Baby Room

Over Spring Break, we were able to finish the nursery, and some of the living room! Since Nkere was out of town, a few of my WONDERFUL friends came over and helped me. They did an amazing job, and I was so impressed. Nkere actually didn't know about the living room until he came home. I didn't decide I was going to paint it until after he left, so I thought I would surprise him. :) He actually loved both rooms, and was so appreciative of our friends who helped out.
So here's to Betsy, Jared, Niki, and Jeff! Thank you!
Hope you like the pictures!

Part time

I went to my boss a couple months ago, asking to work part time next year. She has known for four years now that this was my plan when we had a baby. When I talked to her, I knew she wouldn't give me an answer right away, but she was very positive, encouraging, and said she would let me know as soon as she found out (the decision is above her head). At first, I felt kind of hopeful because of the way they talk to me and tell me how much they want me there. The problem with special education, at least in the district I work in, is that we are pretty much at the bottom of the totem pole of importance. They never hire enough speech therapists, etc, and they just end up spreading us as thin as possible. For example, the Texas Speech and Hearing Association states that your caseload should only be 40-45. That doesn't even count workload. My caseload this year is close to 70, and has been as high as 100 in the past. How ridiculous for administration to think that's okay to do to their employees? But I figure I'm organized and efficient with my time, so I get the job done. I want to tell my bosses that the district isn't going to build schools, and not hire enough teachers! But they feel like they can do that with special ed. Anyway, I called my boss today to see if she had an answer for me. Disappointingly, she was unemotional and just straight forward with me. She didn't tell me no (yet), but she said she doesn't have an answer, and it doesn't look good. That's it?!! After four years of dedication, loyalty, and very hard work, that's the answer I get? I just have a feeling that when I ask her again in a few weeks, she'll just say no to part time altogether. I just feel really sad about the whole thing because 1)I've been a really good employee for them, 2)I've always had such respect for my bosses, 3)I feel like they should fight for people they want. I don't think they're fighting for my position at all! Maybe I'm just being unrealistic and in a fantasy world, but I believed her when she said she would do everything she could to keep me. Why would you want to keep having turnover and have to train new people (you never really know who you're gonna get), when the parents and kids you work with feel comfortable and like their speech therapists? I guess it doesn't matter that much to the administration, but I see it differently.
So I'm just going to keep praying about it, and if God closes this door, I pray that he clearly opens another one. I just want to stay home a little with my baby!

Kid's questions

As you know, I work in 2 elementary schools. At one of my schools, I have a 2nd grade group that is very interested in my belly and the baby. I have a sonogram picture on my desk that they look at every week. They constantly ask questions, like "When is the baby coming?" and say "You better bring your baby up here so we can see it." One little girl in particular loves to touch my stomach and tells me that I get bigger every time she sees me (which is twice a week). :) She also told me not to let anyone but her touch my stomach, not even my husband. Hehe. Well, the other day, the same girl came up to my desk (where they practice their sounds in words and sentences), and she asked "Do you have to get a shot to get pregnant?" I immediately smiled, not knowing what to say, and obviously not telling her any more information. For a minute I thought the other kids were going to spill the beans, because they were laughing at her question. Then fortunately, another little girl interrupts, and said "No, silly, you pray." I loved it!! So I immediately said, "Yes, I prayed for this baby." After all, it was true!

It's a...

Boy!! I know this doesn’t come as a surprise to most of you who are reading. It’s been almost two months since we found out. We went to our doctor’s appointment on Monday, December 22, at 8:00 a.m. We had already been up for quite some time, checking our bags in early at the airport, since our flight left at 10:15! We were cutting it close. Fortunately, the sonographer was right on time and got us in promptly. As he was getting everything ready, he asked if we wanted to know the gender. I immediately said “Yes, but I think it’s a boy!” I’m not exaggerating, the moment he put the wand (I don’t know what the technical word is for it) on my belly, he said “You’re right, it’s a boy!” I was so excited and looked over at Nkere to see the big smile on his face. What he told me later was that he wanted to see the heart beat and make sure everything else looked good before he got too excited. The doctor said everything looked great! We saw his legs kicking and him sucking his thumb! It was the coolest thing ever! Everyone had asked us before what we wanted the baby to be. We both honestly said we don’t care, we just want it to be healthy. I think/know some people think that’s a cop-out answer for some reason. I mean, I know everyone wants a healthy baby; who wouldn’t? And I don’t think it’s bad at all to have a preference of boy or girl! We would have been thrilled with either! But if you know what my job is, and what I do for a living, you would understand why I said that. No one wants their child to be disabled in any way! I decided not to have the amniocentesis test done to check for Downs’ Syndrome. But I was asking my doctor some questions about it, and he came back with a great question. He said “Well, would you do anything different?” Of course I wouldn’t! I felt like there was no reason to get tests run when I’m going to love this baby no matter what.
So, in case you’re wondering, our colors are brown and turquoise!! We can’t wait to meet him!

