Christmastime

We've had a really good time visiting with all of our family and old friends in Alabama over the last week. Here's a few pics from the holidays:

Christmas Eve with the Carrolls (Stephen's mother's family)


Stephen's parents are always so sweet to invite my mom to their gatherings. She usually comes to one of their Christmas gatherings every year. We feel really fortunate that our parents get along so well together!


With Meme, Stephen's last surviving grandparent


Christmas day with the Brooks (Stephen's dad's family)


With Stephen's cousin and his wife, who are expecting their first baby just five weeks before ours!


With my mom and brothers. Next year, we are going to stand next to the tree instead of standing in front of it. We are all so tall that you can't even see the tree!


My little brothers make Stephen and me look like dwarfs! Their dad is 6'6", and I think Lee just might get there in the next couple of years!


A pit stop at the Anniston Museum of Natural History (one of the only attractions in this part of Alabama). The dead stuffed animals are kind of eerie, but it's also kind of cool to get a close look at so many previously living animals that we would never see up close otherwise.


On an African safari...


We revisited Jacksonville, the town where we met as freshman in college in 2001. We drove past our first apartment, where we lived from 2002-2004 when we were first married. This place will always hold a special place in our hearts since it was our first home together. I was thrilled to see that the current tenants decorated the porch with Christmas lights the same way we used to.


Over the past week, we've also gotten to see a lot of our old friends from high school who are home for the holidays... always terriffic to catch up with old friends. We're still in Alabama, and our travel plans have been thrown off a bit by both of us getting sick =( I woke up throwing up at 6:00 Christmas morning at my in-laws' house... not exactly the way you want to start the day! As soon as I had recovered from the stomach bug, Stephen picked up a terrible cold, and we had to quarantine ourselves from each other so I wouldn't catch it. Apparently I'm going to catch every bug I come into contact with while I'm pg, so I'm trying to become more vigilant about staying away from possible sources... being sick while pg is definitely not fun! I couldn't keep any food down for a couple of days, and it was just awful because I could feel my little girl moving around, and was constantly worried about whether she was getting enough hydration and calories. Thankfully, Stephen and I are both better now. Hopefully we can stay that way!

Pre-Holidays

Now that Stephen is on break and I am feeling really well, we've had some time to get out and get to know our new location a little better. We got to have several yummy lunches at some of Athens' locally-owned hotspots and have enjoyed the holiday decorations in the historic downtown area.

The beautiful historic Athens City Hall


We took a day trip to Helen, Georgia, a quaint little mountain town that has been designed to look like a traditional Bavarian village.





And we took a drive along a scenic byway in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and saw some of the tallest peaks in Georgia, which actually had a little snow on them. We have been missing the mountains something fierce (Athens is hilly, but not mountainous) and were so happy to finally see some. It's hard to call these 4,000' peaks "mountains" after being surrounded by 8,000' peaks in Tucson and seeing 14,000' mountains in Colorado... but we'll take what we can get here! These mountains will be beautiful to drive through next fall, and there are tons of places to go canoeing, camping, horseback riding, etc. We are looking forward to having this mountain getaway nearby to enjoy when the weather gets warmer!


Tomorrow we're headed to Alabama and will be staying with our families there for about a week. We're looking forward to eating some delicious food and seeing some old friends while we're there. We're really sad that we won't be able to make it to Dallas this year... we've been there for almost every other Christmas this decade, but we just don't have a good way to get out there this time. I'm going to miss seeing everyone!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas surrounded with family, friends, and fun! Happy holidays!

Professor Brooks

Stephen is officially done with his first semester of teaching at the University of Georgia! Yay!!! He can finally take a break and relax now. This semester was a little tough since he taught twice as many classes as he did as a grad student, had 84 students, and had to re-work a lot of his class material to fit the UGA composition program. (And did I mention all the extra housework he had to do in addition to his paid work during my first trimester? He has been amazing!) Grading essays and homework assignments and holding multiple conferences with 84 students is no easy task, and he has been on one long grading marathon ever since the end of September, many nights having to grade until 11:00 or even to 1:00 in the morning, and he has spent every weekend grading as well, only taking breaks long enough to watch a football game or two. He deserves some time to relax!!

We have been very pleased with the results of his efforts. This semester he received the best student evaluations he's ever gotten before (almost all of his students rated him "above average" or "excellent"). And the administration has offered him extra courses to teach next semester in addition to those he's contracted for! I am especially thrilled about that, because it implies that they really like him and are happy with the work he has been doing... I know how hard he's been working, but it's really encouraging to know that his boss is recognizing that as well! I'm so proud of my professor!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Woohoo!!! We are SO excited that we're having a little girl!! I am already imagining decorating themes and thinking about teaching her how to scrapbook, cook, etc, etc... I can't wait! We spent most of our lunch talking about what kind of instruments and sports she might play, and of course we're thinking more about names, but we're not feeling a rush on that!

