Summer Fun

This is me 33 weeks pregnant with only about 7 weeks to go! Not too bad, I'd say.


This is the pool!


Tracing Will's face with a wipe-off marker on the shower door. Such laughs.


The clubhouse I put nails in the wall to make happen.

John and I played Connect 4 with Maddie for an hour. She won twice. She's quite determined.

New links!

I added some new links! Now you can check out some of my friends' blogs. Many of my friends have stopped blogging, but here are a few for now. If you want to be removed or added, let me know :)

Nesting.

I've heard the word plenty of times, especially recently. When asked about the state of our baby's nursery, I've been replying, for the past seven months, "I've done nothing with it!" And this is still the case. We're in the final weeks and I am not, definitely not ready for a baby to live here.

John was a little more on the ball than me, and has constructed the crib. I went through and sorted her clothes, removed all the tags, laundered them, and folded them. But only because I had to. I didn't have a job or anything else to do.

Women keep saying, "Wait until the last month and you'll go into the nesting phase!" And her husband nods to John with wide eyes of warning that would send shivers down most soon-to-be fathers' spines.

Well, Saturday I woke up at 6:15 am, alert and enthusiastic, ready to decorate the baby's room. I did some research online, drew up a plan, figured out what colors we need, and I am ready to go. I even got John to go thrift shopping with me, since I can't do much with any of the clothes, toys and blankets we've received when all we have in the nursery is a bed and I'm a little bit freaking out about not having a rocking chair. Where will I put the rocking chair anyway? Everything seems more complicated with a two-story house.

I just found out that next week I will not be babysitting. So I think it will definitely be painting week. PLUS my Florida baby shower is this weekend and that means I'll have more fun stuff to go through. I'm so excited.

Happy Birthday

Yesterday was John's birthday. It went by hardly recognized because we've been so busy this week. Instead of going out for a special dinner and such, John chose to go to our Childbirth Education class.

My husband is the most godly, the most amazing man I have ever known or ever could have dreamed. I take the time to lift him up today because he doesn't nearly receive the recognition he deserves. He doesn't preach in front of crowds every Sunday, but his knowledge of the Bible and dedication to reading God's Word exceeds most others'. He doesn't write books, but his thoughts and interests are as complex as the several books he's read in the last year about swimming, running, history, theology...

John wakes up very early to be sure he can get in plenty of work hours to support our family. He'll do little things around the house like start the dishwasher even though it's five thirty and most of us would be brain dead at that time. And he never forgets to kiss me goodbye and say he loves me.

John is a leader of quiet strength who teaches me and holds me accountable but has almost never hurt my feelings or made me feel inadequate. And trust me, I am very susceptible to those feelings. I call him when I'm lost on my way to the mall and he doesn't laugh at my idiocy, despite that I have been there dozens of times.

After a long day at work, he will come home and run anywhere between 5 and 10 miles. Then he will help make dinner or sometimes make the entire thing.

John knows and remembers every little thing about me, like that I don't like to be frightened. So he'll make sure I know he is home and he won't jump out from any corners or try to come up behind me unexpectedly. This seems silly, but it means so much to me, to feel safe in my own home.

He doesn't torment me with disgusting guy things, like putting his armpits in my face (I hate armpits) and the other nasty things a lot of men do. Use your imagination for that one.

John truly loves me as Christ loves the church (see Ephesians 5:25-33) and I feel he gives himself up for me daily, loving me as he loves his own body and making me feel radiant.

Though John's discipline, strength, and his love for me isn't near the depth of Christ's, these qualities in John have been a concrete model of Christ in my life and His love for me. Because I am so overwhelmed by the grace God has shown me by giving me such an incredible lifelong best friend, I am better able to understand the unsurpassing love of Christ. I thank John for teaching me that, not with his words, but with every action he takes.

John, you are a blessing to me, an example of Christ and the grace of God, because I know I've done nothing to deserve this life. I truly thank God for you every day.

Lessons Learned

This may not interest most of you, but I know some of you haven't had the pleasure of being pregnant yet but would like to be someday. So this is partly for you. It's also to remind me of how to do things better next time.

BEFORE getting pregnant...

I am going to do squats with two fifteen pound dumbells at least three times per week.
I am going to strengthen my back.
I am going to save money to visit the chiropractor more often.
I am going to become a great swimmer so that I can actually swim while I am pregnant, not just do strange exercises in the water that probably aren't doing anything. The pool is the ONLY place I feel absolutely comfortable. So this would be a great way to stay fit.

Everyone says "You need to walk while you're pregnant!" Walking is like slow and steady torture. Not only is it boring, hot and--boring, it hurts absolutely every single inch of my body. So I mostly just work out in the pool and do various Pilates kinds of things. And if you have anything to say about it, you can...

...sorry, pregnancy hormones must be surging right now.


:)

Summertime...

When I was little, my mom would pack ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread, some fruit (usually watermelon, plumbs or peaches), little Hugs drinks and soda, and we would go swimming all day at a place like Caskey's, which was a pond where little guppies swam near the shore.

I tried to recreate this wonderful memory a little bit by buying ham and cheese this week, along with some peaches and watermelon. But this never quite works for us because we get ham that has no preservatives and Publix doesn't cut it like Beuhler's does and the bread is always wheat and I never use mayonnaise anymore. The watermelon here never has any seeds and therefore is NOT the watermelon I grew up with and does not taste nearly as juicy and scrumptious. And I certainly don't drink little Hugs or soda. AND I definitely don't go swimming around in ponds in southwest Florida for obvious reasons. And I don't have a cute little cooler to carry everything in, either.

I can't even walk in the grass in my sandals, much less bare feet because of fire ants, prickly grass, and weird pesticides.

So I guess I'm a little homesick because summer in this place doesn't feel quite right. I don't want my baby to experience summer this way.

Crying

I had a crying episode today. Don't worry, everything is fine. I'll probably write about it tomorrow. If I write about it right now, I might cry again.

But it made me think of how easy it used to be to cry. We cry when we're little, and then we're done. Now I cry and my face gets horribly splotchy, my eyes swell up, my nasal passages become incredibly congested, I get a headache, and when the whole episode is over I have to wash my face and apply makeup to restore some sense of decency in myself. Crying has led to this whole embarassing, uncomfortable fiasco. So I try to do whatever I can NOT to cry (for instance, NOT seeing P.S. I Love You would have been a great idea).

The little girl I babysit cried today, too. But she managed to stay lovely and beautiful as she cried, like a little princess. Then she stopped and everything was fine. No stuffy nose, no headache, nothing.

Why does this happen to us as adults? What is the purpose?

What a relief.

I officially have the soon-to-be mom jitters. One of the things that jitters me most is the temperature of our house, especially at night. John and I both get very hot during the night, so we keep our house between 71 and 72 from 8:30 pm-7 am. I have been worried that this would be too cold for a baby because of what other people tell me. But all the while I'm thinking about people up north who I know do not keep their houses at 75 degrees all winter. That would be insane. Also, I am absolutely positive that if we were to keep the temperature at 75, I would NOT sleep well. I would not get used to it, either.

So being the internet person that I am, I did some research of my own. I looked at FIVE good websites and this is basically what they all said:

"Baby sleeps best when the temperature is consistent and cool. 'Most moms actually keep the nursery too warm,” says Ryan. Try to keep the room temperature between 68 and 72 degrees. Putting your crib in the right spot is also essential. “Pick a location that isn’t in the direct pathway of your air conditioning or heating vents,” says Herman. Sudden temperature changes will startle and disturb baby. Also, keep the crib away from windows to protect baby from drafts and outside noise."

