The Job Search!

When I finished student teaching, my plan was to substitute teach until Baby K decided to make his/her appearance. Out of curiosity, I looked at MN teaching jobs available mid-year. I wasn't interested in teaching EBD in Wabasha/Kellog, Plainview Elgin Millville, or Rochester, but I saw that Austin had an opening for their Setting IV program. I decided to throw my resume out there and see what would come of it.

After Christmas, I received a phone call inviting me to Austin for an interview. Last Friday, I went and met with 3 different administrators at Austin High School. I immediately fell in love with the program I applied to teach in. It's in the middle school setting IV program. I would have 7 students grades 6-8. I would teach the 4 core subjects: math, science, social studies and English/reading, and a mental health professional would teach social skills/functional skills. It seemed like an AMAZING opportunity. They really stress keeping up with the general education curriculum while providing intensive mental health therapy.

By law, employers can not discriminate based on my rather large baby bump, but I still figured they could find something else wrong with me.

However, I was driving to Willow Hill today (to look at adorable baby pictures of Tony), and I received a phone call telling me how impressed Austin was with my interview and my references. They said as soon as my license is processed with the state they want to offer me the job! I will start right when my license is in my hands!

I have a few kinks to figure out, such as maternity leave (how long they'll give me) and daycare (in case I have to go back before the end of the school year).

I am very excited to be offered this amazing opportunity! Tony's words upon hearing I got the job were "You're a rock star!!". It wasn't exactly what I was expecting to come out of his mouth, but it sure made me smile!

31.5

Today we had an appointment with one of our midwives for a routine check-up.

Baby K's heart rate is still great.

My fundal height was 32.5, so that is measuring 1 week ahead.

Basically everything is looking great! I'm gaining lots of weight which means the baby is growing since the weight seems to be staying right in my belly region. Thank goodness!

Our main topic of conversation at the appointment was researching different methods to help with pain since I am opting for no pharmaceutical help during the birthing process. Tony and I picked up a few books on our way home that the midwife suggested. I've started reading one, and I'm enjoying it thus far.

The midwife said the power of thought is very effective, so I had a stern talking with Baby K. I'm buying tickets to the Rend Collective Experiment concert for March 1, and I told Baby K he/she had to stay put until at least the end of the concert. The concert's in Rochester, and I never thought they'd ever come this close to us!

Just thought I'd send an update out there! We'll go back in 2 weeks to check on the little munchkin.

Saying Goodbye

I had mentioned in a post last week that 2013 started off on a sad note for the Fredricksen family. Last Friday night we said goodbye to my dad's cousin Steve. It was a very nice evening of remembering all the good times we spent with Steve. I have lots of memories of wandering around gun shows, going shooting and spending time at the farm. If you're from the area and saw Steve's obituary, you might have noticed that Fredricksen is spelled Fredrickson. One of my grandpa's brothers, Earl, decided to change the spelling because of all the misspellings that occur. This just makes it harder for those of us that kept the Danish "sen"!

Today we are saying goodbye to another cousin, Mike. I did not know Mike personally, but our family is close to his parents David and Mary. It was very sudden that Mike passed away, and I'm praying and hoping that his family is able to find comfort in the 44 years they got to spend with Mike.

I posted both Mike and Steve's obituaries if you'd like to see a glimpse of who they were.

Michael R. Fredricksen, 44, of Apple Valley passed away of natural causes on Jan. 2, 2013 at his home.

Michael was born on Sept. 29, 1968 in Wilmington, Ohio. The family returned to Rochester in 1969. Following graduation from Rochester Mayo High School in June of 1987, he joined the Minnesota National Guard. He was also a graduate of Northwestern University (Roseville).

Mike served in the military for over 25 years, including a tour of duty in Iraq from 2004 to 2006. He was serving with the U.S. Army Reserves at the time of his death. Michael was the owner of Something Fishy, a marine aquatics business, in Richfield and Apple Valley. He enjoyed playing guitar, fishing, missionary work, classic cars, and flying as a private pilot.

He is survived by his parents, Mary and Dave Fredricksen; a brother James (Rachelle); a niece Hannah; a nephew Drew, all of Rochester, and a brother Brian, of Shoreview. His grandmother, Mary Meyers Fredricksen, of Rochester, and many uncles, aunts, and cousins also survive.

He is preceded in death by his maternal grandparents and his paternal grandfather and his step grandfather in addition to a cousin.

A funeral service for Michael will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7, 2013 in the River Park Chapel at Macken Funeral Home in Rochester. Visitation will be held one hour prior to services at the chapel. Burial will be at Grandview Memorial Gardens with military honors.

Steven E. Fredrickson, 68, of Rochester, died at home Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013.

He was born in Rochester Jan. 5, 1944, to Doris (nee Schleusner) and Earl Fredrickson. Steven graduated from John Marshall High School in 1961, he then enlisted in the Air Force from 1962-1966 and married Nancy J. Fredrickson (nee Hagerty) in 1967.

He worked as a union plumber, upon retirement he worked part-time as a city plumbing inspector.

Steve is survived by his mother, Doris Hawkins; one brother, Richard Fredrickson; one sister, Connie Engle (Lee); one daughter, Anne Fredrickson and one son, Robert Fredrickson both of St. Paul; and his ex-spouse, Nancy Fredrickson.

A memorial gathering will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4, at River Park Chapel, Macken Funeral Home, 1119 11 1/2 St. S.E., in Rochester.

In lieu of flowers, donations are preferred to the American Heart Association or Twin Cities Public Television.

Sneak Peak

Yesterday we took maternity pictures. We chose Brooke Delano Photography because she did such a wonderful job with Jon and Mindy's family pictures last summer. She's also doing newborn shots for us when Baby K arrives. She posted these 3 pictures as a sneak peak on Facebook last night. I'll post more when we get the fully edited CD of pictures.

