First Day of School! and some September stuff

Here we are on our first day of school! We literally left the house at O'dark-thirty.

 FIRST first day of school!

 Big day for all of us. We dropped Lily off at her first day of infant care.

 Lily is off to a great start! The teachers are so great, and she is excited and happy every morning to see her teachers, baby friends, and all the great toys they have there! Sometimes when I pick her up she is strapped into the 4-baby stroller with her friends...too cute! She passes out every day in her carseat on the way home and sleeps for a good hour or two. She must be worn out from so much stimulation and play at school!

 We have been having fun since then. Lily is loving her adventure in solid foods. Recently she has been eating things like grilled zucchini, curry, pickle, and pizza. Yum! She is really getting good at gumming things up. Still no teeth in sight!

 This is Jason's class at the school "Olympics" fundraiser. He's so cute leading his little class in the Opening Ceremonies!

We took Lily to her first regular season Seahawk game! It was a great one, with fantastic weather. Lily loves checking out all the action. She may have been the most photographed person in the CLink...EVERYONE wanted to know about her headphones or take her picture!

 She loved her free flag!

PS:  Here's Jason's classroom tour from the day before the 1st day.  It's been stranded on his phone all month!  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16uYnzjrj_Q&feature=youtu.be

Wrapping up the Summer

This week has been CRAZY with both of us setting up classrooms and going to professional development, but we DID manage to sneak in some fun, too!

 On Tuesday, Lily and I went to Remlinger Farms with the Kings on KK's actual birthday. She got to ride ponies, a canoe, a train, an old fashioned car and more! Apparently this is becoming an annual event since we went last year around the same time...it was fun that she is bigger and can go on more things this year! Plus things are always better with your baby cousin along!

 Thursday Night: Seahawks Football! Lily loved the stadium, particularly its many giant screens that she could watch at any time (dangit!). She checked out the new talent on the team, and then slept great through the second half.

 We went to an Open House at Lily's new school! We got to drop in and meet the teachers, who are very sweet and immediately grabbed the babies so they could play together. Here Lily is meeting two new friends. She was so happy and smiled and chatted the entire time. We dropped off some gear and got her all situated for next week. She is going to love watching and playing with the other 8 "Baby Knights" (7 of them have one or more parents that work in the district). Even the babies in our district are "college bound:" the infant program has adopted the University of Hawaii, mostly selected for its mascot, the Rainbows. Too funny! These ladies obviously love love babies and we feel very comfortable leaving Lily in their confident hands.

Lily spent a lot of time hanging out with me in my classroom this week. We were...somewhat...productive. Thank you to Nan for coming with us on Monday so I could actually get some work done!

This baby is sitting up AND eating real food...she's like a real person or something!!

Here we are excited...we are on the ferry to Anderson Island to see Shaina and Jon! It's also the Huskies' home opener, so we had to get decked out. We are such a purple family.

Lily is still working on her W.

 And these guys call themselves Husky fans....

 Yay, Lily finally gets to meet Shaina!! Since they live in LA, we only get to see them a few precious time each year.

 And we enjoyed one last beach day of the summer. We played in the lake and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon and some delicious food before heading home.

 Jason sneaked away early to join some friends for the Husky game. Football season is officially here!

Halfway to Baby! - 21 Weeks

Things seem a lot different ever since we found out that baby is a girl, and I started feeling her move around in there! Even Jason thinks he can feel her bonking around. There is no question that someone is in there! She also gets lots of hugs from my kiddos, especially since the belly has really started to stick out.

We are starting to make some progress on her room. This week the changing table arrived! Jason assembled about a million pieces, but luckily to him building this stuff is just like real-life LEGOs.

Looks like a cozy spot for a change!

Hooray! There is no mistaking this for a baby's room now! Next step: sell the bed and extra furniture to make room to put together the crib, and pick out some cuteness to make it girly!

We also toured the district infant center! We met all 3 teachers, a happy mom and baby, and checked out the space. We really liked the laid-back atmosphere, and the stellar reviews we have heard from other moms. I think this center is our first choice! We will get on the list as soon as the spots are posted in Jan/Feb!

Prep for Baby - 19 weeks

We feel like there are a million little things to do to get ready for baby! We are slowing making our way through our list, and getting a few things checked off.

We've been daydreaming about how to convert our "Guest Nest" into a cozy room for baby. I'm thankful that dad and I did a bunch of preliminary work last summer (no painting or building for me now!) We are a little reluctant to give up our guest space, but excited about making it work for baby!

This week Mom ordered a changing table for us! We've been on the hunt for the perfect thing to match our Loom crib that Rachel won for us in June. We're still in shock over that one. Thanks, Lullaby Organics! Don't they look cute together?? We haven't seen the changer in real life yet, but we're confident that we will love it!