So there! I was right and, to all the rest of the people telling me otherwise: you were wrong!

I can't wait to hold you, baby.

Today is July the 11th and we are about two months away from meeting our baby girl face to face. She is having a great time making herself known right now, though, by poking out her little body parts like a poltergeist. It's incredible to feel where her head is, and then think, "Oh, that's definitely an elbow," or an arm, a leg, a foot.

In the childbirth class, we are learning about pain management. One of the most interesting things Phyllis, the teacher of the class, said, is that we'll probably be in labor how we are when we are sick. So this is me when I am sick, all in a very whiny voice:

"Leave me alone!"
"Can you get me some water?"
"I want my mommy."
"Will you rub my head/back?"

So John definitely has a lot to look forward to.

We also found out that John is allowed to actually "catch" the baby, which he may or may not decide to do. But I think that would be an amazing story to tell.

Disturbed

I am so angry and disgusted right now.

It is really disturbing and heartbreaking to see teenagers' myspaces with borderline or actual pornographic images or language on them. Especially when I remember those teenagers being 3 years old.

If my 12-18 year old daughter was posting things making light of disgusting sexual encounters, she would be off the computer for life. But you know, there will be other consequences for their choices if their parents don't provide consequences for them. And there will be consequences for the parents, too.

Adventures in Babysitting

Day two of my adventures in babysitting is over, and I must admit it's a pretty easy job. If I can do this instead of teaching, I would be a happy camper. Yesterday we stayed at our house all day besides a trip to the neighborhood swimming pool. That caused some stir-craziness and the kids really started to get on each other's nerves. But today we went to a free movie at the theater, the library, and the ice cream shop and things went much more smoothly.

If I were a stay at home mom...

I know that babysitting for 10 hours each day isn't like being a stay at home mom, but from this experience I can predict some obvious things that would be benefits and drawbacks. I'm thinking the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.

One big thing that I wasn't looking forward to was the extra mess and my house looking like a day care, but I have found it remarkably easy to keep things clean. Now this has a lot to do with the kids being older, but even so I think I could keep the house fairly clean. While I was teaching, however, not so much. If I went back to teaching with a baby or with any aged child, I can promise you our house would be a disaster Tuesday through Saturday.

Now about having my ideal four children...

I can not believe how much these siblings fight. It really drives me nuts. I am trying to teach them how to communicate a little better and work out their own problems instead of tattle taling, screaming and retaliating. Ha! If I had to deal with all the fighting during all the waking hours for at least a few years of my life, I would absolutely lose my mind.

I'm thinking if we have four children, they will be spaced apart a bit more. And definitely not three. The same little girl always gets left out.

4th of July

This Florida 4th of July actually turned out to be a nice one. I wish I had taken more pictures. Sorry about that. My camera doesn't take night pictures very well, and I forgot to take them while it was still light. On Thursday, we went to an outlet mall where they had food, a waterski show, and fireworks. We met our friend Bethany and her two kids there, Jaxon (3) and Jovie (about 3 months old). So here you see me and Jaxon, both with uncertain looks on our faces.

On Friday, we went to a friend's house, who lives near the Naples Pier, on a canal. So here you see a very fuzzy picture I tried to take of the hotel across the canal. I'm sure that though the picture isn't great, you can imagine how beautiful it was with fireworks.

Thank you Alicia and Bethany for entertaining us!

Pleasure Me Pink

Next week is Pig Week in the Erdman house! It's a great way to kick off my little summer day care for three kids, all siblings. You wouldn't believe how excited I was to get on the computer and make plans for the week and a menu. It probably isn't normal. It's probably pretty scary. And that's why I am going to tell you about it.

We're going to make pigs in blankets and read the books Pigsty and If You Give a Pig a Pancake. We're going to re-enact the Three Little Pigs in a silly version and we're going to make Three Little Pigs houses out of straws, pretzel sticks, and blocks.

I think I'll just die of pleasure.

Power Up!

I am so excited about this iron supplement the midwife gave me, and think you should all try it! I didn't know that iron is a big energy mineral. When you're anemic it means you have an iron deficiency. I thought my exhaustion was due to pregnancy, but apparently it wasn't because now I feel so much better. I was even already taking extra iron in my prenatal vitamins, but this iron supplement is more effective because it's in liquid form.

It is called Spatone, and it comes in these little packets. It's just spring water with a lot of iron in it. You put it in your orange juice and it's tasteless. To me, anyway.

42% of women and children are deficient in iron. Iron deficiencies can cause fatigue, dark under eye circles, paleness, migraines, shortness of breath, etc. But a lot of people can't take iron pills because they're so big or they cause many side effects, especially in the stomach. But this spatone stuff doesn't really have those side effects.

Get it here: http://www.hbees.com/spatoneiron.html

I wouldn't recommend it if it wasn't working wonders for me!

The Birth Center

I had an appointment with the midwife today and found out that I am anemic. This isn't really a bad or surprising thing because a lot of pregnant women become anemic. So now I have to not only continue taking iron supplements, but this other liquid stuff for faster absorption. I have to mix it with orange juice. I'm sure it tastes super yummy.

John also just found out that he is anemic, which is common in distance runners. So that's kind of interesting. Neither of us has ever been anemic before.

The best news is that Maryn is developing just fine. We are taking a childbirth education class at the Birth Center. It's going pretty well. Last night they showed us a video that is kind of trying to reshape our idea of childbirth. Because of TV drama, we're accustomed to the panicking, rushing to the hospital, cussing at the father, etc. But some things from the video are kind of weird. So this Mexican lady on the video had a homebirth and gave birth in the tub, which is OK by me. The weird part was that her husband and her two sons, approximately 6 and 4 years old, jumped right on in there with her. All naked. Weird.

I thought you guys might like to see some pictures of the birth center, where Maryn will be born. We're going to try to video tape some of the birth (not the actual birth because I'm just a tad too conservative for that), and maybe we can encourage more women to give birth with a midwife.






The first three pictures show the bedroom where I'll actually have the baby, maybe in the tub, maybe not. The last picture is the kitchen where I'll be free to EAT, DRINK, and walk around. Some of you may not know this, but they keep women in labor from eating or drinking in a hospital just in case she has to have a C-section, which is crazy to me. How can I do ANYTHING for 12+ hours without eating or drinking?

OK, that's all I will go into for now.

Music and Little Miracles

OK, so no one cares about Avon. Whatever. I do have some slightly good news that means I won't have to depend on my Avon earnings for much. I just may have a babysitting job starting next week, watching an 8, a 6, and a 4 year old every weekday from 7:30-5:30. It's a long day, but I've discovered that I actually feel a lot better when I am busy. Plus, school starts August 18th, which means I'll still have almost a month of vacation until little Maryn comes along. It'll be just a little extra money to help carry us through my months of not making anything.

Maryn is developing a little personality in utero. She moves a lot unless John has his hand on my belly. Either she's stubborn or John has a calming effect on her. She also loves music and moves any time she hears it, especially drums and our favorite shows' theme songs. I heard about a study done on "fetuses" and music. I don't like calling my baby a fetus. Anyway, the study said that babies don't respond more to one music type than another, but they do respond to the theme songs of their parents' favorite shows. They think it has to do with the positive feelings the mother emits as she sits down to watch the show and familiarity of the songs.

