Beginning to look a lot like Fall!

I am in much better spirits as I write this new post. The last one...must have been a pregnancy hormone dip or something. That happens sometimes. I get overwhelmed with life and would rather throw a pity party than do anything about it. Thankfully, I can snap out of those moods pretty easily.

Anyway, Luke and I had an amazingly wonderful weekend. Friday night was rainy and dreary, but we enjoyed a dinner at Olive Garden anyway. I love their salad so much! Oh, don't go thinking I am healthy. I had salad before my 3 breadsticks, and I had 3 breadsticks before my high calorie pasta meal. The waiter informed me that what I chose is this highest calorie item on the menu. Of course he told me this after I had eaten half of it. I chose to take the rest home! It was shrimp and chicken carbonara in case you were wondering! :-) We also went to a couple of shops at the Hamilton Town Center before we headed home to watch a movie. I crashed on the couch early, but Luke enjoyed it!

Saturday morning, I woke up and went straight for the fridge where a can of cinnamon rolls were waiting to be baked. I have been wanting cinnamon rolls for about a week (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), so finally I made some. Yummy! Once we got ready, we headed South for the Mt. Saint Francis picnic in New Albany. We made a stop at the Edinburgh Outlets where I bought my first baby outfit. I couldn't resist. It is for a little girl, and it has pandas on it. Pandas are my sorority's mascot, so I had to get it just in case it is a girl and just in case she wants to join AOII. So cute! I also got a Colts maternity T-shirt so that I can be a stylish fan the whole season through.

When we made it to the picnic (it's really like a festival), we hung out with family as everyone took turns manning the cake booth. It was BEAUTIFUL outside...and I managed to get some color in my face, probably more than I have had all summer! We stayed with Seth & Liz, which is always fun because we get extra time with them and our nephews...and we always eat good food and talk about random things. There's never a dull moment at their house with a 2 year old and an 8 month old! :-)

Today we enjoyed some more beautiful weather, and we were outside most of the day! We went to Huber Winery where we were able to pick our own apples. It reminded me of the days when I would drive to Bloomington to see Luke in college and we would visit Musgrave Orchard. Such fond memories of Bloomington in the fall. We had so much fun watching the boys play and being outside on a breezy, sunny day.

When we got home, we took a nice walk around the neighborhood and opened our windows in our house. I absolutely love this time of year!

It's so easy to spend time worrying about the negative things...and to pick apart what's wrong in the world....but today, we focused on all that is good, which is our family, our friends, our marriage, our home, our baby....sigh.....life is just so good-- never perfect, but so good.

Next weekend...Notre Dame game with mom, dad, and brother. So excited! :-)

Aimless

My mind is wandering to who knows where tonight, and I just felt the need to put pen to paper...or I guess fingers to keys. As I stare at my husband across from me, laughing as he listens to his headphones because he has old Seinfeld episodes playing in his ears, I find myself wishing I could be him...able to let go of the day's stress and laugh. I am capable of being like that....but this past week has taken a toll.

School is challenging these days. I have so many students with special needs and IEPs that I feel I simply cannot reach all of them and please their parents while abiding the state law that I have to make a whole list of accommodations for each of them...and manage to teach the rest of my students with enthusiasm and energy. I hate complaining about my job...no, honestly I do. So many people want to be teachers right now, and I am so blessed to have a job...and not just any teaching job...a teaching job where I truly love where I work.

The stress is getting to me, and sadly I find myself at the end of the day realizing that I haven't thought about my own baby all day...and that I had put all my energy into everyone else. That said, I know that the next 6 1/2 months will fly by.

I want to be all things to all people, and I think my mom would be the first person to say that you simply can't do that. However, I am a teacher, a teachers naturally want to please everyone and be liked and favored by coworkers, parents, and students.

I have been racking my brain, trying to think of new ideas, strategies, lessons, etc...and I am exhausted. There's no time! I feel like Jesse Spano on Saved By the Bell. "There's no time! There's never any time! I'm so excited! I'm so excited...I'm so...scared!" Oh, that makes me laugh just reading that. If you don't know what the heck I am talking about, Google it.

Speaking of Google, I promised the teachers at lunch that I would Google what is in tapioca pudding. We had quite the debate, trying to decide if it really does have fish eyes in it. My Google results say it is simply a root-like starch that is edible. Sounds as gross as fish eyes to me.

This post had no point. Sorry if it wasted your time. Maybe it didn't waste your time. Maybe you are in the same "Blah blah blah I'm worried I am going to suck at everything" boat as me. If so, let's go sailing!

Much-Needed Vacation!

Luke and I made a reservation at the West Baden Springs Hotel tonight. We both are already a little stressed with school and other things around the house, and we thought that the fall season would be the perfect time to get away for a couple of days. We have always wanted to visit the West Baden Springs Hotel in French Lick, and we thought, "Why not?" So, like Nike, we just did it...

We have a one night stay with an atrium view that includes a couples massage and a dinner reservation. Very excited!

The place truly looks amazing, and I can't wait to spend an entire relaxing fall weekend with my husband!

http://www.frenchlick.com

Check it out!

