Math

Plus one eh? Emily and our youth group kids always like to give me a hard time when I say/do something dumb. They like to say things like "Midland Christian everyone" or "Wow, you went to private school. Did they teach you to read and write?" My response is always the same, "I'm sorry we were to busy winning STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS!!" but yeah I read and write just fine but my math skills have always been lacking. When I first found out we were going to be adding a new McGraw to the world I was overjoyed! There are no words to describe that feeling of seeing my baby on that sonogram for the first time. Some of the guys in the youth group think my favorite thing to do is play video games. I do enjoy killing a zombie, stopping a terrorist, or running up the score on my madden online opponents, but that doesn't even come close to my favorite thing. I like to spend my minutes close to Emily with my hand on her belly. Every movement and every bump send great joy to my heart (even when it's just gas, cuz that's funny too!!). We should find out on Tuesday if our baby is a "Little Boss" (BOY) or a "Little Warden" (GIRL) and all of you will know by this weekend!

Am I ready to meet my kid? Do I think he/she will be uber legit!? Me + Emily + All of you who mean so much and care about us =

Well... You do the math!!

Teacher of the Year

Hello again,

So I may have inadvertently told you a lie in my last post. I said that last week was semi-uneventful but that wasn't completely true. Last Thursday night I was honored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars as being the 2010 Teacher of the Year. My students, bless them, nominated me. My job can be quite challenging sometimes. Most of you know that I get paid the equivalent of quarters and hugs from burly, sweaty football players. I know that this probably doesn't seem attractive to you at all, but I must tell you- worrying about being form tackled every time I see one of them is quite an adrenaline rush!

Anyway, I cannot tell you how humbling it was to hear some of the things that my students had written about me. Here are a few of them:

-The most innovative teacher at ACPA is Mrs. McGraw.

-It's safe to say Emily McGraw is an over-achiever, always coming up with new things to do in class.

-She helps me retain and absorb the information in a simpler way so I can really understand what is going on and how it fits into the timeline.

-She'll make jokes on occasion and laugh with her students.

-She teaches the lessons on our level, gets right to the point, and knows we'll be ready for any future examinations.

-There is a confidence in her that many wish they had.

-She pushes us hard because she knows of what we are capable and she wants us to be our best.

-She makes learning fun because she is so passionate about what she is teaching.

-She is feisty and tough, gives great advice, and is very determined.

-She supports us in what we do, and helps us become better as students, players, people, and Christians.

-All of these elements combine to help further Mrs. McGraw as more than a teacher; she becomes a friend to the students and allows them to offer input so that there is a continuously growing eagerness for learning taking place.

There are 42 bullet points on the list that my co-teacher gave me! As I'm typing and reading this list, I'm crying like a baby. I just can't believe that they would say these things, and then go the extra mile to enter it into a contest. I just love all of these kids so much, even if they do wear me out on a daily basis. So, to all of you students who are reading this, thank you from the very bottom of my heart. You have no idea the impact you have made on my life, and you have no idea of the depth of gratitude I have for each one of you.

Okay moving on, I think that I need to go eat something, I'm getting a little too weepy. Happy day friends!

Baby's Room!!

Oh my goodness, it has been so long! I felt like my life wasn't very exciting the past week, and I was out of witty things to say. But- that was then, and now we have some updates!

I love school holidays. Oh Martin Luther King Jr., thank you for your many historical contributions, but also thank you for being so awesome that they awarded you with a national holiday. Cliff and I got up early and started cleaning out closets and the room that will be the baby's! Below are some "before" photos:

Oh, it was terrible. I was closing the doors because it was literally stressing me out looking at this room. I didn't even take pictures of the two closets in the guest rooms because they were so bad, I was embarrassed. But, it really didn't take that long! My husband is awesome, and he was just tearing it up! We put stuff in bins, up in the attic, throwing stuff away, and making donation piles. So, in reality all of the crap that was loaded into that room is now separated into smaller piles located in other places around the house... Anyways, we will just put that off for a while longer. So this is what it looks like now!!

So there is a plan for the items left in the room, but for whatever reason they just didn't make it out. Ugh, look at that disgusting carpet!! I don't know what the kid that lived here before did, but I don't know of anything that leaves nasty stains like that, and I'm not sure I want to know... My mom helped me pick out some different carpet samples, and we are hoping to get that done before baby arrives. We have quite a few projects that we would like to do, but hopefully we will at least get the new carpet installed!

