Fiske Family Website

We are now 30 weeks pregnant! It is funny to me that this week is an end of a marking period, and therefore, with 10 week marking periods, and 10 weeks until my due date - The next time grades are due I should be expecting this little person at any time! I do have to keep in mind that marking periods always sneak up on me. Inevitably each time grades are due I am buried in student work yet to be graded and I say (after a stream of unfriendly words) to Josh something like,"How did this happen again?

For Christmas this year we received a video camera (woohoo!) and while we are sure that we will take countless hours of fun baby video once the little one arrives in April, we could not wait that long to try it out. Here is a small snippet of the fun we had this year at Christmas time.

So this afternoon we headed over to the Walmart to pick up the supplies to sustain us for a weekend of being snowed in. And by that I mean: we got all of the ingredients for our annual Christmas baking extravaganza. So we spent some time loading up our cart and when we got to the checkout, the lady asks us: "Is this all for personal use?" And I thought to myself: "Oh my, I hope not. This would be a recipe for a diabetic coma if I've ever seen one."

So the nursery is now painted (in its final color...second try). The crib is together. We've found a dresser, but still need to stain and poly it. Things are really starting to come together. See some pictures:

http://fiskefamily.net/?q=image/tid/19

So first, yes, I am writing about pregnancy again. It is about all I think about, so it is all I can think to write about, I apologize. I had heard that pregnant women have the weirdest dreams, however I thought that I would be free from these for a while at least. Nope! Each night brings dreams that are so vivid and strange that I am tempted to start keeping a dream journal, if for nothing more than entertainment for Josh and I. I will share here some of my favorites.

#1

The books said it would happen. Everyone told me it would happen. My doctor told me it was true. But, I had a hard time believing that I would ever feel well or have energy ever again. But – now that the second trimester is here, lo and behold, I feel more human! I spent the first trimester trying not to throw up and trying to sleep whenever I could (which was basically all the time.) According to some of my reading, most of the major organs and whatnot are made in the first trimester and this takes the most energy from the mother – I am here to tell you that growing a human is hard work.

That is right Internet, we are having a baby! Baby will make his or her arrival in April, and is currently working hard to grow its cuddly, cute, perfect little body! Today was the first day that Baby Fiske showed off for us - we heard the heart beat for the first time today. And what a perfect heartbeat it is (we are so proud of Baby and its progress so far. A heart, our baby has a heart - that beats!)

We hope to get better at updating this website, for now you can entertain yourself with the most beautiful sound we have ever heard.

That is how I feel now that I have FINALLY finished my graduate degree. I am relieved and pleased to be finished with something that in the end simply became a pain. This July I drove 5,000 miles, read 14 books, wrote over 100 pages, and completed my 150 page portfolio in order to complete the last few requirements that were hanging over my head. After starting this degree in 2004, moving far away from the school which then translated into me completing the degree piecemeal, I can now breathe a little easier that it is all behind me. What am I going to do to celebrate?

Josh and I have been looking for ways to be more responsible. Mainly this includes financial decisions and being more environmentally conscious (see previous post for an example). I have been doing a lot of reading on things we can do to make some changes around the house to cut down on our waste. One change that I decided to make was the cleaning products that I use. The pricey strong chemicals that I had been using - while they made secure in the fact that I was killing dirt and grime, had me concerned for other effects they might have.