Counting Our Blessings

Update 1/22/12

2012-01-22T21:24:00.004-06:00

I have several new pictures of Jaxon to share, but I want to write about a couple of other things first. First, it is hard to believe that Jaxon is going to be ONE in just 10 days! We are so excited about his party. We are going to have so many family and friends coming over, he is not going to know what to do! So far, we have about 30 people and 10 little kids! Good thing we have a lot of toys! We will also have a ball tent with balls, Jaxon's play house and slide, and a big sand table with sand toys outside. I'm hoping that's enough to keep the kiddos happy for a couple of hours. I can't wait to blog about his first party with stories and pictures!

Also, Kevin started a new job last week! He is selling sand and aggregates now for a company called Turf Materials. He thinks that he is going to be a lot happier in this new job and it also has a lot more potential. Jaxon and I are so blessed to have a husband (and Daddy) who works so hard to provide for us. Kevin is always finding ways to make money so that we can have the things that we need and want. He also saves us a ton of stress and money by being quite the handyman. He can fix everything from electronics, to cars, to appliances. If I can break it, he can fix it. Okay, enough bragging on Kevin.

Here are the pictures of Jaxon!

The last picture is of Jaxon's first peanut butter and jelly sandwich! He gobbled it down in about 2 minutes (it was only a half, no crust...but still)! He loved it.

Zoo trip and BIG NEWS!!!

2012-01-15T21:16:00.004-06:00

Jaxon has already visited the San Antonio Zoo, but this Saturday Kevin and I took him to the Houston Zoo. I personally preferred it for little ones since there were so many more kids' activities! Jaxon's favorite things so far were in the children's zoo. He loved watching the otter swim and show off for him through the window and his all-time favorite activity is...get ready for this....yes, petting goats.

I let my baby pet goats. Don't worry, we washed up REALLY well afterwards! He of course also loved watching the giraffes. Apparently you can feed them once a day if you are there at the right time. We will have to plan for it next time! We saw so many cool things and so much fun stuff for him to enjoy as he grows. We will certainly be zoo members! We ended the day by allowing him to pick out a giraffe stuffed animal and he picked a less life-like but absolutely adorable giraffe lovie. He has been stuck to it since - in fact, it is in bed with him right now along with his Okapi from the San Antonio Zoo!

Here are some pics from the day:

Okay, now for the BIG NEWS about Jaxon!

HE IS A TODDLER! That's right, my baby is WALKING! Tonight he stood alone playing with his toys for the first time and I was so excited. But then he just TOOK OFF! Check out this video clip:

As a working mom, my big fear all along has been to miss major milestones like this while I was at work. So far I have been blessed to witness first-hand every single one of Jaxon's new things. I will cherish the fact that I was with him for these first steps forever! I can't believe we have a toddler!

I also love Kevin's face in the background of the video. He is so proud of our little guy too!

Jaxon Update 1/9/12

2012-01-09T21:33:00.009-06:00

Our little guy is growing so fast and learning even faster! This weekend he learned the words "uh-oh" and "light." He now says:

-Mama
-Dada
-Tex
-Bella
-this
-that
-yeah
-uh-oh
-light
-bye-bye

We also had our first conversation tonight. It went like this:

(Jaxon threw food off of his tray at dinner)
Me: "No no, Don't throw food off your tray."
Jaxon: "This?"
Me: "Food. Don't throw it."
(Jaxon threw the food again)
Me: "Jaxon, why did you do that?"
Jaxon: (pointing) "Bella."

I guess he wanted to feed Bella!

Some other fun things he is doing are:
-Pointing to EVERYTHING and asking "This? That?"
-Pointing on command to several things and people
-Putting things together and taking them apart
-Playing with his toys the way they we designed to be played with
-Trying to "Godzilla" Kevin's helicopter from the air
-Throwing things just to say "uh-oh"
-Hugging me tightly every night before bed
-Trying to use his toy remote to make Gigglebellies come on
-Feeding himself almost every meal
-Drinking (decaf) (unsweetened) iced tea. He loves it!!!
-Giggling when he knows the answer to something
-Taking great joy from picking out his own books to read each night (as a teacher I LOVE to see him so excited about books!!!)

