Merry Christmas

It has been a LONG while since I have posted anything. Sorry to all you avid Workman Fans out there who have been dying for something new to read about our lives. :) Pregnancy and teaching have completely wiped me out in the 3rd trimester!

Jer and I are in Houston, Texas for the Holiday Season to spend time with his family. We were nervous about flying and not sure if our doctor would let us fly. It was funny because when we talked to the nurse she was very adamant that we NOT fly after 32 weeks. Jer and I decided to talk to our doctor about it directly. When Dr. Smith walked into the room and we began talking about the possibility of flying she said, without any hesitation, "Ok. Come in for a checkup the morning your flight leaves but you should be fine." We chuckled and said, "Ok."

THE FLIGHT

I was nervous about the flight. 3 hours in a cramped plane with not a lot of leg room and a seat that won't recline? Hmmm....no brainer. We got in, got going, and it turned out to be relatively comfortable. I was pretty surprised. Dr. Smith (I promise that is her real name) asked that I get up 1/2 way through the flight and walk the aisle. We were at the back of the plane (right next to the bathrooms...smart airline...) and I got up to walk the aisle. Let me just say this: a man without any thoughts to pregnant women designed this particular airplane. I kept bumping and jostling the poor passengers - "Excuse me, pardon me, oops! I'm sorry! Excuse me..." I got to the front, paused, turned around, and headed back. I think a couple of passengers just sighed as they saw me coming. Poor passengers!

CHRISTMAS

Jer's family has several traditions that I love and that we plan to incorporate into our own family traditions.

First: as the kids got older they drew names for stockings. So, everyone has someone else's stocking to "help Santa" fill. Then, sometime on Christmas Eve, you sneak your stocking down so no one else see's and put it somewhere in the living room. It's pretty fun.

Second: on Christmas morning everyone takes turns opening a present. The dad (DeVon in this case - Jer in our family) is passing out all the presents but nobody just dives into them. We're sitting in a circle and we start with one person and go around. I LOVE it because the focus and excitement is seeing what other people got for Christmas. Timewise you are spending 90% seeing what everyone else got and only 10% seeing what you got. Much more selfless than just "digging in". It takes a long time (it took us about 3 or 4 hours) but it's great because there is lots of laughter and talking and it's just great.
Third: on Christmas Eve the women make a treat called Cinnamon Twists that take all night to rise. In the morning you pop them in the oven and then frost them. That becomes the treat (with Egg Nog of course) that everyone eats. They are SO good! Definitely going to become one of our family traditions! :)

THE PREGNANCY

Ok. I am officially large. My mom called, asking for sizes for Jer and I so she could send the traditional Christmas PJ's (which were Wii pajama's this year! So cute!) and I said, "Jer is a large and I am a whale." Needless to say, mine were an XL this year. :) Our daughter is so adorable! I cannot wait for her to get here! I am beginning to notice regular sleep patterns. She is definitely active when she is awake. She really is a night owl and is her most active between 9:00pm - 1:00am. I can already tell that she loves her daddy because EVERYTIME Jer puts his hands on my stomach she will ALWAYS move to where his hands are. Everytime. It's so awesome! She loves music and will usually always react to it. If she's really active and I put quiet or soothing music on or I play the piano she will calm down. If she's been calm and there is music that is not so calm (go Jackson 5 or Queen's) she will begin moving or kicking. The more I learn about her online the more I realize that we really are getting closer to having her here. My favorite gift this Christmas season (well there are 2) came from my mother-in-law. With the help of her sister Elaine, she made this beautiful baby quilt. It is gorgeous. (Pictures to come). Then, I got these cute blocks that are painted pink and green and each have a letter that was decopaged (spelling?) on them. They spell Jessica's name. I'm not sure how to describe them so I'll post a picture when we get home. They are so adorable! My favorite though, was definitely the quilt. I had a hard time not crying all Christmas Day about it. It is something beautiful that her Grammy made her that will last her whole life. Another favorite was actually something Jer got. He got a baby outfit for Jessica. It was green pj's that said "Daddy's Girl" on one side. So cute!

THE MOTHER

I remember about 2-3 months ago I was talking to my friend Tawna about how nervous I was for labor and deliver. Freaked out actually. She, being the good friend and wise mother of 2 that she is (really and truly she's amazing), said, "You'll get to the point in your pregnancy where you are so uncomfortable and large that you won't care. You'll do anything to get the baby out." Well, Tawna. I'm at that point! :) I know it will be scary (mostly because it's new and unknown to me), I know that it will hurt (hopefully until the epideral kicks in) and that recovery will be sore, but I don't care. Get this baby out! Safely and when it's right...which hopefully will be a week before she's due...maybe 2? I mean, if she's ready then why not? Right? :) The swelling in my feet has not gone down much and it has expanded into my calves. Pretty much you can push my ankles all the way around and create a moat at least 1/4 inch deep. Sometimes 1/2 inch when it's really bad. (I wish I was joking about the dimensions...). My feet get tender in some places and at the end of the night, but for the most part they don't really hurt. Which is SUCH a blessing! I also now have more appreciation for those who suffer with carpel tunnel. My arms and hands have begun swelling so every morning I wake up with numb and/or tingling fingers. When I try to make a fist, my hands look like the witch Muriel from Fablehaven - they become claws that lock into place and I can't move my fingers. It's so wierd! I massage them out and can finally make fists. It's interesting. Lately, (and if anyone has any thoughts/experience/suggestions/info on this, please share), I have had a lot of pressure on my pelvic bones. You know that feeling of soreness after you have been riding a bike for a long time? It's that with extra pressure attached. It's only been in the past 2 days that I've felt it so I'm not sure if it because of how Jessica is sitting, or she's growing, or my body is getting ready for labor, or am I in some kind of pre-labor? I don't know. We have a doctor's appointment on Jan. 8th so, unless it gets worse, I'll check with her then.

