Christmas Eve at Paul's parents' house.

 How far along? 30ish weeks

Babies' size and stats? Two weeks ago they were 3 lbs. 1 oz. and 2 lbs. 7 oz.  Little Boy is still quite a bit larger than his sister. 

Gain? Still a lot... I think 36 lbs. on Thursday.
Maternity clothes? Yes.

Stretch marks? Yes, and spreading. :-(

Sleep? I'm starting to have a little bit of insomnia.  I'm totally exhausted at around 8 pm, get into bed and can't fall asleep.  I'm also having a hard time falling back asleep once I get up in the middle of the night.

Foods I am loving? No real cravings lately, except milk is tasting really good lately.  And I guess for alittle while I really wanted breakfast with french toast and eggs.

Foods I am hating? Well I'm getting heartburn from almost anything but especially anything with spice or acid.

Best moment this week? Feeling hiccups for the first time, or at least I'm pretty sure they were.

Movement? Yep. They are getting more active throughout the day.  I'm not sure if it is because I'm sitting and noticing because I'm not working this week or because it is just more obvious.


Symptoms? Feeling sore and TIRED!  I'm learning that it just isn't possible to do all that I want to at one time.  I'm only good for about 2 hours at a time and then I need to sit/lay down. 


Gender? One BOY and one GIRL

What I'm looking forward to? Maternity pictures tomorrow!  I'm hoping I can squeeze my feet into some normal shoes and not have to wear my bright red Crocs.

Milestones: Cribs are up!  Also the last Christmas without kids.  It is still so surreal that next year we'll be chasing around 9 month olds.  Crazy!


Emotions: I'm excited to start getting everything together for the babies to get here.  I'm also getting worried that they'll be early.  I really want big healthy babies even though it will mean more discomfort for me. 

A 30 Week Update

 A few pictures of what has been happening at our house lately.  We finally got our cribs and glider.  Whoo hoo!  The boxes were huge and took up a ton of space.  Paul put together the cribs with the help of Maddy and I.  The huge boxes then turned into a GIANT pile of cardboard and styrofoam which trapped Maddy upstairs.  (She is, for some reason, afraid of boxes and wouldn't come down.)  We are slowly but surely getting the nursery ready. 

My Dream Baby Registry

If they weren't so stinking expensive these items would be on my baby registry:

-Petunia Picklebottom Diaper Bag:  Either this one or this one.  I think the second one is my favorite.

- Land of Nod bedding: The boy and girl patterns coordinate and I'm pretty sure it matches the green that is already on the wall. 

- Pottery Barn Kids Glider

- Glass Baby Bottles

How not to spend your Friday Night

Yesterday was a big day. Paul's basketball team was playing their cross town rival. It had been a couple of years since they played against each other. The "other team" is about a block from my school so I figured I'd stay at work until about 5 then head over for the game. Don't tell Paul but I was also thinking the game wasn't going to be close so I'd just stay until half time. Well... I was wrong. It was a VERY close game and unfortunately Paul's team lost by one. Well I figured I'd stay for part of the varsity game too. I didn't want to miss out on the action.

About halfway into the first quarter of the varsity game I started to get uncomfortable. I figured it was a combination of sitting on the bleachers for too long, it being Friday, and of course being pregnant with twins. I kind of just sucked it up and decided to leave at half time. Well as it got close to half time I became more and more uncomfortable and I started to hurt. Now I had already been into the doctor once this week with what I thought were contractions and I was thinking I was having them again. They didn't seem to worried so I thought once I got home, ate dinner, drank some water and laid down they'd go away.

Well.... they just got worse. I couldn't get comfortable. Sitting, standing, laying down it didn't matter. It was the kind of pain that if I wasn't pregnant would have me taking an Aleve and laying on my fists for the pain. So I called Paul thinking that the varsity game must be just about over. Then I waited... Then I texted him and he called back. He was hoping to go out with a friend who was at the game but I convinced him to come home.

So after a call to the doctors office which connected us with a triage nurse, we think from the hospital, we headed up to PVH. We were instructed to call and let them know that we were on our way and to head up to Labor and Delivery. We were very surprised how fast we were able to get into the hospital and put into a room. I'm not sure if it was because we called ahead or because it was approaching 10 on a Friday night and not much was going on. (Must be like call ahead seating at a restaurant, ha!)

