Music Books for Good Homes

I really wanted to only post this as a facebook note but the Notes app wasn't enjoying my thousands of amazon links, so I'm posting here.

I'm looking to de-clutter a bit and stumbled upon a big box of (mostly) vocal music books that I haven't touched in years. So, they're free to a good home... although a donation to the Terri Hamilton Appreciation Foundation will not be declined.

I've included ISBN numbers and/or links to amazon where applicable. If you would like more info, such as a table of contents for one or more of the books, hit me up on facebook.

Broadway Love Songs 0-7935-1249-2

http://www.amazon.com/Broadway-Love-Songs-Broadways-Best/dp/0793512492/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325168394&sr=1-1

Greatest Songs of Jaci Velasquez (Med range) 0-634-06975-6

http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Songs-Jaci-Velasquez/dp/0634069756/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325168427&sr=1-1

The Art Song 0-8256-4025-3

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Song-MFM-Alice-Howland/dp/0825640253/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325168475&sr=1-1

Modern Chords, Advanced Harmony for Guitar (with CD) 0-7866-7129-7

http://www.amazon.com/Mel-Bay-presents-Modern-Chords/dp/0786671297/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325168510&sr=1-1

Charlie Parker Omnibook for C instruments

http://www.amazon.com/Mel-Bay-presents-Modern-Chords/dp/0786671297/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325168510&sr=1-1

The First Book of Soprano Solos 0-7935-0364-7

http://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Soprano-Solos/dp/0793503647/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325168578&sr=1-1

Arias for Mezzo Soprano 0-7935-0401-5

http://www.amazon.com/Arias-Mezzo-Soprano-Schirmer-Opera-Anthology/dp/0793504015/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325168598&sr=1-1

Music Minus One - Famous Soprano Arias (with CD) (can't find ISBN or amazon listing, message me for more info)

Music Minus One - Verdi Operatic Arias for Soprano & Orchestra (with CD)

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Minus-One-Soprano-Orchestra/dp/1596155434/ref=sr_1_25?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325168714&sr=1-25

Music Minus One - Everybody's Favorite Songs Vol. 2 for High Voice (with CD)

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Minus-Soprano-Bass-Baritone-Mezzo-Soprano/dp/1596154993/ref=sr_1_23?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325168631&sr=1-23

CD only: Pocket Songs Broadway Hits for Soprano

http://www.amazon.com/Broadway-Soprano-Karaoke-Various-Artists/dp/B0002HRZJU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1325169046&sr=8-4

The Definitive Love Collection 0-7935-3624-3

http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Love-Collection-Collections/dp/0793536243/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325169534&sr=1-1

The Best R&B Songs Ever 0-7935-7263-0

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Songs-Ever/dp/0793572630/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325169561&sr=1-1

Contemporary American Art Songs

http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-American-Songs-Bernard-Taylor/dp/B005AI3XVU/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325169622&sr=1-4

50 Art Songs 0-7935-4802-0

http://www.amazon.com/50-Art-Songs-Modern-Repertoire/dp/0793548020/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325169594&sr=1-1

Romantic American Art Songs (High Voice) 0-634-00224-4

http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-American-Art-Songs-Collection/dp/0634002244/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325169891&sr=1-1

The Complete Ave Maria 0-7935-1196-8

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Ave-Maria-Voice-Collection/dp/0793511968/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325169916&sr=1-1

The First Book of Tenor Solos (with 2 CDs) 0-634-02048-X

http://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Tenor-Solos-package/dp/063402048X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325169936&sr=1-1

Arias for Soprano 0-7935-0400-7

http://www.amazon.com/Arias-Soprano-Schirmer-Anthology-Schrimer/dp/0793504007/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325169963&sr=1-1

Contemporary Christian Wedding Songbook 0-7935-4291-X

http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Christian-Wedding-Songbook-Leonard/dp/079354291X/ref=cm_cmu_pg_t

The Best of Gospel & Inspirational Music Vol. 1

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Gospel-Inspirational-Music-Vol/dp/B0051AV7O2/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170076&sr=1-2

