The baby's football season attire

This past weekend, our friends Rebecca and Damian came to visit us from Baton Rouge. Their gift for the baby was this fabulous LSU cheerleader outfit. This will definitely be the baby's Saturday attire. Geaux Tigers!!!

More on the stomach touching

Today a random student I don't know walked up to me in the hallway and asked, "Is you pregnant?"

I told her yes, I was, and then she said, "Can I touch your stomach?"

I said, "I'd prefer that you not do that." She said okay and went along her merry way. I'm sure she thought I was a big ol' meanie, but I did not know her at all.

I also have a student who recently returned to school after having a baby six weeks ago. She wants to talk baby with me every day. Now, I'm not one to "shun" these young mothers because many of them have very sad situations and I try to support them any way I can, but at the same time, I don't think we need to be bonding over pregnancy. Kind of strange.

I told TimShady the other day during one of our gab sessions between classes that I'm learning that motherhood is like a club and I'm a new inductee. Suddenly, women who really weren't all that friendly to me want to know all these things about me. When I was married with no kids, I was uninteresting to them. Apparently I'm incredibly fascinating now that I'm with child. Weird.

Pregnancy Brain

I definitely had the pregnancy brain yesterday. My students have been reading and discussing The Crucible for almost two weeks now. Yesterday, I gave several of my classes who were ahead in their reading a Crucible crossword puzzle. Up at the top, I had typed, "The Scarlet Letter, Acts 1 & 2." Even on the board under our agenda for the day, I wrote, "Scarlet Letter Activity." Go me.

School and Stuff

Here's some random stuff from the past few days:

--I had a prenatal massage Sunday. (For those of you who may be curious, the only difference I could tell between it and a "regular" massage is that I was on my back and side for all of it instead of on my stomach. Also, there are supposedly some pressure points that are supposed to be avoided on a pregnant woman.) Anyway, it was WONDERFUL. I told Darryl that I may need to fit in another one of those before November. :)

--I'm really enjoying teaching the juniors so far this year. I know it is kind of soon to speak, but so far, I have no complaints. I do, however, have some complaints with my 10th grade honors class. I'll just say that many of them--heck, the majority of them--probably should not be in an honors class.

--I just had some Publix Premium Monkey Business ice cream. Delicious. (Banana ice cream, chocolate shavings, and chocolate-covered peanuts...seriously.)

--Speaking of ice cream, my new guilty-pleasure TV show is Fat March on Mondays. A) I think it is both impressive and inspiring how much these people are walking. B) The ambulance makes an appearance almost every week. C) It gives me something to look forward to on Mondays.

Yeah, that's about it.

Why I don't like to watch the news...

So I sat down on the couch this morning to watch a little TV to "ease" into my Saturday, and within 10 minutes, this is what I heard about on the local news...

--Vick's involvement in the killing of innocent dogs (something that makes me want to throw up, by the way)
--The discovery of the West Nile Virus in the metro-Atlanta areas
--Armed robberies and assaults
--The danger of OTC cough medicine for young children
--Local car thefts

Happy Morning, Everyone!!!!

Trimesters and School

Well, I've hit the final stretch...the third trimester. Why do I think this will feel like the longest one? I'm feeling okay, but I think the tiredness has returned. I also think this tiredness is combined with the usual tiredness I feel when my body adjusts to starting school again. Anyway, the first item on my agenda when I get home is a nap. Do I really have time to nap? No. But I do it anyway. (That last sentence makes me think of Martina McBride's song "Anyway," except she's talking about big things like loving and dreaming and singing. I just want to nap. Go Martina.)

School is plugging right along. This is my first year without seniors, and I have to admit I'm enjoying the break. Seniors have this certain attitude of "I'm the big, bad senior, so I don't have to do what I don't want to do." I gotta say I'm not missing that. I'm a little disappointed with my two classes of sophomore honors students, and I can't really put my finger on why that is. They all seem like good kids, but both my classes are larger than the honors class I taught last year (last year, I had 13 students, and this year, I have 20+ in each class), and one class--the last class of the day--can be downright obnoxious and loud. Today was a little better, but we still have a ways to go.

My juniors are starting The Crucible tomorrow, and we're reading parts in class. That can either be fun or painful. Cross your fingers for me that it will be the former. I'm looking forward to the line--and fortunately, it takes place early on--when Abigail tells John something along the lines of "Remember when you clutched my back and sweated like a stallion" because that is when the students' interest perks up. :)

Well, speaking of The Crucible, I better start working on my prep. I've taken a nap and I've blogged, so I have no excuses not to work on it. Yay.

