It's not a bug...it's a...

SKINK! :) Imagine my surprise this afternoon when going out to the van... :) I was slipping on a pair of crocs that I keep by the door to walk the dogs in the morning... And I see something wiggle under the shoes... :) I see its little blue tail and immediately realize that we have a LIZARD in the HOUSE! :)
While the little Blue Tailed Skink was probably more scared than any Blue Tailed Skink on this side of the equator, I quickly caught him in a little cup and let him out into the garden. :) Definitely a first for me...a little skink in the house!!! :) (No, we're not sure how it got in...but we have have a lot of rain recently - maybe he was just hoping for some dry location?) :)

Farewell, my little lizard friend! Go and run with your other lizard friends! :)

30+ week check-up update, etc.

Hi All :)
We had another appointment on Monday and wanted to give you the latest... The heartbeat was 156, I didn't lose any weight (woo hoo), and I measured exactly where I should be measuring (with the belly tape). We saw another one of the docs in the practice and liked him a lot. :)
Now, we go every 2 weeks for a month, and then we will have to go each week! Fun times! :)
We started school - no kids, just teacher work days - yesterday. I am generally unmotivated...hehe :) Ry helped a lot - setting up furniture, moving books, hanging posters, etc. since I'm so "limited" for lifting and standing on a ladder... *sigh* I think the room looks pretty presentable...I will have a few more things to finish up, but it shouldn't take long... :)
I'm surely tired at night, that's for sure... Those darn Olympics have me glued to the TV late into the evening, but I hope to be in bed earlier as I become less interested in the events or the Olympics end. :)
As it stands, I have 22 kids in my class; the largest I've ever had. I don't know much about the kids, but I hear good things... I will be eager to meet them at Open House on Monday. :) To make me feel old, I am teaching kids who were born the year I started teaching... I actually have a little boy who was a newborn when I met his oldest brother, who was in my first class. :) WOW! :) I hear this is nothing compared to when you start teaching your students' children or grandchildren... :) The question is: Will I make it THAT long? :)
We're praying for a snow day on August 20th - the first day of school. :) That may not be out of the question considering that the temp. yesterday morning (around 6:30 AM) was a chilly 47ish! CHIILY! :)
:)

It's been awhile...

I just realized that it's been nearly a month since I've posted... OOPS! :) Here's what's been going on! :)

~We've been doing lots of random things around the house... Our most notable achievement is finishing the painting in the future baby's room. We had to strip wall paper before applying the primer and then the paint...and then the woodwork and doors needed two coats... It turned out to be a pretty big job, but we finished last week! :) Woo HOO! :) We've also had to empty that room of all the furniture...we got the carpets cleaned...and now it is ready for the crib and the bureau...and other baby things. :) We have a lot of the baby items already - they're in the (yep, you guessed it) basement (finished part) and we'll be recruiting some friends to help carry it all upstairs... :)
In all honesty, I think we "bit off more than we could chew" with our goals this summer... We wanted to do so much...and while we got a lot done, there is still a lot of unfinished/half-completed chores. I know that we will have about 2 months before the baby arrives, but I really wanted to have it all finished before we started school again. *sigh*

~We're trying to organize our VERY cluttered basement. It's become a general dumping ground for anything - paint, pet items, etc. We have bagged up a lot of clothes to donate...and books... We got some shelves and are working on reorganizing a lot of the items that are down there... There is still a lot of organizing to be done...

~After about 2 months of struggling to get a new front door/side windows, a new screen door, and a french door for our kitchen, we finally gave up and returned what merchandise we received... We ordered our doors from a local "home improvement" store, which, unfortunately, has a bunch of incompetent people working in many of their departments. ALL of the doors were the wrong size, we never even GOT the new screen door, the contractor was impossible to get in touch with to schedule installation, the contractor refused to install the doors when he realized the doors were too small...the store ordered the doors too small on "purpose" but didn't bother telling anyone (our doors are odd sized, apparently, and it's normal for the doors to be slightly smaller - but no one told us that!)... All in all, the contractor should have known that he could install the doors but would need to do a little customization...he wasn't interested in doing on the first installation date... He suddenly decided that the work could be done after we contacted the manager of this home improvement store...of course... We're in the process of getting all of our money back and Pella now has our business (and a lot more of our money- they're more expensive! :)) However, there's no price for professionalism, quality, and satisfaction - which is what Pella has done for us so far! :)

