The Grahams

Some pictures for Kara

2010-04-21T19:14:00.001-07:00

Yeah! Pictures! He's getting too busy to smile for pictures, but he's still a cutie. We have lots of fun. We play peek-a-boo around the house, tickle games, and sometimes he likes to roll a ball back and forth. He always enjoys hitting his ball and chasing it around the house. Curtis plays a really fun "blast off" game with him. He says, "Three... two... one... Blast Off!!" and throws William up in the air, and after a couple of times, he says "Three... two... one... *exploding sound!*" and lets William fall down fast almost to the floor. William LOVES this game and laughs every time. Whoever is watching Curtis laughs too!

Almost a year

2010-04-20T09:52:00.001-07:00

William's birthday is in a few weeks. I'm trying to remember to sing Happy Birthday every day so he'll like the song.

He's a big boy now. He can reach the doorknobs and the edge of the kitchen counter. He is very interested in any kind of door or drawer. This morning he opened up a cabinet in his room, took out a cuddly blanket, closed the cabinet and fell on the blanket to snuggle. Cute. He likes to stand up and push things down the hall. His favorites are his car and the laundry basket. He loves the elephants in his room. He wants to go around the room and visit all the elephants, touch their eyes, and say, "eh, eh, eh." We do this at least twice a day.

He eats a ton. I thought it would be five years before he ate as much as me, but we probably eat about the same amount of food right now! William might eat more! It's crazy. He likes to try to eat with a spoon, but he licks it like a popsicle. He also likes to drink out of an open cup, after he puts his big hand in and splashes around a little... We almost always use a sippy cup.

He takes one nap a day and sleeps at night from 7-7. It's nice.

This week we have a play date with Aunt Elizabeth, coffee date with a mom from church, and probably another zoo trip. I love going to the zoo! They have two baby jaguars right now that are either precious and sleepy or running around trying to attack their mom. I feel like that momma jaguar and I have some things in common.

Almost NINE months!

2010-02-02T07:29:00.001-08:00

I had a sudden urge to blog. I know, this is an unusual urge for me to have. But I'm really missing my friends from Abilene, and I know some of you read this. (Shout out to Kara in Virginia! I miss you!)

William is figuring out things fast! He started crawling right before Christmas and in the last week he's started pulling up, feeding himself and he's down to two naps a day. What a big boy! It's funny that I feel so proud and moved when I watch him pick up a square piece of Chex cereal and bite off a corner. I also love it every time he helps me turn a page in a book we're reading. I'm so happy when he splashes and laughs in the tub. And I'm even a little proud that he's figured out how to pull his hats off so quickly.

His other recent accomplishments include:
learning how to open the CD player in his room and take out the CD,
pulling up on everything (chairs, window sills, a wall),
pulling books and DVDs off the shelves,
drinking from a cup if someone helps him,
pushing his arms into his sleeves when I'm dressing him,
giving hugs and open-mouth kisses (mostly to himself in the mirror)

One time he was chewing on the drawstring on Curtis's sweatshirt and he held it up to Curtis's mouth so he could "take a turn" then took the drawstring and pointed it in my direction. That's the only time we've seen him wanting to share so far. :-)

Of course he's very handsome. He's getting a little hair on his head. And he's tending to get more bumps and scratches also. He's wearing 12-18 month clothes and pajamas, and weighs 20+ pounds.

At the zoo (so happy to have a membership!!) the fish are his favorite. Maybe because I let him out of his stroller and he get to crawl around. He also likes to look outside, watch cars drive by, and "work" on the computer.

Three or four weeks ago I started a business as a Tastefully Simple Independent Consultant! (I know, "What is that??") Tastefully Simple makes gourmet food products that only require one or two ingredients. It's good stuff, fairly affordable - the average price is $7 - and yummy. So, my job includes booking taste-testing parties, passing around 18 or so samples at the party, then ordering clients products. So far, so good! I'm SO happy to have something to work on besides diapers, dishes and dirty laundry! I'm also VERY glad to have more opportunities to spend time with adults. But really, the extra income is the reason I got into it. Check it out at TastefullySimple.com and let me know what you think! If you're in driving distance I'd love to do a party with you, or if you think you'd like some of products, I can also help you with that. Right now my favorite things are the Bountiful Beer Bread, Corn Black Bean Salsa, and the Key Lime Cheeseball Mix!

This weekend I'm going to a conference in Dallas to check out the new Spring/Summer products and meet other consultants from the Southwest Region. I'm excited about wearing work clothes, being in a meeting, and learning some new stuff! Mom is going to be staying at the hotel with me and keeping William entertained. Here's one of my recent favorite quotes from Mom, "William, do you like watching the cars? Do you wish you could drive one? You can drive my car!" Silly Grandmas.

Also have to mention the awesome gift Curtis gave me this Christmas. It's a drawing by our good friend, Katrina Willis, and it's wonderful! It's a "family tree" theme, and it shows Curtis and I starting our family with William. I LOVE IT! And I'm so happy that Curtis and Katrina brought this drawing into existence and I get to keep it in my house! Also, props to Hannah for taking the pictures that Katrina used to do the drawing!

Belle Baby Carrier

2009-11-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

I have a baby carrier that I love. It's a contraption made of a waist strap, a big pocket for William, and two shoulder straps that cross in the back. The whole thing is made of fabric, so I can roll it up and put it in my diaper bag. I can carry William facing in or out, and it's comfortable for both of us. I use it at the grocery store, Elizabeth's volleyball games, the library, Target... pretty much anywhere that I'm going to be standing up or carrying William up and down stairs. It's much easier than his car seat.