Needless to say, Maryn's favorite show is So You Think You Can Dance! I love it, too!

Woohoo!

I received my Avon stuff and have been doing my makeup every day first thing even though I am not going anywhere because I LOVE it so much. I am normally an exclusive Revlon/Maybelline/Loreal girl, and was not expecting to be impressed with Avon, but I seriously am. And it's cheaper than the other products, so I am quite proud of myself to have stumbled upon something that will hopefully save us some money.

Some of my favorites (which is everything I got):

Jillian Dempsey Professional Mascara: If it was taller, and I was single, I would marry it. I was using some M.A.C. mascara someone got me for Christmas. And this stuff is better. Much better.

Glimmersticks Waterproof Eyeliner: If my eyes could pop any more, I would be a bush baby. This stuff is great and I can finally put eyeliner on my bottom eyelid and I don't look like a vampire (and there's a sale right now where you can get this eyeliner and the mascara, or two eyeliners, whatever, buy one get one for 1.99).

Skin So Soft Facial Hair Remover: Don't be shy. You know you need some, too. This stuff is THICK so I can walk around without it sliding off, and it works. Any time I can avoid waxing is good.

Footworks Athlete's Foot Cream: It's a pregnancy thing. Apparently with pregnancy comes itchy feet. They're not itchy anymore!

Avon Solutions Hydra-Radiance Lotion (SPF 30): I wish I could drink this stuff. I only got samples of this, and it's to die for. I have such dry skin, and couldn't stop touching my face all day.

Planet Spa products: People keep staring at me because I can't stop smelling myself. I also only got samples of this stuff, but my skin stayed soft all day, with a very light scent. Heavenly.


So what I am trying to say is, if you don't look at my website and get some of this stuff, you're crazy. Or call me. www.youravon.com/aerdman

I made it!

Two 14 hour bus rides to and from North Carolina,

4 days of playing with 50 kids between the ages of 5 and 12,

1 day of shopping,

6 nights of sleeping between five and seven hours per night,

5 days of two-a-day amazing preaching and worship services,

6 days of being surrounded by teenagers,

Lots of ice cream, fried food, and crackers...

And I made it through! I'm pretty proud of myself. No real issues, just sore legs and feet, a cold, and quite tired.

During the day, we left the conference center in Ridgecrest, North Carolina, to play with kids in Rec. Centers in Asheville. Here are some highlights in pictures, where you'll see me 28 weeks and 3 days pregnant, some of my favorite little kids (including the little girl who had to be touching my belly for most of one day), and a great chocolate box that two of the high schoolers bought me.

Long trips and salesmanship

I have been selling Avon for a week now. It's actually been pretty fun, and I'm surprised how much I want to buy the stuff myself. It's way cheaper than the makeup I already buy and probably of equal quality. I will let you know how that goes. There's also a branch of Avon called mark that is a little more stylish, hip, young, whatever. I like it a lot, too.

If you want to order Avon, you can go to my very own online store at www.youravon.com/aerdman. If you type in the code REPFS at the check out, you will get free shipping. OR you can call me with your order, but that would involve you giving your credit card number over the phone and all that.

If you want to order Mark, you can go to www.meetmark.com and type in my phone number at the check out (239) 682-2544. Also remember the free shipping code.


John and I are leaving for the Lightforce trip tonight at midnight. Lightforce is our church's student choir, made up of 62 students grades 7-12. The place we are going seems kind of like our youth conference when I was in high school, but for this camp we are going off-site every day to do some ministry in inner-city Asheville, North Carolina rec. centers. This should be great for our Naples students, as they kind of live in a fairy tale land down here. Plus, it seems the most bonding happens on trips that provide some type of challenge, and I'd really like to see our youth group bond a bit more, across the cliques.

I'm a little bit concerned because I've been feeling rather nauseated, uncomfortable and restless lately, especially in the car (I'll be on a charter bus for 14 hours). And the baby wakes me up every few hours, and I have to pee every few sleeping hours, and it is very difficult to find a comfortable position that lasts long enough to fall asleep. Other pregnancy symptoms include sore feet, boiling blood in the heat, weird brown spots all over my face, yummy spider veins popping up everywhere, sore muscles...It's quite unpleasant. But I don't have any stretch marks yet! Wee!

Thank goodness I have only three months to go. Oy.

I am at the seven months mark though, and I knew it would start to get rough.

I have been sleeping 9 or 10 hours every night because I am so tired. I feel kind of lazy, but I figure there's no harm done. I might as well sleep now before the little terror REALLY wakes me up all night. :)

We will be back late Saturday night. I'll update you then. Keep me and all those going on the trip in your prayers.

The new furniture

Here's Rosa on top of her favorite sleeping spot,

which we moved out last week.

She did NOT want to let it go, especially since we had it on its side

like this. She loves high places. She thinks she's Mufasa.

Just like Jordan and Sara used to do, Rosa will get into

any cabinet or closet she can.

Here's our view, sort of from the kitchen area.

Notice baby's new little bouncy seat. Cute!

And here is the new furniture. No more coffee table!

It's always been my goal in life not to have a coffee table,

as pretty much all I remember about my childhood

is Drew constantly bashing his head on them. But now we have

this leather ottoman that is soft with trays on top. So it serves as

a coffee table and an ottoman. And it doesn't seem as disgusting

putting your feet on it as it does with a coffee table. I am LOVING this idea.

Sorry about the fuzzy pictures. Our camera is horrible. Or maybe it's just me.

The Mysterious Creature

This is the mysterious creature I've been seeing in our backyard. See? I'm not crazy. Now that I've had a better look at it, it just kind of looks like a giant squirrel with funny coloring. I guess I'll have to look up different squirrel species. It stands about a foot tall. The picture below kind of gives you a better idea of how big it is. And it does run and stand like a squirrel. So, I guess I'm going with giant squirrel. What do you think?

Modern Fairy Tales

I watched Shrek 3 last week and was rather disappointed. I'm not sure why everyone likes Shrek movies so much. They're funny, but they sure aren't the whimsical, dreamy fairy tales I loved as a kid. I decided that I actually despise Shrek 3 when it came to a part that was obviously making fun of Sleeping Beauty, my all time favorite movie. Really, what's wrong with a beautiful princess singing to bluebirds and deer? What's wrong with a prince rescuing her from a tower guarded by an evil sorceress that turns into a dragon? Little girls like that stuff. I remember quite a few little boys liking it, too.

Beauty and the Beast was a perfect fairy tale because the beast saves Belle, but Belle saves him, too. She saved him without being crude or acting like a man. In Shrek, it appears the only way to be a female hero is to act manly, with some ninja moves to top it off. And you see this is so many movies. It's getting boring and predictable. If to be a hero, a woman has to be manly, I am doomed!

Disney is working on their next princess fairy tale, the Frog Princess or something like that. I hope they consider giving the princess a stereotypical female role and the prince a stereotypical male role. I think most little girls understand that they can be heroes, too. But what most little girls dream of is a heroic prince, and to me, there's just nothing wrong with that. Many of these movies are robbing boys of their desire to be the hero. What kind of fairy tale has a princess with the attitude of, "If I want something done, I have to do it myself?" If the sleeping princess waiting to be rescued is teaching girls to be helpless and wait for a rescuer, what is this new attitude teaching them? "Honey, if you want to be a hero, you need be loud, obnoxious, and kick down some doors! Plus, be paper-thin with enormous eyes and gorgeous hair." It's all screwed up.

