FAQ

Matt and Collin ran to Dunkin Donuts to get us some breakfast, so I'll take a couple of minutes and answer the common questions.

When is the baby due?
Baby is due on September 25th. I'm not holding out much hope for that date, though, because I was supposed to be born September 2th. My birthday is October 9th. I'm hoping for October, because the family could use a September birthday, but we'll see. Collin was 12 days late, so that's another reason to not set my hopes too close to the due date.

How far along are you?
15 weeks today - 37.5% or 3/8 of the way there.

How have you been feeling?
These days, I feel great! I was sooooooo tired during the first trimester, but thankfully I wasn't sick at all. The tired probably had something to do with letting my thyroid prescription run out and not refilling it for two weeks. (I know, I know, you're not supposed to do that, but I was so tired, I didn't want to go out anywhere after being at school all day). It also made me just a little bit crazy (crazier than normal, that is). I decided it was definitely time to refill the medicine when I cried when Matt and I were watching "The Day After Tomorrow". Seriously, I NEVER cry at movies (not even the ones from Nicholas Sparks' books). Anyway, I'm so thankful for Matt and how helpful he is. He's cooked, cleaned, helped me with school stuff, and helped take care of Collin. I don't know what I'd do without my amazing and selfless man.

Are you going to find out what you're having?
We don't think so. We've got a couple of weeks still to change our minds, but we're pretty set sure we won't. We didn't find out with Collin, and we liked it that way. Why mess with a good thing?

Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?
Matt's answer to this question is always the same, "Yes, we are hoping it's either a boy or a girl. As long as it's one of those, we'll be happy." Seriously, though, we don't have a preference. With Collin, I was sure all along that he was a boy. I don't have a feeling about this one.

Have you had any strange cravings?
Nothing like, "Matt, I need you to go the store and get me some ice cream right now!" But I have wanted fruit and a lot of it. I have seriously eaten two or three apples a day for the last couple months. I did go to the fridge once and get out everything that looked good to me and came back to the couch with pickles, mushrooms, grapes, and a glass of orange juice. Matt just looked at me and said, "I guess there's no doubt that you're really pregnant." None of those things are unusual for me to snack on on any given day, but I do admit that it is a pretty strange combination.

Do you have a nickname for this baby like you did for Collin?
M&M - The first names we liked for both a boy and girl started with M, so regardless the kid's initials would be MM. Those names have since changed, but the nickname stuck.

Do you have names picked out yet?
We have some that we like, but nothing is settled. It probably won't be for about 25 more weeks. We have a lot more girl names that we like than boy names.

And last but certainly not least, my favorite question by far -
How did you break the news to Collin?
To be honest, it never occurred to us that we would have to break the news to Collin. Sure, we've told him, but he is blissfully unaware of how his life will change when he's the big brother and not the baby. For now, we're enjoying every moment we have as a family of three, and looking forward to when we're a family of four.

And then there were four....

Yes, it's true.

WE'RE EXPECTING BABY NUMBER 2!!!

We are so excited and thankful for this new addition to our family!!

I'll post more details later, but right now I'm going to dye some Easter eggs with my boys. For now, I'll leave you with a picture of Collin looking much too big in a big brother t-shirt and some pictures of our new little one.

He apparently takes his role of big brother VERY seriously. This one almost makes me cry, because he definitely does not look like a baby anymore!

These are our first ultrasound pics of the new baby.

Bittersweet School Days

The end of August is here which means the start of a new school year. Normally, I get pretty excited for the school year to begin, but to be honest, the approach of this school year has been a struggle. Summer has just been too short!!! I don't know why, but summer went by way too fast this year. Maybe it's because it rained for almost the whole month of June so it seemed to get off to a late start. Maybe it's because we'll have a full week and a half of school before Labor Day this year. Maybe it's because I've always worked in the summer, but I got to spend this summer staying at home with Collin. After all, time off always seems to go by faster than time spent working. To make it all even better, Collin has been sick for the first few days that he had to be in the nursery. So, whatever the reason, when people ask me if I'm ready to start the school year, the answer is a big fat NO.

I have a lot of reasons for not being ready. The biggest is that I don't want to be away from my sweet baby for that much time. I've also really started to enjoy staying home and having the time to be more organized at home. I've enjoyed being able to go to lunch with friends or going to hang out at Colleen's for the day. I've enjoyed being able to be involved with Matt's business and having him come home for lunch sometimes or meeting him for lunch on the job. I've enjoyed sleeping in a little and not wearing skirts and hose every day. This funk I've been in is not typical for me. I am usually a pretty upbeat person who looks at the glass half-full, and I've been frustrated with myself for getting so down about the whole thing.