We got into the room and they hooked up monitors for the babies' heart rates and one to see if they could detect any contractions. Well, the babies were doing fine, except they weren't cooperating and it was a little hard to keep them monitored. They tend to be fairly active at night and were moving around a lot. They were able to see some contractions, which by this time weren't as bad as they had been at home. They also checked my urine, heart rate and blood pressure which all looked normal. (The nurse did mention that I definitely was not dehydrated which can sometimes cause contractions. I have been told by some doctors that I follow directions well.) So the doctor came in to check my cervix (which is looking fine) and do a test called FFN. I can't remember what it stands for but it is looking for some sort of fetal protein. If the test is negative they are 90% sure you won't deliver in the next 2 weeks. (Mine was negative.) Then they did an ultrasound to measure the length of my cervix, which is the same as it has been for the last couple of months, also good. But I was still having contractions so I was given a shot of some sort of medicine to calm down my uterus and also given a pill to do the same thing.

The contractions stopped.. thank goodness. We were sent home with a prescription for the pill which I need to take if I feel contractions again, instructions to move up my Friday appointment to the beginning of the week and with directions to take it easy this weekend. We were there almost 2 hours and were very happy it didn't take the several hours our nurse, Erin, thought it might take. We also hope to not return in the near future. I guess the good news is that we now don't need to go tour the hospital.

Lessons learned: Rest more and call when things don't seem right.

Missing: My Feet

Whose feet are these? I'm pretty sure that they aren't mine. Mine are supposed to look like this...

A Picture Preview...

I have decided to start the Picture of the Day again starting on January 1st. I figure it will be a great year to document, or attempt to. Paul is worried that he and Maddy will not get their fair share of pictures. So he has asked that for every picture I take of the babies I take one of him and of Maddy. We will see how long this lasts since last year I tried to take his picture many times and he wasn't too happy about it. Also, take a close look at Paul's nose. There is a great story attached to that injury. You'll have to ask him to get the story though. :-)

27 Weeks

(This is actually an almost 26 week picture. Notice the old purple paint color.)

How far along? 27 weeks

Babies' size and stats? I'm not sure how big the little munchkins are now but I will have another ultrasound and growth scan next week. About 3 weeks ago little boy was 1 lb. 12 oz. and little girl was smaller.

Gain? Do I want to say?? About 30 lbs. Happily I seem to be slowing down as I only gained a pound in the last week and that was even WITH Thanksgiving.

Maternity clothes? Yes. And I'm a little worried I might outgrow those before the end of this pregnancy. I keep trying to get my non-maternity sweaters to fit but it just doesn't work very well.

Stretch marks? I think they might have made an appearance last week. :-( I'm still trying to keep the rest away. I asked the dermatologist what I could do to prevent them and she basically said nothing. I guess when you have twins it isn't too surprising.

Sleep? Still pretty much the same although I only got up once last night.

Foods I am loving? Baked goods. I'm afraid I'm giving them a sweet tooth. :-)

Foods I am hating? Fresh vegetables and I'm beginning to get heartburn with citrus fruits and spicy food if I eat them too late in the day.

Best moment this week? Watching reactions from everyone who asks when I'm due and I respond March 1st. I guess I really do look like I'm due any day now.

Movement? Yep. I noticed a lack or less movement over the last 5 or so days. I'm still not so great at calling the doctor with every little question I have but I decided I should call today because I was feeling some cramping and contractions (I thought) yesterday. At any rate they said as long as I feel 10 kicks a day I don't need to be worried. And that I should be drinking more water it helps with the Braxton Hicks contractions. That and my back brace that I wear to bed should become an all day accessory.

Symptoms? Hmm... pretty much everything I think. I found out at last week's appointment that I do not have gestational diabetes, which is excellent news. The dr was thinking I might have it because little boy was measuring so big and because you're at a higher risk with twins. I was a little low on iron so now I'm taking an iron supplement and am feeling like I have a little more energy.

Gender? One BOY and one GIRL!

What I'm looking forward to? Winter Break! I can't wait for a little bit of time away from work. I keep thinking that I might have restricted work time but I probably will be working up to the end.

Milestones: We have a painted nursery with NO guest room furniture left in it. Thanks to my parents and my brother the purple room has been painted green. It is a little brighter than I had hoped but it matches the sheets I had picked out and it is starting to grow on me. We also attempted to buy a crib this weekend but will need to wait a week and a half for them to be eligible to a 20 percent off coupon.

Emotions: Feeling a little overwhelmed. There is still a ton to do before the babies get here and to get ready for Christmas.

On Winter and Puppies

I'm pretty sure I've written about this before BUT here it is again. There is something about this time of year and my puppy fever. It starts to get close to the holidays and I start thinking about puppies. This doesn't help: Photo: Corbis http://theweek.com/article/slideshow/209498/what-should-putin-name-his-puppy

Who wouldn't want a furry, cuddly, cute puppy to cuddle with? You know what else doesn't help puppy fever? The Eddie Bauer catalog. Don't worry... we won't be getting a new puppy because we will be getting two cute cuddly babies soon. And I have a furry, sometimes will cuddle dog already. But as I told Paul the other day, I just need a friend with a new puppy so I can come and hold it. So if you have one let me know!

