Down the Aisle

So the big question this holiday weekend was... would Violet make it down the aisle?

That's right, Joyce's wedding weekend had finally arrived! We headed towards Athens on Saturday, arriving at the Boutier Winery in time to help decorate and then rehearse. The rehearsal was a bit... chaotic. Poor Violet endured lots of directions before breaking down in tears when it was my turn to walk down the aisle... away from her. It seemed that despite our practice and preparation, she still wasn't quite prepared for me to leave her in the midst of strangers as I walked away. I was nervous about the big day, to say the least. The good news was, Joyce was the most laid-back bride I have ever seen. Whatever scenario went down during the wedding, she seemed poised to be okay with it.

Ringing the Chapel Bell!

The next day we bummed around our old college town until it was time to get ready for the wedding. We took Violet on a tour around North Campus, stopped to check out the fountain at Herty Field and ring the chapel bell, before grabbing lunch downtown. Then it was back to the winery to prepare for pictures, the part of the day that had me stressed out almost as much as the wedding itself. We were now going on day two with no nap, and as we'd all seen before, Violet does not do great with lots of people telling her what to do.

Well, girlfriend did admirably. The photographer quickly realized that the minute Violet made her happy face, she better grab as many pictures as possible. Hopefully some of them turned out!

Happy face!

Me and my girl.

And our lovely bride!

Fellow maid!

Finally it was time for the walk down the aisle. I took off while Matt stayed with Violet, giving her a last minute pep-talk. Whatever magical words he said, they totally worked, because Violet smiled all the way, dutifully dropping flower petals from her adorable little bird basket. The too-cool-for-school ring bearer trotted right behind her. It was awesome. I was so proud!

After the shortest ceremony in history, we all headed back inside for an awesome blend of barbeque and Korean food. My parents, who Joyce graciously invited, were on hand to act as babysitters, leaving Matt and I free to party. Well, as much party as you can do while pregnant. It was a beautiful day. Congrats, Joyce and Nick!

Impressed I stayed up past 11 p.m.!

Book club ladies, lookin' fine!

Little Ballerina

Have you ever been to a dance show, or recital, or watched that movie where there are a bunch of kids on stage... Everyone looks adorable. They're all following the teacher, trying their best to stay in unison.

And then there's that one kid who is just obviously off. As in 'one of these things is not like the other'. She's turned around backwards, staring off at something. She goes up while everyone else goes down, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Yep, that's my girl! I was torn between being totally humiliated and cracking up with laughter during her end-of-year dance recital. Now to be fair, she is one of the youngest in the class. And it was her first performance. But it was so bad that afterwards I asked the teacher if she's always this distracted, because I'm not paying for any more dance classes if she's not going to pay attention. Fortunately the teacher convinced me that it was just performance jitters, that normally Violet does a great job. Still, I'm thinking a career as a ballerina might be out.

Maybe we'll try soccer.

Not what she was supposed to be doing, but at least she looked good doing it!

Flower Girl Practice

Flower Girl Practice

Audience: beanie babies

Flowers: legos

Outfit: pjs

Verdict: we need a bit more practice

Happy Mother's Day

Waiting at the OB.

It's fitting that we started Mother's Day weekend by heading to the doctor for our 20 week ultrasound. That's right, the big one, the X or Y scan.

People have been asking a) if we were planning to find out gender. Um, yes. Do you know me at all? And once that is out of the way, of course they ask b) if we're hoping one way or the other. Honestly, this time around, I had no preference (unlike the first time, when I really wanted a girl). A boy would be great, since we don't have one of those. A girl would also be great so Violet would have a little friend (especially considering we're surrounded by boys in this neighborhood). The neighbors were all pulling for girl. Matt was leaning towards boy. I was secretly thinking it might be a girl. But again, I was honestly happy with either (if slightly scared of the new body parts a boy would bring).

So this ultrasound was a bit different - no nerves, no anxiety. Just excited to see the baby again, make sure all the body parts were where they were supposed to be. And of course, find out gender. I booked the first appointment of the day and we took Violet along for the big reveal.

There was a bit of prep work so she could understand what was happening. We told Violet we were going to look at pictures of the baby. But the baby wasn't coming out of my tummy. And mommy didn't eat the baby (Matt made sure to stress that point after hearing a coworker's tale!) I'm still not sure Violet was that impressed by the grainy black and white images of an alien blob she saw on the screen, but it was sweet that she could be a part of our big day.

Oh, I'm sorry, have I still not told you what we're having. It's a... girl! That's right, Violet gets a little sister! Which is good, because she's been insisting it's a girl all along, and I wasn't sure how I was going to convince her the baby suddenly turned into a boy!

