So close! :)

Yep, so close to the due date, but still no signs of our little Jelly Bean arriving any time soon! This picture is actually from last week - my belly has dropped even more! This time is so exciting yet a little scary at the same time.

We have set up labor induction for next Friday, Oct. 30, if he doesn't arrive before then... so no matter what, it will only be a week or less til our little bundle of sunshine is actually in our arms! :)

My students at school threw a surprise shower (thanks to some kind parents & an incredibly thoughtful teaching partner!), it was so incredibly sweet! It was so fun to see them so excited about this. We got some really cute stuff, including PSU gear for the little tyke. I had my students guess the date/weight/name for the baby, it was precious to read their responses (3 ounces, 1 pound...etc....). Too cute!!

Today was actually my last day teaching - it is so weird to walk out of my classroom with nothing to take home to bring back. I am so happy that the long-term sub is exactly who I wanted, I feel very confident leaving the class in her hands. The sad thing is, I am really enjoying this class a lot, so it is very hard to leave them. But I'll be back in January...

I've been trying to find ways to speed up Jelly Bean's arrival - my friend Katie took me for a pedicure on Tuesday, it was so relaxing and so generous of her. :) Now it's on to the raspberry tea and lots of walking (which I've been doing all the time with teaching, anyway) and hmmm, maybe some other things to speed it up... :)

I don't know if I'll be on here again before our Jelly Bean arrives, but I'll be sure to update as soon as I can with pictures - pictures of him will be much cuter than pictures of me with a belly! :) Here's hoping for a quick labor and a healthy baby boy!! :)

Baby McNew does PSU :)

Since Baby McNew has been heading up to Happy Valley so much, we thought we'd post a picture! :)

And, the Daddy-2-B celebrated a birthday up there... :) Thanks to Sam & Maegen for the yummy cookie cake!!

critter chatter...

It's so hard to believe we have less than 3 weeks to go!!! We have put the final touches on the nursery, so I thought I'd share some pics. I LOVE the "critter chatter" theme - I think it turned out so cute!! Each animal block has a different texture (fuzzy, corduroy, felt, etc.) - wish you could feel the different textures through the pictures! :)

The paintings above the crib were done by a teacher at Steve's school, they are so adorable!! They match our 2 favorite animals (the dog & the frog) perfectly. Gotta love the dog ears!!

Another one of Steve's co-workers put the loops on our comforter so we could hang it. It looks so nice on the wall!

My wonderful co-workers at Lurgan threw a shower for me, so the first pic is from that. Note the big bags of Panera bagels (I eat a bagel every day for lunch!) and the PSU theme!! So thoughtful & creative!! I'm very thankful to have such caring & supportive co-workers.

Enjoy the pics!!

Pumpkin Time!!

Finally, I found a moment to update the blog!! :) And the title means that our little Jelly Bean for Easter has turned into a Pumpkin just in time for Fall!! Wow, he is certainly taking up a lot of room in there. It is getting so hard to just sit or lie down comfortably....and night-time shifting has turned into 3-point turns.


JB has done some more traveling - he had a wonderful fun- & friend-filled baby shower in York at the end of August, organized by my mom. The shower was themed with jelly beans & books...so thoughtful. It was so nice to see such wonderful friends & family, and it was a "Book Shower", so Jelly Bean has already started quite a library collection. We also got a great rack that holds most of the books. I can't believe we didn't get any duplicates, and they are all such fantastic books! Thanks for the wonderful shower, Grandma! :)

We have also been traveling to PSU games - yesterday was the longest, coldest, wettest day so far. We went up early to enjoy a full day of tailgating....in the rain. But it was still good times. And luckily our seats are under the top deck, so we were dry. Unfortunately the game wasn't a lucky one for us. We did get a nice PSU pic with the belly so I will have to post that one on here soon!


JB even made it to our cousin's wedding in New York. It was a lot of driving, but it was a great time. And it was a blast to hang out with Tim & Tiffers & Mom (Dad was still in rehab recovering and learning to walk again). Tiffers & I even got a belly bump pic! :)



The car seat is in and ready to go....we took it to the State Police to install correctly, and boy I'm glad we did. It took them an hour to get it adjusted and installed safely. We never would have known that the car seat had to be at a 45 degree angle for a newborn.

Teaching has been okay...it's a little stressful this year,with a lot of early mornings and late nights spent at school, because we were given a new curriculum in August. Adding to that, less planning time and more student instruction time this year, it can be draining. But teaching itself has been pretty easy on me - I sit a lot in the front of the room when I'm teaching, because I get out of breath so quickly. But so far that has been the only hard part - my feet swell a little, but I haven't had any major problems. I really can't complain, because I know it could be a lot worse! :)

Well, that is a quick update...hopefully more later along with a PSU pic! :)

from butterflies to sand crabs...

