Baby J and Baby Jake

Holy Moly! Can you believe it is almost Thanksgiving??!! And Thanksgiving is late this year, and I still can't believe it's almost here.  Time sure has FLOWN BY... and at the same time, gone ssssuuuuupppppeeerrrr duper slow.  Here am I at 25 weeks (please excuse my beautiful nail polish):

Life has been pretty normal for Mr. Woody and I.  I have been keeping busy with work and he is busy studying, and watching sports of course.. He tries to do both at the same time, one of them always wins out in the end, three guesses which one it is!!

Still prego, in case you were wondering!! I have had a student ask me if I still have the baby in the belly.  Hah yup honey, it's still there! Which reminds me I heard some students (that I don't know) whisper as I walked by "gasp! She's having a baby!!"

Woody and I are Failing, like epically (did I spell that right??), at preparing for Baby J.  The only thing we've done so far is bring stuff to the D.I. out of baby's room.  We still have not bought one. single. item.  I keep hoping Woody will become interested in buying baby things and do the research for me... so far no such luck.. dangit!

I'm starting to have some braxton hicks. Yippee.  They aren't too bad though, still not as bad as my cramps!! Which, I totally thought I was supposed to not have during pregnancy... who told THAT lie?! 

Our little nephew Jake Douglas Bird was born last week!! He is simply adorable.

Whenever I look at him, I think he is SO BIG... probably because I know that a baby of that size will be in my tummy soon..... and... I will have to push him out.  These thoughts make Jakes size multiply by 10 I think

They made me change his diaper to "prepare myself".. Sadly I don't have the picture of the fact that it ended up taking 3 of us!! Because the poor baby kept pooping once I took his diaper off

Woody just loved seeing little Jake! He just stared at him and snuggled him.  I could tell that it was making him pretty excited for his own little guy.

I'm exhausted, and it's past my bedtime... so I guess that's all for today!

The monster in your computer

We live in a world filled with some really amazing things.  

Because of the internet - My parents will be able to see my Baby J grow up no matter where I live, with face time, sending pictures, sending videos etc, I can keep in contact with friends who have moved all over the country and world, I can get an e-mail from my little sister serving a mission in an instant, instead of having to wait for the mail to bring it to me, I can google ANYTHING from how to make a certain meal, to how to perform CPR.

The internet is incredible, and has provided all of us with truly good ways to use it.  However, like all things, you have to take the good with the bad.  One of the vices that has come with our internet age is, pornography.  I KNOW that this can be a touchy subject for some.  But, for me and my family, it is a simple black and white issue.  Pornography. is. bad.  It ruins lives.  And the most unfortunate thing of all is that the lives that it is now ruining are becoming younger and younger.

Right now there is a petition going on to require porn to be an "opt in" feature, rather than a standard feature.  Should this be put into action, it would make it so that instead of having pornography popping up out of the blue, users would need to change certain settings to allow themselves access to the pornography.

 Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day  Saints, I am a firm believer in agency.  If pornography was to be made an "opt in" feature it would enhance everybody's agency.  My kids would no longer be forced to view pornography by accidentally clicking the wrong website.  And the person who feels it is his right to view pornography would not be forced to stop, he/she would simply have to take additional measures to access it.

I truly believe that having this feature is a step in the right direction.  I hope that everyone takes a moment to think about signing, and how it will better our future should this come to pass.

Click here to sign the petition

Telling my students

Well life is CRAZY!!  School is busy (when isn't it busy?) and I'm... growing!!   I tried to buy me some new clothes last weekend and totally BOMBED!! I only found one Maxi skirt that I liked, so needless to say another shopping trip is coming my way.

I had my 20 week ultrasound appointment today!! Woody was able to  come with me and we loved looking at our little baby!! HE had some crazy legs, he gets that from me (it was my nickname in soccer).  And that's right I said HE

Woody and I are super excited to welcome Joseph Albright Palmer into our little family! We are calling him Baby J, it has a nice little ring to it :)

I left school for ultrasound today, so I decided today was the day to tell my kids about me being pregnant.  I LOVED telling them.  Seriously, their faces can't be any cuter on Christmas morning.  They were all SO excited.  They made me cry.  

They had lots of questions:

"will you still be our teacher?"

"can we see the baby?"

"what will you do with your baby?" 

and some AWESOME compliments: 

"you don't even look pregnant"

"I didn't even know!"

We graphed whether they thought the baby would be a boy or a girl.  I had 14 students guess boy, and 10 students guess girl.  Then they told me some of their name choices.  

Some girl ones were

- Lilly

-Rose

- Jane

- Haven

- Baby Palmer

- Pink

- Curly

Some boy names:

- Toby

- Jack 

- Owen

- Haden

- Donathen

- Mr. Palmer

Obviously some of them were better picks than others.  

Then after the ultrasound, I went back to school and told them it was a boy.  We looked at my ultrasound pictures and they all said, "aaaawwww, let's see him in real person!!"  They were so cute.  Then I told them his name would be Joseph, and I got quite the reaction, we have a Joseph in our class. Seriously, so. much. fun.

Unfortunately, the baby news was pure SUGAR to my students.  We did NOT have a productive day afterwards, but it's ok!

