It's a....

After 19 weeks and 5 days of anticipation, we found out Thursday that we are having a baby GIRL!!! I can't believe that my intuition was right all along. I had almost convinced myself that it was a boy, just to have my bases covered. But, for the longest time I thought it was a girl and surprisingly, I was right! We will now have an even amount of testosterone and estrogen in our house (Brandon/Turner vs. Me/Baby). My sister has already bought 3 outfits since finding out and my mom is out today to see if the resale shop in town still has this little baby bikini we saw a few weeks ago :) Brandon has already forbidden me from buying any clothes because we're quite sure that our little one will never have a shortage of things to wear. Tomorrow we are going to Babies R Us to do our registry. I can hardly wait to get that scanner in my hands while I think Brandon is more interested in the Chipotle that we're going to have for lunch! We decided last night that we definitely need some excitement in our lives because we spent our Friday night listening online to the Fairfield High School football game. Brandon even went so far as to answer the trivia question that they had and won! Don't you wish you could've hung out with us on our eventful night at home?! Well, that's all the current excitement from the Yoder household. I'll keep you updated as to baby happenings. The next long-awaited event is the expanding of my stomach, as it looks right now like I've just been eating a lot of dessert instead of there being an actual baby in there :) Meanwhile, here's the ultrasound pics of our little one. Top picture shows a butt view, middle is her whole body, and the last one shows her legs, which look long to me. We can only pray she doesn't have my midget legs!

Week 1....finished!

First week of school is in the books and I survived! So far, my classes seem exceptionally good, which is awesome :) It's been hard getting used to a new book and I'm realizing that I don't really like the textbook, but oh well. At least I have a good group of kids, so it makes the stress of using a new textbook a little less intimidating. I also dropped the baby bomb on my principal on Friday, which I was not looking forward to. I had heard that in the past he is not the nicest of people to deal with when you inform him of a maternity leave. But, he actually was pretty nice to me. I figured it was time to inform him when I passed a group of students I had last year and heard one of them say "Dude, she looks pregnant" as he was walking away :) It feels good to not have that secret lingering in the air anymore. In related baby news, our big ultrasound day is now just 4 days away! One of Brandon's employees told me to drink orange juice before my appointment to help give the baby a sugar boost and be active during the ultrasound. So, we trekked to Target to get some OJ today...I'll try anything! We also bought supplies today to paint our basement, which will be changing to our office so that the current office can be the nursery. Progress is being made and it is exciting! I will make sure to update again on Thursday, hopefully with confirmation of Baby Y's gender!

Baby Baby!

We had our 16 week appointment last Thursday and all seems well with Baby Y. We got to hear the heartbeat again and it was a solid 140 bpm, right in the middle of what they consider normal. We could hear him/her a lot easier this time because he/she has grown so much in just 4 weeks! Thank goodness they let you listen to that heartbeat each time or I don't think I'd believe I am actually pregnant :) I don't look pregnant (yet) nor feel pregnant so it's kind of surreal to hear that little "thump thump thump" and be reaffirmed that there is definitely a baby in there. My midwife asked if we wanted a 20 week ultrasound, which was music to my ears! I emphatically said "Yes!" and we are scheduled for August 28th! I cannot wait to find out if Baby Y is a little Brandon or a little Brooke. While my sister was here, we bought some ADORABLE baby outfits. Here are some that she bought. Can you tell I think it's a girl? At last count, the baby's closet has 10 girl clothing items and 2 boy items! I guess that means I'll just have to shop a little more if we find out it's a boy :)

Family Time

Over the last few weeks we've been busy having family visiting. First, Brandon's sister and brother-in-law came with our niece and nephew. I hate that they live so far away (Florida) and it was a blast to see them. Elli had her 6th birthday while here and celebrated with 2 parties! I still secretly think she turned 20 just by the way she acts. She's so grown up and it cracks me up! Here she is with her bear, Sunny, at one of her birthday parties. Her brother Kolbyn also enjoyed the festivities, riding a scooter with his Uncle Bobo and putting his butt in birthday cake :) We also discovered that Kolbyn really likes to give his Clifford kisses...a lot! My family came last Saturday while my parents were on their way to Tennessee for vacation. My sister is finally back in the states after spending all summer with her hubby in England, so she stayed at our house for a few days. It was a ton of fun and I'm slightly bummed that although she'll be in the U.S. (they're moving to Phoenix next week) she'll still be way far away. Overall we had a great time bonding with our relatives over the past few weeks and hopefully we get to spend some more time with them before our lives are consumed with all things baby!

