from dinner with a new friend. I've been on a pregnancy message board for the last couple of months and one of the regulars shares my due date and lives here in town with me. I've never gone to meet someone I've met on the internet before so I was a little nervous, but she turned out to be very nice and we have a ton in common. She had her ultrasound today and found out she's having a boy. I can't wait until mine next week!

I just finished prepping my lasagna garden! No, Garfield - don't get too excited. I learned last week from my friend, Tracie, that a lasagna garden is an idiot-proof (well hopefully) way of avoiding tilling, digging and weeding your garden. Here's how it works:

After a Home Depot run, I laid down newspapers on top of the grass in my garden spot. I watered them down with a hose. Then I piled peat moss, manure, and compost on top and covered it with black plastic (like lasagna layers). Over the next several weeks, the stuff on top smothers all the weeds and grass underneath, the newspaper biodegrades and organic material transforms into rich, fertile, and loose soil. It also attracts earthworms, which are yucky, but they till the soil naturally. It's supposed to work like that, anyway. In about 4-6 weeks, I pull back the black plastic and plant my garden and it's supposed to thrive. I've got zero experience with gardening, but I want to have one so bad! I have a small plot to start, with plans to do more next year if this works out. I want to grow both herbs and vegetables. I let you know how it goes! Can't wait!

Oh my gosh. Do I have a story to tell.... So, my morning history class was taking a test today and some kid's cell phone went off about half way through. Just a quick aside, my cell phone policy is really lax - I don't make too big a deal out of one going off in class as long as it isn't habitual - some profs around here deduct points from your grade, throw a fit, etc. So anyway, this kid's phone goes off and he stands up to go outside. I told him he needed to simply turn it off, that he wasn't allowed to answer a call in the middle of an exam (cheating seems to come easiest these days via cell phone). He told me he had to take the call and headed outside. My startled expression spoke volumes to the rest of the class who shared in the shock.

I followed the guy outside and told him again it was the middle of a test and he HAD to hang up the phone. He pointed his finger at me and said "NO, it's an emergency." So I folded my arms and stood right next to him while he spoke. Turns out he did have a very sick family member at home and he finished his call quickly. We had a little chat before going back in (he's very fortunate I didn't give him an automatic F and send him on his way!) about, emergency or no, how he will NEVER speak to me like that again. His response? "This is college." Our little chat continued.... Btw, I don't yell. I get this very calm low voice like I'm talking to a crazy person w/ a gun (lots of practice in public school - yelling doesn't get you anywhere and you can get blamed for harassing a student even if they started it). So, very calmly I discussed the merits of adulthood and respecting the people around you. He proceeded to tell me he's never had a professor treat him as much like a kid as I just did - apparently this school is full of profs who happily let their students answer phone calls in the middle of tests. Yeah, right. He was incensed that I would imply he might be cheating by answering the call. I know it's hard for students to comprehend how much baloney I've seen and heard in my 7 years of teaching and how, deep down, I don't trust a single butt in the seat. I'm thrilled he says he's not a cheater - but I have no way of knowing that.

Ugh. So anyway, that was my morning. I hate these confrontations. I've developed some pretty thick skin over the years and so stuff like this irritates me rather than genuinely upsets me. I'm confident I handled the situation well and I know that some of my other colleagues around here would have just gone bonkers on this kid. I don't like that I have experience with this, but I'm glad that I do. I'm still just reeling from the nerve of this kid! It does make one heck of a story, though. Sorry this was so long. Just thought you'd like a glimpse into my world. :)

It's snowing. SNOWING! Argh! Granted it's just flurries, but still. It's bleeding April! I was so ready for spring. I'm tired of being cold. I want to open my windows, plant flowers and create a vegetable/herb garden. Argh!!!!!!!

Sorry for the whiny rant. You can slap me in August when it's 112 degrees and I'm 8 months pregnant - I can guarantee there will be some serious grumbling going on then....

Alright, the blog is finished! If you look to your left, you'll notice a new link - Our England Adventure. Click there to hear about our trip.

I got to have a lovely lunch yesterday with my friend, Tracie. She and her hubby, Sean, are coming over for Easter. I'm excited b/c I haven't cooked a major meal in a while - we've just been too busy.

In other good news, Brad's dad just proposed to his girlfriend of 2 years. No wedding date has been set yet, but they have no need to wait a long time. I'll keep you posted. Brad and I are really happy for Dave. Judy is great and we like her a lot, even though we've not spent much time with her.

That's about all the major stuff. After beautiful weather last weekend, I was all set to work in the yard, but it's freezing here. Literally - I think it's about 25 right now. Ugh. It's so deceptive b/c everything is green and the sun is shining... Happy Easter everyone!

I'm back! We had an amazing time in England. I didn't take just tons of pictures, though, and just a few of those turned out decently. Oh well. I do plan to do a separate blog - my goal is to have it up and running by no later than the end of the month. Stay tuned.