Heard IN the classroom

It really is crazy the stuff kids (and some adults) say. In an attempt to remember these things I'm writing this post.

1. At my school we have a program for students who have limited abilities. One of these students who is a fifth grader, comes to wave hello and says, "Hi twins." every time he sees me. I told him that they couldn't say hello back yet and he asked why. :-) I then asked what I should name them and he promptly replied: Sponge Bob Square Pants and when I asked what to name the second one he said Josue and the girl, Morgan. (On a side note- Before it was really obvious and I could put on a jacket and my belly would "disappear" he would come and ask where the twins were.)

2. My class STRUGGLES with talking this year. Normally you have a couple of good talkers but this year I have at least 6. Well some well intentioned teacher at my school told my class that their noise was dangerous to the babies. After discussing the talking issue while working on team building with the counselor the kids brought up how the babies can hear them and how dangerous the noise was. I reassured them that the noise wasn't dangerous for the babies but they could hear them.

3. As we were reshuffling for math this morning my teaching partner was having one of his kids ask me what system of measurement we should use. He brought up that the babies should be learning the metric system. I said that they are learning it as I teach. One of my students replied, "The only thing they're learning is how to eat. Have you seen this woman eat?" Ha! I don't even eat in front of them. He also was the same students who asked one day, when I was starving, why I was eating 3 muffins. I bet his mom would die if she knew what he said.

4. A former student was in the building helping out with the book fair. His sister still goes to our school and his mom is very active in the building. I guess the sight of me pregnant weirded him out. (He is a freshman in high school.) I guess he kept telling his mom that it is just so weird.

That's it for now. I'm sure there will be more.

A Pregnant Woman's Shopping List

Yesterday I ran some errands. I "needed" a couple of things and the day I had at work warranted something new. Here is what was on my list:

- a fake wedding band. Mine no longer fits, or I might be able to get it on but I don't want it to get stuck. It feels weird to just wear my engagement ring and I'm not so sure how long that will still fit.
- more socks. Again, my favorite socks, the ones with patterns and colors (remember I teach elementary school so it is okay to wear crazy socks) seem to dig into my ankles when they are swollen at the end of the day. So for the next 4 months I'm stuck with plain, boring solid colors that are loose enough to not leave marks on my ankles, on most days.
- another new bra. This is pretty self explanatory I think.
- pants, preferably khaki and comfortable. I currently have 3 pairs of maternity "work" pants and I really would like one more so I can have one per day of the work week. (Fridays have been deemed jean days at school so I'm good there.) STILL looking for pants. Maternity really hasn't caught up with regular clothes in offering long lengths or even making them.
- purse. I'm long over due for a new one but I've had a hard time finding one I like.
- cheap Halloween costumes. Unfortunately I waited too long and they are all gone. I did, however, find many choices in dog costumes. I'll wait a little while longer and then Maddy can be a bee next year. :-) She'll love it!
- and then what I bought that wasn't one the list. Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes! I had the thought that with all the Christmas stuff they must be back and there were. I'm sad to say that I ate almost the whole box before I got home. I also found a few summer/fall clothes for Pip and Squeak that were pretty cheap. I'm finding that the clearance selection for boys is MUCH better than for girls. So we might have a well dressed little boy and a poor sister without much to choose from.

22 Weeks

How far along? 22 weeks

Babies' size and stats? According to the book our babies are now a whole pound and about 8 inches long! They have developing senses. They even say that the placenta changes taste based on what I eat.

Gain? I believe the doctor said 17 pounds yesterday. I asked her about my weight gain and she said I was gaining what I needed to. I should expect to gain a pound a week. I am measuring 29 weeks, which is expected for a twin pregnancy.

Maternity clothes? Pants and some tops.

Stretch marks? None

Sleep? Still not sleeping great which is so disappointing. I asked about my pain when I'm sleeping and my doctor recommended a back brace. I guess they are sold at Babies R'Us and I am planning on getting one this weekend. :-)

Foods I am loving? Well I've really been craving pumpkin scones at Starbucks, apples, and apple cider.

Foods I am hating? Still raw vegetables and spicy foods. I had a salad the other day and my stomach felt bad for a couple of hours after.

Best moment this week? Spending time with my siblings at my cousin's Vegas Wedding. Kevin even offered to carry me back to the hotel. :-)

Movement? Yep... They seem to wake up at about 4:30 or at least that is when I start to notice movement.

