Weekly update...

Last weekend I went to Cushing with my mom-in-law Connie, sister-in-law Annika, and my nephew AJ to see Clay's grandma and go to church with her.  We don't get to spend a lot of time with AJ since they live in Texas so it was fun to spend some time with him.  Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Wal-Mart with Noni...

Weighing the produce...

The restaurant served salsa in a pitcher.  These random people let us take a picture of it.        We thought it was hilarious...

Straining after Mexican food.  

Typical guy...

He is starting to walk and it is so fun to watch him.  Grandma is helping him get started...

Well I spent this week sick.  I made it all last year and did not get sick at all, and the 3rd week of school I have already caught something.  I am assuming it was strep throat, that is what several teachers and kids have right now.  I called my OBGYN as soon as I felt it coming on and they prescribed me an antibiotic to take.  I went ahead and worked every day.  I really want to save my leave for when the baby comes.  I am finally feeling better today.  

Speaking of baby, Melody, Jaylen, Katie, Macy and I went to the baby consignment sale at the fairgrounds today.  I bought a newborn Valentine outfit for a boy or a girl.  

Here is a close up.  The phrases say "love you", "be mine", and "hug me."

I also bought three pregnancy books for $7!  I only spent $11 but I am sure I would have spent more if I knew the sex of our baby.  Which we will know in just two weeks!!  I will leave you with a picture of Jaylen trying on a chicken costume.  So cute!!

Kids say the darndest things......

The school year has started out well.  I am glad to have the first two weeks over and to be into a routine.  The first two weeks is spent constantly reminding them of the procedures and expectations you have for them.  So far it seems that I have a good group of kids.  My kids last year were so great that this group is going to have to work hard to top them!  I thought I would share a couple of quotes from my kids.  

Student 1 -  Setting: the first week of school.

Student 1: Mrs. Bryant, when do you find out what race your baby is?

Me:  Excuse me?

Student 1:  What race is your baby?

Me:  What do you mean?

Student 1:  You know, when do you find out if it is a boy or a girl?

Me:  Oh, you mean gender!  In that case we will find out in just a few weeks.

Student 2 - A student that I do not have in class so she was not aware I was pregnant.

Student 2:  Mrs. Bryant are you pregnant?

Me:  Why would you ask that?

Student 2- Because you stand with your hands on your back.  Only pregnant women stand like that.

Student 3- A new student who wasn't there the first week of school when I announced my pregnancy.

Student 4- A student in my class from the beginning.

Student 3:  Mrs. Bryant are you pregnant?

Me:  What makes you think that?

Student 3:  Because you have a belly.

Student 4:  Yeah you didn't have that the first week of school!

Me:  Yes, I am pregnant.

7th graders are so funny.  My ultrasound pictures are saved on my laptop and when kids ask me about them I show them.  It is funny how they think I am having a boy by looking at them because they're not sure what an umbilical cord is.  If it is a boy from what they're seeing, my husband would be proud!

What do you say to that?

Let me start off by saying I absolutely love my co-workers!  Okay now for the story I want to tell.  I have been very fortunate during my pregnancy to not have been sick or had many of the pregnancy symptoms.  I have, however, had the poor complexion.  I have struggled with acne all of my life, I have never had perfect skin.  Pregnancy has pointed that out even more.  Right before school started it was REALLY bad.  My mom says that it didn't help me being in the heat a lot two weeks in a row at camp and New Orleans.  Anyway, it was/is embarassing.  I have used Proactive for a few years now.  A girl in our youth group uses something called AcneFree that is similar to Proactive so I decided to try that.  I started using it the week before I went back to school and I could tell it was helping.  Maybe it had something to do with changing cleanser since I have used the same one for so long.  Anyway, I was feeling more confident because it was not as bad.  So I say all of this to set you up for a conversation at lunch earlier this week.  We were talking about pregnancy and one of my older co-workers turns to me and says "I noticed your complexion and I wanted to let you know my niece went through the same thing when she was pregnant."  Hmmm!  What do you say to that?  I guess it just surprised me because  I would never bring that up to someone in conversation unless they were talking about it.  I know she didn't mean it to insult me.  I just explained how I was glad it was better than it had been recently. I didn't think much more about it.  Well this morning I am greeted by a co-worker who recently had a baby.  She sells Mary Kay and handed me a bag that she said was a gift for me.  It was their cleanser, moisturizer, and acne treatment!  She said she really believed in it and she hoped it helped my complexion!  Now I love both of them to death and I know they both have my best intentions in mind and they in no way were trying to offend me.  But wouldn't that make you a little more insecure than you already are?  Especially being pregnant?  I am going to try the Mary Kay stuff and I do hope that it helps and I am really thankful to my friend for giving it to me.  But do you know what I mean?

