Savannah Georgia!

Well Paul and I made our way to Savannah, GA. I am so glad we did, it had so much fun Southern character that the city of Atlanta just doesn't have. It is one of the oldest cities in the South with tons of history, neat mixtures of architecture, beautiful foilage, and a beach nearby. We were cheap on hotel and touristy stuff, but ate good food and enjoyed just walking around and hanging out at the beach. Here are some pictures:

Here are some pictures from Tybee Island, the beach 10 miles or so from Savannah. It was windy but warm and much to Paul's delight he got to surf. I sat on a swing and just soaked in the sun.

Here is the cathedral in Savannah, it is the oldest Catholic church in Georgia.

A pretty example of all the historic inns scattered through the historic district.

One of 20+ plazas in the historic district. This is a large one, most are really small and provide little mini parks throughout the city.

This is what all the streets look like. They are gorgeous! Huge oak trees line the streets and meet over head to form a canopy. All the Spanish moss hanging down is really neat...and really creepy at night!

Ok this post is getting unwieldy, the pictures are not easy to maneuver. I will post a second one with more pictures

In case you thought I was exaggerating about the pollen...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/03/29/pollen.pain.ap/index.html

Spring has Sprung in Atlanta

The view outside our apartment. Its pretty! (Of course you can't see the train 50 feet away down that incline, hehe)

Pretty blossoming trees in the parking lot

You can tell I am not from the area by how excited I get about the trees changing. I've never seen such a dramatic spring!

2 weeks ago, it still looked like winter. There were still some 55 degree days and all the trees wee still bare. Then somehow, within one week's time, the whole city came alive with color! I've never seen so many blossoming trees! Driving through residential areas you will see trees covered in bunches of white, purple, baby pink, yellow, and mauve colored flowers. Simultaneously, leaves are growing back on all the dead trees, and it is so beautiful outside! Many people are planting their tulips and buttercups and other Easter flowers. I know its not Easter yet, but it certainly looks like it outdoors, its kind of hard to feel as if its still Lent.

Needless to say, this sudden blossoming has brought a LOT of pollen. The parking lot is covered with a thin layer of lime green powder. It looks like some crazy pixies dusted the place. You can literally draw pictures in it with your feet. The pollen count right now is off the charts...I think in the 5000 range (!). You can feel it on your eyes outside. Luckily I haven't had bad allergies yet, but people tell me it would be worse were I here next spring. Paul and I tried to go to the pool this last weekend as it was 85. I found a maternity bathing suit that fits and most importantly is modest enough (it was hard to find something modest on top!). Much to our dismay, the pool had a floating layer of pollen along with a good sprinkling of leaves and flower petals. Kinda gross, hopefully they keep it cleaner.

Which brings me to my good news (that most people might know already). There is about a 95% chance Paul and I will move back in December. Yay! I should be done with all my classes by that time, and will just have my thesis to finish. I should be able to do that at home though. I enjoy living in a new place to some extent, but its just toooo far from family. Its such a big deal for us to go home or people to come here. I want to be at home with the baby...

So thats pretty much all that is going on here. Spring, and classes. I took way too many classes, but its ok because I only have 5 or 6 weeks of class left. Then I will have to find some way to keep busy for a month and a half waiting for the baby to come. Some way that doesn't involve walking around a bunch in 95 degree, 90% humidity weather. Ick.

An Ode to Citrus...

If a day goes by without orange juice, it makes me very sad.

If I could eat 10 grapefruits a day I probably would. The only thing holding me back is the price, not the fact that it would probalby make me quite ill to eat that much grapefruit.

I like citrus fruits more than chocolate right now.

Thank you Lord for citrus!

Most Embarassing Moments..

Embarassing moments. We all have them. Some of us get over them quickly, some of us (ahem myself) play them over and over in our heads hoping somehow the moment will no longer exist. Well I wasn't going to post this, but it is kind of funny and silly, so I will...

So one night 3 weeks ago or so, I was itching really badly in my upper middle back. It was driving me crazy, but I didn't think much of it. Until I reached up and felt a weird, raised, circular bump. So I looked awkwardly in the mirror and freaked out because it looked like a very large spider bite. I should say we have tons of spiders in our apartment and are constantly fighting them through bug treatments the complex offers, and we are pretty sure some of them are poisonous. So I called my mom and she didn't know what to do so she said to call my midwife. Which I did, and she didn't think it was anything to worry about, but didn't know anything about spider bites and so sent me to the ER to get it checked out just in case.