Just don't write fairy tales if you majored in Women's Studies. The end.

Desperate Housewife

I've been a "housewife" for a week now and it's a bit boring and depressing. I know that having a baby at home all day won't be very boring, and I hope that it's not too depressing. I either need to find a job or volunteer somewhere, because this is just getting ridiculous.

I'm not a very good housewife. The cleaning isn't bad and I'm all right with that, but buying groceries by myself with no input is pretty a much a disaster. I spend way too much money when left to shop on my own. This was no surprise to either of us.

John is also too helpful. Since he's working all day and I'm at home, not even with any kids, you would think I'd be in charge of dinner most nights. But it's been him in front of the grill or stove 3 of the 5 nights this week. Yes. I suck. Must learn grilling and stir frying techniques.

The positives of being at home are that I've gotten a lot done around the house that needed to be done, and there are still some things I need to do. I've also been exercising every morning and do get up at a pretty early hour.

I could go places but that costs gas money. I could get some books at the library but I owe them $100 in late fees. Seriously. $100.

Mysterious Visitor

I was collecting laundry today and something interesting caught my eye outside. It was an animal that partly walked on two legs, but mostly walked on all fours, coming out of the woods. It sniffed around and ate some things, very jumpy, like a squirrel. It had mostly brown fur with a huge bushy tail and stood about two feet tall. It looked like it had a masked face.

Since it had a masked face, I thought maybe it was a species of badger, but I looked that up and found nothing that resembled this animal, and badgers apparently don't live around here. It was not a racoon.

Any ideas?

I'm trying to get him to come back so I can take a picture.

Sad, sad days

Today is Monday and I have no job. The one lady I was supposed to babysit for has backed out. So I'm spending the day cleaning. And tomorrow I guess I'll clean some more.

It hasn't been a totally unsuccessful day. I woke up at 7, ate a very healthy breakfast (I had time to make eggs!), and did some running in the pool for half an hour. Then I laid out for about 15 minutes, came home, showered, did a bible study, and started cleaning. And cleaning is good because our new house has not yet been completely clean all at the same time yet. We have more bedrooms but for some reason can't find places to put all of our stuff. With baby stuff and stuff from my classroom, we're a little bit overloaded right now. We need to invest in a desk with a lot of storage space and a dresser (or two!) for our little one.

I am eternally hot and I still feel nauseous all the time. I thought this nauseous feeling was over at 3 months, but it's come back to haunt me.

SO, I guess I'm having an OK time just staying home. Getting ready for the stay-at-home mom stuff I guess. I've inquired about plenty of other jobs and no response yet. I just kind of feel worthless right now.

Well, back to work!

My classroom is all packed up in boxes scattered throughout the house. 10 kids in my class were crying on the last day as we said goodbye. It was very sad.

I only have one kid to babysit this summer. Maybe I'll work at Pizza Hut.

Our new kitchen

It's not very exciting. Much smaller than our other kitchen. We're struggling with space a bit. Not a huge deal, we just don't have a junk drawer or anywhere to put our cookbooks. Drama, drama, drama.

I'm going to take more pictures once our new furniture comes and we have some pictures on the walls. So this will be it for a while.

Rosa's Favorite Spots

Here are two of Rosa's favorite spots in our new house. It's very sunny with all the windows and she loves to lay anywhere with sun.

A walk to our new home...

Here are some pictures of our neighborhood, house, the little gate leading to our side door and the backyard. More pictures later.

Completely overwhelmed.

I have so much to do. So much to do! And all I can do is go to the bathroom. All the time. How can I get anything done when I am always in the bathroom?

I just can't stop talking about babies.

John finally felt Maryn move! It was so exciting. He was getting quite frustrated and jealous, and it was so neat to finally see him experience what I get to feel all the time. You should have seen his face. I'm really going to love that proud father look. When she colors a beautiful picture. When she writes her name for the first time. When she graduates from high school. And college. When she walks down the aisle.

Anyway, I was thinking about why pregnancy is so great. And here's what I came up with:

1. I get to carry my baby around with me 24-7.

2. She doesn't cry.

3. I don't have to feed her.

4. I don't have to change her diaper.

5. I might not be able to see her, but every kick and movement is still cute.

6. She's in the safest place she'll ever be. I really don't have to worry very much.

7. I feel like she's mine. All mine. No one else gets to feel her like I do. I know my baby first. I loved her first.

Itchy :)

Sorry I haven't written in sooo long! We have been very busy. We moved this past weekend and are still in the process of unpacking. Work is hectic and I'm trying to pack up my classroom as well. I will post some pictures of our new house within a few days...maybe.

The new house and the old house were both very good, and there are a lot of things I'm going to miss about the old place. I'll miss the corian countertops in the kitchen and restrooms, the upgraded tile and fabulous appliances, the quiet dishwasher, washer, and dryer, and beautiful view of the sunset over the lake and golf course. But our new house is in a slightly better location, has four bedrooms, and an upstairs and downstairs. It's much better suited for babysitting and I won't have to carry a baby and groceries up three floors. The new house is a townhouse, which is of course more mom-and-kid friendly. Otherwise I'd be leaving the baby upstairs for a few minutes while I went down to get the groceries. I don't know if I'd be really happy with that. The new house has a great garage, a huge driveway and lots of parking spaces available for our guests.

We're going to start hosting our "home group," which is like a Bible study. It contains 8 people total and we really don't have the space or furniture for them. Although the upstairs in the townhouse is huge, the downstairs is very small. I like that it's cozy, but it's not going to be great for a big group. It's making me itch for new furniture that will take up less space but seat more people (like an L-shaped couch and a new dining room table). I hate it when I want something I can't have.

The new house also smells like new carpet. It is almost entirely carpeted, which is disturbing to me. Especially since I will be babysitting four year olds. Carpet is good for babies, though. It's much softer. I just need to get this carpet smell out of my house. Toxins, toxins, toxins. Sigh. We're probably going to get some plants, but how much can a few little plants do?

This is me, 20 weeks, 2 days pregnant:

This is John 20 weeks, 2 days pregnant:

The Skinny on Pregnancy: Transformers

I have heard a million stories of pregnancy and birth. I thought I had seen or heard it all. But there's a few things no one really told me or talked about. And just because some of you read this that have never had a baby before, I figure it's my duty to tell you some things you may not know or read about in What to Expect When You're Expecting. Other good books I've found, however, include The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and A Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. But in none of the books did I read about this.

Stretching

Stretching during pregnancy is a phenomenon that is like no other, unless you've experienced botulism or some disease that makes you gain over 15 pounds in a matter of months. And no, it doesn't just feel like I ate too many cookies. The stretching sensation occurs in different areas of my body every week, sometimes switching daily, sometimes more uncomfortable than other times.

Even in month two, when I first found out I was pregnant, I felt the worst stretching feeling across my diaphragm area for two days. Then suddenly my diaphragm was gone. I could feel it no longer. How did my body change so quickly?

Then I felt my hips growing outward. That threw my back a little bit out of whack. Now the stretching is low, under my little bowling ball belly. It isn't painful, really. What does it feel like? Stretching. Really. Like my skin and ligaments are tight rubberbands being pulled and pulled. It's so strange, but so miraculous. I swear I feel like a Transformer.

Let's just hope my skin doesn't stay permanently stretched. Not too much.

It's a girl!