We get a lot of comments that go something like, "Well that's the life!" and "Must be nice to be carried around all day." Some days we don't get many comments, and other days we get lots of crazy ones. Here's a few of my favorites:

3 year old boy at Target:
"MOM!!! That baby is HANGING there!! MOM!!!"

Young woman at Target to her 2 year-old girl:
"Look at that baby. Poor baby. Poor, poor baby. You used to be a baby. Poor baby."

Old lady at HEB:
"Well that baby is just precious. Look at him riding in that! Have you taken a picture of him? You should take a picture of him."

Man in an elevator at the Dr. office:
"Just like hangin' in a tree! Now he knows what it's like to hang in a tree! Just like hangin' in a tree..."
I guess that makes me a tree.

Cashier:
"I guess you liked carrying him in your belly for 9 months?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're still carrying him on your belly!"

Lady at HEB:
(after a long conversation about how William must be a magician because he apparently makes his nose boogers come out of his eye)
"Now, I ride motorcycles and that would be the perfect way to ride with my new niece!"
I reply with stunned silence thinking about how illegal and dangerous that would be.
"How much does one of those things cost?"
"This one was $90."
"Oh! That's expensive! Can I buy yours from you?"
"No. I'm keeping this for a long time. We have to go."

November

2009-11-02T06:16:00.000-08:00

Things are good. William's still working on crawling. He's getting better at getting up on his hands and knees, and he's started rocking back and forth. I'm glad that babies grow gradually.

I think last November I went to a study abroad conference in Merida, Mexico. My favorite part was sitting in pretty curly-iron chairs eating coconut ice cream at a 100-year-old ice cream shop on the main square of the city. This November I'm blending batches of sweet potato and cleaning light blue lint out of the dryer filter. Probably just as sweet.

Halloween was good. William was a dino and we went to Elizabeth's volleyball game with all four grandparents. Bill stood up and cheered in the aisle, Karen held William until he fell asleep (then Curtis took over), I got to sit by my mom, and my dad wore earplugs. I think everyone watched William as much as they watched the game. The coaches daughters, an angel and a fairy, came by and gave William a bag of candy; his first trick or treat candy. Like good parents, we ate it all for him.

Curtis has had a busy school week. He had a test on Thursday, quiz on Friday and test today, Monday. His math symbols look like another language (I guess it is). Most of it is math shorthand, and I definitely cannot read it, much less understand what it all means.

I'm sure there's dino pictures on facebook, I haven't had time to look. Here's a couple that we got:

update

2009-10-16T12:57:00.001-07:00

William's doing awesome. He's 5 months old, has 5 teeth (three bottom and two top ones are on their way), and will probably be army-crawling in the next week or two. He loves to smile at his daddy. He's still sleeping through the night, and he's a happy, sweet baby. We started feeding him rice cereal this week, but it's mostly breast milk. He likes to "eat" or move his mouth around when other people are eating. Funny.

Tommy ripped his dew claw when he was running, so we all trooped down to the vet and got it wrapped up. It looked cool.

Stay-At-Home Mom

2009-09-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm enjoying living on my own schedule.

The first day that Curtis went to school, I was antsy. I spent about three hours moving William from room to room, swing, cradle, crib, floor mat, lap, repeat. I didn't know what I should be doing with my day. I didn't know when it was ok to take a shower, check the mail, or take out the trash, because I didn't have Curtis around to keep an eye on the William and Tommy duo.

But I'm figuring things out and this week is going really well. William sleeps a lot in the mornings, so I'm able to work on things. Yesterday, before The Price Is Right, I washed the Blazer with a hose and a sponge! I don't remember the last time that car was washed!

Today I replaced our broken toilet seat, and that was really a tough job! I don't know how much you know about the mechanics of toilet seats, but their held onto the porcelain thrown by screws, and those screws have big plastic nuts on the underside of the toilet. So, my toilet seat had rusty, corroded screws, and the nuts WOULD NOT screw off. The attempted unscrewing involved me sitting sideways on the toilet seat, with my head between my knees, trying to use pliers to unscrew the crazy nut. After an hour, I had an almost shredded piece of plastic that had moved down the screw a centimeter, with maybe 5 centimeters to go. That's when the Dremmel and safety goggles came out. Power tools are pretty cool. Since the nut was a little ways down the screw, I could get the dremmel in there and cut through the nut on two sides, then pull off each half with the pliers. Awesome! The other untouched nut was harder to cut since it was right up against the toilet, and this side of the toilet is closer to the wall. But I got the dremmel in there and figured if I could cut/melt off a big chunk of the nut, I could rip the rest off. Flying hot plastic pieces and several sparks later, I was able to rip off that crazy nut!! hahaha! I seriously ran two victory laps around the house with my hands up in the air. I've saved what's left of the nuts and I'll carry them around in my purse for a while, so please ask to see them! :-)

Close Call

2009-08-18T20:35:00.001-07:00

Yes, we're settling in to our new house just fine. We bought two new houseplants, William is getting teeth and -breaking news- just rolled over on to his side.

But more importantly, I have a good story. I love a good story. Here's what happened... Curtis, William and I went out to eat and we left Tommy at home, of course. At our old house we were able to use a baby gate to keep Tommy in the living room (ok, a baby gate and a couple of strategically placed chairs), but at this house, the doorways are too wide for a baby gate, so Tommy has access to the living room, dining room, and kitchen. We usually do a good job of checking to make sure there's not much he can tear up before we leave the house, but this time we missed something.

