Tim's Christmas Gift

We woke up a little early early yesterday to finish wrapping gifts and to get things ready to go to my parents. We also like to have a little "just the 2 of us" time to open our gifts. Since we let the fat cat sleep with us, Tim woke up before me and had to kick her out, so he was sitting in the chair in our bedroom when I awoke. The first thing I felt was Peanut saying Merry Christmas very vividly by roaming around my belly! I told Tim to come feel, and for the first time, he could! I think it was the best Christmas gift I could give him, and I think he agrees!

Here are a couple of pictures from our last Christmas with only 2 people in the house...

Peanut's Pictures

We just got home from our doctor's visit. We had our 20 week ultrasound today!!!!! I know I may be a little biased, but my kid is so cute! The nurse told us that our baby has chubby cheeks and is very photogenic. I must agree; he (or she) did keep looking at the camera. During most of the time while we were watching, he had his hand up to his mouth, so we're thinking we have a thumb-sucker. I'm good with this, because I was too! It was super tough, especially for Tim, but we kept our eyes closed anytime the nurse got close to the legs. We didn't even see the feet until we got the flash drive home. Now, onto the most important part...the pictures!

A few other things from the visit...

the glucose test was great...I was right where I need to be.

all of the results from the blood work that was done last visit came back negative (down syndrome, spinabifida, and something that I can not remember right now)

I GAINED 4 POUNDS!!! Finally :)

Movement!

Yay...Peanut is moving!!! It's small and I can't feel it often, but he/she is moving! It happened the first time at Applebee's when Tim and I had a hot date eating dinner on Thursday at 5 pm...yep, early bird special! I felt it again yesterday when I was driving. I'm going to say it's when I sing, not because my singing is great, but because I enjoy singing Christmas music so much. I think when I'm super happy, Peanut feels like dancing! In the book we're keeping up with, it says that the baby is sleeping like a new born. I guess that means there's more still times than those when Peanut is jumping up and down. :)

The Announcement was Made...

Well, it must be official; it was on the afternoon announcements at school yesterday. Tim was subbing for the co-teacher in my 6th period when the end-of-the day news started, and then...there it was "Mrs. Dooley's pregnant!" It was pretty exciting. The 9th graders of course wanted to make comments like, "I knew you were getting fat," and "We know what that means y'all have been doing!" The student making the announcements had my permission and was totally pumped up that we allowed him to tell the school. I must say, it was easier telling everyone at one time like that, and I'm glad we decided to approve it! I knew I would have to tell soon because my belly is getting harder to hide!

In other news...we had a doctor's appointment last week. It went well. I took the glucose test and had to drink a yummy orange drink, but we don't have any results yet. We heard Peanut's heartbeat...155. Sounded great! While we were listing to the heartbeat, we heard him (or her) kick! It was pretty exciting since I haven't felt any flutters yet. I'm really ready for that, by the way! During our next appointment we will have another ultrasound! I'm thinking putting those pics in frames will be perfect grandparent Christmas gifts! The only negative from the visit is that I lost another 2 pounds. The midwife said it's not bad, but that I need to be gaining by now. The only time I will ever hear that, I'm sure!

We had a great Thanksgiving with the fam. Here are some pics of the day...

15 weeks

Here are the promised pics...we need to be better about taking them, but there are not a lot of changes that can be seen. The first is at 6 weeks, then at 12 weeks, and one on the beach at St. Simon's from GA/FL weekend (13 weeks).

I'm feeling a lot better now. I still get a little gaggy (is that a word??!) in the mornings every once and a while, but not often. I'm loving chips and dip of any kind, and for the past couple of weeks, I've wanted Brunswick stew. In fact, I want some right now! I bought my first piece of maternity wear. It's a BeBand to wear over my pants. It's made to go over unbuttoned pants or too big maternity pants. I'm wearing it over neither. I've lost about 15 pounds, so I'm still wearing my regular pants. The problem is...it hurts to sit down with a belt on. The band has allowed me to continue to wear my regular clothes without squishing peanut with a belt :)

Peanut is about the 3 1/2 inches long right now. It's crazy to think of the amount of growth taking place. He or she has toenails and everything! Speaking of he or she...we're still very excited about our decision to wait and be surprised in May. We're talking a lot about the nursery these days. We went to Target and bought several plastic storage containers this week to start packing some of our things away. Over Thanksgiving break, there will be a transformation from scrap booking room to blank canvas to get ready for Peanut's room. I'll make sure to document that with lots of pics too. Any suggestions on what to do/where to put all of the scrap booking stuff? We have to extra room and very little storage, but I can't get rid of everything...I just can't do it!

