Julie's Pregnant!!!

That's right; this is the official announcement. But first: Thanksgiving. It was great and wonderful, and it stinks to be home. Seriously! In Atlanta, everyone takes care of me and makes me take naps and makes sure I'm not thirsty or hungry or cold or nauseous. In Normal, Gizmo still wants her wet food, and the house doesn't clean itself just as the homework doesn't do itself. JD takes excellent care of me, and he's been so sweet and loving, but how can he compare to parents, friends, and relatives all rushing to be first in line to help? But back to Thanksgiving.

I traveled down last Friday night and stayed with Michael and Lina for a night. I woke up Saturday morning to Lina bounding between the two beds in Michael's guest room, one of which was mine. Stacy, Clay, Nora, and unborn baby Caleb drove up Saturday morning to have breakfast with us, and it was so good to see them! It's been at least 6 months.






I spent Saturday and Sunday with a very happy and excited Mom and Dad. Within the first five minutes of seeing me, both had already felt my belly, and Dad had tried to listen for a heartbeat. :) It was so nice to go about their days with them and to relax at the old house. Monday, Mom and I had high tea at the Roswell tea house then had our nails done. I got to see Michele for dinner that night, and I surprised both of us with how much I ate at one sitting! Tuesday I spent most of the day with Ashley, checking out baby furniture. She was incredibly helpful with tips on baby products, and I plan to register with her over Christmas break. Tuesday night the family got back together for dinner before Dad and I headed down to the airport to pick up JD. That was an adventure in itself that I'll have to tell you sometime.

Wednesday was the big shift. Mom, Dad, and Michael headed to Florida for Thanksgiving, and JD and I moved over to the Ponds' house for the rest of the holiday. Vickie and I went maternity clothes shopping Wednesday, and I got some great items that should help me through a cold winter. JD, meanwhile, played golf with his dad and Stephen. We all got back together Wednesday night for a cookout and some board games. Thursday, we headed over to JD's aunt Betty and uncle Rick's house for a delicious meal (followed by a nap for me) and more games. It was nice to see JD's cousin Katie who gave me more tips on babies and kids. We also got the phone call that another cousin, Jonathan and his wife Jaimie are pregnant too! Their baby will only be a month younger than ours. We're excited to have family going through the same adventure with a child that will be the same age!

Most of Friday we spent with Steve, Laurie, Lucas, and their unborn daughter (although born in 2 weeks!!) at their house catching up. It had been a year since we'd seen them, and they remain one of our favorite families to spend time with. Ah, I remember the days when it was just us couples and our dogs, hiking. Now it will be a real crew when we get together in the future! Unfortunately, Saturday saw us back at the airport, headed home to one more week of school, dozens of papers and exams to grade, and plenty of work of my own to finish in the next 7 days. Darn it.

But anyway, I'm pregnant! Today, I'm 13 weeks, and I'm due June 5. No, we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, but we'll find out in January. When JD and I traveled down to Atlanta in early October, we went to tell our families face-to-face the exciting news! I'm been feeling pretty good compared to many other women, but I am taking an anti-nausea medicine, and I'm always completely exhausted. But now that my first trimester is over, I'm hoping for sunny days to come. Here's a picture of my newly-burgeoning belly.



I swear that's not what I usually look like!! Here's a picture from this summer for comparison:



See? There really is something there, and it's only getting bigger! Right now, the little one is the size of a peach. That's pretty good considering it started off as a single cell!

Happy Birthday, JD

This past weekend, we celebrated my husband's 29 birthday! He's getting so old. His birthday actually fell on Monday--the worst night for both of us since I have class and he has basketball. So, we celebrated instead on Sunday night with a dinner out, yummy deserts, and presents including a new flat-screen computer monitor and a new electric shaver that was desperately needed. Of course, Gizmo got in on the fun of opening presents. But really the party capped off a fun weekend. Friday, after graduate forum at school, some friends came over to "grade," watch movies, and look at pictures. Saturday, JD and I began our Christmas shopping and went bowling with Danielle and Kyle. In the course of the weekend, JD also stained the back porch, and I finished off paper number two! Unfortunately, the weather has taken a turn for the worse, and I think it's here to stay. But we have the holidays to look forward to, so time to go back out to shop for more presents for JD!

Countdown

9 more days until Thanksgiving break...

Halloween

I'll bet you can't guess what I dressed up as for Halloween! Myself. Seriously, the days of costumes are over, and I am now one of the adults handing out candy to the kids having fun. But that's okay because I still get candy, and I'm still having fun. For Halloween this year, when we were asked what we were doing, we told our friends that we were doing nothing, and they thought that sounded great! So we ended up with a group of people over here Saturday night doing nothing together. Well, that's not entirely true. We ate pizza and candy and watched a movie and knitted and hung out. So that's something, and I think it was better than a lot of other Halloween options! JD and I did carve a pumpkin: it's an owl; can you tell?



For the first time in many, many, many years, now that Halloween's over, I'm ready for Christmas. I'm ususally one of the die-hard scrooges until Thanksgiving is over, but this year, for some reason, I say bring on the decorations, presents, food, and family time! If only I can make it through 4 more weeks of school and 2 more papers I have to write. Hmmm. Tricky.