We came home to find a package of hamburger buns (Tommy loves bread) ripped open on the living room floor. He'd eaten 6 of the buns and left 2. William was crying because it was time for me to feed him, so I got down to business while Curtis picked up the licked buns and scraps of plastic that weren't ingested. Curtis walked into the dark kitchen to throw away the ripped bag and buns and that's when he kicked a piece of glass. (dramatic music)

A piece of glass? What was made of glass that was sitting on the counter next to the buns? It was the jar that was temporarily housing Waldo the fish! I was stuck in the living room nursing William and relying on updates from Curtis. "Where's the fish?" "Can you find him?" "Is he dead?!" After a very long second, Curtis found Waldo, and found him alive! He put him in a coffee mug, added some Waco water, and voila! Crazy. Why didn't Tommy eat the fish? He would have been tastier than 6 dry hamburger buns. Waldo lives another day. Now we have a good reason to get his permanent home established.

Half-Packed

2009-07-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

We made a packing plan, and it's really going well. So far we've just worked on one room a day, and packed up everything in that room except the big furniture and essentials. We've packed up all the drawers, shelves and closets in the dining room, living room, bathroom and our bedroom! Tomorrow we're working on our craziest room, the office/nursery.

In case you didn't see it on facebook, here's our packing helper:

Moving Plans

2009-07-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

First, The Abilene Story:

I moved to Abilene in August 2001. My family and I parked at Gardner dorm, carried clothes, a pink ironing board and other assorted dorm stuff up to the third floor, and I met my roommate and best friend, Hannah. I loved my freshman year at ACU.

I married my husband in Abilene in August 2004. We got married August 7 at Minter Lane Church of Christ. Friends and family from across the state came to watch a tall and short couple tie the knot and a crazy groomsman knock over my little cousin to catch the garter.

Curtis and I lived in four different rent houses in our 79601 zip code (except for the three months we lived in Montevideo, Uruguay) while we both finished school and made plans for our family. Curtis worked at Radio Shack, grounds-keeping at ACU, and as a high school math teacher at Wylie ISD. I volunteered at the zoo for one semester and worked in the study abroad office at ACU.

In August 2006 we adopted Tommy, our first greyhound. Our first night together I sat in bed and stared hard at his black chest to make sure he was still breathing. We didn't have a fence so Curtis and I took him outside for all his potty breaks; middle of the night, before work, lunch break, after work, and before bed. The 10 pm walk was my favorite because Curtis and I did it together, even on snow days. Tommy turned 7 last week. He's a beautiful and sweet dog.

Of course this summer we had our baby, William, and became a stack of three nametags at church. It's been a blur of sleeping and not sleeping, visiting family and having family visit us. We thought it would be a long summer since neither of us would be working, a long summer to rest and get ready to move, but it was fast.

The Plans:

We're packing up this house, ending with a flurry of packing on Thursday the 30th, and we're loading up a U-Haul Friday morning. We'll unpack at our new house, figure out where the nearest HEB is, and get ready for Curtis's graduate school adventure.

100%

2009-07-06T07:07:00.001-07:00

In the weeks after I delivered, it was easy to use numbers to explain how I was feeling. For example, on a scale of 1-10, my pain could be a 5. Or "I'm feeling about 80% today." But recently I've had a few people ask me, "So, are you 100% now?"

That question really throws me for a loop. 100%? I don't know what 100% means anymore. If it means that I feel like I felt before I had William, then I will never be 100%. For one, my belly button and other body parts have forever changed and there's no going back. But maybe more importantly, I have changed. I have a different life now, and there's definitely no going back.

A few months ago a "100%" day might mean that I wake up, feel rested, feel successful at work, check a few things off the household to do list, eat dinner with Curtis and watch a good TV show. But now that wouldn't be a "100% successful day."

I've thought that maybe 100% means how I feel emotionally, whether or not I feel confident and successful in my body and in my mothering. No, that can't be it. Then no one would ask people if they felt 100%. Sheesh.

100% pain free? I don't know. maybe? usually?

100% happy? not usually.

Does anyone else feel 100%??? Probably not.

Or maybe 100% can just mean that I'm doing ok. The people in my house are eating and sleeping and generally happy. Yes, we're 100% people and 100% family.

Oooh...

2009-07-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

The blog is getting cooler. On the right sidebar, you'll notice our new feature: twitter updates! I think this will be fun.

Success at the Theater

2009-06-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

We went to the movies!! Curtis and I watched Star Trek today and William sat in the seat between us and slept through the whole show! Well, he was a little unsettled during the red dinosaur part, but he went right back to sleep. I couldn't believe it! I was so worried that he would start crying... that I would have to take him outside... or breastfeed him during the movie... but he didn't cry, it was easy, and I loved the movie. A big success!

Another story: The ladies at church have been asking when I'll start coming to the afternoon bible study again. I haven't been since I had William. I decided that this week would be a good time. So, Thursday, 5:30, I pulled up in Kay's driveway and I was the first car there. I went up to the porch and noticed that the dining room lights were off. Kay answered the door before I knocked and said, "Well hi Lauren, what are you two doing here?"
"We came to the bible study."
"Is today Tuesday?"
"No, it's Thursday. Is the bible study on Tuesday?!"
Yes, I had totally gotten the day wrong. Kay invited me in anyways and I enjoyed a coke and a break while Kay and her husband played with William. I ended up hanging out on their couch for THREE hours! They suggested that I go run some errands or take a nap, but I was sure that William would need ME any minute, so I stayed on the couch. But he didn't need me and I should have taken a nap. Next time. And that was good to see that William can hang out with other people and be happy. I guess I knew he could, but it's hard for a mom to believe that other people can take of her baby.