~I had a glucose test a few weeks ago - typical for this stage of pregnancy. The orange flavored soda-ish drink wasn't bad...and I haven't heard anything, so I assume no news is good news... :)

~I've been feeling pretty good... I find that my "range of motion" is more limited - meaning I don't bend so easily any more... :) Sleeping isn't as fun as it used to be... I'm finding that my lung capacity is another thing that is lacking. I have to take deep breaths after going up a set of stairs...or after bending over to pick things up! :) My bladder is seemingly smaller...and I make more frequent trips to the bathroom... :) I hear all of this is typical... :) I try not to push myself too much...I seem to tire after about 4-6 hours of good, hard, physical work... :) If I work beyond these hours, I seem to pay for it the next day with soreness and just an overall fatigue. This makes me sooo excited to begin a school year... I wonder if I could slip a short nap time into our schedule each day??! :) hehe ;)
I still don't have a cute "round" belly...and have been told I hardly look pregnant. As a matter of fact, many people don't even know that I'm pregnant...they must just think I am fatter! :) I am carrying very "internally," they say...which makes everyone say that I'm going to have a girl. :) I, on the other hand, feel that I look much fatter... I don't know if I'll get that nice round belly, but I will take whatever I get. I'm at the 30+ week mark... :) I can't believe that in about 9 weeks, we'll have a baby... WOW!
I had a dream last night that we had a baby boy...5 lbs. 5 oz. - with no name. :) Yes, we haven't picked out any names yet...but we do have a list of names we like. :) I also kept forgetting to feed the baby in this dream... I am going to look forward to the dreams as this birth approaches...I hear they can get quite vivid! :) hehehe :)

~We had our birthing classes and tour of the hospital at the end of July. That was fun... I decided to go into this whole giving birth situation with a completely open mind. I feel like I have a pretty high tolerance to pain, but I hear that labor and its pain is something we can never imagine... :) I don't know if I'll get an epidural...or any meds...I may need them... I want to see how things go before I make that decision... After talking to my mom, she "only" labored for around 9 hours without any real medication (she thought she had a shot of Novocaine?) and said she just laid there for the entire evening without any pain! :) Then, she pushed for only 24 minutes before I was born... I pray I have her genes in this area! :) I love the hospital where we will have the baby...they are very patient-oriented, caring, giving, and the rooms are like home... I think it will be a wonderful place to be... :)

~We made on last "summer" trip up north to see our families. Beezer and I spent time in PA with my parents while Ryan traveled about 1 1/2 hours northeast to Bradley Beach, NJ to spend time with his family. We had a nice time... :) On Saturday, the 2nd of August, Ry's mom gave us a baby shower in NJ. We had a great time playing games, eating (of course), and opening lots of wonderful and sweet gifts! My mom came, too, and had a wonderful time! :) It was great to see her out and about... :)
My mom is doing really well... While she is still recovering, I noted how much more animated and funny she was... Her humor is coming back, and that's really refreshing. We had a great time at Babies R Us doing some shopping, too, and I loved just spending time together. :) Her most recent trip to the doctor revealed that her throat/tonsils look WONDERFUL and completely normal/healed... What a blessing... :)

~We officially head back to school on Aug. 12th - just the teachers. The kids will return on August 20th. :) I hear that I have a very nice class and recognize some of the children...they are siblings of students I've taught, etc. It should be another fun year... :) It will be a difficult transition for Ry and I - getting up around 6 AM will be a change...we will be in for a very rude awakening! :) hehe :) We'll see how all of that goes... :) I'm sure there will be lots of stories... :)

~I am going to try to be better about posting more... I know that I get on daily to read several people's blogs...it's something that I really look forward to reading. I'm sorry that I'm not being as productive and serious as others! :)

~I hope all of you are doing well! :) I will be writing more... I promise! :)

:)