Fundraiser

Last week Bryan came home with a fund raiser. He showed it to Jonathan and informed him that he was planning on selling 100 items so that he could get the dvd player. Jonathan told him "Good luck!"

Then Bryan started bringing Jonathan toys from his room and putting them in a big pile. When Jonathan asked him what he was doing, Bryan said, "These are all of the things I want to sell." Jonathan chuckled a little and told him that he had to sell things that were in the magazine. Bryan said, "Oh I think I get it." Then he brought Jonathan a gold necklace (they have necklaces in the magazine). Jonathan set him straight and even practiced his selling bit with him. Bryan was ready when I came home. He went through the magazine and showed me everything that he thought I would like to buy.

On Sunday Bryan was showing the brochure to Pam (my mother-in-law). Pam found a candle that she wanted and Bryan told her that she couldn't order that one because Grandma had already picked it. I guess he thought there was one of each thing and that was it. Kids :)

My very handyman!

Saturday I noticed that the house seemed kind of hot. I have been a little hot natured lately, but I decided to check the thermostat. It said that it was 80 degrees when it was supposed to be 78 degrees! The air conditioner had been running continuously so I knew that something was wrong. Jonathan opened the a/c closet to investigate and found that ice had formed on the a/c. That wasn't good.

We let it thaw every time that we left the house and we made it through the weekend. Monday we left the a/c off for more thawing. The repair man came out to look at the system Monday afternoon. He said that the coil was dirty and it would cost about $400. Jonathan asked if there was any way that he could fix it. The man said to go and buy some cleaner from Home Depot and it should do the trick.

When I got home from work it was 87 degrees in here! I turned the a/c on and it did not get any cooler than 86! I was very worried about how we were going to sleep. After dinner Jonathan used the spray and thawed out the sheet of ice. We slept very well thanks to my very own handyman!

Up again

So I'm up at 4 AM. There is an infomercial on for a new battery powered duster. The lady is dancing around while she dusts. Who does that??

Our a/c is not working properly. It seems to be freezing up. We first noticed that it wasn't cooling down to the right temperature and running continuously. Jonathan looked at the inside unit and it had ice on it! So every time we left the house yesterday we turned it off so that it would unfreeze. It is still under warranty so hopefully they will be able to fix it soon.

We are teaching the 3rd grade Sunday school class and I still haven't even looked at the lesson so I guess now is as good a time as any. I hope that all of you are sleeping well.

I'm about to pop!

My belly button has gotten very wide! It hasn't popped out yet, but I know it will any day. Here is a picture of me at 21 weeks, sorry it has been so long.



So I have begun to love my crockpot. I remember how excited all of the ladies were at our shower when we got it, but I honestly didn't think that I would use it very often. Well now that I am a full-time working mom, I have grown to love it. I made pot roast and chicken in it last week and I am going to make King Ranch Casserole in it tomorrow. It is so nice to come home and have dinner made!

Tonight when I was putting the King Ranch together it smelled so good. It was hard to not eat it. We had scrambled eggs and pancakes for dinner tonight. When Bryan got finished he said, "That was a great breakfast!" I guess there is nothing wrong with having breakfast for dinner.

Expressions

Bryan never ceases to make us laugh. Once when Karen was visiting she asked if we just laughed all of the time. I said yes and that it was God's way of helping us deal with the hard times. So Jonathan and I were talking the other day about something that happened at school. He said, "Well you were chewing her out." Bryan piped in and said, "What? Did you eat her?" I just laughed again thinking about it!!!!

Bryan is doing well in 2nd grade so far. He is switching classes and it seems to be going okay. One teacher does science and math and the other teacher does language arts and social studies. He has been in a good mood almost every day this year when we pick him up from day care. I think the kids are nicer to him now that his birthmark is gone. I'm so thankful that we got that done and that Medicaid took care of it for us.

I had another doctor's appt. on Wednesday. It was just a belly check. I asked him a couple of questions and we listened to the heartbeat. It was a lot slower than last time, but he didn't seem concerned. She is starting to get big enough to be uncomfortable now. Yesterday I felt full at work all day. It wasn't a feeling like I had eaten too much, but that my insides are smushed (is that a word?) She has been kicking a lot and I have been feeling her during the day rather than just at night when I lay down. I know I need to post a belly shot and I will as soon as Jonathan gets around to taking one.

Jonathan hurt his back at work the other day. He lifted a box wrong that was too heavy. He went to the doctor and they said that he must have sprained something and to take it easy. Then it was hurting so bad that he had to go back again. They gave him a shot of steroids and so now he feels fine. I just hope the relief lasts until after they wear off.

