MA Homecoming '08 and Baby Update

First, a baby update for you... no news to report as of right now, early Sunday evening. I have had contractions on and off this weekend - uncomfortable, yes, but nothing to get excited about - too random and far between. At no time so far have I thought, "hmmm, maybe I'm going into labor", so right now it is more trying to take it easy, relax as much as possible, and wait. Saturday night I was especially tired and uncomfortable, and we were sad to miss our sister-in-law Jessica's 30th birthday party with other family and friends on a boat on Lake Minnetonka that evening, but I think we made a good call staying home and laying low. Being past my due date now, I have a hunch that's what I'll be doing for the most part until baby comes.

I have another doctor appointment on Wednesday afternoon and I will have a BPP test done as well as my weekly check-up with my OB doctor. BPP stands for Biophysical Profile and measures the health of the baby in the womb by ultrasound. The BPP measures the baby's heart rate, muscle tone, movement, breathing, and the amount of amniotic fluid around the baby. If these five areas are within the normal range, the baby is considered to be in good health. From what I understand, a BPP is a common procedure used on woman who are past their due date to determine if and when they should be induced. With my healthy history for this pregnancy, my doctor thinks the BPP results will probably be good, but again, with the results and my appt after the test, we'll have more information on what the next step is. We'll keep you posted! Of course, if this little girl decides to come before Wednesday, none of the above assessment will be needed. I wouldn't mind that! Thanks for all of your prayers, phone calls, and emails checking on us - we appreciate them all. Please continue to pray for comfort and a smooth and healthy labor and delivery. We hope to have a family of three by the end of this week - we'll see!

Saturday morning and into the afternoon we went to Minnehaha's Homecoming festivities at the school. The main reason we went is because Matt really wanted to run in the annual Homecoming 5K, the Redhawk Run. As Matt ran, Kristi, Karna Anderson, Nemo and I walked several blocks along the course. Matt did a great job in the 5K! He finished with a time of 23:52 (under 8 minutes miles!) and got first place in his age group. He ran a little faster time than last year's 5K, and he was pleased with his finish. I said to Matt a few days before the race, "Are you sure you want to run this, you haven't really ran or trained at all..." And he said, "Well, I run every day with my students for a living." :) Very true, good point! We also got to see some of the volleyball and boys soccer game, as well as some of the football game. As always, the day was fun. As an alum it's fun, but even more so for Matt and I as teachers. We get the chance to see students outside of the everyday school setting, chat with some parents, and catch up with some old students who have graduated. Here are some pictures from our day.

40 weeks... and no news yet!

Today I am 40 weeks, and my due date is tomorrow. Overall I'm feeling great, just the normal discomforts and tiredness, but nothing too bad. We had an OB appointment this afternoon, and my doctor doesn't think I'm quite ready to go, so it may be a few days yet. Tomorrow is my last day at work, and I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about it. I'm glad to probably have a few days to rest and relax before the baby comes and so excited to have several weeks off with our new daughter, but I really love to teach and I'll miss my class and my co-workers. To a workaholic like myself it feels funny not to be working when I could, but I know this time off is good for me and my family, and the sub taking my place while I'm gone will do a wonderful job. So no worries, right? :) Here are some pictures from today. Does my belly look bigger? I feel like it does... by the way, have I mentioned that I'm REALLY excited to meet this little girl??

At my appointment today, in the waiting room.

A very happy, excited daddy-to-be in the waiting room.

40 weeks and counting!

Nemo is waiting too... "Is she here yet?" :)

Dinner with Grandma Margie & Neil

Sunday night we went out to dinner with Matt's Grandma Margie and his cousin Neil, who was in town from Texas for a weekend conference in Minneapolis. Neil and his wife Debra and their young daughter Grace are originally from Texas, but moved to Minnesota for about a year and a half for a new adventure. Last December of 2007 they moved back to Texas to be closer to family. We miss them so much! In May they had their second baby, a little girl named Haley. Matt is close to all of his cousins, and it was great to see Neil this weekend. We also enjoyed spending time with Grandma, who lives in Golden Valley. She is such a positive, spirit-filled woman, and she is always so loving and supportive towards us when we see her.

