Thanksgiving

Well, we survived Thanksgiving! I taught Monday and Tuesday of this week. Wednesday I headed to my mother's and we went shopping. We were looking for a glider. I'm having a hard time finding one that I like because they are all light colored wood. Anyone who's been in my house has seen that we have very dark woodwork. I really don't think that the light wood would look good in our house. Plus I'm pretty partial to dark wood. I don't really like the light wood. Anyway, we found some that I liked but they were way too expensive. I keep hoping we'll find something.

On Thursday mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and I went to my Uncle Gary's for the day. I got to see my aunt, uncle, cousins, and another aunt. We had a really nice meal and played Pictonary before we had to go. I had to get back to the 'ville so I could have Thanksgiving with my in-laws. Michael and I went to his parents house around 6:30 and we ate around 7:15. I ended up falling asleep, imagine that! Everyone else ended up watching the football game.

Friday was a really nice morning. Michael and I got to back to the doctor's for our 12 week appointment. This appointment was a lot more exciting compared to our last appointment. Last time the baby was just a circle with a flickering light (the heart). This time it actually looked like a baby. The baby was waving at us and then did a somersault while we were watching him or her. We got a couple of ultra sound pictures of the baby. Of course it's hard to tell what you're seeing unless someone explains it to you. The doctor said everything looks good and that the baby is big. She said that at our next appointment we'll get to hear the heartbeat. Our next appointment is two days before Christmas and I can't think of a better Christmas gift! After our appointment we came home and watched the Maryville Spoofhounds play in the State Championship game. I'm proud to say that they won. After that I napped for the rest of the afternoon. Michael and I just kind of hung out Friday evening.

Saturday I had an eye appointment and then we headed up to the Elk's Lodge so that we could watch the Bearcats play in their quarterfinal game. They ended up blocking the point after with six seconds left and beat Central Washington 21 to 20! It was a GREAT game. After the game Michael went and hung out with some friends and I rested at home.

Today Michael and I headed to my mom and dad's for another "Thanksgiving" meal. We got to eat lunch with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law. It was nice to just hang out at her house for a while.

I will admit that it was a chaotic couple of days but it was really fun! I also have something to look forward to next weekend, a Bearcat football game. We found out late last night that the Bearcat Semifinal game will be in Maryville on Saturday night at 7:30. If the Bearcats win this game they will be headed to the National Championship Game for a fifth year in a row. It also means that the field goal posts will be taken down, which is my favorite part of the semifinal game. As you can tell I am REALLY hoping that we win the game this Saturday.

Well, I hope that appeases everyone's curiosities of what we've been up to. Sorry I've been a slacker and I haven't been updating as much lately.

Pregnant + H1N1 = Sick Momma

Unfortunately, I have H1N1. Add that to being pregnant and I'm one icky girl. I went to the doctor on Monday and they tested me and I came back positive for the flu. I knew it was bad when my doctor walked in with a mask on her face. She told me I'm not allowed back at school until I'm fever free and feeling good for two straight days. Yesterday I ran a fever all day. The earliest I can be back to school is Thursday. Since I knew I'd be gone the majority of the week I went ahead and wrote lesson plans for the entire week so that I wouldn't have to worry about my sub plans each day. I went into school last night with a mask on and gloves. Before we left Michael sprayed down the whole entire room with Lysol disinfectant spray and Clorox wiped down a lot of surfaces so I wouldn't get anyone else sick. I'm really hoping that I haven't gotten anyone else sick. I'm doing my best to stay away from people. I'm not going to my night class tomorrow night so that I won't get anyone there sick. Really the only place I've been is my room and we wiped down EVERYTHING that I touched and the things that I didn't touch!
Anyway, I am going to go back to sleep. That seems to be all that I do anymore!