Bad time to go to the ER. It was 8:30 on a Weds night when we arrived. Shouldn't have been too bad, right? Wrong. It wasn't packed, but when it took 2 hrs just to get triaged, I knew it would take forever to get treated. Basically to make a long story short, by 1:30 am I was a cranky pregnant woman who needed to sleep, and none of the other 10 people in the waiting room had been taken in over 2 hours. Plus I didn't feel anything besides itching so I figured it could wait til the next day. So I asked a nurse inside to be discharged (ok so maybe I cried a little too), and she wasnt too worried since I had no other symptoms,but still begged me to stay to make sure everything was ok since I'm pregnant. So I waited on a random bed in the hallway waiting for the doctor (only one on apparently...at a metropolitan hospital. Craziness). Two hours later, I see him for a total of 1 minute and am quickly diagnosed with.........ringworm. Thats right, just a fungal infection, easily treated with some antifungal cream. The worst part is, I totally know what ringworm looks like having raised sheep: I've even had it before.

Got home at 4. I was exhausted, Paul was exhausted. What a crazy night. Ugh. How embarassing. I would be more embarassed if it werent for the fact that all the nurses, midwife, etc. kept telling me to stay. But ya, thats my story. I went to the ER for just ringworm. Go me!

Moral of the Story: I don't know... don't get ringworm? Don't go to hospital if you are only itchy?

But in more pleasant news, the ultrasound was great (I am sure most people reading this already saw pictures). It felt so euphoric to see our little baby moving around and wiggling on the screen. And so nice to know that he looks healthy right now. Paul is very excited. He has grand plans to turn him into a little carpenter and surfer. So much fun thinking about the future!

Long time, no write

Oh dear its been a while since I posted anything. I have been in shock from the beginning of school and trying to keep track of eight different classes and my part time job. On top of that Paul and I have been sick so things have been a little crazy. I am excited about my classes though, and get to learn lots of new exciting things and get lots of hands on experience. Here is a little peak into my semester...

-Principles of Instruction/Curriculum Design
-Measurment in the Behavioral/Health Sciences
-Applied Behavioral Methods (basically a class learning a statistical analysis program, luckily I learned it in undergrad)
-Spanish for Healthcare Professionals
-Prevention of Mental/Behavioral Illness and Mental Health Promotion
-Intro to Epidemiology (Epi for non-epi people)
-Intro to the US Healthcare System (another required core class)
-Community Needs Assessment

Its probably way too much, but I would rather get a lot of units done before the baby comes. Then I should only have 3 or 4 classes left to take before I can graduate. I am really excited about being a stay at home mom when the baby comes, and I don't want to be in too many classes after that. But anyway I am excited about this semester. I may even get to design a curriculum for the SBC public health department as an assignment for a class, possibly with Avian Flu preparedness for county employees and doctors in the area.

So what will I do with all this school work? I really don't know at this point, or know if I will even use it in the next ten years. But when else would I do it? At the very least I would be really happy consulting part-time for non-profits in our area, even if it meant getting paid very little. Maybe I could help them conduct needs assesments and design health education curriculum? Or just help them evaluate their programs. I don't know, but I don't feel too stressed about it, if God wants me to use it, I will.

Baby News: Paul and I are getting really excited for next friday, Feb 9th! Our ultrasound is that day and we are really hoping we can find out the gender and start calling this baby a name besides "It". Hopefully baby isn't too shy. We also want to see the baby move around and see if he/she is healthy. I certainly feel the baby move around all the time now. It's such a pleasant feeling, too bad it can't stay so pleasant. Anyway I definitely can't wait until next friday!

Pregnant News: Feeling great. Going through massive transition into crazy-hungry woman. While I hadn't gained more than a couple pounds total, I think that will have changed at our next prenatal on Monday. I have mostly just grown around the waist. I think it grew 2 inches in 2 weeks which is nuts. It feels so stretched and Paul and I are in disbelief at its rapid growth. The rest of my body has not changed though, so my clothes no longer fit and maternity pants are annoyingly baggy. I would post a picture, but its from a week and a half ago and it just looks completely different. I am still getting exercise by walking to my shuttle, but I am definitely making up for it! Its also been freeezzinngg, so I feel like a bundled rolly poly walking outside in the morning. There may be ice storms tonight...

Anyway thats all for now. When I stop being embarassed about it, I will tell a really dorky story about going to the ER last week....

TO BE CONTINUED!

Late Night Worries

Its funny the things that keep you up at night. I mean its normal to worry about becoming a parent and about your baby, but tonight I am up with the strangest concern...

How do I dress a baby for 90-95 degree heat with 90% humidity when he or she comes in the summer?

I mean, if it was freezing like it was today (35 when walking to school) I can totally picture bundling up a little newborn in hats and a warm jumper with booties. But 95 degrees? Thats hot, I don't even know how to dress myself for that weather. Ick. I guess I won't be outside that much anyway, but what if I have to walk to the grocery store or something? What about going outside in general? Ok I guess just a tshirt onesie (is that what its called?) will work just fine and I can gauge how the baby responds. Or just not go outside until late October.

This is ridiculous, the baby will be fine. Women in Ghana walked around with their little babies attached to them with a cloth outside all the time, and it was the same weather as summer in Atlanta. Time to get sleep.