Symptoms? I'm tired this week...could have been the trip. I have also noticed that I'm moving a lot slower than I normally do. Takes me a while to get down the hallway. Also space is getting tighter so I've been having to go to the bathroom a lot more often. Luckily I have someone at work that comes to check on me a couple of times during the day.

Gender? One BOY and one GIRL!

What I'm looking forward to? Holidays.

Milestones: Hitting the halfway point!

Emotions: We have A LOT to do before the babies arrive and with basketball season just around the corner we are quickly running out of time.

Do you remember this song?

Well the advice is good. At least the wear suncreen part. Especially when you spend hours of your life outside by the pool. And for sure if you'd like to keep your skin scar free. I had my yearly skin cancer screening on Friday. I was hoping to make it two years in a row without have a mole removed, unfortunately it didn't happen. Suspicious mole number 5 has been sent to the lab. (Luckily they've just been abnormal cell growth or pre-cancerous cells but nothing dangerous.) I guess I should have listened to my mom more when I was younger. So don't forget to wear your suncreen... now that it is fall. :-)

Halfway There!

How far along? 20 Weeks and a few days

Baby's size and stats? About 12 0z. each

Gain? On a good day I've gained about 15 lbs. Being sick this last week hasn't helped much.

Maternity clothes? I still am wearing non-maternity tops but I've been in maternity pants for a couple of months. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to pull off "regular" shirts.

Stretch marks? None

Sleep? Sleep hasn't been great for about the last month. I keep adding pillows but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I think it is just going to be painful sleeping for the next 20 weeks. I have found that sometimes just getting up and walking downstairs then getting back into bed will help with the hip pain. I was considering buying one of those maternity pillows but they are so expensive. Is it worth it?

Foods I am loving? I'm loving pretty much anything. Well... except for spicy/Mexican food but I didn't really like those anyway. Since I'm fighting an awesome cold this week I've been eating a lot of soup, which has been very tasty.

Foods I am hating? Still raw vegetables and spicy foods.

Best moment this week? We had our 20 week ultrasound on Friday. Paul and I opted to have a perinatologist perform the anatomy scan just to double check that everything with Pip and Squeak was going well. They're both doing great and measuring about 2 days ahead. The doctor said that we're about a low risk as you can get with a twin pregnancy. Great news!

Paul and I had been trying to decide if we were going to find out what our frijolitos were. We were both leaning towards not finding out in the beginning but as time has gone by I was feeling like I wanted to know something. In the beginning, before we knew we were pregnant and before we knew it was twins, I told Paul that if we have twins I just wanted to know if they were the same sex or different sexes. I finally convinced my wonderful husband to let me find out. (He said they were growing in me so I could make the final decision. What a great guy.) The ultrasound tech/nurse seemed a little confused because if they were the same sex we didn't want to know what sex they were. But now we have some sort of answer.... which I will share later. :-)

Movement? I have been feeling flutters for about three weeks but in the last couple of weeks I've been feeling a little more than flutters. It normally is about dinner time and for some reason it is mostly right below my ribs... thank you Baby B. The best way I could describe it is it feels like being lightly flicked from the inside.

Symptoms? Just pain (back and hips) and swollen ankles. I have had to buy different socks to avoid cutting of the circulation in my feet. I've been doing my prenatal yoga video when I start to hurt too much but Maddy isn't the greatest yoga partner but it does seem to help stretch me out.

Gender? What do you think? Boys, Girls or one of each?

What I'm looking forward to? Setting up the nursery... I'm ready to be able to sit in it and think about holding two little babies.

Milestones: Hitting the halfway point!

Emotions: I'm so very excited to be able to do more planning now that I have an idea of who is going to arrive in late February/early March. I can't believe that we still have to wait 20 more weeks until they arrive. I also can't believe that they are only 12 oz. and that they, hopefully, will grow to 6 times that size. I'm not quite sure where they are going to fit. :-)

Update

Maddy insists on being in the picture.

1. The most adventurous thing I've ever done is jumping off the cliff into the Poudre Canyon. I went to support a friend and ended up jumping instead. It went against every lifeguard training I had. It was also exhilarating and terrifying.

2. If I were a pair of shoes I would be a pair of flip flops. They are the closest thing to not wearing shoes that you can get. Apparently I've never liked shoes. At least that is what my parents say.

3. My preferred mode of digital communication is texting. I have always hated talking on the phone. I can get my message across without having a long conversation with nothing to say.

4. I feel happiest when I've done something I didn't think I could OR eating dinner with Paul having a conversation about who knows what.