Lilith Fair - A Celebration of Women in Music 0-7935-9748-X

http://www.amazon.com/Lilith-Fair-Celebration-Women-Music/dp/079359748X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170580&sr=1-1

Counting Crows - August & Everything After 0-7935-3523-9

http://www.amazon.com/Counting-Crows-August-Everything-Guitar/dp/0793535239/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170602&sr=1-1

Life is a Caberet 0-7935-2357-5

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Cabaret-Nightclub-Repertoire-Singers/dp/0793523575/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170620&sr=1-1

Fiona Apple - Tidal 0-7935-9243-7

http://www.amazon.com/Fiona-Apple-Guitar-Artist-Songbook/dp/0793592437/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170641&sr=1-1

Counting Crows - This Desert Life 0-634-01512-5

http://www.amazon.com/Counting-Crows-Desert-Recorded-Versions/dp/0634015125/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170661&sr=1-1

Joni MItchell - HIts 1-57623-753-2

http://www.amazon.com/Joni-Mitchell-Hits-Authentic-Guitar-Tab/dp/1576237532/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170706&sr=1-1

Songs of the 80's 0-88188-875-3

http://www.amazon.com/Songs-1980s-Hal-Leonard-Corp/dp/0881888753/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170729&sr=1-1

Songs of the 40's 0-88188-564-9

http://www.amazon.com/Songs-1940s-Hal-Leonard-Corp/dp/0881885649/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170749&sr=1-1

Chart Hits of 95-96 0-7935-6291-0

http://www.amazon.com/Chart-Hits-95-Piano-Guitar/dp/0793562910/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170768&sr=1-1

Sarah McLachlan Easy Piano 0-634-01640-7

http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-McLachlan-Collection-Piano-Leonard/dp/0634016407/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170789&sr=1-1

The Professional Pianist's Christmas Fake Book 0-7935-1056-2

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Pianists-Christmas-Fake-Book/dp/0793510562/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325170807&sr=1-1

The 12 Dates of Christmas

So, I do not normally consider myself to be a "crafty" person at all... or even a particularly "creative" person, really. But, I'm on pinterest like a lot of people, and even though I've never used mod podge or made anything exciting out of a bottle brush, I do get a little inspiration from time to time and do something that borders on crafty.

Pair all this with the fact that we have a new baby and combine that with

our pre-existing cheapness, and you won't be surprised to hear that I was on the hunt for something inexpensive, yet meaningful to give to my husband for Christmas.

On pinterest, I saw something about 12 pre-paid, pre-planned dates as a gift, which is pretty cool except, I don't have the cash on hand to pre-pay 12 dates. I also saw a "Can of Dates" idea on pinterest, which led me to spend a little time on the Dating Divas site and get some ideas there.

All of this manifested itself in a gift only my husband and Dave Ramsey would love. The 12 Dates of Christmas and a Date Jar sinking fund. Basically no money out of pocket right now, and 12 lovely dates with my man over the course of the coming year.

I started with this empty binder.

Yes, it's Vera Bradley. Can anyone who knows me really be shocked? It's actually a leftover binder that I had from the 2011 Agenda. So, no money out of pocket, and it's nicer looking than your average Office Depot offering. It's smaller than standard size, probably 8x5 or something.

I had recently bought a little value pack of cardstock to use in our Christmas cards, as well as a couple of white pens since most of the cardstock was dark. The five main colors you will see throughout this binder (black, blue-grey, maroon, beige, and green) are from that value pack. Also, double sided scrapbooking tape is my favorite thing.

Anything else that looks cute in this binder is probably from my box of misfit cards. Lots of stationery, greeting cards, blank cards, etc. that I don't use frequently. Tons of cards without envelopes, envelopes without cards, that sort of thing. So the picture of the kids and the umbrella is the front of one of those cards. The poetry is all original.

