A Pregnant Shamrock

Happy St. Patrick's Day! St. Patty's Day is one of my favorite holidays. Why? Because my husband and I began dating and got engaged around St. Patty's. I wore lots of green today to get into the spirit of things (and avoid being pinched by overzealous high school kids...).

While walking out of the main office this morning, one of my co-workers told me I looked like a pregnant shamrock... Thanks? I couldn't decide if it was a complement or not, but I'm running with it. Even though the visual of an actual pregnant shamrock sort of boggles my mind. What a disturbing image...

I also made very tasty Irish soda bread...

And delicious shepherd's pie...

MMM!! Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

P.S. Speaking of holidays and disturbing images - and a recent bat attack - finding a bat hanging from a pointsettia is super disconcerting. Halloween & Christmas do not belong together.

So. No.

Someone in my first block class called me "Mrs. Prego" this morning. Before I could think better of it, I said, "Oh, we are so not going to start calling me that." Immediately after saying that, I realized my mistake. It's the perfect challenge to a teenager...

See what I mean?
I'm claiming that they are referring to me as the Queen of all spaghetti sauce. And I'm sticking to that.
Mrs. Prego?

So. No.

The Names Keep On Coming...

Here is the list of students' suggestions for our baby's name from last time...
"Landon Matthew
Christian Andrew
Sam is Amazing [Insert Last Name]
Byron Cole
Colby
Jayden
Caelin James :)
Jaquanafin (A.K.A. Fin Fin)
Logan (heart) Dawson
Baby Angel
Undecipherable Scribble --> Stop Stealing My Name
Tyler

With Love, US!"

Here's what my "baby name" board currently looks like...

The board is nearly filled up. The list of names has grown considerably... & the suggestions have become even more ridiculous. Excellent. That's what I was hoping for.

And here is the updated list... My comments are in parentheses. Arrows indicate other students comments about certain names.

"Landon Matthew
Chirstian Andrew
Sam is Amazing [Insert Last Name]
Byron Cole
Colby
Jayden
Caelin James :)
Jaquanafin A.K.A. Fin Fin <-- Really?? No way! No No! Hell naw! Yes Yes!
Logan *heart* Dawson
Baby Angel
Undecipherable Scribble --> Stop Stealing My Name
Tyler

With Love, US!

LeBron James
John Tommy
Amari
Tyree
Paris
Blanket
Miles Austin
Jesus
Morgan Freeman
(or is that Jesus Morgan Freeman?)
Siddhartha (founder of Buddhism)
James
Griffon
Boo Boo
Mike Rotch
Ben Dover (I was really expecting more of these...)
Frederick Douglas (US Civil War Abolitionist)
Richard the Lionhart (English king; Crusader; ca. 1200s)
Stewie
Zhalil Kyle
Hugh Jazz
Jamier
Frank
Micheal Vick <--spel beter! (seriously?!?)
Lil' Wayne
Cooper
Chester
Butch
Kirkegaard (Enlightenment philosopher)"

Don't Put Me In A Hamster Ball

As I trip over a cord in the front of the class for the second time...

Ham: You are trying to give us all heart attacks. That's it! We're getting you a giant hamster ball!

Me: *raised eyebrow* Are you calling me a hamster?

Ham: It would be cute! You could roll around the classroom in your little hamster ball and be perfectly safe while teaching!

Me: I'll keep it in mind...

Fear the Belly

While walking around the room helping students...

Jamie: Mrs. Frizzle? John is being mean to me!

**Please note "being mean to me" is really high school flirting**

Me: Would you like me to beat him up for you?

Jamie: Yes!

Me: John? Stop being mean or I will belly bump you out of this world.

John experiences a fit of coughing (...laughter).

Barefoot & Pregnant

We had 8 guests staying in our house last weekend.

The Professor's parents & Grandmom came down to help my sister-in-law into her new apartment AND all of my college roomies came to visit. They even brought my sister with them as a surprise. Originally, these two visits were scheduled for separate weekends, but with all of the snow... we just decided to go with it. Overall, we had a crazy fun weekend with lots of cooking and silly fooling around.

All of the following pictures are courtesy of Sarah Peaches Thomas & Nancy Daly... You should check Nancy's work out at her website: http://www.nancy-daly.com/

She's extremely talented as both a photographer and a graphic designer.

Anywho - these are some of the pictures that they took of my sister and I working in the kitchen together to make really tasty pizza. I'll share some of the fooling around pictures with you in another post.

