on being a teacher

today two of my little girls, after watching me received a chocolate truffle from one of the older students in our school, declared my job as the best. why?

"teachers get treats"
"teachers know a lot math"
"teachers don't have to wear the school uniform"
"teachers are bigger than us"
"teachers have big brains"
"teachers get to tell us whatever they want"
"teachers have girl private parts... like on your chest"

true, teaching is great. never thought of boobs as an extra perk to the job. that's more like an extra perk of pregnancy. pun intended?

Dear Sunshine,

Dear Sunshine,
Even though you aren't doing a great job of actually up the frozen tundra of New England, I have a message of thanks for you today. The longer days are amazing. I left to your rising today and returned home with enough light for a jog around the pond. Thank you! I haven't been motivated to do physical activity since October. Much appreciated. And please, work on warming this place up. It's been a long winter.
Love,
Claire

Sugar and Spice

It's a girl!!
We are so excited. I am already in love with her little button nose and am amazed how developed her little 10 oz. body is. It was amazing to see our little baby girl kicking and squirming all over.

It feels soo much more real now. Feels like we can really begin planning for huge change life is about to bring us. I'm oh, so happy.

God is good

Life is so good lately. I can't help but be grateful for all the blessings I have. There's no way for me to not see God in my life. I hope I don't sound boastful because the one thing I know about all this is that I don't deserve it and it's all God. Not at all me.We moved this past weekend. We now have a 2 bedroom apartment and I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. One day, I'm sure I'll laugh at how big this place feels to us. But man, it feels big. I have a dining room. Not an eat-in kitchen. An entire, big room for a table and rug and eating. I have a kitchen with a full size refrigerator and full size stove and oven. My stove has a vent! and a light! Oh my heavens. I can actually use all four burners at once if I wanted to. There is actually room for that. My bathroom has new tiles on the floor and two people could fit in there at the same time if they wanted to. My bedroom is big. Like, fits my bed and my dressers and my huge piles of clothes with room for walking left over. I have a room for my baby.

And speaking of that baby. The most incredible blessing. I can now feel my baby move inside me. It feels like a little bouncing ball in there. The baby seems to favor my left side and night time playing sessions. My stomach is growing rounder and tighter, evidence of the miracle inside. Tomorrow I will know if this little baby is a girl or a boy. I can't wait to find out.

Life is good. Life is stressful and scary and full of sadness, but sometimes God just smacks me upside the head with incredible blessings as a reminder that life really is good.


ps. i'll certainly let you know if we are having a girl or a boy as soon as possible.