Happy birthday Jesus!

I am slightly conflicted this year because it does not feel like Christmas without snow.  I am one of those "crazy" people who loves winter anyway and it just doesn't seem quite right to have a brown Christmas.  As Jake and I sit watching Love Actually (our VERY favorite Christmas movie and one of our favorites in general), I am reflecting on the year and our holiday celebrations thus far and I am also very content.  We have been truly blessed and the past few days have been a tiny snapshot into the love and joy that we are surrounded by with our amazing family and friends.  Here's a peek at our recent Christmas events (can you see how lucky we are?!)...

Olson Family Christmas (notice the beautiful attire!)

The (not so) "little" girls reading the Christmas Story

Pyle Family Christmas

Ed enjoying his white elephant gift

The beginning of our little peanut being spoiled by all those who already love Baby Schulz :)

We have one party to go next weekend and I am thrilled to extend the joy of the Christmas season, to have an excuse to leave the tree up and continue listening to Christmas music, and to enjoy more time with those we love!

Time Flies

We're down to 6 weeks until our due date.  As my doctor said with a smile, "maybe 7".  But either way we are definitely in the home stretch of this pregnancy!  We have an active baby, I can still breathe, I can walk without waddling, and my favorite time of year is upon us.  Although I am not always comfortable and sleep is becoming a bit of a challenge, we continue to feel blessed and eagerly await the arrival of our sweet baby!

33 Weeks

34 Weeks

Out of the mouths of babes...

There are so many great things about being a teacher; seeing the amazing growth my students make socially and academically, building positive relationships with so many incredible kids, connecting with parents, and, of course, giggling at the funny things that the kids say and do.  It can also be challenging and with the excitement of Christmas coming up, my class has had some rough days.  However, one funny story came out of the chaos and I just had to share...

One of my students brought me a note after an especially wiggly day.  It was sealed in an envelope and said (in blue highlighter), "Dear MRS. Schulz i am so so so sorry for my BehaBvor and to show my appoligy you can signe this note saying yes or no and if you say no then here is some money," with $2 enclosed.  Well, I accepted his apology and did not keep the money, but will cherish the note as a reminder of their sweet little hearts even when they are acting like hooligans! :)

Christmas Cards

We got our first Christmas card in the mail yesterday!  That is one of my favorite parts about the Holidays - opening the mailbox to find cards and letters from good friends and family.  I truly love catching up on what has been happening with others throughout the year and enjoy reconnecting with them through their letters and kind thoughts.  Over the past several years I have gained a new respect for those who are on-the-ball enough to get these mailed every year...

When we first got married I was thrilled at the prospect of sending our own family Christmas card and letter.  It had been a big year with buying a house, celebrating at our wedding and honeymoon, and Jake applying to grad school.  We had plenty to share.  Then 2009 and 2010 came and went and all of our good intentions fell through.  Well, this year I was determined to restart this tradition for the Schulz's.  I forced Jake to take pictures, searched through SO many templates to find a card that fit us and tried to put the joy of our year onto paper.  So, we finally have a card in the mail again!  We hope that it brings a little holiday cheer to our family and friends.  

32 Weeks

For some reason, having only 8 weeks to go makes this baby's arrival seem SO close!  The movements are changing as Baby outgrows it's little space, yet every flutter, roll, and push is still so exciting.  I can tell I'm getting bigger because the first graders have started to comment that the baby is growing.  One sweet little student has started to say two goodbyes at the end of each day; "Goodbye Mrs. Schulz" (with a hug), "Goodbye baby" (with a second hug)!  Can you see the difference this week?

Thankful

I love this time of year!  Thanksgiving provides a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon what we are thankful for and I find myself especially happy this year.

I am thankful for family - we had a very special Thanksgiving holiday this year.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner and great conversation with the Olsons on Thanksgiving day.  We also spent time with Jake's family at the annual cribbage tournament.  While neither of us took home the trophy this year, we had a great time!

I am thankful for my students - a few weeks ago we were reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, which spurred a discussion about names.  It was a fun opportunity to hear their suggestions:

I am thankful for time - soon we will have more!  Although the past few years have been crazy busy with homework, Jake and I will both be finished with our graduate school work in the next couple of weeks (Jake with his MBA and me with an MA in Early Childhood Education).  We are both thrilled and proud to be so close to the end.

I am thankful for Jake - he is a truly amazing husband.  He has taken on extra housework during the pregnancy and gives me nightly back rubs.  I could not have found a better man to be starting a family with!

I am thankful for friends - I wish I could spend more time with all of them!  I have recently enjoyed celebrating several friends' engagements, births, and pregnancies.  Jake and I are both so happy for all of our friends with these exciting life changes and hope to see everyone more often as the holidays approach.

I am thankful for baby - our little maniac.  It has been pure joy to experience the growth of Baby Schulz.  He or she is moving SO much now and one of our favorite activities has become feeling and watching the kicks, punches, and somersaults.  I think I even felt some little hiccups the other day!  Take a peek at the new growth from weeks 29 and 30 (we missed 28 and 31).