As I was feeling increasingly despondent about the school year, I was reminded of Phil. 4:11, "For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content", and this has been the verse that I keep coming back to. It's such an encouragement to me to read that Paul, whose circumstances were far worse than what I complain about, could be content. I am also so encouraged whenever I read the word learned there. Even to an amazing man of God like Paul, being content was something of a process. Contentment isn't something that just comes naturally to "good" Christians. Being a Christian does not instantly guarantee us a life full of warm fuzzy feelings even if we are "doing all the right things". Being content is not something that I can learn or work at all by myself. I can't just "look at all the people that are worse off" or "focus on happy things" to be truly content. My contentment that I'm learning to have comes from changing my focus to God - getting to know Him better and resting in the knowledge that it's part of His plan to have me right where I am. I don't know what His plan is for me for this year, but it's His perfect plan so it has to be good. With that knowledge, I can, like Paul, learn to be content in whatever state I am.

As my attitude has changed, I've been able to see some really positive thngs about this school year and I thought I'd list some of those here since I started out listing a bunch of negative things.
1. I had the summer off! I got so stuck on not wanting to go back to school, that I forgot that most of the world has to work twelve months a year instead of nine.

2. I have a job! When I was grumbling during Sunday School this week about having to go back on Monday, a lady in the class who has been out of work for sometime changed my perspective by pointing out, "At least you have a job to go to. So many people are out of a job that you need to count your blessings every day that you wake up with a job to go to that day." Point taken.

3. Collin is at the school with me and I get to go see him during the day! Lots of people have to leave their kids in the early morning hours and don't pick them up again until six or later at night. I leave Collin at 8, pick him up at 3:45, and get to see him a couple of times in between.

4. Collin is in good hands during the day! Collin is watched in the nursery at our church by a fabulous Christian lady who I know and trust and who loves Collin almost as much as she loves her own kids.

5. I get to go to a job I love! I love getting to stretch my brain with word problems and Calculus, and I love the interaction I have with my students.

This list could go on and on, but I've already shown my babblative nature and dragged this entry on pretty long so I'll leave it at that.

School starts on Thursday! If you think about it, please pray for our school year.

Salute to stay-at-home moms

I stole this from a friend's facebook because it made me laugh. I'm sure I know some other people who will enjoy it as well.
If you can't read it because of the size, I put the full text here also:

TELL ME ABOUT IT ®
By Carolyn HaxWednesday, May 23, 2007; Page C10
Carolyn:
Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

Carolyn:
Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc.
Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today?
Her: Park, play group . . .

Okay. I've done Internet searches, I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.
Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy. You're funny.
Or you're lying about having friends with kids.
Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.
Internet searches?
I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.
So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.
It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.
It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.
It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.
It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.
It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself.


So this is why somedays I feel like I worked all day and got nothing done?
Oh and lest anybody think to themselves (or dare say out loud), "You say you're so busy, but obviously you have time to sit down and mess around on the internet and blog and stuff", I'm feeding the baby while I blog about this. Have a great day! :-)

P.S. I feel like I can't get anything done sometimes and so far I only have one. I know many other incredible ladies who do seem to manage to get everything done and they have more than one (some of them MUCH more than one).

The Neighborhood Handyman

Once again, I find myself thinking about blogging regularly, but my mind does not stay on one pursuit for very long (Matt says that if I had gone to public school they would have decided that I was ADD and put me on Ritalin.) so I may post this one entry and then forget about it for several months again, but it's possible that this time I could just stick with it. Seventeenth times a charm, right?

Today is Matt's last day at Handyman Matters. For several months now, he has only worked at Handyman Matters a couple of days a week because they just have not had enough work for him. The other days he has been doing side jobs and working on building a business of his own that would keep him busy full-time. In the past month, his side jobs have really picked up and Handyman Matters jobs have really slowed down, and it became clear to us that now was the time to take that big, scary (but exciting) leap of faith into being totally self-employed. We are so excited about the new business. Matt is officially The Neighborhood Handyman. For the summer, I am working in "the office" (a.k.a the corner of our living room) as the phone answerer, job scheduler, paperwork doer, etc. Our hope is that eventually the business will be thriving enough that I will be able to work from home year round as the office worker, but that's a little ways down the road. For now we are simply praying that the jobs keep coming in. Please keep us in your prayers as we work to get the business off the ground. Also, if you need any work done around your house call (or email) The Neighborhood Handyman. He really is amazing and can do pretty much anything. :-) Below is a copy of his ad that appeared this month in the local Home Improvement Guide.

Have a great day!

Funny because it's true

This article about 7 lies we believe about facebook is so true about a lot of people (myself included). It made me laugh so I thought I'd pass it along.