William's doing really well. We just finished packing up his 0-3 month clothes and filling his drawers with 3-6 month clothes. Thanks to Hannah and her son, Mason, William has lots of cool things to wear. (Plus all our outfits we got at the showers!) According to the bathroom scales, he's 14 pounds! What a chunk. He usually goes to bed around 11 and gets up sometime between 4 and 7. He slept 'til 6 or 7 twice this week. Nice. We're still enjoying diapers and wipes from the showers and when those run out, we'll jump into our stack of gift cards. We're very thankful, even though I haven't sent out thank you notes STILL!

Here's a picture of William a few weeks ago when he was skinny and had hair... but I wanted to show you how he sleeps in his crib: all spread out!

And here's a picture of him sleeping in his swing today. :-) Look at that belly!

Family meets William

2009-06-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

I don't have any real memory of this, so I'm glad Curtis took the video!

First Insanity Moment (that I remember)

2009-05-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

So, last night William was sleeping when Curtis and I went to bed around 10:30. Then at 11, William woke up and stayed awake until 3:00 am. It was awful, he was crying and wouldn't calm down. Curtis tried burping, rocking, and walking for an hour. Then I took over and tried nursing, rocking, mylicon (gas medicine) twice, wearing him in a sling, a vibrating bouncy chair (that worked for 15 minutes and I fell asleep on the floor), and everything else I could think of. I thought about going for a walk outside, but I didn't feel like getting dressed, and it's probably not nice to share your screaming baby with the neighbors at 2 in the morning. Anyways, William finally fell asleep around 3, so I put him in his cradle and I got back in bed.

After I'd slept a little while, I sat straight up and started throwing the covers around yelling, "Where's the baby?! Where's the baby?!" I remember grabbing Curtis's thigh because it seemed about the right size, but that wasn't the baby so I kept looking frantically through the sheets. Then I remember Curtis telling me that the baby wasn't in the bed and I could go back to sleep.

Let's hope for a less exciting night tonight.

Happy First Week, William!

2009-05-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

Home from the hospital

Hanging out at home

At home

2009-05-14T10:55:00.001-07:00

To make a long story short, and because I'm not quite ready to go through all the details - We went to the hospital Saturday morning and little William was born Saturday night. We came home Monday afternoon.

Our Schedule:
Nursing, when William cries
Diapers, frequently
Sleeping, when William isn't crying
Brushing teeth, when/if we think about it
Showers, I don't know, I think I've had two this week
Pain medication, every 4 hours

I love my husband and our son, and I'm so happy. This is definitely an adjustment, and it's just going to take a while to get used to our new "normal." I love showing off William, so just call if you want to come over! We'll have to get pictures up here later.

Fun Visit

2009-05-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

Mom and Carole came up for two days this week to come to my office shower, help wrap up the nursery and they also cleaned my house! Yeah!

Here's some pictures from the shower Monday:

my great student workers!

We went to Sonic before Curtis's softball game:

A snow cone on Tuesday:

And Mom, Carole and Curtis got the nursery together! All we need is a baby!

Softball News

2009-05-06T13:26:00.001-07:00

Hey! Curtis's softball team won a game! It was awesome. Here's a picture of Curtis batting (notice one normal ankle and one swollen, wrapped ankle) and also a picture of the traditional Prayer After the Game. If you look in the background, you can see the scoreboard. We won 9-7. Yeah!

Last Days

2009-04-29T18:31:00.001-07:00

For your enjoyment, and because it's a shame to not record funny stories, here's some pregnancy moments to remember:

In my office I usually roll my office chair easily from my computer to my file cabinet, a few feet away because it's a fast and fun way to move around my office. Last week I pushed off from my computer area, and the office chair didn't even make it halfway to filing cabinet...

I can sit in a chair, lean forward, and let my belly rest on the seat easily.

I haven't used the comforter on our bed in a week or two, and I usually don't even like a sheet. It's hot.

Today my coworker's preschooler looked at my belly with worried face and asked, "How does the baby get out?"

When I walk down the hallway at work I feel like a ship.

When I get up in the middle of the night, run into the door frames, and make the floor creak, I feel like Godzilla.

Not Counting Down

2009-04-26T12:36:00.001-07:00

So, I don't know how many days it is until my due date. I'm trying not to count. I don't really believe in due dates, I think the baby is just as likely to come a little early or a little late.

I've been feeling mostly good, my main problem is being tired all the time and not able to move around very well. But Tommy is still patient with me while I do my slow walk to the back door to let him out.

Oh, good news - a new snow cone stand opened up next to Taco Bueno and it's better than Cajun Cones! I had three last week. :-) If anyone wants to bring me a snow cone while I'm in the hospital, remember to ask them to go easy on the syrup. I like any flavor that sounds like summertime.

Here's a picture of me over a week ago, and the crib and changing table (not quite set up yet).

Shower Pictures

2009-04-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

Weeks 35 and 36

2009-04-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

So, I came home Wednesday night (April 8) with a sore throat. As it got worse, I got madder. My shower was the next day and Curtis and I were going to leave town Friday to go to the Chet and Frances Graham family reunion - our last trip out of town. The sore throat / cold / cough didn't ruin any parties. I had an awesome shower and Curtis and I successfully traveled to East Texas and spent a few days sitting around and eating with no papers to grade, laundry or dishes. We did take the car seat on the trip, but thankfully Baby William stayed in my belly.

Here's some pictures from the shower (Thanks Hannah!)

Hm. took too long to load. I'm going to bed. Maybe the pictures will work out tomorrow.