On the other hand, here are a few 15 week belly pictures. This is from church on Sunday.

This was from Tuesday, the first day of school.  I told my students about the pregnancy and they said "you can't even tell."  Keep in mind that only a few of those kids had seen me before.  I sure can tell but I don't think it is completely obvious in this dress.  

Only 30 days left to vote!!

Today was my monthly appointment with Dr. Wilks.  I am 15 weeks pregnant.  We got to hear the heartbeat.  Clay wasn't able to go with me to the last appointment so that was his first time to hear it.  It was neat to see his reaction.  The heart rate was 154 bpm.  It has been really close to that every time we have seen or heard it.  My next appointment is September 11th.  They are going to schedule me for an ultrasound the day before or the day of my appointment.  Remember, I have to go to the hospital to get them done, my insurance won't pay for it in the doctors office.  At that time we will be able to find out the sex of the baby!  We are so excited to find out!  I can't believe that I am already this far along that we will find out next month.  That only leaves you a month to vote  in our Baby Bryant poll on the side if you haven't already.  Dr. Wilks told me she talked to some anesthesiologists and I will be able to have an epidural.  She wasn't for sure or not if I would be able to because of my back surgery.  We also discussed that if I had any back pain carrying the baby we would do a C-section, but if everything is fine then I will have a normal delivery.  

School starts tomorrow!!  I can't believe the summer is already over.  I am so thankful that I love my job and my co-workers.  I am actually excited about school starting.  Now don't get me wrong, no one ever just wants to go to work but I love teaching so I am not dreading going back.  It has been fun the last week getting everything ready for the kids.  It will be interesting to meet the kids.  I have been praying about them for a couple months.  I hope God will give me opportunities to touch their lives beyond an educational experience.  

Where did that come from?

If you will remember on Saturday I mentioned taking a belly shot this week at 14 weeks.  Well I took this on one Saturday.  I felt like I was showing but after seeing this picture I decided that I really wasn't (even though I could tell).  So that is when I mentioned that I would wait until later on on the week.  So here I was on Saturday after being at Cedar Lake from grandma's birthday.  

Sunday was the first time I had been at church in 3 weeks because of camp and the New Orleans trip and I just knew everyone would be able to see my belly.  Once again no one noticed it, just me.  However, on Monday my brother-in-law came over and saw me and said "you're getting fat!"  Now you have to know Cole, he was totally kidding about being fat but he could really see my belly.  It was like over night the baby grew, literally.  Here is a picture of me that I took Wednesday night.  Can't you see the difference?  

I went back to school on Tuesday and I had a few people comment about seeing my belly pooched out.  It looks a little bigger in the evening, I guess from the water I have had during the day.  I have been zipping my pants and rubber banding them but now they aren't zipping either!  Getting dressed in the morning has become a timely process!

First large baby items...

This past weekend I was picking up a few things from Target and I swung by the baby section just to glance.  I happened to see a stroller and car seat that I really liked.  I have looked online and in a few stores but I haven't seen anything I fell in love with.  When I saw this one I thought to myself "that is the one."  I mentioned it to Clay and he looked it up online and agreed.  He is not crazy about looking at baby stuff with me all the time so the fact that he did not tell me "no" was progress.  We have both really been stuck on blue and brown lately so I knew he would like it.  Anyway, I looked it up on Targets website on Monday to send a picture of it to my mom and there I noticed it was on sale.  It is brand new to the store.  The car seat and stroller were originally $199 on sale for $159 and the pack n play originally $149 on sale for $99!!  That is big savings!!  My mother-in-law had mentioned to let her know what we wanted them to get us so Clay called her.  She told us to go ahead and get it and then she would pay us back for some of it.  I don't know why I was nervous about buying it so early but 1) I'm not going to like anything better 2) it is gender neutral 3) it saved around $100 4) I can take it back to Target if for some reason I change my mind.  So, we got a car seat, stroller, and pack n play for $269!  We weren't going to buy ANYTHING until after showers but like I said my in-laws are going to pay us back for some and whatever expense we had is worth it I feel like.  Now I really am not going to buy anything else!  So now that I have kept you waiting, you can go here to see our purchase.  I couldn't figure out how to get the picture on my blog.    

Cast your vote....

