Saturday, November 28, 2009

This morning when I woke up, Josh must have opened the blinds in the bathroom, because when I walked in, I saw our Squirrel corn feeder FLYING all around outside.

I walked over to the window, very groggy from sleeping still, and saw a squirrel jumping on our corn! I sat there for about 2 min. watching, thinking, "Is this seriously going on - it's great!" Then I thought to myself...GET THE CAMERA!

I honestly thought for sure that the squirrel would be gone, but he wasn't....he was in full entertainment mode :)

Enjoy the little video clip I got of our pet squirrel outside :) I hope they stick around all winter as we'll have the corn up all winter!




Guess who really enjoys watching this video...

Love,
Striker, Cooper & Kix

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Week 24

I feel like these weeks are going by more quickly than I can keep up with. We are on week 24 already! WOW!!

McBaby is officially (according to the books) 1.5 pounds and 8.5 inches long! McBaby is sure growing rather quickly! He/she has been doing a lot of moving lately too :)

They say that your baby can hear things at this time, and playing different types of music can be very beneficial for their growth and development! Good thing it's time for Christmas music, because I believe that is the number 1 key factor in producing strong, healthy children! Josh may disagree...but I'll play it daily until Christmas :) Hahaha!!

This past week Josh and I had conferences at our school. All day Monday and Tuesday. And to top that off, Josh had basketball practice both days. Poor guy...at least he only made one kid throw up from all the running they did!

I found out some VERY sad news during one of my conferences. One of my little students told me she is MOVING and next week is her LAST week :( I started crying during the conference...I hate seeing kids leave. She is such a wonderful individual too. Everyday she touches my stomach and tells the baby she loves him/her! And then she kisses it :) It's the most precious thing.

I have another student that was working on her handwriting, and I was helping her. Then she stopped, looked at my stomach, stood up, patted my stomach and said, "You're getting so big in there!"

Haha - they say the cutest things :)

We are spending Thanksgiving up at my mom and dad's house this year, and I am very excited! Nobody bakes a pumpkin pie like my dad does :) SO EXCITED! We will also be having a Thanksgiving breakfast with Josh's Dad and Sharon ...and we get to see Kayla and Mike :) Super pumped!

I'll post some holiday pictures this weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving and happy travels!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni & Cheese has to be one of God's greatest gifts to mankind :) Seriously- I love it! I could eat it EVERYDAY!

This weekend, I had class in the cities. I was about 1 mile away from OD (Other Dad) and Sharon...so I called them about doing lunch! Turns out I called too late, because they had already eaten...but they still cooked for me :) Guess what it was :) YUP - I put in the request for Mac 'n Cheese! YUMMY! OD - You make some killer Mac 'n cheese!

Anyway - here's the VERY BAD NEWS:

Today, Josh and I were hungry- it was lunch time, I suggested...drum role please...Mac 'n cheese! So we ate it! But, after I finished my bowl, he came in the room and said the worst news EVER,
"Cori, I think I've had my fill of mac 'n cheese!"So now it looks like I will be eating it ALL ON MY OWN :) YUMMY!

PS - I love the spiral kind :)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Week 23

At 23 weeks, I find myself hitting the in between stages of pregnancy. Some days I look very pregnant, others I don't. This morning when I woke up and was looking at my side profile in the mirror (something I find myself doing ALL the time now), I barely looked pregnant! If you didn't know me, you would think that I just had a little tummy fat!

But by this afternoon, there he/she was :)

This week in school I have been talking to my kids a lot about the meaning of Thanksgiving and the different types of things we should be thankful for. I started talking about the basic things to be thankful for (in kid terms):
Toys, snacks, blankets, clothes, games, etc...

Then we got into some bigger ideas such as:
house (and why we need homes), beds, food, etc...

Then we hit the big one:
Family and friends! We were able to realize that without our family and friends, we wouldn't have a lot of things in our life! It was a big concept for kindergarteners to understand :) But they did it ;)

Then I was about to demonstrate the writing activity we were going to begin working on, and I was listing different things I am thankful for. Then one of my students said, "Mrs. McRae, you should be thankful for your baby." Now I like to have students explain their answers, so I asked, "You are absolutely right, why should I be thankful for my baby?" And this little girl responded by saying, "Because that is the one that God gave to you!" Then at that very moment, a little boy said, "And you should be thankful for Mr. McRae". Again I responded by saying "You are right, but why should I be thankful for Mr. McRae?" And he responded by saying, "Because he loves you and takes care of you!"

It was the sweetest conversation! It brought a couple little tears to my eyes :)

So here I am...23 weeks pregnant, feeling great and loving every minute of this experience! I cannot wait to meet McBaby!

