32 Weeks!

We had our 32 week appointment yesterday (although I'm actually about 31 1/2 weeks).  Everything looks great!  The ultrasound showed a very active little girl with the hiccups!  She weighs about 4 lbs. 2 oz. right now and is a little over 16 inches long.  Her bottom is under my ribs on the left side & her feet are under my ribs on the right side...which I feel quite often!  I told Matt that I think I have internal bruising on my ribs from her kicks! Every time we have an ultrasound she is holding on to her feet for at least part of it, and yesterday was no different.  She would alternate between grabbing her feet & trying to put her hands in her mouth!  Overall, everything looks good & she's measuring about the 50th percentile for all the measurements they do.  Only about 8 weeks left until we get to meet this little girl in person!

Baby Girl Bell

Well, I am reluctant to post ultrasound pictures on Facebook (I just feel like that is a little too personal to share with 600 "friends"), but today we had a 3-D ultrasound & I thought my few loyal blog readers would like to see the pictures!

In this one she is biting her bottom lip...

And in this one her hand is by her chin...

Unfortunately, she wasn't extremely cooperative, but we got a few good pictures!

Baby Girl is still in need of a name!  My class of 4th & 5th graders are trying to convince me that I should let them vote on the name.  So far I have told them "no," but I might have to consider that option if Matt & I can't make a decision!

The Baby Bump...

12 weeks:

21 weeks:

24 weeks:

25 weeks:

Gender Reveal Party

Lots has been happening at our house over the past few months!  The most exciting event lately was the Gender Reveal Party that we had a few weekends ago.  Matt and I wanted to share the excitement of finding out whether Baby Bell would be a girl or boy with our families in a special way, so we invited everyone down for the weekend for a "Gender Reveal Party."

Matt and I went to the doctor on Wednesday, January 25, for our ultrasound.  The plan was to have the ultrasound tech write down the gender in a sealed envelope to be opened at the party on Saturday night.  Although I initially didn't want to find out the gender until the baby was born, I was the one who was quite antsy at the ultrasound!  In fact, I almost changed my mind while we were there and had the doctor go ahead and tell us the news!  But, since I knew that the whole family was coming down for the big reveal, I stuck with the plan.  Besides, I've always been a big fan of surprises & this just stretched the surprise out a little longer!  

The ultrasound tech was very good at keeping the secret...although Matt and I spent a fair amount of time analyzing every word that she said during our appointment over the next few days.  For example, the speed with which she determined the gender, and the confidence she had in her determination had us convinced that Baby Bell would be a boy!  

The weekend came & all of the family arrived!  We had 10 people staying at our house for the weekend & we had a great time.  I decorated the house with pink and blue balloons and streamers, and Heather helped me make some cute tissue paper flowers!  I also made a blue and pink dessert to go with the theme!



My mom brought the cutest little pins that were pink & blue themed.  Everyone had to choose if they thought it would be a boy or girl & wear the corresponding pin.  Thanks mom!


Since we have friends and family across the US, we decided to put the reveal party on a webcast so that everyone could join in the fun (even if they couldn't be here in person).  After dinner, we had everyone gather in the living room.  Matt made envelopes (one for each couple) to open.  Everyone thought that one of the envelopes would reveal the answer...but, of course, Matt had a trick up his sleeve!  The envelopes that people opened said things like "it's a baby," "it's a boy or girl," etc.  The real envelope was in Matt's back pocket!  So after everyone opened their envelopes one by one, Matt and I finally got to open the real envelope & reveal that we're having a baby GIRL!  We were shocked, my mom jumped up & down & everyone was thrilled!  Now we just have to pick out a name, decorate the nursery, and wait on our sweet baby girl to arrive!

Lots of excitement...

