7 months

I'm finding it hard to believe that I am actually a full 7 months along at this point. We've been going to childbirth classes and I've been steadily getting bigger and bigger, but it still seems like I haven't been pregnant very long.
I could complain about how hard it can be to sleep at night, or how stretched out my stomach feels or the heartburn (oh the heartburn!!!), but the truth is, I actually feel more beautiful than I think I've let myself feel in a long time. Does that sound weird?
As Josh can attest I am frequently heard saying that I feel huge, but in truth it's more like I feel like "I swallowed a watermelon whole" rather than "I feel fat" cause I don't. I feel like I look good. Like I am healthier and happier than I've been in a long while.
When I was working at home I always felt like I had a bit of the blues (lets face it, I love NSN, but the job became a daily torture by the time I finally got to leave), but now that I'm tired and I have weird physical symptoms, I feel great. I'm looking forward to the future, even though it is as uncertain as it has ever been. I have a job, for the upcoming year and a house and a wonderful husband who could not be more caring or attentive... I know I had these things before, but I am enjoying and appreciating them more than I thought was possible.

I had Josh take this picture on Sunday. I'm wearing a dress my fabulous sister-in-law sent me from Korea. Heena has impeccable taste and I regret that we live so far away because I think that we could be close friends if we had the opportunity to live closer. Just another hting to appreciate in my life.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Just a few things I'd like to share...

A new movie that looks really cool... and really, who can resist Nicole Kidman AND Sam Elliot?


Saw this on Etsy... and I love it!

And Check out Danny Seo's SIMPLY GREEN blog. This guy is pretty interesting and has some good ideas.

Joy in the morning.

Ha ha! I fooled you. The title of this post sounds terribly peppy doesn't it? Like I woke up at 6 am and had a little (decaf, I swear!!) coffee and watched the light change from the swing in my backyard...

Well I didn't.

In fact I didn't roll out of bed until Josh was about to leave and then I just curled up as best I could in a chair until he woke me up to say goodbye. Then I feel back to sleep. I had a 45 minute bath, where I might have fallen asleep again and I didn't eat breakfast until almost 10:15.

Now I am dressed (it's almost noon) and I've checked my e-mail. Egads!!

In my inbox was a note from my new principal (whom I've heard excellent things about, by the way) letting me know that she has signed me up for 8 days of workshops and orientations starting next Tuesday.

So soon?

I suppose it's partly because I'm pretty tired at the moment (still... this is what comes of staying up until after midnight to finish reading a book while you are seven months pregnant) or maybe because I know how easily I can get tired right now... Probably it has to do with the wonderfully lazy sumer I've had as well- but I really can't believe that school is about to start again.

This time will be a bit different, I know. I will have my own classroom and my own filing system and I won't be teaching the dreaded 5th graders... I'm moving on to 7th graders and I'll be teaching Language Arts (Wait, something that actually has to do with the stuff I got a degree in???) and not math or social studies. So I'm thriled- truly ecstatic. But also sad. I love laying in bed in the morning and waiting until Lump starts to boogie a little before I get up. I like to be able to pay attention to the flowers in my yard, and watering the garden... and my car... and maybe myself a little when it's hot in the afternoon.

And I think- it won't ever be like this again. Or at least it will be a minimum of 18 years before I find myself having a lot of free time without a lot of responsibilities to other people. Time that I can spend reading or doing just whatever I want to do. Once school starts I'll have about 2 months and then Lump will arrive and I'll take a maternity leave, but I'll have to go back to work before Christmas. Next sumer I'll be off, but I'll still have Lump.

I guess this all just started to hit me yesterday when I had a sweet friend send me an update on the NSN conference that I just missed in St. Louis, and I started to really realize that I was going to miss the National Storytelling Festival this year (it's way too close to my due date to go- I don't think I really want a storyteller to deliver my child for me). I hope I can go to the conference next year (it's in Johnson City and I could probably find someone who'd let me mooch a room for a few days) but will I have to take my little Lump? How would that work?

So here I am. Me (Joy) in the morning, wondering how many more of these mornings I will be able to get and what my new mornings will be like after Lump comes and school starts and I start to be THE MOM.

#235

On my 235th post I am thinking about other numbers.

2- There's just been the two of us (me and Josh) for a long time. If we wanted to go out and hike around the rhododendron gardens until the wee hours, or take off on a weekend at a cabin, or go listen to Barbara Kingsolver read from her new book- we just did it. And if that meant we drove for 8 or 12 hours, I just brought a book and tried to stay awake while Josh drove.
4 1/2- We've been married for just a little while. Only four and a half years of all this, but it seems like it's always been this way. I'm still learning new things about my husband and just now figuring out that I was wrong about some. More than anything else I'm figuring out how incredibly lucky I am to have such a fantastic man to open my doors and worry about how I'm feeling and to plant tomatoes in our backyard.

