Better do this before it's too late...

Well, I've been meaning to put up a post for a baby guessing contest. Sorry, mine is not going to be as fun as Becky's, as there is not a prize. Just the satisfaction of knowing you were the closest!

Little Koller will be arriving soon and she wants you to guess the following:

Date of birth:
Time:
Length:
Weight:
Name: (And Kaitlen..no posting the original name, just in case!)
Does Daddy pass out?:
Does Aunt Kaitlen make it to the hospital in time?:

Just post a reply with your information.

For those of you who are curious, I went to the doctor yesterday and I'm barely starting to dialate. Although I was very nervous after meet-the-teacher night on Monday. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, but I was having contractions after coming home from working 12+ hours. I finally fell asleep around midnight, so it must not have been too bad. Another annoying side effect of being this far along and going back to work is my marshmallow feet. I reached down to itch my foot earlier this week and couldn't find my ankle. :( The doctor says to put them up as much as possible and try to lay down for 20 minutes 2 times during the day (yeah right when I'm teaching 1st grade and trying to get the kids started in a routine!).

I am so excited to have the substitute that I have lined up. She came to meet-the-teacher night on Monday and was with me all day today to help get the school year started. She's also planning on coming the rest of this week...all without pay. What a great person, it will be so much better for the kids to already know her when I leave.

Well, that's all for now...Happy Guessing!

29 days and counting...

Another busy weekend down, now to stay home until baby Koller wants to make her appearance. My sister and sister-in-law had a baby shower for me this weekend. We got lots of cute things including a Jeep all-terrain walker, a grandma's-special crocheted heart blanket, hooded towels, and lots of clothes. It barely fit in the car coming home.

Last night we went to Alan's 10 year high school reunion and it was nice to actually know some of his classmates. It seems so weird to go to a high school reunion for a class of around 40, I think about 20 of them were there. Then we went to Kaitlen and Shaun's house to chat with them, Shaun's parents, and Sara and Jason. I definitely stayed up too late.

After church today we enjoyed Pizza Hut buffet and went to Wichita to see his cousin in the rehab hospital. He thinks he has about 2 weeks left there and is supposed to get his new wheelchair this week. He tried for the customized version with a suspension lift, but insurance says no. Too bad, as long as you're in a wheel chair, might as well have it all "souped" up.

Now, onto Cracker Barrell for some good food and good fun!

Slow down summer

Where has the summer gone? I only have 2 weeks and a couple days until school starts again. Scary thought! The good news is that I will only work a couple weeks, then I'll have 6 more off after the baby comes. We had our child birth class on Saturday. It was not a whole lot of fun, but we did learn some stuff. We also got the tour of the baby floor. This is helpful knowing where to go when the time comes. I'm not really excited about moving to at least 3 rooms while I'm there (triage, delivery, and post pardom), but I guess this system is more efficient if there are a lot of babies making their presence. There was one alterior motive to the class...for Alan to wear the empathy belly. Too bad he only had it on for a half hour. See pictures below.

I got the curtains and valences up in the baby's room and have washed most of the newborn and 0/3 month clothes. It's amazing how many she now has. I'm still working on cleaning out my stuff and rearranging to make everything fit. It's a good thing that room is the biggest in the house. At most, 6 weeks to go! Below are pictures from my baby shower last weekend and a few other random pics.

Burp rags I made

This started out to be a purse, but ended up being a diaper basket

The pink camo cake

Busy Weekend

As I'm sitting here typing, I finally have my feet propped up to hopefully make the swelling in my feet go away. (No Cherie, they're not as big as your cankles, that's what I'm hoping to avoid.) This weekend has been very busy, and I don't think the coming weekends are going to be any better. On Saturday, my sister, aunt, and sister-in-law had a baby shower for me and the chubby little girl inside of me. There was a good turnout (thanks to all who came) and I'm now wondering if the baby's room is going to be big enough. I guess I should weed out some of my stuff so she'll have plenty of room. After all, I still have 2 more showers. She got lots of cute outfits and some much needed supplies like diapers, wipes, and bath time goodies. I'll post some pics once someone...hmmm hmmm Kaitlen...emails them to me.

I left with Alan's mom and sister after the shower to go to camp Menoscah with the Eden church group. It's located south of Hutchinson, and I don't believe it could have gotten any hotter or more humid. After an evening of watching several recreational games that people were playing, I decided to try to go to bed. Well, I tried alright, for about an hour and a half. Laying in a tent without air moving and becoming drenched in sweat, I finally fell asleep...then Alan came to bed and I woke up. I went to the bath house to go to the bathroom and then came back for another hour of laying awake. I did finally get about 3 hours of sleep between another bathroom break and the air matress deflating 2 times. Let's just say I was not wide awake for church this morning...which I sweated all the way through. We left right after church and I soaked up the AC. My toes have never been as swollen as they were when I got in the car.

As much as my experience wasn't the greatest, Alan had a good time. Before I got there yesterday, he caught a 25 pound carp (I guess that's big, at least that's what they told me) by hand. Supposedly the old camp record was 8 pounds. Of course, I'm not sure I can believe the whole story, because I have yet to see pictures. :) There were several witnesses, so I guess maybe it's true. He spent the evening playing horseshoes, cards, and dominoes.

