Nifty Fifty

It seems like I was just posting that there were only 100 days to go and now we're down to 5o! Only about 50 days until I have a son? So exciting, yet so hard to believe at the same time! Time is moving fast! Between fighting a cold, Mat's job situation, just normal tiredness, and starting to feel the pressure of getting the nursery prepared, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I'm hoping life calms down a little bit and I get to feeling better soon so that I'm back to my happy little self in plenty of time. Sleeping is getting rough and I think that's leading to my general mood. Luckily it's a long weekend so I'm determined to get some extra rest and start the week feeling more on top of things!

1 week from today is my next baby shower with my Florida girlfriends. My mom and aunt are also flying in for the occasion. Should be a good time! Then, the following weekend Mat's work is having a shower for us. Can you say SPOILED??!?! Yes, we are! It's so wonderful how excited everyone is right along with us. We're so appreciative of all the love and support and thankful that our baby will be born into such a wonderful, welcoming group of family and friends!

Welcome Weekend!

I'm so happy the weekend is finally here. It sure felt like a long week, and I'm really looking forward to a 3 day weekend. Plus, even though I go back to work on Tuesday, it's a "teacher work day," which is always wonderful to have time to actually accomplish something!

I thought Mat was keeping the Iowa thing on the down low for now, so I hadn't said anything. It's all happened so fast. I've almost been speechless anyways, and still have trouble even making sense of it or finding the words to describe my thoughts and emotions. I'm not happy. Period. Many a tears have been shed on my part even contemplating it. It's stressing me out, making me feel sad, questioning the near future, etc. I've avoided thinking about it as much as possible, but I don't know that that's a good solution either. It's probably too much to ramble on about in a blog, so I just ask for your prayers. I pray that God will guide us and direct us into the right direction for our growing family.

I do know that I'll be happy to have Mat home tonight! He flies in late tonight and I've really missed him! When we talked last night he felt like everything had gone really well so far in his interview process. It's sounding pretty probable that a job will be offered. I'm proud of him and all the work he's done to get this far. His Master's was not an easy feat. He worked very hard and put in a lot of time and effort. I think he'll make a great professor one day, no matter when or where!

My 32nd week of pregnancy is winding down. The little one still seems to be coming along just perfectly. He's still quite active in the early evening hours and pretty quiet during the day. We go for our next appointment on Tuesday as well as our next childbirth class. Our first class was this past Tuesday. There are four 2 1/2 hour classes. The first one was decent. I was excited just for the pure reason of it! It was fairly informative but I think between the reading I've done and some DVD's I've watched, it all seemed like things I'd already learned. The nice part was that we got to practice different relaxation and breathing. It was pretty funny actually because we were down on the floor. Mat's sitting behind me, leaned up against the wall. Then, there is a pillow between us with me leaning up against it. Mat's rubbing my belly, my hair, etc. as I'm closing my eyes and deep breathing, getting into the moment. I'm feeling Mat's legs kind of twitch around so I whisper to him, "Are you okay?" "Yea, but my legs are both asleep!" he responds. I just started cracking up! I'm massaging HIS legs now....what's wrong with this picture? The other funny moment was pretty close to the beginning of class when the instructor was talking about exercise. She asked for a show of hands for who was exercising regularly. I think you could've heard a pin drop. It was so quiet as everyone scanned the room wondering if they were the only slacker. Needless to say our instructor was a little disappointed in us. O well! At least I know I'm in good company with other slacker moms-to-be. I hit the trail last weekend for 30 minutes. Does that count? Hardly regular exercise! I have good intentions on the weekends and try to walk or do yoga and then the week starts and I get lazy again! Maybe this 3 day weekend will inspire me to get movin'! After all, I'd better enjoy this warm Florida weather while I'm still lucky enough to live here. :)

Field of Dreams?

I am sure you have all seen the movie. It ranks in my top 5 all time favorites, but why am I blogging about it you ask?

Well, I am flying to Iowa (that is where the movie is filmed) tomorrow for an interview. As you all have read Keli and I both finished our Masters this year. I got mine with the sole intention of being able to teach college some day. I stress the some day. I really thought I would need a PhD or some more experience before landing a college professor position. That still may be the case, but I am asking for your thoughts and prayers the rest of the week.

The timing seems wonderful to me. I would be able to use all my vacation I currently have when Mathew arrives, we could take some time this summer to stop in St. Louis and introduce MJ to everyone, and I would be working less with significantly more vacation just in time to spend all that extra time with my new son and Keli.

