18 weeks!

How far along: 18weeks, 1 day

How big is baby: About the size of a sweet potato.

Total weight gain: Miraculously, I haven't gained anything.

Sleep: Lately I've had an increase in those weird dreams you always hear pregnant people talk about. I'll wake up and thing, "...what?" go back to sleep, and later wake up again and think, "...what?" My dreams are definitely weird. Overall, I sleep well though.

Maternity Clothes:Yes. They're amazing.

Morning Sickness: Nope.

Food cravings: Still french fries with ketchup. And Taco Bell. And...well, I just like to eat.

Food aversions: The biggest one is still barbeque, and I'm really beginning to miss barbeque!

Challenges: I can't get over the lack of energy.

Movement: I thought felt the baby last Sunday and Monday, but I haven't felt much since, but I had a really busy week, so either I didn't notice, or it was a false alarm.

Boy or Girl?: We still don't know, but we hope to find out tomorrow!

What I’m looking forward to: Finding out the gender, and getting to see the baby!

What I miss: Not wanting to take a nap 24/7.

Next appt: Tomorrow!

So it's been a while since my last post, and I've even had some people tell me to hurry up and update. Work was consuming my every waking moment for a while, and I'm the type of person that if my computer isn't conveniently placed, I'll just use the internet from my phone or iPad. We competed at our One-Act competition on April 3 against 4 other schools, and while we were disappointed that we didn't advance, we were given the title of Advancing Alternates. In One-Act, there isn't 1st, 2nd, 3rd place, but if there were, we basically would have come in 3rd. We also managed to beat a school that beat us at District last year, so that was an accomplishment. Four of our students won individual awards for acting, so we are quite proud.

I will say, that it's nice to have my life back. I actually have had time to do things. :)

Aside from work, things in our family have been busy as well. In November, my grandfather woke up one morning unable to walk and with intense pain in his legs. A week or two later, the pain subsided, but the inability to walk was still a problem. After many trips to the doctor, it was concluded that he needed back surgery.  On January 4th, he had his surgery and it went very smoothly. After a couple of weeks in the hospital, they sent him to a rehab facility to he could focus on building his strength back up. After a couple of weeks there, he developed pneumonia, and was sent back to the hospital. After he was better, they sent him to a different rehab facility. He wasn't doing well in his rehab, mostly because he refused to participate. He eventually got to the point where he wasn't eating or drinking well and everything was an argument. About 4 weeks ago, it was getting scary how bad he was. One night he complained of pain all night and in the morning they decided to take him to the hospital to see what was wrong. His blood pressure was really, really low, he was severely dehydrated and he was suffering from acute renal failure. They put him in the ICU and started looking better almost immediately. After 2 days in the ICU, they transferred him to a regular room, and he has been doing better ever since. He has encountered some major issues since he started doing better, but he continues to choose his health and happiness. After about a week or so in the hospital, he was sent back to the rehab facility, where after a few days, he took 18 steps with the help of the hand-bars. About a week later, (which was last Wednesday) he was brought home for the first time in exactly 3 months. He has an agency that sends a nurse during the day, and family members take turns in the evenings to help him with everything. His rehab therapists visit him at home and he is loving being at home. Yesterday he was sent to the hospital because they thought he'd had a stroke, however, he didn't and they're keeping him until a minor UTI that he has is better.

Needless to say, we are thrilled that he is doing better.

There are only 6 weeks of school left, and I couldn't be more excited. I am more ready for summer than ever, as I am ready to start focusing on getting ready for the baby. As each day passes, I am more and more eager to meet our baby. I'm curious about the gender, what he/she will look like, what his/her personality will be like, (let's hope that they DON'T get my hard-headedness) and things like that. I really hope that tomorrow we'll find out the gender so that I can start planning for the nursery. The only thing I think I've decided on for the nursery is the crib...which means I have a lot to do.

Hopefully, I can update this week about the baby's gender! Keep your fingers crossed. :)

12 Weeks Down.

How far along: 12 weeks, 1 day.

How big is baby: About the size of a plum.

Total weight gain: Still, as far as I know, none. I need to invest in a scale.

Sleep: I still get tired early, and I wake up early every morning because I'm about to burst.

Maternity Clothes: I'm on the verge of needing to break down and find a solution to tight pants.

Morning Sickness: Nope, thankfully. :)

Food cravings : No majors this week.

Food aversions: I've just been avoiding what I know I don't want, and no new developments lately.

Challenges: Adjusting to having to go to the bathroom every five minutes. How am I supposed to get anything done? I know it's just begun...

Movement: Too early.

Boy or Girl?: Again, too early to know.

What I’m looking forward to: Finding out the gender.

What I miss: Sleeping in.

Next appt: One week.

I love Sundays, because it's church, lunch with Travis's family, and being lazy for the rest of the day. Today, I managed to get a nap, which was surprising since I slept later than usual this morning.

During my nap, I had the first dream that I was able to remember about the baby. In my dream, the baby was a girl, and we were taking her to church. There wasn't much detail to the dream, but I do remember the love I felt for my child. It was so pure. I was overflowing with happiness and warmth. The baby was so sweet and precious, and when I awoke, I was a little sad that I didn't get to dream about the baby longer.