Today's anatomical ultrasound was amazing. I can not believe how much her body has developed already! She has a heart beat around 135 bpm and weighed about 12 oz, so everything is looking good for her so far! We got to watch all the different parts of her body being measured, everything from her head to her feet, and even got to watch the chambers in her heart pumping blood. It was so cool to see how much her spine has developed with all her ribs, and I loved seeing her little feet and her little nose!

Here's a couple of my favorite 3D pics from today! (They are kind of blurry in some areas where she was moving while the pictures were being taken, but you get the idea of what she looks like!)

Isn't is amazing that she already has fingers and facial features? (And don't worry, her ears are still forming and will keep moving up the side of her head until they're in the right place!)


I love how she looks like she is smiling in this one! I think she is just adorable already!

Stephen is so funny, he said he hopes she favors me instead of him-- I think he's afraid she might be born with a full beard! I think a girl favoring him would be beautiful, and I think she already has Stephen's adorable cheeks, they are poofing out in the second picture just like his do when he smiles!

So many people are stoked that we're having a girl, especially my mom, Stephen's mom, my sisters, my stepmom, my aunts, my girl friends... basically everyone who's a girl! Mom was ecstatic when I told her and she revealed that she'd been hoping it was a girl all along, and I get the feeling Stephen's mom was too, especially since she never got to have a daughter of her own. We are just so happy to know we have a little girl in there, and seeing those pictures of her today gives me new inspiration to eat well, exercise, and all those other things you're supposed to be doing during pregnancy. It's so great to be able to imagine her and to think about nourishing something as precious as her.

Anticipation: Is it a Boy or a Girl?

If the baby cooperates, we'll be finding out if it's a girl or a boy on Wednesday, and we are so excited! For whatever reason, Stephen and I both got the feeling it's a boy a couple of months ago, and almost everyone who has an opinion on it also thinks it's a boy. My friend Inna had a dream that it was a boy, and I had a dream myself a few days ago that it was a boy, but none of that really means anything. Either way, we're going to be thrilled!

19 weeks

A Special Girls' Night Out

While we were in Alabama for Thanksgiving, I had fun getting together with two of my best friends from high school, Jenny and Inna. The three of us have been friends since we were 15 years old, and have been there for each other through thick and thin all these years. This was a really special time to hang out because we knew Jenny was going to become a mother a few days later, and that everything was about to change. All three of us are going through transitional periods in life-- Inna just married a military man and will be moving to Portugal next month, and Jenny and I are becoming mommies. It was wonderful to have this one last night out, in the calm before the storm, to support each other and to celebrate the changes happening in our lives... and to eat at our favorite Greek restaurant, Nabeel's, one last time before we're toting diaper bags!



Our last bump picture together... at least for this round! Jenny was 38 weeks here, I was 17. Jenny gave birth to a beautiful 8 and 1/2 lb. baby boy three days later!

Thanksgiving

Now that I'm getting over this nasty cold, I'd better post my Thanksgiving blog before it becomes ridiculously old news! UGA was closed for the week of Thanksgiving, so Stephen and I got to spend almost the whole week visiting with friends and family in Alabama, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Stephen was not really "off of work" because he had to grade 84 essays while we were gone that week! Poor thing!

My mom hosted a big Thanksgiving for my brothers, their girlfriends, Mom's boyfriend and his mother, Stephen's parents, and Stephen and me. This was special for us because it was the first time since 2001 that mom, my brothers, and me have all been together for Thanksgiving.

My cute little brothers and their cute little girlfriends. And my cute hubby!


My sweet in-laws, Donnie and Jo Ann.


After being in the kitchen with mom all day at 17 weeks.


A Pie to Remember

Since Mom was hosting a big meal, and I'm her only daughter, I felt like it was my duty to provide some substantial kitchen help, so I was a little offended when I asked her what I could make and all she said was the rolls-- a 10-year-old can do the FROZEN rolls! Then she said I could get the tables ready, which wasn't much better-- I've been doing the tables since I was 12! (In all fairness to mom, I should mention that I did not let her lift a finger when she stayed with us last Thanksgiving, but still...!) A more honorable task was finally assigned to me when she started craving her mother's chocolate pie. So I got to make Meme's famous chocolate pie for the first time ever, with mom on one side of the stove and me on the other, and mom interpreting the notes on the recipe card for me. It was one of those cheesy moments when you realize that's what Thanksgiving is all about, with my mom assisting me in making my grandmother's pie, while the next generation is incubating inside me... super sappy stuff, I know, but this was the most meaningful pie I've ever made. It was more than a pie. No one ever makes special dishes for Mom, but she's always making them for other people, so I really enjoyed making something special for her, even though I couldn't eat a piece of it myself because of the raw egg whites in the meringue!



