Goodbye man room, hello little man room!

So for the past few days I've been boxing up and taking down all the things in the man room. It was only up for a couple years, and it wasn't used all that much, but I'm sad to see it go and am also excited to start working on baby P's room. Everything is getting moved down to the basement where I'll work on the man cave eventually, but I don't think that'll happen for awhile.

So this is what it looks like. As you can see we replaced the jersey.

The first addition to the room and the first shirt I bought for him:

We'll update again once it's painted we've got some furniture in there!

Diapers Anyone?

A few weeks ago, Ed and I were visiting his parents, and they told us they bought us a few boxes of diapers. We had to go out to the garage to see. I think my jaw hit the floor. One entire wall in the garage was lined with huge boxes that were apparently full of diapers of various sizes. Because she is an employee, Ed's mom gets a great price at the Beaumont store. Because Beaumont is planning on closing the store soon, she basically bought them out in this department! She had some of her friends help her buy as many diapers as she could get her hands on. We are so grateful! This will be a huge help for us!

22 weeks . . . Merry Christmas!

Since we will be in our 22nd week on Christmas, we decided to take this week's picture in front of the tree to celebrate this very special Christmas gift that God has blessed us with this year! We wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas!!!

Sharing the News

My students were excited when I told them the big news! They were very curious about what we were thinking of naming our baby boy. I always just say their name whenever they ask! One of my students wrote the news on the board in the classroom, and it ended up staying up for about a week. I really like this picture and wanted to share it; however, I needed to hide his face to protect his identity. I love sharing fun moments like these with my students! They are all so much fun and great kids to work with!

It's a Boy!!!

The ultrasound was such a fun, neat experience. It was so weird to see the baby moving so much and growing into a little person. He was moving his hand from his side to his mouth. He was crossing and uncrossing his ankles like he was reclining or something! At one point he was also opening and closing his mouth. The first ultra sound was so quick because he was still so tiny, but this time we got to see him for about 10 min. or so while the technician did all the measurements and made sure he was healthy, which he is so far! We were both in awe as we watched the screen, asking a lot of questions with a "wow" or "this is so weird" comment in between. I kept thinking, "Where is this little guy?" He looked so big on the screen, and I couldn't believe that that little person was somewhere in my little belly! I couldn't help but be amazed at how God creates his children! It is such an awesome miracle!


So . . . Ed may think that the sports paraphernalia in the man room can stay now that we're having a boy (he did inquire about it before); however, probably not going to happen. Sorry, honey. Especially now that we can start thinking more about how to decorate the nursery! Now that I'm going to be outnumbered by males around here, I'm not about to start putting up a bunch of sports team decorations until this boy can decide for himself what he likes, although I'm sure he will be greatly influenced by his daddy!

20 Weeks

Lately, my belly seems to be getting bigger faster! It's really starting to get in the way now. I'm really starting to notice when I bend down to put on my socks or tie my shoes. Also, I've read that the baby can now hear sounds. It still feels a bit weird to be talking to our little Pascual quite yet. Neither of us have tried this, but maybe after finding out the sex, we will feel more comfortable. Tomorrow is the big day! Our appointment is at 6:30 p.m. so we need to wait until the end of the day to find out. I don't know why, but I'm a bit nervous about it . . . nervous and excited at the same time. Stay tuned for another post soon with the big news!!!

How Does This Thing Work Again?

Ed and I were very fortunate to get a hand-me-down stroller from one of my good friends Kristin. It is very nice and we were excited about it, so Ed decided he would pull it out and show some of our family members on Thanksgiving. As he was showing it off, he realized that he didn't know how to clip the car seat onto the stroller. It became quite an ordeal as the men in my family all attempted to help figure this out with him. This was quite a funny scene for us women to watch! My grandfather drinking his coffee and yelling out orders while my dad and brother-in-law attempted to fool with the various buttons and parts on the stroller. All the while, Ed was standing in utter confusion wondering how the heck he was going to manage this contraption someday soon. The look on his face said it all: "Taking care of a baby will be a breeze compared to figuring out this thing, let alone all the other baby gear I'm going to have to learn to put together and take apart!"