THE FATHER

Excited to be a daddy and very, very, very, very, very patient with the mother! Jer massages my waterbed feet every night (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day if needed!) and he is really wonderful with me.

CONCLUSION

In spite of all of this, I have truly had a healthy pregnancy with a very healthy baby. I am so grateful. I have known so many women who have had miscarriages, gestational diabetes, fetus problems, etc. and I'm not sure why I haven't. I know that the Lord gives people the trials that will help them grow. I think mine has been to work on a positive attitude and to really learn how to rely on the Lord regardless of how easy or hard life is. He has blessed Jer and I tremendously and I am still working on trying to genuinely show Him how grateful I am. 7 weeks to go!

High On The Mountain Top

Last night Jer and I went to ward temple night. As a ward we met in a room on the ground floor of the temple with a member of the temple presidency. President Daines spoke to us about how this temple is literally an "abode" or home of the Lord. The Lord has been there. He has walked the floors. He has been in every room. The Spirit was so strong while he spoke to us. We then, as a ward, did an endowment session.

As Jer and I sat in the Celestial Room, I was so thankful to be married to him. I love him so much. Love truly grows. I thought about our wedding day almost 2.5 years ago and how much I thought I loved him then. My love has truly grown for him as we have grown closer together. He is my best friend. I love him. I was so thankful that we were sealed in the temple. We are a forever family! Our beautiful daughter Jessica will be coming to us and will be our daughter forever! Last night I felt like I had a tiny glimpse into the grand eternal purpose of being linked together through the work we do at the temple. I know that Heavenly Father loves us. He knows me, He knows my trials and what I need. He wants me to be happy. He wants me to succeed. As I approach motherhood I am confident that He will be with me. He loves me. I AM a child of God. :)

Permission To Come Aboard Captain?

Today my class and I went on a field trip to a space simulator located at an elementary school in Pleasant Grove. It is a mission designed around a social studies theme specifically for 6th grade called 'Children of the Perikoi.' To make a long story short, the Perikoi people lived on planet PCX2214 and were similar to the Ancient Greeks in their technology and lifestyle. Every year there was a ceremony called The Choosing where their gods came down and picked the brightest and best of the 12 year old boys and girls. They took them away while the rest of the kids grew up and lived their lives on Perikoi. The gods and the priests in their temples discouraged and hated science. Anyone who "practiced" or did anything with science was considered a heretic and condemned to death. The Federation of Colonization Survey (FCS) had a team of scientists who were studying the Perikoi. They had sent some of their scientists down to Perikoi to try and learn more about The Choosing and what happened to the kids. In the FCS (which is a part of the Federation of Starfleet...hello Star Trek!) there is a very strict law called the Prime Directive which forbids contamination or influence from outside sources on planets and civilizations such as Perikoi which were still developing. My class had a mission with 5 specific objectives:

1) Find out who the gods are
2) Discover if The Choosing is real
3) Go to Perikoi
4) Decide if The Choosing should still continue
5) Return home safely
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Yesterday, in class, we spent about 2 hours discussing and comparing what we knew about the Perikoi (from the space simulator's website) and Ancient Greece. Later on we talked about the specific assignments that students could get and what they were expected to do in those assignments. Each student wrote down their top 3 and I used those to decide who would have what job. The jobs were things like: Captain, First Officer, Ambassador, Right Wing Flight Officer, Engineer, Decoder, Communications Officer, Left Wing Tactical Officer, Flight Controller, Executive Officer, Left & Right Wing Damage Control Officers, etc. Everyone got their assignments and filled out a boarding pass.

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We arrived at the simulator this morning. It was so awesome! The kids were put in uniforms and had to go through these really cool black revolving doors (so that they did not "bring any contamination" from Earth with them onto the ship...). They went up a flight of stairs onto the command deck. As everyone entered they handed their boarding pass to a staff who showed them to their seat. The last 3 to enter the command deck (or bridge) was the Ambassador, First Officer, and then Captain. The staff member who was facillitating the mission said something like, "Officers rise. Captain on deck." The kids looked around, confused, until my student who was the Captain entered. He took his chair (which was set higher up on the command deck). He really got into character by saying, "At ease."

