Surprise Baby Shower!

When I walked down the hallway to my classroom on Thursday, I thought it was strange that none of my students were waiting at the door for me. I walked in the door to a huge, "SURPRISE!!!" My 10th grade homeroom students surprised me with an early baby shower! I had no idea they had this all planned out, but they did a great job and they all worked together to make it happen so beautifully - something I am very proud of them for.

The precious baby girl cake, brought in by one of my boys, and a table full of gifts! My kiddos were so sweet and so generous!

Just some of the many wonderful gifts my students gave me - they truly spoiled me!

Here is a belly picture at 23 weeks, about 2 and a half weeks ago, and yes, it is bigger now! My belly button has officially "popped" and I feel like a whale! ...and to think I still have 3 months to go and to grow...oh my!

Memorial Day at Bolsa Chica Wetlands

Gabe and I drove down the road to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Preserve on Memorial Day to take a nice long walk and see the local wildlife. It was breezy and relaxing and really just a pleasant way to spend our morning before heading to the beach to meet friends. Here are some pictures of our time and what we saw on our walk around the various inlets and marshy areas.

Mussels buried in the marsh


Pelicans roosting on the inlet shore


An Egret and his reflection on the hunt for fingerlings


Self-portrait...not so great of me, but its the only one we got of us


Beautiful color - a good part of what sustains the wetlands area


Crabby Bob - this little guy attacked a sea slug 5 times his size a
few seconds after we took this shot - crazy crab!


A Great Heron stakes out his fishing spot on the rocks

A 1lb. 5oz. Praise Report!

Gabe and I met with the neo-natologist this afternoon for our level 2 ultrasound to check out that cyst that showed up in our last ultrasound. AWESOME NEWS...not only did our little girl show no signs of the Trisomy disorders, but also no birth defects and the cyst has shrunk to half its original size! Praise the Lord!!! We are on cloud nine right now! We also had the doctor check one more time to make sure she was really, really, officially a girl and he said, "Oh yes! There's no mistaking that. She's definitely a girl." So that is also good/fun to know! He also went over all her anatomy and internal organs again and explained everything as he went, which was so nice because the regular ultrasound techs aren't allowed to really discuss much with you. She is healthy, about 1 pound 5 ounces, and a little on the petite side like her momma! I asked him about all the kicking I've been receiving in my, ahem, lower regions (I'm sorry if that is TMI) and told him I thought she had her feet wedged down near my cervix. We took a look and she had one foot exactly where I told him it was and the other one up by her head! ...and she seemed to be sleeping comfortably in that position which starts me thinking about gymnastics already! What a little monkey... The doctor gave us some more pictures of her, but they didn't print out very clearly, so I'm not going to post them (I can barely tell what I'm looking at). We just wanted to share our praise report and our news with you! Thank you all so much for praying for our growing family!