This is the book I've been reading to the baby since we found out on June 30 that Baby K was on his/her way!

We were supposed to be kissing in this pose, but we discovered during our engagement and wedding photos, that we don't do the best with kissy face shots. We both end up laughing...

Diaper Kegger!

About a month ago, our friends Anthony and Lee approached us about hosting a joint baby shower. This baby shower would be a little different than the average one...it would be a DIAPER KEGGER! The guests would bring diapers/baby gifts and they would get a cup for the keg(s)--Root beer and beer beer.

When the guests entered the party, they also received 10 poker chips. These poker chips could be wagered at anytime throughout the party. The person with the most chips at the end of the night, won 2 tickets to a show at the Ordway this spring (Anthony and Lee got these as gifts, but they will have their little baby boy by then, and wouldn't be able to make it). The next best chip winner received a Sam's Club style cheese ball container!

We organized a few games for the guests to wager their chips. The first one was baby food tasting. Lee and I didn't participate, but we sure had fun watching the reactions! The guests would smell and/or taste the baby food and have to guess what it was. Everyone threw one chip in, and the winner of guessing the most correct won them all!

Adam enjoyed tasting them, but Emily sure doesn't look like she did!

Liv diligently worked to guess correctly while Torben used his doc skills of observation!

The winner of the baby food tasting was a tie between Leslie and Kristie!

The next game was the candy bar melted in a diaper game. Oh boy, this was hilarious to watch!

Uncle Will was getting a taste of what's to come when he babysits Baby K! 

Anthony (the other father-to-be) went in for the sniff. 

This was my favorite diaper! SO GROSS! Matt did quite well at this game! 

The winner of the diaper game was Tony! He sure knows his candy bars.

We took a break from baby shower games and played some Apples to Apples while the boys played Halo Reach. They had tvs set up on 2 levels of the house and played against each other using the internet. I think they had a blast! We also snacked away on delicious junk food until Casey's delivered some great pizza! The pizza was gone in no time! We had about 20 people come to the party, so there were lots of conversations and laughs being shared.

At 7, we halted all games to enjoy the Packer/Viking game. We had 4 Packer fans and the rest of the guests were Viking fans. It was exciting at first with all the cheering from both sides, but quickly it fell silent. It wasn't the best game to watch, even if it was my team who won.

I was happy to see everyone that came to the party, but I was especially happy to have my friends Michelle and Jess make it! I never get to see them anymore since I'm not working at ZED. Here's Michelle and I reuniting!

The last baby shower game was a chugging contest out of a slo flow bottle. Here's Leslie kicking butt! Unfortunately, Uncle Will beat her by a hair...

At the end of the night, everyone counted up their chips. Out of nowhere, my cousin Matthew says he has 26! He had been "secretly" betting people all night about different things. So, he's going to the Ordway in April! He's very excited since he is a bit of a theater junkie.

Lee and Anthony and Tony and I also opened up our wonderful gifts that our friends brought us. We received a lot of very nice baby gifts! I'm not going to spoil one of my favorite gifts, but it will show up in our newborn pictures of Baby K. You'll all have to wait for then!

If you are expecting, or will be expecting, host a diaper kegger! It was SO much fun!

The Eagle had landed

Friday morning I was snoozing in a little later than normal; when I woke up I could've sworn I saw an eagle flying outside my window. I jumped up (as fast as a 31 wk pregnant woman can), but I didn't see it again.

As I was sitting downstairs on the couch, the eagle reappeared! I watched it land on the tree right outside our house! I grabbed my camera and tried to get a good shot. Unfortunately, no matter what angle I tried (I went to every window in our house, as well as laid on the floor), I couldn't get a shot of the entire eagle. Darn branches getting in the way! This was the best one I captured.

 I was so excited I called Aunt Elinor to share in my joy! She was equally excited! The cats were very confused by my odd behavior. I don't usually sit at the patio door for 20 minutes taking pictures...They perched themselves on the chair next to me and observed my curious actions! After about 20 minutes, the eagle soared off into the beautiful blue sky.

Insta Gram

We've been laying pretty low lately, but I have managed to capture a few shots on Instagram!

As soon as the Docs gave me to go ahead to check out last Friday, I packed my bags and waited semi-patiently.

Meg called me on Saturday and asked if I wanted to get my toes done with her and her mom on Sunday. I was all for it! What a fun relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon. 

Sunday evening we went over to the Myhrvold's so we could finally have Christmas with Connor. Tony drew Connor's name in the cousin gift exchange, but since we weren't there, he never got his present. Connor was so grateful for the gifts! It's always fun to buy for someone who gets so excited! He got a new Seattle Space Needle Lego builder and a Diary of a Wimpy Kid calendar. 

My dad's golfing buddy Senior had a bread machine just laying around. He knows how much I love bread, so he gave it to Tony and I. The cats had to check it out! 

Tony and I are officially adults. We made our first Tupperware purchase. Tony is SO excited. 

Here we are at midnight on New Year's Eve. We went to my parent's house for supper and then to Jaymi's for a great party. We made it home with a minute to go until midnight. A lot is going to happen for us in this new year, but we're so excited for it all! 

Sol is also excited for some changes in the new year. She has taken to snuggling with my belly lately. As I type this she is curled up against me. Jaymi heard that cats can hear the baby's heartbeat, so maybe she's bonding early! 

On a different note, we've had quite the sad start to 2013 in my dad's family. My dad's cousin Steve passed away unexpectedly yesterday as well as his cousin David's son Mike this morning. The Fredricksen cousins are more like brothers, so this is a huge loss for them all. Prayers of comfort for Steve and Mike's families!