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It was really cool to see my students have to work together to solve this mission. I sat back and just watched them figure it out. A couple of times some of my students asked me a question about their jobs, but I just shook my head and told them it was their mission and they needed to figure it out.

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My favorite part was when my students were talking with aliens. The only person who could talk to them was the Ambassador. My Ambassador asked the aliens about The Choosing. The aliens got mad and said they were going to kill the scientists on the planet as well as any city-states that the scientists had tried to introduce science to. All of a sudden the Ambassador said, "Ok! Ok! We'll do a full retreat!" I tried so hard not to laugh! Unfortunately, this meant a strike against our mission (after 5 strikes, the mission failed...a strike was only given when there was a major blunder. Apparently, retreat was a major blunder!)

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It was tons of fun to watch my kids. I learned a lot about them and they learned a lot about themselves and each other. It was really a cool field trip! If anyone is interested in learning more about this non-profit organization, go to spacecamputah.org to find out more. It is a very cool program. They do space simulations for schools, birthday parties, business corporations (team-building activities) and so forth. I told Jer that I almost want to do a birthday party there for me next year! It was just that cool! :)

Staying Put

God moves in mysterious ways. The house we ended up looking at was great. We decided that if the owners offered it to us for the tremendously low rent, we would take it. They said they would call us by the end of the week and let us know. 2.5 weeks later and they still haven't called us! :) Which, we decided, was better. We do not need to move into the house. We are comfortable and happy where we are at. We can definitely make do with our darling 2 bedroom house. Yes, Jessica's room will also double (well triple really) as storage and an office but she will only be concerned with feeding, crying, and pooping for the first little while anyways so who really cares? :)

Daylight Savings Masquerade

Two Sunday's ago, our bishop challenged the members of our ward to not only be on time to sacrament meeting, but to be 10 minutes early. Last Sunday I was out of town in Cedar City (more info in another blog will be forthcoming...) so Jer was on his own for church. Because he is amazing, humble, and obedient, he took the bishop's challenge and got to church 10 minutes early. When I got home from Cedar City Jer told me all about his Sunday experience. It was incredible. The Spirit was so strong for him. So, we talked about how important it was for us as a couple to get to church 10 minutes early. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. I am the monkey that throws a wrench into the machinery.

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Jer summed it up today by saying something to the effect of, "No matter how much time you are given, you are always ready 5 minutes after that. If you have 10 minutes to get ready, you are ready in 15. Then, when you are given 15 minutes to get ready, you are ready in 20. It's an interesting thing that I've noticed in the last 2.5 years of being married to you."

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This morning, as we got up at 8:30-ish (church being at 10:30), I knew that being early to church was important to Jer and important for us. Jer asked if we could be ready to go by 10:10am so we could get to church by 10:20am. I agreed and we began getting ready for church.

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At 9:00am we began preparing our Sunday School lesson. I told Jer that we needed to finish by 9:45am so I could finish getting ready for church. At 9:45am I began finishing my getting ready for church tasks. Normally we are ready to go either at 10:30am or only a few minutes before. This morning, I was ready at 10:18am. Not 10:10am but better than 10:30am. We knelt down to pray. After the prayer Jer asked, "Can we be ready to go by 10:10am?" I just stared at him, completely unaware of what he meant. I was a little hurt too because I felt like he was criticizing me. I had really tried to be ready on time! Suddenly, Jer laughed and said, "Can we be ready by 10:10? It's daylight savings time so we have about 50 minutes to go."

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What a stinker!

Fall Break

Last weekend was UEA weekend (Utah Education Association) or also called Fall Break. Basically this meant that UEA hosted conferences for teachers and there was no school on Thursday or Friday (sorry BYU-ers and other private school students). I did not attend any conferences and spent Thursday hanging out with one of my best friends and Friday/Saturday attempting to dejunk my apartment. I say attempting because I'm still in the process. I just can't dejunk like I used to! :) I never realized how much STUFF one accumulates with ones spouse in marriage! We bought a crib & changing table on Saturday and I spent forever trying to figure out how we're going to fit it in our apartment! We did go look at a house for rent today and I'm praying that we can figure out a way to afford it. The owners were so super nice and I am really just praying that things will work out. I REALLY want to move there! It is so nice and to have that much room would be awesome! 3 bedrooms, living room, family room, roomy kitchen, dining area, actual real backyard, garage...need I say more? It was so nice! I take comfort in the fact that we'll still be ok if we don't move. It will just be much...cozier here. :)

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Also, I realized that in a 4 day weekend, I really missed my 6th graders! Each and every one of them are absolutely fantastic! I really do love them to pieces! Leaving for 6 weeks maternity leave will be hard. I will love spending every minute with my darling daughter as a new mom, but I will also miss my class.

23 Weeks

Only 17 weeks to go!

Needless to say, I'm starting to show!

