Kicks for Dad!

For the last few weeks I've been feeling our little guy move A LOT! A few times at school last week it even took my breath away. I usually feel him best when I'm sitting and relaxing, that's why when I felt him at school it shocked me. I was just walking around helping students and I had to stop and take a deep breath. It was a hard kick! A few times last week I had Gabe try and feel him in the evenings after dinner with no luck. This little guy doesn't have a problem kicking his mom, but he sure gets shy for dad.
Well, I've been waking up around 5am every morning for the last few weeks and then simply can't get back to sleep. Maybe that's when my back hurts and hips are so numb, the pain wakes me up. I'm not sure. No surprise, it happened this morning as well. So after a quick trip to the bathroom I laid back down and I could feel the little guy moving. I woke Gabe up and had him put his hand where I felt the last movement. A few seconds later the little guy kicked and I quietly asked Gabe, "Did you feel that?" I wasn't sure he was really awake and Gabe gets really grouchy when he's woken up. But he did answer a very quiet, "Yes." I was so excited! Gabe was excited too but more concerned about getting back to sleep I think! After that excitement I had a really hard time getting back to sleep.

On a different note, the house painting has started. Gabe went and borrowed a sprayer from Josh's dad. I put plastic over all the windows while he was gone and he's been outside for about 3 hours. I think he's almost done with the first coat! The weather's been yucky and scary all morning. It sprinkled a few times while I was covering the windows and it really had me nervous. But things seem to be ok...the sun even seems to be poking out of the clouds now. Here are the colors. The lighter color is the main house color, darker color will be the gutter/trim color. It's going to look so good when it's done. We never did like the blue house.  (OK...not sure why the link isn't working now.  I guess we'll just have to post pictures when we have the trim painted.  Might be a few weeks since the rainy forecast prevents any painting from being done)
-h

Hold the Lettuce

Ok...I have a middle school story to share.
I was walking back to my room after warming up my lunch in the staff room today, and I saw a student lunch tray that just sent my head spinning. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked. I know most middle school students eat like crap. Energy drinks for breakfast and cookies for lunch is a balanced diet for most 13 year olds. Anyway, this particular tray was a shocker...even by middle school standards. The boy, who I'm not familiar with, will definitely remain nameless. On his bright orange lunch tray was a plate overflowing with croutons. Yes, you heard that right. He had a plate of croutons but not a piece of lettuce to be seen. Next to this abundance of croutons was a huge overflowing bowl of ranch dressing. It left me completely speechless when I saw him dip the crouton into the ranch. I have to admit I could not believe it. I'm sure my mouth was hanging open. Yikes!

Spring is definitely here! The last few weeks have been really tough at school. It's hard for both me, and the kids, to want to be there when it's beautiful outside. And on top of it, Gabe and I have been working really hard on the weekends to get the house ready for sale. Last weekend it was yard work. This weekend Gabe's prepping the house for paint. I think I'll be packing up things we don't need and can put in the basement. Hopefully we can put the house on the market in a few weeks. Then we'll see what happens.
-h

Earth Day 09!

Last year we made it Earth month. Nothing so big is happening this year. But I am happy to report that many of the habits we started last year are still with us today! That's something I'm really proud of.
I still wanted to do something for Earth day this year but it's been a rough week and to be honest, I completely forgot about it until I got to school this morning. Oops! Well, a little green online shopping was all I could muster this evening. Online shopping is green right? And I don't just mean spending the green! I really love Simple shoes. What's not to like? Like their website says, they use recycled and sustainable materials. Love that! Anyway, I bought these for the little guy and then they were offering these for free! So I got a pair for Gabe.
Happy Earth Day! Don't forget to do something great for the planet today. Hopefully you'll do something more meaningful than I did.
-h

Happy Easter!

No big plans here for Easter. Instead of making a big dinner or something for just the 2 of us, we decided to make a french toast casserole for breakfast. Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal anyway. Gabe put the casserole together last night, I put it in the oven this morning and then crawled back into bed for another hour. Won't be able to do that much longer. It was yummy! (Both the hour of sleep and the french toast.)

I have a ton of work to grade this weekend, and only got 10 of the 140+ projects graded yesterday so I guess I'll spend my day working. Then we're going to head out tonight to see Fleet Foxes at the Crystal Ballroom. I've been looking forward to the show for weeks. Just not looking forward to the late night and early morning following! Guess I'll have to make myself get some work done and then reward myself with a nap.

Happy Easter wishes to all!
-h

First Big Purchase

We made our first big purchase for the baby this morning! We've bought a few little onesies (one in Hawaii) but so far NOTHING else.

We will now be able to take the baby home from the hospital when it's time.
We've been doing a little research but just decided to make a decision. I really just needed one of the many, many things off of my to-do list. I know we still have 4 more months but I often feel really overwhelmed by how much needs to happen between now and then. Especially if we're going to try to sell our house and buy a new one in that time. We meet with the realtor on Thursday evening. She'll show us some comparables and tell us what price she thinks we should put on the house.
Up next on the baby front...something for the little guy to sleep in!
-h

Hawaii: The Big Island Edition

Oh, am I missing the island already!
We had a great time exploring the largest of the Hawaiian islands. We knew this wasn't an island that we'd be able to explore every inch of, like we did when we were in Kauai and Cozumel. But all things considered I think we did a pretty good job in 9 days. Here's the highlights.

