Back to the Grind

I went back to work today. I give that a "big fat boo!" (College joke...Kim & Jen that was for you.) We had meetings from 8-noon and then a little work time. Students come next Wednesday. Isn't that crazy?! That's earlier than most colleges start! I keep telling myself that it won't be that bad, but it's definitely not going to be that good either. Oh well...I'll work until I deliver and then I'll be off for 12 weeks. And I realized the other day that that's longer than my summer break was! Woot woot for maternity leave!

On a totally different note...please keep the Lauer's in your prayers. Their little boy, Noah, is fighting for his life right now (and has been for quite a while) and they could use as much prayer and encouragement as possible. Go here to read their blog. They do a good job of updating it and letting you know what they need to be lifted up.

One Last Road Trip Before Baby Schaefer is Born

My parents, Matt, and I took a whirl-wind trip on Saturday to go visit my brother's family in Lawrence, Kansas. We hadn't seen them since March. Since then, Amy (my sister-in-law) has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This isn't a very good picture of her, and she'd probably kill me if she knew I was posting it, but it's the only one she was in when I got home and looked over my photos. Please pray for her. Her symptoms are intensifying quickly, which is a sign that she might have a more progressive form of the disease. Pray for her health, her emotional well-being, strength for my brother in caring for her, and for Poppy & Oskar. I can't imagine what they are thinking right now, but they definitely know something is wrong with their mom.

It was wonderful to see her, be able to hug her, and love on the kiddos. My nephew, Oskar, is 5 and Poppy, my niece, will be 3 in October. They are just so stinkin' cute!! Amy found this inflatable pool that runs off a pump at Target, and I think it might be their favorite thing right now. They are both such water babies! I just can't get enough of this picture of Oskar in his swim goggles. He cracks me up!
Here's Poppy swimming around on her kick board. She definitely holds her own against her brother and isn't afraid of going under water.

Playing with her and loving on her makes me SO excited for our baby girl to arrive. I love Poppy & Oskar SO much it feels like my heart could explode, so I can't imagine what it's going to feel like to be a mom. A MOM! I'm still in shock that it's actually going to happen. And SOON! I'm officially 5 weeks away from my due date today.

Amy said that Poppy has been insisting on wearing onesies lately...and the only ones around the house are for 3-6 month olds. They look like little leotards on her, but they're not and they give her quite the wedgie. She doesn't seem to mind, though.

Oskar's favorite things right now are race cars! Here he is in his racing helmet. He's such a goof ball.
My mom, known as Gma to Oskar and Poppy, brought some bubbles and sidewalk chalk for them. They were a big hit!!
Funny story to wrap things up here. Oskar was busy drawing race cars on their sidewalk and very proud of his accomplishments. While our backs were turned, Poppy walked up to them and peed right on the race car drawings. Oskar was SO mad and knew that Poppy did it on purpose. They really know how to push each other's buttons. It's pretty funny.

Wisconsin

We took our annual summer trip to Wisconsin last week. Matt's grandparents have a house on Lake Michigan that the family calls, "The Cottage." It was a very restful and relaxing trip...just what we both needed. We took walks on the beach, read our books, played Scrabble, ate delicious food made by Grandma Schaefer, and caught up on sleep!

We got there Friday night, and on Saturday the family threw me a surprise baby shower. Apparently Matt knew about it, but he did a good job hiding it from me. I was completely shocked! What a blessing! His aunt went through so much trouble to make sure everything was gluten-free! It was the sweetest thing! She even found a baker in the Milwaukee area that makes everything GF, so I even had a GF cake! It was YUMMY!


The only bummer of the trip is that it was COLD! For the first 3 days the temperatures barely reached 70, and it was eerily foggy. We were looking for a break from the St. Louis heat, but I was at least hoping for the mid-70s and some sun! We had to wear pants and long sleeves.

I swear it was perfect weather to shoot a horror movie!

This is Matt with the cottage in the background. Lake Michigan is directly behind me as I'm taking the picture. I think this is the day we went into Sheboygan (a small city about 12 miles north of the cottage) and walked along the boardwalk on the lake front. We found the cutest little shops to browse. One of them was called "Little Dickens" and they were having a big sale, so we managed to find a few "too good to pass up" deals for our baby girl.

This is a picture of the lake the morning we had to leave. It was the first beautiful day. We had sun and nice weather the day before we left, but it was still a little too chilly to hang out at the beach all day. Of course, the day we leave would have been perfect for that. Oh well...we'll go later in the summer next year. Overall, it was a great trip!