Needless to say, I eventually walked over and ended the confusion by lifting off the cup holder in the front of the stroller. They all said at once, "Ohhhh!" It was an A-ha moment for us all as we recognized the place that the car seat was supposed to clip on to. The car seat was in place and all was good again in the world!

18 Weeks!

I'm starting to feel the baby move every once in a while now. Most of the time I am not really sure about it. I'm excited to get to the point where I am actually sure I'm feeling the baby instead of wondering if it is just something I ate! I know that the baby has been moving around in there, though, because I have recently been feeling some pains inside like he/she is pushing on something. To be honest, it is definitely weird for me!

We will find out the sex of the baby on the evening of Dec. 9! We are very excited for that day!!!

Here is Ed at 18 weeks:

16 Weeks!

I'm finally starting to feel a little better as far as the "morning" sickness goes. Although, I'm not sure why they call it morning sickness when it should be called "all day long" sickness! Now that I'm into the second trimester, it's much better. I'm still tired a lot, but I can live with that.

I'm not sure I've felt our little one move quite yet. It's hard to tell, but sometimes I think that maybe I felt something. This month we plan to start getting the nursery ready by taking all of Ed's things down to the basement. One step at a time, we'll eventually get there. I know Ed wants to enjoy his "man room" as much as possible before he starts taking it apart for the baby room. Hopefully he can have some friends over soon so he can enjoy one last moment!

Here's a recent picture of Baby Pascual and I at 16 weeks!

Welcome the Newest Member of Our Family!

We are pleased to announce that we have a new family member on the way. Little Pascual is about 3 inches now and growing bigger and bigger every day! (And so am I!) The picture was taken at 9 weeks when he/she was only about 7 cm and already so cute, don't you think?! I'll be 14 weeks this Sunday and glad to be done with the first trimester. Ed and I couldn't be more excited about this new addition. We know it will be a big change in our lives but a great one!

Apple Picking!

Every year our family has a tradition, like many other families in Michigan, to go apple picking. Usually we all go out to the same small, family owned orchard; however, this year that orchard closed its doors and leased all its trees to Blake's Orchard (the huge, crowded orchard down the road.) We were sad to not be able to go there this year. We went to Stoney Creek Orchard instead and had a pretty good experience there.

Despite the rain and wet, muddy walkways, and despite the puddle I had in my shoes about 20 min. into apple picking, it was a nice orchard! The people were nice and very helpful, and everyone had a good time. One of the best traditions we have every year is getting cider and donuts. We decided to take the donuts home this year since there was so much rain, but we definitely enjoyed them at the house. We had a nice meal and homemade pumpkin and apple pies. Mmmmmmmmm . . . It was a fun, fall day!

Back to School

So far, school is going well! All of my students are awesome. The other resource room teacher and I have done a lot to make our classes more structured & student centered, and we are continually trying to create an environment where they are able to become more independent. It's going very well so far. I have been super busy, but that's not new! Just a shocker after being on vacation most of the summer, but now I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. We just had parent teacher conferences this week, and I had more parents show up than usual which was very encouraging. Already, I've seen so much progress and many positive things. I'm looking forward to a great school year!

Chicago Weekend

We just returned from a fun weekend with great friends in Chicago.  We stayed just 2 blocks away from Michigan Ave. which made it very easy to walk around downtown.  We walked to Millennium Park where outdoor aerobics were in session, so Chiori and I joined in for a while!  

We took a lot of pictures at "the bean" since none of us had seen it before.  

We spent most of Saturday at Shed Aquarium, which was a lot of fun!  

We, of course, had to take a trip to Portillos.  

We also did some shopping on Michigan Avenue, which was a must while we were there.  Our favorite store was the Hershey's store!

