A Christmas Card from the Shaws

School is finally over for a while and I have really enjoyed the time off. It is nice to teach 3 of the same classes each day (much less prep time), but the immaturity of the freshmen is about to drive me nuts! I almost had it worked out that I would get a student teacher the first half of next semester and then my maternity leave the last half. That would have been amazing, but of course the scheduling did not work out and she must come the last part of the semester.

I hope that each of you are getting geared up for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We have enjoyed getting Christmas cards from many of you and they are all displayed on the dining room table. The cat, Alba, loves to slide across it to send the cards flying in every direction! Speaking of her, you can see the latest picture of the whole family up above in front of the tree. There is Josh and Chloe, too. We are thankful that Alba has more interest in the tree skirt than the actual tree it self. It is a new place for her to hide under to stalk and attack us.

Next year the pets will probably be long forgotten and the focus shifted to the new addition. We are trying to prepare them for this transition. I start my third trimester next week on New Year's Eve. I will make sure to post a better profile of me at that time. Josh and I will be celebrating NYE in the Dominican Republic this year and we can't wait! Don't worry...I will bring plenty of sunscreen. The recent weather has been so weird here lately that I actually had to mow the grass one last time last weekend. And guess what...I got sunburned! That is pretty bad, I know. This poor baby will probably come out albino.

Week 24

It is weird because half of the time I feel like I have been pregnant forever, but then to think that I am almost in my third trisemester seems impossibly fast. I just blame it on the hormones...like I do with everything else.

There has been a little excitement in southern Indiana in the past couple of weeks. We are lucky enough to have a railroad track go through our driveway...but trains hardly ever use it. When they do, we get really excited to go count the number of cars attached and there has been a high score of 3 so far! But anyway, the first weekend of December the city council drew names of community kids to take a special ride on the "Polar Express". It was a cute train with one car decorated with lights that travelled from North Vernon, past our house, and into Vernon (a 4 mile round trip). Josh and I were able to put up our lighted Christmas tree on the balcony before the first trip came by. It was fun to see all the kids excited and waving. (The newly added picture is a little dark, but you can see the train and our lighted tree on the balcony!)

I was able to finally make it up to Chicago this past weekend to visit with my sister and my good friend, Brenda. Though it was C-O-L-D, we had a great time. I gained 3 pounds just from the weekend! Sarah is doing well and excited to get started on the nusery bedding. I went out on Saturday night with Brenda, a few friends from the Taylor University days, and some other crazy girlfrends of Brenda. We were celebrating the upcoming wedding of Mark and Brenda. The ceremony is over New Year's in the Domincan Republic...and your's truly is in the wedding! Josh and I cannot wait for the vacation. I just hope I don't gain much more weight so I can still fit into the bridemaids dress. Don't worry, I will post pictures.

The goal this afternoon is to pick out the perfect tree and finally did it decorated. I always grew up with a fake tree, but I love that we get a live one...you can't beat that smell. It has become an important part of Christmas. The interesting part will be what the crazy cat, Alba, will do. I am guessing that the tree will fall over at least 3 times. Each year I find ornaments that represent the year. This year we add to our collection an ornament from New Orleans, Niagara Falls, one for Alba's first Christmas, one of a tent and campfire, and of course one of an expantant snowwoman. Hopefully I will get my act together this week and get Christmas cards out! Not many days are left.

Well, I guess that is all for now. A shout out goes out to Erin...it was great to visit with you last night. No big baby news right now...people are just now noticing my little bump. Love you all!

HE'S A BOY!

Josh and I went for the 20 weeks ultrasound Tuesday and found out that we are having a little boy! Somehow I figured that...mother's intuition, I guess. :) We go have a few pictures from it, that will be posted once Josh scans them in. Everything on the ultrasound looked good...organs, limbs, and movement. Speaking of movement, I have really been able to feel his kick and move around this week. Even Josh can feel the strong ones when his hand is on my little belly. We are looking at naming our son David, but we don't know about a middle name yet. Give me your suggestions!

Josh has been hard at work in the nursery. He raised and leveled the ceiling, put in an awesome sky light, and is now installing new lights and a double window. It will soon be my favorite room in the house. I can't wait to see it all completed. My sister, Sarah, has all been elected to make my crib neccessities like the bumper, dust ruffle, etc. I found the most adorable pattern of fabric called Over the Moon. I just love it. I think it will look perfect in our house.
We are looking forward to rooting for the Boilermakers this weekend as they take on IU. Well, I am more looking forward to seeing my good friend Lissa and her little girl Emma. Looks like it will be chilly, but I am glad that that there won't be rain.