And I'm thrilled, really. I think it will be so sweet to have two girls. I love watching the brother relationship my neighbor boys have, and I really wanted Violet to have a little pal. Plus, there's the minor detail of all the clothes and pink toys stashed in this house. So that's a bonus.

The best part was just getting to see her, the baby, and finally get a pronoun to replace the "it" we've been using. Watching her move around on the screen will never get old. The ultrasound tech pointed out how often the baby kept opening her mouth, which Matt took as a sign that she's already as much of a talker as Violet is!

The next question, of course, will be "Do you have a name yet?" No, we don't. I want something traditional but unique, like Violet's name. So we'll be working on that. 20 weeks to go!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Earlier this month we all headed out to the ballpark. In winter coats and scarves. This Georgia weather has been bizarre! But despite the cold and exhaustion of a Friday night, we still managed to have fun. Violet especially. This is the first baseball game she's been old enough to remember, and once she got over the confusion that she wasn't going to be playing, she loved every minute. She learned to do the chop, and realized that a baseball stadium is essentially just one giant snack machine. And nice gentlemen even walk around offering snacks right at your seat! Wow. What a life. Anyone want to go back with us?

Game buddies.

Yes I'm wearing a scarf in May.

Hanging with our friends. I'm not sure what Violet was looking at, but it was awesome!

It's Gonna Be May

I can't believe this is my first post of May! Sorry. This is always a busy month. Violet had a birthday party, we went to a Braves game, Matt is out of town on business two different weeks, I had a student withdraw, a new student come (with only 12 days left of school - who does that?!), a field trip to take, grades to finish, a wedding to be in... there's just a bit going on. But it's nice to be back here. Sharing my life and organizing my thoughts on this blog has always been a nice center of calm for me.

Halfway there!

So here I am at 20 weeks. I've reached the halfway point. Feeling good. My biggest complaint is not being able to sleep at night due to congestion. And trust me, I complain about it a lot! But other than that, we are good.

Thanks pinterest!

May also means the end of school is near, which bring with it two things - relief, fun, parties, and sheer terror and all that remains to be done. I've been working on end of the year gifts for some special parent volunteers to come into my classroom every week to help out. I really couldn't do it without them. If you have a child in school and the teacher begs asks for volunteers, please say yes. You have no idea what a world of difference it makes.

Saturday morning date with my bagel, tea, and grade book.

I'm also slogging through the last of my grades. I even took a stack to breakfast one day, just to have some quiet focus time. My favorite part of the morning was when two young women passed my table and one of them whispered "Oooh, she's a teacher!" I couldn't tell if she was in awe or just feeling sorry for me. But the end is in sight. There are only two weeks left. Grades are due in before the end of school, so there will be a few random days at the end when the learning is done and we can just have some fun. We can do it!

The Calm Before the Storm

This is a birthday shout-out to my fabulous mom! Happy birthday!

Birthdays are always such a nice excuse to get together with family. And with a family as busy as mine is (my sister-in-law in knee-deep in nursing school - the accelerated program, no less; my dad just finished up his doctorate (!), etc) it's a rare treat to find ourselves all in the same room. But for our wonderful mom, we definitely make it a point to show up.

And we somehow manage to all buy her the exact same present. Which happens to be the exact present she was secretly lusting after. Are we good or what? It was an awesome afternoon of catching up and staying cozy in the monsoon that decided to open up over Atlanta.

This weekend was also nice because I had Friday off from school. I actually got to drink an entire cup of coffee! While sitting down on the couch! And watching a tv show that wasn't a cartoon! Ah, it's the small things. Then I took myself to Old Navy and got some actual maternity clothes (as opposed to the random things in my closet that I can still squeeze this belly into) using a gift card (considering I'll never wear these clothes again, they better be free!) After that it was off to lunch with some book club gals, and we actually talked about the book (gasp!) I rounded off the day with a relaxing pedicure. Some day you just have to spend with yourself, know what I mean?

It's probably the last relaxing day I'll have in the next four weeks, so I made sure to soak it in good. Matt is coming off of two business trips, and has two more planned in the next three weeks (one during report card week... thanks hubs). There is something booked for every Saturday and Sunday through May (fun stuff, like Braves games, birthday parties, weddings, neighborhood garage sales, but stuff nonetheless). The race to the last day of school is officially on (so much still to teach, so little time!) This month is going to fly by and I'm just planning to hang on for the ride.

You know that verse, "Be still and know that I am God"? I'm going to try and really live that one this month. Looking forward to finding that peace and stillness in this merry, mad month of May.