A busy December!

We are finally on Christmas break! Luke finished up his exams last week and I had my concerts at school on Tuesday night and then taught through Friday and now we are done! I do have a teacher workday tomorrow, then we have a doctor's appointment and our last childbirth education class tomorrow night. First thing Tuesday morning, we are off to spend 12 days in Greenwood, SC, with the Tolbert clan. We are so looking forward to some rest and some wonderful family time! Here are a couple of pictures from this past week.

My 7th and 8th Grade chorus at our concert on Tuesday night

7th grade orchestra performing at the concert

Luke and I at the wedding of some good friends on Saturday night...
I think this can count as the 32 week tummy shot too!

Christmastime at the Tolberts!

Well, we are definitely ready for Christmas around here. We put up our tree and all of our Christmas decorations in plenty of time to enjoy them for a while before we head to SC for Christmas. I thought I would share a little tour of our Christmas-y home!

Front entryway ledge


Our 7.5 foot Tree!
(You would think that this being our third Christmas as a married couple, we would have a tree topper by now, but we haven't found one we really like yet...so alas, no topper...)

Living Room curtains

Nativity from Texas

Bolivian Nativity on the kitchen windowsill



Kitchen Table



Kitchen sink mat



More kitchen stuff



Back door

Our Advent calendar - a family tradition affectionately known as "Christmas in a Can"
(see below)


Coffee Table...on the left side you will see the can that keeps all of the Advent calendar supplies!

And my personal favorite...

Our stockings...all three of them!
(No this will not be her permanent stocking, but a friend gave it to me and I couldn't resist putting it up!)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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!

Everything's great!

Well we had a doctor's appointment after school today and everything is perfect! We heard the baby's nice strong heartbeat and the doctor said I am measuring exactly right for being just past 20 weeks. The only thing they said that I need to do is eat more iron-rich foods...so I guess we need to go buy some spinach or raisins or something! They did say that I am right on with my weight gain, which is good because I thought I'd gained a ton already. Anyway, it was a great appointment and we really like all of the doctors in our practice, which is great since one of them will be delivering our little girl!

20 week tummy shot!

Alright, there's definitely no hiding it anymore (not that I was trying to)! I think it's pretty clear in these pictures that there's a baby there! In fact, today at school was the first time that a stranger noticed that I was pregnant. It was picture day at school and I had to go down to get my picture taken for my ID badge and for the yearbook and when I got there the photographer said, "Wow, it looks like we'll be taking pictures for 2!" It's a good thing I really am pregnant and not just chubby around the middle because he probably would have felt pretty bad!

That's about all the news around here for now. Other than that I'm just really excited it's finally the weekend! In fact, our principal just e-mailed the whole staff and told us to just go ahead and take Monday off if we want to (it's supposed to be a teacher workday). Kinda nice! I'll still probably go in for a couple hours to get some work done, but I definitely won't stay the whole day...so it's almost like a 3-day weekend!

First gifts from the grandmothers!

I promise that I won't post pictures of every single baby outfit gift that our little girl receives, but these two were too cute and from two very special people that they just had to make the blog! Luke and I are so blessed to both have wonderful parents who we know already love our baby so much! I love how these two baby outfits actually tell you a little bit about each of our moms:

First we have a little handmade Bolivian sweater outfit from my mom who lives in Bolivia. I think it will keep the baby nice and warm!

Next we have an absolutely adorable gingham and polka dot outfit with a cow on the front from Luke's mom who grew up on a cattle ranch in Texas...perfect!

Thanks Mom and Mom! We love you!

~Patty

Great friends!

Well, by 9pm last night we had already received a beautifully decorated cake and hairbow as well as three adorable outfits for our baby girl! We truly do have wonderful friends! First to stop by were Christy, Mike and baby Logan. Christy is one of my best friends from high school and she and her husband are now here at seminary with us. She baked and decorated this amazing onesie cake and made the hairbow as well!

Right after Christy and Mike left, our good friend Kelly stopped by with her two boys Seth and Levi. I think Kelly is a little excited to buy some little girl clothes for a change! I should have gotten a picture of Seth handing me the gift, but I didn't...so a picture of the outfits will have to suffice!

Thank you so much everyone! We truly have wonderful friends and we love you all so much!

Baby's first outfit!

Well, there it is! Luke and I went out and bought our little girl this outfit as soon as we left the ultrasound! We are so excited and she is absolutely beautiful...but I'll let you see that for yourselves!

Apparently she really likes to keep her hands up by her face! Anyway, it was probably the coolest experience either one of us have ever had. We got to spend a good 45 minutes just looking at our little girl...we saw all four chambers of her heart, all the parts of her brain, her spine, her kidneys, her arms, legs, hands, feet, and of course her pretty face! We now feel like we really understand what the Psalmist was saying when he talked about being "knit together in his mother's womb" and that he was "fearfully and wonderfully made." We serve an amazing God and hope that this little one will grow up and worship Him too!

Today is the day!

Well, we are headed to work and Patty can't wait for 3:15 to get here. Check back this evening for a blog post with the big announcement. Then we can start getting suggestions of names, especially if it is a boy - I don't think we have any boy names yet. I am not sure that it matters anyways because Patty is convinced that we are having a girl. So pray for Patty because I don't think she is going to be thinking about school at all today - good thing we are having assemblies during electives. Of course, a prayer for me and the baby would be good too.
~Luke

Ultrasound Tuesday!

Hey everyone!
We just wanted to let you know that we are scheduled to have "the Big ultrasound" on Tuesday afternoon at 3:15. So hopefully, by the time we get home, we should be able to update the blog and let you know whether we are expecting baby girl Tolbert or baby boy Tolbert! I'll go ahead and put my cards out there and say that I would honestly be super excited either way, but that I just have a feeling it's a girl...I guess we'll see if I already have that motherly instinct or not! Do any of you have any guesses as to whether we're going to have a boy or a girl?
~Patty

It's a baby!

Well, after many many requests from parents and siblings, we have decided to start a blog for our growing family! We are so excited to welcome our first little one on or around February 13, 2010. We will be using this blog to share how the pregnancy is going, and then of course tell you all about our baby! We are so excited about this wonderful blessing that God has chosen to give us and look forward to sharing our stories with you. Also, I know some of you want to see the first couple of ultrasound pictures taken at 14 weeks as well as pictures of my baby bump, so here they are!

Sucking a thumb!

Baby's back/ribs

This is me at 16 weeks. I'm now at 18, so the bump is a little bigger now.
We'll post more pictures soon!