school sweethearts

this afternoon, around 2pm after recess, my class surprised me with a baby shower!

they, with their parents, have been secretly planning it since last week. four wonderful room moms, two of them teachers in our school, sent home notes asking for little things to fill the tub with. they also made a cake and decorated while i was outside. those kids kept a secret quite well, i must say!

i exclaimed over each and every gift. they were so proud. when i said, "thank you so much for this baby shower. you guys are the best class ever!" they responded with, "you're welcome mrs. kotze...you're the best teacher ever!"

what a perfect day.

bedding...check!

baby boy's bedding came in yesterday.

i'm so happy to say I LOVE IT!

i think it's totally me and i'm excited to get some more things going in the nursery, like...maybe a bed to put the bedding on!

jon & kate plus 8

last night was the season premier. it was maybe the saddest thing i've ever seen.

apparently something has gone terribly wrong in their marriage and they are separated. more than physically, you can see the separation in their attitudes and feelings. by the end of the show, jon and kate were sitting together talking to the camera. there was visible space between them. jon looked hard and cold and kate acted hurt and angry. whether what the media says about jon is true or not, they are a family i've watched for years. it was just so painful to watch a real couple go through this terrible situation in the public eye.

at the end, kate was crying. i was crying with her.

i know what i saw last night has been going on for months now, but i prayed for them both. i pray that Jesus speaks peace, comfort and forgiveness into their lives.

baby update

in the past few days, i've felt more pregnant than ever.

since coming home from hawaii, i've noticed my feet swelling if i stand up for long periods of time. even still, i hadn't felt swelling anywhere else. yesterday, i couldn't get my engagement ring on. :( i spent the day with my wedding ring only. by the time we made it back from lunch after church, i had straps on my feet from my sandals. it wasn't terribly bad, just worse than it's been before. i gotta say, i was hoping this stuff wouldn't start for a while.

we had a doctor's appointment on wednesday. i gained 3 lbs in month 6. that puts me at a total of 11 so far. i told my mom that i never thought i'd be so happy to gain 3 lbs in one month! ha! doctor says that all of my numbers look great. weight gain, blood pressure, measurements...it all looks good. i am absolutely amazed and in love with my body. it's amazing, isn't it? what it is capable of? it is, at this moment, nourishing and growing another human life, my son.

i'm supposed to start doing movement counts twice a day. 10 movements from the baby within a 2 hour period. so far, once i've started counting, i haven't had to go past 20 minutes. once this kid starts moving, he moves! i LOVE it! i feel such complete joy and love when i feel him moving around in there. i can stare at my stomach and watch it jump and leap or just roll around as he moves. if i push around or tap on my belly, he moves. i talk to him and pray over him and love him as he is now.

i am so overwhelmed sometimes with the feelings of being a mother. i know i still have so much more feeling to do. i know i'll go crazy with love and fear and joy when i hold him in my arms. he will completely change my life. am i ready for this? will i ever be ready for this? will it matter? i don't think so, but i want to do such a good job. this is the most important thing i will ever do in my lifetime. i feel so inadequate. i'm thankful knowing that my God is along for the ride as well.

michael and i have decided that i will be able to stay home next year. i've talked to my principal and turned in my letter of resignation. it's just about one of the scariest decisions i've ever made. is this really the right time to quit my job? people are losing their jobs left and right and i just decide to give mine away...Jesus, be with us.

i've finally ordered the baby's bedding and his furniture is lined up to be ordered as well. he may not have a name when he gets here, but at least he'll have somewhere to sleep. sweet, little thing.

maui day 6: travel

friday morning, with one last look from our balcony, we had breakfast and had our bags packed and ready to be picked up from our room at 12 noon.

we returned the car to avis and had their shuttle drop us off at the wailiea shops once again. we got just a few souvenirs for mom & dad, ken and kathy, ellie & grayson. because it was our last day, we chose to walk back to our hotel. there is a nice path along the ocean that passes several huge and beautiful resorts. i really did fine walking...for the first 45 minutes. the ocean view and overcast day made for a cool morning. michael was kind enough to carry our shopping bags and help me up steep hills. that is still the one thing i'm not used to. i am used to knowing how my body will react to certain situations. pregnancy has totally changed that.

we stopped a few times to rest and take pictures. after another 15-20 minutes we made it back to our hotel. we took two vouchers that we found in room after the picnic to have lunch at one of the restaurants there. $35 each seems like a lot but this place doesn't offer a cheap meal. we used most of what we could and spent the rest on a few snacks for the plane ride home.

the plane ride home was terrible. we sat in the middle row of three seats. michael on the end, me in the middle, mr. arms-taking-over-the-armrests on the other end.

listen up buddy, i know you're comfortable here with your arms on the rests, your earplugs in your ears and your little black eyepatch-thingy covering your eyes...but isn't it annoying that your arm is just barely grazing mine at all times?!?!?!?!!?!!?! i've got a belly, okay. i can't very well keep my arms in front of me and at my sides they even stick out pretty far, but i am still very well within the confines of my seat. you on the other hand, have your arm extending the boundary of yours and i'm tired of our arms touching ever so slightly!!