And here's where the concept of the binder is explained. Basically, I set up a sinking fund for the dates in this binder. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, "sinking fund" is the fancy way of saying we're going to set a little money aside in a cookie jar each month to finance this little project. So, each date is planned based on setting aside $40 a month. When a date costs less than $40, the remainder stays in the jar and allows us to carry the money forward for a pricier date later on.

So, the first date is a cheapie to get the ball rolling: redbox and carry out pizza, a budget of $20. As you can see, I went ahead and set aside this month's $40 and included the $20 cash for this date on the January page. The other $20 is in our "date jar" which I didn't take a picture of because it's not all that pretty. I'm sure a craftier person would've had a lot of fun with that part of the project.

I made the book with the idea the each page, front and back, is its own thing... so what you see here is January on the left, February on the right. If I had it to do over again, I might consider making it so that when the book sits open like this, you're looking at the same month on both sides. [shrug]

The next date, February, is kind of cheating. I had already received a voucher for two free Dallas Stars tickets from my mother in law, and one of the dates the voucher was good for was in February, the night before my husband's birthday. So, this is a nice little birthday date for us. $25.00 budget for this one for dinner at Chipotle and transportation on the DART rail. Or I guess we can spend the money on parking and pack peanut butter sandwiches. ha I prefer Option One.

Again, the cute matting is just repurposed Thank You cards that aren't really my style.

The envelope on the left there is part of the February date. Inside are the game tickets and a short note explaining that the budget is $25 and all those other details I mentioned earlier.

So... now you get the idea. March: game night!

April: a trip to the batting cages and a bar

May, the month of our anniversary: fancy dinner out at a restaurant way nicer than our normal.

June: a date idea from the Dating Divas site. A "video date". Basically, I prepared some questions for us to interview each other on camera a bit, and this can be a nice little keepsake for ourselves, James, or other future children on down the line. I mean, I would love to see a video of my parents when I was tiny, or before I was born... talking about their lives, giving advice, etc. So, that's a fun "free" date we'll try.

July, a baseball game! The budget is $50, so we'll decide later this year whether that allows us to get cheap seats, parking, and no food at a Ranger game, or if we'd prefer decent seats, parking and food at a RoughRiders game.

August will be a bowling date, $25 budget

September is simply going for a walk and doing some window shopping, $15 budget for lunch

October's date will be a local HS football game. Andrew and I went to the same high school, although not at the same time, so why not take advantage of our shared "school spirit"? My concept with this date is a "hugh school" date: eat in at a fast food restaurant, go to the game, make out in the car, home by 11. lol

The November date is your typical dinner out date, with a $50 budget and the caveat that it must be a "new" place, at least new-to-us.

The December date is a holiday lights tour. I budgeted just $15 for Starbucks and a self-guided tour, but that will leave us with about $100 in the Date Jar. So, we'll talk then about whether we want to use the leftover money for this date, roll it over to the 2013 Date Jar, or do something boring like put it in our retirement savings or something.

Well, this gift was lots of fun for me to make - so much so that I blogged! Woot! I hope you enjoy!

Project Slim Down is underway!

Well, I'm now two weeks postpartum and my doctor gave me the all clear today to re-join WeightWatchers if I wish. So, I did! Yay!

I gained right around 45 pounds over the course of the pregnancy, ending up right around 210 pounds. So, here's my "before" picture. Not totally fair, I know, since I got to lose at least 7 pounds in pretty short order the very next day, but whatever.

So, in the two weeks since, I've not done anything to constitute exercise, and I've been more or less eating what I want, I guess. But, what I want has changed somewhat since I'm breast feeding and feel responsible for all of James's nutrition... so I have been trying to drink a ton of water, eat fruits and veggies, all that stuff. To that end, I have weighed in as low as 188.6 on my scale here at home.

I'll actually go to a WW meeting to get an official Starting Weight sometime later this week. But here's my "after pregnancy but before WeightWatchers" picture.

Sorry I had to take the picture in the bathroom mirror like a 13 year old on myspace, but that's the way it goes right now. More updates as the Weight Loss Saga continues.