The first evening we spent relaxing at the beautiful bed and breakfast we stayed at in Captain Cook. It's an old plantation house and over looks the Kealakekua Bay (which we'll tell you more about later). The sunset view from the lanai was amazing. Our first full day, we drove north to the Kohala Coast to hike and see the Puako Petrogoyphs. The beach park where the hike begins is where our first favorite moment happened. I went to use the bathroom and Gabe walked over to the beach to look around. When I came out of the bathroom and looked at the ocean, I noticed some splashing right off the beach. My first thought was, "Oh my, I think that's a whale!" But then I convinced myself that there was no way a whale could be that close to the beach. That was until I could see Gabe in the sand with the camera out. Then I knew I'd been right. Well, a humpback calf and mother were out there having a good old time. The calf was jumping out the water. Mom was calling with the slap of her fin. And of course, their dolphin friends were joining in on the fun as well. It was amazing! We must have watched them for 20 minutes. Gabe took over 60 pictures just of those whales. The petroglyphs were cool but no comparison to the whale experience. After some lunch we drove up to Mauna Kea. I had really wanted to do a stargazing tour on Hawaii's highest spot, but there isn't enough oxygen up there for it to be safe for pregnant women. Instead we drove up to the visitor's center just for the experience. Unfortunately, not much of the mountain was visible through all the dense clouds.

The next few days we spent on the beach and in the water snorkeling. One of those days we kayaked across Kealakekua Bay to the best snorkeling spot in the state of Hawaii. It was amazing. I couldn't believe the amount of coral, and all the different kinds. I hope we got some good pictures with the cheap disposable underwater camera. Although I'm sure the pictures will never do it justice. On the way back we saw a large group of kayakers gathered in the bay. Gabe was convinced they were looking at dolphins because they come into the bay to rest during the day. So he insisted we paddle over there, and boy am I glad we did. Dolphins were everywhere! It was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced and definitely our favorite part of the entire trip. I could have sat there in the kayak and watched them all day. But we wanted to also explore the Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park and do some snorkeling in the cove next to it. The national park was the royal grounds where the chief of the native Hawaiians once lived. The snorkeling was pretty good too.

We decided to go on a whale watching tour one morning with a whale researcher. We saw a mom, calf and escort. But we didn't see them do anything as cool as we did that first day. What was amazing was seeing them swim under the boat. Since the water is so clear in Hawaii you can see them, and especially the white on their bodies, deep under water. On the way out in the boat, and on the way back in, we saw lots of spinner dolphins playing.

We spent the rest of our time on the west side of the island "exploring" beaches and seeing the sites. We drove to South Point, which is the most southern point in the United States. While hanging out at Black Sands Beach in the afternoon we saw a ton of green sea turtles. They like to come out of the water at this beach and hang out in the sun. We also drove to the northern part of the island to check out the views of Pololu Valley. We also managed, in driving with the top down on the convertible, to get ourselves some pretty crispy red sunburns.

Then we were off to see the volcano and explore Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. My lack of research into this trip was very apparent when we arrived in the park. I had no idea we were arriving into a tropical rainforest. It poured, and poured, and poured on us. We looked like drowned rats. We were able to see some of the volcanic craters and some "recent" lava flows. Gabe wasn't feeling very well, I think he finally caught the cold I had a few weeks ago. So we decided to put off the night lava viewing. We did that on day two of exploring the south east side of the island. The current lava flow is going right into the ocean. So during the day it just looks like a big steam cloud. At night, you can catch glimpses of lava bursting as it hits the cold water. We got to the viewing site pretty early and watched carefully as the sun went down. We were lucky to see some lava bursts but it definitely wasn't the river of molten lava I had imagined we'd get to see. I guess that's what I get for watching so many shows on the Discovery Channel.

Since we weren't far from Hilo, on the east side of the island, we decided to spend most of our last day exploring the many waterfalls north of Hilo and a little of the city itself. I would have liked to explore Hilo a little more. It looked like a pretty nice place for being the second biggest city in Hawaii...second to Honolulu of course.

Well, that's the trip. I guess that was way more than the highlights. Really I should have said it was the play-by-play. We did also tour a Kona Coffee plantation, a macadamia nut factory, and enjoy some shave ice. Can't leave out those typically tourist things! We had a great time and it was really hard to come home and get into the routine of life. I felt really weird when I walked into work on Monday. It felt like I should be on a beach in the sun...not getting ready to teach 150 7th graders. A bit surreal.
-h (Gabe edited and added all the pictures)

April Fools?

So, this might seems silly to all of you but...I've really been putting off telling my students that I'm having a baby.  I'm not exactly sure why.  I think it's because I couldn't think of how to tell them.  They are, after all, a bunch of 12 and 13 year-olds.  Plus, I'm just barely noticeably pregnant.

Anyway, at our staff meeting today, every person I talked to asked me if I've told my students yet.  Each time I said no, they looked at me rather surprised.  After all, I'm more than half way through the pregnancy.  So, at the end of first period today, I let the cat out of the bag.  The kids were all cleaned up and ready to leave.  I'd reminded them about the big project they have due tomorrow and there was still a few more minutes left before the bell.  And I just said it.  I told them I had a little surprise to share with them and told them I was going to have a baby in August.  They just sorta looked at me.  Then a few of them asked, "Are you being serious?"  and "Is this an April Fools joke?".  It didn't even dawn on me that it was April Fools and they might think I was joking!  How funny!

I asked the kids in first period to keep the news quiet.  Do you know how well 12 and 13 year-olds can keep a secret?  Not at all.  Never share a secret with one of them!  So for the rest of the day, I had to start class quelling the "rumors".  From the girls I got squeals of excitement, questions about how long I've been pregnant and why I didn't tell them earlier.  From the boys I got name suggestions!  They all want me to name the baby after them.  One boy named Wyatt said I should name the baby after him and give him the middle name Oliver so the baby would have the initials WOW.  That's middle schoolers for you!

-h