Pregnancy, highly recommended

I just have to say, I LOVE being pregnant! This is the greatest thing ever. This little guy has been crazy active the last couple of days. I sat at my computer last night feeling my belly as I read emails and I swear he was having a little dance party inside of me. After last night I feel so much more connected to him. I felt like we were just hanging out together, me and my little guy. I got so excited to meet him and see what he looks like.

Dan brought home some newborn diapers that his sister gave us. Her little girl just grew out of them. He held one up and I couldn't even imagine a baby small enough to fit in it. Dan proceeded to act out putting the diaper on an imaginary baby, backwards of course. He'll need a little practice.

I really can't complain at all about pregnancy so far. I'm feeling really good all around. Life is great!

Baby Peyton's blessing day

This is the little miracle child. She gave us a scare but she's now healthy and doing well.

Jim and Pam- Out of My League

Oooh, this is even better. Pam and Jim are so adorable.

Out of My League-The Notebook

I heard this song for the first time today and I couldn't stop playing it. It's "Out of my league" by Stephen Speaks. What a great love song. Then there's 'The Notebook' which is my favorite love story, so the two together are pretty great. The video quality isn't wonderful but I still love it.

Photography Class

Here are my latest entries for my photography class. This assignment was all about compositional rules. I'd never heard of most of the rules but I was pretty excited to go back to previous pics I'd taken and realize that I was using many of the rules without knowing it. And yes, these pics were taken at or within about 2 miles from my house. I love this place!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all those wonderful women out there had a great mother's day, especially my own amazing, wonderful, and beautiful mom.
Dan was extra considerate this weekend as he helped me clean the house, bought be my favorite ice cream (with an adorable note from Andrew - complete with bad handwriting and misspellings), and kept me well fed. Too bad he let me go through most of our lunch meal without telling me I had the sauce all over my face. He did do the next best thing and broke out the camera. Thanks babe!
This day was especially nice knowing that I'm well on my way to being a mother. I've been watching my siblings go through the process all of my life and now I finally get to do it myself! Time to break out all those notes I've been taking and remember all those tips I've collected. It's almost time to test out all those theories and ideals I've been dreaming up in my head and talking about for hours on end with Dan. I'm sure I'm in for a rude awakening, but even if the plan doesn't go as expected, at least there was a plan. That's gotta count for something...right?

I Love Technology

I'm with Kip, I LOVE technology.

A few weeks ago as my computer began moving at a snails pace. I realized it was about time to upgrade when I started to have the urge to throw my computer against the wall. I now have too many things I want to do and not enough power on my 5 year old laptop.

So after much research and a lot of help from my computer friend (thanks Adam), I ordered a new desktop computer. It came in the mail on Tuesday and I've been a little obsessed with it since. I spent all day yesterday getting it set up with all sorts of programs and downloads and I still have more to go. It has made me realize that I'm more of a techy than I thought (not that I understand it all, but I really like to learn about it). I'm not much for TV, but I can spend HOURS on the computer with no problem. I get it from my mom. No seriously. She is in her 60's and is a technology junky. I love it!

One thing I set up, and am VERY excited about, is a video cam. I set it up for work but am dying to play around with it and test the quality on different servers. If there is anyone (who I know personally) who has a web cam and is interested in trying this stuff out with me, let me know. Seriously, video conferencing is SO great and it's getting better and better. My mom is working on getting her computer up and ready. I can't wait to be able to chat with her face to face (sort of), especially when our little Andrew gets here.

I'm alive, I promise.

(Self Portrait:)
Wow, I'm quite the blogging slacker. My excuse.... well, I guess the only excuse I can throw out there is that blogging is one of the things I like to do in my free time but lately I've been more interested in doing other things with that time. So there you go.

I have to say, I'm really enjoying life right now. I'm feeling great, getting bigger, but still feeling really good. I've been able to workout consistently, which adds tremendously to 'feeling good'. Besides the treadmill and weights, I've been going to a yoga class once a week for the last month. It feels SO good, especially on my back. On Sunday and Monday nights my back will ache but after Tuesday nights class, I'm good to go. It feels so good in fact that I'm going to start going twice a week (so I can get through the week, ache free). I think yoga will be critical for my comfort level throughout this pregnancy.

(don't mind the random pics, I just hate posting a whole bunch of words without pictures to break it up. I guess this one could be representative of my peaceful 'Zen' experience in yoga:)
On Monday nights, Dan & I are taking a "birthing prep" class at our hospital. We had our first one this week and I think it will be extremely worthwhile. It'll be an 8 week course, 2 1/2 hours per week. Apparently there's a lot to know about giving birth. Who knew! I'm also taking an online photography class right now from Wendy Schultz. I'm a little over 2 weeks into it and have learned SO much already. I love the format of the class... 12 week course, 6 lessons/assignments, 6 one-on-one chats with Wendy for direct feedback and answering of questions, AND a forum with Wendy and 5 other women in the class where we can post, ask questions, and get an incredible amount of info and feedback. I could spend days on that forum and still have more to read/learn. The images on this post are either from assignments or just messing around on Photoshop. Does anyone else get bugged that they can't work on their hobbies all day every day? There are SO many little projects I want to do but that blasted job is getting in the way:). Good thing that after June 12th I have 9 weeks this summer of no work before this baby comes.

Projects I have on my list....

Baby prep - put together his room, buy/collect/borrow all the "stuff" needed (would rather collect/borrow than buy)

Make a baby quilt

Organize pics on computer

Print favorite pics and put in albums

Photography/Photoshop - learn, learn, learn/play, play, play

Swim/work on my tan (in-laws are putting in a pool right now, whaahoo!)

yoga

maintain our first garden

give birth
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the summer. It's the best part about working for the schools, besides the kids of course;).

For all those wondering, no I am not going back to work next year. I gave my official resignation last month and made the announcement at my school. Everyone has been very supportive about it.

I've been working with a colleague of mine on a project/business that would allow me to work from home next year. I'll give more details once we get it up and running. I'm very excited about the work and excited for the potential. The women I'm working with is amazing and I know I'll learn a great deal from her.

That's it for now. Hopefully it won't be another month before I update this blog again. But if it is, you can assume I'm filling my free time with other enjoyable activities:).