February 8, 2008

It's been too long since my last post, I apologize. Trey found a new job with Summit Trucking, a division of TransWest. His new territory is Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. THIS IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES!!! He is enjoying learning about the product and being in a different industry. We are very thankful that a job came so quickly. God truly blessed us.

I will officially be 33 weeks on Tuesday. Whew! This pregnancy has flown by! The nursery is painted, set up, and ready to go. My friends took me to Babies r Us and Target to register last weekend, and it was quite an experience. I couldn't believe how totally clueless I was about what I would need. I gave my friend Shanon the scanning gun and followed Shanon and Amy around the stores. I don't know what I would have done without them. They're hoping to have the baby shower the first weekend in March, but it will depend on my mom's recovery.

My mom went to the doctor last month and was told that the tumor in her brain, near her pituitary, had grown. She would need surgery to remove it. Needless to say, she panicked and wanted to make sure she had enough time to recover before baby "Stella" arrived. She scheduled her surgery for February 21st. She will have to spend at least two days in ICU, and another three or so in a regular hospital room. Please, keep her and our family in your prayers. Angie will be flying down the 20th-24th for support. This is very scary for all of us and extra support from family and friends will be much appreciated.

On a lighter note, I had another 3D/4D ultrasound last week. It is now 100% certain that I'm carrying a girl. She is no longer breech. She weighs approximately 3 pounds and 15 ounces. Here are a few of the pictures:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas everyone! This is our Christmas card this year. Things have been very busy here at the Hertel household. I've been busy grading essays and final exams and Trey's been busy with his job search. For those of you who don't already know, Trey's company decided to discontinue his product, which meant he needed to find employment elsewhere. He has several good leads and an interview or two scheduled for the first of the year. Please keep us in your prayers. We are truly praying that God will open the right door for Trey.

We're hoping to get the nursery painted and decorated over Christmas break. I know that by Spring Break I'll be lacking the energy to do so, so I've made it my project for Christmas. We've settled on pink and brown as our colors.





"Stella," as we've been calling her (her real name will be disclosed once she's born), has been making her presence known on a regular basis. She's kicking on schedule: 4am, 9-10am, 3-4pm, and 8-9pm. She is quite an active baby! Trey and I went for a 3D/4D ultrasound last week. It was really neat to see what she's doing when I feel all of the movement. She's breech and folded in a V. Her toes were touching her forehead. She was very bull-headed, she covered her face with her arms and hands when we were were trying to get pictures of her face, and covering her "junk" with her feet when we were trying to make sure she was a girl. AHHH! We did get a few cute pictures.

My other project for Christmas break is reading. I am starting a book club with my students next semester. They will have the opportunity to choose from 7 books. Our wonderful librarians helped me choose the books, but I hadn't read any of them! So far I've read two. I'm very excited about this project. The students will be creating a billboard or a "movie trailer" type of commercial to advertise their books.

Trey and I will be joined the Hertel family Christmas Eve morning for brunch. Our Christmas Eve service started at 4:30 up north, so rather than driving down south and back up again, we watched Charlie Wilson's War and then headed to the Christmas Eve service at church. It was such a great movie! Our church service was wonderful! "Stella" really enjoyed the music. This child is going to be a rocker like her daddy! She LOVES music! We went to my parents for brunch on Christmas day. It was so great having Mom's famous sticky rolls! MMMM!! After brunch, Trey and my dad went on a motorcycle ride while my mom and I discussed nursery plans and I took a nap. It was a very relaxing day!

We'll be pretty busy the next couple of days. Omah will be down on the 28th and we're looking forward to spending time with her. Our friend Carlos from Indiana will be spending the new year with us. Angie, Scott, and Noah will be down on the 3rd-7th. It will be great to see them again! Noah has become quite the talker (I wonder where he gets that?).

That's all for now. I'll post pictures when I can. Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

5 months

I'm 23 weeks and boy is it starting to show! I'm having people stop me and ask if I'm having twins, people ask how far along I am and looking shocked when I tell them, you name it, people are just RUDE! Yes, I know I'm pregnant, and I look rather large at this point, but really people, do you have to kick a pregnant lady when she's down?

All in all this has been an easy pregnancy. The first three months were the hardest. Now I'm just trying to stay off of my feet as much as I can during the day (which is tough being a teacher and all) so I can get my shoes off of my feet at night. The swelling has started! :) Trey's been super supportive, encouraging, helpful, and understanding. He'll make a great dad!

It's a Girl!

IT'S GOING TO BE A GIRL!!

I am now 5 months along and the ultrasound has pretty much confirmed what Trey and I had been thinking; it's a girl!

I've made it through my first six weeks of school!

It's been a difficult six weeks, but I made it! My students are doing better than I expected academically. We've developed a great relationship. I have a few "mother hens" and a few overprotective gentlemen who are making sure I'm not on my feet too much, not moving furniture, and that I'm getting enough to eat and avoiding unnecessary stress. They're such great kids!

Trey's been gone for the past two weeks or so. I miss the days when he flew to a city and flew back. He's been doing mostly driving with his new company. My mom was nice enough to go to my doctor appointments with me this month. The baby waved to us during the ultrasound. We were also excited to see the nose and lips in the side profile. We heard the heartbeat and I found it funny that it sounded almost exactly like an audio tape I tried to make a few years ago. I was trying to record Trey's snoring, but the recording mostly just picked up the sound of the ceiling fan.

I'm feeling much better now. The nausea has ceased and my energy level magically increased last weekend. Unfortunately, my belly decided to appear as well. I swear, I went to bed Saturday night perfectly normal and woke up Sunday morning with a sizeable bump. I can no longer wear my regular clothes. Trey will be surprised when he sees me this Wednesday!

The New School Year

The school year started off a bit shaky for me this year. I received a summons to report for jury duty on the first day of school. Nice! Luckily, when I called in to confirm my duty time, I was released from duty. The second day of school was Trey's grandmother's funeral service. We lost Grandma Dot, but she's now reunited with Grandpa in Heaven. I had a substitute for the first two days of school, so the first week was a little crazy, but since then I've gotten to know my students and am enjoying all of my classes. I'm teaching six periods of American Lit. Whew! We'll be starting the Puritans this week and The Crucible next week.

Trey and I also want to tell everyone that we're expecting our first child in April. We're very excited! I have two weeks left in my first trimester and I'm ready for trimester number 2! This nausea and lack of energy is for the birds! The pregnancy is going fine. I'm considering myself very fortunate that I haven't had any morning sickness.

Back to School!

Well, the time has finally arrived. I've been moving into my new classroom and attending new teacher trainings for the past couple of days. I'll be in planning sessions and meetings next week, and the kiddos arrive on the 27th. Where did the summer go?

Trey arrived at 4:30 this morning from his trip to the Sturgis Bike Rally. He's pretty worn out! I'm sure he'll need a day or two to catch up on his sleep and get back into the swing of things.