This week has been an exciting and hard week. The exciting part is that I have started to feel Jessica more and more! At first, I thought maybe my stomach was having these wierd pregnancy spasms. After a few times I realized that was true except the spasms not only had a different name, but now had a gender attached! Those spasms were/are Jessica. :) Last night, for date night, Jer and I drove up to Salt Lake City to see a dear friend of mine perform with her female barbershop group (a chapter of the international Sweet Adeline's called the Mountain Jubilee Chorus...they were really, really good!). Anyways, about halfway through the performance, Jessica started moving and moving and moving! One time I felt her and thought she was trying to punch or kick right out of my stomach! It was really hard! I wondered if Jer would be able to feel her. So, last night as we were laying in bed, I had Jer put his hands on my tummy and asked if he could feel her (she was still moving). He said I was making my stomach do that. Today I asked him again if he really had felt that. He said yes so I told him that he was really feeling his daughter move! It was incredibly cool! All day today I've been waiting to feel her. So far this week I'll feel her a little bit during the day but she really gets going from around 7pm or 8pm until about 10 or 11pm. *sigh* I hope this isn't an indication that she will be a nightbug and not let us get to bed early...

This week has also been hard. My ankles have started swelling pretty badly again and now my fingers and hands have begun swelling. Usually I wake up in the middle of the night with one or both of my hands completely numb. I have to massage them or shake them around in order to get some circulation back into them. It's really wierd. My doctor said that sometimes when women retain water during pregnancy in their wrists, hands, and fingers, it simulates carpel tunnel. So, I might have to buy some type of brace for my wrists and hands to wear to bed each night. Crazy - I had never heard of that before! Today Jer made some comment about how I started my 2nd trimester "late" (the energy, feeling great, loving being pregnant time) and it looks like I might end it "early" (since this week's been so hard and we technically have 1 more week of our 2nd trimester). I've said it before and I'll say it again...this child had better be dang cute! :) J/K - I know she will!!!!

First Toy

One of my fellow teachers is having a little girl in just a few short days (she's due in 2 days), and she got a bunch of toys from one of her moms. One of the toys she had already because of her son who is a toddler. So, she gave me my first baby toy for our darling little girl!

Our first baby toy!

(Can you tell I'm excited to be a mom?)

Winning Name

On Monday I told my students that they would be participating in the most important event of their 6th grade lives...voting on names for my baby! Here were the options:

#1) Jennifer Ann Workman
#2) Julie Nicole Workman
#3) Jessica Lynn Workman
#4) Elizabeth Jane Workman

(Like Sesame Street, we are sponsored by the letter "J")

Two out of three classes voted overwhelmingly for Jennifer Ann. The third class was even between the four names. After we voted, I told the class we had decided on Jessica Lynn. :)

So, our baby girl is Jessica Lynn Workman.

It's A...

…long time since I’ve written a blog! (ok – only a week, but considering ALL the stuff happening this week…it’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog…posted a blog…posted a post? Blogged a blog? Blogged a post? What is the correct terminology for this?)

So, I found out what we’re having! Ok, well Jer knew but I found what we’re having!!! I made it till Sunday (barely) and had so much fun finding out that my first baby is going to be an angelic darling little...well, you'll have to keep reading to find out. (hee hee) Saturday night was VERY hard to sleep through. It was like being 5 years old on Christmas Eve. I kept waking up every 2 hours. Finally, at 6:45am I woke up and waited for Jer to wake up. At 7:45am I couldn't take it anymore so I woke up Jer up and we began the present opening ceremony! Jer bought 3 presents that were supposed to hint at what gender our child is. As you can tell from the pictures, Jer got me: Toy Story 2, Hymn book with a spiral binding (to lay on the piano to play), and a really cool Loofah (with a handle so I can get my back AND my feet…it’s getting really hard to bend over!)

How was I supposed to guess from these?!? Finally, Jer told me I needed to “look deeper” into the presents…I figured out that meant I needed to flip through the Hymn book, page by page, to discover some hidden message about our child. Here’s what I found:
WE'RE HAVING A LITTLE GIRL!!!!!

(insert immature, non-mom squeal here – I would have jumped up and down except I can’t)

Jer explained the presents.
Hymn: song #309 – Sisters in Zion (see above picture)
Toy Story 2: everyone has a girlfriend & the cowgirl is Jessie
Loofah: he had to shop in the girl section at Walmart…

After the presents (and the crying and the excited squeals) we watched the DVD of our ultrasound and I got to look at the pictures showing the gender. Let me just say, our ultrasound lady was not kidding! Our little girl is an exhibitionist! I have never seen ultrasound pictures quite this indecent!

Profile picture again just because she’s so cute! Ok, here’s the indecent ones…

Her little tushy is so cute! (I know, I know…proud mother!)

And a new skeleton baby picture...

So excited and so happy to be having this darling, darling little girl!

Here are some more birthday pictures from last Sunday.

Jer cooking my birthday brownies (he uses a recipe from my mother-in-law…this is my favorite favorite favorite favorite dessert ever!)

Me licking the bowl of my birthday brownies…




Those brownies are SO DELICIOUS!