Bowling Tournament

2009-03-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Kathy and I took our bible class to a nursing home for a Wii Bowling Tournament! We each were paired up with a resident, then the residents played the odd frames and we played the even frames. I'm glad we got to be on teams! Several residents bowled solid strikes or spares every turn while we seemed lucky to pick up some pins! The activities coordinator was great, she even had medals for the winning teams. :-) Here's some pictures:

Week 32

2009-03-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

Oops, it's been a while since I posted on here. I'm over my cold and tonight I finally felt up to catching up on dishes and laundry and the blog... but now I'm super tired. There's still a load in the washer, a load in the dryer and dry clothes on the bed, ready to be put away.

My pregnancy really is going great. Un-named Baby is moving around and growing all the time. We have quick doctors appointments every two weeks, and those have been easy so far.

Over Spring Break Curtis and I went to the metroplex to visit the Math people at UNT and UTA. There's lots of different types of math nerds... I like mine best. We also got to see our good friends Rachael and Stephen and my parents and sister came up to say hi. They took us out for some awesome Mexican food! Yes!

When we got home we saw that our two remaining fish, Red Dragon and Loot 10, were dead. This was probably because we left the heat off while we were gone. I'm not upset about it. Curtis and I started that aquarium Christmas 2004, had friends fish-sit when we went to Uruguay Summer '05, moved the aquarium to our house on Austin Street, moved it to 18th Street, and moved it to our current house. That was enough aquarium time for me. Sunday I spent a lot of time cleaning the tank and decorations and preparing them for deep storage. The 10 gallon aquarium is packed and awaiting a lift to the garage. I still like fish, a few nights ago I enjoyed checking out lots of videos about aquariums on LAfishguys.com. awesome.

Curtis is on a church softball team! They had their first game last night and it was so fun! We got beat 25-5 by some balding, pot-bellied old men from the Clyde First United Methodist Church. It really was fun, and we're still enjoying laughing about some of the plays! Of course Curtis did an awesome job at first base.

It feels like a heartburn night, so I'm going to take some of my Tums and hit the sack. Oh - this was something I wanted to mention- Hannah took some maternity pictures for us and there's some samples on her blog, vickersdigitalphotography.blogspot.com.

Here's a Hello from Tommy and the baby:

Week 29

2009-02-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

I've been sick this week with a cold, and it's not fun. I started feeling bad last Wednesday, the 18th and it's been a long eight days since then. I'm at the end of it (the coughing stage) so hopefully I can rest and be back to my normal pregnant health soon.

The exciting news is that our stroller came in today! It's a chicco cortina travel system in case you want to look up professional pictures on the web. For now, here's some shots I took in the living room.

Updates

2009-02-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

We have arrived at 28 weeks! This is the beginning of my third trimester, and today it was time to go through all my mostly borrowed clothes again. I guess it makes sense that the pants that fit in December are too small now, and the pants that I put away so quickly because they were so big, fit me just a few weeks later! So it's time to switch out the clothes in my closet again. Please don't be concerned about whether or not I have enough maternity clothes - I have lots of great options! Today I got to try on 8 different pairs of khaki capri pants and take my pick. Nice. But it'll probably take me another week to get all the bigger maternity clothes washed and put away.

Earlier this week we had a doctors appointment. The most interesting thing was that our doctor had a high school student shadowing him. Before the doctor came in, our nurse told us about the high school student and asked us if it would be alright. I'm all about education, internships and shadowing experiences (plus I figured there's no way that Curtis and I would know the student) so we agreed. As stories go, it was a student we both knew! This girl had visited ACU a few weeks before, and a few months ago we sat by her mom at a Wylie football game. It wasn't awkward, it was good. She helped the doctor measure my uterus - 27 cm. Our doctors appointments are going to be every 3 weeks for the next month or two, then we'll start going every 2 weeks, and eventually every week. Lots of doctors visits...

Thursday night I got to go to the Welcome Back Dinner for my Fall 2008 study abroad students. It was pretty fancy. We got to use the new Hunter Welcome Center building, and our dinner was served in Ballroom A. Awesome! It's nice to have a special night for the students. I have a nice boss and he gave me a pretty flowering plant in front of everyone since this is my last Welcome Back Dinner. I had to look up the name of the plant online, it's a cyclaman. You should check it out.

For Valentine's Day Curtis and I went to a relationship seminar at our church. It was good, but it was all day. They had lots of snacks, good games, and it's always good to talk about good communication skills, personality differences and all that. We were tired afterwards, so we didn't go out last night. We stayed home and watched Gladiators. I picked it, and I know it's a funny choice for Valentines.

Tomorrow is Presidents Day, but neither Curtis nor I have the day off, so it'll be a normal Monday.

Nursery Bedding

2009-02-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to our bedding for the nursery:
http://glennajean.thebabybedding.com/DreamWithMe.php

We're borrowing this bedding from our friend, Whitney. I'm super excited about it because I've always loved stars and it's nice, calming colors.

25 weeks

2009-01-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

Here we go, movin' towards the last trimester! I'm feeling fine, and the babyman moves around everyday, so I guess he's fine too. All our doctors appointments have gone well. We're starting to do uterus measurements (he uses a measuring tape to measure from my pubic bone to the top of my uterus) so that's new. I should be growing a cm a week. This month I also did the diabetes test and went to the anesthesiologist office to watch the epidural video from the 80's. The most enjoyable parts were the big mustaches and other hairstyles, but the needle parts made me squirm around a little.

I'm also realizing that these are the last months in my pre-delivery, pre-nursing, pre-mom body. These are the last weekends of sleeping late and free time for at least several years. SO... I want to make a list of things I like and maybe next year around my birthday I'll make another list and see how things worked out.

I like to eat chips and salsa, Blue Bell ice cream, coca-cola icees, sour patch kids and I have a cup of coffee every morning. (don't worry, those are mostly splurges, I usually eat lots of VEGETABLES!)

