1st day of construction ... Before and After

This is a before and after shot out our back door.  The top one is at about 7:30 this morning.  Matt is back in the back left corner clearing a way for the big truck and backhoe to get through.  We have nice neighbors who have been kind enough to let us use their lot as a pathway to ours.
The second picture is from about 3:30 this afternoon.  Straight back is the huge stump that was in the middle of the first picture.  We also found an old oil heat barrel right out our back door.   Thankfully it was filled with gravel and was easy for the backhoe to extricate.  Things are moving forward.  They will be back tomorrow morning to hopefully finish the digging.  Then next week ... onto the foundation.

Friendly Baby Shower

My very good friends and "staffmates" gave me a baby shower yesterday.  They decided, since I had three other children, I probably had most everything I needed - especially if this baby is a girl.  But with our house construction, they found that I would need things to fill new spaces.  I haven't ever had a place all for baby, and now I will.  They were SO kind!  They gave me present after present -- all in nice greens and yellows so that I could use them no matter what.  

The glider rocker was from 6 ladies and the diaper "cake" as from another 6 ladies.  The diaper layers were made of a few packages of diapers, each layer also containing booties, hats, washcloths, baby shampoo, etc.  It was so cute!  I also received many other packages of diapers and baby wipes, fun little toys and cute cowboy "shoes" for the little one, and a baby monitor which I haven't ever needed before, but will now that our house will be bigger.

The cake was made by a lady named Connie that used to work with Matt up at the middle school and now works with me at Lincoln.  She is a fantastic cake maker and added "Baby Yoshi" at the bottom to finish it off. 

The girls helped hand me the presents and Nora actually helped open a few.  I am so grateful to have such a great support system inside and outside of school.  I am truly blessed.

Pregnancy Update

I am now a mere 3 1/2 weeks from D-day.  I went to the doctor today and I am dialated to 2.5 centimeters and am 50% effaced.  I am getting uncomfortable and have heat flashes all to often.  I don't want the baby to come too early, but early would be nice.  We really aren't sure about a name -- we aren't sure at all actually.  We don't know if it is a girl or a boy, but we are open to suggestions (unless you run in the same circles as my brother Seth -- his names are downright scary).  But things are looking good.  I am ready to have my ribs not ache and my fingers not to be swollen and to wear some real shoes (I wear open-toed shoes mostly because my feet get too hot).  We will keep you posted as we know more.

Facial Hair

Matt is often times intrigued by the idea of having facial hair.  Unfortunately for all of us who kiss him, it is pretty uncomfortable.  It is NOT soft in any way so it makes being close to him kind of prickly.  While we were gone over spring break, he grew out his goatee for 9 days (he actually started before we left) and when we came back, it was longer than we had ever seen it.  He wore it to school and all the kids in the middle school asked him about it.  He got tired of the attention and the lack of kisses from us and shaved it soon after.  But kudos to him for making it so long.