5. A little dream I have for my life is to be happy. I would also love to try floral arranging. I WILL take some sort of class in my life.

6. The one modern convenience I could NOT do without is e-mail. It is so easy.

7. Music, movies, TV or books: if I could only choose one to enjoy I would pick books for sure.

Break

Well it looks like I took the summer off. School has started and we're slowly getting used to the "normal" schedule, complete with Friday evening naps. There are a number of reasons I love Back-to-School (and a few why I don't) so here is a little list. What I love about going Back-to-School:
1. A change of scenery. I do love relaxing at home like we did this summer but it is refreshing to sit in my classroom.
2. Meeting a new class. The first day of school is a little like opening a present from someone who doesn't know you very well. You don't really know what to expect. You may recognize some names (good and bad) or you may know some of the families but you never REALLY know what it is going to be like until the first day.
3. Planning. I think one reason I became a teacher is that I love to plan. I love to think of new things to do and fun activities to try. I try to plan out my own life but I've found out that my life doesn't always follow my plan. And more importantly those important people in my life don't always follow my plan too. BUT my kids, they have no choice. :-)
4. People! Summer time can be a little isolating for me. I do love Paul but 2ish months of just the two of us gets a little, um... boring. It is great to be around different people on a daily basis.
5. New topics of conversation. This is one of the advantages of being married to someone with the same profession. We get to compare stories. During the summer we are a little short of stories. No kids, co-workers, new rules, new tests, new laws... etc. to talk about in our household.
6. SCHOOL SUPPLIES. All I have to say about this is shopping for new school supplies never gets old. I can't go a year without at least getting a new package of pens or pencils and you know my students never have all they need so I better get at least new markers, crayons and colored pencils too.

Fill in the Blank Friday- School

Another Fill in the blank Friday from Lauren at The Little Things We Do. I thought it was especially appropriate.


1. The best thing about being in school was seeing your friends every day.

2. The worst thing about being in school was all those other people were there too. :-) No, having to sit through classes about subjects that didn't seem important or interesting.

3. My favorite subject in school was science. I also really loved psychology.

4. One subject I wish I could have mastered/would like to master is some sort of foreign language. I think that maybe Spanish would have been a better foreign language choice but it is fun to impress people with what little Japanese I still remember. The 5th graders sure love it.

5. I could never get tired of studying well this is a hard one. For the moment I would say history. I'm currently trying to figure out what my kids really need to know about American History until after the American Revolution, but I keep finding more I think they should know. I also am enjoying the History Channel this summer.

6. The most memorable teacher I had was Mr. Palmer, 6th grade. He used to have a lunch time reading group and he would take us (in his OWN car) to lunch (at Wendy's) so we could discuss the book. What a great way to get kids interested. Can you imagine being able to still do that?

7. If I could choose between going to school for the rest of my life or working for the rest of my life, I would definitely choose being a student. I have often joked with Paul that I would love to be a perpetual student. The only problem would be paying for classes. There is so much out there to learn. It would be awesome. Then I'd also be able to buy back-to-school supplies and that is always fun.

Later...

On the way home from the festival we heard from some friends and were invited over for some BBQ. They also mentioned that it had just poured at home. Go figure, we were burning up in Denver and it was raining at home. I guess it was good it wasn't raining in Denver, on the chalk art. We had a great dinner and listened to more thunder and saw more lightning and then Paul and his friend Matt had a corn eating contest. Matt eats his corn going around and around while Paul eat typewriter style. So the question was: Which way is faster? Well without many proper contest rules they raced. According to the contest eating around and around is faster. Do you agree?

Paul has been seeing some interesting shapes in the clouds lately, but we haven't had the camera. What do you see in this cloud?

Denver Chalk Art Festival

Yesterday Paul and I met my mom, dad, aunt and uncle downtown for the Chalk Art Festival. My mom mentioned she had wanted to go and it seemed like a fun idea. It is amazing what people can do with a little chalk. Here are a few of my favorites:

It was extremely hot out. So hot that I knelt down to take a picture and almost burned my knee! We did a quick lap of the festival and then went for a drink at Rock Bottom Brewery. We have a Rock Bottom at home but the people watching is much better downtown. On the way there we looked for pianos. Something else my mom had heard about was the "Your Keys to the City" program. Basically there are a number of painted pianos around Denver for anyone to play. We were hoping to find one being played. Dad improvised. Then later we found a piano being played and accompanied by dancing! You gotta love downtown. You know the dancer has been around since 1809 and he's never seen a fox shake a rattlesnake.

Summer Foods!