I love my job. I enjoy going to work every day, sitting in my office, emailing students about study abroad, talking with parents, being on campus, talking with people in my office, getting to know lots of students, and being helpful. I'm the study abroad coordinator at ACU and I send 200 students abroad every year. I memorize most of their names, can recognize them on campus, and for a few I recognize their parents' numbers on my caller ID. I manage 3 great student workers 30 hours a week. I regularly make presentations to visiting groups of 3-30 people (usually prospective students) and the past few semesters I've traveled around TX with admissions to attend events and help recruit students to ACU. I love to talk about study abroad, especially our semester programs, and really Montevideo is my favorite.

At home I do the dishes a couple times a week and Curtis helps me do all the laundry every two weeks. I'm a pro at making grocery lists, listing items in order of where they're found in the store and making a total price estimate within a couple dollars.

Weeknights we usually eat at home, watch Wheel of Fortune and one more show (I like NCIS, Chuck, The Office and the bachelor). Curtis plays a lot of Mario Kart and I like to watch. When I play, I run into walls, get stressed out and lose.

I like to go to bed at 10:30. I take a shower every day. If I have free time I usually call my mom.

And here's some pictures:

23 weeks

2009-01-13T18:55:00.000-08:00

I feel good these days. I'm never nauseous, I don't have heartburn or headaches, and I can move around easily. But for the record, pregnancy is a little weird. Besides having a whole baby boy inside me (which is very weird to think about) there's lots of strange things that seem to be normal parts of pregnancy. Hormones have given me some little dots on my face, three small stretch marks, and sweaty palms and feet. I also have a stuffy nose. It's cool - right now I feel thankful and content.

There seems to be a very long semester in front of me, and after that, the unknown world of parenting. Right now I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning at 11:00 when my 56 Spring '09 study abroad students will have left Abilene for DFW and airports around the world.

Sonogram Pictures

2009-01-03T19:36:00.001-08:00

Ok, here's the sonogram pictures. They're fuzzy and not super cute, so I wasn't in a hurry to get them on the blog. The top picture is a foot. The second picture shows the heart cavity and the heart beat, it was much cooler on the video. The bottom picture is the baby's face. I think there's some umbilical cord floating in front of his chest or something, because his body seems like it's a weird shape/size compared to his head. Oh well. The face picture grows on you. :-)

Baby's doing fine. He kicks around every day, which really is encouraging to me. Yesterday I had a stomach bug. We called our doctor after I vomited the first time, and they said to just rest and drink fluids, so I stayed on the couch all day. I was glad that Curtis had the day off to stay at home with me. I'm fine today.

Monday starts another semester of Study Abroad fun! I really do love my job. I'm super excited about the Welcome Back Dinner (later in January) because we get to have it in ACU's new Hunter Welcome Center! I also like the spring semester because we have our annual Photo Contest. I'm looking forward to being in the office, working on my computer, seeing the students and rescuing my wilted office plant from the long Christmas vacation.

It's a Boy!

2008-12-29T07:56:00.000-08:00

AHH! We're having a boy! :-) Curtis and I have been smiling, laughing, and kissing all morning. We're so happy that our baby is healthy, and we're excited to have a little guy around the house. The sonogram appointment seemed to fly by. The Dr. said he's 100% sure, and it's definitely guaranteed that it's a boy. He even zoomed in on our baby's little boy parts and showed us. We won't be posting that picture on the blog. He also gave us a picture of the baby's "face" but Curtis and I have come up with several interpretations of which dark spots could be eyes, a nose and a mouth... We also got a fuzzy picture of a foot, and we got to watch our baby's heart muscle pump while we listened to his heartbeat. I thought that was awesome. We did take a video tape (We don't have a VCR anyways) but the recording machine was broken, so we don't have to worry about converting that. We'll get the sonogram pictures up here later.

For now, here's a picture of me, my belly, and the Christmas tree. I don't think I really look this big, it's some sort of optical illusion with the sun. But maybe I do. Anyways, Baby and I will just be getting bigger from here.

I'm also posting a picture of me and Tommy napping on the floor after we played in the backyard yesterday. Tommy likes to nap on the dining room floor by the sunny window. I had to wear the bandanna because the sun was in my eyes.

December

2008-12-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

As I sometimes say, "Sheesh."
I've been avoiding my blog, on purpose.
In my office I've learned that if you have something difficult to email, keep it short.

I found out last week that one of my best friends had a miscarriage. I'm so sad about it everyday, and it's going to be a sad piece of my life for a long time.

This same week, I've felt my baby move everyday. I'm so thankful. Curtis has felt it once, and we laughed. That's a memory I'll keep.

Our midpregnancy sonogram is Monday, December 29th. We'll definitely be posting some news and pictures.

Can you feel the baby moving?

2008-12-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

Can I feel the baby moving? Probably. Am I sure? No.

I guess I'm waiting to feel a definite punch or kick, but that's not likely for a while. It seems to me that some women tend to be more aware of their bodies than others. I'm sure there are women that can tell when they ovulate, when exactly they became pregnant, and when their two-ounce baby started moving around. That's not me. I'm lucky if I notice that I haven't been to bathroom all morning. I think, "Oh, maybe I should go to the bathroom."

According to some books and websites, I might be feeling a fluttering sensation in my tummy area. A "popcorn popping sensation" or "gentle brushing" is what I'm looking (feeling?) for. Hmmm. If I hold my breath and try to be very still so I can determine any non-Lauren movement, I just feel and hear my heartbeat. It gets louder and stronger the longer I wait, so I go back to emailing, Wheel of Fortune, sleeping, or whatever else I was doing.