I'm pregnant!

I know, I know…I have been horrible at writing anything on here for several months! I will really try and do better, because I do want to have my thoughts recorded to look back upon later. September 13th was one of the happiest days of our lives! Nkere and I knew it was either going to be a really great day, or another disappointing day. We had been trying to get pregnant for 9 months, which may not be long to some people, but felt like an eternity to us. It’s such an emotional roller coaster, and I got tired of crying every month and wondering why we couldn’t get pregnant. Nkere and I went to breakfast that morning, and I was supposed to take the pregnancy test when we got home, but I continued to put it off. I waited until about 1:00, Nkere was taking a nap, and I figured I would take it then so I could cry to myself when he was sleeping. I didn’t let myself think in any way that I could be pregnant. Well, it sure didn’t take long for it to come back positive!! I think I about hyperventilated! I was shaking and trying to put batteries in the camera so I could wake Nkere up with the test. He apparently was in a deep sleep, because he didn’t know what I was trying to tell him when I woke him up. I could tell he was really excited, but immediately cautious about the whole thing. He didn’t want us to tell anyone for the first 3 months!! I told him I had to tell our family and close friends, at least! But we agreed to at least wait until my first doctor’s appointment. That agreement was quickly broken in 2 days, when he called practically everyone he knew to tell them the exciting news.  So I was definitely going to tell my family that night. I wanted to be somewhat creative, which isn’t me at all, to tell my parents. My mom has a birthstone baby necklace, with her other 4 grandkids on it, so I decided to get a birthstone baby for May. I wanted to get a boy, but they didn’t have any more, so I just got the girl. I’ve always had a feeling that we would have a boy first, and I was still sure it was a boy.
Anyway, I went to my parent’s house, where my sister and brother-in-law were temporarily staying, and gave my parents the box. I told them it was an early anniversary present, which didn’t make sense at all since I’ve never gotten them one before. When they opened it, mom quickly figured out what I was trying to tell them. Dad kind of looked at me with confusion.  So I said “Dad, I’m pregnant!” After that, Amanda and Paul came in and heard the news. They were all very excited. The funniest part of the night was when we told Gracie Claire that Aunt Gracie was going to have a baby. She first said “Where is it?” I told her that it was in my belly. Then we asked her what she thought I was going to have, and without hesitation, she said “It’s a boy…his name is Percy.” We all laughed, and wondered where she came up with Percy! She has remembered that name and still calls the baby Percy.
Another exciting thing was getting to tell my closest friends as well. I remember Hope coming up to me at church on Saturday night (before we were telling people) and asking what the test results were. I totally had to lie to her, especially since other people were standing around. It was funny because she later said that I acted awfully fine with not being pregnant. Later, I called and told her that I had lied to her; she was so excited. I called Jodi and Betsy to tell them. Betsy was in the truck with Jared, and I remember her screaming at the top of her lungs in excitement! It was a great sound. I was able to tell my friend, Niki, in person. It was such a special time.
All of these moments were awesome, and something I will never forget. It was such a great feeling to know that all of these people were praying for us, and I was able to tell them what God had blessed us with!

Florida

I wanted to write about the rest of our Spring Break, since the cruise was only half of it. We had driven all night (I kept singing Celine Dion’s song “I Drove all Night…to get to you”) after work to get to Jacksonville, FL. That’s where Nkere’s sister lives, and where the port was for the cruise. We got to their house about 3 pm the next day (16 hour drive) and hung out with the fam. Nkere’s sister, Nkese and her husband Maurice cooked dinner for us while we played with the kids. Our oldest niece, T’nai, is now 8 years old! She was only 5 when we got married. Kennedy will be 2 in June, and little “Reece” (short for Maurice) was 6 weeks old at the time.