I LOVE the homemade frosting! I LOVE the man who made and is spreading the frosting!

When we came home from church, some of our very good friends had decorated the door!

Finally, before we went to Jer’s aunt and uncle’s house for dinner, we took the traditional weekly pose: Week 22 - can you see how tired I am? She's getting bigger and so am I!

I had a great time on my birthday and I'm grateful for my husband who made it fun.

ULTRASOUND

WE HAD OUR ULTRASOUND!

At 9:00am we went to the doctor's for our first ultrasound. Our ultrasound technician (Jan) was so very fun! We explained to her how we wanted to find out: Jer first, and I'm waiting till my birthday (on Sunday). She laughed and said she didn't see how I was going to wait until Sunday.

Everything with the ultrasound went wonderfully. Everything was perfect!

Here are the cutest pictures of the cutest baby ever!

This is the profile shot - it's my favorite! I LOVE this child of mine already! Seeing her/him on the ultrasound monitor was so very amazing! Humbling and exhilirating all at the same time. First footprint shot...
This is my favorite footprint shot - the baby weighs 1lb - can you imagine how absolutely DARLING those little feet are inside the womb right now? Precious - absolutely precious!
Jan titled this picture "Hi Mom!" because it is a direct shot of the face - actually, I think it's a little ugly! :) I laugh because it doesn't look like a baby's face - it's the skeleton baby shot. This picture is why the profile picture is my favorite! :)

These next pictures are the legs - I can't wait for the baby to come and see those little chubby baby legs for real! :) Apparently, this darling baby of mine had his/her legs pulled up so the feet were by the face. Look how cute those little legs are!!!
More legs...
And another leg shot...
I can't get over how cute these little legs are!


We also kept laughing during the ultrasound because, apparently, our little darling is going to be a swimmer! She/he had one arm tucked up so the hand was by his/her face while the other arm was behind the body, in a mid-swimming stroke position! How cute is this little darling! Now, all of this (hand by face, other arm in swimming position, feet tucked up by the head) was all done while this sweet, sweet child was sleeping on his/her tummy! She/he's a tummy sleeper just like her/his parents! (Jer & I both sleep on our stomachs)

The other arm...
Another arm...


All of these shots were taken before Jan and Jer found out the gender of the baby. When it was time she had me close my eyes while Jer watched. It was soooo hard! Especially when they started laughing! Suddenly Jan said that our baby was a little exhibitionist! Apparently, he/she had her/his bum sticking up in the air with the legs wide open to the knees, then coming together again at the feet. How cute! Jer kept laughing and said there was absolutely no doubt about the gender! I simply cannot wait until Sunday to find out what we're having! :) I'm going to have to wait though!

My mom was been really funny to talk to this week. She's not happy (in a teasing way) about having to wait to know what her first grandchild will be. She kept texting Jer, trying to get him to tell her what it was! My favorite text between the two went something like this:

MOM: "What color are you going to paint the nursery?"

JER: "White."

MOM: "Oh! It's for an angel! It's a girl!"

JER: "Angel Moroni was a boy..."

MOM: "You are a smarty pants!"

I'm excited to call and break the news to everyone! I PROMISED my mom that she would be the first person I called. She wants me to sing a song for the gender, "Girls just wanna have fun" or "My guy". If it was twins (which it's definitely not), I was supposed to recite the nursery rhyme, "Jack and Jill". I'm excited to see what song I get to sing to my mom!

Anyways - I had better go since this email is now novel length. I'm just so excited for this sweetheart inside!

African Tradition

(Pretend the date is Tuesday, October 7th, 2008)

My class is the best! At the end of the day on Tuesday's and Thursday's my class goes to music. Today, the music teacher pulled me aside (before class) and asked that I come pick my class up 10 minutes before I was supposed to.

When I got there, the class was working on an African song. Mrs. Hatch, the music teacher, had me sit at the front of the room on the "golden chair". In front of the chair was a cup of water, a bowl of dry rice on one side and a bowl of dry beans on the other side. The tradition was called something like, "The Wishing Well".

The class started singing and, one at a time, they came up to me and picked a piece of rice or a bean and dropped it into the cup of water. Then, they whispered in my ear, a wish or a nice thought. It was so thoughtful and sweet! Some examples of the thoughts / wishes were things like, "I hope you have a girl" or "I hope you have a boy" or "I hope your birthday is good" or "May you have lots of joy in your life". One of my favorites was "I wish you lots of happiness and success...oh wait! You've had some already! I hope it continues!"

I truly have one of the best classes in the world!

Google, Pregnancy, and More

During the first part of my day today, when I teach writing, one of my students raised her hand to make a comment and said, "Mrs. Workman - I googled you last night." That threw me off guard and I started laughing. I had no idea that I could be googled! Note to self...I am googleable.