Photos by Nancy Daly:
Photo by Sarah Peaches Thomas:Photo by Nancy Daly:Photo by Sarah Peaches Thomas:And my favorite moment from the evening:

My Sister: You do realize that you are standing in your kitchen, cooking, while barefoot & pregnant, right?

Me: Yup.

My Sister: Gross.

Ah, stereotypes!

Baby Name Suggestions - From My Students

My students have very definite opinions about what the first and middle names of my son should be. Are you ready?

"Landon Matthew
Chirstian Andrew
Sam is Amazing [Insert Last Name]
Byron Cole
Colby
Jayden
Caelin James :)
Jaquanafin (A.K.A. Fin Fin)
Logan (heart) Dawson
Baby Angel
Undecipherable Scribble --> Stop Stealing My Name
Tyler

With Love, US!"

Needless to say, they are mostly fired. But I enjoy hearing their suggestions. It provides me with daily entertainment.

"Water Water Water!"

Between each of my classes, I try to make a quick run to fill up my water bottle and go to the bathroom.

On my way back to my classroom from the bathroom the other day, I realized that I had left my water bottle sitting on the shelf by the bathroom door.

Since the bell was about to ring, I rushed back to the bathroom to retrieve my water bottle, all the while muttering "water, water water..." to myself (kind of like a crazy person).

As I'm doing this, I pass by two of my students who are busy gossiping about the immaturity and trials of high school boys and relationships. Very important gossip!

The next thing I know, they are squealing and hurrying after me saying, "OH MY GOD, HER WATER BROKE!! WHAT DO WE DO?!?!?"

My response: I start to laugh like a loon. I hold up my water bottle and explain (in between wheezing chuckles) that I just forgot my water bottle.

Of course, when the three of us walked into class at the bell, the two girls proceeded to tell the rest of my class about how I nearly gave them all heart attacks.

It's fun working with 10th graders.

The Lesson of the Day: Pregnant women should not go around muttering anything about "water"!

*tee hee*

Hooter Hiders... What a name. I'll admit to having giggled like a 12 year old school girl when I saw an advertisement for these on BowerPower's wishlist. Such clever marketing...
Then, to my continued bemusement, I discovered another advertisement for "Udder Covers." I kid you not. The giggling continued to increase... It may have been hysterical giggling at one point. And now, thanks to my aunt-in-law (Is that right??) Jamie - I am the proud owner of an Udder Cover. I'm in love with it purely because of the name, but I'm sure it will be very practical and come in handy once baby arrives. Plus, it's pretty :). Thanks, Jamie! I'm really excited to try it out!

My Husband Cracks Me Up

So I'm having a normal conversation with my sister-in-law Theresa, when the Professor walks over and sticks a long piece of masking tape around my belly. Initially, I ignore this and continue to carry on my conversation (if you've met my husband, you understand...). Then I glanced down. And started cracking up:

I Call Him Baby

So far, I haven't really seriously considered names for my son. Sure, I've looked at different names. I've thought about it... But I haven't seriously tried to figure it out. I know I need to start "seriously" coming up with names soon, but I find it difficult to name a child I've never met. I can't keep calling him "baby" and "squirmy" forever. If I assume he'll turn out anything like his father, I just might start coming up with names like "Loony Pizza Brain the Second" and "Mini Chicken Butt."

Then my conscience interjects - Hey! Think SERIOUSLY!!! This is a person you are trying to name!!!

Oh. Right. Gotcha.

While I begin "seriously" considering names, I'm going to try something. I'm going to leave a section of my chalkboard open for my students to give suggestions. Will I take these suggestions seriously? In most, if not all, cases... definitely not. But you never know.

That is... If I ever have school again.

Fat As A Cow?

7 months pregnant. 32 weeks pregnant. 8 weeks to go. I'm only going to get fatter.

Cocking your hip to the side while pregnant just makes your torso look awkward...

My belly button hasn't quite popped out, but it'd definitely no longer an inny.

Winter pregnancy getup for igloo building:Dresses are so much more flattering when you're pregnant...

Rhubarb & Avocado

I may be well past the first trimester - but I've badly wanted (craved?) two things lately:

Avocados - which apparently no one in Jersey has ever heard of...And rhubarb... Preferably in tart or pie form... Where does one even find rhubarb?!?Is that strange?

Stop Thief!

My blood says that I'm mildly anemic and need more iron. Where did it go? The baby stole it!!And here I thought cooking with all that cast iron was enough for the little tyke. I guess I'll just have to start gnawing on my pots and pans...

Happy New Year!!!

I hope the start of your 2010 is as wonderfully sweet as sparkling cider apple juice and my wonderful husband!!