We had our ultrasound today and my instincts were correct...it's a girl! She's so cute. We saw her little fingers moving and her legs kicking and at the very end, it looked like she was sucking her thumb. Cute, cute, cute.

Green Bags

I have had so many ideas for things to blog lately. My thoughts are racing constantly and I feel mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the day. Not tired necessarily, just stretched out and heavy. I'm realizing what a strain just a little extra weight has on my legs and feet. This is why it is my goal to never weigh over 130 pounds unless pregnant. My legs simply can not take it.

John and I took our routine grocery shopping trip on Sunday morning. Both of us have been rather forgetful lately. I blame the pregnancy and John, I don't know what he blames. First, he forgot the list in the car. Then, we realized that we forgot our green bags.

Gasp. Sigh. Hit myself.

Green bags are simply the best invention by grocery stores ever. For those of you who live in wasteland and may not know of them, they are these very lightweight cloth bags that expand to an unbelievable size, accomodating a week's groceries in as little as 3-4 bags. John loves them because they make carrying groceries easier. I love them because they're easier to unpack, I don't have to deal with dozens of stupid plastic bags with ONE item in them, and I feel like I'm doing a small part to help our planet.

You can find Target's version of the green bag as well, but they are red. Very handy, let me tell you.

Anyway, we shopped without our green bags. I watched the bagger double bag all of our meat. Sigh. I watched the bagger use one bag for each box of Cheerios. Double sigh. And when we walked out of the store, the guilt and shame that tore through my body was almost unbearable. I wanted to cover my face and run to the car. Everyone was looking at our cart, I know it, thinking of how wasteful we are. Young, wasteful people who not only don't care about the future of the planet, but the future of our baby and grandchildren and great grandchildren. And I thought about my friends in New Zealand who wear hats and sunglasses and sunscreen every day, all the time because it just so happens that the hole in the ozone layer is right above the most conserving (non-third world) country on earth, probably.

So, as my debt to the planet Earth, I am telling you to invest in green bags. They are more convenient for everyone and help conserve energy and lessen waste. What more can I say?

19 weeks pregnant

We got a camera card hookup thingy. So I can post pictures now. I don't look my greatest here, but my mom was bugging me for pictures, so here you go.

I can't believe it's been so long! I seriously have not been online in about four days, which is a record for me since the year 1996.

We found a townhouse to move into! It has four bedrooms (our room, nursery, playroom, den)and a garage. Almost the whole downstairs is carpeted, which we don't like because of the stain factor, but is good for babies I guess. The kitchen is smaller and doesn't have as nice of appliances as we have now. There is a giant laundry room, though, and it's upstairs. I like stairs. I think Rosa will like the stairs, too. It's in a much better location.

Well, John is feeling neglected so I have to go.

PS: I skipped a mandatory staff meeting at work today. I'm declaring illness. Mental illness. I'm so stressed at work, I can't even tell you what they're putting me through. It's madness.

Must...invest in...more...stretchy pants.

Sorry, I can hardly breathe.

There was this lady at work last year. The whole time she was pregnant, she made a point to do her hair really nice every day, wear cute clothes, and just basically look her best. I thought, "I hope I do that when I'm pregnant."

Pshh.

I was jealous of the kids who had these stuffed animal glo-worms, made by

Playskool. Their faces lit up with a squeeze to the belly.

Here are what I believe were the first Glo Worms as well. They each came
with a sleeping bag and would glow in the dark

when charge by light.

Drew had this Bert and Ernie puzzle and this Sesame Street pop-up toy as well. We just loved these things. But I cannot find the Glo Worm Tree House. I did see a message board though where a girl claims to have one. I wish I could at least see a picture of it.

One of the saddest days of my little life

I didn't know it then, but it was at a yard sale where my mom talked me into selling my most prized possessions. My Fisher Price dollhouse was one of them. I still remember opening and shutting the door, putting the little people in and out of their little holes in the chairs, in and out, because they fit so perfectly every time, just like a little autistic child might do.

I remember the lady who bought my Fisher Price dollhouse. She seemed reluctant to take it. She knew I'd regret it someday. She looked at me and asked, "Are you sure?" at least twice. I said yes. It was five dollars in my pocket. How could I resist?

As I was looking for children's toys on ebay since Goodwill Naples is a big bunch of jerks, I decided to check out Fisher Price. All the memories came flooding back. How I loved that garage. What would it be like to have a garage? Collecting parsley at Ponderosa to serve as shrubs around my little house. Pretty much my whole life revolved around gathering little items to pair with my little house and my little people.

Then I found something I had forgotten. The little town. Again, I loved opening and shutting the doors. So perfect, such a nice pleasant sound. Maybe I really was a bit autistic. The mailbox came with little plastic letters to mail and there was a mail truck, too. Ah! Such good, good times.

I also found the little playground my cousin, Drew, had. Again, I loved the way the little people fit in the holes. But on the playground, you could spin the people out on the merry-go-round or bounce them out on the springy bouncy toys. Then they would vomit or have to go to the hospital. You could press a button to make the people go down the slide, and the little people could climb (well, bounce...no legs, no arms) the little tree stumps up to the slide. And they fit so perfectly on those little stumps.

I love toys! And I keep having the strange urge to open and shut those doors. Open and shut. Open and shut.

Pregnancy Milestone!

I bought my first pair of maternity pants lastnight, which are the first official piece of maternity clothing I've bought. I've gotten a few longer shirts to make sure my belly stays covered, but it was time to get some comfy, stretchy dress pants for work before I acquire a permanent indentation around my waist from wearing my normal size 2. It was like putting on a little piece of Heaven in the Target dressing room.

When I came out of the dressing room, John had a fabulous suprise for me! A Boppy pillow for moms, which will help me sleep a little better. Sleeping has just started to get uncomfortable. Lastnight was my first night with Boppy, and it was like a big slice of Heaven. I have been very impressed with John during this whole thing so far. He's even become slightly forgetful and clumsy...I think he's having sympathy pregnancy. :) And he pretty much does whatever I want him to do. I fall asleep, he does the dishes. I say my back hurts, he cooks dinner. It's great! Next, I think I'll ask for some new living room furniture.

A Lesson from Dr. Seuss

"A person's a person, no matter how small."

from Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss

Love this song: Letter to Me by Brad Paisley

Why do I do the things that I do?

I felt ambitious today. I decided to put my cake baking and decorating skills to the test. It all started yesterday with my Good Housekeeping magazine that randomly gets sent to me sometimes. I didn't order it, but maybe God is sending me some kind of message. Anyway, there was a good sounding cake recipe in there, and since I haven't used my skills learned in Cake Decorating 101 since last year, I wanted to give it a whirl. We are having John's brother, Mark, and his new la la la lady over to watch basketball. So I made a basketball cake. This is what it looks like:

Crap.

I did everything wrong. I frosted it when it was still warm, I used too much batter and it didn't cook correctly, the edges got burnt and broke up when I tried to trim the top, I made the frosting too runny, I used too much frosting around the edges, I didn't line the cake board correctly, and I drew the lines crooked. This is because I really, really don't care what a stupid cake looks like. As long as it tastes good. And my friends, it does taste good.

So it's a winner, just like the Jayhawks. UNLIKE Duke, who I eternally hate forever and will never pick to win another game as long as I live. I'm still ranked in the 92nd percentile or something, so that's good, and I am very happy for WVU. But I'm in it for the money, folks. Let's be honest.