My mom says that I should be writing more stuff down about my feelings, thoughts, experiences, etc. with this pregnancy. One thing that I have been feeling lately, is this incredibly overwhelming desire to feel this wonderful child inside of me moving around! Now that we are into our 20th week (yea!!!!) I should be able to feel him/her anytime now. I cannot WAIT until that happens. More and more I am realizing that motherhood is an amazing, sacred calling and I am so humbled by the enormity of it all. How can my faith in Heavenly Father not be strengthened as I realize more and more that I need to rely on Him?

Yesterday I was feeling so overwhelmed, so completely incompetent as a wife and mother, so utterly unprepared for anything. I was trying so hard not to curl up and bawl (#1 because I physically can't curl up right now and #2 - that doesn't solve anything). I just sat on my bed, looked out the window at the Utah mountains, and just had a heart-to-heart with my Father in Heaven. When I was done, this incredible feeling of peace, comfort, and strength flooded over and into me. I can handle this. I was given a blessing when we were first pregnant and one of the promises I was given was that I would be given the strength to handle whatever came my way during this pregnancy. Last night I was reminded of that.

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities...What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."

- M. Russell Ballard, “Daughters of God,” Ensign, May 2008, 108–10

Mrs. Workman - I don't want to be pregnant...

With that tantalizing headliner here is the story:

Today in class (or maybe it was yesterday...I don't remember...) one of my darling, sweet, quiet, cute 6th grade girls (we'll call her Sarah*) came up to me during writing time. She pulled me aside and very quietly said, "Mrs. Workman? I don't ever want to be pregnant." I looked at her, completely unable to figure out why she was randomly saying this, and said, "Well, Sarah. Good decision. You are only 11 after all."

"No," she said. "I don't want to be pregnant. Ever."

"Um, why?" I asked.

"Because you're always forgetting things in the middle of saying them, you always have to go to the bathroom, we never know if you're going to run to go vomit, and you can't keep up with us in the hallways! I don't think I ever want to be pregnant!"

Sweet child! I figure that feeling will change after marriage, but for the meantime I'm glad to be of service in helping her make good choices through her teenage years! :) Have I mentioned how much I love the kids in my class? Kids really are amazingly wonderful people. No wonder we are told to be child-like as we try to be more like our Savior.

*names have been changed so I don't lose my job by breaking confidentiality agreements! :)

Constitution Day - Sept. 17th

Federal law states that school institutions receiving federal monies must teach their kids about the Constitution on Sept. 17th (which is Constitution Day). So, everyone at school got geared up to do that last Monday & Tuesday. At the end of the day an email went out to the teachers from one of the 1st grade teachers regarding an experience she had that day as she taught about the Constitution:

"Hi!

I thought you might appreciate a little first grade humor after all the hype for Constitution Day. After my awesome delivery of what a constitution was to my students I asked my students what today was. One girl piped up, "It's CONSTIPATION day!" Nothing like knowing your lesson hit home, yes? =) Have a good day!"

Gratitude List

Things I am grateful for:

- The gospel (so many blessings...)
- My husband (he is absolutely the most amazing person I know)
- PRAYER!
- Tithing
- Food storage
- The upcoming (and soon) opportunity to be a mom
- My own parents (wow did they do so much for me that I'm only beginning to realize!
- My husband's parents (not only did they raise a fantastic son and continue to be fantastic parents to him, they are so wonderful to me too! I couldn't have gotten better parent-in-laws)
- My siblings (they are best brothers & sisters I could want)
- My sister-in-laws (I love having older sisters! They are great!)
- Relief Society
- 24 amazing kids that I get to teach
- Not throwing up or feeling sick constantly
- Tawna = friend in my apartment complex who has saved my sanity on more than a few occasions!
- Our apartment (so lucky to have 2 bedrooms with Jr. on the way)
- New tires (we prayed our old tires to last 2 months longer than they should have)
- Friends (there are so many out there that are so supportive!)
- Cell phones (thanks mom for letting me call you all the time!)
- Potatoes (the one constant food that I have been able to eat this whole pregnancy)
- Water (the liquid I crave constantly)
- Books (I love being able to "leave" my world and "visit" another...)
- Music (it makes planning for school so much easier)
- My piano (I love being able to play when I want to...)
- Elastic (I'm pregnant and still growing...need I say anything more?)
- Foot massages (thank you Jer!)
- Chocolate (nothing more to add)
- Chocolate
- Did I mention chocolate?
- Fall days (I LOVE having cooler weather now)
- Navy Bucks (sounds wierd but it's the fake money I give my kids for being good - the LOVE it!)
- Alaska
- The Cosby Show
- Pillows (I sleep with about 50 million now...)
- Slip on shoes
- Online banking
- Fans (people who adore me [hee hee] and the ones that blow cool air on me at night...)
- Email
- Internet
- homestarrunner.com
- Post-it notes
- Glasses
- Toilets (pregnant)
- Ice
- Slimfast shakes
- Blogging = it allows me to get all of this out and keep in touch with family / friends

My Class Says Hello!