My beautiful bride is understandably less excited. I know she is willing to go wherever I ask her if it means me being happy. That being said she thinks my possible dream job is coming at an extremely poor time. Obviously moving with an infant is not ideal. The Florida real estate market would prevent us from selling our home, so we would have to hope we could rent it for somewhere around half of the mortgage payment. Keli is extremely happy with her current job situation, and dreads being on the job hunt this summer.

So, I also ask for lots of love and prayers for Keli. We may be facing some very big decisions shortly, and we are going to need a lot of guidance!

The Year of 30

2009 brings many of my friend's 30th birthdays. Just last week two of my dear friends, Meg and Monica both turned 30. Mat and I went to West Palm Beach this weekend to help Monica celebrate her 30th! It's hard to believe that the girlfriends I grew up with or got into mischief with are now turning 30. Where does time go?! My own 30th is quickly approaching. I was hopeful that I would be pregnant near my 30th, so I anticipated well and celebrated my 29th in Key West last year with two girlfriends. It was such a great time and I know that when my 30th comes along this year I will be a very brand new mom and have such a new blessing to enter my thirties with. I'll probably hope to be celebrating with a simple night of sleep! We took a couple pictures before leaving before West Palm. I am being VERY brave in posting my first true belly photo. This 31 week bundle of joy is really rounding out! The last picture was taken at Monica's party. I'm not sure what was quite so funny, but we always manage to find ourselves in laughter when we get together! Good friends are such blessings.

31 Weeks

We're wrapping up week 31 now. I don't think the little guy can decide how he's best comfortable. Almost daily he seems to switch positions in the early evening hours. Many times he moves to being transverse, laying sideways, and then in the morning I wake up and he's moved perpendicular again. Hopefully in the end he'll decide on head down.

We had our check up on Wednesday and everything appeared just as it should be. His heart was beating strong and I was actually all contracted as he was listening for the heartbeat, so my belly looked quite interesting. All my vitals are still good, although my weight took a leap forward. Woah!!! I guess all that holiday eating caught up with me. I reached the 20lb. weight gain mark. I know it's all for a good cause, and it really does no good to worry about it, but somehow seeing that number creep up is always a little unnerving. I must admit though it's nice to see all these weight loss commercials and hear everyone I work with talk about all their diets and think, "Not me!" for once. My time will come soon enough but for now I'm trying to embrace my extra padding and I'm definitely loving watching every inch of the belly grow!

One new thing I've noticed is that my moods and emotions seem to change fairly often during the day. I kept reading in my books that mood swings and crying were par for the course and I was constantly thinking, "What could I possibly have to cry about?" Well, I'm learning there doesn't even have to be a reason. The water works come much more easily now!

Yesterday, I did a little retail therapy after work. I'd received a gift card for Christmas and had a couple returns to make as well so I ventured off to Motherhood. It always takes a good pep talk before I head into that place because I know I'm sure to be bombarded with them trying to sell me a million things I don't need and convincing me to sign up for their college saving plan credit card. I swear they are like vultures just preying on the weaknesses of hormonal mommies to be. I was impressed though. The girl definitely did her sales pitch for the credit card and offered to bring me every bra in the store, but I held strong, and she was polite and backed off. It's funny how the things I shop for are quickly changing. It's went from stylish and cute tops that I know will probably only fit for a couple months to thinking, "Hmmm....what can I possibly squeeze into for the next 9 weeks??" It's also turned much more practical. I've ventured into the world of nursing bras, nursing tanks, nursing pj's,.......sheesh! Not something so much that I can wear to work and show off as my cute new digs, but more likely to help me get through the end of pregnancy and the beginning of motherhood in comfort. All these "nursing clothes" are confusing I tell ya. Some of the contraptions are quite interesting looking and I find it hard to really know what size I'll need by then anyways. Everyone seems to say go big, so I'm following suit and hope they're right.

Well, off to work I go. I just LOVE Fridays! :)

Bling Bling!

I have NO idea how I missed it! As I posted earlier, I lost my wedding ring over 2 weeks ago. I had pretty much come to terms with the fact that it was long gone. I turned my purse inside out, searched every crevice, contacted all the places I'd visited to see if it had been turned in, my dad searched my car real good for me......all to no avail. Many a pregnant women told me that they'd lost their ring when pregnant, but that it always turned up. Tisk tisk I said, not the case for me. So.....today I was driving home from Target and got on the toll road. I was also talking on my cell to my mom. I realized that I didn't have my Sun Pass with me because we'd put it in the other car so I grabbed my purse and started rooting around for loose change. I felt what I thought was money and pulled it out--MY RING!!!!!!!! I think I stared at it for a good few seconds just comprehending what it was and then started screaming to my mom that I'd found my ring! I just don't understand how it was suddenly so easily reachable in the bottom of my purse. I feel like an idiot for not spotting it sooner. It had to have been stuck under something to not have come out when I cleaned and shook my purse out a couple weeks back. All that despair and worrying, BUT I'm so excited and thankful! I slid it right on my finger and headed home to see if Mat noticed anything different about me. He was excited but said he had little doubt that it would turn up. It's now in my jewelry box for safe keeping. I figure I'm bound to have more days of swollen fingers ahead so I don't even want to risk it! Hallelujah for my found bling bling!