I got an email at work this afternoon from our Aunt Kathy saying that Grandma fell this morning and broke her hip and is now in the hospital. She will have surgery tomorrow. Matt went to see her in the hospital today after school, and she was resting in her room. Please pray for Grandma Margie as she has the surgery to repair her broken hip and I'm sure has a long road to recovery ahead.

Here are a few pictures from our time together last night. Isn't Grandma cute? :)

Andy & Kelly's Wedding

On Friday night we went to Andy and Kelly's wedding. Andy Linn is one of Matt's good friends from college at Bethel and they were roommates for many years. After they graduated, Matt and Andy lived in an apartment in Richfield for a year, and then lived together in Matt's townhouse in Bloomington until we got married in 2002. Friday night Andy married Kelly Raatz, an awesome girl he met at church. It was an outdoor ceremony at the beautiful Long Lake Regional Park in New Brighton, and they couldn't have had a nicer day for it. On Friday afternoon it was sunny and 85 degrees in the Twin Cities - not too common for the end of September in MN, but a great forecast for a fall wedding. By the evening ceremony it had cooled down a bit and was warm and breezy, a perfect setting. We had a great time catching up with college friends that we haven't seen for awhile, including Arnie, another good friend of Matt's from Bethel that now lives with his family in Colorado Springs, and Lamont, another friend that now lives in Los Angeles. Andy and Kelly now live in Champlin, so hopefully we'll get to see them every once in awhile. Congratulations, Andy and Kelly - we had so much fun at your beautiful wedding and we wish you many blessings in your life together!
Andy eagerly awaiting his bride.

Here comes the bride... Kelly and Junior Best Man, Ethan Raatz. Ethan is Kelly's 3-year old son, and such a cutie. He did great during the ceremony.

The happy couple!

Kelly and Andy chose to do a Unity Sand, a similar idea to the Unity Candle. Here is Pastor Nathan Gustafson, representing the role of faith in their marriage, Kelly, Ethan, and Andy. It was cute, when they had finished pouring all the sand into the glass jar, Ethan said loudly, "Wow, that's a lot of sand!" :)

The kiss... so sweet.

Mr. and Mrs. Linn. I can't really tell how Andy is feeling by the look on his face, can you? :)

Good friends at the reception, from L to R: Julie and Matt, Katina and Marcus Sarazin, Andy, Kelly, and Ethan, Camryn, Anthony, and Kerri Vogel, and Lamont Hunt.

Baby Shower #2

Last Friday my good friend and co-worker Liz hosted a shower for me at her place in St. Paul with about 15 other gals from MA. It was so fun to get together outside of school and hang out with these fabulous women. Thanks to everyone that helped make this a fun and special evening! Here are a few pictures from the shower.




The food was awesome - Liz went all out! It was funny, earlier in the week Liz & Robyn were in my office talking about the shower plans and the "c-a-k-e" - I said, "um, hello, I'm sitting right here and I can spell!" :) I had to laugh at that.

Gifts, gifts, and more gifts...

The best party planner around, Liz!

Great friends, co-workers, and teachers - Randi, Katherine, Liz, and Robyn.

Isn't it cool?

Ok, this is NOT my belly, and I do not know who this belly belongs to. But I got a forward of cute pictures from a friend today, and I thought this one was so cool - cool enough to post. I've never experienced anything like this with my own big belly, just a hard butt sticking out every once in awhile. :) Maybe this little foot thing will happen to me before our little girl comes, who knows?

38 weeks and other fun pics!

