Tomorrow is September! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has flown by. Seems like just a couple months ago I was finding out we were expecting again. Amazing.

Today I'm officially term, 37 weeks. With Nathan I knew he wouldn't come early and in fact I was induced at 40 weeks. This time around I have a feeling she'll be early. Not sure how early, but definitely early. At my most recent doctor's appointment this past Wednesday I found out that I'm already 3cm and highly effaced. Because she's a second baby my doctor said she could come at any time.

I'm a little shocked to think she might come this early since I wasn't thinking 37 weeks, but I guess you never know! Of course I could still walk around for the next couple weeks with no change, but 3cm is 3cm....now when the time comes I only have 7 more to go!

To give perspective, I was only 2.5 cm with Nathan when I went into the hospital the morning I was induced at 40 weeks. So that's a pretty big difference especially for this early.

We'll see folks, stay tuned for our little September baby! 

Museum Fun

Caleb happened to have the day off today so we went out for one last family hurrah before I start work again next week.

We took Nathan to the Oklahoma Science Museum (formerly known as the Omniplex). It was the obvious choice for three reasons:

1. We'd never been there before.
2. Kids under 4 are free
3. It was 103 out today.

So we finally got ourselves out of the house around eleven and decided to stop by Chic-fil-a for lunch and let Nathan play. We usually go through the drive-thru and the poor kid never gets to play on the playground so we thought it'd be nice to actually let him do it this time.

After that we headed to the museum which apparently was redone in the last few years. It felt to us that the new version was modeled off of our favorite Chicago museum: The Museum of Science and Industry. While it wasn't nearly as big, it had very similar exhibits and was set up a lot like it.

Of course I forgot to bring my camera so I have no pictures to share with you, but for kicks and giggles I'll throw in a few pictures from when we went to the Museum of Science in Industry this past March. Oh my I miss Chicago!


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I picked pictures of exhibits that they had at the Oklahoma Science Museum too ... so basically, I didn't need to take pics! :)

New name, new year, new baby...

It's been a while as I always say. Over a year since my last update and a lot has changed.

We are now expecting our second little one in 7 short weeks! Madelyn Claire is due at the end of September and this time around I'm planning a med-free birth. I had a great experience with Nathan (you can read about that here) but really feel the need to try it this way now. 

Speaking of Nathan, my sweet, amazing little man is turning THREE in a few short weeks! Where on earth did the time go? He is even getting ready to start school for the first time (preschool/MDO program) and while it's only two days a week for a couple hours, it's still a big deal. I'm very excited for him and it will give Caleb a tiny bit of a break during the day when he has both kiddos. 

I am still working in the school library. I ended up in a different district than I originally thought I'd be but I know this is where God intended and I have a great commute & actually work at the school Nathan and Madelyn will attend when we reach that point. For Nathan it'll be this time next year! 

I am getting ready to start school again for the fall. A little over a week of freedom left, we have had a great summer even though it flew by. Right after school got out we headed out to Georgia and Colorado for some family time with my side and then have spent the rest of the time around OKC. Potty training has been a big thing we've worked on this summer and we have also tried to get out and do some things once or twice a week so we're not totally stuck in the house. We worked on Madelyn's room and got a lot of organization done in that regard as well as had a huge garage sale to get rid of some of our boy clothes and what-not. 

I'm hoping I'll be able to keep myself in the mode of updating. I'm working a part-time job as well as my school job however and it requires a lot of the little free time I have after school and family life. We'll see. I make no promises :P

Months later...

Well that's the longest I've gone without posting in a while.

Right now we're still living with Caleb's parents. My certification process has been going as planned. I took my tests, passed and then had my interview. I have been recommended for certification and am now just waiting for the state board meeting for official approval.

I'm excited to get started as an official librarian, it is still pretty surreal that I even have my master's.

As for Nathan, he is an absolute joy. He is 20 months old now and is just that happiest, giggly little kid I've ever seen. Of course, he does have his moments...he is almost two after all, but most of the time he's happy and gets comments on how good he is.

His talking is just starting to emerge. While he's been saying words off and on since he was a year old, he hasn't really "talked" like a lot of kids his age. I would say he's a late talker but that it is starting to really pick up lately. What he says is sometimes difficult to understand however, and at times only momma and daddy know that "ah-ca!" is "bad cat!".

He loves to read books and has a few favorite shows. The Backyardigans, Thomas and most recently, (as in today) he has decided he really likes Dragon Tales.

Easter was a treat. Nathan did really well dying eggs (no major mishaps involving the dye) and caught on really quickly with the whole "egg hunt". He had a blast and is still carting his plastic eggs and basket around the house.

Next month he's going to be in my sister's wedding in Colorado. I'm very excited for the whole thing. It's over Memorial Day weekend and we'll be taking off work for a few days so we can drive out there. Hopefully he'll do well during the actual ceremony, but even if he has a meltdown, he'll look very dapper while he does!

I'll try to get back into a routine of some sort when it comes to blogging. There is no real reason I stopped other than we're just in a different environment and Caleb and I are sharing the laptop since our desktop is packed away. I'm so ready to stop living out of boxes!