Yesterday I got the scoop on district childcare, and scheduled us for a tour! The district infant center is at the nearest high school, which is only 2 miles from my school. I've heard GREAT things about the program, and can't wait to check it out. At one year, the baby can be on campus with me! Our long-term plan will definitely depend on where Jason ends up next year, but as a district employee I do have the option of getting a variance and having Baby attend any school in our district. I did laugh while I was trying to fill out the application paperwork...no name, no birthday, we don't even know the gender! No medical records, no immunizations....

We are officially signed up for a birth class! At the recommendation of our midwife, we decided to take hypnobirthing at the hospital. It's a comprehensive birth class that she said would offer the most options to couples who are committed to a natural birth. So for 5 weeks we'll spend Tuesday nights practicing breathing and visualization, and learning about what we can expect during labor. Hypnobirthing has been recommended to us by a couple friends, one who said that it has no become a life skill for any situation where she needs to go to her "happy place" (ie traffic!).

Other than that, we've been reading up a storm! Here are a selection of the books I've read over the last year in preparation for baby and my rating of each...with more to come!

Get Ready to Get Pregnant*****

Complete Organic Pregnancy***

And Baby Makes Three***

Birth Day*****

Catching Babies*****

How to Have Your Second Child First***

Big Book of Birth****

One Year to an Organized Life With Baby***

What to Expect When You Are Expecting**

Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy***

Eating for Pregnancy**

The Parent You Want to Be*****

The Everything Get Ready for Baby Book**

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother****

Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn (in progress)

Last weekend we wrapped up the summer with one last camping trip! We tried to escape the rain by heading over the Leavenworth with Dawn and Derek, and only got a little wet! We did get to eat German food while watching the Huskies. Sweet! Camping while pregnant was definitely an adventure. But look how close our site was to the bathroom! Nice!

Leavenworth Thousand Trails - 18 weeks

We can't wait until Wednesday...it's ultrasound day!!!

13 Weeks!

Things are going along swimmingly here! According to my books, Baby should be about the size of a peach...

or a medium shrimp...

...???

I'm busting out the maternity clothes lately, since the belly doesn't seem to fit in much anymore. Mom and I scored a pair of my favorite jeans at our local consignment store. I've never been so happy to have jeans!!

Meanwhile, outside the womb, we are both up to our eyeballs in school! Jason is deep in finals week, with only this week to go of the quarter! We just got great news that Jason will start his student teaching this month in the same district as me, in the next closest school! It should be a great experience for him, and a carpool buddy for me on some days. I'm trying to get a bunch of district and building projects done...when I'm not napping! Next week I'm leading professional development full time all week. Hopefully Baby will cooperate!

We took a break this weekend to go see our fabulous friends, Geoff and Kim, get married. It was a beautiful sunny wedding with a gorgeous bride and tons of band friends! We all got rooms at the Tulalip Resort where we were spoiled with late night friends, a fabulous shower, and an awesome pool (where we were joined by Rachel, Michael, and Kenley...that family does not pass up a chance to hit up a pool!). Our friend, Susan of Whimsical Photo was the photographer, and was sweet enough to take this shot of us at the wedding.

We also went to a Mariner's game with the fam! Did you know Jason joined the team?

We girls are big fans of the snacks. Kenley ate peanuts, popcorn, and milkshake non-stop before passing out on Rachel's lap!

I've spilled the beans now to my principal. She is super supportive and a great resource since she is in her 3rd pregnancy, and delivering at the same hospital as we are! She gave me all kinds of advice, including how to tell parents (via letter, with no room for input or personal-life digging) and when (she suggested before I start to show....I'll be 16 weeks by the time school starts and not sure that I'm going to be able to hide the belly for long!), as well as great new baby-wearing wraps and childcare options. I met with HR and got the scoop on Maternity Leave...sounds like we will be taking 6 weeks of maternity leave (paid since I can use my sick days) and 6 weeks of FMLA (unpaid, but I keep benefits for all 3 of us!) and then back to school in mid-May to wrap up the year.

We're also starting to think about childcare for the Fall. We'll definitely be applying to the district options (infant care at our local high school, then on campus with me at 1 yr old! I could visit at lunch!). We also toured a fancy local school. We liked that it is close to Bebe and Papa. We learned all about the "curriculum" for the infants (for example, the infants learn one new yoga position each week! And practice their colors! ???), and toured the beautiful building. We really liked the infant teacher, but we're not sure if the school (or the tuition) are for us. We're jealous of Kenley's Berry Patch, and wish we could drive to Ballard to take our baby there, too!

Our next job is to find a pediatrician...any recommendations???