Hello...anyone still out there?

To the left is a picture of me and Mark at the shower (26 weeks).

I can't believe how quickly the past few months have flown. I'm SO excited the end of the semester is upon me, and while I will be teaching over the summer, the schedule will be much less hectic. For the past semester, I've been teaching 8 courses for 3 separate institutions, which means three separate textbooks. Who thought signing up for all of this was a good idea?!? Good grief!

I'm happy to report that everything is going well with little Parker Claire who is now set to make her debut on August 2nd. I had my first shower last week, and it was a lot of fun. The gals (and gents) in my office are really great. Our big shower is May 30 (hosted by two sorority sisters of mine). The shower will be a couples shower with some of my family, but mostly friends. Mark's family will host a shower after Parker is here....it'll just be his brothers, sisters and parents in attendance, so I'm hoping it'll be pretty low-key.

At my recent OB appointment, my blood pressure was 110/68, which made me very happy. I did my glucose test, so we'll see what happens with that. The doctor did tell me I need to start gaining some weight. Since about 9 weeks pregnant, I've only gained 3 pounds, but I'm still down 7 from when we got knocked up. Unfortunately, the doctor said I need to eat HEALTHY options to gain the weight. I assume "healthy" does not include my passion for Skittles, Starbursts, or anything gummy! BAH.

I'm off to a meeting, but wanted to quickly post. I look forward to catching up with y'all now that things are slowing down here a bit.

Good grief!

I've had an incredibly busy week, and am practically forcing myself to post this message now simply to let you know I'm alive. I have a terrible habit of obligating myself to more than I can easily handle. Typically, this isn't a problem, but when you have a baby in the belly, it makes it really difficult.

I agreed to teach an 8 week course for another institution. It meets twice each week for 3 hours each session. I drive an hour or so each way to get there, so that makes it an even longer excursion. I agreed to this gig before I knew that all I'd really want to do is sit around on my couch. Luckily, it'll allow us to pay Mark's lasik surgery in full-- May 8th is the day for him-- so we won't have an added monthly payment when Parker is here.

Other than that, I'm just pushing through each week. Every weekend in April is filled with something to do. This weekend is my community college homecoming, and since I teach here and advise multiple student organizations, I'm obligated to enjoy myself!

Hope y'all are well-- I will make time to get caught up on you....in between tackling the mountain of grading I've yet to complete. *sigh*

Update

I should have posted this earlier in the week, but I've been running myself in circles it seems.

Weekly Survey

How far along?: 21 weeks
Total weight gain: none that I know of. I'm still less than I was when I got knocked up
How much does baby weigh?: According to BabyCenter, she's .75 pounds
Maternity clothes?: without a doubt....although I can still wear a few pre-pregnancy pants with the bella band
Stretch marks?: None that are new ;)
Sleep?: Still not sleeping as well as I'd like, but I'm getting used to it.
Amazing moment this week?: Feeling Parker move!!!
Movement?: most definitely
cravings?: Totally random stuff, and, luckily, most of them are more healthy options. Watermelon and bananas mostly
Labor signs?: Thankfully, no
Belly button in or out?: in, but I think it's less deep
What I miss: sleeping on my tummy
What I'm looking forward to: getting through the next few weeks so things can slow down a bit
Milestone: I guess just feeling the baby wiggle around. I'm looking forward to when Mark can feel her too.

In other news, sister-in-law's IVF was postponed....indefinitely. She's been diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis and due to all of her previous surgeries, the doctor doesn't want to do surgery now. She's very upset and somehow holding onto the hope that it's a temporary delay. I, unfortunately, am not so optimistic. :(

Just a quick note....that turned lengthy!

I have so much to share today, but not a lot of time to do it. SO, this will be a short entry with more to come later.

First, I definitely felt little Parker move yesterday. I was sitting at my desk typing away, and all of a sudden, I felt this little "tap tap tap" in my belly. It was most definitely baby and not gas. While many say the feeling is similar to that of the "butterflies" I found it a bit more nauseating. Of course, it was a wonderful moment, but it still made me sick to my stomach for a second or two.

When I got home, I had Mark feel my stomach because you could feel a solid place where Parker was definitely positioned. He felt it and then jumped back "Woah! That's weird!" and then came back for more poking and prodding. It was a fun experience for us to share together, and I can't wait for Mark to feel her little punches and jabs.