 I'll leave you with some recent pictures:

Getting read to dye Easter Eggs

Giving me a solemn look (that looks more mad than anything) while hunting

 for eggs on a rainy Easter morning.

Showing off his Easter best! (Momma did a bad job

 getting pictures of our Easter outfits)

Enjoying our trip to Stillwater to have lunch with Granna

With Momma & Daddy!

Showing off his artistic skills

Okie-homey

We've been living in Oklahoma for over a month now. I was very ready to leave Chicago but I knew I would eventually start to miss it. That time as come. I don't regret moving because I know this was definitely the best thing for us, but I am missing it a little.

I'm still getting used to this being my home now...at the moment Chicago still feels like home and I miss our couch, our apartment, etc. Since we're living with Caleb's parents we don't have a lot of our stuff  out so it still feels like we're visiting. It's a weird feeling.

Anyway, Nathan is absolutely amazing. He's is such a blast to be around...he's a total ham and loves everyone. We tried out a new church yesterday and he waltzed right into the new nursery and started playing. No problem. I think I'm completely spoiled with this kiddo...we'll see what happens with the next one! He's still not really talking a lot. He has some words that he says every now and then, but for the most part he doesn't use them. He knows everything we say to him though and tends to look at us like "I know it, but I'm not saying it" anytime we ask him to say a word. I have a feeling when he does start talking it'll be in complete sentences.

One new thing Nathan has been doing is dancing. He LOVES music and anytime he hears any he starts dancing. It just amazes us because he gets the rhythm down and everything. He's even started turning the cd player on by himself. I love it.

Caleb is still searching for a job here in town. I'm hoping he'll find something soon, but the job market is tough. I'm so thankful for my banking experience because I don't think I would of had any luck finding much without it. My job is going well. It's about 20 miles away without traffic so the commute is the exact same as in Chicago. I like it alright, everyone is very nice and I'm enjoying just being a teller. Being a Teller Supervisor was WAY too stressful for me. I will be happy to get into a library again though!

Blessings

I guess I just have to admit that I'll never be a good blogger. It's been such a crazy couple months, I haven't really had the energy to devote to blogging anyway.

Classes and work ended quickly. It was hard leaving my job for the last time, I really loved it there. Our move out of Chicago did not go nearly as smoothly as I had hoped.

We had wanted to be out by evening on Tuesday the 21st but didn't actually get out of the Chicagoland area until 5:30 on Wednesday the 22nd. It was about 4pm on Tuesday that we realized we were not going to be able to fit everything into the gigantic 26-foot truck we rented. At that point we had to make some decisions.

We ended up renting a small storage unit near our apartment (as well as a Uhaul van to get stuff there) so we could store what we couldn't fit in the truck. Caleb and his dad are going to head back up sometime in the next couple weeks to go get it all. How do we have all of this stuff? It just amazes me. We left a couch behind too...it could have been even worse!

Finally we got to Bartlesville (at 5am on Thursday) and had a whirlwind of a Christmas. That Sunday we headed out to Colorado to spend a week with my family and just got back on Saturday night.

This week has been filled with job interviews for me. I was able to get three interviews this week so I was already feeling very blessed. I am quite aware of how difficult it is to get interviews in a normal economy, much less the one we're in at the moment.

My first bank interview went well and we'll see sometime next week what happens there. However, my official Library Media Specialist interview went amazing! The principal offered the job to me on the spot. It is for next school year, so I'm hoping to get one of the bank jobs in the mean time but I can't tell you how excited I am!

On the downside, it is in Oklahoma City which is about 2 to 3 hours away from Caleb's parents. Not an awful distance, but we were hoping to be closer. I am also a little wary of why no one else seems to have wanted this position. I don't know if it just has to do with the school being in a low income area or because it's in OKC Public Schools? I really don't know, but I can't pass up a job offer as a SLMS. It's a full time position, I don't have to travel and while it might not be absolutely ideal (I have no idea that it won't be, but if it isn't) yet I have to take it.

Caleb's cousin & wife live close by and it will be great being near them. I do plan on continuing my job search just to be safe as well as to take advantage of any positions that might be a little closer to the Tulsa area - but overall we're feeling incredibly blessed at the moment. I really feel moving back was the right decision.

Wow...

Not really sure what my excuse is this time, I guess I've just been wasting my free time doing other things besides blogging. I certainly haven't been doing anything super important. Things have been going along normally here. Work, Class, etc.

I have managed to pack a little more but I there is still so much to do. Right now I'm mainly concerned with Caleb's stuff. I'm not so sure it's going to be packed in time. Despite being home w/ Nathan all day he tends to not be the most motivated when it comes to things he doesn't enjoy. Packing ranks high on that list.

I guess I should plan my posts out a little better. My mind is blank and I know I have more to say. It seems so daunting though this evening. I'm tired and I just want to read my book. I guess I'll be wrapping it up here. Wish I could pull it together and write something worth reading!

Guess what? 31 days left...where did the time go?