Soccer

One of the hardest things about being pregnant has been sitting out of soccer.  When I originally found out about our little one I planned to play through the first trimester per my doctor's okay, but it was apparent in the first game that it would be impossible.  It's amazing how fast you become protective of your belly when you know such precious cargo is inside and I was no help to my team at all!

Well, I have stayed connected to my indoor and outdoor teams through going to most of the games and cheering them on and, while it is fun to stay a part of the team, it is also torture to constantly be watching and not able to play.  The past couple of weeks, though, I got a little extra soccer fix through cheering for my sister-in-law in the high school section finals and state tournament.  She played so well in all of the games and it was pure joy to watch such talented players.  Congrats Anna and the Burnsville girls varsity team on 2nd in the state!  We are so proud :)

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays, but being a teacher makes it a lot more fun because the kids are so into it.  Many of the teachers get into it, too.  As a staff we brought spooky treats to share.  I made Rice Krispie pumpkins (thanks, Nicole, for the idea!).  We also let the first graders wear costumes if they want to and this year our team dressed up as baristas from Starbucks.  It was a fun day!

Yummy pumpkin treats

First grade teachers

Third Trimester

This past week we recognized we were three months from our due date.  That sounds like kind of a long time, but thinking in terms of already being in the third trimester makes it seem like it's coming fast.  Someone recently asked me if we are ready and that's a hard question to answer...

Mentally, we have been ready since we got pregnant.  If you know Jake and me at all you know that we are planners and, consistent with our personalities, we planned ahead to be prepared for a new little addition to our family.

Emotionally, we are getting more and more ready each day.  As far as pregnancies go, mine has been pretty simple and I really can't complain.  In fact, I think I will actually miss this stage of our baby's life.  We are at a really fun part where baby moves all the time and we can make connections will our little bundle and witness his or her growth through feeling (and now seeing!) the little kicks and somersaults.  We love "snuggling" with the little peanut and it is nice that Jake can be a part of this as well.

Physically, we are getting there.  After a minor fiasco ordering the crib and changing table, they arrived last week and we were able to get those set up.  We still have a lot that we need in order to actually be prepared for baby, but it is coming together slowly and has been really fun to get everything ready.  I am also growing physically as the little one continues to grow.  Here are pictures from weeks 26 and 27...

We plan to enjoy the next 13 weeks and anticipate the third trimester will be just as enjoyable, exciting, and quick as the first two!

Something in the Water

My school is a baby factory this year.  There are five of us who are pregnant (yes, 5!), one teacher leaving in a few weeks to adopt a baby girl from the Marshall Islands, and two more teachers who shared photos of their brand new grandbabies over the past week.  While it is definitely a bit of a distraction from work it has truly been a blessing to have such a great support system.  We celebrate the joys of pregnancy, giggle about the less pleasant parts, and share special moments, new insights, and questions.  Every pregnant woman should have such great friends to share in their experience! 

Westwood Mommies-to-be

Sara (1st grade) - due March, Kristen (1st grade) - due March, Kristin (1st grade) - due January, Kathy (4th grade) - due December, Keri (art) - due any day now!

The Bump

Before getting pregnant, I always imagined that I would be one of those on-the-ball moms who took a picture each week or at least each month in order to track the baby's growth and would then make a beautiful collage detailing the joy of pregnancy.  Then reality hit and there wasn't much change at first and then we were busy and it always slipped my mind to stop and take a picture. 

Well, now it's week 25 and we have the first official "bump" picture.  While we can't go back in time to get pictures at each stage, we still have great memories!  Cross your fingers that this will jump start a third trimester chronicle of baby's growth... these will probably be the most fun pictures anyway :) 

Conferences

Conferences are exhausting.  There is no other way to put it from the teacher's perspective.  It is always a challenge to teach all day and then talk to parents until 8:30 in the evening, but even more so being pregnant.  Regardless of the long days, though, it is such a blessing to have this opportunity to check in with families about how the year is going and to build strong partnerships to help support the students.  One of the other benefits is seeing old families around the building.  After working all year to build relationships, it is hard when families move on and I no longer connect with them anymore.  So, conferences are also an opportunity to say hello and check in with them.

This year, that was especially nice because many of them were noticing the baby bump and commenting about that.  I received several hugs and had to share one conversation...  A sweet Vietnamese mom whose son I had last year in kindergarten was congratulating me and asking about the pregnancy.  She asked if I was eating well.  I assumed she was wondering if I was eating healthy so I told her I was trying and then she said, "From behind, you don't look pregnant!  You need to start eating more!  Eat anything you want."  I told her she is welcome to come visit my classroom any time :)

Toothless Wonder

While that is probably an okay name for the baby-in-progress, this post is actually about my first graders.  One of the best things about switching grade levels and having a full day to teach is the extra time I get to read aloud.  It is the calmest part of the day and it is pure joy to expose students to hearing and responding to good literature.  Right now we are in the middle of Junie B., First Grader: Toothless Wonder by Barbara Park.  (Maybe I was a little loose with the term "good literature", but we just love Junie B.!)