I'll keep you posted.

Early Pregnancy Comments

2008-12-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

I'm still waiting for someone to see me, know from my belly that I'm pregnant, and make a comment. It hasn't happened yet. Here's three recent pregnancy conversations I have had.

Today in my office one of my favorite study abroad students came to visit me. Jeremy is from Abilene, has known me several years, and even plays frisbee with my husband and friends. He came in my office, I stood up, walked around my desk to give him a hug, then I remained standing so he could see my belly and (hopefully) comment. We talked about Thanksgiving, his classes, his family, my family, but no pregnancy comments. We finished catching up with each other (I'm still standing), and Jeremy looked around my office and noticed the lists of nominated baby names my student workers keep on my office door.
He looked puzzled, looked at me, and said, "What's this?"
"Jeremy, I'm pregnant!"
My student worker, Tina, witnessed all of this and started yelling, "Didn't you notice her baby bump?! What, did you think she has just gained a bunch of weight?!"
Then I introduced Tina and Jeremy, Jeremy added a name to each list, and left.

I hesitate to put this one up here, because I don't remember it exactly. (hahaha, blame it on the pregnancy) Over the Thanksgiving break we met Curtis's family for dinner one night. I wore a small t-shirt so my tummy would be more visible. I knew that Curtis's family was excited about seeing the baby bump I've advertised on this blog. Eilene saw me, gave me a hug, and said something like, "Well, you're not that big." It's true, I'm not.

Before the Thanksgiving break I was working with the Admissions office helping introduce visiting high school students to ACU. While the high school students were eating lunch I went over to say hi to a group of four admissions student workers that I know (they'd studied abroad). One of the students, Dani, has been excited about my pregnancy ever since she found out a few weeks ago. When I walked up to their table Dani said, "Hey Lauren! Hey, I think you're gaining some weight!"
"Yeah, about five pounds." I looked at my tummy, she looked at my tummy. We were smiling.
"Well, at least your tummy isn't all flabby like some people."
"Oh, I think there's some flabby spots." I started poking the top part of my tummy to show her that it wasn't hard.
We realized that the other two students hadn't said anything in a while, and when we looked at them, they had awkward, embarrassed looks on their faces! Finally Dani said, "Don't y'all know that she's prego?! Oh my goodness!"
They thought that I had just put on some unwanted pounds and Dani and I were just chatting about it for fun!!

So far, my dad has been my favorite. We went to visit my parents over the break. When I got out of the car he said, "Hi Sweetheart, you look great!" and he gave me a hug. Then no more talk about my tummy for four days.
Thanks Dad.

The End

2008-11-24T18:31:00.000-08:00

It's the end of my small, non-stretchy shirts. Today started with an email from babycenter.com. "Welcome to your 16th week of pregnancy! Get ready, in the next few weeks your baby will double in size and weight!" (groan from Lauren) Right now I'm doing laundry and sighing as I stack up my small shirts and pants and shorts without elastic. (Yes, because they don't fit, or won't fit by the time I get back from Thanksgiving.) It was a relief to find some towels in my laundry basket. "Aha! These will still fit!" And if I'm going to outgrow my towels, don't tell me now.

I have awesome maternity clothes thanks to some good friends. But I'm still sad about putting away my old clothes. It occurred to me that this is kind of like packing for study abroad. I get to take some clothes with me overseas (through my pregnancy), and the rest I'll see again in a few months (a year or so). Right? Sorry, these reality checks are tough.

There's lots of things to be excited about. ACU is dominating in the playoffs! If you're out of the loop, ACU beat WTAMU on Saturday 93-68! Sheesh! If you want to watch just the touchdowns, you can find the video on D2Football.com or the Abilene Reporter News website. Just the touchdowns - it's 6:00 long! It was a long, crazy, awesome game! We play Northwest Missouri this Saturday. I'll have to watch the game online. Oh man. The Championship game is in Florence, Alabama on Dec. 13th, and I would love to be there! awesome.

I'm also super excited about Thanksgiving! It's one of my favorite holidays. Yum.

Here's the recent picture. We took it last night, 11/23/08.

Lists

2008-11-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't made any lists yet, but I've been thinking about them. Mostly I'm deciding when I need to start working on things. Here's things that I'm not going to worry about until later (definitely after Christmas).
-picking a name
-picking out baby furniture
-picking out a stroller/car seat/etc.
-moving desks out of the office/nursery

Right now I am working on deciding what size I am and what clothes I can wear besides t-shirts and sweat pants. So far I have stacks of maternity clothes from two of my friends. I didn't realize that a woman will go through small, medium, and large maternity clothes in one pregnancy... I also don't understand all the clothes I've unpacked, but that's ok. I like to pretend I know what I'm doing.

Also I think I'm officially in my second trimester. I'm not nauseous and I don't have to use the bathroom in the middle of night. Nice. I know, trips to the bathroom are going to be returning to my schedule as Baby grows.

I have my second doctor's appointment today. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm expecting standard tests (weight, blood pressure, urine test, measure my tummy) and some time to ask questions. If anything exciting happens I'll let you know. My fancy sonogram appt. is scheduled for Dec. 29.

And I'm home sick with a cold. But that's OK. Tommy's snuggly when he knows I'm sick, and I have lots of hot drink and food options here at the house.

Trip to Mexico

2008-11-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

Hey, here's some pictures of my trip to Mexico. I don't tend to carry my camera around, so these aren't representative of most of my experiences, just the two times I had my camera: 2 hours on the beach, and 2 hours on the runway in Mexico City. Most of my time I was at a very nice hotel in Merida, Mexico. My favorite part was the Coconut ice cream dessert on Wednesday night - Coco Champola! Sadly, it's only available in Merida.