We had our first official BBQ tonight. It seems little late in the year to have the first one, but it is never too late to get started. I have been eating and really loving a few good summer/BBQ foods. Here is what I love right now:

#1 I have been looking for an acceptable substitute for my daily Diet Coke and might have found one! I tried a sample of Simply Lemonade with Raspberry in the grocery store and then immediately bought a bottle. I've always liked lemonade but it is often too sweet especially when it is raspberry. This stuff is delicious! I still water it down a little but it tastes like summer.

#2 Laughing Cow Cheese- I happen to have the garlic and herb variety but I love the Swiss also. I was introduced to Laughing Cow cheese when I was following the South Beach Diet two years ago. I love that it comes in great individual servings and that it is spreadable. I love to eat it with crackers but right now I'm stuck on cheese and celery. Another attempt to avoid junk when I get home and am starving. I also is a great crunch.

#3 Veggie Chips- Even though they really aren't much better than my usual Sun Chips the word veggie makes you think that they are. They also taste great. Down fall is that they don't have them at King Soopers and Whole Foods just isn't very close. So when I have them and I'm not eating celery instead I do enjoy Veggie Chips.

#4 Amy's California Veggie Burger- Now it has been two or three years since the last time I had a hamburger, and it was from the farm down the street. And before that it was probably 10 years, so I've been stuck on hot dogs at BBQs for awhile. Hot dogs are okay but you just don't know what you're getting in them. That and trying to eat better and more organic just doesn't go with hot dogs. I've tried veggie burgers in the past but just didn't like it. I think it was the consistency and there were too many spices going on. Well I have found a winner! Thanks to Rachel Ray's magazine I tried their top choice and it was great! Granted it wasn't the same as a hamburger but in my opinion it was WAY better. (I might be biased though because I haven't eaten a burger by choice...they make my stomach hurt.) Grill them up like normal, I put cheese on it and a tomato and eat a way.

Yesterday was a bad day...

For my fingers. I started the afternoon by cutting my pointer knuckle on the serrated edge of the packing tape dispenser I was using at work. All I did was try to pick up something next to it. Then I was trying to clean the kitchen scissors and cut my thumb open. Later I was cutting up fruit and Paul so nicely asked why I was using a knife. If that doesn't prove that I'm clumsy I don't know what would. I wish I could say that the band-aids were just for looks but unfortunately both of my cuts are located in places where they kept splitting open and Paul for some reason didn't want blood on his food.

On another note: Friday was the last day of school. Hooray for summer! The lovely violets in this picture were one of three flowers that I got from my students. I love having flowers but I do NOT have a green thumb. I know violets are not easy to grow... any suggestions? The other two are/will be potted and put outside.

Fill in the Blank Friday

Here is something I found on another blog and I thought I'd play along...

1. One fashion trend I really regret is: Over sized clothing from high school. I really should have dressed more appropriately for my body when I was super in shape instead of covering it up with XL shirts.

2. The one thing that always completes any outfit is: a simple silver necklace

3. I would describe my personal style as: comfortable classic.

4. My fashion muse is: I don't think that I follow celebrities enough to have a fashion muse. Can a store be a muse? If so it would be The Loft.

5. If I could own one designer piece of clothing it would be: a Kate Spade purse

6. I would love to raid the wardrobe of : Susan Meyers on Desperate Housewives. She dresses pretty casually but I bet she would have a couple of nice dresses too.

7. Today I am wearing : Jeans, work polo and Keens. Yep today is definitely comfortable, but it is also the last day of school!

Acupuncture

So I have started going to acupuncture. I'm willing to see what the world of alternative medicine has to offer but Paul isn't so sure. It is a very interesting experience. I leave wishing I could just go home and continue being relaxed while laying in bed. It is interesting because my acupuncturist always gives me tidbits that she prefaces with, "Now I know this sounds like some weird Chinese medicine but... " But what the heck, why not try it. The worst that could happen is nothing and the best is that it works. So hear is what I've learned so far:
1. I have "weak kidneys" (not sure what weak kidneys mean but it is diagnosed by these symptoms: low back pain, knee pain, and fatigue. I also think that allergies are one of the symptoms) I didn't get any advice on what else to do about this other than continue the acupuncture
2. I have a "low internal flame"- My understanding of this means that my body is cold. Which is true most of the time. In order to get my flame warmer I need to eat warmer foods and drink warmer drinks. That is easy enough especially when it is snowing in May. :-) She also recommended Chi Tea because ginger and cinnamon is also good. So I will be trying to drink Chi Tea, which I have found that I do like Chi Tea Lattes when they have more than half milk (so they aren't so sweet). I haven't bought any plain Chi tea to try out yet. Normally I find that they're too spicy (with ginger and cinnamon I guess).