We went to play at the park on Sunday and I took a few pictures around our part of the neighborhood while we were out. Here are a couple!

I have been working really hard this year on a compilation of pictures of all of his "firsts" with the dates Photoshopped onto them. Tonight I completed number 78, his first toothbrush :) I hope to be able to put them into some sort of slide show movie and publish it here in honor of his upcoming first birthday! Then, after the party, I'm going to have it made into a hardcover book of Jaxon's Firsts.

Have a great week!

Jaxon's Saturday Morning Hit Toy List - January 2012

2012-01-08T22:13:00.004-06:00

11 months and an Aggie bowl game!

2012-01-01T21:38:00.006-06:00

I cannot believe that my little man is now 11 months old! Where has the time gone? It seems like we were just bringing him home yesterday! Jaxon has become such a neat little person! He makes us laugh with the games he invents and the silly things that he does. Then he looks at us with this knowing smile and giggles with us. Playing with him is my FAVORITE activity of any day, EVER! One of his favorite games right now is when I yell "LOVE TACKLE!!!" and chase after him while he tries to crawl away, tackling him to the floor with hugs and kisses. He also loves to play with all of his new toys from Christmas!

He is on formula now (about 30oz per day), but only for another month before we transition to whole milk. He eats three big solid meals a day with a lot of snacks in between, and he likes meat now! He is a growing boy.

He typically sleeps about 12 hours per night and takes either one 2 hour nap OR two shorter naps during the day.

The words he says are mama, dada, tex, beh (for Bella), yeah, this, that, and uh-uh (for uh-oh). He is constantly pointing at anything and EVERYTHING and saying "This, this, this, this, this" with a question in his voice. He is one inquisitive little boy!

On New Year's Eve Kevin and I were lucky enough to go to the Aggie Bowl game with his dad, who got us tickets. It was AWESOME! Apparently it was the second-largest crowd in Texas bowl history!

Park Pics

2011-12-28T17:32:00.005-06:00

I have been playing with my new camera and Photoshop this week. I am amazed with how simple it can be to make my photos look so cool! Today we went to the little park on our street and played while I took pics.

I have SO enjoyed my time off with my little guy... and I still have a few days!

Organization, Kevin's apron, new Jaxon pics!

2011-12-27T21:12:00.018-06:00

After Christmas we had a massive overflow of toys and play things downstairs. Our living room had become a Jaxon explosion. We haven't been using the game room because we have only played downstairs, but we decided to move some toys upstairs and split our time between playing both places. I bought a toy chest using gift cards to keep up there. After all, we do love our game room! Anyway, our living room still has toys but it is much more manageable and still looks like an adult house, and we LOVE Jaxon's new play room.

Downstairs:

Upstairs:

I moved all of Jaxon's books into his room. Each night after putting on his pj's we pick out a book to read. He grabs one and says "Dis" (this). So cute!

So there you have it, our minor home improvements.

Today I did a photo shoot with Jaxon to try and get a good one for his first birthday invitations. I got some good shots but I had to play with the lighting in Photoshop to make them look their best. Here's a few of them.

Last thing: Tonight Kevin grilled brats for dinner and he wore his new personalized apron. Not only did he allow me to photograph him, he also did tricks for me!!!

Christmas!!!

2011-12-26T21:29:00.066-06:00

Kevin and I were AMAZED by the magic of Christmas this year! Sure, I experienced it when I was a child, but I had no idea how special it would be with my own little guy this year. Watching him light up from the attention and love from his family and get excited when he opened his gifts was absolutely the greatest thing I've ever experienced. It was the best Christmas yet!

We started off the celebrations by riding with Nana and Papa to Temple on Christmas Eve to celebrate with Kevin's family there. We spent the afternoon and Kevin's Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Marsha's house, where there were SO MANY little kids! Jaxon is so lucky to have so many babies his age. There were several older kids and then 7 month old twin boys, a 14 month old boy, and Jaxon (11 months). A baby girl cousin was just born this week as well. Here are some pictures of this celebration:

All ready to go!

Family photo

Playing with his cousins

At this Christmas party Jaxon had such a good time! His (Great) Aunts and Uncles gave him some adorable clothes and toys, and he even enjoyed his first Christmas cookie. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep before we even made it out of the driveway.