Indiana State Fair!

Luke and I had a wonderful time visiting the State Fair last night! We went with our friends, Chris and Megan, and Megan's parents. It was a very pleasant August evening with a great breeze. We saw all the animals and farm equipment galore, but the highlight of the day was the food! All together, our group of 6 consumed:

Pork sandwiches

Cheddar nuggets

Honey ice cream

Honey combs

Honey sticks

Chocolate dipped ice cream cone

Chocolate covered bacon

Fried cookie dough balls (my personal favorite)

and...Chris had some tomato juice which was the only thing with nutritional value.

The fried cookie dough balls (pictured below) were amazingly good. Luke kept reiterating, "Well, it's a once a year thing. ONCE a year..." but I hate to break it to him that I found a recipe online and intend on trying to make these on my own. :-)

Colts Football Has Arrived!

I got a great surprise from one of my student's mom's on Wednesday. She asked if I wanted to go to the Colts preseason game on Thursday. Since it was a school night, they were unable to use their season tickets. I said, "SURE!"

Thursday night, after our wonderful ultrasound, we celebrated by heading downtown to the game. The seats were awesome! They were on the end zone, where we saw the Colts score twice, and they happened to be on the end where the stadium opens up, so we got a great breeze. The roof was open, too, so it was breezy and refreshing! It was such a perfect night for football.

The Colts played well, and they even won, which never happens for us in the preseason! We even got to see a sweet Peyton to Reggie Wayne bomb that ended in a touchdown. I just love them, and I am expecting great things this season!

Cat's Out of the Bag

Well, we finally made the announcement we have wanted to make for about 6 weeks now! After two successful doctor's appointments and ultrasounds, we feel confident enough to say that we are having our first child around March 23, 2010! It sounds so far away...and still feels quite far away, but I know it will be here before we know it!

The past few weeks have been crazily up and down. Every time I would think about the baby, I would get really excited. Then I would remember that no one else knew about the baby, so then I would get sad. Then I got really excited when we first heard the heartbeat about 2 weeks ago, but then thinking about the possibility of losing our child to another miscarriage got me really down. The "cloud of doom" followed me until our appointment yesterday. This appointment, our baby had very visible features such as arms and legs, the head was very pronounced. The first ultrasound, the baby looked like a cocoon...but yesterday, it looked like a baby! It even moved a couple times, wiggling its little body and legs. The heart was pumping away at 175 beats per minute, which is a lot faster than the last time, which was 140.

I know not everyone gets into the baby buzz, but this is truly the biggest part of my life thus far, so I am very excited and relieved to share it with the world. I need to start documenting this pregnancy with some belly photos, but right now, my belly bulge is about 90% food related and 10% baby!

P.S. I have added some posts that I had saved as drafts until we were ready to make the pregnancy public. If you go back a few weeks, you can see some other baby-related posts that used to be top-secret.

Back to School!

School is back in full force these days, as I went back to the working world on Monday. We had corporation meetings on Monday and Tuesday, and then the kiddos came on Wednesday! I have 19 fresh-faced students, and I must say that 19 is a HEAVENLY number! I had 25 last year, and with the 2nd grade classrooms bursting with 27 and 28 kids each, I am rejoicing (quietly, mind you, so as not to brag in front of the other teachers ready to pull their hair out!).

I spent the first three days doing what I should have done my first two years during the first three days (did you follow that...?). I got to know the kids, I didn't start out with super fun awesome activities (I know you're thinking...why?). I didn't crack a text book. I took my time assessing the kids' prior 3rd grade knowledge, preliminarily placing them in groups according to their skill levels, and I taught them all kinds of procedures. My method to my madness is that if I start out tame and reserved, but still warm and friendly, the kids will be eager to see what is next, and they will respect me more than if I started out as their best friend. No one likes it when their best friend has to reprimand them, and that is what inevitably happens. The kids feel betrayed by my sudden authority after they think I am all about fun and games. No more rookie mistakes for this 3rd year veteran!

Nah...actually I am FAR from a vet. I just have more experience under my belt which gives me a slightly elevated boost of confidence. I have redone my room and my thinking for this year, and I look forward to sharing my new revelations with you along the way.

My new and improved reading area

Anyway -- another friend has joined the marriage club! We went to our high school friend's (Cody Lee) wedding on Saturday in Muncie. He married his long-time girlfriend, Ashli. We had a lot of fun (scratch that, a TON of fun) catching up with some old friends and watching another beautiful couple tie the knot! Marriage is a wonderful thing! (most of the time)

Well...Luke said he wanted some Cold Stone, so I am not going to delay. This is a rare occasion for HIM to ask for ice cream! Better capitalize!

Happy Sunday!

Hello, hello, hello! It's a beautiful Sunday morning...and I am sitting on my couch with my laptop on my...lap! I should be outside soaking in the sun, but right now it is pretty enough just to look at.