Dream Log 3:21 AM

I never could remember most of my dreams. However, now that I'm pregnant, I've been having very vivid, easily remembered dreams.

***

Example 1:
I'm walking around Disney's Magical Kingdom with my husband and sister-in-law Theresa when I realize that I need to go to the bathroom. I look around for a moment, then dash into the Pirates of the Caribbean. I make it to their bathroom only to discover that I can't get any of the bathroom or stall doors to close. How embarrassing! How will I ever go to the bathroom?

Example 2:
I'm on the campus of JMU with my husband and we are looking at the really awesome, brand new sports facility (which they built as an extension of the older UREC). We're discussing the features of the sports facility and how they built two new pools in the new wing, even though there were two really great pools in the old wing (in actuality, there is only one pool at UREC). Then the dream cuts to my husband and I swimming laps & racing in the four giant Olympic size pools. He's swimming freestyle and I'm swimming breast stroke on my back (??). We are leap frogging each other. He has longer limbs than me and so has the advantage, but I can do the roll turn much faster because I was on swim team. I can really feel the burn and push while I do the breast stroke kick each time I propel myself forward. In all four giant Olympic size pools of water.

***

All of these dreams have a common element - I wake up somewhere between 2:30 and 7 am and realize, "Damn, I have to pee."

Five Months

This is how pregnant I look at 5 months:

This is how pregnant I am at 5 months if I stick my stomach out as far as I possibly can:My sister-in-law tells me that the baby is about the size of this pumpkin:I was skeptical at first, but look! She's right!Silly pumpkin baby!

The Rubberband Technique

Warning: This post contains pictures of my tummy. Turn back now if tummies make you feel nauseous or uncomfortable.

I can no longer button my pants, but rubber bands work wonders.

I think it may be time for some maternity clothes... so long as they don't involve giant pink bows on my butt.

THEY KNOW

I apologize for my absence - it's been a busy week at work.

I realized this week that I could no longer hide the fact that I was pregnant from my students. Most high schoolers are oblivious, but there are always a few perceptive students in the class.

Once the perceptive students tip off the other students, it's all down hill from there. Gossip spreads quickly and before you know it, all of your classes are aware of what's going on.

It started on Tuesday. "You look very nice today! All glowy!" "Do you ever feel like you want to be in a bad mood, but you can't be?" "Do you need some pickles & ice cream?" "Please don't be offended, but are you pregnant?" That last question was one on one, but all the rest are actual comments declared loudly in the classroom. I would never accuse high schoolers of being subtle. At all. And I would never claim to be a good liar. At all. In fact, I'm pretty terrible at it. I can't keep a straight face. I always crack.

So, when the comments started in my World History II Honors class on Tuesday, I new it was only a matter of time before I would crack. I had good reasons for not telling them. First, it's my personal life - but you can keep only so much of your life from your students. Don't let them know you have Facebook!

Second, they are already masters at trying to get off subject and causing tangents. Why would I want to give them such a juicy tidbit to work with?

Third, I didn't really feel like dealing with kids telling me I was being hormonal when their behavior would cause any normal, stable, sane person to snap. "No! I am not yelling at you or kicking you out of my class because I'm hormonal! I'm kicking you out of my class because your behaving like a rude monkey on steroids! How old are you?!?!"

Some of the kids in my regular classes suspected, but almost all of my honors kids knew. They can be annoying that way sometimes. I've been pregnant since before school started and apparently some of them figured it out a while ago - but weren't sure. They didn't want to ask outright because then they might offend me. However, they did ask questions like - "How long have you and your husband been married? Are you going to have kids." And my response to the last questions was always, "Eventually." Hey. It was true!

So - I was left with a few choices. I could continue to try and be oblivious to their comments - which is probably a dead giveaway and as I said, I can't control my facial expressions. Besides, I am starting to show a little. I'm hiding it pretty well, but they are perceptive goobers. I could deny, deny, deny... Yeah. Right. Or I could just get it over with and tell them, since they already know anyways.

So I slipped the following slide into my powerpoint today:


Replace "Shoppe Keeper" with my last name for the actual slide title if you know me :).

My students are SO excited. Their reactions were very sweet. They ranged from "Nuh uh! I had no idea!" to "I KNEW IT! We were totally going to throw you a baby party if you didn't tell us soon and if we were wrong we had all of these crazy excuses for why we had baby shoes and a rattle on the cake!" And of course, they all think the baby should be named after them. Bunch of nut jobs, if you ask me.

Nursery Inspiration Part III