The Madness has begun

Yes, it's that time of year. I have submitted my bracket and I am officially beating all the guys because as I've tried to tell them before, my woman's intuition is much better than their knowledge. And it's really all a guessing game.

As much as a I hate Duke and as much as I would have loved to see Belmont win lastnight, I was regretfully cheering for Duke as I have them going all the way to the Final Four. I sure hope they start to do better. If not, I think Mike Krzyzewski should be out of a job. John says no one would ever fire him, but I would.

Dear Starbucks, I miss you. Love, Amanda.

I saw some very famous people yesterday. I saw Heather Turco from NBC-2. She's our local news anchor and I watch her every weekday morning. She was at the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure at Coconut Point Mall, where I walked three miles with my friends Bethany, her mom, and Betsy. It was fun. There were real high school cheerleaders cheering me on. It was kind of strange to be cheered on to walk. John ran it, though, and he did well, but he started off too fast and didn't get the time he wanted. He's not used to running such short distances.

Then we went to a conference called Transformed, which was led by the guys from Way of the Master radio and television: Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort and Todd Friel. Kirk Cameron is so cute. He looks almost the same as he did on Growing Pains, without all that ridiculous hair.

I have a lot to do today and am procrastinating way too much. I exercised and read my Bible first thing this morning, which always motivates me, but today it didn't work. My brain is fried from a crazy week and there's nothing Starbucks can do about it.

Working Till Seven!

I am at work right now for "Report Card Pick Up Night," which was someone's invention to replace parent teacher conference nights. It's pretty retarded, but it kind of makes sense, since it's impossible to have enough translators for all teachers in one night.

PTO was selling tostadas, rice and beans in the cafeteria. You should taste this Mexican food our PTO makes. It's incredible. I didn't buy any, though, because I spent $18.00 at McDonald's today. As a reward to two students (and myself) I bought Happy Meals and milkshakes for them for lunch. It was a good time.

I haven't eaten any fast food, at least from the big three (McD's, Wendy's, Burger King), in almost a year. I broke my record for some cold fries and a flat Coke. It just figures. At least my chocolate milkshake was good. I didn't know small milkshakes cost more than $2.00. That's kind of pricey for McDonald's, isn't it?

Back to Childhood

Now that John and I are super thrifty (we were already pretty thrifty before), we planned some very cheap meals this week. Guess where I got my ideas?

I thought back to my childhood...what did my mom feed me when she and my dad had a little kid? What did my aunt Cathy fix for dinner when she and Kent had just had their first baby? And so here is our menu for the week:

Soup and Grilled Cheese
I chose the Mrs. Grass chicken noodle soup that comes in a box and probably has tons of MSG. But it was very cheap and it's one of my childhood favorites. No one makes grilled cheese like my mom. What in the world does she do to make it so good? I've never figured it out. We have to make our grilled cheese with wheat bread, which is definitely not nearly the same. But it'll do. And we don't use butter or Country Crock like she does. It's Smart Balance spread instead. We may need to eat cheap like our parents did, but we can make some healthier choices.

Spaghetti
My mom and grandmother got off really easy with this one, because it was always my favorite thing for dinner and practically the cheapest thing in the world to eat. We make it with no meat but get multigrain noodles with extra protein. Score.

Tater Tot Casserole and French Cut Green Beans
This was my favorite thing that Cathy made, and my uncle Kent would trick me into eating gallons of green beans. Since I have been pregnant, I suddenly can't stand fresh or frozen vegetables and can only muster eating vegetables from a can, which is repulsive to John and kind of makes me feel guilty now that I know how bad canned vegetables are. But, it's either canned veggies or none at all. I finally found a recipe for tator tot casserole because Cathy insists she doesn't really have a recipe. I need recipes. I can't just guess.

Totino's Pizza
Not a childhood favorite, but John's favorite cheap meal. These frozen pizzas cost $1.00. They were on sale this week for that price, but usually they're only 1.20 or something. Great deal. They taste like elephant ears with pizza toppings. Not the healthiest choice, but we're going for cheap here, folks. It may be a good idea for those of you that have starving teenage boys at home. :)

MY FAVORITE!
John hates tuna and is kind of appalled by my "Let's eat macaroni and cheese everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!" attitude lately. So, for lunch this week I am eating My Favorite. That's the title. I ate it for lunch all the time when I was little. It's Kraft Macaroni and Cheese with a can of mushroom soup and a can of tuna. It's good hot or cold or lukewarm and it's good for any meal, any snack, at any time of the day or night. It's the best food in the world.

If you have cheap meal suggestions for next week, please send them my way!

Baby Erdman: Future Olympic Swimmer

I'm at week 13 now and everyone said I should be feeling better and less tired. The good news is that I do feel much better, my brain seems to be functioning again, and I have more energy, but it only happens in spurts. My back has been hurting quite a bit, but I think that's more work related than pregnancy related.

We heard the heartbeat for the first time yesterday, which was really great and a big relief because we hadn't heard it two weeks ago when we were supposed to. It sounds ridiculous, but I was starting to wonder if I imagined the whole pregnancy thing. But no, there's really a BABY in there. I can't believe it.

Another very cool thing is that our baby has essentially everything right now. Now all it has to do is grow. But it looks very much like a baby. It can open its mouth and swallow amniotic fluid (gross). It can open and shut its eyes, suck its thumb, and John is pretty sure he or she is already practicing the breaststroke and butterfly. It can even pee!

Which really is making me sad that people have abortions at this stage. Seriously. If that isn't murder, I honestly don't know what could be. It's a perfectly innocent, beautiful baby. A miracle.

John and I are looking for several ways to save even more money than we already do--beginning with our grocery list. If you guys have any tips for finding good coupons, please share. We don't know where to find them or get them. For our baby shower we might just need Publix gift cards. Publix is our grocery store. :)

I don't think a Ramen Noodle diet would be very good for a breastfeeding baby...

Mood Swings Schood Schwings

This pregnancy hormone thing is awesome.

I have, in about two weeks time, learned how to speak up about how I feel and actually, ACTUALLY speak my mind.

I may now be on the bad side of an administrator at our school, but was awarded the Employee Recognition parking spot by my principal, who appreciated me stepping up for the good of the first grade team.

I may also be on the bad side of a pastor at our church, but feel good about sticking up for my freshmen girls that I love and cherish.

And in both situations, I know I was angry for good reasons and handled it exactly as I should have (though the sobbing uncontrollably could have been left out).

Here's to you, Amanda! You're becoming more like your mother every day!

Thank you, Cathy!

Our baby now has possessions!

She or he received two things in the mail yesterday, and I took a picture to document it in their baby book once we get one. A Kansas Jayhawks onesie and Jayhawks bib! They are so adorable! John is definitely excited now.

However, I am feeling competitive and hoping that not only will our child care about the Jayhawks, but real animals as well, such as the manatee. I was on the savethemanatee.org site (because I am a faithful member of their save the manatee club) and saw that they have an cute little onesie, a manatee CD, manatee stuffed animals, and more.

Also, Target has a great Jayhawks mobile. But if you find a manatee mobile, that would be OK, too!

Baby Blues

Today I felt very successful. I got up at a semi decent hour. I made cookies, cleaned a little bit, did some laundry, went to the movies, walked around the outdoor mall, and ate a sort of normal amount of food. What I normally do on days off is stare at the wall, stare at the TV, or stare at a book, without really thinking about anything at all, just how exhausted I am and doing all that I can to prevent vomit from spewing acroos the room.