Job Update

Well, I never expected good news from my school and they sure came through on delivering just what I expected. They gave the full-time teaching job to someone else. I am meeting with my department chair on Friday to get some things cleared up, but needless to say I'm pretty disappointed. I knew that I would get the wrong end of this whole deal, but it's worse now that it actually happened and it's too late for me to get a job in a school that actually respects what I do. I know it sounds like I'm totally bashing my school, but I'm not alone in feeling some lack of respect for the people in charge of my district. I even had another principal call me after hearing of my situation and tell me that he'd be praying for me...too bad I can't work for him! He had went to the fair last week and talked to 6 other teachers from my school who were all complaining about various issues in the district, so it seems I've got company in my fellow teachers. It should be an interesting year ahead...sharing a classroom with a teacher who got the job I deserved, teaching from a new textbook, trying to show my principal what a mistake he made...all while trying to relax as much as possible for the sake of our baby! Anyways, enough complaining. Good news is I will now be able to spend most of the day with the baby once he/she arrives and be able to do a better job at being the housewife Brandon always dreamed I would be :) Tomorrow is another doctor's appointment...almost 16 weeks! I can't believe by our next appointment we'll be half-way there. I can't wait to hear his/her little heartbeat again and hopefully con them in to doing my ultrasound at my next appointment instead of waiting until 22 weeks ;) I'll try and post an update tomorrow after the appointment, as long as it's not blazing hot. Otherwise, we're going to the pool!

Jobs are irritating!

I felt the need to vent about my job situation...so here I am. A few weeks ago I got a call from my department chair saying that one of our Spanish teachers had taken a job somewhere else. She also asked whether I would be interested in taking over her full-time position. I was ecstatic! Financially, full-time would be a lot better for our (growing) family and I actually would be at home more than I am now. I was a little saddened that I wouldn't be spending most of my day with the new baby, but I know that the baby will be in good hands and the money is needed. In case you hadn't heard, babies are expensive! Anyways, my dept. chair told me she'd call me in a few weeks, but not to be surprised if I heard from my principal asking to see if I wanted to be full-time. Well, as of yesterday, it had been almost 3 weeks and I hadn't heard anything from anyone! So, I decided to call my dept. chair. She informs me that they have posted a full-time position and that I will have to interview if I want the position...grrr! I was pretty upset that they were making me jump through hoops for a job that I believed was already mine. Apparently they are hoping that by posting a full-time position, they'll get more applicants than if they posted a part-time position. Then, once they interview and decide to offer them a job, they can tell them that the full-time has been filled (hopefully be moi) and see if they'd be interested in a part-time. Makes sense, right? However, this puts me in a situation to be yanked around. Since I was already part-time, my fear is that they won't get anybody who will accept a part-time and will force me to stay part-time while hiring the new person to be full-time. It's irritating and frustrating and there's not a whole lot I can do except pray that the situation works out like it's supposed to. I'm angry and upset, but know that at the worst, I'll still be teaching 50% and be able to spend almost my entire day with our new baby. Prayers are appreciated and I'll keep you all up-to-date as things unfold (hopefully for the better!)

We're having a baby!!

This is not new information to us...but we've been patiently waiting for the time when we can feel safe letting the whole world know that we are going to be parents! We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time yesterday and it was one of the most awesome sounds I've ever heard. So amazing that something so tiny can make such a big sound :) Baby Y is due January 17 and we can't wait for him/her to arrive. Hopefully this blog can serve as our little baby diary to keep family and friends informed on the inevitable huge changes that await us over the next 6 months. Check back often to find out all the new details going on in the Yoder household :)