Two months ago, I was in Kiawah with family. Now I am on the cusp of a new school year. I don't feel as prepared as I wanted to be at this point, but I still have two 1/2 days to work in my room on Monday and Tuesday. I also need to keep reminding myself that I don't HAVE to have the whole school year planned on the first day of school. I am just so nervous about meeting my new set of students and their parents! It is such a crazy day...I only wish the kids knew that the teachers have just as much anxiety as the students. However, I suppose it is a good thing that the kids don't know that... they can already smell fear.

This week, we celebrated Clare's 21st birthday with a family dinner at Bravo. Luke's grandmother, both Aunt Marcias (yep...we have two!), Uncle Hugh, and cousins Melissa and Zach came from New Albany...as well as Liz and her precious boys, Gus & Sol! Cousin Aaron and his wife, Ellen, who live in Indy, and Abe & E, CeCe, and a couple friends also made the dinner. It was a great crowd! Turning 21 is a big deal around here! We finished the night off with a Coldstone cake, this time it was mint chocolate chip. YUM!

I got to spend some valuable time with Gus & Sol. I just love them! They stayed the night with us, so I didn't have to share them with everyone the next day. I had them all to myself! :-)

Last night was the final summer concert, Brad Paisley. It was really fun, great weather, no excess of drunk idiots like the George Strait concert. We had a really awesome time. It was a nice show to end on.

Well, we are off to church and then to Candace & Damon's for an end-of-summer cookout with friends. It is bittersweet to see summer on its way out, but fall is on its way, which means football, sweatshirts, apple cider, and pumpkins. BRING IT ON!

Music to Our Ears

It's still crazy to type and even more unreal to say, but Luke and I heard the heartbeat of our baby at our first ultrasound appointment on Tuesday! It was an incredible, unexpected surprise!

Leading up to this first ultrasound, I was a nervous wreck. I contemplated averting my eyes completely and never looking at the screen because I didn't want to risk seeing what we saw last time. I just didn't think my heart was strong enough to take another disappointment like that.

But, of course, once we got all hooked up to the machine, I had to look. At first I didn't see anything, and I was completely terrified. Then she repositioned just a bit and we saw the baby! The tech pointed to it and we were just shocked! It is officially a 1/2" long. How cute!

Then...the best part. She turned on the audio and we got to hear the sweet sound of the heart thumping away. It was magical, I swear! I cried and said, "I am freaking out!" :-) The heart was beating away at 140 bpm, which I can proudly boast is right in the middle of the normal range, between 120-160 bpm.

The baby measured right where it needed to be, 7 weeks. The tech also said that once you hear the heartbeat, there is a 90% chance that the pregnancy will go to full term. I have to say that we really like those odds!

And now...for your viewing pleasure...

This is the one with the heart beat...

Don't be confused like we were...the round dot is not the head. That is something else (Luke knows what it's called...I don't...oops). The baby looks like a little jelly bean.

Final Countdown

After a fun and busy weekend, here I sit at the beginning of my FINAL week of summer vacation. WOW! One week from right now, I will be sitting in meetings with my colleagues, getting ready for yet another school year. Deep breath...

For now, I am still on vacation, so I am going to try to think that way. Let me first give a weekend update. Luke left Friday afternoon to head to West Virginia for a friend's bachelor party. I got my haircut and went to Muncie to work in my room and stay with my parents for the night. I got to see Allison's cute little house, and I did not envy them as they were in full moving mode. I do NOT miss that! But it will be worth it when it is all said and done. I didn't have the heart to say that over a year after we moved into our house, we still have some rooms that don't feel "done" and some boxes to unpack that are lurking somewhere in our attic. Outta sight, outta mind.

Saturday afternoon, I headed home. Imagine my shock and dismay when I pulled into our driveway and saw Luke's garage door up. It had been open all day Friday and Friday NIGHT! I was very angry and pretty scared to go into my house for fear of all of our possessions being stolen or even worse, a creepy predator hiding in the bathtub (nah...who I am I kidding? No right-minded criminal would wait in the bathtub...I'm sure Ernie has peed in it since the last time I cleaned it). I harnessed what little amount of bravery I had and went inside. Everything seemed OK, and I did a full house check to make sure nothing fishy was going on. I then texted Luke a threatening message that I probably shouldn't write on this blog. :-)

Saturday evening, I went to Abe & E's for dinner. They made kebobs, potatoes, rice, and salad. I brought dinner rolls and Diet Coke. It was yummy! Sarah and Ryan joined later for a "bonfire" in the rain. At that time, I made the decision to head home. I was a big girl. I needed to stay in my own house...albeit alone. I did, however, talk to my mom and dad the entire way home from Greenfield. My dad coached me into locking the garage doors from the inside, which made me feel safer. I also slept with every light on in the house as well as the TV. I hate, hate, hate staying by myself.

Sunday was my friend Jenna's baby shower! She is due in September with a baby girl named Avigail. A group of our high school friends gathered to celebrate this incredible time in her life. It was a great success, complete with "poopy" diapers (made with melted candy bars) and lots of great food.

By the time the girls left, my fresh-out-of-the-doghouse husband came strolling in. I could hardly be mad at him about the door when I saw his sweet face. He had a great time on the trip, but it made me happy to see how happy he was to be home.

All is well again in the Ernstberger house!