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 :)