Well, the last few months have been a whirlwind, to say the least.  In October, we made an offer on a house (that I showed you in the last picture).  Then, the next day, we found out that I'M PREGNANT!!  Yes, folks, you read that right. Little Baby Bell is scheduled to arrive on June 15, 2012!  Matt and I are very excited!  We didn't quite expect to close on a new house on the same day that we had our first doctor's appointment, or to be trying to move in and get settled while I'm in my first trimester & can barely keep my eyes open past 5:00!  But, I know that God's plan and timing are perfect, and I am so happy that we are moving into a new phase in our lives!  I can't promise that I will be faithfully updating the blog over the next couple of months...things are about to get really crazy with the holiday travelling...but I will try to keep everyone updated as the pregnancy progresses.  Thankfully, the first trimester has been pretty easy for the most part.  Although I had a few weeks where any thought of food (besides peanut butter sandwiches) was out of the question, I have really only had 2 days of "morning" sickness (that happened to last all day long).  God has truly blessed me with not much sickness, especially since I'm teaching at a tiny school where there are no substitutes, so missing work can really cause a problem!  The one day I was sick at school, I would just leave my room, signal the secretary to watch my class, and head to the bathroom.  It worked out quite well!  Ha!  Sorry, mom, I still haven't taken a "belly" picture...although there is really no belly to show as of yet.  I keep telling Matt that if I hadn't seen the pictures of the baby on the ultra sound, I wouldn't really believe that I was pregnant!  Anyway, until next time...have a wonderful day!

Our new house...

Well, last weekend we bought a house!!  It's in a new neighborhood that we've been looking at for several months.  We couldn't decide if we wanted to buy or build, but then Matt started working in Tampa every week & we decided having him out of town for 12+ weeks would make trying to build a house too stressful.  We had originally wanted to be in a house by the time our lease is up in January, but decided that the timing might not work & we could just extend our lease.  Then, a house that was already built in the neighborhood & that we loved had a significant price decrease.  That, combined with very low interest rates, made us reconsider & go back for a second look (well, actually more like a 6th look).  Everything seemed to be working in our favor, so we made an offer & the builder accepted!  We are supposed to close on October 31st, and we'll move in during November (once Matt is back from Tampa, hopefully).  Here are a few pics of the new place...we are so excited!  To see more pictures, click on this link: Pics of the House

Family Vacation...

A few weeks back, Matt and I went with my parents & brother to Pigeon Forge, TN for the week.  We had a great cabin, complete with pool table & hot tub, and we spent the week exploring Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.  We went to Dollywood, saw a midnight 4th of July parade (it claims to be the 1st one in the country each year), and even explored the Great Smokey Mountains National Park a bit.  The week was wonderful, although we all wished that we had spent more time in the National Park.  It was absolutely beautiful!  We also saw some pretty funny shows, and definitely got our fill of Bluegrass music!  I think every show we saw played Dueling Banjos at least once!  Oh yeah, and the temperature was in the 80's all week, so it was a nice break from the crazy Oklahoma/Texas heat!  Overall, I would say that the family vacation was a success!

Working girl...

Well, lots of things have been happening lately, but the most recent & exciting is that I got a job!  I interviewed a couple of weeks ago, and although I thought the interview went well, I wasn't very confident that I would get the job.  But I received a call yesterday & I guess the principal liked me!  The interview was the most relaxed interview I've ever had...we just sat and chatted about the school & my past experiences (which were not so pleasant) with teaching.  She didn't have my resume before the interview & when I gave it to her she didn't even look at it the whole time!

The school is a tiny private Christian school, and I'm very excited about the upcoming school year!  It is called ACI Academy, which stands for Academics, Christianity, Integrity.  I will have a split 4th and 5th grade class, with around 10 students total.  Not bad, huh?  Quite the change from the 60+ hoodlums I had in the last school! (although some of the hoodlums did turn out to be pretty decent kids.)  Now I'm busy gathering ideas & trying to figure out how to teach 2 grades in one classroom.  I guess the one-room schoolhouse teachers did it back in the day.  I'll just pretend I'm in Little House on the Prairie.  Every class goes on a field trip once a month & does a service project at a local nursing home once a month, so I'm excited about the extra activities we'll get to do.  I feel a little overwhelmed since I've been out of teaching for 1 1/2 years, and I can't even see the classroom until a couple weeks before school starts, but I think it will be a great year!  I'm already impressed with the principal, and she's even going to meet with me and discuss all the curriculum with me, which is much better than walking into a room with 10 teachers manuals and trying to figure out which one to use (that was the experience at the previous school).

We took a great vacation to Gatlinburg, TN with my parents & brother the first week of July, and the week before that spent the week in Alabama.  I'll try to post some pics & highlights from our trip soon.