The Adventures of the Davis': Just Bumpin' Along...

Lately I've reached that stage of pregnancy where people look at me with a mix of sympathy and excitement and ask, "How many days?" To answer the question they are asking (aka, "When is your due date?"), the answer is 15 days (14 in a few hours). I tend to say the due date or, more recently, how many days are left, but then add that Ez was 9 days past his, so I'm not too anxious yet. I'm just focusing on getting through the next 8 days of school, then she can come anytime as far as I'm concerned. I need to finish my DRA testing on my students (determining their end-of-year reading levels), get all my grades in (it's been so crazy lately that I have a ton to put in), and pack up my classroom (looking forward to that least of all).

Usually, we just pack up what is on the bookshelves and leave things in cabinets there. The custodians informed me the other day that I needed to pack up everything because we have a teacher moving into my room from another school. I'm not really sure how that makes any sense, especially since I'd be making more work for her. Right now all of the stuff in cabinets is neat and organized--much nicer than the chaos I came into at the beginning of the year (there were cabinets with stuff literally stuffed into them with no organization at all). [By the way, no one is really to blame for the mess I entered--the room had been through 3 teachers and multiple long-term subs in a matter of just a few years and stuff had just accumulated in there like crazy.] I think if I un-organized everything, then the custodians will have more stuff to move around as they clean, and the new teacher will have to unpack everything and reorganize again (even if my boxes are organized and labeled). Just doesn't make sense to me, but maybe it's the hormones talking? Right now, my plan for packing up is to get my stuff packed up to take home and pack up the bookshelves first and do the rest if I have time. Who knows? Maybe Eliana will decide to differentiate herself from her brother and come early after all. :)

Speaking of the little love, she is still doing well. She has moved down a bit more according to my tummy measurements this past Friday. The midwife came to our house for the 37 week visit so that she would be familiar with the area when the time comes for Ellie to be born. Ezra did a great job as her assistant. He loves the little tape measure and she is so awesome with him. She let him help measure my tummy and hold the fetal heart monitor (there is probably a more official name than that) while we listened to El's heartbeat. I really wish I'd gotten a picture, but it seemed odd to tell Josh to run and get the camera at the moment. I'm going to make sure we bring it on our next appointment in case Ezra's in a helpful mood again. :)

In other news, Josh's baby sister, Libby, moved to Florida this week. It's been a hard week for just about everyone in his immediate family. Until the grandkids, she was the baby, and it's been especially rough on her parents, of course. Before she left she was nice enough to take some pictures of Josh, Ezra, and I. I was really wanting some sort of maternity/family pics before Ellie got here. We had a friend take some when we were pregnant with Ezra and I loved them. This time around was a bit more hectic with a crazy toddler who kept wanting to run away instead of be still and smile, but Libby was able to get some fantastic shots anyway. Head on over to her photography Facebook page and 'like' it. She'd really appreciate it. :)

Ezra in a rare still moment

I love the colors in this one--I can't remember the last picture Josh and I had of just the two of us (technically the three of us, no offense, Eliana)