Rodeo Austin

I'm heading to Rodoe Austin tomorrow all day for a field trip. I'm a little worried about being on my feet for so long and hoping that there's plenty of areas to take a rest if I need to! :) I'm also going to be packing in snacks and water so that I have something to munch on now and then. It's a totally guided tour of the rodeo and stock yards, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Wish me luck! :)

Kickin' up her heels

Mia was kicking up a storm this morning and it was so fun to feel her move! I'm not sure if she was upset because it was later than I usually eat, and she usually kicks around a little during breakfast, or because she could hear all the extra activity and wanted to be sure she didn't miss out and so was making herself known. :)

We have a fun house full of family today and she was kicking constantly enough that lots of them were able to feel her move. Usually she'll kick for a minute and then won't kick again for a while, but this morning she was on a roll! Zeus was able to feel a few good ones as well as his sister Bertha. At one point, I had my hand on my stomach waiting to feel her kick again, and she kicked so hard that my hand even moved! :)

His sister Bertha and sister-in-law Lupe stayed the night as well as Lupe's daughter Rosario and our nephews from Odessa (DJ and Carlos) who are staying the week in Austin while their parents go on a mini-vacation. When the kids realized that we were feeling the baby, they all wanted to feel her move and at one time I had three little hands on my tummy and three little faces looking up at me waiting to feel her kick. They are so precious! I had Zeus quick grab the camera and try to get a picture of them before they lost interest and ran back off to play. :)

Carlos, DJ and Rosario all came running over to put their little hands on my tummy to see if they could feel Mia moving.

25 weeks along so far so my tummy is really starting to grow. Every time Rosario sees me now, she touches my tummy and says, "Wow, the baby is getting bigger!" Bless her heart for saying "the baby is getting bigger" and not just "your tummy is getting bigger"! lol

Rosario felt Mia kick and then stepped back while DJ and Carlos waited to feel her move too. Such a little lady!

DJ and Carlos made sure that I remembered that THEIR mom had a baby in her tummy too. Their baby is due to arrive in October so it's still too small to feel from the outside though. Their family is hoping for a baby girl as well. Cross your fingers for them!

Preggo Sister Bellies

Mish and Nathan came over for play time and spaghetti. Poor Mish had been running around all day but we were still able to talk her into driving over with Nathan for some spaghetti and garlic bread. YUM! As always, it was nice having them over. Zeus and Nathan practiced their colors and built a fortress/tower while Mish and I talked pregnancy and tiredness and life.

Nathan and Uncle Zeus busy building their tower/fortress.

Nathan found one of the little friendship bracelets that I had for school and put it on his head like a little halo.

He thought it was great fun, silly boy!

Mish and I and our prego bellies.

Two weeks apart - Mish is due June 12th, I'm due June 25th.

Her belly is SO much cuter than mine so far. I think it's SO UNFAIR, but Zeus just laughs at me, Mr. Rudey-Mc-Ruder-Son!

Sisters, sisters! With baby boy and baby girl due in June, respectively.

See how Zeus centered in on Mish's cute tummy...

I KNEW he liked her belly better!!! :)

Yikes, getting ready to give Mish her shot.

This is true sisterly love and sisterly trust, eh?

By her face and pose, you'd think she was preparing herself for me to start surgery instead of stick a teensy little needle in her!!!

(Just kidding... I wouldn't be too thrilled myself it things were reversed!)

Mish's face post-shot was much more re-assuring!

See, I didn't hurt her so bad after all, the big drama queen! Okay, okay, so she's one tough cookie and I'm SO glad it's her and not me that needs shots in the tummy every day for the whole pregnancy. Mish, you rock and I'll shoot you any time. :)

It was so fun to have Mish and Nathan over for dinner and play time tonight. We are looking forward to a few more dinners together over the next few nights!

Uncle Zeus and Nathan going over colors.

Dr. Seuss life lessons

So I woke up this morning angry and sad and mad. I was TIRED, I missed my old school and my old kiddos and I wanted to GO HOME to my own little house and my familiar surroundings and my friends and family and my short commute to work, etc., etc. I didn't want to get up so early only to have a long old drive to work that would make it so I wasn't even there super early. I couldn't find the bra I wanted to wear, and then Zeus told me to turn on the TV as I was walking out of the room this morning and to leave the door open (I always forget so he groggily growled it) and I burst into tears. My sweet husband lifted up the covers and made me get back in bed with him so that he could hug me and tell me everything was going to be alright. I really am so blessed.