As of today I'm 38 weeks! Here are a few pictures that Kristi took of me today on our deck (I kind of have some strange smiles in those) and other pics of some baby things around the house. The baby room is pretty much ready to go, minus some random things laying around the room left over from my baby shower, like cards, empty packaging, etc. My good friend Liz that I teach with at MA is throwing a ladies co-workers shower for me this Friday, so I'm sure I will have a few more things to add to the room after that. We also recently got a beautiful glider and ottoman as a gift from Matt's parents, Craig and Karen. (Thank you!) So of course Nemo and I have had some rocking and relaxing sessions in the glider, just breaking it in for the baby. :) And the parents of the MA kids that we took to Japan in June gave us a cute black and pink Baby Bjorn carrier, so you know who had to try that out too! That was such a generous gift. We feel so lucky to have family and friends who are excited for us and are helping us to prepare for this baby. Stay tuned for baby updates and/or a birth announcement and pictures... baby girl could really come any day now!

Labor Day Weekend '08

We wanted to do something fun over Labor Day weekend, who doesn't? We thought about going to the Johnson family cabin in WI, but decided to stay in town just to be safe. My doctor (and the week by week pregnancy book I read) said to stay close to home after 34 weeks, just in case something happens and you'd want to be near your doctor, hospital, etc. So instead we decided to go to a hotel for a few nights to get away together and relax, somewhere away from our house. We ended up going to the Residence Inn in Plymouth, a nice brand new hotel not too far from us. We swam in their eco salt water pool, Matt worked out in the fitness room, we laid outside in the sunny, gorgeous weather, went out for dinner, watched tv in hd on the flat screens in the room (one of Matt's favorite things about the weekend, I think), read, played Scrabble, took naps... nothing too exciting or crazy, but very relaxing. I'm at the point where I'm getting tired and uncomfortable after little to no activity, so it was perfect for me. Here are some pics from our weekend "away"...


Hmmm... who is that cute boy passed out in the sun? :)

Reading my "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" book.

A fun game of Scrabble!

Matt watching TV in bed with his forever friend, the coffee mug.

35 weeks!

I can't believe that I'm now 35 weeks along - crazy! Overall I'm feeling good, but really large and I honestly can't imagine getting bigger than I am right now, even though I know that is exactly what is going to happen. Here are two pictures that Matt took of me yesterday when I got home from work. I looked at them after Matt took them and one word came out of my mouth... "WHOA!" :)



Later that night we went out to dinner with Dan and Abby at a yummy Mexican restuarant by our house, El Loro. We had so much fun catching up with them!

Back to School!

It's that time of year again... those three little words that mean a lot to teachers, students, and parents alike - BACK TO SCHOOL. This time of year is bittersweet for Matt and I. On one hand, it's sad to see our fun and relaxing summer come to an end and know that we have 9 months of hard work ahead of us before our next nice summer break. On the other hand, it's good to get back in the swing of things, start classes, see our friends and co-workers, see our old students, and meet our new students. This fall is also exciting for us for another obvious reason... just about 5 weeks left or so until our much awaited and anticipated baby is here! So last week Matt and I had faculty meetings, and this week the kids come. Please pray for both of us during our transition back, as we begin classes and continue to prepare for the baby and that we can be effective teachers that care about our students and help them learn and grow. Thanks for your prayers - we appreciate them all!

I am also preparing for the sub that will take over for me for two months while I'm at home with the baby. The sub that the school has lined up to fill in for me is great, but I am still practically making myself crazy making sure all of my plans for her are as organized, complete, thorough, and "perfect" as I can make them... I get that perfectionism trait from my mom, I think. Thanks a lot, mom! :) The baby is due October 2nd, so I will work until she is born, and then I plan to take off through our Thanksgiving break from school. Then I will go back and Matt will stay home with the baby through our Christmas break. Then we have a two week break at home, and we'll both go back to school in January. I am fortunate that I only have to be at school (most weeks) on M/T/Th to teach, and then I do administrative things for the school from home on W/F, so it is a nice schedule. My parents just recently told us that they are willing to watch the baby on the days I'm at school for the rest of this school year, starting in January when we go back after break, which is so generous and wonderful for us and for our little one. My parents will get to know her well, and she will form a bond early on with her Person grandparents - how special. We feel so blessed. Blessings to all of you on this beautiful, sunny MN afternoon!