12 Weeks, A Wedding, and Feeling the Baby

This has been a big and incredibly stressful week that ended nicely! On Tuesday, I hit 12 weeks, which was my first goal. As I've said before the goals are helping me to stay sane and work towards something in the times that I get a little stressed. It felt great to know that I made it to 12 weeks and I could really feel some of the changes happening to me. One thing that has changed is that I am already starting to show, which took me awhile with Ethan. So, when they say it happens faster the second time, it really does. I've also been surprised with how in tune I am this time with the changes that are happening. I really have noticed the times where I am stretching a little bit or even when the uterus moves slightly (that's because I have incredible back pain as the uterus moves toward my back).

The week had been really difficult for me personally. At school I had the added stress of getting grade cards completed by Friday. We all noticed at school how difficult it was this quarter because we did not have a work day in there to help us out. Work days are wonderful! Anyway, in every moment of spare time I had I was trying to work on organizing my grade cards. On top of that I had to fill out a lengthy form on all 40 6th graders for the jr. high math classes that was also due on the same day as grade cards. Thankfully, my teaching partner was able to help me fill out the forms for her class, at least the stuff that had to be looked up, so that was helpful since I had to answer questions about their math habits.

On top of all of that paperwork, I also had 3 evenings that were filled with meetings. Tuesday, I stayed at school to get some work done and I had a meeting from 6-7. By the time I got home, I was so exhausted but still had to work on school stuff. On Wed, I had my meeting at Toledo Hospital for the Family Advisory Council. I was there till 9:30 (with a terrible headache), then I came home to work on school stuff until 11:30 (way later than I ever go to sleep). Thursday, I was exhausted and went to the March of Dimes Family Poster Night to make team posters with some of the other family teams. Some of you may not know that I am the Family Teams committee chair, so it helps for me to be at these events that I've been promoting :) It would also look really good for my team to be one of the top teams again this year. We were the top Family Team last year, let's try again this year. You can donate on the right side of this page. Thank you to all of you that have generously responded already!

I can say I was so happy on Thursday afternoon when I finished my grade cards at about 4:15. Then I was even happier on Friday when I turned in the jr. high math forms at about 8:30am :) That helped me to go into the weekend a little better, even though I knew that I had a ton of grading to catch up on!

As soon as Ethan and I got home on Friday, we began madly packing for the weekend trip to Tiffin, OH. Thankfully, Matt came home at lunch and packed most of his and Ethan's stuff. Our friend Joe was getting married and Matt was in the wedding. We decided on Thursday that we would stay 2 nights and just relax and enjoy the hotel. I really felt that I needed a break to relieve me of some of the stress I was feeling from the week. I could feel it taking a toll on my body and maybe even the baby. I am now very thankful we made the decision to stay. We had a great time and enjoyed the wedding festivities. Ethan said "I just love hotels". We went to the pool for a little bit to relax which was nice. It was just good to forget about the stress and just enjoy spending the weekend together.

On the way home, I think I felt the baby move. I really felt a lot of flipping around, which felt a lot like the first time I felt Ethan move. They say it happens earlier the 2nd time because you know what it feels like. I really believe I felt it. I think it was a perfect ending to the very stressful week and it really shows me how important it is to relieve the stress. Believe me, I know I need to not get stressed but sometimes it is so hard when you work in the job I work in. There are so many things that need to be done at the end of the year for 6th grade that it can get a little overwhelming at times. I am working to not stress about it and just get through everything one day at a time.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying, I know it is working and helping me on a daily basis. I will continue to remember that in my times of stress.