Obviously, this was the first time Nkere and I got to see our new nephew, so we were very excited, and both baby hogs! I didn’t know how Nkese would be with letting us hold him or be alone with him. Since we don’t live around them, I don’t know her as well as I would like, so I didn’t know how she would react. So that being said, we had all gone to Wal-Mart (4 adults, 3 kids= chaos) real quick for a couple of things. Kennedy was in the back of the cart and Reece was in his car seat in the front. Well, everyone soon left me with the cart and kids in tow. I was fine until Reece got hungry and started screaming in his car seat. Now remember, I didn’t know how Nkese would be with me getting him out, so I just let him scream. It was kind of uncomfortable for a minute, with people staring at this white girl and two “random” black kids by themselves. Everyone probably thought, “Who is she, and what is she doing with those kids?” Fortunately, Nkese wasn’t too far away, and yelled “Gracie, you can get him out.” I was very thankful because he calmed down and I was able to walk around with him the rest of the time. So I quickly realized that she didn’t care where or when I held him, and she trusted me with her son. What a relief! Plus, I figured since it’s her third kid, most moms seem to be a lot more relaxed than they were with their first. Maybe I’m just assuming.


The next day we left on the cruise, so when we got back, we stayed with them again for 2 days. We went and picked up T’nai from school and hung out with them at night. It was pretty quiet during the day…Nkese was back at work from maternity leave, and Maurice works nights, so he tries to sleep and do house work during the day. So we didn’t do much, but it was nice being there for a few days. I always feel bad for Nkere because his family is so far away. His mom and Nelson are in Washington, his dad’s in California, and sister in Florida. I would be devastated if I only got to see my family once (maybe twice) a year. I can always tell that Nkere’s kind of emotional when we leave his family. He doesn’t let me see it, but I know he is. I just hope his family comes to see us when we have kids. I already told Nkere that I’m not flying with little babies or 3 kids with me! He’s probably going to have to take a few trips up to Washington by himself. I guess we’ll just deal with it when the time comes.

The Bahamas!

Well, I noticed I haven’t written a blog in over a month, so sorry! I guess I just don’t find much to write about…everyone else seems to always write about their kids (usually). Not that I don’t love reading about them, I do.
Anyway, Nkere and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas for Spring Break! It was awesome! It was a 4 day cruise, which was long enough for me. We went on one for our honeymoon two years ago, which was 7 days long. So this time, we were comparing this cruise to the last. We both agreed that our first cruise was the best, in most areas. This one had a lot of high school and college kids on it, which made Nkere feel really old, but then again, the parties on the ship were a lot more fun! We did a lot of dancing (sorry “COC”) and sun tanning. Of course, what do I do? I got burned so bad AGAIN! I got actual sun poisoning on our honeymoon (didn’t know that could happen), and I’m pretty sure I got it again. I’ve never peeled so bad in my life…it was pretty gross. So I hope I’ve finally learned my lesson.
On our trip, we went to Freeport on the second day, and Nassau on the third day. We loved Nassau! The people there are constantly trying to sell you something or braid your hair. The women always ask (in their Jamaican accent) “You want your hair braided, beautiful?” Or they would call you “Bahama Mama”. I thought that was funny. We went on a water taxi to Atlantis, where the famous Atlantis Hotel is. It’s only $25,000 a night to stay there!! I couldn’t believe it. I’m thinking what could possibly be in those rooms for it to be worth $25,000? We went inside and walked through the huge casino, looked at the aquarium, and the private beach for the guests. Must be nice! Then we took a long detour to get to the beach. I usually just wade in the ocean, but this time, I got in and actually swam for a little bit. I kept getting back in because it was so hot…the water felt really great.
On the ship, Nkere and I made some friends! We both met these people while laying out. Nkere met a guy he talked sports with for a couple of hours…we met up with him and his wife later. Then I met these two girls from New Hampshire. They were so fun, and I hung out with them a lot the rest of the cruise. They actually want me to come on a cruise with them next year! I probably won’t, but it would be fun to go with a bunch of girl friends. I really love going on vacation with Nkere though. We have a great time relaxing and hanging out together. Plus, I don’t really get to see him during football season, so this is a nice time to get away.
Well, that’s about it! We’re planning to go back to the Bahamas in June!