March Madness

Al and I filled out NCAA brackets before the tournament started--I am currently 2 games up on him. Bwuahhaha! However, I had Duke winning the whole thing, and they're out, so I'm thinking that my gloating will be short-lived. Whoever wins gets dinner at Pearl's, and whoever loses has to buy said dinner at Pearl's. Regardless, there is still dinner at Pearl's involved for all parties.

Anyways. It has been a very busy couple of weeks. Al was on spring break this last week, and he went down to Pullman to check things out. Upon his return, he received an acceptance letter from UW....meaning that the option to move to Seattle has presented itself to us. It is expensive, and it is crazy, but as far as job prospects for me go, it is much much better--while there are a few schools in Pullman, the greater Seattle area has an abundance of schools that I am qualified to teach at. And they pay better (although not really when you count the ridiculous cost-of-living on the west side). The same goes for Al--with a Ph.D. from UW he has a lot more options than with one from WSU. It would also mean being closer to our friends, not having to brave Snoqualmie--ever, and being able to just hop on a plane to fly to Montana to visit family (which is much more appealing than driving. We are sick of driving to Montana). No decisions have been made yet, but we shall see. We both want to go to Seattle.

While Al was out and about, I had parent-teacher conferences, which are always challenging. The more conferences I do, though, the better I get at understanding Spanish. Not speaking, mind you, but I can answer their questions before the translator starts to translate. Needless to say, I was exhausted all week, and have spent the weekend being a house-bum watching NCAA tournaments and catching up on my sleep. Thankfully, I have three days of training this week, so I only have to be in Mattawa tomorrow and Tuesday, then training, then it's spring break until April 6th!

And in Rhia news, all is still well. I'm starting to feel a bit more prepared (considering she could come in less than six weeks!). We went to Tukwila last weekend to Babies-R-Us and picked up a few things, I have washed all the baby stuff that we have in baby laundry soap, I have the start of a diaper bag packed for when she's born (with her going-home outfit and whatnot in it), I have shown Al the intricacies of diapering (newborn diapers are sooo tiny!!!), and Mom and Mark are coming out on Friday to do some more baby shopping on Saturday (and they get to brave my Seattle driving! Wheee!). We'll be getting the bassinet set up and whatnot, so I am super excited about that. Our baby will have a place to sleep! Mom's also coming to my doctor's appointment with me on Friday so she can hear Rhia's heartbeat and such. It's getting so close--tomorrow will be two months until my actual due date, although if I'm still pregnant on my due date I'm not going to be a pleasant individual. I have myself all psyched out for early/mid May. We shall see.

This made me giggle: