the problem with packing

you never really know what you're gonna need until you need it. that's why i am packing a ton of clothes. and shoes. i know i don't need them all. i know i probably won't wear even half of them. but, what if i need the one thing i don't pack?!

normally when going to the beach you just need some shorts, tank tops, flip flops and a swim suit.

however, the one thing about this trip is that we'll have to attend a few functions with the other team members and we are supposed to dress "resort casual". that means no denim people. normally that wouldn't be a problem but just about every pair of maternity shorts or pants is...weird. i'm packing a few summer dresses for those times instead.

michael is an over-packer too. it should be an interesting job getting all this stuff into suitcases...


don't laugh.

nursery for nameless

if you know me at all, you know i like to have things organized. i'm a planner and a completer and i don't like to dwell over decisions for too long. for the first few months, i was okay with not having made any decisions for my son who will be here in around 3 months. the past couple of weeks have been...frustrating...to say the least. i've had numerous chats, emails and text messages with seph to try and make some decisions final. michael and i finally decided on furniture and it was, of course, discontinued.

because i had the day off yesterday and was expecting a relaxing day...someone decided to throw a kink in the plan. i started looking, once again, at nursery stuff. i almost went bonkers. in a chat with seph, she actually said, "are you frowning right now?" and i was!! after 1 million internet sites and lists of pros and cons, i think i may be really digging this bedding...

my favorite colors are blue and green. plus-just about everything in my house is either blue, green or brown. i think this bedding kind of goes with that theme...

artwork.

cute baskets for diapers, lotions, toys or whatever...

i've also found a paint idea that i like for the wall. it would look similar to this painted in the colors of the bedding. also, the letters in espresso but in all lowercase. that was seph's idea.

i like the stripes. maybe a latte colored wall with the blue, green and choclate stripes. somehow...

i also think i've decided on furniture. mom loves it and that matters. she has great taste and she's buying the crib! :) she's done that for all of her other grandkids so far and i think she really likes being the one to provide the place where they'll sleep. she's so sweet.

i haven't checked on any of this with michael. i don't know if i'm going to. i think i'll just tell him it's what i've decided on. he gets to cause enough craziness over this child's name. i think i'll just choose where he'll sleep. :) love you, baby!

sigh...

viva fiesta!

san antonio has a huge fiesta celebration each april. on one blessed day of this 2 week long event, there is the battle of flowers parade. it's a school holiday!

i'm home!


the school day yesterday consisted of a field day morning, lunch, free time and fiesta party. i was completely exhuasted by the time i said goodbye to my last student. i drove home in a daze and went straight to bed. i slept for 3 hours before michael called and woke me. i was much better after that long snooze.


nameless' dr appt was on wednesday. he seems to be growing quite well in there. i'm sure each pound i gained was only on his little body. :) his heartbeat is still sounding very nice and strong. michael even noticed that it has slowed some since the beginning. it's nice to know that he pays attention while we're there! :)


the doc made sure to make sure that i'm no longer sleeping flat on my back. uh...okay, that's how i sleep people! now, i have to have a pillow propped under one side. oh well, i'm sure i'll live.

and then...there's hawaii!!! michael was awarded the trip for doing so well at work last year. we get to spend 6 days in maui. i will be having a message and facial while i'm there. then, i plan to lay on the beach and read. i'll be totally relaxed by the time i get back! can't wait!

2 days before we leave. 2 days of nothing to do but get ready for a week of nothing to do.

viva fiesta!

bullets

• baby boy is still nameless
• he can also kick the snot out of my hand but michael has yet to feel it. it might have something to do with his inability to sit still and focus on anything for an extended period of time...
• we finally agreed on baby furniture. it's discontinued.
• i just spent an hour in the sun. it was exhilarating!
• 33 days left of school
• 8 days until we leave for hawaii!!!
• after catching up on what felt like 50 loads of laundry two weeks ago, the laundry baskets have yet to be filled again. i've shown the laundry that i am queen, well...for the time being anyway.
• spending easter sunday with ellie was so much fun. she was the cutest easter egg hunter ever.
• i'm feeling the bug at school. it's that time of year where i want to start cleaning and changing and planning for next year. i'm just in a weird place right now.
• jules has been doing well since her episode. we're just working on getting her meal times back on schedule. instead of breakfast and dinner, she's been eating everything at dinner time.
• we're planning on having michael's sister, danielle, over for a couple of weeks in the summer. i can't wait!
• totally enjoying this beautiful saturday at home!

