And we're back

This is what has happened since last time I blogged:

August: I got hired to teach 5th grade. Six days before school started. I worked a lot with the 5th grade team last year and I felt beyond blessed to be chosen to join them this year. Although, 6 days is not a lot of time to get a classroom set up and wrap your brain around teaching 5th grade.

September: I started getting to know 22 ten year olds who have so far this year have made me laugh much more than they've made me cry. (I don't think I've actually cried yet...just felt like it).

I also visited my sister, brother in law and one week old niece. Being an aunt is the best! We shared lots of cuddles and a major diaper blow out, too.

October: I can't really think of anything big that happened this month...Halloween with 5th graders was not that fun...neither was the day after Halloween, but we survived.

November: Annie came to visit! We had so much fun showing her around Austin- the weather was beautiful and we ate A LOT of really good food. I really love that girl! I have no pictures of our adventures because she never sent them to me (HINT HINT, if you're reading this, Annie).

We headed to Houston for Thanksgiving with Chris, Connie and the girls. By the end of Thanksgiving Day we were starting to feel very suspicious that this:

might be the case. This was right before church and we decided to keep the secret to ourselves for a little while, but we were afraid that we would not be able to act normal. We pulled it off though.

December: My sister, brother-in-law and niece came to Austin. We had so much fun!

I gave this to my sister for Christmas. She was excited. Brian was confused.

We drove to Alabama right after Brian, Alaura and Adalee left. I was really nervous about being in the car for that long, but it all turned out okay. We gave a picture frame similar to the one above to Andy's parents the night we got there. Alaura brought my parents and other sister theirs and our secret was officially out of the bag to our families and close friends.

January: This accessory was added to the front seat of the car after a bad experience with driving to work and scrambled eggs. Turned out to be much worse for Andy than it was for me. Hence, his insistence on my new traveling companion:

We went to the Austin Area Birthing Center for our first appointment. We heard an amazingly fast heartbeat and saw our little one moving around on the ultrasound screen. It was so exciting, and very surreal. We took these home as our souvenier:

Top right is the head, bottom left the rump. Baby measured a little over one inch- 10 weeks exactly.

Close up of baby's face, with the hand on the left, next to the mouth. I know, it's hard to see/understand. I still think it's cute.

I am 14 weeks right now, feeling much better, and the cat is officially out of the bag- we are having a baby! August 3rd is the due date. I'm really looking forward to looking pregnant instead of like I've eaten too much junk food and of course, to feeling the baby move in the next few weeks (hopefully...it can be anywhere from 14-22 weeks before that first kick is felt for sure).

I have officially wasted a large portion of my morning collecting pictures from various sources and putting this blog together. Saturday mornings are supposed to be set aside for doing homework. Oops. The good news is that next week is three days of professional development in my district. Three days without kids. Don't get me wrong, I do love them. But I find they are much cuter when I haven't seen them for a while. :)

Hopefully I will be a little better about blogging, now that there are more exciting things to blog about. :)