Back to School

Today was the "real" first day of school. Overall, it was pretty uneventful, which is good. My seventh period honors class wins the award so far for the loudest class--not bad kids, but they loooooove to talk. Loudly. My quietest and oddest mix of students is my 5th period. I spent most of the class wondering if I should check for a pulse. I guess it's the post-carb-load coma after lunch.

Our school is trying a "standardized dress code" (no jeans, collared or crewneck shirts of certain colors, etc.) this year. I honestly thought it would be a disaster the first day, but surprisingly, most of the students seemed to comply. I'm curious to see how it pans out.

Right after school was over, I was feeling really good, surprisingly energetic. Then on my way home, the exhaustion hit. I had to take a nap this afternoon.

Oh, my glucose test results were normal. That's good. Heaven forbid I cut out starches and sugar.

A long day indeed

Today has been the longest day ever. My day began with the 3-hour glucose test. While it wasn't horrible, it definitely was not the way I would choose to spend my morning. The worst part was that all the blood had to be drawn from one arm (four blood draws total) because the other arm wouldn't produce enough to fill the tube. (Of course, that required another needle prick to determine that.) The good thing is that the lab facility let me leave between blood draws, and Darryl (a.k.a. Husband/Baby Daddy of the Week) came along with me, so we actually drove around and ran errands. That definitely helped break up the time.

After the test, I went to school and worked on this and that. It seems that no matter how much I try to prepare, I end up scrambling at the last minute. For example, I thought I had my schedule set for Thursday and Friday, but I found out yesterday that we may have some kind of assembly Friday where students receive/go through their handbooks. Now I need a Plan B. I'm too tired to think of a Plan B.

From four to six this afternoon/evening, we had Open House. I could actually feel my feet swelling in my shoes. Open House also entails constant smiling and cheerfulness. I wasn't feeling it. Several people touched my stomach. I'm not a fan of the stomach touching. If you are a close friend, I am not offended if you touch my stomach. However, if I don't know you well, please do not touch my stomach. Why do people feel that it is okay to touch a pregnant woman's stomach? People don't touch a non-pregnant woman's stomach. In fact, that would be seen as inappropriate. As we were standing in the hallway, Tim told me that I just needed to go ahead and accept the fact that my female students will touch my stomach. Geez. (How many times can I write "touch my stomach" in one paragraph?)

Let me digress here to say that I truly am excited about this baby, and pregnancy, for the most part, has not been bad (so far). I don't want to sound like an angry, bitter pregnant woman. I'm just amazed at the obsession with the belly...and everyone's apparent entitlement to touch it.

I met Darryl for dinner, and while I was completely famished, I felt as though I could curl up in the booth and go to sleep. Speaking of sleep, I think I'll end this blog now. The bed is calling.

Comments I've Gotten Today

1. From Tim: When I arrived to school this morning, he said, "Don't take this the wrong way because I don't mean it that way, but you look more pregnant today than you did yesterday." (Sorry, Tim--I had to rat you out! All in fun...)

2. From the registrar at our school: "Wook at de wittle belwy. I wuv pwegnant belwies!" (This was said as she rubbed my stomach. If this woman weren't one of the sweetest people ever, I would have been really annoyed.)

3. From our friend Blake, over dinner: "You still have three months to go? You're going to be HUGE!"

First Day

The alarm sounded harsh this morning at 6:00.

The first day back to school (for teachers, anyway) wasn't too bad. I'm kind of glad to be getting back into a routine. My stomach--which obviously has expanded over the past two months--received a great deal of attention. I hope that's out of the way and we can all move on now. (I'm not too great with being the "focus.") Kim, Tim, and I had a good lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Unfortunately, today was the only full day we had in our classrooms; the rest of the time in our rooms will be an hour here and there between meetings.

On another note, I had a call today from my doctor's office that my glucose test results were "slightly elevated," so I get to have the fun three-hour test Tuesday. I've decided that this will be the real test of whether or not I'm over my needle-phobia; so far, I've done well with all the poking and prodding. Let's hope the streak continues.

Tonight I spent my $100 Teacher Gift Card. I didn't buy anything too exciting--pens, Sharpies, a stapler, and the like. It was fun, though--nothing like buying school supplies courtesy of the state.