After that it was off to Aunt Peaches' house there in Temple. We went to visit her and to have our family Christmas with Uncle Jarred and Aunt Cari since they live in Fort Worth.

We all opened our presents...

Jaxon loved his microphone and blocks from Aunt Cari!

And I LOVED his Christmas pajamas from her as well! He was sooooo tired by now.

Then it was time to head home. My parents and Lindsay met us at home to spend the night with us on Christmas Eve. Before we put Jaxon to bed we did a quick photo shoot in his adorable new pajamas.

This is him loving on my Rudolph from when I was not much older than him, given to me by my Mimi. So special!

And then it was off to bed to wait for Santa for his very first time. Here is what Santa left him while he was sleeping!

On Christmas morning we woke him up and gave him a bottle upstairs while we waited on Nana and Papa to arrive. Then I carried him downstairs! At first he was overwhelmed by seeing so many grandparents watching him... but then he saw his Santa gifts and he was off!

He played with all of his toys. He was perfect, the way he went around and touched and played with everything and posed for pictures. It could not have gone any better!

It was so nice to have Christmas at our house! It was great sharing it with family.

After Santa we ate breakfast: Vicki's monkey bread, my mom's sausage and jalepeno balls, and tamales that Ricky brought! Then it was time for gifts! I am going to put only a few pics here because it could literally take all night.

This was so special! Lindsay took this picture without us knowing and framed it. It is absolutely beautiful and captures the magic of Christmas. It took our breath away!

When Jaxon opened Gigglebellies Volume 2 he started pointing at the TV so we played it for him. He was in a trance!

Then we got everything all cleaned up and headed to Bryan for Christmas at Granny and Grandaddy's house! We had lunch there and Jaxon opened more gifts. This boy is so spoiled!

Jaxon LOVED these giraffe pillow pets! He kept hugging them, cuddling them, squeezing them, screaming, and laughing!

After presents, we just played, napped, and had good family time!

After our last Christmas celebration, it was time to head home! We had a few more gifts to open from Grammy and Pop-Pop because, unfortunately, we were unable to see them this year for Christmas.

And then... it was over! This was the most fantastic Christmas of our lives. We are so blessed with wonderful family and our AWESOME, SWEET, LOVEABLE little man! He had the best day of his short little life, which means that we did, too.

Today was a day of organizing things and putting Christmas things away until next year. We are ready for a new week! Tomorrow I may blog pictures of Jaxon's "new" game room. Thanks for reading!

Busy Bags!!!

2011-12-22T22:16:00.022-06:00

In case you aren't familiar with Busy Bags, they are fun little activities to keep stashed away and pull out for church, long car rides, restaurants, waiting rooms, etc. The idea is to rotate them so that they always seem new and exciting to your child. Typically they are quiet activities that will not make a mess and are often educational. Early learning ones (like for Jaxon) will focus on colors, shapes, letters, numbers, counting, and fine motor skills.

I got interested in the idea of busy bags a while back through Pinterest and I started googling more ideas this afternoon. There are not many activities that Jaxon can do at just 1 year, even with close supervision. But I got some ideas and started digging around my house trying to find materials to use. I even got into my first grade materials stashed in my attic (I knew I kept them for a reason)! I ended up making TWENTY busy bags for not a penny! I do still need to go to Dollar Tree to get zipper pouches because I do not like the ziplock bags and they will hold up better. I also have a few supplies that I need to buy to make the rest of my bags.

I started with the ideas I found online, but quickly started making my own. It got to where I would see something and think "How could I use that?" So here's what I came up with!

This is an "I Spy" bottle. I took pictures of the things inside and I am going to make a laminated card to go with it so that Jaxon will know what to look for.

Magnetic fishing game: I didn't make this. I found it in my attic.

Finger puppets: I already had these laying around.

One of my favorites - This jar has paperclips and pieces of pipe cleaner in it. I hot glued a magnet to the bottom of a plastic bear and when you rub the bear against the outside of the jar it picks up and moves the metal pieces around.

Cards with numbers and dots. Count the pennies out and match them for 1-1 correspondence.