Showing!

One of the administrators at school yesterday said she could tell while she was walking down the hall. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing to say I was showing...I told her it was definitely good!!! I'll make Tim take a pic tonight, and I'll post later this week so you can see if you think I am or not! :)

If you're in the Atlanta area and get Fox 5, watch in the morning. We're the team of the week, and they will be broadcasting and presenting awards during our pep rally in the morning! Go Bears!

New Addition...

Nope, it's not a puppy, not a new kitty, new car, or new house...it's a new Dooley! We're having a baby!!!!!

We found out a couple of months ago, and it's been killing us to keep it a secret. I'm 12 weeks (and a day) and things are going great so far; our due date is May 5th. We had our 3rd doctors visit yesterday. The heart rate was just where it needed to be at 172! We have pictures from 8 weeks that I will include on here.

I'm filling a lot better now...much better than a couple of weeks ago. I was sick, morning, noon, and night for the first several weeks. I found out that there are many smells that are stinkier than I ever thought they were before. Some of my favorites like apples and bananas quickly became least favorites. There's a certain aisle at Publix that I can't walk down without gagging. It's all just crazy to me how much things can change by something smaller than an inch! Thankfully, at about 10 and a half weeks, I woke up hungry instead of sick! Now, I want chips and cheese dip all the time, rice is a weekly necessity, and I drink apple juice with every meal.

We've revealed the news to family and a few friends...but over the past 2 weeks we haven't been able to keep our mouths shut! Our parents, brother and sisters, and nieces and nephews know. I've told some of my fellow teachers at work as well as some friends. We went to a wedding last week and were able to tell several friends at the same time. Last night we even told a few students...but just 6 that we're both pretty close to. It's super exciting to put it on here to share with the world!

So, I guess I'll be blogging much more now that we have something so fun to write about. Plus, I'll have to keep up on Bekka and Julie who are also expecting! Congrats to you two...and Amanda and another Julie who I don't think have a blog.

PS...nope, we're not finding out if it's a boy or girl :)

Time Apart...

...is no fun :( Tim started his new job with full force last week. He's one of the youth interns this summer at our church. We're very excited about it, and there's no doubt that God called him to do this. Last week, he, along with several other adults, took a group of kids to camp. According to him it was pretty amazing (I'm a little jealous that I couldn't go...shhh...don't tell him!) Tim got home on Sunday, and Monday morning, he left again with the student leadership group to hang out at the lake. He is still at the lake, but now he's there with the seniors from church. While he's there, I'm at Callaway Gardens at a leadership training for school. It's terrible being apart from each other. We have gotten to talk to each other every day, and it was wonderful to see each other for a few hours on Sunday. I can't wait until Friday when we're both home together!!!!! We get to go on Saturday and get a hammock from my cousin to put in our back yard. I'm really excited because I'm going to need a break after all the sitting in meetings this week. I have pictures of our lives lately...with my new red hair...but I haven't uploaded them to my computer. Maybe I can get on that tomorrow and post more tomorrow, but here's one of us on Easter until I do post more recent ones!

Have a great night :)

Spring Break

Spring break is drawing to an end...sad. Of course, this means that there's only a month left of school this year! Other than cleaning the house and grading papers, I really didn't do much. It was wonderful. I have been wondering around in the land of blogs...crafty blogs especially! Here's a treat...just check it out!Tim and I are watching season 3 of Prison Break right now. We don't have cable, so we go season-by-season on DVD. This one's great! It's just hard to concentrate on other things while I'm watching...so this blog is drawing to a close!
Have a wonderful week :)

Prom!

One of the joys of teaching high school is prom! Tim never actually went to a prom. His little Christian school only had junior-senior banquets...no dancing of course! We volunteered to chaperone and had so much fun! All the dancing was a tad bit inappropriate, but maybe that's just because we're so old. We made a whole night of it. We had dinner at Maggiano's (delicious) and then afterwards, we had "adult time" and went out with some of the other teaches and their husbands. We even had a hotel room! It was a night we will never forget :)

Why don't I blog???

Is it that we're just so boring that there's nothing to say?
Is it that I'm oh so busy I can't find time to sit and type?
Is it that we don't have the Internet at our house?

Who knows what it is...but I wish I were better at it! I was never good at keeping a diary when I was little, so I guess that has transferred itself into not keeping up with a blog!

For all those reading, we're still alive, God is still blessing our marriage, and at some time I will write a "real" post...with pictures and all!!!