Jelly Bean is 30 weeks old! :) And wow, is he ever showing his healthy growth with all his kickin' around inside. He has so many different kinds of kicks, I've started naming them all. Here's a glimpse at some of his more frequent kicks & movements:

the butterfly: these were most frequent when I first started feeling J.B. move - just felt like a really slight movement inside, kind of like hiccups.

the acrobat kick: this is the one where I can feel him at the top right and bottom left, back & forth, back & forth...

the soccer goal kick: this one is just one great big BAM! sometimes he can really make my ribs hurt! even Steve can see this one in action!!

the snare drum: sometimes it feels like Jelly Bean is just pulsating in there - i really wonder what he's doing that makes it feels like this!!

the quarterback pass: i named this one for when it feels (and sometimes looks) like he is swiping his arm across the inside of me, like he's passing the football for a touchdown - one slow, solid movement.

the wrestling hold: still not sure how to best name this one - sometimes J.B. pushes up against the inside of my stomach and just holds for a few seconds.

the sand crab crawl: ahhh, this one is my favorite. when my brother tim and i were just little ones playing in the sand at cape cod, we used to go down right to the edge of the water and dig for "sand crabs"(I'm not sure if this is the proper name for them, it's just what we called them); we'd hold them in our hands to feel the slightest tickle as they crawled across our skin. sometimes i feel Jelly Bean just like that inside; i love that little tickle. :)

I know I mentioned a lot of sports in my kick titles, so I can't stop there without mentioning my favorite sport, cross country. This one ties in with the frequency and energizer bunny mode of J.B. & his kicks - he's building up quite the endurance, just like a long distance runner needs to do. See, I knew I could tie XC in there somewhere.... :)

From what I've been told by other moms, I have many more Jelly Bean movements to look forward to! I'm especially looking forward to the high-five (when supposedly we'll be able to see the shape of his tiny hand pushing against my stomach) and the butt-bump (when we'll see his little bottom slide from one side of my stomach to the other).

Steve & I have been trying to take a lot of day trips this summer (it didn't really make sense to do our usual Busch Gardens trip since I can't do the roller coasters). We ventured out to Gettysburg, Harper's Ferry, Washington, D.C. (the nat'l zoo - but I was disappointed when we couldn't find the otters!!), Inner Harbor, and we even went up to Penn State for a day to enjoy happy valley sans the game crowd. It's been fun!


And finally, here's some good news - Steve and I graduated from our Birth Class, we even got a little diploma. As much preparation as we try to do though, I know that Jelly Bean will be the best teacher we'll have. :) And we still have 67 days to learn more about his fancy footwork & drills before we even get to meet our very active little mr. sunshine....

tiny hiccups & mighty kicks!!

Wow, can our little Jelly Bean ever KICK!! We certainly have a very active little guy!! :) I'm supposed to be feeling slight movements inside which are referred to as baby "hiccups", and it should feel like a little tickle....but his kicks make my entire stomach move, it's like little jolts inside me! I've asked other prego friends if this is normal... Katie assured me it just means we have a healthy baby. And Laurie, I think you're right, he might be ready for soccer already!! :) I'm confident that he just has very strong legs, and he will be an excellent athlete! :)

It has been a while since I've written on here; we finally took a picture yesterday to post. J.B. is about the size of a head of cauliflower now, about 14 1/2 inches in length. I can tell he is getting bigger as I feel him moving so much - I imagine he is stretching his little legs & tiny toes, flexing his fingers... I can't wait for him to be snuggled up in my arms instead of in my tummy! :)

Steve's mom put together a baby shower with some of my friends/relatives here in Chambersburg - we got so many nice gifts, and it was so nice to see some friends I hadn't seen for a while! We took a picture of the wonderful things people have given to us (see below).

I think I can also now officially announce that Tiffany (our sister-in-law) is pregnant, too!! YAY!!! Congratulations Tim & Tiffers!! How exciting - our little tykes will be growing up together!! :O) Now we just need to get them to move closer so we can see them more....

I have been feeling fine, but extremely hot at times outside. I know I'm pretty lucky that it's been a rainy, cloudy summer overall - we've only had 3 days in the low 90's, and 2 of those days were in April. So I'm definitely counting my blessings!! :) It's getting harder for me to move fast (I get out of breath quickly), esp. up and down stairs or hills outside. And my back is definitely getting sore from all the weight - I just can't imagine getting any bigger than I am right now! But I know I will....

Cravings have been happening more - my biggest cravings are for Wendy's jr. cheeseburgers and root beer, and most of all peppermint patties!!! Jelly Bean really likes the patties, so I have been making sure to give him a taste of them daily. :)

87 days to go til our little bundle of sunshine is wrapped up in our arms!! (He's already wrapped up in our hearts!!) :)

The nursery so far...and more!

Well, since Lori is off travelling with Jelly Bean in Alaska, I thought I would update the blog with some video of the nursery so far. Much more to do in there! Lori hasn't seen things here at home in awhile so there is a bunch of video with some stuff you probably won't care too much about...like Abbi and I getting attacked by our Purple Martins and the size of our broccoli. I just want to get Lori's opinion before I keep working and this is the easiest way to show her. Check it out if you're interested but if you only want to see the nursery, this is at the end of the video. Almost July and counting...October will be here before we know it and Jelly Bean will make his grand appearance!