Further, yesterday was Dr. Seuss's birthday so we are dressing up all week and reading lots of Dr. Seuss books. The one I picked up today was one that I'd never read before called, "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?" and it was a perfect reminder to me to not be sad and to be glad for all that I DO have. Here are a few exerpts from his book in case anyone else out there also thinks they are having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, teary day too.

"...When you think things are bad,
when you feel sour and blue,
when you start to get mad...
you should do what I do!

Just tell yourself, Duckie,
you're really quite lucky!
Some people are much more...
oh, ever so much more...
oh, muchly much-much more
unlucky than you!

...It's a troublesome world. All the people who're in it
are troubled with troubles almost every minute.
You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot,
for the places and people you're lucky you're not!"

Thank you Dr. Seuss for your great words of wisdom that cheered me up and helped improve my outlook on this not-so-terrible, not-so-horrible, not-so-no-good, not-so-very-bad, not so teary day!

wedding and baby celebration - Austin, TX

Some of the great ladies at Zeus's work wanted to have a dinner in our honor, celebrating our wedding and the upcoming baby. Such incredibly sweet and thoughtful ladies! We both feel so greatful to have the opportunity to work at jobs with such wonderful people!

These great ladies (Barbara, Jan and Rosie) sent out invites and made us go register (which actually turned out to be fun!) for some wedding and baby stuff. The big event was held this last weekend, Saturday, February 27th at Jan's home. There was a fabulous turnout and everyone had such a great time! Special thanks to Jan and Juan for opening their home to everyone for the party. Besos y abrazos to all who helped out and also to all who were able to make it!

Rosie, her sister, Me and Jan

You can see my prego belly in this one - this shirt accentuates the pregnancy a little more than some of my other shirts. lol Rosie, Jan, and Barbara are the FABULOUS ladies who threw the celebration dinner for us. Thank you so much ladies - YOU ROCK!!! Poor Barb was in the hospital and couldn't make it, but was most definitely there in our hearts! Hope you feel better soon Barb!

Stacey, Me, Lisa, and Carrie - three great gals from my work who were able to come to help us celebrate. Stacey and Carrie are two of my other first grade team members, and Lisa is the teacher who is trusting me with her first grade class as she moves on to being an instructional coach. Such fun ladies! I feel blessed to have such great new friends and team members - such a blessing!

Freddy (Zeus's nephew), Danny (Zeus's baby brother), Bertha (Zeus's sister), comadre Hilda (Danny's wife and our sister-in-law), and comadre Lupe (sister-in-law)

Michelle, Nathan and I - oh, and you can see Mia hanging out in my belly in this one. As I said before, this is one of those shirts that I actually look pregnant in and you can see my "baby bump"! :)

Rosie, Juan, Jan, Stacey and Lisa

Juan and Jan surprised us with a toast to Zeus and I - the happy couple. Cheers!

Zeus and I opening gifts and reading cards. Carlos and Rosario helping out.

Everyone was so kind and generous - it was quite overwhelming! It was also great to meet so many of the important people from Zeus's life. We are really enjoying being able to add so many new friends to our growing extended Texas family!

Being buried in gifts by our cute nephews (DJ and Carlos) and niece (Rosario) who were SO excited to help hand us the gifts.

Zeus and I opening the gift from Mish, Jeff and Nathan. I had to post this one because the adorable blanket style is called Mia Rose. We loved the pinks and browns in the blanket and when we saw it had Mia's name on it, we just HAD to register for it. :) Thanks Mish and fam! It was so fun registering for all the cute little baby girl things with ruffles and bows!

Tummy Pics

Here are a few tummy pics for those of you who've been begging for them. :) I haven't kept up on the week by week tummy pics because I think it took FOREVER for me to look prego - probably because I started out pregnancy not super svelte. :)

Here's one at 22 weeks. I think that depending on what I'm wearing I look more pregnant or not. The other day at work, the one parent who knows that I'm pregnant said, "You don't even look pregnant yet!"

I haven't told my kiddos yet, and even though they are super observant, they haven't said anything about it yet. Guess they are too polite to ask why my tummy is big. lol

I use to could suck it in, but now it's starting to get in the way. Can't imagine what it will look like in 4 more months!