Mom was so proud of that pie that she carried it around the house to show off to everybody, then she surprised us by unashamedly eating two pieces of it after eating the big Thanksgiving meal (Mom NEVER gets seconds on dessert!). Over the next two days, she finished off the entire pie by herself, eating a total of six pieces all together! WOW! (Mom never eats like that, so I know she must have really loved it, and that makes me happy!)

Our Little Mover

Stephen got to feel the baby moving last night! Very exciting. It is moving frequently and especially likes to move when I'm trying to go to sleep. Now I have two people to keep me awake at night! Stephen snoring, baby moving, me counting sheep... (More like me counting all the things that need to be done before this bambino moves on out of its cocoon!)

It's Moving!!!

I felt the baby moving for the first time last night! Just as I was trying to go to sleep, I started feeling the sensations of it moving around, and it kept moving on and off for a couple of hours-- I think it's going to be an athlete! It was pretty hard to go to sleep after realizing that my body is really the host to another body. It's one thing to see the pictures of it, another thing entirely to actually feel it! I've been very curious about what it would be like-- the books say it feels like "butterfly wings" or like "gas rumbles." To me, it's feeling more like little gas rumbles, except they're noiseless and they keep happening over and over again in a location that is definitely within my super-sized uterus. I keep wondering what part of the baby's body I'm feeling and trying to imagine what it looks like moving around in there (is that a foot? Or an arm? Or the head?). Last night I told Stephen as I was feeling the first sensations of it, but by the time I was sure it was really moving, he was already snoring. This morning he was very happy and excited to hear about it. I can't wait until Stephen can feel the baby, too!

On a different note, the baby's ears have now formed enough for it to be able to hear! Time to start the music!

Sicko Preggo

If I thought going out on the town pregnant was a new experience, that was nothing compared to being sick! We had a great Thanksgiving visit with friends and family, but I managed to pick something up along the way and have been in bed for days now. At first I thought it was the flu, and actually cried to Stephen about it because the flu can be so dangerous for pregnant women and I don't want anything to hurt the baby. Yes, cried. Since when was the flu something to cry over? Apparently it is now.

The next morning, I called my obgyn's office and asked them what to do. They said to go to my primary physician, which of course I don't have because I just moved here four months ago, so they suggested an urgent care center that's affiliated with a local hospital. I can't even remember the last time I went to a doctor for having flu symptoms, I always just deal with it on my own. But an hour later, I was at the best urgent care center I've ever been to and they found that it isn't the flu, it's a really bad strain of a cold, and of course there's really nothing that can be done about a viral infection like a cold anyways. The doc recommended Tylenol and since my head had been on the brink of explosion for hours, my throat hurt so bad that it was painful to swallow my own saliva, and my body was so sore that I felt like I'd just run a marathon, I broke down and took some pain killer for the first time since I got pregnant. I am now Tylenol's newest fan.

Normally, I would pull out my bag of vitamins and herbal supplements and create an arsenal of goodies to boost my immune system at this point. That's what I've been doing for years (we couldn't afford health insurance the first five years we were married, until we graduated from college, so I learned how to do this out of necessity). But no one knows what doses of vitamins and herbs are safe during pregnancy, so my stand-by arsenal is now a no-no. Pregnant women aren't even supposed to drink herbal tea! And everyone knows to stay away from solid foods while they're sick, but I don't want to starve the baby, so what's a sick pregnant lady to do? I bought some Ensure drinks as a compromise (350 calories of fortified nutrition that tastes like a chocolate shake!) and am snacking, but still don't feel confident about this whole thing.

I'm at a total loss on how to heal myself, which I never could have imagined a year ago. It's weird how pregnancy makes you rethink everything that you thought you already knew how to deal with. How it reminds you that your illusion of being in control of your life is really just a very thin illusion. And that's before the baby even gets here!

(The bright side of this is that I've had an excuse to dig into Stephen's reading pile, and am halfway through my first piece of non-pregnancy literature in months, The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. I'm cherishing this time to read while it lasts!)