Birth Story!

If you ever want to have a really weird day, have a scheduled c-section. If you want to have The Weirdest, Most Surreal Day Ever, schedule your c-section for 5:00pm.

I don't really know what other event in life could begin to equate with the birth of a child to begin with, but typically childbirth is in a league of its own since it has the element of surprise. You picture the "Honey! It's time!!" moment at 3am or whatever and then adrenaline takes over from there. Even if you have to have a c-section, it seems like most of my friends that have been there have had theirs at some ungodly early hour like 7:30am which requires a 5:30am check in at the hospital, a ridiculously early wake up time/sleepless night, etc. So, even though it's a scheduled event, the bizarre schedule gets the adrenaline going (I would imagine) in the same way that a little kid anticipates Christmas morning or something like that.

The closest event in my life that I can equate to the level of importance and anticipation would have to be our wedding. And it has the late-in-the-day thing in common too. But, on our wedding day, my schedule was packed all day: morning breakfast with the bridesmaids, followed by hair/makeup/nail appointments, all kinds of activities like that to prepare for the evening ceremony.

Not so much with the 5:00pm c-section. First off, you have to fast for 8 hours before the procedure, so there goes your freedom to schedule a fun Last Lunch Date or something like that. And let's not forget, you're as pregnant as it gets at this point so lots of activities are just uncomfortable... not to mention, it's weird to be out, because there's an extremely high likelihood that someone will ask when you're due and people give you a real weird look when you tell them you're having the baby later today. So, like I said - Weirdest, Most Surreal Day Ever with very little to do except sit around thinking "I'm going to be a mother today. I'm giving birth to a little tiny person in a few hours" etc.

So, here's how my day went, more or less:
First off, the phone rang and woke us up at about 5:30am. Begin slight panic. My doctor had been saying she would try to reschedule for an earlier time if possible, and my initial thought when the phone rang was that maybe that had happened and I'd somehow missed her call notifying me, and now we're running late and oh my gosh I'm giving birth in an hour... you know, calm, happy thoughts. ha
Well, it was the hospital calling to see if I had eaten yet because there was a noon slot available. I said that sounded fine to me, and they replied that they would call my doctor to confirm and then call me back.
I had about four minutes to reorganize my entire day in my head before they called back - to say that my doctor had a conflict so we're back to Plan A, 5:00 surgery.

So, yeah, I didn't go back to sleep after a wake up call like that.

Most of the morning was more or less "quiet reflection time" including a little breakfast alone at La Madeleine, during which I did all the pages in the baby book that are This Day In History type info, and the page called "a letter from mommy". On my way home I stopped my the grocery store to check the price of everything for the baby book... a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, etc.
Then... I went home. And killed time. A little laundry. Double checked and re-packed the hospital suitcase. Watched TV. That sort of thing.

Shortly after 2:00, it was time to go to the hospital. I was definitely getting anxious, nervous, and a little scared at this point. This is where my husband's sense of humor makes its appearance. We got in the car and the first thing I hear is this.

Yeah, that's the opening music from Top Gun.

Anyway, that was a great move on Andrew's part actually, because it had me laughing on the way to the hospital, which I definitely needed at that moment, as the anxiety was starting to go full swing.

Not much to report for the next hour or so. We got to the hospital, found the right desk to check in, signed some stuff, etc. etc. Eventually we landed in what would become the recovery room, where we waited for a few minutes before Actual Medical Activity began, and kids, that's when this girl lost her mind.

I'm one of those lucky people who has "bad veins". So, getting blood drawn, an IV started, anything of that nature is always something of a production. Earlier in my pregnancy, I had blood drawn and my students commented the next day that it looked like I'd been beaten up (except for the 8th grade boy who Told It Like It Was and said I should stop shooting up).

