Time gets away from me...

I haven't posted since January 4th - and I have so much going on each day that I could write about but I avoid turning on my computer at nights.  I'll have to sum things up briefly or I'll be on here all night.  And as much as I want to procrastinate marking and report card writing (which I probably won't do any of tonight), I should try to actually get into bed at a reasonable time.

PREGNANCY - is going smoothly.  It's so much different being pregnant with a toddler.  I don't have the same energy or time to think about every little twist and turn.  I'm busy being SR's mommy.  I have felt slight movements already.  Apparently the second time you feel things earlier b/c you know what to feel.  I feel the little bubbles popping sensation so I know that's what's going on.  I also have my friend's doppler so I've been listening to the heartbeat at night before bed when I get the time.  I've been counting the BPM to try to guess the gender.  At this point I'm thinking it's a girl b/c the BPM range from 150-162.  According to the old wives tale anything higher than 140 is a girl.  But there have been many stories contradicting this theory.  Please don't get me wrong.  I do not have a preference for a girl or a boy (I just happen to have all the clothes I need for a girl).  I just am enjoying the guessing game.  I have an u/s on Thursday.  This is mostly to check my cervix (from my clinic) but they do check on the baby as well.  I will see if they can determine and early gender check at this point.  Otherwise, my 20 week u/s is scheduled for 4 more weeks.  It would have been at 19 weeks but my mom is out of town and she likes to come to the u/s with me.

On the food front, dinner is still my toughest meal.  I can eat breakfast and lunch, but lunch I can't eat typical lunch foods.  Kraft dinner is still my best friend (YUCK!) but it's doing the job of keeping me fed.  I can't eat any vegetables other than carrots and cucumbers (and do the Spicy Fries that I cooked for dinner tonight count?).  I'm living off bagels and cream cheese (and peanut butter on the weekends - no peanut butter allowed at school).  Fruit is still fine, and cantaloupe is back in my list of foods I can eat.  I don't remember the food aversions lasting this long with SR.  I'm wondering when I'll be able to eat my nightly sweet potato again?

SR - woke up sick this morning.  I took advantage and took her diaper off and rolled up the living room rug. I've decided that for the next couple of months, whenever we're home on the weekends I'm taking off the diaper.  I can't have them do it at school yet, b/c it's just so cold outside and I need SR to wear a onesie under her shirts to keep her back warm.  The snaps at the bottom make it just to hard to properly potty train.  We had some success for our first official day.  She's used the potty before, but mostly just likes to read books on it.  I tried to stick her on every 20 minutes until she peed.  Finally, I felt her pants were a little damp.  I quickly put her on the potty and she peed - just a little bit.  But she was so proud.  "I'm doing it, mommy!"  My mistake was not letting her finish and allowing her to get off.  Within two minutes, she was sitting and playing on the bare living room floor and she soaked through her pants (and shirt).  No problem.  Changed her quickly, mopped the floor and waiting to try again.  The next hour, she went on the potty.  I heard her pee...and she was so proud.  Again, she only went a little bit.  I took her off and let her play.  But within a few minutes she was grabbing her pants and pulling them down and rushing to the bathroom.  It was too late.  She peed a lot!!!  But, I thought it was progress as she knew she was peeing and knew where to go for it.

My mom and dad came over to give SR lunch and put her down for her nap so I could run out to the grocery store.  I put her in a diaper.  Well, after lunch we decided to just leave the diaper on.  SR was not feeling well and did not want to spend any more time on the potty.  So, what could I do?  I don't want to force the potty training.  I want it to be fun.  So we'll try again next weekend when we are home.  The problem is we aren't usually sitting around at home on the weekends.  We have monkeynastix and playdates and birthday parties.  But I will try my best.

WORK- it's day by day.  We are supposed to submit our grade preferences for next year.  I still am not public about my pregnancy.  A few close friends at work know.  That's it.  My principal does not know.  I will be submitting my requests as though I will be at work next year.  Wouldn't it be fun if I can hide under hooded sweatshirts and down-filled vests until the spring and then just suddenly be six months pregnant?  That's what I'm wearing to work now.  Big pants, but they have to be big to fit my extra layer of leggings underneath, three shirts (including a hooded sweatshirt), and a down filled vest.  My school is very cold.  Most people just know that I'm always cold and don't think anything of my layering up.  I'm interested to know if it will completely change my principal's plan for next year whether or not I am present.  The rule is that when you leave on mat leave, you are guaranteed the same position when you return (if it's a year later). The problem is, I'm going probably the last week of school this year and not returning until the first week a full school year later.  There won't be a guarantee b/c I'm going to have to extend my mat leave by one week (and two months with the summer break).  There is no way I'm returning to work for one week left of school.  Interested to see how the cards fall.  There is so much going on at my school right now.  I wish I knew you all IRL so I could just tell you everything I've been going through.  But, alas, I can't.  Day by day and hopefully I get a full year off!

It's almost 9pm.  I'm going to get into my pjs and try to mark my health tests...or not!  So glad to be back blogging.  You watch, as soon as I log out, I'll remember all the other things that I wanted to include in this post.  I really should blog more often.