not to mention that men don't exactly sit with their legs together. i was miserable. so, apparently, was the boy growing in my belly. he kicked and squirmed and punched and flipped and flopped the entire 7 hour flight. i think we slept off and on for a total of about an hour. i almost cried with relief when our plane landed in dallas around 5am.

at dfw we had breakfast and waited at the gate until an american airlines lady came to the desk. i went over to get our boarding passes from her. she was a little confused at why we didn't already have them. as she began looking up our flights, she said that when the big mess up happened before we even left san antonio for hawaii, the lady exchanged the last leg of our flight. she said we would have to exit the airport, go back out to the AA check in desk and have someone out there fix it. michael was furious.

the first lady we met kindly took care of everything but then we had to go back through security and get checked. we made it back in just in time to board the plane. we slept the entire 40 min ride back to san antonio where ken picked us up at 9am sat morning.

we didn't even take our luggage out of the car before pulling the curtains and crashing for a few hours. we got up, had dinner and went back to bed.

now, it almost feels like hawaii was a dream. it was probably our last trip together as just husband and wife. next summer, next trip...we'll have more than just the two of us. our son will join us. and after that, maybe another kid or two. what a sweet thought of the future but what a wonderful memory of our past.

michael, thank you so much for our wonderful trip. all of your hard work paid off and because of you, we got to experience such a dream vacation before our family grows. you are a blessing to me and i am honored to be your wife. you make me so incredibly proud. i love you so much.

maui day 5: by night

the prize in our room thursday night was a new camera!! it was so fun and michael played with it the entire time i was getting ready for our picnic under the stars. the camera is a nikon, digital camera with a touch screen. we were way impressed! the picture below, although not great quality, was taken when michael figured out how to use the timer...funny guy!

nice, comfy dress for a pregnant kylah.

handsome man and a handsome view. sigh...

10 steps to enjoying a picnic under the stars with your handsome hubby...

our picnic area.

step 1-find somewhere to sit.

step 2 - sit.

step 3: accept, pretty immediately, a picnic basket filled with silverware, 2 wine glasses, 2 binto boxes of food.

step 4: drink, either the bottle of wine you are offered, or anything else you want. i chose a virgin lava flow and water.

step 5: eat. lobster, steak, mozzarella and tomato salad and asian noodles.

step 6: enjoy music. 4 stringed-instrument-playing women. beautiful!

step 7: enjoy friends and food.

step 8: make your way to the after dinner party and be amused at all of the people dancing to the old music. fun!!

step 9 and 10: say goodnight earlier than everyone else because you're pregnant ;) and head to bed without feeling guilty!

maui day 5

thursday was the day we'd looked forward to all week. we rented a car, mustang of course, and drove over the island. we chose, sadly, to stay away from the very popular, very scenic road to hana. while beautiful and natural, it's very windy and crazy. we figured that maybe my car-sickness mixed with being pregnant might not make for a very pleasant trip. we, instead, headed in the opposite direction and make our way to lahaina. the drive was gorgeous. the weather was perfect for the convertible top to be down. out one side of the car, you could see the beautiful mountain side of maui. out the other side...the ocean. the air smelled sweet and coastal. we honestly felt lucky to be alive.

the driver.

the navigator. and no...i did not nag.

a small scenic stop spot. too bad we didn't see any whales.

the car: top down. sooo nice. :)

in the center of lahaina, is a tree. a single tree that takes over an entire park. the limbs have grown out and down and rooted themselves into the ground. it was a beautiful sight.

while walking down the boardwalk, we passed a few dozen boats. anything you wanted to do on the water, could be found on this boardwalk. we happened by one boat just returning from a deep sea fishing trip. a ton of tuna and a few others. they were huge!

we were almost talked into taking a small boat out for some whale watching when she realized i was pregnant. shut down! it would've been so fun!

since we couldn't whale watch, we made up for it with some more lappert's. look at the caramel in this cup. how could that not be insanely delicious?! sorry, jenny...

we continued the drive up the coast and checked out a few more towns and scenic spots. the drive was beautiful. michael found a nice beach for some snorkeling. i watched from the beach.

on the way back down the coast, we stopped at a low-key spot for some more snorkeling. it was the perfect place. just off the highway, the water was completely calm. a long reef about 100 yards from the rocky beach helped break the waves. the water was less than 2 feet deep for about 15 yards. it then slowly makes it's way to water you can swim around in. full of reefs. they weren't incredibly colorful or stocked full of fish. but...there were fish and it was fun. however, i have discovered that i am definitely not an ocean swimmer. i was scared! i was having fun, but i kept turning around making sure a shark wasn't lurking in that cave or around that turn. i tried to just forget about it and enjoy swimming and breathing underwater. it wasn't to happen. it eventually got to be too much for my scardey-cat mind and i made my way, rather quickly, back to the rocky beach. michael finally looked up to see me sitting patiently on a rock waiting for him. he was a little disappointed that i didn't have as much fun as he did, but i think he mainly thought i was funny.

he kindly helped me pack my snorkel gear and head back down the road.

this rooster was roaming free outside our hotel when we got back.

and...another surprise was awaiting us in our room...