chelle

happy birthday to you.
happy birthday to you.
happy birthday dear chelle,
happy birthday to you!

you are so old! :) love you girl!

baby boy cuteness

one stop michelle, amy and i made was gymboree. we all knew we shouldnt' go, but we did anyway. i ended up spending too much money but mostly everything i bought was on clearance. i also did well getting stuff for a few different sizes...i'm so in love with this boy! :)

first, just some casual shirts.

this cute outfit of gray pants and a striped shirt

the sweetest little outfit i've ever seen. michelle kept telling me not to buy it. she finally grabbed it from my hand and bought it herself. sweet friend! :)

my favorite. i can just see some skinny little legs hanging out of these shorts with those cutie blue shoes.

he may not have a name, but he'll be the cutest nameless boy ever!

exactly what i needed

this weekend was great! amy, michelle and hudson got here friday evening and the fun began! we started with a dinner from taco villa brought in especially from amy herself. burritos and taco villa hot sauce! yummo!!!!!

we spent most of saturday shopping and hanging out. i spent the most money out of all of us...of course. michael and i are going to hawaii at the end of this month and amy decided i definitely needed some cute summer dresses for my trip. we stopped by old navy and she and michelle helped me pick out a couple of really cute ones! i can feel the sun on my shoulders now! :)

when our dinner at pf changs was over, we came home and put hudson to bed. then, we spent the better part of the night chatting. it's what we do best! it was a blast and totally what i needed. nothing at all compares to time with great friends.

thanks girls, for making the drive to san antonio and hanging with me all weekend, you bad influences you...:) love you both!

so excited!!!

michelle and amy are coming to see me this weekend! amy should be here in about 10 minutes and chelle not long after that! i absolutely cannot wait! as i was walking my students out for dismissal, a feeling of friday and friends moved through me and i literally almost screamed! out loud!

we don't have any great plans except to hang out and eat out (i'm thinking pg changs!) and...talk about baby stuff, of course! hurry and get here already!

to make this weekend even better...michael cleaned the house! he has now lost the excuse that he can't do it. that man can clean!!! he has made me eternally grateful! thanks babe!

it's gonna be a great weekend! hope everyone has a great weekend as well!

jules update

our neighbors kindly took jules to the vet this morning for her echo cardiogram. i picked her up about 20 minutes ago. dr. carter said that both the ekg and the echo showed signs of heart disease, however, it is mild at this point in time. speaking from her "gut" she thinks the heart disease was not the cause of the episode yesterday.

dr. carter asked michael if there was any chance jules could have been biten by a bug or something yesterday. she felt like jules could have been having an allergic reaction. when i got to the vet, i verified that, in fact, there had been a bee buzzing around us quite a bit just before jules started acting funny. we never actually saw jules react to the bee or yelp so we didn't even put the two together. dr. said that if the bee sting is what caused this episode, jules' reaction would have happened too quickly for us to even see swelling on her face. one good thing, is that i know exactly what that would have looked like. when we also had dixie, jules' mom, she was stung or bitten and her face was puffy and raw and painful looking.

so, the plan now is that we keep benadryl on hand all the time. if anything like that happens again, we are to give her the benadryl and head to the vet. if it is an allergic reaction, the benadryl can help keep things at bay until we get there. if is related to her heart disease, the benadryl will not affect her at all.

now, the doc wants to put jules on a heart monitor for a week to help determine arrhythmias. once that is better understood, we will know what heart medication jules needs. we won't decide if we're going to do that until we see how much it would cost us.

needless to say, i feel a lot better with the information that the doctor thinks jules was not dying from heart disease yesterday. i know we will still watch her and do the best we can to help prevent any issues, but it helps to know that her heart disease is, for now, slightly mild.

