The Dream is Still Alive!

Remember that song by Wilson Phillips? I heard it on the way to school today. (Okay--it was on my mp3 player.) And guess what! It's true! My friend Alyson found out today that she is pregnant! So the Dream is Still Alive! Thank all of you who have been praying for her and please continue to do so. She goes in for another blood test on Monday. By then her beta number should have doubled. Please pray that this baby (these babies!) continue to grow stronger every day. A lot of people have been praying for a long time and we cannot wait to see the Miracle Steiner Baby! But we are definitely willing to wait nine months to do so! We are so thankful that God has finally answered this prayer and it will be amazing to see what he has in store!

Ticker question

Hey Bloggers--
I'm having an issue with my tickers. It's been that way for a while and it is really starting to drive me crazy. Does anyone happen to know why my tickers are getting cut-off and how I can fix them? I've been messing around with them and can't seem to make any improvements. If you have any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!
Amy

Scrooged or Lost??

Any of you that know me well know that I like to quote arbitrary lines from movies and tv shows. I don't know why I do this, I guess I think it is funny. Maybe just to annoy people or make them wonder what I am talkng about. Anyway, one of the things I have been saying a lot lately is a line from the movie Scrooged with Bill Murray. The reason I've been saying it is because I have been watching Lost. Let me explain. Both of these stories have a character named Claire. Whenever someone on Lost says, "Claire," I quote this line out of Scrooged: "Claire, Claire, Claire, they're just children!" in a really annoying voice that Brian can't stand. Well, last night a commercial for Lost came on and I just said the, "Claire, Claire, Claire" part. Imma was sitting on my lap and she turned and looked at me and said (in an equally annoying voice, except for she is sooo cute) "Claire, Claire, Claire."
And they say my baby can't talk!

Early Birthday Presents

I am so excited about the smallest (but nicest!) things! My birthday isn't until the 25th but Tuesday I got a beautiful flower from the PTO. So thoughtful. And today I got three bags of Skittles from the church that has adopted our school. It was such a pick-me-up when we have been testing the last few days. I just love thoughtfulness!

Are You PT?

I remember being in elementary school and having other kids ask, "Are you PT?" If you said, "Yes," they would reply, "Ohh--you're a pregnant teacher!" If you said, "No," they would reply, "Ohh--you're not potty trained?" Well, now I am PT--I am a pregnant teacher. And I am potty trained. And yesterday I got a new PT, Physical Therapy!
I have been to physical therapy in the past but this is the first time I have been while pregnant. I went right before I got pregnant with Imma for some other issues I'd rather forget about for the rest of my life. This time, it is because I am having a lot of pelvic girdle pain. What is pelvic girdle pain, you may ask. Well, it's basically when the ligaments between your legs feel like they are being stretched to the point of snapping, like someone is stabbing you there, like acid is eating your legs from the inside out. Sounds like fun, right? There are a few things that can cause it but mostly it has to do with the hormone that is released to make your ligaments stretch and the weight and shifting of your body. It could be too much hormone, and it could be too much shift and weight. With me, the right side of my body is moving just fine when I walk or climb stairs, etc. but the left side isn't shifting right, so it is being dragged. This means that the ride side of me is working a lot harder to make up the difference. I am having pain on both sides. One from over-working and the other from shifting and dragging.
My physical therapist is very nice. She is a definite Christian, I found out from just a few minutes of talking to her, and the mother of four, including twins. So she knows all about pregnancy. She is also very familiar with Chronic Myofacial Pain Disease, something I was diagnosed with about four years ago. She thinks that she can correct my pelvic issue, and maybe even some of the other muscle pain issues I have. She said that she thinks we have caught this in time. Otherwise, I could end up with a girdle or using a walker towards the end of my pregnancy.
I had this same pain with Imma. With her, I told my doctor and she basically chalked it up to being pregnant--things hurt. This time, I guess I was a little more vocal, and I also talked to the nurse practitioner. I love my doctor but I think other ears heard me a little better. I really wish I had been able to go to therapy when I was pregnant with Imma because I think it would have made a huge difference. Towards the end of that pregnancy, I could hardly walk. I had to shuffle my feet and pivot. No fun!
This time, I have pretty strict directions about what I am not allowed to do. Hardest of all, I can't pick up Imma unless she is standing on a table! (No squatting.) I can't sit on the couch because it is too squishy. I am supposed to pretend I am wearing a mini-skirt at all times and keep my legs together. So I have to swivel getting in the car, sitting down, turning, etc. I am also not supposed to climb stairs if I can help it (and I live in a two story house!) So all of this will be really difficult. But I need to do it to make myself feel better.
My advice? If you start to feel any pain in your pelvic region, talk to your doctor about going to see a physical therapist. It would be much better to get help early on so that you don't end up in a girdle or with a walker!
In other news, I missed Imma's speech therapy last night but she did really well! She repeated several phrases for her "teacher" and even said some words on her own. The preschool evaluation team called me today and they are getting ready to screen her, as her birthday is now about 90 days away. Hopefully, their test will come out much differently!

Prayer Request

My very good friend, work roommate, and practically-a-sister-we-spend-so-much-time-together (and I borrow her mom a lot!) Alyson had her frozen embryo tranfer today. Those of you who are not very familiar with IVF may have no idea what that means, and that's okay, because God does! If you could all please pray that those little snowflake babies will burrow in and snuggle-up for about another 8 1/2 months, we would really appreciate it. Alyson has been through so much on her way to becoming a mommy and she deserves it more than anyone in the world. She is going to be the best mommy-ever! She just needs these babies to make it. So, please, please, please say as many prayers for her, especially over the next two weeks while we wait to find out the news, as you possibly can. And on March 12th I'll get to post the wonderful news that Baby(s) Steiner is(are) on the way!!

Celebrate!

We went out to eat tonight to celebrate our exciting news that we will soon have two daughters! We went to Saltgrass Steak House. The first fifteen minutes was great and then Imma decided she needed to sit on my lap. But we made it work. What was really awesome was that they were able to bring Imma's entree out with our salad/soup. That was great! Unfortunately, she chose not to eat any of her macaroni and cheese because she was busy eating oreos and cheetohs. So Daddy ate it. Why waste perfectly good mac and cheese that you just paid $6 for?
The desserts looked great but Imma was ready to go so we went to Brahms and got ice cream.
We are so happy about Lucy! I'm sure that, if we were having a boy, we would have been happy, too, but it is just so great to know Imma and Lucy are going to be sisters and best pals. I always wanted a little sister and I had to wait ten years to get one so I'm just ecstatic for Imma. I really hope they are close always and they share everything--toys, clothes, friends, etc.
I do think Lucy's personality is going to be totally different than Imma's. It's kind of weird but I had a sense of who Imma was before she was born and the second she entered the world, it was quite evident who she was and what we were in for. Lucy just seems a little more mellow, even though I still feel her a lot. She was pretty still during the ultrasound and just seems to have a more calm personality than Imma. I could be totally wrong though so I guess we will have to wait and see.
One final thought, as we were walking in to the restaurant tonight, I swear my sweet little girl screamed a phrase that, if she said what I think she said, I have no idea where she picked it up. It sounded like she yelled, "You guys suck!" Maybe I miss-heard . . . .