I promise to get some pictures in soon. Truthfully, now that the baby is bigger now, the images are harder to make out. The baby takes after Josh and refused to turn his head the correct way to get a good picture. What can you expect?

Maternity Clothes

The day has finally come to start wearing maternity clothes...or the pants at least! Let me tell you, it is like have sweatpants from the hips up and khakis from the hips down! I am sure all with kids are thinking...yeah, you get over that feeling quick. But I am taking it for all it is worth! Though I don't have much of a belly, I started having trouble buttoning my pants after lunch each day. In fact yesterday, I felt light-headed because of the pants I was wearing were too tight! No joke!

Josh has finished tearing down the ceiling in the nursury only to find what we thought was drywall to be nasty plater and lath board. I don't really know what lath board is, but it was a big mess. Also, with every chunk of plaster that came down ancient ash from a previous fire sailed through the air. Disgusting! But progress is being made and I am thankful that I have such a handy husband.

Fall Break!

I am so excited to have a few days away from school and catch up on grading papers and house work. Josh currently has the base-board heater from the dining room demolished to try to fix it. I hate that we have to start thinking about turning on the heat already in October! Gas bills are my least favorite...in the winter it is not fun to have an ancient house. This morning I had the great luck of finding water dripping from the kitchen ceiling...have I mentioned that we love living in an old house???

School has been going well...only one problem child (out of 75)...so I can't complain too much. The past couple of weeks have been strange with the large frequency of fights. However, it is a good way to not see the bad kids for a while. We had parent-teacher conferences the past two days and I had a record turn out...10 PARENTS! Yeah, that is like 13%...I don't take it personally, though.

I don't know about anyone else but I think liked my first trimester more than the second! Since I had no morning sickness, only little fatigue, and no food adversions during the first three months, I am a little miserable trying to barely fit into my pants and skirts! It is now that I am dealing with more tiredness and headaches. Maybe I was a little too luckily in the early stages. I am trying my hardest to stay out of maternity clothes as long as possible! My next appointment in next Thursday and I hope everything will continue to be well.

I guess that is enough ramblings for now. I am in my computers class...watch out...I am learning about Microsoft Publisher. I feel like a 2nd grader...

Here are a couple pictures taken today of our crazy family. I guess a tripod wouldn't be a bad purchase in the future! The little gray cat is named Alba (Spanish for Dawn) and the one-eyed chocolate lab is Chloe. We make quite a bunch. Funny story about little Alba...last week she told me that she was lonely and went out and found a friend! Infortunately this "friend" was a black rat snake about 1.5 feet long! The poor little snake was alive, but scared stiff when we came home. Alba would let it slither away a bit and then bat it back to her. She was a little upset when we took her only friend away and released him back into the woods.

First Post!

Okay, okay...here I am with a blog...like I have time to do this...
Actually, I am taking a super boring Grad class called "Computers in Education"...blogs apply, right?

Just a little update about the Shaw family in Vernon and Wattersons in various places...

• We are expecting a new addition to our family at the end of March. (Everyone is saying its a boy...we kind of hope so!)
• I am currently teaching all Freshmen Biology classes at Madison Cons. High School. (I am sure funny stories will follow...or mostly just frustrating ones.)
• Most of my time is consumed to graduate classes at Indiana University Southeast. Right now I have the computer class mentioned above and the hardest class I have had this century...IMMUNOLOGY! Uck!
• Josh keeps himself busy working on our house. He just finished painting the carriage house to match the house. Next is the NURSERY!
• The parents are great...they bought a camper and think that they are going to be snowbirds to Florida in the winter!
• The sister are doing their thing...Shannon with the 4 kids are as busy as ever and Jason will be running uncontested for prosecutor. Yeah...he's big time! Sarah got married over Memorial Day weekend in Niagara Falls to Frank. They live in Chicago.

Here is a picture of the ultrasound. There will be another one near Thanksgiving when we can find out the gender.

The baby looks upside down from this picture. You can kind of see little hands and feet. Plus there is the umbilical cord down below.

Once I start getting a belly, I will post a picture of me. Right now I am holding my pre-pregnancy weight. Though I am sure that won't last for long!

Well, I guess I have taken enough time for now. I will try to get some other pictures up soon. Feel free to leave a comment or the old-fashion way of calling!

Steph