Little girls, Little girls, Everywhere I turn I Can See Them

A little tribute to Annie, even though Miss Hannigan did not sing fondly of them :)

In case you didn't know... it turns out our little growing human is a GIRL! We are SO very excited. We had our ultrasound appointment a week and a half ago, and even though the power went out halfway through and we had to come back the next day to finish up, she was very cooperative and gave us a very good view of all the important parts :)

She has two arms, two legs, two hands, two feet, a well developed brain, connected spinal cord, no cleft pallet, and best of all she has lady parts :)

You've never seen someone so excited as this little girl's dad. Scott is besides himself with happiness. I think it's every guy's dream to have a little boy to coach and mentor through life, but my husband is ecstatic for a little girl. Our next hurdle is naming the cutester! We've made it through an entire book of 30,000 names for girls, and are no closer than we were before we looked. Scott insists on making a a list of "possibilities" but if I don't like it now, I don't anticipate waking up and loving the name 4 months from now! With 30,000 names to choose from you would think we could find at LEAST one good name, but nothing sounds right! Below are some of the helpful suggestions offered from family members (some in all seriousness, and some in jest, but I won't tell you which, to keep you guessing...)

Chase Michael's suggestions (our 5 year old nephew)
Lolly or Journey

Dave's suggestion (My brother in med school)
Shar'Analice

Luke's suggestion (My brother in high school)
Labron

Brian's suggestion (My brother in college)
Baraquisha Obamaniqua

Dan's suggestion (My principal)
Danielle

The staff's suggestions (via the staff lounge)
Sasquatch
Mental
Salt
Ramon

Sharon's (my mother-in-law) suggestion
Antoinette

My student's suggestions:
Each one has kindly offered their own name as a suggestion, and a surprising amount of them think we should name her Isabelle.

So you can see why were in desperate need for a baby name book.

I have finally reached a point where I can tell that I'm pregnant without pooching out my stomach at the end of the day :) The other day on the playground one of my students put a basketball under her shirt and said "my baby is a girl too!" It's been so much fun to feel her move and kick, and I'm getting excited thinking about decorating a little girls room! One of the key components of the baby's room is going to be having her name on the wall, in little girl colors, so we're trying to pick up the pace and make a decision! Keep the suggestions coming, or little Labron Ward will be terrorizing the world soon :)

So funny!

I know our blogs are supposed to be totally focused around the baby, because the baby is exciting, and growing, and makes itself known these days, but I have two funny stories from work that I feel must be documented.

The first involves a student I had last year. He is one of my most special students, he and I created a bond over Super Mario. He has a tough time at school, and has had some trouble adjusting to third grade, so he and I hang out at recess when I have duty and he is outside playing (a side note: 2nd grade has recess at the same time as 3rd and 4th, so I see my old students weekly, which is AWESOME!) So anyway, on Wednesday morning last week I noticed my little friend moping around the playground, so I went up and asked him to patrol the playground with me so we could chat. We began talking about the usual subjects, Super Mario, trips to Utah, homework, etc, when the conversation took a humorous turn.

Me: " M., how are your sisters doing?"
M: "You know my sister who goes to school here, she is doing fine. But do you remember my sister H?"
Me: "Sure!"
M: Well! She joined the swim team!
Me: "That's great!"
M: "AND! She started her period! And she barely had any cramps at all!"

Me: "Um....FABULOUS!?!"


My other story does involve our little growing human. I am trying to get my students to guess that I am pregnant, rather than just telling them outright. Yesterday, I cracked.

Here are my clues (They go from abstract to what I feel are very obvious)

1. 2+ 1 =3
2.My secret makes me hungry
3. My secret makes my clothes feel tight
4. My secret can get sick from germs (SO WASH YOUR HANDS was the hidden message)
5. My secret has arms, legs, hands, feet, eyes, ears, and a nose
6. My secret needs a place to live (this was the clue the day we bought our house)
7. My secret is with me ALL the time. It's there when I sleep, when I eat, when I work, when I go home, it's in the room RIGHT NOW!

Each day I allow my students to guess my secret in my ear. I told them that once they guessed it became their secret too. Until yesterday, when I cracked, only 2 students had guessed it. Now, I know I'm not huge, but come 3:00 it is obvious that my stomach is not the shape it should be, so while all these clues are being given, I am walking around with what looks like a mini-basketball shoved under my shirt.

My student guesses:
I am getting a new fish (does a fish have HANDS?)
I am getting a dog (Does my dog make my clothes feel tight?)
Mr. Scotty is coming in (Is Mr. Scotty in the room RIGHT NOW???)
and my all time favorite...You are getting a new watch! (WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN!)

This went on for days, students repeatedly guessing the same terrible guesses, but the tipping point occurred as we were leaving yesterday. I was going back through all the clues, while sticking out my stomach and pointing to it, and someone said "OH I KNOW! YOU'RE HAVING A BABY!" To which another student turned and said "THAT was not a good guess."

I cracked. I bellied over laughing and said that YES in fact I WAS having a baby! In February. All the students looked disappointed. I think they were hoping for a fish.