I have a nice big list of quotes from my students that I need to post, but unfortunately I don't have it with me, so I can only tell you the ones I remember:

We took a math test today, and 2 of my students were gone to a reading class.  After one of my little boys came back he said,

"oh you guys had to take a math test?? SUCKERS I was at reading! hahahaha"

Little boy: "Mrs. Palmer, you should be a witch, then I would pour water on you! Splash!!"

The Too Tight Pants

Oh. pregnancy.  I think everyone has a love/hate relationship with being pregnant (or am I the only one??). Even the girls who we all admire (secretly loath) for having an 'easy' pregnancy don't have it all that easy... comparatively.  The things we could talk about it. Nausea. Sleeplessness. Headaches. Pregnancy brain. Tired to the bone. The belly.  And I'm ONLY 16 WEEKS pregnant!!! And yet, these words are my new friends... you know the ones that you never invite over to your house?

I dreamed of being pregnant WAY before I actually was pregnant.  And even before Woody and I were trying I was drawn towards the pregnancy articles. (like a bug to a light.. like a bug to a light)  I especially loved the "dressing the bump" articles.  "aw sweet!" I would think... "I can be cute and pregnant".  I was totally prepared and ready to Dress. My. Bump! BUT, where on earth are all of the articles on dressing the chub?? You know the belly you have BEFORE the bump? Where people look at you and think.... is your belly getting bigger? Or....

No matter our size we all buy clothes that fit us.  And, no matter our size, there is a point in pregnancy where those clothes no longer fit.  Wait.. you mean to tell me these pair of pants that I have had since 8th grade (ya, I'm that out of style) aren't going to work any more??!! WHHHAAATTT It's rather unfortunate that this time has come for me.

Getting dressed in the morning now takes me twice as long as it used to.  Even when something still 'fits' it no longer looks the same, and there are some things that just don't work with the little 'extra' (in more areas than one) that I have. 

I have only had a few items that are now located in the... "after pregnancy, way after pregnancy, and maybe not ever again" pile. Today, however, after an eventful day, I had to add a pair of pants.

So this morning, I'm doing my morning ritual of trying things on, taking them off and tossing them on the floor, trying something else on, take it off.. tossing on the floor... When I decided on a pair of work pants that are my "nothing is working" go to pants.  

When I put them on I noticed that they were a little tight around the waist but, I'm tough! I can handle this! And I'm not even that big yet... So they stayed on.

Unfortunately, not my best decision.  My belly grows continually throughout the day (can't be too surprised since I eat 24/7) and soon my "kind of tight" pants turned into my "get these off of me now!" pants. There were some repercussions, such as, the tripling of the already too often need to use the bathroom, and a sick feeling that comes now when my belly is constricted. I quite honestly thought of changing into my sweat pants that I had brought to do yoga in that afternoon.. Thankfully I am not THAT crazy yet.  (I have however, undone my belt at a family gathering because it became too tight, that's legal when you're pregnant right??)

Baby P was not loving the tight pants today either.  Whenever I would sit down (And the pants got a little tighter) I felt a whole lot of movement from the babe.  He/she was saying "hello mom!! You are squishing me!! Get off get off get off!"(they get their bossiness from their dad) Sorry Baby P.. you had to be squished.

SO with a little bit of scorn (because of they pain they caused me) the pants are now in my ever growing pile.  And I am planning on getting me some pregnancy pants with an elastic waist. Done and Done. 

Pregnant lady teaching

Hey folks!! Life around here is definitely getting much better!

My nausea is beginning to go away so I no longer feel it ALL THE TIME.  It just comes and goes and I find myself beyond grateful for the moments when I don't feel anything in the tummy (no hunger, no nausea, not stuffed etc.) For a long time I completely cut out milk from my diet (because my lactose intolerance got so bad) but I am beginning to slowly introduce it back in and I am, again, really grateful to be able to have just a hint of cheese on a few things!

School is keeping me uper busy!! I love my new kids they are simply adorable, as always. I have had some fun moments with them so far.

I have one little boy who raises his hand and I say "yes bob" and he always replies, without fail: "mrs. Palmer, I have a question"  (thank you thank you.. I had no idea)

Boy: when I look at the flag it makes me think of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and....
little boy sitting next to him whispers: and the Holy Ghost
Boy: oh ya and the Holy Ghost

I have another little boy who whenever I take them specials makes a heart out of his hands and looks at me through it as he passes.. aw so cute!

After the BYU game:
girl: Mrs. Palmer I went to the BYU game.  We left at (told me the exact minutes) and the score was (told me the exact score)
me: wow! That sounds way fun!
girl: ya and the next day the coach got fired because of all of the running that we were able to do!!
(teaching them young!!)

We did the JIGALOO song today to go along with learning the 'ig' family.  The kids loved being able to do their own jig, and we had a ball laughing and jigging!

I love my kids SO MUCH. I am definitely a lot more tired than I used to be and have to work a little harder to be patient.  But they are my favorite and I am so grateful for them.

Here are some belly pictures....

Oh AND I do prenatal Yoga with another pregnant lady at school.  I love the stretch it gives me and how relaxed I feel! It really helps my stress level after long days at school.  I did a 'regular' yoga today.  It definitely kicked my butt, I loved it!!

I have been feeling the baby kick since around 12 weeks and loving feeling him/her move.  It is definitely a miracle of life!!