By the time this posts, I will be out of school for the summer!!!!!!!!!!

Well, almost. I still have a lot of cleaning, cumulative records, and progress monitoring folders to take care of. But that is all work I can do ALONE in my room, listening to music and relaxing. 

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my job and I am soooo grateful that I survived another spring without being pink slipped. But.... after spending 36+ weeks with these kids, we're both ready to go our separate ways (especially some of them!). It will be nice for the kids AND the teachers to have almost 2 months off to refuel and recharge. 

Now I just have to finish getting everything ready for this baby to get here...

Welcome to the World, Colbie!

Colbie Brooke Owens

May 21, 2010

7 lbs 10 oz

20 1/2 in 

Congratulations go out to our friends Joel and Erin!! Little Colbie was due on the 16th, but wanted to hang out in her comfy home as long as possible. Erin was induced on Friday, but after 16 hours ended up having to have a C-section. We made the trip to Nashville to visit on Sunday, and she is BEAUTIFUL! And check out that hair! We are so excited that Jacob will already have so many friends close to his age when he arrives : ) 

My Sweet Nephew

Isaac, looking too cute in his hat! How is it possible that he looks so big already??

The Final Countdown!

One month from today! I can hardly believe it, but (Lord willing) we should meet our son within the next month! I cannot even begin to describe for you how excited/anxious I am. 

Please pray for us as we do our best to prepare for his arrival. Also, please pray for a safe delivery : ) 

Baby Borland Update - 35 Weeks

I realized that I have been updating on things like showers and the progress of the nursery, but have neglected to update on our actual pregnancy.

I am now 35 weeks. Jacob (fingers crossed) should be here within the next five weeks. He is due one month from tomorrow! I can hardly believe it. Yes, it has been challenging, but in so many ways it seems like just last week that I found out God had blessed us with a baby. And now, here we are!

The past three weeks have provided two Friday night trips to the hospital. The first turned out to be bladder stones (I will spare you the details, and trust me, you'll be thankful), the second turned out to be nothing but a very swollen foot. Last Friday I came home from school and propped my feet up in the recliner. This is what I saw:

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. I had a very fat left foot. My other foot was slightly swollen, but nothing worse than usual and my hands were not swollen at all. I propped it up for about an hour, but the swelling did not seem to be going down at all. I finally broke down and called the on call number. Luckily, my doctor was the one on call. She said that it was probably nothing, but wanted me to go in and have an ultrasound done on my leg just to make sure that it was not a blood clot. Thankfully, it was not. I went home that night and propped it up for hours, but nothing made the swelling go down. (Thankfully I have the greatest husband who made me stay down. Praise the Lord I have not had to do bed-rest! I don't think I would take well to it!) When I woke up Saturday morning, most of the swelling was gone and luckily, it has not yet returned. Dr. L said that I could favor that foot more when I am standing, or that an old injury could just make that foot more susceptible to swelling. Who knows?

Speaking of swollen feet - I am so fortunate to be blessed with the world's most amazing guidance counselor, who, after hearing about my swollen foot on facebook, arranged to have someone in my room with me to help circulate during testing. This week my body has not been nearly as tired at the end of the day and the day-to-day swelling I usually have has been drastically reduced. Thank you LeeAnn!

I am now going to the doctor weekly from here on out. As of Monday, I had not yet dilated or effaced. This is good news as 1.) I would really, really like to make it through the school year! and 2.) I want his little lungs and everything else to be in the best shape possible. After June 1st, Jacob can come anytime he is good and ready!!

Please continue to pray for every member of our family : )

Birth Record

I posted a few choices for Jacob's birth record here. My friend, Rebecca saw them and then recommended this one. I fell in love on the spot and this one matches his room a little better than the others. I ordered it this morning! Thanks Rebecca!

