-----News in Brief-----

This last week of work before Christmas break is always so busy that I don't really have any time to update stuff here. So here are the headlines for now . . .

1. We closed on our new apartment! I'm now a homeowner (and until we close on selling this place, Dave actually owns 2 apartments)! We are meeting with the realtor tonight in Riverdale to do the official walk-through and get the keys to our new place :)

2. I've felt the baby move a few times, but it's certainly not regular. I can only feel it if I'm sitting still and paying attention, which certainly doesn't happen at work very often.

3. Today's my birthday :) Happy Birthday to me!

4. As a birthday present, I bought myself a doppler (it's like a little microscope that attaches to a speaker---I put it on my belly and we can listen to the baby's heartbeat). It's way fun and I used it last night---the baby's heartrate was 142.

So our break will be filled with packing and moving madness--a big challenge for me, as I like to get in there and do everything, so I need to keep telling myself not to lift heavy things, etc.

Oh--highlight of my week so far: I return to school yesterday (the closing was Monday, so we weren't at work). After 3 days of not seeing my, some of the kids eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their head--my stomach is really expanding! A 6th grade boy who sits right in front of me says, as we're starting class: "Mrs. Nieder, this has nothing to do with science, but your stomach has gotten a lot wider!" What the hell?! I guess this is the one time in life when people are allowed to say these things? If I see you over the holidays you better get your wide comments in now, because they won't be so funny starting the day after the baby is born.