Are You Getting Pregnant?

I have told all of my kids that I am pregnant except for PK and K. I didn't figure that they would understand so I didn't see the need to tell them. Yesterday one of my kindergarters asked me, "Mrs. Tome are you getting pregnant?" I was wearing a dress that accentuated the fact so that was the first time that she had noticed. I said yes I am pregnant. Another boy asked, "Why do you want to be pregnant?" I said "My husband and I want to have a little baby." He said, "Oh!" I don't think he knew that pregnant meant that you are having a baby.

Today the same little kindergarten girl came in and asked, "Are you getting not pregnant?" I pulled my shirt tight and showed her that I was still pregnant.:) I also had a 5th grader who saw me in the hallway and said, "Mrs. Tome I see your baby, its coming out."

Bryan gave me a hug tonight and said that he loved me. Then he patted my belly and said, "I love you baby!" That is progress since he keeps telling me to just go to the doctor and tell him to take the baby out so that I can go skating, eat cookie dough and pick him up.

Good first week

I must say that this was probably my best first week ever. I know the majority of my kids because this is my 3rd year at the same school. I even have some kiddos in 1st grade that I had in PK. It is really cool to see how they have grown, but that their name still pops in my head when I see them. I have been very exhausted this week. I am teaching an extra grade level this year and it has made a big difference in my afternoons. I think it is going to be a good year, but I will be exhausted :)

Jonathan got to feel Kylee kick two times yesterday! He was very excited. I have caught him talking to my belly at night while I am asleep. It is very sweet.

Jonathan got the garage cleaned out yesterday and put the utility shelf together so that we can organize our junk. We bought a garage door opener two weeks ago so hopefully he will get that installed today and my dream of parking my car in the garage will come true. I think we are going to give our dead car to the salvation army this week so that Jonathan can park in the driveway again. I hope all of you are having a good Labor Day!

Baby Update!

We went for our ultrasound on Tuesday morning. The radiologist said that everything looks good and the tech said that she is pretty sure we are having a girl :) Jonathan still thinks that it still might be a boy. I guess only time will tell. But we have started calling her Kylee so she feels more real.

She has been kicking me more lately. But she only kicks once and then not again. Tonight Bryan actually put his hand on my belly after she kicked, but she did not kick again so he didn't get to feel her. That was the most excited that I have seen him about the baby. He was a little disappointed when he found out that he would have a little sister instead of a little brother, but I think he'll come around. I told him that maybe God will give us a boy next time.

I find myself rubbing my belly at school without even thinking. The whole school knows that I am having a girl and the kids have been requesting that I name her after them. Even the boys have made this request. They are so cute and so excited! The little ones don't understand and think that I have already had the baby. They ask me where the baby is and I tell them that it is in my belly. They then tell me that they can't see it.

I did get another picture from the ultrasound, but she was in the exact position as the first one. One hand was by her face and you couldn't see the other one. At least she is consistent :)

Update

Yeah for benadryl!!! One of my coworkers reminded me that I am allowed to take benadryl while I am pregnant. I took some last night and it knocked me out by 9:30 and I slept until 6! It was awesome and I went to work with a clear head and no headache.

First Day Back

Today was our first staff day back at school. I usually take a tylenol pm or something similar for the first day back because I usually have trouble sleeping...what will my schedule be, how many kids will I have, etc. But since I am pregnant I could not take such a pill. I went to sleep around 10:30 and there began the longest night ever. I hadn't had much to drink yesterday, so I was hoping my constant restroom breaks might be less frequent, but boy was I wrong. I think I went every hour until 12 and then every 30 minutes. Needless to say I was not getting any deep sleep. I woke up at 3:30 to eat and visit the facilities and I never went back to sleep. It was a very long day. I'm hoping that tonight will be better!

I decided not to take a nap in hopes that I will sleep through the night. We'll see.

Pictures

Since I haven't been able to load my pictures in a while, I thought I would take this opportunity to show you some pictures.

The first one is a picture of Bryan after his awards ceremony at school. Jonathan and I were not able to make it because of work so we took pictures when we got home. I think he looks so cute!


Next is another awards ceremony that we missed...baseball. The coach left a message on Jonathan's phone about the time and date. It was a Saturday and Jonathan's voicemail was messed up and he didn't get the message until Monday. Bryan took it very well, but I felt bad for him



Here is a picture of Jonathan and his sister at her graduation last weekend. Shara graduated from Virginia College at Austin with a degree in Sonography.