Talent Show

The hit performance from this week's talent show. His mom posted it on YouTube. Pretty funny.... this little guy is in first grade.

What I've been up to lately, in pictures

Woke up to snow on April 29th. The new tree is on the small one on the left.

Bought and planted a tree to replace the one that had died in our backyard.

Went to Paul's niece's 3rd birthday at Chuck E'Cheese.

Dinner at Cracker Barrel with Paul's family.

Lunch and shopping in Boulder with my friend Melissa who was visiting from Michigan Maddy vs. Cows and Horse in Oklahoma "The Stare down"

Spring Break in Oklahoma

Summer is Coming...

The warm weather lately has me noticing many hints that summer is on the way. (You know we only have 30 working days of school left!) Here are just a couple of summer hints:
- Dairy Delite: A local ice cream shop that is only open late Spring to early Fall opened on Tuesday! Even though we don't go to Dairy Delite very often it is a great sight to see the parking lot PACKED with people.
-People are EVERYWHERE! They're on their bikes, playing volleyball in the park, playing basketball outside my classroom when I went to work today and in the elementary school's field that is our backyard.
- I have tulips! Last year, past optimal planting time, I planted about 6 tulips bulbs in hope that maybe they would grow. And they have. I am so excited!

That is it for now! Enjoy the last few weeks of "spring".

Beautiful Day

Last Friday we had a teacher work day, so we could get our 3rd quarter grades done. I went in to work for about 3 hours early and then Paul and I headed up the mountain for a short hike. Maddy has always done really well on hikes. She stays close, comes when she is called and checks back. I'm not sure where she learned how to be so good because it took a while for us to trust her off leash. Rabbits, squirrels and now birds are a little too tempting to her.

The weather was beautiful. There was still snow on the ground and the path was pretty slick but overall it was a great day for a hike. We think that Maddy is an Australian Kelpie. Which would make you think that she might prefer warm weather. But she LOVES the snow. It could be falling from the sky or still on the ground and she can't get enough of it.

Ice, Ice Baby

I will eventually finish the countdown to 30, now that it has passed. But for now here is a present day post.
We have a friend who dances for the local IFL, indoor football league. She gets some free tickets to every home game. Normally the boys go but on Friday the women got to go also. I had a blast! I've decided that non-sold out games are the best. The team isn't very well known and doesn't draw a large crowd so you can kind of sit where ever you want. Also, they have all kinds of prizes, which you're more likely to win in a small crowd. Our group was fairly large so we had a couple of free shirts thrown our way. Luckily the guy who caught it didn't want that size shirt and he gave it to me... THANKS! Their free shirts are actually shirts for the team too. I also tracked down the mascot so I could get a picture. I think it might be my next goal to get pictures with all of the Colorado mascots. Who knows.During half time they played "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader" with some fifth graders. The funny thing was they gave the wrong answer for one of them. It was about similes and metaphors. Do you know the difference? Our group was a little bugged that they now had a small crowd of kids questioning their knowledge right before CSAP begins. But we were able to make sure they knew they made a mistake. :-)

Age 19

Well, I finished the year in the dorms. YUCK! I wouldn't do that again but I would still recommend it to anyone starting college. My friend, the one that was Mormon, went on his mission after the end of the first semester. I also became friends with my neighbor in the dorms. She actually moved into a house with me my sophomore year. I never did find a way to be friends with my roommate. And my friend and I decided to rush. I never really thought I would be a sorority girl but I had always belonged to something. Well I always belonged to the swim team or the band and I liked belonging to something. It also seemed like a great way to meet new people, since living in the dorms didn't really work out for me.

So in September Jaime and I went through rush. It is a very interesting experience and I wouldn't really call it fun either. Nerve wrecking is more like it. Well I decided to join Pi Beta Phi. The girls seemed real and down to earth and there weren't any girls from my high school. (My pledge class ended up having 3 of us from my high school, darn it.) Joining a sorority was a great thing for me. I learned how to talk to just about anyone and I met a bunch of great girls. It also kept me busy. I've learned I'm better when I have things to keep me busy. Oh and since Amanda never joined a sorority it was something that I did on my own.