I forget to do a lot of things, can't keep track of dates, never like the same food one week to the next, and don't understand any jokes or sarcasm. I'm really kind of out of it.

And I hate everyone who criticizes the baby names we've picked out. I mean, who does that? I want to look some people in the eye and say their kids names are stupid. Just because their kids are thirteen and mine is still in the womb doesn't make any difference, does it? I'm going to rip someone a new one one of these days, I tell ya.

Happy Valentine's Day!

After four years of teaching, I have finally mastered Valentine's Day!

This year we had our party before lunch instead of after, which means I fed them donuts and sent them to lunch.

I brought my own snack, donuts, instead of leaving it up to parents, who would bring 8 dozen cupcakes. Cupcakes are the worst treat for kids. If you're a parent or going to be one, don't ever take cupcakes to your child's school. Try brownies, cookies, or donuts instead.

We spent the afternoon (40 minutes) opening up the Valentine's Day cards and shouting, "THANK YOU _______ !" across the room.

I had four former students visit me to give me gifts and hand made Valentines. :::tear, tear!:::

Maleficent

Maleficent was the evil fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and that's who I have been for the past two days. It's so bad I know it has to be hormone related, but what can I do?

What I really think I need is a nice big cup of coffee!

No Drano!

I tried a safer way of unclogging drains today. Take one cup of baking soda and pour it down the drain or garbage disposal (it freshens up disposals, too). Then, pour one cup of vinegar down the drain as well, quickly covering the drain and allowing the fizz to clean out the pipe. Easy, safe, voila!

My prenatal vitamins are big enough to eat with a knife and fork. And they're disgusting.

I LOVE JOHN!

You will never believe what John did for me lastnight!

He came home from Publix (and we never go to Publix unless it's Sunday for groceries) with the expensive, unhealthy kind of tortilla chips that I like (which he never, ever buys), and nacho cheese!

I can't wait to get home and eat some more.

I read in a book or on a website somewhere that in your first trimester you may have very vivid dreams. And boy are they vivid.

Usually dreams don't make sense after you wake up, but my dreams have been making sense and seem so real. Unfortunately, they're dreams about family members and friends being decapitated or losing other body parts or they're about my students pooping their pants. Weird.

I am now halfway through week 8 and almost to week 9. You should see the difference between week 9 and week 10. I am going to be super duper exhausted this week, because I have a lot of human making to do. This week, our baby got his or her knees! I hope they're better than my knees.

I'm having serious issues with this eating thing, because I'm on a very strict pregnancy diet with lots of calcium, protein, and iron. But all I want is bad things. And when I eat things that I don't want, I want to throw up. For example, right now I want pizza or macaroni and cheese. But I have tuna fish and broccoli. I want to curl up on the floor and cry.

For a late night snack (well, 8:00) lastnight, I made some macaroni and cheese. Because I wasn't going to fall asleep without it. Cheddar cheese is no longer helping my craving. I need hot unhealthy cheese.

Cheese Please

I'm sorry for writing about boring pregnancy things, but all I can think about is cheese. I just want things with cheese. Nachos and cheese, cheese pizza, cheese sticks, cheese burgers, cheesy fries, cheesy bread, cheese and crackers, Cheese Nips...

This has always been a craving of mine, which is how I got the name from my grandma, "little mouse." I was always getting into the refrigerator for a slice of Kraft American Cheese or of course, my favorite, shredded cheddar.

So I'm not sure if this is actually a pregnancy craving or if I just finally have an excuse for cheese, cheese, and more cheese.

Hey! Sorry for the hiatus, but you may need to give me a huge break during this first trimester. It's killer some days. I haven't been sick, just exhausted. Today was a great day. I feel fabulous, but it's Sunday and we didn't really have to do anything. However, it is 4:30 and I feel like I should be going to bed in an hour. I've been falling asleep at 8:00 most nights. And I say falling asleep, not going to bed, on purpose, because I actually do just fall asleep wherever I am at 8:00, usually on the couch.

I'm enjoying this time though, because I know my nights of 9 hours of sleep are about to end for the next 25 or so years (considering we plan on having more than just one child).

Aside from that, John and I both are just excited. I am addicted to Target.com and Babies R Us, reading reviews on the best baby products, and I actually got online half an hour ago to look up pregnancy exercises and here I am instead.

I'm really feeling good about the place we chose to have our baby. The midwife and RN at the place spent an hour and a half with me on Friday and are doing all they can now to make sure I have a healthy, uncomplicated birth. If you or anyone you know is planning on having a baby, please tell them to do their research. There's a great book called "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" by Henci Goer and I highly recommend it.

Our hospital here in Naples has a 42% cesearean rate, which means that obviously many of those cesaereans must be unnecessary (though of course sometimes they are). With a natural birth, mothers are up and around faster, have better luck with nursing, give birth to happier babies, have lower risk of postpartum disorder, and much more. I've learned that IVs and fetal monitors are absolutely not necessary and can actually do more harm than good. Also, keeping a laboring mother from food is absolutely ridiculous. What is the reasoning behind these things?

Our culture has taken a natural process and warped it into something clinical, as if when you're pregnant you are ill, there's something wrong with you. Doctors tell women they should have a C-section because they're too small, they're too big, the baby's too large (which they can't actually know), and the baby's heart rate is too slow (which usually happens because of drugs and epidurals), etc. I wish more women would do their research, as this is such an important decision in their lives and in their child's.

Plans

In the master plan of our lives, John and I hoped to start trying for a baby in October of last year, but with an unexpected surgery, a new life got put on hold. Following the surgery, we decided not to try, actually, but not actively "not try," if you know what I mean. Well, John and I both have slightly competitive, driven natures and this suddenly did lead to trying which suddenly led me to hoping and praying desperately for a plus sign on the off brand pregnancy test, three dollars compared to the 15-30 dollar ones at Publix. I took the test wondering what my response would be, knowing it would be negative, imagining myself crying (or not caring? feeling relieved?) in a little ball on the bathroom tiles. Quickly, before the suggested time of 3 minutes was up, I saw a double line forming (I had locked John out of the bathroom). When I saw that this was actually developing into a plus sign, I put the test down and started fixing my hair, intending the wait that full three minutes just in case the lines like to appear and disappear. But when I looked again, there was definitely a plus sign, the vertical line even darker than the horizontal "test" line, as if to say, "It's true, you idiot!"

So I walked out of the bathroom with a disappointed look on my face and asked John to guess the results. With a look of pity, he said, "Negative?" And I quickly responded with a huge smile and said, "You're going to be a daddy!" John then responded with, "WHAAAT?!" And went on to say that this process was supposed to take an average of five months. But it didn't. Once again God blessed us with more than we expected, earlier than we deserved or ever thought possible.

And so now, much to some people's dismay, this blog may just become a place where I tell you all about being pregnant, which I know is a boring and sometimes disgusting thing. :)

Answers to common questions: I will be having our baby at the Naples Family Birth Center, which means I will have a midwife and a natural birth. I will stop working at the end of the school year and hope to take a full year off work. My first official appointment is on Friday, so I may have a better idea of my due date by then, but we're guessing mid to late September. Baby names we have picked out so far are John and Maryn, but are subject to change. We will find out what it is as soon as we can. And our baby room colors are blue, green, and yellow with a sort of froggy theme to it. I haven't been sick yet but feel like I have some weird indigestion almost constantly. Two pairs of my pants already do not fit. I had my first weird craving before we knew I was pregnant: scrambled eggs and fried fish (mixed together), and I always want cheese but suddenly don't like coffee or chocolate.