And last, but not least. Jonathan had his friends up from Austin one night for a James Bond-a-thon. They attempted to make martinis and took some staged pictures to be like the great James Bond. Notice that I am the sexy female holding the gun (Jonathan spray painted one of Bryan's water guns).

He found it!

Jonathan found the camera cord last weekend. As most of you know I cannot find anything even if it is right in front of me. He found it in about 5 minutes. So here is a picture of me at 14 weeks. I put on the maternity clothes b/c they made me look a little more pregnant. As you can see I was very sunburned. I took Bryan swimming and completely forgot to put sunscreen on my face. At least he had it on his face and I wasn't a bad mom!

I had my 16 week appt. Wednesday and we got to hear the heartbeat again, it was cool. He said everything looks good. He reviewed my blood work and said that somehow I missed my rubella/measles vaccination, weird. I don't know how I got to go to school. He said he would give it to me as soon as I deliver so that I don't have to worry about it. I hope all is well with all of you!

A Little Disturbing

Sunday night Jonathan went out with some guy friends. They went to their favorite restaurant, Bush's and then went to see Transformers. They had a great time and I fell asleep before he got home that night. I woke up to him saying, "Wow you sleep hard!" I was a little confused and asked him what he was talking about. He said that he rang the doorbell about 10 times and knocked on the bedroom window so that I would let him in (he didn't have his keys with him). But I didn't budge. He had to call Tim to bring over his spare key to our house so that he could get in. Crazy huh? Usually I am not a very sound sleeper, but I guess I have been extra tired lately. I'm glad he wasn't a burler or something, I probably would have woken up after it was too late.

Rewards

As a teacher I have always hated using big reward systems with my kids. The few times that I have, I feel very tied to them and I just can't escape. So when Bryan's therapist suggested that we use rewards to help correct his behavior, I was very against it. She listened to me and let me have my side, but every time she suggests it.

So I absolutely lost it with Bryan the other day. He gets distracted very easily while he is doing his morning routine. We have found him in the bathroom staring at himself in the mirror quite a few times. It sounds kind of funny, but its not when you are trying to get ready to go somewhere. I have been pretty lax with him this summer, but now I am trying to get him back in the school mode.

Jonathan and I have tried everything that we can possibly think of with him and nothing has worked. So the other day when he had been in the bathroom for 20 minutes and hadn't even brushed his teeth, I was very upset (He was supposed to be using a timer and done with the whole routine in 15 minutes). Like I said, I lost it. I had so much anger and frustration that I didn't know what to do.

So that's when I decided to try the reward system. I made a chart with boxes and bought him some car stickers. Every time he does his night or morning routines without needing to be reminded about a step, he gets to put a sticker on the wall. Let me say that his routines are hanging on the wall, he is not expected to have them memorized.

So far is has worked out very well. Now when he gets off task, I have a consequence. Instead of turning red and loosing it, I simply say, "Oh that's too bad I guess you won't get your sticker today." He filled up his first chart the other day and got to draw a coupon from the envelope. He was so excited because it said that we would have his favorite for dinner, pizza! I just popped the Red Barron's in the oven and he was happy as a lark. He got a reward that he could feel proud of and I didn't have to spend any money on.

On a funny note. Yesterday Jonathan was helping him get ready for church and Bryan told him that he couldn't find any brown socks to wear with his loafers. This was really stressing him out. Jonathan told him to go look in the laundry room. He was looking through the socks and looking very stressed. Jonathan said, "What's wrong?" He said, "I'm almost out of time, I've got to hurry." So I guess its working. It all goes to show you, I guess I should have listened to the therapist in the first place!

I'm tired, no I'm tired

I called Jonathan while he was on his way home from work tonight and told him that I needed him to be in charge of dinner. I started having night sickness again and couldn't bare the thought of cooking. He said no problem. When he got here he told me that he didn't feel very well either and had a really long day, so we had cereal. It was very good btw.

I fell asleep on the bed after eating and about an hour later Jonathan came in and said that he was going to bed too. Well that would have been no problem if we didn't have an 8 year old, but someone has to get him to bed. So Jonathan and I were arguing about who was more tired and needed to go to bed the most. Of course he said that I should since I am pregnant, but I am stubborn and made him go to bed since he had been at work all day. Man we are old!

We did take my first belly shot tonight, but I still can't find our camera cord. As soon as I do, I will post it.