Have I mentioned how CUTE the kids in my class are?!? My class is full of typical, wonderful 6th graders. As is the case with every 10 and 11 year old, there are some times when these adorable little students in my class come face to face with opportunities to learn how to treat each other better. Today, there was one such occurance. It was a simple thing that started it. Nothing worth mentioning. It led to an opportunity to discuss respect towards other people. I ended up telling my class that they had to be careful what they said and how they treated each other because the baby could hear them. For 10 seconds, my class was dead silent. I could see the wheels turning and the minds being stretched towards a new way of thinking. Suddenly, someone blurted out, "No way! No way can your baby hear us!" I smiled and explained that babies in the womb by 16 and 17 weeks CAN begin to hear things and that is why babies recognize the sound of their mothers voice so easily right after being born. They have been listening to it constantly for 5 or 6 months. Again, silence. After another 5-10 seconds, my class began shouting (well, saying loudly), "Hi Mrs. Workman's baby!" and "Hello in there!" and "Can you hear me?" and "This is Sam*!" or "I'm Vanessa* - one of your mom's students!" I just started laughing and had to take a few seconds to quiet my class down. It was really quite a fun moment today to realize that these kids were excited to say hi to the cutest-baby-ever. It was also neat to see how their level of respect and treatment towards one another became better throughout the day. I really have the cutest class!

*students' names have been changed to protect the innocent...

I've Made It To 17 Weeks!

I know, I know...2 blogs in one day - ridiculous! Oh well. :) Yesterday I began my 17th week of pregnancy. Here are some of the exciting things that are happening to little Amy or Jer Jr. during this week:

- 4.5-5 inches long (he/she would fit in the palm of my hands if I could hold him/her)
- Very mobile - moving joints around, making faces, sucking reflexes have kicked in
- Cartilage making up the skeleton is transforming into bone
- Fat layers are starting to come in (on the baby AND on me!)
- She/he is hearing things!
- I will be able to feel him/her at any time now!

The last 2 things have me the most excited! I will freely admit that I am now one of those women who rub their belly and talk to it. I want this sweet little thing inside of me to hear my voice and realize how much I already love him/her.

I've also begun to think about my tone of voice this week. There have been times where I have been frustrated and said something sharper than I intended to. I have this, almost panicky, desire to watch what I say and how I say it because this amazing little person can now hear me. I've also been telling people around me to watch their language! (It's not as if there has been an outpouring of bad language - I'm just more sensitive to it now...) It's been a funny classroom management tool all last week. Anytime one of my 6th graders said something that was less than nice or respectful I would say something like, "Be careful. Baby can hear you now!" Since my class is great, they would all laugh and then be more careful. I also had a funny experience today when I was at a friends house. My friend, her husband, and I were talking about something (I can't remember what though) and he said he was angry (only that wasn't the word). Without even thinking I said, "Don't say that! The baby can hear you!" We all laughed.

I am also tickled pink to think that I get to feel my child moving around at any time. Several friends who are mothers, as well as the nurse who works with my doctor, have all tried to describe the feeling. "Tickle across your stomach" or "Eyelashes winking against your stomach" or "Butterfly wings brushing your stomach" and so on. The funny thing (to me anyways) is that I think I've felt her/him but I'm not sure. There have been several times where I have psyched myself out - thinking I felt something. It's made me laugh because I keep thinking, "Was that her/him?....No, wait...that was it....Um, maybe that was it?" Today during regional conference though, I really think I felt the baby. Again, I'm not entirely sure but it's the closest to feeling confident that I felt the baby I have come to. If that last sentence doesn't make sense, just ignore it.

Last Thursday was our monthly doctor appointment. Our doctor was at the hospital delivering a baby so we didn't get to meet with her. I wasn't upset though because in February there might be someone who doesn't get to meet her due to my child being delivered. :) So, we meet with her nurse, Lou. Lou is this sweet older woman who sat and listened for 10-15 minutes to all of my first-time-mommy-to-be concerns with a little smile on her face. She answered every question I had and treated each question (ridiculous or not) knowing that I have no idea what is going on with my body this first time around the pregnancy block. At the end of my slightly-panicky questions, she leaned forward in her chair, tilted her glasses down so she could see me over the rims, just smiled and said something like, "You're a first time mom and everything will be great." It was such a relief to know that all of these wacky things I have been feeling (emotionally and physically) are normal! I'm not crazy! :) Thankfully, everything was blissfully normal at our appointment. What a relief and what an incredible blessing!

17 weeks

16 weeks

Our next appointment is Oct. 7th - the ultrasound! Jer will be finding out what we are havig. I am going to waith until my birthday (Oct. 12th) and Jer will be giving me presents that tell me what we're going to have. I think that the best birthday present will be finding out what I am having. (That is - if I can wait that extra 5 days!)

September 2nd Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Jer!

Jer's birthday presents - you can't really see them, but he has birthday cards on top that he got from my family, Grandma Jennessee and Aunt Alice.
Jer opening his birthday package from his family.

Tam-Tam this picture is for you: Jer did find the card hilarious.