thank you, Jesus, for watching over our little butt shaker. she is so important to us.

a scare

most of what we planned to do for the day was not marked off of the to-do list. we spent the better part of the afternoon at the animal hospital with jules.

michael went outside about 11am to mow the lawn. jules always goes out with him, follows him around and makes sure he is doing a good job. when the mowing was complete, we went out to the front porch to look at his beautiful handy-work. i'm sitting in the rocking chair when i look over to see jules oddly leaning against the wall. i point out to michael that she looks weird. he comes over to look but she gets up and walks off the porch to the side yard. michael could see her and said she was hunched over in some weird way. as i made my way to the edge, she lifted her head and moved over towards us. she got her front feet up on the porch and left her back feet on the ground. michael began walking to the other side of the house, calling her as he went. she stayed frozen in the same spot. as i started to make a fuss, he came back over and put his arms around her. she collapsed.

she couldnt' stand or even sit. he laid her down on the porch and she stayed there as we ran to change clothes and get in the car. michael laid her head in my lap in the backseat of his car and sped to the nearest clinic.

we were there for about 15 minutes before she started to perk up a little. the doctor was extremely concerned and very thorough. jules has a heart murmur, something extremely normal in boxer dogs. in fact, they have such a history of heart issues that there is a name specifically for what they have. apparently, in many health related categories, boxers are in a league all their own.

they kept jules at the vet for a few hours pumping her with fluids and allowing her to rest under their watchful eyes. she's scheduled for an echo cardiogram tomorrow and we'll know more then. we except that she'll have to be put on a daily medication for the remainder of her life. according to the doctor, she could easily have 5 great years left. he doesn't see much beyond that and explained that something could even happen before then. she's only 4. it seems once boxers start having these types of spells, they will more than likely have more and they could get worse. one spell, without warning, could be too much for jules to recover from.

michael brought her home and she shook her butt when she saw me. she's been a little less energetic, but has the ol' jules look in her eyes. i pray that we get to spend many more years with her. it was painful enough to think something might happen to her today.

i love that baby girl. she is absolutely an important part of our family. i'm so glad to have her home today...Jesus keep her in your hands.

the boy without a name...

there is a beautiful, carlsbad caverns type cave not far from san antonio. the story is told that when the cave was discovered, it was too beautiful to be named. it is, instead, called the cave without a name.

i really thought, a few months ago, that we had names for our babies 90% picked. however, on the way out of the doctor's office on that beautiful day we discovered our baby was to be a boy, michael declares "well, we have to come up with a name now."

we've spent the last few weeks going over every name we've ever heard of plus some. i have crystal's 100,001+ baby names. nada. see, michael wants something super traditional and i want something in between. there are names i've mentioned that he scoffs at. others he responds with "is that even a name? it just sounds like sounds put together." yeah-it hasn't been the easiest of discussions.

add to that the fact that my mom and many friends are dying to call this kid something other than sesse and we're experiencing quite the influx of questions.

the other day michael said, "maybe he's just so beautiful that he'll be the boy without a name. your dad calls me 'what's his name.' surely we can call him no name."

i didn't think it was very funny.

i know we have plenty of time and giving your child a name that he will have for the rest of his life is a pretty serious thing. but...i am ready to give him more of an identity.

got any suggestions?

home, sweet home

i am home today. yesterday driving home from school, i decided to take the day off! i called in a sub, sent a note to be left with extra instructions for the sub and slept in until 9:15am.

michael is working from home and has fallen into the crutches of my evil plan perfectly. a few days ago, at his request, i made him a to-do list of all the things that he needed to work on. i also asked if he would take over the sweeping and mopping. afterall, i am pregnant. :)

amy and michelle are coming to visit on friday so my plan for the day off is to leisurely clean the house, get all of the laundry done and put away (which will be a first in the past couple of months), and have michael help! it's gonna be so exciting!

i actually spent sunday afternoon cleaning our closet and pulling all of the laundry into the living room. i felt like having that pile out in the open would make me finish it off. it's working!

the only problem with this evil plan...michael and i are both feeling extremely lazy...