November update

I know, I know, it's been way too long since I've posted. We really have been extremely busy over the last few weeks! But I figured I would take this opportunity to catch you up on what has been going on in the Tolbert house.

First, our school performance of the shortened Broadway musical Annie Jr. was a huge success! We sold out both nights and even got a great review (pictures and all) in the paper! Luke's parents also came up to see the show, and it was great to have them here for the weekend. Here is a picture of the entire cast at the dress rehearsal singing "Tomorrow".

Here's a fun picture of the whole cast in my classroom before the show - Break a leg!

We also made our first major baby purchase that same weekend - our all-in-one travel system (carseat/stroller)! We got a great deal on it and I love the pattern. Here is Daddy-to-be practicing!

Last Tuesday we headed up to DC to spend Thanksgiving with my sister, her husband, Wesley, brand new baby Cooper, and my mom who is here from Bolivia. We had a wonderful time snuggling baby Cooper and entertaining Wesley. We also had a great Thanksgiving dinner. We sure missed Dad, Andrew, Stephen, Rachael, and Leah though!

Before the feast!

Cooper with his big brother

Finally, we have also started a childbirth education class at the hospital. We have had two classes so far and we're really enjoying it and definitely learning a lot. Hopefully we'll be as prepared as we can be for our little girl's arrival in just 10 weeks!

And of course, no baby blog post is complete without an updated tummy shot. So here I am at 29.5 weeks.

Weekend in DC

Well, I don't think that I have many blog followers who don't also follow my sister's blog, but I really wanted to put these pictures up on mine too! Luke and I took a great (but short!) trip to DC this weekend so that I could go to Sarah's baby shower for Cooper and so that Luke could be there with Dustin to see Clemson destroy FSU =) Seriously though, we had a wonderful time with Sarah and Dustin and Wesley and are so excited to see them again in a couple weeks when we can meet Cooper too! Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend.

Sarah and I at the baby shower. 37 and 26 weeks pregnant, respectively!

Wesley and I before our walk to the park and Eastern market before we left on Sunday.

Thanks for a great weekend, Sarah, Dustin and Wesley and we'll see you soon!

100 days!

We have finally reached the 100 day mark! 180 days down and 100 to go. Only 100 days until our due date of February 13 (not that she'll come on that day in all likelihood, but close enough)! Sometimes 100 days seems like it's so far away, but then I know that it's really not that far at all, especially with everything we have coming up in the next couple months: our school musical Annie Jr. in 2 weeks, spending Thanksgiving in DC for the birth of our new nephew Cooper Andrew Hanks, December concerts for my chorus and orchestra, spending Christmas break with Luke's family, and then February will be right around the corner!

So I guess now it's time to really start getting ready for her arrival! We really haven't started any decorating of the nursery (but we have ideas!), or buying/registering for baby things, so we really do need to start that. We did just sign up for our Preparing for Childbirth class at the hospital though which starts in a couple weeks. Should be fun!

Well, she's doing some pretty intense kicking right now, so maybe she's hungry...or maybe I'm just hungry, but I'll blame it on her! Off to get some dinner!

Happy Hallowformationestival!

Last night we had a "Hallowformationestival" party for our 20-somethings group at church. We decided to name it that so that you could pick which holiday you wanted to celebrate (Halloween, Reformation Day, or just a Fall Festival)! Everyone came in costume and we had great fall themed food and even did some pumpkin carving! I debated long and hard about my costume, trying to figure out one that would work with my current stature, and ended up deciding on the Pillsbury Doughboy! Here is a picture of me with my husband, Charlie Brown.



The pumpkin carvers at work...





The finished products!


(Left to right these are Olive Oyl with her heart/initials pumpkin, me with my Clemson football helmet pumpkin, and The Economy with her Wakefield Baptist Church pumpkin!

And my pumpkin lit up...



Happy Hallowformationestival!

24.5 week appointment

Today we went to our 24 week appointment (though Patty is at about 24.5 weeks). The report was great - the doctor heard a very strong heartbeat, blood pressure was good, and Patty is actually measuring about 26 weeks.

Working at a middle school has placed us around a lot of students with the H1N1 virus. There were a couple of days at the beginning of the school year where my classes would be missing 1/4-1/3 of the students because they were sick. Thankfully neither Patty or I have gotten sick, but with the H1N1 still showing up in many of our students we asked about the vaccine today. The Dr. told us that they had ordered 2,000 doses but had only gotten 400 of them. The received about 200 last week and they were gone within a day. He then told us that they had a shipment come in today but it was at their other office. When the called to see if there were any doses left, they told us that we could probably get one if we could be there within 15 minutes. All that to say, Patty was a brave girl and got her H1N1 vaccine. According to Patty, the conversation with the sneaky nurse went like this...

Nurse: Hi, have a seat. How are you doing today?

Patty: I am doing well and you?

Nurse: That's a nice shirt you got on [followed by her jabbing the needle without warning Patty]

Patty: OW!

No, Patty didn't cry....but she still hasn't moved her arm and she made me take her out to eat at McAllister's.

In other news, we are having our Halloformationestival Party with our Sunday School class on Friday night (Halloformationestival is the combination of Halloween, Reformation Day, and Fall Festival...you can take your pick). there is a prize for the best costume and Patty is trying to think of some ideas. If you have any suggestions, you can leave a comment. And yes, there will be pictures to post on Saturday.

Have a Happy Halloformationestival Day!

Great weekend and a new tummy pic!

I know these pictures are later than promised, but somebody in this family "misplaced" our camera charger, so I haven't been able to take any pictures until this weekend when this person somehow managed to find said camera charger ;) Anyway, here are a couple of 23 week and 2 day tummy shots!

In other news, we just got home from a great weekend in SC visiting Luke's parents as well as his Grannie who just moved out from Texas. We so enjoyed sitting by the fire watching some great college football - both Texas and Clemson won, so there was much rejoicing in the Tolbert household!

Now it's back to school for another week with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Today was a little rough, but it was Monday...hopefully the rest of the week will be better!

Ouch, my ribs!

Well, our little girl apparently has some pretty strong arms and legs because I've been feeling serious kicks/punches lately! I know she's not that big yet, and it will only get stronger, but it's definitely enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, or make me lose my train of thought while I'm teaching! It really is so cool to just feel her in there, though, and know that she's moving around like she's supposed to.

Other than that, there's really not a whole lot more to update about right now...except for the fact that I feel like my stomach is getting bigger by the minute. I put on a pair of pants that felt totally fine this morning, but by the time I got home this afternoon, they were much tighter...I suppose that could just be natural fluctuation, but I'm pretty sure I'm bigger than I was this morning! I will do another tummy shot post this weekend and you all can see for yourselves!