So, the next 90 minutes essentially consisted of nurses attempting simple medical tasks like blood draws and IVs, failing miserably multiple times, me stressing out because this does not exactly inspire confidence, nurses apologizing profusely and trying different methods, trying again, failing again, summoning bigger badder nurses, them asking if I'm ok, me saying yes but meaning no, me eventually crying. Around this time, one of our pastors showed up to pray with us, which was great, except that again, I'm stressing, crying, and in tears, and this REALLY got the waterworks going. Lordy. Pastor leaves, nurses return. They're still trying to get all the basics going, and as they enter, each nurse is asking "are you ok?" or making some comment along the lines of "oh no! Did we upset you?"

How am I supposed to answer that?

Real answer: "YES YOU UPSET ME! CAN'T YOU PEOPLE SEE I'M FREAKING OUT OVER HERE?"
My answer: "I'm fine! [forced laughter, tears streaming down my face] ha ha ha."

Anyway... I honestly think that I've blocked out many of the details of what else went on in that room prior to the actual surgery. It was not fun for me, but it really wasn't the nurses' fault or anything like that... just my dumb veins.

I do remember one nurse, whose name I can't recall now, but she put two and two together and figured out that if I'm crying for the blood draw, we have the potential here for a really ugly epidural situation.

I should say here that I understand that the epidural is administered by an anesthesiologist, not a nurse. I understand that it is one of the more frequently performed procedures on the planet, and probably nowhere more so than a hospital in the west side of Plano, Texas. I understand that my spine (or whatever the target is) is infinitely easier to find than any one of my "bad veins". That's all real cool on paper. That did not matter to me in that moment. That moment was not a time for logic. That moment was a time for crying and freaking out.

So, Awesome Nurse saw all this going down and while I don't remember exactly what she said to me or what she did, I do remember being soothed by her. She accompanied the traveling side show that was me in the terminal stages of pregnancy to the operating room. Here, she talked me through the whole epidural situation, complete with me squeezing the crap out of her hands during the actual administration.

Then came Happy Time in Terri Land.

That is to say, I felt nothing below my ribs, give or take.

The following paragraph contains a short story that may be Too Much Information for some people. You have been warned.

My same Awesome Nurse, God bless her, had to be the one to do my catheter. As she was doing this, she had to ask several times to confirm that I was sufficiently numb. She asked if I could feel anything, and I said that well, I can tell you're up to something down there, but no, I can't really feel it. She said, that's just as well, I don't think we'd be friends if you knew what I was up to. Nice work, Awesome Nurse.

Anyway... once they had me all numb, the other um, awesome [ping! sarcasm detector! ping!] part of the c-section is the fact that I had to lay there exposed to the elements for what kinda felt like forever while the doctors/nurses/assorted personnel got ready to do their thing. Not my favorite part because (1) the obvious and (2) it was freakin cold. I was shivering like none other. Eventually they threw me a bone and covered my arms and shoulders. Gee whiz, thanks guys. I was still shivering for a while... cold? Maybe. Nervous/anxious? More likely. But, I was able to get them to put this hot air blower thing under the covers with me, warming my arms and such.

Once the surgery was underway, it was just as I had heard it described by other c-section mamas that I know. I could sort of feel the pressure of movement/activity in, on, and around my abdomen, but by no means could I identify what exactly I was feeling. The types of sensations I felt as the beginning, when I assume I was receiving the incision, were no different than the sensations I felt as James was being removed from my body. When I heard his first cry, it was pretty unbelievable. Not even necessarily in the stereotypical way you hear about - that you fall in love at first sight, etc. But for me it was more about the fact that I hadn't really felt him being born, so I literally couldn't believe that I was apparently hearing his first cries. In a similar way, it was a little odd to have just had a child and to feel like a whole mess of other people got to see him, touch him, etc. first. In fact, the first time I saw my son was on the screen on our camera... Andrew took a picture and brought it over to me. So, in hindsight, that was a little odd, and if I had it to do over again, I might even tell Andrew in advance NOT to show me those early pictures until I get to see the live show. But, I'm not scarred for life over it or anything.