Georgetown Shower

Well, we were an hour late and I'm surprise we didn't need an ark to get there, but Paula and I finally made it to Georgetown on Sunday, May 2nd for my second baby shower. Thankfully, this one was mainly family and church friends who might as well be family, so they didn't mind waiting on me so much. My mom did an awesome job with the food (barbeque and such!) so at least everyone had something to eat while they waited. It also helped that Timothy and Katie got to come and brought my beautiful new nephew, Isaac, who, as you can imagine, kept everyone occupied. : ) 

It was so great to spend time with so many friends and family that I do not get to see nearly as often as I would like. And Jacob certainly got some nice presents! We especially appreciate all of the diapers and wipes!

Pictures to follow when I get them from my sister... 

Nursery Letters

The beautiful ladies of Kindergarten made our nursery letters for us and they turned out A-MAZING!! I love, love, love them and cannot wait to see what they look like on the wall. These ladies are so stinkin' creative it makes me sick. They took Jacob's quilt and made them match exactly. My nursery letters would have been nothing more than stick people if it had been up to me to make them. Jacob is so lucky to have such talented people in his life!

April Books

Yes, I know I'm a little late...

One of my favorite things to do in the whole wide world is to talk about books. I love, love, love to hear about books people are reading - why they're reading it, do they like it or not and why, would they recommend it, and so on. And I love to talk about the books that I have read. If it's good I want everyone I know to read it. And if it's not so good, well then I don't want my my friends to waste their precious time reading it.

That's one of the reasons I love the blog world so much. There are people out there just like me! People who do not think it is a huge waste of time to make reading lists and to set reading goals and to share with each other about books. And even though I love reading "Book Blogs," I would still much rather sit across from you on the couch and goosh over a book than write it up in paragraphs. Partly because when I blog about a book I never really feel like I am really doing it justice.

So here's my solution. Instead of pulling teeth to write something eloquent about each and every book I read, I will instead do a monthly summary. Some books may get paragraphs, some may get sentences, and some may get bulleted lists. And no promises that any of them will qualify as eloquent!

So here goes April...

1.) Mommy Laughs: The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood by Jenny McCarthy (04/04)

Loved this one, but not quite as much as BabyLaughs. Still really funny, though! 

2.) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (04/08)

Loved it!! I'm on the waiting list for the sequel and I can hardly stand the wait!

3.) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (04/13) audiobook

I loved his writing style. I enjoy audiobooks, but I want to actually read another one of his books just to appreciate the style. 

4.) Get Out of That Pit by Beth Moore (04/15)
Really great book! I won't say a lot here because I plan to do a separate post just for this one!

5.) Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (04/15)

An enjoyable read. I think students in the intermediate and middle level grades would really enjoy it and learn a lot too. She definitely puts a lot of information in there, even though it's disguised in 

6.) Number the Stars (04/22)

I remembered reading this book in fifth grade, but I didn't remember much about it. Pretty much all I remembered was that it was about the Nazis, a young girl, and that it took place in Copenhagen. 

This is a quick read (like, only 2-3 sittings), but is still a really great book. It tells the story of two neighboring families, one Jewish and one not, and how one family risks it all to save the other. I also loved how it gave details of everyday life of people living in the Nazi occupied countries of WWII. For example, the book describes how the families deal with rations on food, leather, and electricity, the way they have to use bomb curtains at night, and how they deal with the presence of Nazi soldiers on their streets. 

Students in the intermediate grades would not only enjoy this book, but would learn a lot too. (Shoot, I learned some things! For example, did you know Denmark destroyed its own naval fleet just so the Germans couldn't use it?) Boys and girls can enjoy it, but I think girls will be more affected by the strong female lead characters. 

7.) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (04/30)

Maybe it was because everyone talked so highly of this book, but for me, it just kind of fell flat. I mean, it was an okay book and all, just not this great book that I was expecting. 

The book follows a boy who, as a baby, somehow eludes a murderer by escaping to a graveyard. The inhabitants of the graveyard (yes, ghosts) agree to take him in and raise him. The concept is interesting, but still I was bored for about the first 2/3 of the book. The ending was suspenseful, but not really edge-of-your-seat, can't-put-it-down suspenseful. I have not read any of the Newbery Honor books from this year, but somehow I just don't think that this one is better than the Honors.