God's plans are so much better than our plans.

Prioritize! Be efficient!

I had such a busy week. Whenever we have parent nights at school, I am just dead. They ruin my life, I tell you. We had a "Report Card Pick Up Night" on Wednesday and then our Bible study until 10 pm on Thursday, then we had friends over for dinner lastnight, then I met friends for breakfast this morning, and today I'm meeting a high school girl for smoothies, so our house feels barely lived in lately. We have a huge pile of clean laundry that I was able to throw in and out of the washer and dryer but never had the chance to fold. Actually, now that I think about it, I should be doing that right now. Although there's not much point, considering it's all so wrinkly now.

I am completely in awe of single working mothers, or even full-time working married mothers. I really have to work on this efficiency thing. REALLY.

I bet if I just didn't get on the internet or watch TV I would get everything done just fine. What the heck is my problem?

P.S. I Love You

A few girlfriends and I just went to see this movie today, and I feel the need to write about it.



P.S. I Love You will probably teach you a lesson about your spouse or future spouse, that you should appreciate them, love them all you can, etc. The thing is, I didn't need a two hour sob fest to teach me this. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for my husband. He is every romantic movie's hero, every fairy tale's prince. I also let him know that I appreciate him so often, that if I tell him any more than I already do, he will probably go crazy.



I feel so much that I do not deserve John. I can't say I waited for him, that I waited for God to write my love story. I was coming out of a terrible "relationship" (if you can call it that), that I knew God had tried to steer me from again and again, and then came John. A handsome reward for...what? For nothing. And often I wonder if God intends to strip it all away from me. Because I didn't wait for His will to be done. It just did. I really didn't do anything to deserve a fairy tale.



So, needless to say, this movie made me feel miserable. So miserable I couldn't even talk to John afterwards without crying.


Now, I am writing this part later, on Monday, and I feel better! But I still don't recommend this movie to anyone who doesn't want to cry a lot. If you didn't appreciate the little boy dying in My Girl, then don't see this one. But if you're into that sort of thing, by all means...

Kansas Wins!

And so many people said they didn't deserve to be there. What a bunch of turkeys.

We left for Miami around 4:15 and arrived at Dolphin Stadium at 5:30. It's been rather cold down here in south Florida, so we were bundled up for the 40 degree weather, with a wind chill far below that.

What I wore: long sleeve shirt, Jayhawks t-shirt, sweater, fleece jacket, fleece hat, scarf, jeans, two pairs of socks and my warmest Doc Martens. Thin jeans because that's all I have. Red and blue ribbons in my pigtails, red and blue football shaped beads.

What I ate and drank: a giant hot dog, a huge tray of nachos and cheese, water, hot chocolate, and a few of John's fries (I'm fasting today).

What made me uncomfortable: We were surrounded by Virginia Tech fans.

What made me feel better: We were winning throughout the whole game, and none of the fans got into any arguments. Everyone was actually very civil.

What I enjoyed the most: Winning of course. But the coolest thing was coming up the stairs to our seats and seeing the football field and stadium. It was so beautiful.

In conclusion: I am officially a faithful Kansas Jayhawks fan for life, no matter what happens. In season and out of season, winning or losing, basketball, football, whatever. And John has my permission to decorate our future baby's room (if it's a boy) with everything Jayhawks.

Hey ma, look! New hair!

In response to Nathan's blog, here is the comparison between me in 1999 (my senior picture) and me in 2007. Not a big difference, but here ya go. :)

Hello from Ohio!

I've been in Ohio for two days now and boy, is it exciting. But for real, it is so nice to be able to relax and not feel the need to clean the entire house top to bottom or worry about my next meal. Mom always breaks out the food, whether I feel like cooking or not. It's quite nice.

Meanwhile, in Florida, two former girls from our youth group have become engaged! Let me tell you how weird it is to have a student of your own get engaged. I mean, I was their leader when they were 17-18, but still. Weird. Now they're just 19 and 20, but they are both more ready for marriage than many couples I've known.

Just when John and I thought we were done with weddings for a while...

Time to check registries and go dress shopping.

Also, I'm a little bit overwhelmed by Ohio State fans. I mean, we are in Ohio, but I swear there were not this many OSU fans when I left here four years ago, and it annoys me slightly that, now that they're awesome, they have all these fans. Seriously, I knew about TWO Ohio State fans my whole life, and now everyone is suddenly a die hard fan, painting their kitchen red and gray and stuff. Weird.

Stockings!`

John and I have spent the past two afternoons shopping for stocking stuffers for each other. He's going to be home soon with my presents. I am so excited. Aren't stockings almost the best thing about Christmas morning? I just love the whole concept.

Life with DVR

Since the purchase of our something something inch LCD television and a small box that is quickly becoming an idol in the Erdman household, life has not been the same. If you know me well, you know that I am not a huge fan of TV. I've never really liked sitting and watching things, except movies, because it's boring. I'd rather read a book because at least when I'm reading, I can picture people the way I want to and make their voices the way I want them to sound in my wacky little brain.

ANYWAY, for some reason the enormous-ness of this TV mesmorizes me, hypnotizes me and I find myself watching football, the news and John's psycho murder and sex abuse shows (NCIS, Law and Order, Criminal Minds) with newfound passion.

But the best thing of all is that I recorded all of those Janette Oak movies on the Hallmark Channel. Love Comes Softly, Love's Enduring Promise... I watch them before I go to bed. Then, I lay awake crying over the miraculous strength all the characters showed throughout their hardships, love conquering all things blah blah blah. They are as cheesy as they sound, but I just love every minute.

Yow-zah!

Guess what I am wearing to our staff Christmas party tomorrow night? A sports bra and a baggy shirt! Hooty-hoo!

In case you have been an unfaithful reader, I had surgery on Wednesday in a pretty sensitive area of the female body found in the general bra area. I know that's graphic, but we're all adults here, and just my luck, most of you are women.

So my bandages came off today, and I haven't had any pain so far except now that the massive bandage isn't holding things together anymore. So I'm stuck wearing a sports bra and holding onto my chest a lot. Awk-ward!

Rhinovirus Hugs

There's always one huggy student in my class who always gives me a cold. This year it's Cheyenne. She's pretty much the cutest kid in the world, and she gives the best hugs. Whenever she gets into trouble (which she sometimes does), she always gives me a hug five minutes later and says, "I love you, Mrs. Erdman." So what am I supposed to do? I just hug her and think, one hour from now, I will be coughing. And sure enough, that's what happens. Every month of this school year so far. Last year, it was Samantha. The year before that, it was Priscilla. And my first year, it was Akira. They are forever in my heart as the ones who damaged my immune system.

KANSAS JAYHAWKS GO TO THE ORANGE BOWL!

And I get to go to my first ever football game in professional football stadium! I am so psyched.

December

December is here.

What am I going to wear in Ohio? The only winter clothes I have are the same ones I had all through college. Same coats, same sweaters, same shoes. It's not like I am going to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on winter wear that will only be good for seven days. Everything seems hugely out of style, and I am going to see friends I haven't seen in ages. They'll all have new, grown up looking jackets and sweaters. I'll have the same clothes they saw me wearing four years ago. Yippee.

By the way, I enjoyed the beach today. Perfect weather. Warm sun, cool breeze. Ahhhh.