Same type of thing but with buttons - one bag has 0-10 and one has 11-20.

Unifix cubes. I will use these for color matching or patterning.

Another favorite - I painted the bottoms of these jars and Jaxon will sort the colored objects by placing them into the correct jars.

Matching game with baby food lids

Sort the balls by which sport they're played with.

Pom-pom push. This is a formula container that a mod-podged and poked holes through the top with scissors. Push the poms through.

Stringing beads. I attached a pipe cleaner to the end to make it easier to thread the yarn through.

Scooping Practice

Another fave: ABC matching. There are wooden tiles with each letter on them. Then I found an object beginning with each letter to match up.

Push the pipe cleaners through the corresponding colored hole in the lid of this container.

This is a work in progress. Cardboard letters cut from boxes. Can be used for letter identification or, later, spelling.

This one is fun. It's an "open and close" box. Everything inside can be opened and closed in different ways and nothing is small enough to be a choking hazard so he can use it now!

I didn't make these of course, but flash cards are always great to grab-and-go!

For WAY later - These are spelling pattern dice with the wooden beginning letters to match up and create words!

Laminated paper dominoes. In first grade I used these for addition. 2 dots plus 5 dots equals 7 dots. But they could be for counting, or comparing numbers even (which side has less, more).

And I organized them into this neat little tub.

I created two more but I need my printer to print sorting mats and I *may* have broken it tonight and I'm waiting for Kevin to fix it...

I'm sure I will constantly be finding new ideas, but this is a great start. The ones I still want to make for the time being are:

1. Silly faces using foam pieces and goggly eyes
2. Create a pizza using felt pieces
3. Roads with felt pieces and little cars to drive on them
4. A mini dry erase board and marker
5. A small notepad and some stickers
6. Letter lacing
7. Another I Spy bottle
8. An I Spy bag using microfill beads
9. Nuts, bolts, and washers
10. Alphabet stamps
11. Glitter gel bags for drawing with fingers
12. Tangrams
13. Some sort of shape sort
14. Egg carton with plastic eggs and objects inside of them

Already???

2011-12-19T22:04:00.015-06:00

We will be having Jaxon's FIRST BIRTHDAY celebration in just 5 weeks! It absolutely blows my mind. Being a teacher, I am off of work for the next two weeks (YES!!!!!) so I am taking advantage of my freedom by preparing for the party ahead of time. The spring semester at school starts off crazy and doesn't slow down, so Jaxon's party will be on us before we know it!

I picked out invitations but haven't ordered them yet because I want to take a better picture for them. I lined up someone in San Antonio to do his cake, but I am still working on a design. I may try to incorporate the giraffe from Gigglebellies into it.

Today I went to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Dollar Tree to get things to make my decorations. Here's what I have so far:

I painted these frames and hot glued the giraffes onto them. I'll put pictures of giraffes from online and also pics of Jaxon in his giraffe costume, playing with giraffes, etc in them!

Close-up

I filled these candle holders with rocks and a small candle and tied giraffe ribbon around them. I filled the hurricane glass with the same rocks, and sticks (safari?)

My favorite part of all is the crown I made for him! I found this blue one online and I loved it, but it was WAY too expensive and I figured I could make one more customized for a fraction of the price. I bought felt, some iron on letters, embroidery thread, and this is what I made:

I am also making him a shirt. It will be brown with a number one in the same giraffe felt with blue embroidery letters spelling JAXON across it.

I also bought a lot of scrapbook paper to make birthday banners for him. I already planned them out but I need to use the di-cuts after school one day to cut my paper:

I ordered this poster and I am going to hang it up and have people sign it instead of a guest book, and then frame it for him as a memory.

I am so excited for my little guy to have his party! But FIRST, we get to enjoy his first CHRISTMAS! We are so blessed.

I took some very cute bathtub pics tonight:

I love Christmas break. I love party planning. I love my little guy. I LOVE MY LIFE!

Letter to Jaxon

2011-12-12T21:30:00.002-06:00

It was on my heart to write to Jaxon tonight, which is partly why I got my blog back up and running.

Dear Jaxon,

I cannot believe that you are already more than ten months old! It does not seem as though you have been with us that long. These last 10 months have been absolutely the best months of our life. You have brought a joy to your Dada and I that we never knew existed.