McBaby is moving around a lot more now too :) I think he/she is telling McGramma to get that Thanksgiving meal cooking...YUMMY! SUPER hungry for some delicious Thanksgiving food and some of McGrampa's FAMOUS Pumpkin Pie!!! I wonder if McGrampa will make an extra one for McBaby to take home and savor??? Sure hope so!

On another note: I have been unbelievably busy these past couple weeks. I have been holding several Pampered Chef parties, and keeping myself rather busy! I also have a lot of committee meetings and class. Josh has been such a great support in helping me out! He's cooked dinner a few more times and carried my laundry up and down for me! I love you Schmoopy! Things will slow down again after Thanksgiving! Just have to get through a couple more PC Parties. I figure it'll be great money for us right around Christmas!

Anyway, today I came home from one of my meetings and guess what I saw! The most beautiful sight...Josh putting up our Christmas lights and putting our two Christmas deer in the front yard! The deal is, I can't have the lights on until AFTER Thanksgiving. If I wait and decorate the house over Thanksgiving weekend, then I can listen to all the Christmas music I want :) YEAH! It's totally worth the wait!

Striker has been looking to get outside more. Josh thinks we should get a leash and take him on kitty walks :) Here is a picture that I took of him tonight...this is where he waits when he knows one of us is outside. He just wants to be out there...

Until later,
Josh, Cori & McBaby

Monday, November 16, 2009

Our First Anniversary!



So many people asked Josh and I what we did for our 1 year anniversary, and I think several were shocked by our response:

We lounged around all day in sweats, on our new furniture, and ordered in!

It wasn't anything special, but it was PERFECT for us! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to spend this special day than lounging around ALL day with my sweetie...oh yeah, on our new furniture :)

You see, Josh and I decided our furniture would be our anniversary present to each other (and Christmas present, Valentine's Day present, etc...), so we agreed to get each other a card :) Out of all the cards available...what are the odds that we would choose the EXACT same card for each other :) It's true!!!

Here are some pictures of our new furniture upstairs and down! Enjoy!

Turns out our cats really like the furniture too! You should have seen the movers moving this stuff inside! They only made one scratch in my walls going down the stairs!

Note to all contractors: When you build houses - make sure you create a "moving furniture in friendly plan!"

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Josh Update

I know how much my lovely wife has wanted me to get on here and update this so I'm going to do it for her as an anniversary present. Things are going very well for us. We had our new furniture delivered today. It is so much different than before. I was used to all this space downstairs, and now we have a MASSIVE couch down there. People will be able to sit down when we have rock band nights. The bad part about the big couch is it shows how small a 42 inch TV is from that far back. Looks like we will have to start saving for a 60 incher.

Cori is looking more and more pregnant everyday. I don't know where the first half of the pregnancy went. Time is flying. Cori has really been an amazing pregnant woman. Hardly ever sick, no crazy cravings, she has been in a great mood through the whole thing. Plus as you know she has a million things going on as well. She has been doing well selling pampered chef which is nice for the extra money and it is right up her alley.

The baby room is all put together, it gives me a sense of accomplishment that we have it put together. Luckily my Mom and Grandma came down and really helped out with the workload. I hope McBaby likes their room.

School is going pretty good for me this year. I have a pretty well behaved class. Basketball is starting in another week, I'm looking forward to that. One of my old kindergarten students is going to be the "B" team manager for me this year. He is excited.

On a sad note I think we might be parting ways with Cooper. We love that naughty cat but he continues to wreck everything. He chewed on our new curtains, destroyed our plunger and toilet cleaner, and chews on every electrical wire in the house. We thought he would outgrow it, we tried putting bad tasting stuff on everything, and we are just out of ideas. People said that Austin and Rochester have no kill humane societies. We are pretty sure he has to go. We will miss him but we just can't have all of our stuff ruined.
And to make the cat situation even better just when we thought we were in the clear with Striker I found that he had been peeing in the downstairs bathroom. I'm hoping that it was just a habit because that was where we kept him confined, but I'm worried he might not learn to go back to the litter box. If he keeps the peeing up we might be down to one cat.


Cori and I have been playing New super Mario bros for Wii lately. It is basically old school Mario but you can play up to four people at the same time. I think Cori's favorite part of our play time have been when she had Yoshi and kept eating me and then spitting me into the bad guys, or into holes. I'm not complaining though because I do love it when she plays video games with me.

Since it is our one year anniversary tomorrow I think I'll post a little list of highlights from the year that come to mind. I'll probably miss some things, so cut me some slack if I missed a good one.
*Our wedding day and reception.
*Honeymoon up north.
*The morning we found out we were pregnant.
*Making the cats in the bag video and telling family and friends.
*First ultrasound visit.
*Feeling the baby move for the first time.
*Watching my beautiful wife becoming a mom.