It's just one of those things that got me even more excited to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl, and even more excited to meet the baby.

For years, I've said that the way that I love my nephew, Ethan, was the closest I could imagine to loving a child of my own. I always add that I know that the love I have for my children will be different of course, but it's hard for me to imagine what that love must be like, when I love a child that isn't mine the way that I love Ethan.

My grandmother always is sure to correct my thoughts on this with that I will never love Ethan like I'll love my own kids, and that's fine, but I'm just always amazed at our capability to love other humans, whether they're our own children, or someone else's.

The fact that I love sweet Ethan the way that I do---it's an unconditional, overflowing love--makes me overjoyed at the thought of the love that I'll have for my child. It already amazes me how attached I am to this baby, because I love it already, but I know it'll be an overwhelming amount when I meet him/her for the first time.

Now, that I've been sappy, I'll share other bits about my life these days.

One-Act season is here, and I am busy, busy, busy. With my rehearsal schedule and commitments that Travis has to the church during the week, I feel like I rarely see him these days, and I've been missing him a lot. However, we were able to spend the whole day together today, doing nothing, and it was perfect. :)

With One-Act season, there are always challenges...feeling like some of the kids don't want to succeed like we want them to, the long hours, the bus trips, etc. On Friday we attended our first clinic, which is an event where we perform our show and a clinician gives us critiques on the show. Overall, it went really well, the bus trip, however, did not. On the way up, we were complaining about the heat on the air-conditioned bus, and the driver turned it up all the way, and it was sweltering.

THE HEATER WAS ON. That's a little counter-active, no? We didn't find out until we were almost there, because one of our students finally said, "there's heat blowing out of this vent right here."  I wish she would have said that much, much sooner. When we told the bus driver, she was like, "But they're all off." Then she switched a switched and it turned off. I guess not, lady. The intense heat caused many, including Bobbi, the director, to get carsick. How fun! Thankfully, I don't have to deal with carsickness.

In other news, I have read the first two installments of The Hunger Games trilogy, and wow. It's amazing.  I highly recommend anyone and everyone pick up a copy immediately and begin reading. With the first book,The Hunger Games, after the first few chapters of learning about characters and the setting, it became an imaginary playground as I ripped through the pages, salivating for more. As soon as I finished, I couldn't wait to start the next book.

With the second book, Catching Fire, I was already attached to the characters and knew the setting so it was instant. I would read as much as I could during the day (before rehearsal starts), and stay up late reading---it took about a day and a half. If my student that has been loaning the books to me remembers the third installment, Mockingjay tomorrow, I'm sure it'll be an equally quick read. The story is just sooo good and the pacing of the book is so well written.

And now I cannot wait to see the movie.

The Interview

It went really, really well.

I interviewed yesterday with one of the current theatre teachers, (the one that's leaving her current position for a new position within the school) and the principal. I saw lots of head nodding and smiles, and even heard a few laughs. I feel like I was myself and that I gave good answers that showed that I am qualified and right for the job.

They said they had 15 applicants, and selected 5 for interviews. Well, obviously, I was in the 5, otherwise I wouldn't have been interviewed yesterday, and they're going to take 2 of the 5 and give them a second interview with the district's fine arts coordinator, and that will happen next week. I've heard that I will be one of the 2, so hopefully that rumor is true!

Today, is my content test, which as I have said previously, is the test every Texas teacher must take to prove that we are 'highly qualified' to teach our subject, according to No Child Left Behind. I've been studying like crazy and I am feeling confident.

Last week, my program gave us the option to go to a review session where they would break us up into our subjects and let someone prep us for the test. I was the only theatre person there, so I was very fortunate and got to have a one-on-one review. My review counselor was very kind and knowledgeable. We actually talked for quite awhile about things that weren't even pertaining to the test, and we were laughing at ourselves for not focusing on what we should have been doing. After chatting for awhile, we went through the test, how they score it, what they're going to ask, etc, and she gave me things to make sure I know, so I have learned as much of that information as I can.

A few weeks ago, I went back to my university to get transcripts and while I was there I decided to visit old professors. One of them asked what I was doing, and when I told her I was taking the theatre content exam, she said, "Oh, wait a second. I have something for you." She proceeded to pull out a copy of a 130-question practice test and told me to go home, take it and learn the material on it. Without studying, I took it and I made a 73, which honestly isn't bad, considering I hadn't done anything theatre-related in over a year. So I started studying and studying. I took the practice test to my review session and asked my review counselor if she felt that it was a good review, and she told me it was an excellent practice test, that it was covering pretty much everything that I would likely see on the real test. So I came home, I decided to use the practice test as a study guide and I feel like I have learned pretty much everything I can. I took the test again the other day, and a 91, only missing 11. I've since learned those the content covered in those final 11, so I can't help but feel confident.

I know that the questions on the real test won't be the same ones as the practice, so I learned what that question was covering. Since I had one question covering the stock characters in Commedia dell'arte, I learned all of the stock characters in Commedia dell'arte.

Anyway, the test is at 2 o'clock. I'm about to run through my flash cards a few times, eat lunch and then get ready to go!