Busy as can be

We'll we've officially been through part of the busiest weekend that we will have for a while. It started Thursday when Michael's sister, Rebecca and her family came down from Des Moines. I thought they were coming on Friday and they were here on Thursday, which was a pleasant surprise. So we got to hang out with them a little bit on Thursday.
Friday night we celebrated my father-in-law's birthday, a week early since Becca's family was here. Saturday was homecoming for NWMSU. So we tailgated and then went to the game, which went into overtime!!! Thank goodness NW won! :) Saturday evening we went to the Elk's Lodge so that everyone could just hang out. The boys ended up playing several games of pool. I think that they all had a good time. Today, we'll go over sometime to Michael's parents house to say goodbye to Becca's family and I have to work on getting everything ready for school conferences. I'm exhausted from all of the excited from the weekend. Hopefully today will go well and I'll get everything finished and then have the afternoon or evening to just rest! Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

First Doctor's Appointment

Friday was my first "real" doctor's appointment with my regular doctor!!!
Before I tell you about that I need to tell you why my husband wasn't able to make it to my appointment. About a month and a half ago or two months ago Michael's friends asked him to go on a fishing trip down south. I had to talk Michael into going. This trip was scheduled for the weekend following Michael's maintenance conference in Springfield. So Michael was scheduled to be gone Tuesday through Sunday! Of course this is all before I knew that I was pregnant and got my first doctor's appointment scheduled from the Friday that he was going to be gone.
Since Michael was gone my mom offered to come to my appointment. At first I said no but after a highly emotional week (can't help it because of my hormones) I decided that I wanted her to come. So Friday mom and I went in and we got to see the baby's heartbeat. My doctor said that the baby was developing exactly like it should. I was soooo excited to hear that the baby was developing correctly. I was so relieved to hear that. I was so worried that she was going to say that something was wrong with the baby. They also gave me my official due date - June 10, 2010. My mom totally called Michael to aggravate him that she got to see the heartbeat and he hadn't. :)
We go back on October 30th for another appointment. After that we should be going once a month! I'm just sooo excited that everything is going well!

More pregnancy information...

I'm sure everyone wants some more information about my pregnancy so I thought I'd put it on here. Like I said my hCG on Wednesday (Sept. 30th) was 58 and Friday (10/2) it was 168. I went in Monday to get more blood work done. They went ahead and did the full blood panel for pregnancy. I got my results on Tuesday for my hCG... it almost quadrupled! As of Monday my hCG was 647. I'm amazed at how high it is. I'm so glad it's going up like it should! Also, I continue to have several symptoms. I am nauseous, dizzy sometimes, a little bit of heartburn, dry heaving, horrible headache (hormonal), and so much more. Hopefully these symptoms keep up because that will mean the baby is developing well. Ohhhh and I'm TOTALLY exhausted! I'm so ready for bed by 8:30 anymore!
Well, I'm going to grade some papers before I fall asleep!

Might as well put this on here...

I figured I should go ahead and put the good news on the blog considering that a lot of friends and family already know. Michael and I are going to be parents (hopefully, if all goes well). I am pregnant. It is still really early on in the pregnancy. We're really hoping that everything turns out okay with this one. We would like to ask for prayers for a healthy baby and a full term pregnancy. My hcg level last Wednesday was 58 and by Friday it was 168. The numbers are supposed to double, if not triple, within 48 hours. From 58 to 168 is a rise of 2.89. So we're taking this as a good sign. I have also had some other symptoms: heartburn, nausea, and throwing up. Unfortunately, I threw up in the La Bonita parking lot last Friday evening in front of some old St. Greg's students. I had to explain that I was pregnant because I didn't want them to think I was drunk coming out of La Bo's.
I'll keep everyone updated as we get more information.
Hopefully "Baby Casteel" is going to be strong and healthy!

Insane Life

My insane life has been just that, insane. I figured out the other day that I simply don't have an evening off until next Tuesday. Of course I haven't had an evening off since last week sometime. The worse part is that I can't even remember what day it was! I am sooo ready just to come home after school and hang out with my husband rather than running to class! I guess that's what I get for taking two classes at the same time! :)
We'll I'm going to grade some papers. I just wanted to write a small update! Hope every one's doing well.