26 Weeks

For those of you who have been wanting to see a pregnancy picture....here you go!

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Things have settled down since our trip out west. We were spoiled and loved seeing family while we were in town. We didn't have time for any friend visits this time so next holiday we will try to squeeze those in. For some reason, at least for me it was rough getting used to the 2 hour time difference this time. Getting up for work that next week seemed more difficult than in the past - maybe i'm getting old. :)

Ryan started school on Monday the 10th and so far this has been a great semester! His classes are as follows: thesis research, studio and a seminar. He was offered a research assistant position with one of the professors and he is planning on working a few hours per week at a local architecture firm. He is starting a 2 week long ULI competition on Monday the 17th - we have heard it is intense so i'm glad it will only last 2 weeks and then be over with. His studio is going on a research trip to London in March which he is looking forward to. I wish I could go with him but i'll be too far along in the pregnancy to travel that far. Plus, I don't really want to have the baby on an airplane or in England so i'm going to sit out on this trip....this time. He will be busy this semester! He is still in the EQ and enjoys his calling and the people he serves with. With everything else he has going on, he still makes time for me and has been really good at making sure i'm comfortable and happy during this pregnancy. I am so excited to see him interact with his son and know that he will be a great dad!

I started my second to last online class this week. This is going to be the toughest class in the certificate program, but at least i'm getting it over with before the baby comes...right?! My next class will be during the first summer session for 5 weeks, so just after the baby is born. I'm not sure how that is all going to work out, but i'll be glad to have the certificate completed. I have the wonderful opportunity to teach the CTR 7 class in primary this year. I have enjoyed teaching "older" kids and having them respond to the questions and ask their own questions during the lessons. They will be baptized this year and I know they are looking forward to that big step in their lives.

Monday night/Tuesday morning we had our first ice storm come through Raleigh. The weather people had been talking about this storm for the past week and we were supposed to get blasted with snow....well everywhere else in NC was hit with snow except for Raleigh. It wasn't a huge amount of ice, but enough to make the roads extremely dangerous and everything closed down on Tuesday. I was able to work from home which was nice and Ryan doesn't have class on Tuesday, so he doesn't need to make anything up. We have a tradition of making chili in the crockpot when we have a day off so we had Tuesday be our chili day. It is a fun tradition and one I hope we continue to do in the future.

My pregnancy has gone very smoothly so far - I am now at the 25 week mark. I wasn't sick in the first trimester, just extremely tired. The second trimester has gone smoothly and we have been able to register and start to accumulate a few things for the baby. We went to the doctor earlier this week and everything was right on schedule and looked good. All the tests have come back with no negative news and I consider myself very lucky to have had a good pregnancy so far. I can't wait to meet this little guy and see who/what he looks like. Coming up with a name is proving to be harder than we thought....we are open to suggestions. For now we are calling him "seven" from a Seinfeld episode - if you haven't seen it you should look it up. Ryan and I have been reading as many different baby books as possible. It has been fun to follow the growth and development that is going on now with the baby. I have enjoyed reading the books that will tell you "how it is" and not sugar coat anything. Just let me know how it is so the number of surprises can be kept to a minimum, if that is even possible.

That fills you in with what has been going on in our neck of the woods lately. Looking forward to a 3 day weekend!!