I must say that cleaning out rooms and old stuff has it's advantages... I know that Megan is going to kill me for this, but it's worth it!! Also, me and Shea like 5 years ago! Love both of these girls so much!

Overall, today has been incredible. Started off the day with prenatal yoga, oh so wonderful, then met a wonderful friend for lunch to plan another wonderful friend's baby shower! Taught my one class then played hand and foot with Cliff, Clayton, and the best partner ever, Luke. Of course, Luke and I dominated. Oh, and Austin was there because he can't drive...

Today's craving was: cucumbers with honey mustard from ACC. I woke up thinking about that this morning, then I thought to myself, "Emily, this is the time for you to want to eat ice cream for breakfast, but really!? You want cucumbers and honey mustard dressing?!" Oh well, at least I wanted to eat. Sunday and Monday were a little heinous, but today has been great! Just trying to stay positive! Any time I feel discouraged I take a look at my closet and see the most precious Texas Tech onesie, and automatically get so excited again.

The countdown to the next sonogram and hopefully gender reveal is two weeks from today!!!

Is the baby trying to kill me?

First and foremost, let me tell you that I love our baby already. However, I'm ready to meet him or her so that my body will no longer be playing host to all the baby's crazy antics. I throw up all the time, and have almost no appetite. Every time that I think I'm feeling better I'm almost afraid to say it out loud, because I know that as soon as I say it the sickness will come back multiplied by ten!

So yesterday I told all of you that I was feeling much better, and not even a full day later I'm throwing up everything in my stomach. We had such a great day yesterday, we got to spend time with our friends, Dennis and Erika and their almost 4-month old son, Josh. Erika and I went shopping and had a great time. I think that I spent more money on sour watermelon belts than anything else. I filled up two big bags, and the ladies behind the counter were just staring me down like I was about to make a run for it. Then I get up there and I explain that I'm pregnant and that this is all I want to eat these days and they're like yeah... Then after I'm done paying, the lady checking me out says, "Don't eat them all in one sitting." Oh my goodness! All I could say was okay and walked away. After shopping we met the boys, who had been playing xbox all afternoon, to meet us at On the Border. Well, obviously, I hate meat right and got some cheese enchiladas. After I had finished I was holding Josh, who is just PRECIOUS by the way, and the poor guy has a bit of a cough and a little drainage. All of the sudden I feel something warm running down my shirt, bless his little heart, he had spit up all down the inside of my shirt. So I excuse myself to the restroom to clean up and the second that I get into a stall I projectile vomit my entire dinner into the toilet. So kudos to the little man for already having excellent timing. I got back to the table and started holding Josh again and not 5 minutes later he spits up again, luckily this time I caught it in my hand. We joked that this was great practice for the upcoming months. I kept on laughing thinking about my parents and my brothers when they would spit up and my Dad would say, "If you're going to spew, spew into this" and he would be like holding out his hands or a paper towel. So number one lesson from last night: always bring a few extra burp rags wherever you go! But overall, we had so much fun and it was so funny!

So here is where I sit, trying not to eat all of my candy in one sitting while watching the Biggest Loser...

Fourteen Weeks!

I can't believe that I have been pregnant for fourteen weeks! A lot of times it feels like it's going so fast, and then other times it feels like everything is going so-o painfully slow. It has been a whirlwind of excitement and throwing up in our house! Thankfully this is the start of the second trimester and we can only hope that the first trimester will take the overwhelming nausea and sickness with it. But, the sickness hasn't been the only thing that we've experienced. We got to see our baby for the first time at about nine weeks (picture below), after this photo we affectionately named our child "Paddles." Who knows, maybe it will stick... That was by far one of the coolest things I have ever done!

Just last week, another one of the coolest things ever, we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat. Our doctor assured us that the heartbeat was strong and perfect. It is just such an overwhelming feeling to see and hear those things. We could not be anymore blessed these days.

My appetite seems to be returning as I'm actually able to eat full meals, and I'm actually feeling hungry! Who knew that I would be so excited to say that! It seems that my favorite foods these days would be: Carino's bowtie festival, macaroni and cheese, salad (so weird, I know!), breadsticks, and sour watermelon belts. Food aversions: MEAT! Ugh! So disgusting!

So yes, that is all! Reporting to you here, at 14 weeks and 1 day, 13 pounds lighter (well I don't know I just ate a whole package of macaroni and cheese by myself...), operating on like 12 hours of sleep a night and just overwhelmingly happy!