I created a poll (to the right) to let you vote on whether we are having a boy or a girl.  According to babyzone.com and the Chinese Lunar Calendar we are more likely to have a girl.  I have my monthly appointment a week from today and then the next month we will be able to tell the sex.  That is approximately the first week of September.  I can't wait to find out!  Those of you who know me know that I am a planner and I have actually held off until I know the sex of the baby.  Just so you know where Clay and I stand, we want a healthy baby.  That is what we are praying for.  We also agree on wanting two children, one boy and one girl.  Therefore it really doesn't matter which one we have now, we are just praying for one of each.  And individually, not twins.  However, if God told me I could have a healthy baby AND choose what I could have I would say girl.  Clay would say boy.  We joke around about it but in all reality we will be so happy with either.  What do I FEEL like I am having you might ask?  A girl.  I really do.  Melody and I were talking about this a couple of weeks ago and she thought boy with both of her girls so I am not relying on this at all.  Only time will tell!

On the other hand, I made myself get up and around early this morning.  That is pretty impressive considering today is my last day of summer.  Teachers report and start meetings tomorrow.  I mentioned that during camp at LCCC I did great with not much sleep.  However, the week in New Orleans and there after have not been the same.  I have been back to napping.  I wanted to try and get eight hours of sleep last night and not nap today to get back in school mode.  I don't know if I was worn out from camp or if I really am not past the sleepy phase.  I have had a few people notice a baby bump the last few days.  Last week I had a few people tell me I had grown by the end of the week and a few people noticed at church yesterday.  I am planning on posting a picture this week but I think I'll wait to the end of the week so I am a good 14 weeks.  I really thought I would start school and be huge but that is not the case.  Well I have a ginormous list of things to get done on this last day of summer so I had better get busy.  Have a great day!

New Orleans and Grandma's Birthday...

Warning:  This post is enormous!

We had a very productive trip in New Orleans.  Or I should say they were all productive.  There were 15 of us total, 5 adults and 10 high school kids.  The first night we were there the preacher was telling us about how it was somewhat dangerous and we needed to be on our guard.  They told the adults (the kids don't know unless they are reading this now) that the area we worked in there have been 25 murders in the last 6 months.  Me being the paranoid person I already am, the info made me freak out even more.  But obviously it went fine.  We stayed at the Carrollton Avenue Church of Christ.  To tell your their story in a nut shell, their building was filled with about 8 feet of water for several weeks after Katrina.   They decided they wanted a bigger vision for the church after Katrina.  They purchased a building, and two houses around it in the Hollygrove area for $180,000, obviously very cheap, right after the hurricane.  They are planting a church there at Hollygrove.  The amazing thing is that they are spending their money on Hollygrove before they have even finished their own building.  They spent the week sheet rocking the auditorium of the Hollygrove building.  The first day the heat index was 107 and there was no air in the building so they said it would be about 15 degrees warmer.  The air was so humid in New Orleans, I will think twice before complaining about Oklahoma heat again.  Clay would not let Avis (an older lady from church) and I go to the work site because of the heat.  We stayed at the church and made breakfast and lunch and did some work in the kitchen for them.  And I will have to admit I did sneak in a few naps.  I didn't get very many pictures since I wasn't at Hollygrove.  And I didn't get before and after pictures.  Hopefully I can get some from the kids to post on here.  Here are a few that I got...

Lunch break.... Those sandwiches look great.  I wonder who made them?!

We couldn't have a trip with all work and no fun!  Here is our group (and some random people they decided to have join us) at Juan's Flying Burrito.  

This was one of my favorite parts of the trip.  We went to the famous Cafe Du Monde and had some beignets, which are French donuts.  To me they are like miniature funnel cakes.  

I bought the mix to try and make some at home.  I know they will taste nothing like the real thing but I will have to try sometime!

We got home Thursday evening.  I sure did miss my bed!!  On Saturday we spent the day at Cedar Lake (near Hinton) for my Grandma Jane's birthday.  It is tradition that we get together every year for this occasion.  There aren't many times except for holidays that we are all together so I really enjoy the time.  

Marlee (Todd's girlfriend), Todd (my brother), Cassie (Trey's girlfriend), Trey (my cousin who is 10 days younger in me and he is in med school at Tulsa)

My mom and Deegan (my cousin Tricia's son)

Clay and I enjoying the hammock

Almost sinking the paddle boat

Singing happy birthday to grandma

Watching grandma open presents

Grandma and LeRoy live on Cedar Lake and they have a wave runner, two four wheelers, paddle boat, fishing equipment etc. so it is always fun to go out to their house.  My grandma is 72 now and she still looks great and is in excellent health.  I sure hope I have her genes in me!!