In this story, an older student tells first grader, Junie B. Jones that there is no such thing as the tooth fairy and that it is actually a tooth witch who leaves money for the teeth so she can eat them.  Well, this makes sense to Junie B. because why would the tooth fairy leave money if she wasn't going to use the teeth for anything?  This leads to a "stumper" in which she and her friend Herb try to figure out why the tooth fairy would leave money for teeth.

After reading this section of the book, I asked my first graders if they knew why the tooth fairy leaves money for teeth and I could not resist sharing their priceless responses:

- "Maybe she takes them and remakes them for new babies."
- "She probably collects them."
- "Well, the tooth fairy has a boss who tells her to go get the teeth."
- "I think she turns them into grown-up teeth that grow in later."
- "Maybe she uses them to make her castle home."
- "Her boss actually doesn't have any teeth so she collects them to fill his mouth."

I think first grade might be even better than kindergarten with the creative little thinkers I have in my class this year!

What's in a name?

Yesterday one of my first graders (who I also taught last year in kindergarten and have known for almost a year) told me, "Mrs. Schulz, at home my family calls me by my middle name."  What?!  That was quite the shock after calling him by his first name for so long.  Well, we're working on changing what we call him at school and it's an easy enough fix, but it got me and a colleague talking about funny name stories with former students and I jokingly told her I don't want to name the baby.

While we clearly are going to give our little one a name and we think we have some pretty good ones picked out, it is a bit of a stressful process.  As a teacher, so many names remind me of a particular child I have known and I have experienced some interesting nicknames.  It's also hard and overwhelming to think about what will fit our child for their entire life.  How do people do this??

Well, we have also had some help.  One of the baby's dedicated aunts provided us with a long list of suggestions.  Bless her heart for researching unique names and including the meaning behind each one. 

Who knows what we'll end up with, but you can be sure that baby's teacher will know what to call him or her on the first day of school!

Ultrasound Photos

As promised...

Here is his or her profile - I may be a little biased, but I think the baby is pretty stinkin' cute!

Can you see the tiny foot?  (It's up at the top!)

Quite the miracle - This one not only shows what a cutie I have brewing, but you can also see the spine, heart and stomach!

It's a... baby!

The past week has by far been the best of the pregnancy.  I have been feeling the little peanut move around for a couple of weeks, but we got to experience the first kicks (or punches!) that both Jake and I could feel.  It was amazing to not only see my belly growing, but to also feel the little movements of our babe.  Every time is such a thrill!

I also told my first graders about the pregnancy this week.  Their reactions were pretty funny and some of them decided to share their thoughts about what we should name it.  They were more inclined toward boy names and some of my favorite suggestions were Jesus (as in God's son) and Whoopster.  My other favorite comment was from a little boy as he was leaving for the day.  He gave me a hug goodbye and said, "I hope you have your baby!"  Sorry, buddy, but I hope not (yet)!

Then we were on the way to our 20 week ultrasound.  While we have decided not to find out if it's a boy or girl, it was still exciting to actually see our little bundle!  We had an ultrasound at 12 weeks in order to find the heartbeat and the growth since then is incredible.  We watched in amazement as the clear image of a baby filled the screen.  As the ultrasound technician moved around taking measurements, we were able to see a profile of the face, the heart beating, the stomach and bladder, the spine, bones in the arms and legs, a tiny footprint, the developing brain, and even the umbilical cord pumping blood to our baby.  It was truly amazing.

I brought the pictures to school to share with my first graders and left them there so I will have to post those later!

Journey to the Blogosphere

Several years ago I started following a couple of friend's blogs.  It was so fun to keep up with them even though I didn't see them very often and I thought it might be fun to start my own blog, but I wasn't sure if I'd have enough to say.

Then, one day, Jake called me a gamer.  The term immediately made me imagine a greasy, pimply teenage boy with a headset.  While I am not that, I do enjoy a little tetris, free cell or Sporcle when I am relaxing and I again thought about starting a blog as a more productive way to waste my time.

However, those friends' blogs that I had been following faded away and I thought I missed my window.

Recently, though, there has been a new wave of fun blogs to read from time to time and I was re-motivated.  Plus, we found out that we are expecting a baby and I thought that was a valid reason to share our lives in this venue.

Unfortunately, Jake asked me what the blog would be called and that opened up a whole new can of worms.  Should we stick with something simple like Schulz Family (it was already taken) or pick something based upon a song (but who could find the perfect lyric)?  Then, we came up with Fast Times at Skyline Drive and thought it had a nice ring to it.

So, here it is... a new blog to keep friends and family updated about what is going on in our growing family.  Enjoy!