So, there you go. The beginning of a story that will continue to be written for the rest of my life. =)

The epilogue for now, I guess, is that my recovery is going very well. I saw the doctor today (two weeks postpartum) and she wants to see me in one more week, just to check on a little redness around my incision, but nothing crazy. Life in general is beautiful and while no, I haven't slept through the night in two weeks, I'm feeling fine. In a lot of ways, I'm a LOT more productive than usual. Staying on top of laundry, housecleaning (at least by my standards), and that sort of thing. Of course, we've had lots of help: my parents have been by nearly every day, Andrew's parents have also been around quite a bit, we've received food from our Sunday School class which has DEFINITELY made life a lot easier. We've had lots of visitors, but not so many as to tire us out or anything like that. It doesn't hurt that Little Man sleeps a good 18 hours a day. Honestly, I couldn't ask for a much better experience. Yay, motherhood!

Welcome to the world, James!

Well, it's official - I'm a mom! James was born on August 15th, which means he's now one week and one day old. This also means that I've just gone through the most intense short period of major life change that I can imagine at this point in my life. (Although, I should mention that I hear the transition from Mother of One to Mother of Two can be a real kick in the face... but at this moment, well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.)

Today, I'm hoping/planning to do a series of posts, and given my past history of sporadic blogging, we'll see how that works out. But basically, my little sleep-deprived, New Mommy mind is overflowing a bit right now with experiences and realizations and that sort of thing... so much so that the idea of sitting down today to write just one ginormous post of "hey, I had a kid a week ago, here's how that's going" seems really daunting. Breaking it up into a few posts on specific topics, however... I think I can do that.

So, all that is to say that [SPOILER ALERT] the three of us are healthy and happy and in love with each other, and that's what really matters. But, expect to see some posts on one or more of the following topics, to name a few, in the near future:

• Our C-section birth story/experience
• Breast feeding (I plan to tell it like it is, if you will, so if this topic seems like TMI to you, too graphic, creepy, whatever... well, you've been warned. The fact is, this topic now consumes roughly 80% of my life)
• OSA: Operation Stay Awesome - putting our money where our Years of Non-Parent Judginess mouths are
• Sleep. That should be a short post.
• ((Terri + Andrew) + James) - James > Terri + Andrew
• Baby clothes in August: why bother?
• James's Weight Loss Saga: Project Fatten Up
• Terri's Weight Loss Saga: Project Slim Down

So, yeah. I'll be working on some of this today, so stay tuned!

Also, you didn't think I'd update this without giving you a glimpse of the cutest baby ever, did you? Here you go!

James, shortly after birth

First Family Picture

During our hospital stay

Getting ready to leave the hospital

Milk Coma

Almost Go-Time!

Well, once again, it's been forever since I posted. My bad, you guys.

Let's see.... what's newsworthy around here.... let me think....

Oh yeah, I'm having a baby in under a week. So, there's that!

The abbreviated update is this. My pregnancy has been 98% uneventful, James appears to be healthy, active, on target for all the things they check to see if a baby is on target for, etc. About two and a half weeks ago, we had an ultrasound and found out that our little charmer is breech (upside down). So... this means that the natural, unmedicated birth that I had been planning, is a no go, assuming James doesn't flip. We've had weekly appointments since then and nothing indicates that he has turned or is likely to turn. So, at this moment, we're scheduled for a c-section on Monday the 15th at 5pm. That's 4 days away!

Now, they will do one final ultrasound just prior to the c-section to confirm that he's still breech. If he's not, then I suppose it's possible that we could (a) go home hoping he stays head-down and labor starts on its own sometime soon or (b) induce labor because dang it, we came here to have a baby.

At this point, I'm just kind of "over" making plans or choices on this subject... so, in a way, even though it's not PC at all, I'm kind of hoping that the c-section goes as planned, just because at this point I'm against surprises. I really don't want to induce labor just because "well, we're here....." but I know I'll be heartbroken if we leave the hospital on the 15th baby-free.