We got back last weekend, then had a crazy week at work getting caught up. On Friday, my friends, Mendy and Tracy from Texas, came to visit. We are a devilish triumverate and always have a great time together. We saw the sights on post and around town a bit, but mostly just enjoyed spending quality time together. They just left this afternoon and so it's back to crazy preparations for the workweek.

I had another doctor's appointment today. We heard the heartbeat again and scheduled my first ultrasound (which should tell us the baby's sex by then) for the 24th. Just three weeks away! I'm just now starting to show, which is nice. Before, I was just looking like I ate too much for lunch, but now it's mostly obvious I'm a little bit pregnant.

Well, I was right - it was a helluva week. Brad wound up being really sick and I spent the whole week really paranoid I'd get it and we'd have to cancel our trip. Work was really crazy since I agreed to take on a colleague's class while he went to a conference this week. Just a bit nutty. BUT....... We're leaving in the morning!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited! It really just hit this morning that we're actually going and I'm just so pumped. We're in the process of getting packed up, but we're making good progress. Anywho, we'll be back next weekend I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell! I'll probably do another blog with my pics like I did for Korea (only I don't think you'll have to wait as long this time). Have a good week, everyone!

Ugh. I totally hate spring forward day. We went to our friends, Sean and Tracie, house for dinner last night and lost track of time - didn't get home until midnight. Well, make that one a.m. I was scheduled to sing at the 8am service so that was yucky. Needless to say, it was not one of my better efforts. I am so pooped! Our VA friend, Nick, came over for dinner tonight and we had a great time with him, but I'm officially done for the evening. Brad is starting to feel sick (better now than next week!), so he's already in bed. Oiy. It's going to be a hard week. Sorry to be so gloomy. I'll be cheerier when I get some rest!

We have a heartbeat! Brad and I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon and it was the magical heartbeat day. Our doc found it right away and it was absolutely amazing to hear! I got all weepy and even Brad was a little emotional. The doc said the heartbeat was strong - 164 beats/minute. My sister-in-law said it would sound like a train - choo-choo-choo, etc, and she was exactly right. The doc is also really pleased that I'm doing so well - all signs point to the baby and me being healthy so far. Good news! This should also be the last week of my first trimester. Time is flying so quickly!

My stupid cat, Shadow, gets into more scrapes than I ever thought an indoor animal could..... There was the sprint towards wherever when we were trying to move, there was the day he spent locked in the basement, and there was last night. This was mostly Brad's fault, but Shadow knows how to really make it fun....

Last night, Brad went out our back door into the backyard. When he returned, he apparently didn't pull the door shut all the way (our doors get kind screwy about that - they look closed, but they're not really), nor did he lock it. When he got up at 4:15 this morning to feed the cats and go for a run, he couldn't find Shadow. What he found was the back door wide open - the wind must have pushed it in!!!!!!!! He woke me up to tell me what happened - there we are, in the middle of the night, in the backyard with flashlights trying to find the curious cat. We found him about 10 minutes later. He'd managed to get out of the fenced backyard (no claws, mind you - he must have crawled underneath) and Brad found him in a neighbor's bushes. The poor guy was terrified - he probably was really excited for the adventure and then got lost, not knowing how to get back inside. We have no idea how long he was out there, but he gobbled down his food and went straight to the litter box. Guess he didn't know he could poop in the grass! As soon as he got calmed down, he went straight to sleep. I imagine he was out there for a while.

I'm just so thankful that a) we found him. b) he didn't get hurt, since he has no claws to defend himself and c) that the only bad thing that happened was the cat got out - no one came in! Brad was absolutely mortified he'd been so careless. He was totally distraught this morning. Needless to say, I didn't exactly jump back to sleep - the adrenaline was pumping pretty hard. So, I've been up since a little before 4:30 and I'm not allowed to have too much caffeine. Ugh.

So anyway, happy ending. The kitty's fine - just pretty wigged out. Another day in the life.... I knew things were far too slow around here. What a week!

Whew! I had a great time with my sister this weekend. We got all caught up, did some shopping and took in some Kansas City sights. So much fun! A friend from Lexington is in town for a conference and so we met up with him after dropping MB off at the airport. He'll be around for the next couple of weeks. Spending the weekend with family and then with a comfy friend from back in VA, we almost forgot we're alone out here in KS.

I think the excitement of last week and this past weekend has finally hit. I'm totally un-functional today. I cannot concentrate on anything for longer than 20 minutes. I think I'm about to give in to the ADD and do what my body wants me to - just chill out. I made a quick trip to the grocery store to get some fresh air - it's 64 and sunny! Coming home, some guy pulled out in front of me on a major road (the speed limit was 40 mph). It was bad enough that I had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting him! I think the sound of the tires squealing was louder than my horn. Since my windows were down, I could smell the burned rubber from my tires for about 100 yards after that. Getting in an accident would have really been the icing on the cake - especially since it probably would have been nasty. Glad he heard all the rucus and decided to look up in my direction! Might have been a good idea before pulling out onto the road....