6 Months and Counting

Well, we're 27 weeks now and have decided on a name for our sweet baby boy. He'll be named Lucas Michael Todd. Lucas means 'light' and Michael means 'who is like God? or gift from God.' I love that! We're so excited and enjoying watching him grow! Lucas probably weighs about 2.5 pounds and will gain half a pound each week for the next 10 weeks. He has doubled in weight from a mere 4 weeks ago!!! Lucas is most likely about 15 inches long already! Lucas can now hear both Mommy & Daddy's voices (although Daddy has to get close to my belly). Lucas can even taste the foods I'm eating, so now's the time to eat extra healthy.

Most nights around bedtime, Lucas starts his Tae Bo routine. :) He's a big kicker and it's been fun for Michael to get to feel him kick too! Lucas' eyes have now started opening too! I can't wait to see what color they are.

We're so excited to go for our 4D ultrasound this Thursday! This ultrasound is supposed to show a LOT of detail, so we're anxious to get a sneak peak at Lucas! We're just hoping that he's in the best position so that we can see a lot. We'll certainly post a picture once we get one.

I've been feeling wonderfully too! I think I'm one of THOSE moms...I just LOVE being pregnant. We're about to enter our 3rd trimester, so it's nice to feel like there's still time to enjoy the pregnancy before Lucas arrives. We're continuously asking our Father for wisdom to be loving parents to Lucas. It's CRAZY to think that we'll be welcoming this little boy in just 3 months! How wonderfully different our lives will be! I'll post more at the end of the week after our ultrasound.

The Wisdom of...Classrooms?

The day before we found out we had a young stud in the oven I polled all of my students to see what they predicted we would have. I made the game a little more relevant to them as I offered five bonus points on our next test to those that correctly predicted the sex. And wouldn't you know, they completely nailed it. 70 predicted boy and only 31 won't be receiving extra credit. I only got one complaint from one of the girl pickers, btw. She said, "Well, that's not fair!" To which I replied, "Well, at least you got SOMETHING right!" Anyway, it was pretty neat when we found out because I had told the doc about the bonus point experiment. The way he told us was, "Well, Michael, it looks like you're going to be giving out a lot of extra credit...." It took a second to sink in, and then he confirmed with a smile, "you're having a boy." Pretty cool.

In district golf news....

One round of district 2-3A is in the books and all I can say is the view is good from the top! The boys opened up on the beautiful, majestic, awesome (can you tell this sarcastic yet?), amazing track...not to be mistaken for Augusta National...Sweetwater Country Club. They shot a respectable 299 (72, 73, 73, 81, 84) and hold a 14 shot lead over Snyder and 22 over Graham JV. Yep, our JV boys stepped up (okay they careered it..321..) but they are definitely scaring some people. We'll look to pad the lead Monday as we play round 2 in Graham.

The girls are sitting in 2nd place, but only by three shots. They will have to play well to get out of this district, but it is very doable (The top two teams go to the regional tournament in Lubbock). We go from round 1 at Breckenridge Country Club to Fairway Oaks in Abilene for the next round. That's basically like going from a bologna sandwich to a medium-rare 12 ounce ribeye at Ruth's Chris. Here's to hoping that the appetite for steaks, birdies, and pars is quite large come Tuesday. Wish us luck.

It's a Boy!

The long wait is over! We're having a boy! So, blogging is about sharing your feelings with friends and family and being honest, right? Well, a couple of weeks ago I had a dream that we were having the sonogram done and the Dr. announced, "It's a boy!" I immediately started bawling and asked him to double-check. When I shared my dream with Michael he asked, "So, you don't want a boy?" It wasn't that at all. It's just that I am a girl's girl. You know me...I love pink and frills and all-things girly. I'm just nervous that I won't be a good boy-mom. But you know what? As we were having the sonogram done yesterday afternoon, I heard the Dr. tell us that we were indeed having a boy and I did cry...but not for the reason in my dream. My heart was so filled with gratitude that our Father would entrust me to be a mom to this baby boy. I know that I will have to trust the Lord in a new way to learn how to be a mom after His heart. Needless to say, Michael is thrilled!

So, now to the next question...No, we haven't decided on a name. We have one strong contender, but are waiting a while to make sure it's the one.