Well, remember how I had planned on dating a bunch of different guys and not date anyone seriously? Well, that worked for the summer. But then I met Paul. Here is the real story of how Paul and I met... Back in the day, when I was 19, AOL Instant Messenger had search options. You could look for people who lived near you, who were the same age, went to the same school, opposite sex, etc. Well randomly one day Paul's roommate IMed me. I started "chatting" with him and then I started chatting with Paul. Well Paul and I have a lot of the same values. We both want kids, our parents are still married, we played sports, we don't swear, blah, blah, blah.... Needless to say we started "chatting" more and more frequently. Did I mention he lived less than a mile away from me? So after a couple of months (I think) we decided to meet each other. Yes, I had a friend. Yes, we went to a safe place. (I had him come to where I was working, Target, so I could check him out first.) He was the person I thought he was from "chatting" through IM. So we decided to start dating. We went on a date or two and then I met this other guy. His name was Kevin, we met at a party and I thought I'd like to get to know him better and he asked me out. I told Paul I'd like to date Kevin and Paul promptly told me NO. I could date that other guy but I couldn't date him too. Well, I never went out with Kevin. Paul seriously ruined my plan.

Age 17 and 18

Well the scanner isn't wanting to work right now so this post will have to be without pictures, until later. Pretty much to sum up my last two years in high school is this:
- swam a lot
- travelled and swam in a different state
- worked during the summer as a lifeguard (I don't care what people say I did not like that job)
- started dating a new guy
- decided I didn't want to be a pediatrician after all (AP Bio was not great for me)
- decided I wanted to be a teacher
- looked for a division one school with a teaching program and a swim team I could swim on
- decided I wanted to go to Bradley. It fit all the criteria
- went on a recruiting trip and decided I didn't want to be on a team that lost a lot and didn't care
- decided at the last minute to go to CSU (even though the last thing I wanted to do was continue to follow my sister)
- decided I was kind of burnt out of swimming anyway and I didn't want to swim in college
- moved to a new house
- started coaching the neighborhood swim team (Thought for a little while I should be a high school PE teacher in charge of aquatics, then decided I'm not really the female high school PE teacher type)

When I was 18 I started college. Here is the abbreviated version of my first half of my freshman year of college.
- when I was applying to CSU and getting a dorm I decided to be a part of a diversity program. This meant that I would go to school a couple of days early to meet the other people in my program and we would take classes together and live together and everything would be great. Well...I learned a lot that semester. I didn't drink in high school. Not even once. So when I went up to college I wasn't really into the whole party scene. This isn't a great way to start a new school. All of the people on my floor, well almost all would go out to party on the weekends and I would stay home. Soon they stopped asking if I wanted to go. So I became great friends with a guy on my floor who was Mormon. He was a great guy. I would also hang out with that boyfriend of mine. I met him in high school but he was about 21 when I started college. Since I didn't go out and party and didn't really have any friends on my floor or in my dorm I had a lot of time to study. Which I actually did a lot of. For the first time ever I had time to do all the homework assigned. (In high school I was never able to get everything done. Swimming took up too much time and I was/am great at procrastinating.) This time to study ended up being a great thing because I started college with a great GPA that I was able to chip away at later.
- My roommate. My roommate and I were so different (remember we were in a diversity cohort) that we had nothing in common or at least nothing we could find. She came from Hawaii and from a family of 13. She was the oldest. For most of the year she had a boyfriend. I'm pretty sure she was determined to find her self a football player. So she didn't spend many nights in our dorm, which was great. But when she was there we both tried to pretend the other wasn't there. I love to sleep in the cold. She liked it to be hot and stuffy. I thought it was reasonable to leave the TV off if someone was listening to the radio. She thought it was okay to turn on the TV if I was listening to the radio. I thought you should replace food that you give to your friends. She thought she could give my food to her friends and not replace it. Anyways there were many things that made living together challenging.
- My sister. It turns out that having Amanda at CSU with me was a great thing. (I knew it would be but I just wanted to be my own person for awhile and not always "Amanda's sister". She so kindly let me hang out with her friends and stay over at their apartment when I needed to be away from my roommate. It was also nice because she had a car and I didn't.
- The boyfriend. I eventually broke up with the older boyfriend. Even though he spoiled me rotten. He also was getting kind of smothering. At this point I'd been a little bit of a serial dater. There was only about a year when I didn't have a boyfriend since the time I was in 7th grade. Granted I only had two different ones. I decided I was going to just date. I wanted nothing serious. That is what college kids do right?? (Read age 19 for more about this topic)

Age 16

Ahhh... sweet 16. I spent my 16th birthday at a swim meet. It seems fitting because that is where I spend a majority of my teenage years. I'm pretty sure we went to Red Robin after the meet and had Mountain High Mud Pie because that is what we did for birthdays in high school. I can still sing their birthday song. When I was 16 we also went to Hawaii. Talk about a dream vacation. My dad had won a work trip so we went out a little early to see Honolulu. We went snorkeling and I was able to scuba dive. We spent about 4 days at the most incredible hotel while my parents were off doing things with work. It was awesome! I just hope that some day I can go back.