Facebook Made Me Do It
Seven lies we tell ourselves about social networking.
Everybody loves to complain about Facebook. But I've been wading through all the nonstop commentary over the last few weeks and I've made a startling discovery. Everybody also lies about why they use Facebook. After exhaustive research, here are the Seven Lies You Tell Yourself About Facebook.

1. I Only Friend People I Really Know: Stop pretending you have standards; you will friend anyone. You would accept Bernie Madoff if he asked. You want your friend count to be sky-high. That's why I accept all sorts of people I haven't seen in 20 years and couldn't pick out of a line-up. I refuse to have one less friend than my arch nemesis from college. I will not tolerate a lower count than my annoying colleague who sucks her teeth in meetings whenever I say anything. Admit it, you're no better than I am—how many of your "friends" would you invite to your house?
2. Facebook Made Me Do It: Facebook didn't make you tell all 1,384 of your friends that you once had chlamydia. Facebook didn't hold your hand onto the mouse and force you to type: "Josh is in favor of slapping geese and women," as one of your "25 random things" and it certainly didn't waterboard you into asking everyone what their slave name is. Psychiatrists call this "externalizing blame." It's a way to lay-off shame and self-loathing onto somebody (or something) else so you can feel better about yourself. I once wrote, "Raina is feeling like the cat's meow," and hated Facebook for days because of it. I know now that it was nobody else's fault but my own.

3. Wall-to-Wall Flirting Isn't Cheating: Just because it's called "social networking" with "friends" doesn't make hard-core online flirting OK. Do not try and tell me that you were surprised when your boyfriend left you after he read your pornographic wall-to-wall with his cousin. Also: stop sending your assistant cute virtual gifts. Virtual gifting counts. In fact, it's probably not appropriate for you to be "friending" her or the cute summer intern in the first place. Same thing goes for wall-to-wall stalking the love of your 7th grade life. Online harassment is just as bad as the bricks and mortar kind.

4. I Use Facebook to Keep in Touch With People: No, the truth is you're nosy. Admit it. You scour the profiles of other people for the same reason I do. You want to know their business. Facebook isn't addictive—your desire to know what other people are up to is addictive. The over-sharing thrills you. I know I'm hooked. Don't you hunt through your friends' walls looking for any scrap of information that will produce that warm tingly schadenfreude feeling?
Facebook is our own personal reality show and our friends are the stars. What else besides "American Idol" or "Project Runway" allows you to be so judgmental while wearing pajamas? If people stopped revealing ridiculous stuff about themselves in their status updates, "Rock of Love" would be your "guilty pleasure" instead. You know you're dying to discover your college roommate lives in a trailer in his mom's backyard. I literally cried from joy when I saw that an ex-boyfriend was sporting a comb-over.

5. I'm Soooo Over Facebook: Come on. You love Facebook for exactly the reasons you pretend to hate it ... it's the Big Thing. And we're not falling for that ironic distancing pose you've been adopting lately. We know you spend hours looking for former girlfriends or that guy who you loved from freshman psych but didn't have the courage to talk to. I tried to act all Margaret Meadish when I first joined Facebook ("It's a classic example of mass hysteria inspired by our collective need to be famous. Blah, blah, blah.") But everybody knew I wasn't on there doing social anthropology. I was on there because I wanted to snicker at that girl I went to elementary school with who reports every single one of the eight pomegranate martinis she drinks every night.

6. And I am Soooo Not Competitive: We don't just want more friends than everybody else; we also want the highest score in Word Twist and the most virtual Easter Eggs. I recently spent nearly 24 hours playing Scramble on Facebook until I had a higher score than my friend Dough Dough. Why? Because I knew Facebook would send him a note that said; "Raina has beaten your personal high score on Scramble." When he commented on his complete and total defeat, I just said; "I didn't know Facebook would tell you that. OMG! LOL!" We love Facebook because it allows you to gloat to your heart's content and hide that self-satisfied smirk on your face behind the wall of the Internet. By the way, if you have a Scramble score higher than 147, don't even think about friending me.

7. Facebook is My Friend: No, it's a business (albeit one that has yet to make money). Everyone knows casinos hide the exits and pump oxygen into the air to keep you gambling and get all your money. Facebook is doing the same thing but with avatars and Food Flings. They want to trap you behind their dotcom walls so they can attract advertisers. Think about it. If Facebook really loved you, they wouldn't run those "5 Friends HATE you!" banners on the top of Scramble. And have you ever had a friend try to take ownership of all the posts and baby pictures you sent them for who knows what reason? Nor has a "friend" ever taunted me with ads that implied Obama owed me $12,000 in personal-stimulus money.
© 2009

#s 1, 4, and 6 really apply to me (particularly number 4). Not that it's going to make me stop using facebook, but interesting nonetheless......