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby (I'm sorry...this is the title Michael insisted on)

So we're 19 weeks prego and finding out next week what the sex of Baby Todd is. We are SO excited! You have until March 12th at 5pm to cast your vote and let it be known what you think we're having. Michael thinks it's a girl and I think it's a boy, so I guess we're covered either way. :) It's pretty crazy...we're about to transition from labeling our baby "it" to giving it a name. Well, we're still debating names. We really don't have a preference, but feel so grateful that the Lord is knitting this baby together in my stomach. It's truly amazing!

Baby Todd is now about the length of a banana and can hear Mama's voice. I like to sing to him/her and some studies even show that babies can recognize songs that were sung or played while they were in the womb! Daddy has a few weeks before Baby Todd can hear him. Baby Todd can even detect light through his/her closed eyelids. God really is building a miracle!

And I think I'm at that point where my pre-pregnancy jeans are just going to have to be put away for a while. I can still button them, but they're definitely getting snug each time I put them on. Sounds like I need a little shopping trip for some maternity wear!



Well, it's that time again...time to move! Our landlords were kind enough to let us move from our duplex into a more spacious house. We'll still be renting from them, but now have more room for our expanding family. We are so blessed! Although moving is not my favorite thing to do, I am a bit limited this go round. I have been busy organizing and packing boxes, but won't be able to lift anything. Sad, huh. ;) Guess I'll have to leave that to the men. I'll post pix once we get unpacked.

Until then, don't forget to vote!

Jumbo Shrimp

So...first of all, an apology to my adoring husband. I couldn't resist updating the blog with a lovely, spring-like background (which might be interpreted as "girly"). There was a lot of sports talk on our blog, so I figure we need a little balance here. :) After a wonderful Christmas holiday, we got back into the swing of real life. We celebrated the marriage of our dear friends Skeegs and Lindsey this past weekend in Fort Worth. What an incredible couple! They truly love the Lord with all that they are and it was such a sweet time! I love weddings because they take me back to that beautiful December day when Michael took me as his bride. It warms my heart. It really has been the best 4 years and I'm so grateful that God blessed me with such a loving husband.

Baby Todd is now almost 14 weeks old! From what I've read, he/she is the size of a jumbo shrimp and weighs almost 1 ounce! We are now entering our 2nd trimester and I can't believe how quickly it's gone! This week, Baby Todd's eyes have moved from the outer-region of the head to the middle of the face and the ears are in place too! It's pretty amazing! Just another month or so before we'll know what Baby Todd is!

I've been feeling absolutely wonderful and I'm so thankful! We will soon be moving from our duplex to another rent house (which will give us more room), so we'll have to start packing soon. Seems like we move every year... :) Thanks for all of your prayers for us and Baby Todd! We appreciate them and are asking the Lord for wisdom to be loving parents that teach His child to love Christ!

PS - Due to popular demand, we'll be posting pix soon!

10 Weeks!

Well, first of all, let us apologize for keeping our fans at bay the last few weeks. My excuse (Mike) is that finals were very busy and then I was enjoying the break so much that the blog kept slipping my mind. We had some great ideas for blog entries too. There was the attempt to go to a Dallas Mavericks game only to turn around in Bridgeport because of icy road conditions (baby Todd's safety comes first :) ) During that same trip we had the most unbelievable Subway experience. We've brought back a new catch phrase around the house: "Boo-Yaa!" It usually rears its head whenever someone's football team wins in college bowl mania. That leads to another story. Val is dominating our college bowl pool. Her team name? "Val and Nut's Hot Picks." The nut referring to our little one who at 9 weeks was, according to the doctor, "the size of a nut." Which brings us to our latest dilemma. Val is officially ten weeks today. At what point do we refrain from referring to baby todd as nut? I mean, if it's bigger than a nut we can't keep calling it that. Sister suggested "fetus", but that just sounds awkward. What is a little bigger than a nut? A frito? A McDonald's pickle? A pen cap? None of these seems to work either. We'll keep you posted.

Quick Coaches Poll Observations

Coaches that voted Texas #1 Overall:

Gene Chizik, Iowa St.
Todd Dodge, UNT
Rick Neuheisel, UCLA
Mike Price, UTEP


Coaches that voted Texas #5 Overall (Are you kidding me?)

Art Briles, Baylor
Mike Leach, Texas Tech
Greg Schiano, Rutgers


Side note: Mack Brown had it Florida #1, Texas #2, and OU #3