The Mugg Wedding

It seems like the only time Matt & I take pictures together is when we're at a wedding. We have SO few pictures of us together, it's unreal. For a long time it was because we didn't have a digital camera, and developing film was too much of a hassle. We finally bought a camera about a year ago, but we never remember to take it anywhere with us, unless it's a big event.

Anyway, we had a wedding to go to last night, so we remembered the camera. It was a special wedding, because the groom was the Mugg's son, Jordan. (The Muggs are a family at our church that pretty much adopted Matt when he worked at our church with the youth group. That's how he got to know their kids so well. When we started dating they got to know me, too...and eventually I was adopted in as well.) The wedding was beautiful and the reception was at the very fun City Museum...so it was a great stage for pictures. We pretty much had a photo shoot with our friends the Wilkins. Here are some of the shots that were captured. (We are by no means professional photographers, but I think some of them turned out pretty well.)

Check out my hot hubby in his summer suit! Pretty snazzy, huh?

Thanks Beth and Erin for the great dress! (It was a team effort!) It worked out perfectly!

A fun prego pic! I'm at 30 weeks now!

A very cheesy prego pic...can you tell that my hands are in a heart-shape around my belly? We were getting a little slap-happy...it had been a long day of wedding festivities.

I like this one a lot.

But this one is my favorite! Doesn't it look like we're sitting in a piazza somewhere in Italy? It's nice to dream!

Sadly, this is the only picture we have of the bride and groom. Again, we're just not that good at remembering when to pull out the camera.

Some of you may be wondering why they chose the 4th of July for their wedding. Well, when you're in the Air Force and the military controls your life, you don't have much of a choice as to when your wedding will be. You get married when you know you're going to have 3 days off in a row. They literally left the next morning and started driving out to California where he is stationed for the time being. They'll go on a honeymoon when the military tells them they can...which might be when he retires from the military! :)

Pregnancy Pics

I'm at 30 weeks now, but I don't feel like I've gotten much bigger. I'm not complaining, believe me. I'll stay"small" as long as I can...as if I have a choice. Anyway, you be the judge. Compare 24 to 28 weeks.

24 weeks

28 weeks

We're going to a wedding this weekend. I have nothing to wear as of now, but I'm sure I'll pull something together. (Anyone out there have to go to a wedding in the summer when pregnant? Got anything I can borrow?) Anyway, I'll post some pictures from the wedding where I'm trying to look a little "prettier" as a pregnant lady. Most days I don't try too hard.

Brief Update

Sorry for the lapse in an update, but I don't feel like we have much to report.

Things are rolling along just fine for us this summer. I have already taken 3 workshops through my school district, for which I received 5 graduate credit hours. If I get 3 more this summer (which I will), then I can move up on the pay scale at work...woohoo!

Summer school starts this coming Monday (the 23rd). I don't have any workshops or obligations this week, so I'm soaking up the free-time before it all comes crashing to a sudden halt. Summer school is only 3 weeks long, but there are 23 kids on my roster right now, which seems very daunting to me. It goes from 8:30-1:15 each day, and that just seems like a really long time to spend with a bunch of high school students who are going into their senior year. They've already failed 11th grade language arts once, so I can't imagine they're going to be too excited about the material I'll be teaching. I'm sure I'll have some fun stories to post in the next 3 weeks.

I don't have anything to update about my sister-in-law, Amy, yet. My brother has always been a hard person to get in touch with, but since Amy's diagnosis with MS, it has been even harder. I just don't think they're ready to talk about it yet. I can only imagine that they are still in shock and disbelief, and chatting on the phone probably isn't on their top ten list of things to do.

That's about it on our end. How about you? How's your summer going so far? Today's a beautiful day in STL. If you're in town, I hope you're taking the opportunity to get outside and enjoy it!

Test Results

We've had a hard week in the Schaefer household. Lots of stuff getting thrown our way all at once. Isn't that how it always is? The smaller things, like a leaky air-conditioner, the spot on Rudy's nose, and general "busy-ness," all seem incredibly insignificant after we learned the results of an MRI for my sister-in-law. She was diagnosed on Thursday with Multiple Sclerosis. I can't begin to tell you how devastating this news has been for my family. My brother and his wife have 2 small children and lead a very active lifestyle. I can't imagine how painful and confusing this is for them in general, but they are not believers and I can't fathom what it must be like to go through this without the strength that only comes from God. Without saying too much in a public forum, please pray for them.

On a less serious note...For those of you read my March 20th post, titled, "Making a Mountain out of a Molehill," about Rudy's nose, this is for you:
We finally had "the spot" removed today. I'm actually going to leave in a bit here and go pick Rudy up from the vet. The vet recommended getting "the spot" tested for cancer, so they're sending it off to the labs. I'll let you all know the results of that when we hear.