We love to watch you play and learn new things. We love to listen to you babble and talk. We think it is so funny how you point at everything. You make us laugh every day! Your little personality is actually quite large to be so young!

We love that you are a cuddle-bug. I always tease you and ask if you are my stink-bug or my cuddle-bug, but the truth is that you are both. I love when you crawl over to me and give me a hug and a kiss. It makes everything alright in my entire world. Your Dada loves to hear you say his name. We both think it is so funny how you yell “DADA!” any time I am giving you medicine or doing anything else that you don’t like. He says it’s because he’s your superhero and I think he’s right. I hope that your Dada is always your superhero.

Your laugh is the sweetest sound that either of us has ever heard. And you laugh all of the time! You think Tex and Bella are hilarious, especially when they will actually let you touch them! You also laugh when we chase you, tickle you, or play silly games with you. Your favorite thing is to be tossed around and hung upside down!

Tonight after your story and prayer, when I tucked you in, you wrapped your little arms around my neck and laid your head on my shoulder. I promised you that I will love you more and more every single day of my life. And just when we think it’s not possible to love you any more, I will wake up the next day and I will! I mean it.

You are a blessing to everyone who knows you, Jaxon Wayne. We love you!
Mama and Dada

Christmas Prep and SANTA!!!

2011-12-12T21:02:00.017-06:00

We are so excited to have Jaxon's first Christmas! We took his Christmas card photos at Grammy's house at Thanksgiving. However, we never got around to doing Christmas cards. Please know you are not forgotten and please forgive me! Here is my favorite of the pics:

And speaking of Thanksgiving, can you believe this mess???

We have taken tons of other pictures around our Christmas tree:

I particularly like this one because it matches one of my kissing the same Santa (painted by my Granny) when I was about the same age.

Saturday we went to see Santa in our neighborhood, but first we had to get a haircut! So when Mary found out that Jaxon was about to meet Santa for the first time, she gave him a little gel. Didn't he look handsome?

And then it was off to meet Santa! We waited in line OUTSIDE (bundled up) for over an hour and then it was finally our turn! Santa brought a live reindeer with him. Jaxon didn't cry, but he was a little unsure.

Merry Christmas!

Getting back into it!

2011-12-12T20:42:00.012-06:00

Okay, so the last time I blogged was right after Jaxon was born. Being a working mommy of an infant has really made me prioritize my time! But I am ready to get back into blogging, since I know that a lot of family members were keeping up with us this way.

Jaxon turned 10 months old on the 1st. Can you believe it??? We are so excited to show him his first Christmas. This year has been a year of great blessings and so much love. I hope that these month-by-month pics will catch you up a little. Look at how much he has changed!

I am about to write two more posts!

Dear Jaxon

2011-02-20T20:37:00.014-06:00

Dear Jaxon,

I think it's time I wrote about the day you were born and your first (almost) three weeks of life. The whole experience has been exciting, amazing, exhausting, emotional, and awesome all at the same time! You are a little miracle and such a blessing to our family. You have already taken over our lives!

On February 1, 2011 I went for my 39 week doctor's appointment. I told your Daddy that morning that I was hoping that the doctor would send me straight to the hospital to have you, but then we laughed about it because we did not think it would happen that way. Well, I got my wish! The doctor called the hospital and they told him that they had room for me that day and that I should go straight there! I went home and got your Daddy and all of our bags, and off we went!

We checked into the hospital at about 11am and they started the pitocin at 11:30. By 2:30 the doctor broke my water and then it started to get pretty painful, but soon after that I got an epidural so the pain wasn't so bad anymore. I began pushing at 6:30pm and the nurse quickly discovered that you were not in a good position, since your little face was pointed up instead of down. They tried to turn you and I kept pushing for almost 3 hours, but it became clear that you were stuck. That's when the doctor told me that I should consider having a c-section for the health and safety of both of us, so that's what I did. I was upset at first, but it was the right decision! We headed back to the operating room and you were born at 9:32pm. It was the most amazing experience of my life and your Daddy's to see you for the first time and hear your first cries.