After camp we went to Wichita and ate at Chili's. We also went to see his cousin, Chris, in the rehab hospital where he's recovering from a motorcycle accident. He looks much better and is working on getting upper body strength so he can transfer himself from his bed to his wheelchair. He is also thinking that some of the feeling is coming back in his legs. I hope this is true and that he's going to prove the doctors wrong that said he won't ever walk again.

Well that's enough rambling, I have another appointment this week so maybe I'll update later in the week. Stay cool...cause I'm going to stay inside for quite some time.

It's official, I have an outie...

Yep, my belly button is no longer an "in-ie." I have 2 months left and I'm not really sure how much more my belly can expand. I was not looking forward to getting on the scale again today because I feel like I've put on quite a bit of weight these last couple of weeks, in other places than my belly. However, I was pleasantly surprised to have only put on a little over a pound in 2 weeks. I'll probably regret saying that next time I go to the doctor.

I can definitely tell she's getting bigger, as she is putting either her hand or her foot up in my ribs. I keep trying to push her back down, but she is very determined that's where it belongs. I've also had a lot of back pain lately. Hopefully I'll either get used to it or it will get better.

I've been trying to be productive the last couple of weeks and get finished with several projects on my "to do" list. Last week I worked on school stuff quite a bit, trying to figure out 6 weeks of lesson plans. I haven't put anything in my lesson plan book yet because I'm not sure of the schedule and I'm pretty overcompulsive when it comes to having things in time order. However, I'm finding sticky notes really useful...that way I can write out my plans now and stick them in later. I also made several pieces for the math calendar that I kept saying I was going to make last year. At night I've been trying to finish up the baby quilt I started 4 or 5 months ago. Here is a picture of the final product.

Alan went to Oklahoma last weekend with his dad to pick up another engine for the jeep...hopefully this one works! He also went to see his cousin who was in a motorcycle accident. It had been a long time since they saw each other, and Alan's been keeping up to date with his progress through the hospital's care pages ever since. He is also looking forward to a 3 day weeken, even if it is going to be busy. On Saturday we are planning on taking our jeep through the Collins Park parade and then being at my parents' for fireworks and a fun time with family and friends. I'm looking forward to the homemade ice cream! On Sunday afternoon we have a church picnic.

Here, There, and Everywhere

We had a great vacation to Colorado last week. Exhausting...but fun. We stayed in Ouray everynight, but managed to drive over 3000 miles throughout the week. That was way too much sitting and riding. On Sunday we drove a few "easy" trails around the area, seeing as how we just had the truck and it wouldn't have been a great idea to bounce around very much in my third trimester. We also went to Telluride and saw Bridal Veil Falls. Monday, we went to Black Canyon National Park in Montrose and got to see some of my cousins. Tuesday, we drove 3 hours to Moab, Utah, to go to both Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. I thought my legs were going to fall off from all of the walking and hiking. They were both very pretty. Alan liked Canyonlands better, but my vote is for Arches. On Wednesday we went to Silverton and Animas Forks (a ghost town). It was pretty neat to walk around buildings from that long ago. We also took some supposedly easy trails above Silverton. However, their rating must not include 8 feet of snow in some parts and it snowing so hard you can't see around you while driving. The trails were also pretty bumpy due to the lack of maintenance this early in the year. Needless to say, I did not enjoy these trails at all. My belly hurt almost the entire time, poor baby didn't know what she was getting herself into this day. Thursday was better, we went to Mesa Verde National Park. We took a walking tour for the Spruce House and Cliff Palace. Friday we went back to Silverton and did the Old Hundred Mines tour. That was pretty neat, although probably not as neat as the Salt Mines in Hutchinson. We also did a little shopping in Silverton, and the baby and I enjoyed a delicious funnel cake. Mmmmmmm!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Snow on one of the trails we took the first day.

Bridal Veil Falls

Black Canyon National Park

Canyonlands

Arches- we needed a 6 month picture, and I didn't want to do it when anyone else was around.

Snow from Cinnamon Pass

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde

I had my glucose test today. It wasn't as bad as everyone kept telling me. I had the orange kind, it just tasted like kool-aid that needed to be watered down. I think the lady missed when she drew my blood because my arm is going to have a big bruise tomorrow. It hurt more than the first time I had blood drawn.

Anyway...did I mention that it is HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And to think we're not even in the 90's yet.

Fear Not!

This week went by in a whirlwind, but I had so much fun. I'm not sure exactly how many years I've been helping with the preschoolers during VBS, but I think it's 9. I can honestly say that this was one of the best years. Yes, we did have some wild kids (who really should count as more than one child based on their energy level and the level of energy they require from you), but we also had a lot of really sweet kids. I loved the theme, Crocodile Dock, and the kids did pretty well at listening and remembering the stories taught. The highest number of kids we had on a single night was 21, but over the week we had around 30 different kids ranging from 3-6.

I was also amazed at the number of older kids. Each night they kept multiplying, which was so exciting to see that they wanted to invite their friends to learn about God. Over the week, the kids brought $1001 to send to a feeding center in Honduras.

We had another doctor's appointment this week and now have to start going every 2 weeks. I have to do the glucose test next time...fun, fun, fun! I am now 27 weeks and a few days. So far I've gained a little over 20 pounds. The baby is moving quite a bit...except when Alan comes to feel. He has only felt her move a couple times because every time he puts his hand on my stomach, she stops squirming. He's starting to take it personally, but maybe he has the calming effect on her (let's hope).