Past tense

Last night Bryan and I were reading a story with a lot of past tenses. He likes to pronounce ed like the name Ed when it is at the end of word. He does it when he is speaking too, not just reading. Jonathan and I have been trying to be better about correcting him when he speaks incorrectly. We kept thinking that he might learn by osmosis, but that hasn't worked.

So last night as we were eating dinner we were drilling him on words and their past tenses. Work...worked, wish...wished, look...looked, etc. Well then Jonathan asked him what the past tense of shoot was. He didn't quite get it so Jonathan explained, "You know like if you were out shooting and you were done, what would you say?" Bryan responded, "Yay I hit it right in the middle!" We couldn't stop laughing.

On another note, we are officially a real city now. We got a Target. We took a family outing to Target last night. Bryan and Jonathan had a blast looking at the toy department, it is way better than Wal-Mart. I bought a book for the baby and enjoyed looking at all of the school supplies. It was just a regular Target, but it was so exciting because it only took us 5 minutes to get there. They will be getting a lot of my business now, goodbye Wal-Mart!

I have a bump

So I have officially outgrown my first pair of pants. It is not cotton and has no stretch so I'm not surprised that I have outgrown them. All of my other pants fit me fine because my bump is very small. I'm not looking forward to the part where my back hurts, but I do want to "look" pregnant.

Bryan has become very protective of me since I am pregnant. He tells me that I shouldn't carry stuff and when I do he says that he will remind me when the baby is "messed up" that I carried whatever it was.

The other day I was making chocolate chip cookies and as most of you know, I love to eat the dough! Well because of the raw eggs, I am not supposed to. I was telling Bryan how much I wished I could eat some dough and he said, "Why don't you just call the doctor and tell him that you don't want to be pregnant anymore. Then you could throw up the baby and the he (the doctor) could put the baby in Jonathan's stomach!" LOL!

Prayers

As most of you know Jonathan has been looking for another job for a while now. He had an interview in Georgetown at a helicopter place a couple of weeks ago and now they have called him back for a second interview. The interview will be next week, but he doesn't know exactly which day yet. They have to bring in all of the big wigs for the interview. They are opening another hanger and have three positions. Apparently there are 5 interviewees. Please keep us in your prayers. We are hopeful that he will get the job, but trying to remember that it might not be God's plan.

Happy Anniversary!

Jonathan and I got married in December, but since I will be as big as a house by then, we went to celebrate our anniversary this past weekend. We wanted to go to a bed and breakfast since we had never been to one. I found one in San Antonio that looked really nice so we made a reservation. We made our way down to Austin where we dropped Bryan off with Jonathan's parents (thanks Chris and Pam!) then we headed down to San Antonio.

We were going to out for a nice dinner, but the only thing that I could think about eating was tuna. I usually don't even really like tuna, but we made our way to Subway where we had a very romantic sandwich with some chips.

We slept in on Saturday morning. They brought coffee and breakfast to our door. The breakfast was beautiful, delicious and even included dessert. It is called the Inn at Craig's Place and I highly recommend this bed and breakfast if you are ever in the San Antonio area.

Then we headed down to the riverwalk. I go there every year for my music convention, but Jonathan had never really been on the riverwalk so we had to enjoy the sights. We ate, walked, saw a movie at the imax and then I took him to my favorite jazz club, The Landing. He loved it!


We had a great weekend and it was a good recharge for us. We have been running like crazy and hadn't gotten to talk a whole lot lately. It was nice to have no responsibilities and get to relax!

Baby Tome

I had my first doctor's appt. today. He did an ultrasound and I wanted to share it with all of you. The doctor said that everything looks very good. Jonathan and I finally feel like its real, there is a baby in my tummy. Jonathan didn't seem that excited when we were looking at the screen today, but as soon as the doctor left, he said, "Wow that was cool!" I guess he didn't want to look too excited. The baby is looking straight out on the picture. You can see his/her left arm very well and the right arm just a little bit. Baby Tome sure was squirmy while he was trying to take a picture. I can't believe it is already so active. I can't wait until I can finally feel the baby kick.

I go back on Aug. 28th to see if it is a boy or a girl. So I will keep you updated as soon as I know anything. I can't stop smiling!!

Explanation: I forgot to mention that we did hear the heartbeat and it was very strong. Its amazing how fast it beats!

The head is on the right and the baby is looking straight at us. The mouth is open and you can see the eyes above them. The belly is on the left. There are no legs visible, but the doctor assured me that it does have legs! I hope that helps