We stayed in the hospital for 39 hours and since we were both recovering so well we were released more than a day early. We went home on February 3rd, a Thursday. Since we've been home I think we have all been learning a lot! You and I have learned to nurse together, your Daddy and I have learned how to work together to take care of you, I have learned how to take care of your clogged and infected tear duct, and you are learning new things every day at an amazing pace! I am so proud of you because you can already turn your head to find our voices, lift yourself up onto your elbows, and you smile all the time! You are also already sleeping in 3-4 hour blocks throughout the night. You are a wonderful baby!

Too much has happened during the last 3 weeks to write about all of it, so I am going to tell the rest of our story with pictures. I love you more than words can say, little guy!

And here is your 1-week picture, taken on February 8th:

The next one I'll take will be next week for your 1-month! I look forward to many more hours, days, weeks, months, and years of sweet memories with you! We love you, baby boy.

Maternity Pictures - 1/15/11!!!

2011-01-18T19:33:00.022-06:00

This last Saturday my good friend (and roommate) from college came out to our neighborhood to shoot some belly pictures and some sweet pictures of Kevin and me in our last couple of weeks as a family of two. Her name is Katy and she is incredibly talented! This was her first maternity shoot ever and the pictures are amazing.

We were nervous because it rained all week and even off and on on Saturday morning. But the rain cleared out just long enough to allow us to get outside and get a lot of good shots with a good cloudy sky. It was actually a perfect morning, despite being a little bit chilly. Enough words! I'll just share a few of my favorite pictures with you.

Umm...Okay I realize that was more than "a few." I just have too many favorites and once I started uploading I just couldn't stop!

Jaxon's Haude Shower

2011-01-11T21:13:00.007-06:00

Today Jaxon and I had our fourth (and last) baby shower. It was at my school and my third grade teammates were the hostesses. I thought it was so creative! First of all, there are a lot of "crafty" people at my school so there were some really amazing hand-made cards and an adorable little scrapbook make out of the letters of his name. He also got a couple of cute aggie outfits, and even an roll-up aggie car window shade from my principal!

The theme of the shower was a gift card tree, so each group of people bought gift cards to Target, Babies R Us, or other places and then hung them on this adorable tree. There was also punch and a delicious cake made by one of our own teachers.

I thought the gift card tree was a fantastic idea because:

1. It was easy for people during a busy time of the year.
2. It was easy for me to carry my gifts out to my car.
3. I can use them along with my registry close-out discounts to get the remaining items that I need!

I may use this idea for showers I throw in the future, so if I end up throwing you a gift-card tree shower, just pretend you never read this. Ok? Good.

Kevin and I have been so blessed with the outpouring of love from family and friends at our different showers for Jaxon. We are so appreciative of everything. Thank you!

Pictures from the shower:

Jaxon's Temple Shower - 1.8.11

2011-01-09T15:23:00.017-06:00

It's been a few weeks since I posted. At 36 weeks pregnant, my nesting instinct is in FULL swing and I am keeping myself busy doing things around the house. You know, Jaxon will be very dissappointed in me if he comes home to dusty blinds or shower doors with hard water deposits on them... LOL. I realize how ridiculous it is, but it's not stopping me!

Kevin and I took a day trip to Temple yesterday where we had another baby shower for Jaxon. His Aunts Sandra, Donna, and Marsha threw it for us at Donna and Jim's coffee shop in Belton. It was so nice! Rather than write all about it, I'll show you with pictures and captions:

There were these ADORABLE sports-themed cookies and cupcakes:

These are our hostesses. The picture is so orange because the camera was on the wrong setting:

Kevin and I in front of the snack table:

He was a proud Daddy! He opened every single of of Jaxon's gifts himself :)

The family gathered around to watch us open Jaxon's gifts:

We got some very special things - including three handmade blankets! Jaxon is a very loved little boy already.

For some reason, Kevin kept smelling all of the baby gifts!

A few more fun shots of the shower:

Before leaving town, we had dinner at a favorite place (Jody's). It was delicious! Then we drove home and unpacked all of Jaxon's things. You KNOW I couldn't go to bed until it was done! I even washed his new bottles last night :)

It was a wonderful day full of love and family!