In other news, Mat's family had a long distance shower for baby Keyes today. I was able to talk to them on the phone. I sure wish I could've been there but I was so touched by their gathering! Grandma called me later to tell me about all the goodies we received. So exciting! Grandma and Grandpa Keyes are actually heading to FL next weekend. They have an RV and travel south each winter. They'll be staying at various places around FL for quite awhile and plan to stay long enough to meet their new great grandson. We're so thankful that they'll get to be here to meet him!

Mat and I decided to work on baby boy's closet today. It only had one 6 foot wide shelf in it, so we felt like we needed to make better use of the space. We had lofty goals of adding adjustable shelves with sliding drawers, etc. but as we began filling our cart with all the needed supplies we also began filling our head with the price list we were accruing! So, we decided to go a cheaper route and just add 2 more 6 foot wide shelves. As Mat began installing it, I headed to Target to look for baskets, totes, etc. that would help us organize. I know it's only a closet and nothing too exciting, but we were proud of our work and all our new space, so I added a picture above. We're now able to hang many of his clothes, and have baskets for shoes, socks, sheets, towels & washcloths, burp cloths & bibs. I'm loving each minute of getting organized. I hope I can keep it up once he arrives. Our next big project to tackle is painting......I'm having a really hard time making up my mind what I want. Decisiveness is not my strong suit right now, so wish me luck!

'08 Proved to be Great!

We can't complain. 2008 was a good year to us. Mat started off the year by being promoted to an AVP at work. We leased a new car in February. We looked forward to the summer ahead as we were saving money for IVF procedures. There were no summer vacations as we were both working diligently on our Master's degrees....Mat in Finance at University of Tampa and I in Elementary Reading at Nova Southeastern. The summer proved to be a VERY busy one as Mat became the Branch Manager of the new MidFlorida branch the exact same week that our IVF was taking place. Talk about stress....thank goodness Mom was able to fly down to help out! There were several appointments, MANY emotional moments and a lot of stress, but we got through it, and CONCEIVED! What amazing news it was! We then both graduated in August and took a little down time to enjoy together and just savor the pregnancy. The school year began and I headed back to work. We went to Coconut Grove for a short "babymoon" and celebration get away in early fall. I was awarded Teacher of the Year, Mat began looking into Doctoral programs in Finance and exploring career options, and then we began preparing for the holidays. We traveled to St. Louis for Thanksgiving, enjoyed a baby shower with many close family and friends, and then welcomed my parents to Florida for Christmas!

Many years go by with the blink of an eye and you're left wondering where did the time go? That didn't seem to be the case this year. It was a good year.....a year with many blessings and obviously one HUGE one, but it was a challenging year emotionally. Balancing work, fertility, and both of us in school wasn't always easy. There were many lonely nights while Mat was in classes or long days spent on the computer as I researched and prepared papers. There were many trips to and from Celebration and Orlando and afternoons of waiting with baited breath for a phone call from the fertility clinics. Through it all though, we came out stronger and more united than ever. Looking back, I'm surprised we made it through it all as well as we did! Everything in life seems to happen for a reason and we're so thankful for this currently calm time in our lives as we prepare for the birth of our son. After all this waiting, the timing truly does seem perfect. Mat's at home in the evenings and weekends now and is able to continue working on home improvement projects. I'm able to spend much less time at work and take more time for our home and myself. We've been able to spend a lot of time together just enjoying each other's company and relaxing...something we'll probably be even more thankful we did a few months from now.

I know that our lives are about to change drastically in 2009. I don't think you can ever really be prepared for just how different life will be until you're actually experiencing it, so I won't even pretend to understand what lies ahead. But we are both so ready and welcoming of this next step in our lives and all that the year ahead has to offer our family. I imagine that this time next year I really will think the year has flown by. I'm sure he will grow so fast and like most mom's, I'll be left wondering, "Where did the time go?" But I prepare my heart and my home for this baby boy and ask for God's guidance in the year ahead. I pray that we are both the parents we are capable of being and that 2009 is happy and healthy year for our family and friends!