Changes and new beginnings

I can certainly never be accused of having much interest in political affairs but, this time is just a little different. Possibly because during the current economic recession, I happen to technically be an adult and for the first time ever, my husband and I are in a situation where his job actually does matter in our ability to pay our mortgage and feed our child(ren!). At all other points in our marriage, I was also contributing enough to the household income that I could've kept us afloat (and obviously, vice versa) if the need arose. But, our current situation is different so, I have to at least halfway care about the economic decisions that will be made under this new administration...so, I watch and wait with anticipation of the change that I've heard so much about.

Speaking of change, today is also technically my first day of classes. Except, I don't have classes on Tuesday this semester so, I spent today much like I've spent the last 6 weeks - sitting on the couch, trying to decide when I should take my nap. But, oh buddy, tomorrow begins the commuting back and forth again. It will be a really, really long day...especially considering the whole third trimester thing. I'll leave the house at 7:00am-ish and return at 10:00pm-ish, having driven about 205 miles and sat in two 3-hour long classes. I will not see Jayla on Wednesdays at all this semester. But, I keep thinking that this is going to be better than driving multiple days a week for classes. I have been wrong before.

Finally, after sleeping on the whole 4-day student of the week issue, I realized that it is only appropriate for Jayla to begin her reign as Student of the Week on the same day that our first Black President begins his first term.

Don't you just get the feeling that she will one day make history with some ground-breaking accomplishment(s)?

Student of the week

I spent an embarassing amount of time on constructing Jayla's poster for Student of the Week. But, I will spare you the details.

Instead, I will focus my energy on not being bitter about the fact that my child's spotlight is occurring during the rare 4-day school week rather than the typical 5 days that each student usually serves as the coveted "student of the week". I am trying to operate under the assumption that I should not take this personally...

I am such a good role model (with a big belly)

We were out to dinner tonight when our (highly incompetent) waiter came over to the table to take our drink orders for the third time (I am so not even kidding!). Out of the blue, Jayla blurted out, "Ummmm...I think your head is too big for your body!" I laughed heartily before explaining to her that it wasn't a nice thing to say. Luckily, I don't think he really understood what she said to him. If he did, that was the ONLY thing that he understood all night. But, it was really the first time that an embarassing truth has escaped her lips in the presence of a perfect stranger. I'm sure there are many more of those times to come. And hopefully, I'll get better at correcting her rather than encouraging the behavior.

Also, the other night when I posted my 25-week update, I was having technical issues with getting my camera to talk to my laptop to upload the necessary pictures. But, alas, I do actually have a 25-week belly shot of me and the no-name kid:


And for the first time on this blog, here's a little comparison. My belly at 25 weeks (+ 5 days) with Jayla:


Tonight is my first time looking back at these old pictures of my first pregnancy. My belly is decidedly more pointy this time. I have no idea what that means.

25 Weeks

It was at this point in my pregnancy with Jayla that I started to stress a little about the reality that I was actually going to be a mama and that I might want to make a few preparations for her arrival. I remember thinking that 15 weeks seemed like such a short amount of time until my life would be flipped upside down. Little did I know, I only had 12 weeks of pregnancy left!

This time around, the 25-week milestone is mocking my efforts to even come up with a name for this child. We've got nothing on the name front. We are too lazy to start the furniture swapping that needs to happen to build the new child's nursery. I haven't even considered what color her nursery will be, which probably means we're going with "builder white" this time around because that's the color her room is currently. In fact, only two rooms in our house are not painted some obnoxious color and her room is one of them. It remains the same color as it was when we moved here almost 7 years ago.

My lack of preparation likely stems from the fact that I can hardly believe that this pregnancy is going by so fast. I'm starting to feel more aches and pains than I ever remember feeling with Jayla and I keep telling myself that I shouldn't be feeling them yet...and then I get a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Oh yeah - I'm almost at third trimester status! Plus, I'm finally beginning to feel this baby move more often and more strongly. I could even see her moving through my shirt on Monday. Daddy and Jayla have also felt her and when I take the time to tell them the baby is moving, I think the fact that this new little person is joining our family sinks in a little better for all of us.

I had a prenatal appointment yesterday that lasted all of 3.5 minutes. Although, I did get a compliment from my doctor on only gaining 6 pounds over Christmas. Ummm...okay, but, I gain 6 pounds every month so, it was just funny to me for her to say it in a good light this time. She also told me that for the second month in a row, my scheduled c-section has apparently not been scheduled. And for the second month in a row, she made a call to "Rhonda" to make sure that it gets scheduled for April 22...which means that if we ever get it scheduled, this baby will be out of me in 14 weeks or less.

In the meantime, I'll be in school (starts next week) and probably denying the fact that this baby will be here at least 2 weeks before the official end of the semester. I was originally taking 12 hours this semester. And then I came to my senses and dropped a class so, that I'm down to my usual 9-hour semester. Of specific interest is that three of those credit hours involve me getting on an airplane and flying to Arlington, VA to attend a conference for 5 days. Should be interesting, considering that (a) I'll be 30 weeks pregnant and flying non-stop across the country (b) my papers that I have written and am also presenting at this conference are directly related to folks that have babies and subsequently continue their careers as employees in somebody's organization (c) I've never been away from Jayla that long (d) Daddy's never been alone with Jayla for that long. But, that all happens next month...the week before I turn 30. So, until then, I'll just be pretending that neither of those things is about to happen...I have never aged well.

'Twas the season

I know I'm a bit late but, the Christmas season was rather hectic - full of traveling and visiting with family and friends. Somehow over the past two weeks, our little family has traveled the entire stretch of highway between here and Washington, DC via the Deep South.


The first leg of our trip involved the 8-hour drive from Houston to my parents house in Mississippi. We spent Christmas in Mississippi and had entirely too many gifts to open. It took the 6 of us (me, mom, dad, sister, husband, and Jayla) almost 4 hours to actually get through all of the gifts. Needless to say the majority of the gifts were Jayla's but, my sister and I also had our fair share as we ended up being the last two with gifts to still open (Jayla opened three gifts to everyone else's one gift as we went around the room and opened our gifts individually).

The day after Christmas (Friday), all 6 of us started our trek to the east coast. We made the 12-hour trip to my hometown in North Carolina on the first day. We spent two nights there and were lucky enough to see some dear old friends...people we just hadn't seen probably since the 1990's. It was weird to see those people and have them comment on my little family because apparently, I am not 14 anymore and they noticed.

Sunday took us to my old church and then up to Williamsburg, VA where we rented a condo for the remainer of the week. While staying in Williamsburg, we took a day trip to DC. By then, we were so over riding in the car and yet, there was whole little pesky matter of driving all the way back to Texas. But, we made it back and honestly, the 12 days that we were away from home were mostly good times.

Next to the "Texas" Christmas tree with the Washington Monument behind us

Jayla and her daddy both saw the White House for the first time...