matt's birthday!

is actually may 6. but we celebrated it on march 4. and for good reason.

matt is really enthusiastic about very few things in life (a sad but true fact about him). one thing that is possibly at the top of his chart though is cirque du soleil. we saw "la nouba" (a permanant show in orlando) the night we got married (since we got married at 9:30 in the morning, we had plenty of time for dinner and show that night). matt was so hooked. don't get me wrong- i am too, but matt especially!

so i saw that "totem", a new show, was coming to charlotte during march. actually, i heard it on the radio, but that's beside the point. this was in january and i immediately got online and bought us 2 tickets. i asked him how he would feel about celebrating his birthday 2 months early (since i can't exactly justify 2 $90 tickets in the budget without a good reason) and when i told him what reason, he said he would love the celebrate early!

so we did. and it was amazing to say the least. we were curious to see if a traveling show would be just as amazing as a permanant one and i'm here to tell you, it is. the music was amazing. the acts were amazing. and i'm not using the word amazing lightly- that's truly what it all is. i can't even describe the acts but every single on of them took your breath away (literally). here are some pictures with some very brief descriptions under.

trapeze artists. crazy!! they were at least 15 feet up in the air, no harness, just a trampoline underneath them. he threw her around like she was nothing. it was so beautiful and crazy!

this was the opening act. he was a hoop dancer and it was really neat.

this was crazy too! they were roller skaters on this small drum doing all these terffifying lifts and spins. and they were going around the drum really fast. then he chained her to her neck and spun her around. scary!

this was the most unique act of the evening. these girls spun square pieces of fabric with their feet and arms. i don't know how they had the endurance to do all those tricks. then one of them held the other with one foot and the other held on with one arm and they spun fabric on their other 3 appendages. it was crazy!



this act was 4 girls on really high unicycles who had a bunch of metal bowls on their head and would kick them onto the others heads while continuing to ride their unicycle with one foot. they would throw them so fast and all at one person. they only dropped 2!

this was neat. they were doing a bunch of tricks on these bouncy balance beam type things.

if you've never had the chance to see a cirque du soleil show, take the opportunity should it arise! we are going to see a different show in columbia in may (maybe a graduation gift?) and i can't wait!

i love smiles

this kind. don't get me wrong, i like the facial kind too, but these taste better.

i eat a pack almost every day as part of my lunch (i have a box of 24 in my food drawer). today, my pack was all grape and strawberry- my 2 favorite!! so i thought i would dedicate a post to the deliciousness that are wal-mart brand smile gummies.

in case you haven't heard

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

we went and had the ultrasound yesterday and of course, we found out the gender (if you know us, you know there is NO way either of us could have/ would have waited.)

i know a few people who have been told the gender and then when the baby comes, it's not the gender they were told so i specifically asked her, how sure are you?

she looked at me and said "100%. it's a boy".

that's enough for me to go hog wild, beginning today! i'm going to babies-r-us to shop their clearance after school. i have been wanting to buy gender specific things since we found out we were pregnant and i finally have the green light!!

other than that she said everything looks and is measuring normal. she couldn't get a good view of the heart so just to be safe, i will see her again next week for a third (!) ultrasound, better safe than sorry. she said there was nothing to worry about so that's what i'm doing for now, not worrying about it.

the baby looks much less alien than the first ultrasound, which is comforting. no, in all seriousness it was really cool. we saw his spinal chord, stomach, kidneys, brain, foot (clear as day!), legs, arms, head, and of course, his definitive "boy" part (which matt keeps telling people was sticking out for all of us to see, which is true).

now to finalize the name choice. hopefully this decision will be made sooner than later. i'm ready to begin crafting!

because i said so

i didn't ever want to be a mom that said these things but something tells me i will be.

because i am SO close to giving that as EVERY SINGLE ANSWER to EVERY SINGLE QUESTION my students ask me.

i love my students. seriously, they're great. but sometimes, they ask the strangest and most unnecessary questions (i am trying to avoid using certain other adjectives). and i swear, the next one who asks me one of them i am going to look them in the eye and say (with a smile on my face) "oh, just because i said so"

let me give you a couple of examples:

"are we really playing in band today? why?"

"why are we playing the songs in that order?"

"why are we sightreading this music we aren't going to perform?"

"why can't we play a song we played last year that we all really like?"

the list goes on and on and on and on.

counting down... for many many things

there are so many things i am counting down to, some that i'm SO excited for and just can't wait some i am SO ready for them to just be over that i'm counting down.

1. counting down til monday, february 28, the day we find out the gender of the baby! obviously this is one of those things i'm just so excited about and am tired of waiting to find out! so yay for that one.

2. counting down to the bands trip to ireland. this one is mixed for me. i am really excited to be going to ireland. i have never been overseas and know it's going to be beautiful and amaing. but i am also ready to get this trip over with because it has been a lot of preparation (that has not been fun nor would i say going very well) and it's a huge stress off mine and the parents (mainly the parents) back who have been working on this for what seems, forever.

3. counting down to the end of the school year. this may seem a little premature but this has been such a hard year. commuting/ living apart is wearing me out. having com into this job in the middle of the year is wearing me out. the seniors are wearing me out (and the biggest problem, i don't blame them, i was the exact same way when i was a senior- over it!) i am ready to know where we will be living next year and hopefully have a new living situation. i am ready to relax (ha!) for a few weeks before the baby is born. all of those things.

4. counting down to spring break. again, maybe a little premature, since it is still more than 2 months away, but it's my next day off, thanks to the snow. so i'm just a little ready for spring break.

for now that's all i can really think of. but goodness, that's enough! did i mention that i got a flu shot yesterday and really don't feel well at all and have after school rehearsal until 5 for ireland which i am totally dreading. this could be a large reason why i am currently in whine mode.

i hate goodbyes

really, i do.

i cry almost everytime i leave someone or somewhere for a long time.

it has only been made worse by me living in charlotte all week and matt living in columbia all week. i only see him thursday night-sunday night and i hate it. when i leave on sunday night, i cry.

some people have said it has probably been made worse by the hormones of pregnancy which may or may not be true. when we were dating (long distance, the entire time) i would cry every time i left him or he left me. i would cry a few times a week at night from missing him. i just cried a lot then. and i definitely wasn't pregnant then.

the truth is i know this is temporary, or i wouldn't keep doing it. matt graduates the beginning of may and then he can move up here to be with me (and hopefully to find a job!). i just have to endure 12 more weeks. then, hopefully, we will finally say goodbye to having a long distance relationship once and for all!

it's my birthday!

happy birthday to me
happy birthday to me
happy birthday dear me
happy birthday to me.

im 23 today. yipee!