First the beach with my friend and coworker, Sue Ann. Then the parade of emergency vehicles that checked out and re-fueled our plane when we had some problems with a warning light.

Some Dreams

2008-11-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

I've had some pretty wild dreams the last few weeks. Here's my two blog-appropriate favorites so far: In one I was a lead in a Shakespeare play with my friend Amy. I wasn't originally cast as the lead, but the lead got sick, so I got the part. It turns out that I'm a wonderful Shakespeare actress! But after each show the director would pull me aside and tell me to either stop ad-libbing or at least run my ideas by him before the show. I told him that I thought it was important to give the audience more historical information about the play (most of my outbursts were like footnotes). It was pretty awesome.

The dream I had last night was not very fun, but it was crazy. First I was walking around a mall, not knowing which section to shop in. Then someone came up and told me "Happy Birthday!" I asked how old I was, and they said 30. 30?! I quickly added in my head, "born in '83, now it's 2008, yep, that makes me 30!" Then I saw my two good friends Mark and Phil and I asked them if they were 30 too. They said "Of course!" Whoa. So I went home, because my mom was going to bring me a birthday cake. But I knew my house was going to be invaded before my party by a gang, so I waited in my front yard on a wave runner in the pond. (Yes, in my front yard.) The gang came, I got off my wave runner and fought them through the house and backyard. It was pretty cool, but scary. I don't remember all the details, there was something about an airplane engine making fake snow to distract them...(easy, you throw bags of ice through the engine and it comes out all chopped up like snow!) I remember the end - I punched the leader in the face, sent him flying into the fireplace, and I lit him on fire! When I woke up I was terrified! But I slowly realized that I wasn't 30, and I hadn't fought anyone. Thank goodness!

Progress?

2008-11-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are out of town and imagining a cute baby bump, here's the truth. Below is a picture of me at 8 weeks and a picture at 12 weeks. There's not much difference except I need a haircut. And these days Curtis can stick out his tummy as far as I can. (I'm working on getting a picture of that!)

Green shirt - October 5
Purple shirt - November 1

Traveling Plans

2008-11-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

So Thursday I went to Houston for a fancy ACU recruiting event. Thursday was a bad day. I felt car sick for most of the long ride, but we had to keep going so we could get there on time, so I just tried to sleep. And none of the convenient stores we stopped at had Icees! bummer. For a while I thought I would have to skip the event that night, but once we got to our hotel room, I started feeling better. The event was great, I love talking about ACU. Then Friday we got back in the car and drove back to Abilene. It's a long drive. We left at 9:15, stopped at the Blue Bell factory in Brehnam, it was closed, and then we accidentally ended up in Taylor! That was not on the route, but it was close to Georgetown, and I definitely know my way back to Abilene from there. I felt really good on Friday, and I knew where we were, so I did most of the driving. And my fellow travelers let me pick all the stops. For lunch we stopped in Taylor and ate at this tiny Mexican food place that was painted bright peach and only had trucks in the dirt parking lot. It was great.

So this weekend I'm here in Abilene and on Monday I leave for a NAFSA (some sort of national study abroad association) conference in Merida, Mexico. I'll feel more excited about it after I pack and get all my stuff together. It should be fun though. I'm going with three other people from ACU. I get back late Thursday night.

My baby will have been to Montevideo and Mexico before it's born!

Check out Merida on wikipedia, it's a cool place!

Week 11 Report

2008-10-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

How am I feeling? This week you'd get a different answer every hour. Right now I feel good. I got a nice nap after work and Curtis just made me a sandwich. Some nights I feel nauseous and I sit in the recliner or lay on the couch until it's time to go to bed. Sometimes taking the dog on a walk makes me feel better, sometimes I don't want to go. And so far, most of it doesn't make sense to me. I generally feel better if I eat something every few hours. But I get tired of eating because I don't feel hungry. Oh well. I think I have it better that other ladies in their first trimester, so I don't want to complain too much!

I really enjoy following the ACU football team. I check their blog and news releases regularly, and I've been to all their home games. We usually listen to the away games on the radio, and the last away game was on TV! I was pretty worried about the WT game last week, but we won. In case you're not in the loop, ACU is undefeated this season, breaking tons of ACU records, ranked number 1 in our conference and number 2 in the nation! We have some awesome players on offense (Malone, Scott, and Knox) and our defense is awesome this year! Our next three games are against some serious teams, so I'm excited.

Pretty Header

2008-10-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hey! Here's a big THANK YOU to my friend, Hannah, who made the pretty header (picture at the top of my blog) for me. She's a great friend, a wonderful mother of twins, and an excellent photographer! You can check out her work on her website and also on her blog - http://vickersdigitalphotography.com. Hint: she has some really cool designs for Christmas cards!

First Visit to the Doctor!

2008-10-16T15:08:00.001-07:00

We just got back from the doctor's office and it was awesome! Our estimated due date is May 12. Everything looks good and we have another appointment in a month.

The best part of the visit was the ultrasound! We got to see our baby!!! Baby was hanging out upside down (Curtis disagrees - I was laying down, we're not sure about the angle of the camera... we agree that it was upside down in the pictures) and it was so precious! We got to hear the heartbeat for a few seconds. I could have listened to it for hours. After we had been looking at the baby on the ultrasound for a while, Baby started to move around!! That was the best. Now it seems like a long time before we get to have another ultrasound. Our next appointment is November 17th. We'll post the ultrasound pictures on here after we scan them.

My favorite is on the top right - the one with the legs!