To wrap it up, I'd like to ask for prayers for my sister-in-law. Mark's sister has had a helluva struggle over the last few years with all sorts of medical issues (really the entire time they've been married, since she got sick on their honeymoon several years ago). The doctors have finally said she's healthy enough to try to have a baby. Her only option (due to the medical stuff) is IVF, and she starts her first cycle Thursday. If you could ask for strength and patience for this couple, that would be great. I'm so concerned that they don't really know their chances of success, and that in some way, they have a false sense of hope. I don't know if that makes sense, but I hate for them to get hurt. I just ask that God comfort them and support them through this, as they've been through so much during their marriage.

Allergies- Bah!

After spending much of Saturday in bed or praying to the porcelain gods, I'm doing better today. I don't know if I ate something funky or just had a stomach bug or Parker was making up for those early days without m/s, but yesterday was no fun at all. I managed to get down half a turkey sandwich and about 1/4 of a Gatorade, but that was all I could do.

I woke this morning ready to eat though- I'll tell you that! Of course, we've got a front moving in tomorrow night, and my allergies are already warning me about it. On my last day of spring break, this really isn't what I need. I took a Zyrtec first thing this morning and just popped some Benadryl (sleepy time soon), but nothing seems to be working. So, BAH to allergies!

In positive news, we finished painting the main part of the nursery. We'll have to prime and paint the ceiling thanks to my dear, dear husband's attempts to help get the job done, but I think it'll be great when we're done. He should take care of the ceiling Wednesday while he's off work and then we'll be ready to put up the bead board (hopefully next weekend). I'm excited to see it all come together and certainly ready to have another room in the house completed.

I guess that's all I've got today.....I've got a busy couple of weeks coming up and then we're heading to Mississippi for Easter weekend to spend time with the outlaws. That'll be interesting if nothing else. When we return from MS, I will work for 2 days and then head to a conference for the rest of the week. From there, it's only like 2-3 weeks until finals!!!

We're half way there!

Weekly Survey

How far along?: 20 weeks
Total weight gain: a little over 2 pounds, I think (still less than when we got pregnant though)
How much does baby weigh?: 10.5 ounces, I assume
Maternity clothes?: heck yeah
Stretch marks?: None that are new ;)
Sleep?: I do well for about 4 hours at a time, but I'm making due
Best moment this week?: Actually starting to LOOK pregnant rather than "just fatter"
Movement?: maybe-- I've felt a flutter or two, but I don't know if that's baby or gas
Food cravings?: Cheese still.....and anything else I can get my hands on it seems
Labor signs?: Thankfully, no
Belly button in or out?: in, but I think it's less deep
What I miss: mojitos!
What I'm looking forward to: Our next OB visit in about 2.5 weeks
Milestone: Making it to week 20 with no spotting, cramping, or cause for alarm. We're truly blessed.

Mark really surprised me last night. He called Tuesday night to tell me he had a date night planned. Wednesday afternoon, he notified me a guy from work and his wife were joining us. No biggie- so much for romance! While at dinner, I looked up and my bestest college friend was standing at the end of our table. After a bit of confusion, I realized she was there to hang with us. We went to House of Blues to see Keith Urban in concert, and it was a lot of fun....despite swollen ankles and being really tired. Mark's a real sweetie for surprising me like that though!

And the winner is...

Parker Claire

We finally settled on a name and have shared with with our families, so now it's time to share it with you. Most people ask how we chose the name, and we don't really have a clear answer. Basically, we wrote a list of names on paper and then "tried them on" for size. Parker is a name I thought of back in December and added to our list-- we never really discussed it. Mark mentioned Claire around the same time, and we've pretty much stuck with it as a middle name ever since.

Neither name is a family name...well, we found out later that Claire is my great grandmother's middle name, but we had no clue at the time. And, while we live in Parker County, that didn't influence our decision either way.

So, there you have it- Miss Peanut has a name!

Tonight, we're heading to Dallas to The House of Blues to see Keith Urban in concert. We're joining one of Mark's co-workers and his wife. Should be a fun evening, but I know I'll be exhausted by the time we leave. Luckily, Mark's driving, so I can sleep the 1.5 hour ride home!