1/2- When I was born I was only half of the equation. I was never alone- not even when we started school and we were separated. I wonder what it will be like for this little one not to have a counterpart. I guess it's sort of dumb for me to have never considered it before (it's not like I've never met anyone who wasn't a twin) but I can't imagine what it would have been like for me to not have had that second comforting presence beside me through ever scary milestone in life.

And this is my favorite picture of Tara

1-You only get one mother, and they make such an incredible impact on your life. I think about all the things that I might say or do that lump might remember that I might not do or say if I knew the impact it might have. It scares me to think about how much of a change I might make with one thoughtless moment.
But then I think about MY mom and there were certainly thoughtless moments, but they seem to fade in the light of all the other moments- like every single time she said she loved me and how she was always right there when I needed her, and when I didn't think I needed her. I just hope my ratio comes out as unequally balanced toward the positive as it has for her.

Finally...

87- I realized the other day that there is a very short period of time left until I will be giving birth. 87 days from today. That's not very long. There's still a lot to do and take care of and prepare. But I don't think that I will ever be prepared for this. I hoped for this for a long time and now that I am facing an actual countdown of days (a set number of hours and minutes) I'm getting a bit nervous.
We've started childbirth classes and we've read lots and watched videos and I've watched my diet and excercize but it seems like I thought that I would just be pregnant forever. I guess I forgot about the after part. Only 87 days to go and I feel like I need 87 years!

And now for something completely different!

So here are the photos that I poromised.
We Spent Saturday and Sunday outside Chatanooga at a campground in Georgia called Cloudland Canyon State Park. Josh took some photos of me in front of the canyon. This was literally the only place you could stand int he park to get a good swift breeze, so I was reluctant to move. Also, it rained on us both nights, though I am glad to report that our tent is in fact waterproof.
Josh took a hike down the canyon to see some waterfalls- sadly there hadn't been enough rain int he last few days to make most of them very impressive. This is the best picture he got, in my opinion. After we left the park we drove to Edisto Island, SC and stayed at the Southerly B&B right off one of the creeks that feeds into the ocean. The grass was amazingly green and there were tons of old Oak trees with Spanish Moss hanging from them. There was also a hammock. We need to get a hammock.
On our second day in Edisto Josh took a Kayak tour of one of the creeks (I found a book store) and then we took a boat tour of the wildlife and the islands in the area. I'd never seen dolphins before.
We also managed to get a bit sunburned on our first day. We ate lunch out on the beach while it was cloudy, and then Josh decided he wanted to go swimming, so we went back to the car, put on sunscreen, and got the towels. Here's Josh in the Ocean.

These are Josh's shoes, and my attempt to be artistic. MMMmmm. My husband.
I mostly sat on the beach and watched people from behind my sunglasses. It was a really beautiful, sunny day.
Later we went to Charleston, and these are some of Josh's pictures.
We ate at a great French restaurant that you all should really, really try if you're ever in Charleston. It's called Gaulart and Maliclet and the food was wonderful. I had the fruit salad with French bread and goat cheese and an iced coffee, and Josh had the O'Salmon, which was Toasted Canadian Rye bread, Goat cheese, Smoked Salmon with seafood soup .

We also spent the last three days in Edisto with a group of members from our old church in Johnson City helping to build the Edisto Island church of Christ. The church there is pretty tiny and they've been trying to build a building for years now- literally. They're doing it basically by hand because they don't have the money to hire a contractor. The youth group from Central goes down every summer to do whatever wok they can to help get the work as far as they can in a week. You can get a lot done with 40 or 50 people.

Josh and I hope to be able to make a trip back next year to help. Josh was talking to them about maybe renting a tractor or bush hog to get the property cleared so they can start landscaping. I guess I'll be the popscicle queen (It gets super hot in SC in the summer) since I'll have lump to take care of.

Other things going on:
--My Mom's Birthday is today and we'll be having a birthday party this Saturday for her. Anyone who wants to come should give me a call. ;)
--Tomorrow I'll be making a presentation to a class at Lipscomb University about Storytelling in schools. I'm trying to get all my materials together today so i can get the girls in the class some handouts.
--Josh bought a kayak. We picked it up in Atlanta on the way back from Edisto and he's very excited.

Ummm- that's pretty much all.

from Edisto Island SC

Josh and I are on vacation. I'll have to post pictures and details when we get back. Sadly, the internet connection at the B&B we're staying at is less than spectacular. Other connections are very strong, though.

Hope you are all doing well and thriving.

Chara