Collin Brady Montgomery

The wait is finally over! We now have a beautiful baby boy, Collin Brady Montgomery. He was born on December 20, at 6:41 AM; 7 lbs. 7 oz., 21 1/4 inches.

UB Update

Yesterday, the doctor's office called and scheduled me to go to the hospital tonight (Thursday) at 9pm and get started on a low dose of the pictosin. Then in the morning, they would kick the dose up higher and hopefully we would have a baby. While I'm looking forward to having the baby, I wasn't particularly looking forward to spending the night in the hospital with an IV attached and being poked and prodded and checked all night long. Well, plans have changed slightly.

This morning the office called again and said that I am to come in tonight at 6:30. At that point, they will put in a tablet of sorts that's supposed to do the same thing as the overnight Pictosin. At that point, I'll be sent home with a time in the morning to come back (unless, of course, things start happening earlier than morning). I must say that I like the sounds of this plan better, because I would much rather sleep in my own bed than in the hospital.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my last day of work for 6 weeks!! I hope you're enjoying your day as well!!

I'll post again when there's more news to tell.

UB News

UB news in short? There is no news. So far, there's been no action. UB is officially 3 days late, but I'm not too bothered by it yet. I've always told myself that this baby wasn't coming until Christmas so I wasn't super disappointed to see the 13th come and go with no baby. I would definitely not complain if things started happening at any moment, though. It's the only time in my life that I've actually hoped to not feel fine and to feel some pain. I go to the doctor this afternoon, so hopefully we'll hear that at least some progress is being made. They said at my appointment last Monday that they don't typically let people go more than 5 or 6 days past their due date before inducing, so 5 or 6 days would put us at Thursday or Friday. So, regardless, we're planning on having this baby this week. However, as my mom pointed out to me, when she was pregnant with me they tried to induce 3 times and I just wouldn't budge until I was good and ready to come out.

I promise that when there's real news to tell, I'll post (or Matt will) as soon as I can. Speaking of which, I will probably send out a mass text at least to family when there is news to share. Let me know if you want to be included in that. If you're not sure I have your phone number, send that to me also.

In the meantime, I appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Have a great day!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a month it's been since I posted last! We have so been so busy! We are 2 1/2 weeks out from UB'S due date (They changed my due date to the 13th instead of the 8th.) so we've been busy getting things ready for the big day. Last week, the church threw me a baby shower and I'm so excited about and thankful for the generosity of the ladies in our church. We received so many things, so now I feel so much more ready for this baby. (I'm sure that I will never be totally ready, but at least now we have some clothes, a place for the baby to sleep, and diapers). Other than baby stuff, I have been very busy trying to get school stuff organized for maternity leave. Matt has been busy working for Handyman Matters and filling in the slow times with some side jobs. In our spare time, we've been making sure to spend some time just enjoying our time together since we know life will never be the same as soon as UB makes his appearance. We were able to spend a day in DC about a week and a half ago and we've been able to spend a couple of days just lazing around the apartment sleeping in (Rumor has it that we won't be able to do that much in the coming months/years), hanging out, etc.

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving (and I can't go to bed until my laundry is done and I can get my PJs), I thought I'd take a moment to list some of the things that I'm most thankful for. Of course, I can't list them all (that would take forever), but I'll give it my best shot.

1. My salvation - I feel that I so often take my salvation for granted, but when I really take the time to ponder it I'm in awe over what Christ has done for me and how undeserving I am of His amazing grace.
2. Matthew - I could not imagine a more loving, amazing husband. He's so good to me! I'm so thankful that he works incredibly hard to make sure that he will be able to provide for me and for UB. He has been so wonderful through this entire pregancy. He's patient and kind and so helpful around the house. He even helps with my schoolwork when he can.
3. My family - I love my family. I'm so thankful for my parents, all my brothers and sisters (and in-laws), and all the nieces and nephews. We're all pretty crazy - especially when we're all together - but I love how close we all are and how much fun we all have together.
4. Godly friends - I'm very thankful for the friends we have at church, at volleyball, and from college. Even though some of my best friends are all the way across the country, I'm so thankful for the influence they have been and continue to be in my life.
5. A healthy and relatively easy pregnancy - I'm so thankful that everything has gone so well with this pregnancy. The baby is healthy and has had no complications. I have not had to deal with sickness. I don't wake up at night to pea or readjust or anything. I can still be on my feet all day without pain (which is good since teaching requires being on my feet most of the time). And to top it off, my rings still fit, I can still wear my 4 inch heels, and I still have the energy to run up the stairs at school and our apartment.

Well, the pajamas are dry and Matt's falling asleep so I'll leave it at those things for now. Have a fabulous thanksgiving!!!