The craziest thing that happened while we were there was that I ran into my good friend, Renee, who lives in Chicago now.  We went down for breakfast at our hotel Sunday morning and she was there for a meeting with a group from her church.  She happened to be staying at the same hotel as us!  And she happened to be right by the breakfast area when we walked by!  After we saw each other, we also ended up running into her in the elevator 2 times that same afternoon.  It was pretty crazy.  We later went to this huge Japanese market called Mitsuwa, located north of the city and Renee met up with us there so that we could catch up a bit.  It was a lot of fun seeing her!

It was great to be able to go with Chiori, Yoshi, and Kano on their first trip to Chicago!

Smoky Mountains

At the end of June, Ed and I went on a trip to the Smoky Mountains (Maggie Valley area) with my family.  We had a great time.  Great views, great company, and a great place to stay.  Check out these photos from our trip!

My mom, Kelly, and I visited the Biltmore Estate in Ashville while the boys went fly fishing.  

This was the place we stayed.  We don't camp!  We enjoy the outdoors, then go relax and sleep in a place like this!!

We did a ton of hiking.

At the top of the mountain! We were tired and it was soooo cold up there!

My wonderful family!

Ed could not stop talking about boiled peanuts the whole week (pronounced "balled" peanuts in the south!) So we finally stopped to get him some while he and John were golfing.

NKOTB Madness!!!!

The lights finally dim. Thousands of screaming 30 year old women are jumping and screaming, hands in the air, waiting . . . as the 5 men of their dreams prepare to take the stage.  Feelings that I didn't realize existed in me anymore began to surface, and there I was, a middle schooler all over again, screaming, "I love you Joey McIntyre!"  My was dream finally coming true!  Joey McIntyre live on stage, right in front of me!  And, boy, did I deserve this moment.  After all this time, I have to admit that I was still bitter about the traumatic events of my youth.  First, when my two best friends got to go to the New Kids concert, but I couldn't get tickets.  Then, when I finally did get to go, my all time favorite New Kid was ill that night and did not perform.  I thought I would be scarred for life . . . until tonight!  Every word out of his mouth, I know he was singing to me.  "Please don't go, girl, you would ruin my whole world . . ." 

All the words to all the songs came flowing out of my mouth like it was yesterday instead of 20 years ago.  The boys looked amazing, better than before.  It was the BEST NIGHT EVER!!!!  And I can't wait until next time!  June 25th, baby!  They definitely hooked me all over again.

Warning: lots of loud screaming in this video!!!!!!  

We were super close to the small center stage that they were on for three songs.  This was awesome because we could see them so well.  During one moment, I know Joey pointed right at me! :)

Winter Classic at Wrigley Field

"DETROIT SUCKS"

"DETROIT SUCKS"

"DETROIT SUCKS".

Yeah, imagine sitting in a freezer hearing that chant for about 4 hours straight, and that's the short version of how Derrick and I spent New Years Day.

Long version:

Derrick and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the 2nd annual Winter Classic on New Years Day, and first time ever at a baseball stadium. After a looooooong night of celebrating on new years eve, we boarded a plane to Chicago early the next morning. It was cool seeing quite a few Red Wing jerseys at the airport. At least we weren't the only idiots doing this. When our plane got in, it was pretty easy getting to Wrigley Field. It was a short train and bus ride from the airport. When we got there, about 2 hours before face-off, there were already a ton of people. This is when the "Detroit sucks" chants started, and continued until the Red Wings took a 4-3 lead.

Before the game, we walked around Wrigleyville for a little while, where the NHL had their Fanfest going on, with live music, interactive games, and a beer/food tent. We thought it was cold, but it wasn't close to how much colder it was gonna get later.

When we finally walked into Wrigley Field and to our seats (top of the bleachers directly below the scoreboard), we realized that we were gonna freeze our butts off. The wind was strong, and the blackhawk fans hated Detroit. It was awesome! We won 6-4 of course (the final score shows in the picture above, and if you look real carefully, you can see me and Derrick in the picture.