Let's see... in non-directly-pregnancy-related news. It's August in Texas, which mean's it is HOT. In fact, if we hit triple digit temperatures today, it will be the 41st consecutive day that we've done so. The current standing record is 42 days, which was set in the summer of 1980.

Being the competitive person that I am, I'm hoping we break the record... I think it's good Baby Book material. ha

Unfortunately for my record-breaking dreams, it's overcast today and we have the best chance of rain we've seen in a looooong time. So, while I'm secretly crossing my fingers that the temperature spikes again this afternoon... well, we'll see.

In other news... (reading through my last entry to see what may merit an update)...

Andrew officially graduated from SMU back in the spring!

And yes, as the picture would indicate, his Master's Degree is PAID for (as of sometime back in February or so) which is a fabulous feeling.

So, this coming school year, Andrew will be splitting his time doing a number of things including taking a GRE prep course, the GRE itself, sitting in on a couple of classes at SMU that his favorite professors are gracious enough to allow him to be a part of, working on PhD applications, and hopefully doing some kind of part-time work yet TBD.

As for me, I'll be on maternity leave for the first 6-7 weeks of this school year, and then it's back to the daily grind. I'm hoping to make a few small changes to the way I run the choir program that will allow me to be family-focused but without making any kind of huge impact on the Choir Experience, blah blah blah. I'm all about working smarter, cramming as much into the actual school day as possible, and limiting the extra commitments I make before 8am or after 4pm. Some "extra" things like the school musical, sixth grade honor choir, tutorials for Solo & Ensemble or All-Region, pop choir, etc. may get chopped or at the very least, modified.

I would be amiss if I didn't mention that all this is being made possible by my parents, a.k.a. Pattio and Daddio/Daddy-o. They arrived here in Texas yesterday and signed a 10 month apartment lease about a half mile away from us (driving distance... in reality, if I yelled really really loud, they just might be able to hear me if they were listening from across the creek). So, they are our ultra-generous day care plan for the 2011-2012 school year. We are super blessed that Mom and Dad were willing and able to make this big shift for our benefit!

I'll try to post another time between now and baby... but we'll see if that happens. No promises!

It's a boy!

Sorry I haven't posted a "real" update in months, but really, are you surprised?

Here's what's happening, pregnancy wise:

I'm currently just a couple days shy of 20 weeks, otherwise known as the halfway point. I definitely look pregnant to those that know me, although I suspect that I may very well just look fat to those that don't know. Not that I'm crying myself to sleep over it. I'm just stating the facts as I believe them.

In general, I've been feeling good. Never had any major nausea or anything like that. It's been pretty much smooth sailing thus far. I'm just now getting to where I notice some discomfort... attempting to roll over from my left side to my right side in bed this morning was enough of a production that I gave up. Not because of my size, but because the action of rolling over caused me to engage some lower abdomen muscles that made me wince in pain. No bueno.

Spoiler alert, I did eventually roll over. I am not currently typing this from my left side in bed.

Last Thursday we had "The Big Sonogram" where they measure everything they can think of. From this, they determined first and foremost that the baby seems healthy and on track! Yay! Further, they determined that it's a boy! So, mark your calendars, kids - baby James coming in August! We got several pictures from this appointment, most of which are posted on facebook... but here's the main one for your viewing pleasure:

What a cutie, right????? OK, so maybe you have to be his mother to find it cute.

Let's see, in non-pregnancy related news:

Andrew is inching closer and closer to graduation! May 14th is the big day for that.

School choir stuff is good for me. We have UIL (our big annual competition) this week, so it'll be good to have that checked off the list.

There are lots and lots of budget cuts going down in my district and in districts throughout Texas. As the head and only choir teacher on my campus, I assume I'm pretty safe, but there are definitely lots of wonderful teachers at nearly every campus who will be out of a job. Anyone who will be out of a job for next year is supposed to know by tomorrow. So, keep your fingers crossed for me and for the many, many nervous teachers out there.

That's it for now!

Terri

A little thought I posted on facebook...