Mostly because you were the one who picked it out! :)

Jer got a companion's guide to golfing. It's pretty cool. I'm pretty positive that Jer will be able to use it a lot over the remainder of this golfing season and through next...He also got a book written by John Bytheway that shares funny stories and clips about General Authorities and Prophets who were golfers...

Jer laughing at a card...
Jer was excited to dig into his presents from family.

Jer got a shirt with the title: The Expressions of Chuck Norris.

As you can kind of see, there is a grid with 9 spaces. In each space is Chuck Norris' face. Below each face is a label of the mood shown in his face. The punch line: each face is the same. Jer looked at the shirt for a second, and then just busted up laughing. I'm glad I caught his face on camera! :)

Jer just can't put his John Bytheway golfing book down!

Jer's sisters got him 3 movies:

Chronicles of Narnia, Bridge to Terabithia, and We Are Marshall.

Jer was excited for all 3.

This is him pumping the football movie up and down while chanting:

Marshall! Marshall! Marshall!

I love it when Jer smiles for the camera and it's genuine.

Usually he gives a cheesy smile or makes a face.

I love his smile.

Let me preface this picture by commenting on how I am the world's worst present-secret keeper (which is a note to all of you out there...) The problem is, I try to give hints to make the waiting time for the present more exciting. This is a great theory except in practice, I always give it away! ESPECIALLY when it comes to Jer and gifts for him. According to Jer, he is the "Jason Bourne" of presents! (Which is kind of true. He ALWAYS guesses and his guesses are 99% right. And, his guesses are always based on obscure comments or clues. Nothing escapes his eyes or ears...) While we were on vacation with Jer's family at Lake Tahoe, Mom got Dad a really nice hair cutting set. Jer mentioned how nice it was and Mom asked me later if Jer needed one of those. I said yes because we got his when we first got married and it is buzzing its last buzz every time we use it. (I always worry that it will die in the middle of a hair cut and Jer will have hunchback hair!) Anyways - Mom said she would get this for Jer for his birthday. Amazingly, and for the first time ever, I kept it a secret completely from Jer! He had no idea!!! Yea! Hopefully this will open up a new world of being able to keep better present-secrets! :)

Jer got a Lake Tahoe iGolf t-shirt. Thanks Mom & Dad!

On the left, Jer thinks about his birthday wish. Isn't he the cutest husband ever? On the right, his "fabulous" cake! The word fabulous is in parenthesis because I took the cake out of the pan before it was done cooling, and then tried to fix it with frosting. As you can see, the cake would be a great object lesson for plate tectonics or fault lines in a geology class. It looks like an earthquake ripped it apart! We celebrated on Sept. 1st because of the holiday (school started ON Jer's birthday - poor guy). His cake says "26 years 365 days" so technically it was his birthday.

Funny how the leap year let that happen...

Jer blows out his candles.

We didn't have 27 candles so we made do with 18. :)

I hope Jer had a wonderful birthday. For his birthday dinner I made meatloaf (which he says is easily comparable to his Mom's. Since I've had her food - and she is a PHENOMENAL cook - that is quite the genuinely sweet compliment!) Some of his friends came over (Justin, Miranda and their adorable son Bryce - I sincerely hope our kids turn out as cute!). I was having a severely pregnant day (meaning I dropped everything, kept trying not to cry, etc.) so, even though he assures me it was a wonderful birthday, I really hope it's true. He is the best husband to me, I am so grateful for him in my life, and I love him so much.

Tony's Birthday

My youngest brother, Tony, has been down from Alaska visiting for the past few days. He has entered into adulthood on this day, Aug. 31st. The wonderful world of 18. :) Yesterday, Saturday, he hung out with my husband and I (more my husband since I was tired). Tony has been working at a golf course all summer and gotten into golfing. Jer and Tony spent all afternoon play our Xbox Tiger Woods golf game. This is a picture of them playing - they are concentrating very hard on their swings...

Apparently, Tony and Jer both made some good plays.

Tony and Jer caught me taking pictures of them.

Tony makes a face; Jer just looks...

Here are some pictures from the birthday dinner Jer and I made for Tony.

Derrall came over for dinner too...the boys!

Derrall and Tony

Goofballs...

Tony playing Jer's drum from Madagascar.

Jer bringing out Tony's birthday cake

(chocolate pudding cake with whip cream)

Tony counting his candles...good thing,

because Jer put 19 candles instead of 18! :)

J/K! On the second time counting, there were 18!

Good thing Tony has one more year of high school left!

Tony blowing out his candles...

It has been tons of fun having Tony here! Derrall is taking him skydiving for his birthday present. (Hopefully it will be fun having Tony around in the future - as mom always puts it though, "He still has a mission to serve. He'll be fine!") Tony is the best youngest brother an oldest sister could have. He's always fun to joke around with and hang out with. I'm glad he's here! When he was about 9 years old (I was 19), he came up to me and, very seriously, put both of his hands on my shoulders. Looking up at me he said, "Amy. You need to hurry and have some kids so that I can be an uncle. I'm not getting any younger, you know." Well, Tony - 9 years later and you're getting your wish! Unclehood is just around the 5 month corner!