What a year! Alright I'm going to go make sure Cooper isn't wrecking anything. Expect a post soon with pictures of the new furniture.
Josh
p.s. I love you Schmoopy, Happy Anniversary!


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Week 22 ~ 5 1/2 Months along :)

I feel like I just wrote about week 21 yesterday, and here we are-at week 22 already!

Today was a bit of an emotional day for me. You see, I haven't felt the baby move in a couple days, so I started to panic. I had been feeling the baby move everyday since Week 17!

I talked with my Dr. and they asked me to come in to listen to the heartbeat to help me feel better! She even recommended I drink more orange juice. So I had a lot of OJ at lunch today rather than my typical milks!

Josh had an IEP meeting, so he couldn't go with, so I had to go alone. I was sitting in the waiting room-nervous as anything. Thinking, "what am I going to do/say/react if there isn't a heartbeat?" What if something happened? I started getting myself all worked up...which is NOT what I needed, especially sitting there alone.

But I went back with the nurse and met with our Dr. He was so helpful and made me feel so much better. He mentioned how bad he actually feels for the mother, because they are the ones carrying the baby...if something goes wrong, they blame themselves...which is true.

But - he put the warm gel on my stomach and we heard the heartbeat INSTANTLY! Then, to ease my mind, he asked if I had my phone or camera to record the most beautiful sound :)

So-turn up your volume...Here's the most beautiful sound in the world! The sound of McBaby's heart beating! It takes a few seconds for you to really hear the heartbeat...so listen close!



I've done some growing as well! Our baby is now a little more than 1 pound and about 8 inches long! I have gained 11 pounds...weighing in at 156 before! I'll save you from the math - I was 145 pounds pre-baby! And YES...I was 145 pounds...nobody ever believes me!

We were supposed to have an appointment on Friday, but because I went in today, our next appointment is not until December. Starting in December we go twice a month :) This time is going by SO QUICKLY!

We also got the cutest baby toy from a friend at work! It is a ball that rolls around and lights up! It makes different noises and does shapes and colors! It's super cute!!!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Week 21

So here we are...more than half way there :) I am 21 weeks along and still feeling great!

Here are a couple of crazy updates:

1. Our baby is the size of a large banana right now -weighing in at approximately 11 ounces :)

2. I have FINALLY developed a craving for FOOD! Not any particular food, just food in general. I can't seem to get enough to eat.

3. I'm in the annoying in between stage: my dress pants are starting to get too tight and the
rubber band only goes so far; however I am still too small for maternity pants.

4. I have decided at 10:15 PM that I want to eat Mac 'n Cheese, so my AMAZING husband makes it for me...and a special snack for himself! Why not...he'll gain the weight with me :) Only thing, I can lose it while I am nursing...he can't do that!

5. I went this entire pregnancy without any problems. No puking, not really that tired, no aches and pains...until now! For the past 3 days, throughout the day, I have gotten this NASTY burn in my throat. It's not heart burn, because I've had that before. It feels like I swallowed a jar of Tabasco sauce...it just burns. Some ladies at work have said 2 things: 1. I'm carrying high, so the baby is pushing up on my stomach causing the acid to come out, and 2. it means our baby will have a lot of hair!

These weeks are really starting to fly by. We have our next Dr.'s appointment next week...then we start going twice in Dec./Jan. and then EVERY week in February-March! I can't believe how quickly these are coming!

I think one of these days I'm going to try and get Josh on here to post his thoughts and stories...we'll see! (Josh, this was your hint!)

Some fun news that's been happening in our lives:
1. All 3 cats are still healthy! YEAH!!!

2. We come home at night to deer in our backyard ALL THE TIME :) The other day we had deer right next to our deck staring into our patio window...SO COOL! Cooper was going nuts :) I think he was thinking that he could take on the deer!

3. Striker has a new fascination with my bras. He wraps himself up in them and rolls around in it. He doesn't chew them - just rolls in them! Weird cat - must get that from his dad!

4. We spent Halloween up in the cities with Kayla and Mike ! We went to the Gopher Football game and then downtown to some bars. I was dressed up like Flo, and won a costume contest at one of the bars :) It was awesome!

5. Our nursery is complete...and I know I've said this before, but it's such a great feeling! And we have our bedding picked out that we want, along with the stroller/car seat and pack 'n play, etc...

Anyway - that's a quick snapshot into our lives! Staying busy, but still managing our time :)CHRISTMAS IS SOON! I can't wait to play Christmas music soon! Just wanted to get that out there!