So, I am not typically one to post any kind of "deep thought" or "devotional" on facebook, but every now and then I'll come home from church with a thought in my head that it helps to get out. In this case, I wrote this one out and posted on facebook. In doing so, I hoped I might initiate a little discussion. In the end, I got more comments along the lines of "thanks for posting" and "I needed to hear that" and that sort of thing. So, that's great... but if anyone is inclined to respond/engage in conversation, I'm down for that too. So, here's a repost:

At teacher inservice a few weeks ago, one of the points made by a guest speaker that stuck with me was essentially this:

When we as teachers say things like "I know it's Monday, but let's try and have a good rehearsal today!" or "I can tell you're tired, but I need you to sit up!" or "I know it's Friday, but I need you to focus!" - what we're doing is validating the idea that tiredness, or Monday-ness, or Friday-ness, or whatever-ness is an obstacle to our success. The guest made the point that these small comments have a way of causing us to lower the bar or the expectation for our students without us even realizing it - just as we thought we were trying to raise the bar.

I wonder if we're not the same in other parts of our lives. An easy example (for me, anyway): fitness.

Isn't it easy to say:

"I'll never run a marathon, but I can try to jog a 5K."

"I can't jog a 5K, but I could maybe walk a mile each day."

"I couldn't possibly walk a mile Every Day, but I can do it twice a week."

"I can't find time to go for a walk..."

Isn't this all just a nice little way of saying - "I'm not going to expect myself to be fit."

Now, this is definitely a little bit of the pot calling the kettle black. I am not a fitness guru. But I was able to prove to myself in 2010 that certain things I had never thought I could do were just as simple as changing my mind and my viewpoint. I'm betting that most people that have made fitness a real part of their lives would tell you that the activity itself is not always as hard as just deciding, over and over again. Making the decision each day to get up and get it done.

I feel this way about many of our financial decisions. Is it hard to live without credit cards, to save up and pay for stuff in cash, to tithe to our church? I mean, I guess it's hard... or at least it might have been hard when we started. But once you decide, and you keep deciding... it's less hard. Almost a non-issue. Technically, Andrew and I now give about 12% each month to the church... because last year my income went up, being partially assigned to a high school position, and we began tithing on that amount. My income went back down this school year, but we kept giving the same amount to the church each month. Never really even thought twice about it. Non issue.

All this leads me to... how do we lower our expectations of ourselves as Christians? I feel like I so often hear that lessons taught in scripture were great for an earlier time, a less stressful world, a more primitive society, but that in this day and age, you couldn't possibly expect someone to live in that way. "It's hard to balance our faith with our real lives." "It's hard to focus on God's will for our lives." "It's hard to allow our faith to influence the decisions we make."

Is it really?

A Change is Gonna Come

Well, up until this point, I suppose this blog would probably have fit best into the category of "weight loss blog" as I've chronicled my success with Weight Watchers and my love-hate-love relationship with the treadmill.

Well. No more.

Because while my journey to better health certainly continues, "weight loss" is no longer the goal. At least now right now - seeing as I'm pregnant!

Yup!

Most anyone that I imagine could be reading this probably already knows about my new status as "expectant mother". Here are the details as we know them:

I'm due August 17th, which puts me at 9 weeks and 3 days at this moment. Supposedly the baby is about the size of an olive right now.

I haven't had any sickness to speak of. A bit of cramping at first, the teensiest touch of nausea once or twice, but nothing compared to what I hear about others dealing with. (Our Sunday School class is in the midst of a pregnancy outbreak right now, in which I am the current tail end of what will end up being seven babies born to six moms between August 2009 and August 2011.)

I am constantly tired. That's been my main symptom. Most days I feel like I need a nap immediately after school, and whether I get one or not, I tend to conk out on the couch by about 9:00pm. At this moment, I'm watching the Miss America pageant, which is keeping me up until at least 10.

I'm going to try to update the blog a bit more frequently as this pregnancy progresses. But then again, I feel as though I may have made that promise (minus the pregnancy part) before. So, we'll see. Here's hoping!