Quick Takes (7)

-1-

I cried in the aisle at Walmart picking out Father's Day cards. I just spent the last hour watching brides-to-be pick out ridiculously expensive wedding dresses on Say Yes to the Dress and cried every time they found "the one". I think the pregnancy tears are setting in. What fun!

And-I think I have a bump. But only at night. Does that count? Last night I just swore I had a bump. My silhouette NEVER looked like that before. But this morning-it was gone. Maybe I'm just bloated...

-2-

I'm almost positive that I have a new job! I resigned from my position with the school district I've worked for for the past year and am waiting for a contract from a new school district. I was traveling 35 minutes to a nearby town all year and it really weighed on me. This new district is in our town and it will take me about 5 minutes to get to work in the mornings. I just couldn't imagine continuing to drive over an hour a day with nausea, a huge belly, and eventually a little baby. The special education director in town called me and offered me a job the day after we found out we were pregnant!! I didn't even apply! Talk about great timing!

I'm very excited to start my new job in town. It will still be working as a speech-language pathologist traveling to different preschool and day care sites. I'll only have to find someplace for the baby for less than two months before summer will be here. (and we'll figure out the next year when it gets closer-Lord please give Ted a JOB!!). The biggest perk will be the extra hour in my day that will be spent cuddling with my little one rather than driving in my car!

-3-

Speaking of speech-language pathology....I just received my national certification in the mail! To become a full fledged SLP you have to complete a nine month "clinical fellowship". I finished mine in May and got my certification soon after! I will now put the letters MS, CCC-SLP behind my name when signing oh-so-important documents. It stands for Master of Science, Certificate of Clinical Competence-Speech Language Pathology. You know you're jealous of my awesome letters!

-4-

I've already gained 5 pounds. Seriously. How many of you are checking my side-bar ticker to remind yourself how far along I am right now?? Yes-you're reading that correctly. Seven weeks. Five pounds. The baby is technically only 5 weeks old-so I'm already averaging a pound a week! It makes me blissfully happy to know that my body is responding to this little one inside of me. Last night I saw a number on the scale that I have NEVER seen before. I kept stepping off and back on to make sure it was real. Cheesy grin and running into the kitchen to tell Ted ensued. I was slightly underweight before I got pregnant, so maybe I'm actually caught up now (or close to it).

-5-

Remember the neighbors I met thanks to the bunny incident (see #2)? Well we're actually developing a funny little friendship. Last week the mom came down to ask me for some advice on what to do about her ex-husband. We ended up sitting outside and talking for over an hour. I have yet to start working with her little boy because of constant schedule conflicts (or my getting sick) but it is definitely still the plan. My favorite part of the whole friendship is that she sends her two sweet little girls (3 and 6) down the stairs to knock on my door and relay messages to me (it's hard for her to get the little boy out-it's easier for me to come up to her). Last night the girls came down and asked me to come up with them to talk to their mom. The little three year old made it all the way down the steps and across the hot concrete barefoot with no problems. But as soon as we started walking back up she started pouting and asked me to hold her. So cute! I couldn't resist.

The last month has been filled with greetings as we come and go, the sharing of "sugar strawberries" with me by the oldest girl (which are just strawberries covered in sugar!), a gift of sidewalk chalk from me to the girls, and now coming home to homemade hopscotches and Thank You notes written in chalk at our front door. I find it fascinating that we have almost NOTHING in common and yet are starting to call each other "friend". She's a divorced, single mother of three-I'm a married pregnant lady. We don't share the same faith, job, race, or interests. And despite all of that-a unique friendship is blossoming.

-6-

I'm super excited to join Lauren in reading The Reed of God! She's been blogging for some time now, but I only recently discovered her and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites to check in on. Her faith is so beautiful and evident in her writings. I know that I am going to learn much from her.

If you're interested in joining her check out this post. I just ordered the book off Amazon for 8 bucks-including shipping! I'm pretty picky when it comes to Catholic books and authors. I'm not one to see the term "Catholic" and assume that it's solid. However, Scott Hahn gave a rave review of the book. That's good enough for me!

-7-

Say some prayers for a potential housing situation that is presenting itself to us. It could potentially mean saving TONS of money and having way more space. It would also give Ted two ponds for fishing and woods for exploring. A dream come true. Hopefully more details to come soon.

Have a great weekend!! Happy Father's Day!