Jaxon's 4D Ultrasound @ 31 Weeks

2010-12-22T12:48:00.009-06:00

As promised, here are the pictures of our second-try 4D ultrasound. These were MUCH better! He was weighing in at a whopping 4 lb 11 oz, and measuring in the 93rd percentile for length. All of his body functions looked great, and he appears to be a healthy, happy little boy!

Catch-Up

2010-12-22T12:32:00.006-06:00

Wow! I can't believe I waited this long to post again. It feels as though I have just gotten a chance to sit down and relax! Since my last post, almost three weeks have passed and I am now just over 33 weeks pregnant! By my estimates, based on his growth rate over the last 6 weeks or so, Jaxon is nearing a whopping 6 pounds! It sure feels that way, too. When he moves around it is a BIG ordeal :)

I have still been incredibly blessed throughout the pregnancy - I have not yet swelled up. In fact, I am still wearing high heels and all three of my rings (comfortably)! The scale says I have gained an enormous amount of weight, but to me all it seems like is that I have a perfectly round basketball stuffed under my shirt.

The doctor has been preparing us for either: a) an early delivery; or b) a c-section. This is due strictly to Jaxon's huge self, haha. Full term (40 weeks) he would weigh close to, or exactly 11 pounds if his growth continues at this rate. The issue is that he must make it until at least 38.5 weeks (which is January 28th), due to the fact that I have not been working at my job for an entire year and I must meet an hour requirement to qualify for FMLA and not lose my job or insurance coverage while I take time off with him. January 28th is sounding like a great birthday to me!!!

Kevin and I have been getting ready for Jaxon in every way possible. My "nesting" has manifested itself in the typical motherly way - finding child care and a pediatrician, doing baby laundry, researching the best products, editing my registry, buying a carseat, etc. Kevin's "nesting" has meant working like a MADMAN to get all of our household projects completed, since he knows it will be hard to find time for them before too long. He has been fixing everything, organizing, cleaning...

Aside from getting ready for our little man, we have been enjoying the last several weeks together as a family of two. We went to his work Christmas party last weekend which was a great dinner and a fun casino night. We blew $40K in just under two hours - good thing it was FAKE money! I don't think we'll be doing any real gambling any time soon :)

We're also gearing up for our Christmas travels - quite possibly the last big trip we take without Jaxon. We'll be going to Bryan, Temple, and Fort Worth in a matter of just 3 days. We're excited though - I lvoe this time of year! I've been baking cupcakes for neighbors, fudge for family, and basically anything else I can think of. My time off from work so far has been very productive!

I have an appointment with my OB later this afternoon, so I'll update if we get any more news about Jaxon. Here are some new pics:

28 Weeks

30 Weeks

32 Weeks

AH! I just realized that I haven't blogged pics of his second 4D ultrasound at 31 weeks! That post will be next!

Jaxon's Cypress Shower (12.5.10)

2010-12-05T19:10:00.012-06:00

Today we had our second baby shower for our little man. Our friends here in Cypress hosted it for us at our neighbor's house, and it was awesome just to walk two houses down to get to the party! We had a few friends who were unable to make it, but for the most part everyone was there. My parents even came in from San Antonio to attend, which was great!

It was a couple's shower, and the theme was "diapering." We got a ton of diapers, wipes, butt paste (which I didn't know was actually a real thing until today), a diaper genie, and an adorable Scentsy warmer to mask that dirty diaper smell. We also got some toys, bath supplies, and other fun things for Jaxon. Vicki (Kevin's step-mom) made us a sweet A&M blanket monogrammed with his name on it!

Here are some pictures from the shower:

It was a wonderful day, and it was so great to celebrate again with friends and family. Thank you to our sweet hostesses and all of our friends and family who came!

Jaxon's 4D Ultrasound @ 29 Weeks

2010-11-22T19:46:00.008-06:00

Today Kevin and I went to our 4D ultrasound, very excited to see our little man. Unfortunately, Jaxon was taking after his father and being incredibly stubborn ;)

He refused to show us a clear view of his face, even after the sonographer poked and prodded and jiggled him for 40 minutes. That's the bad news. The good news is that they still gave us a CD with 27 pictures and a DVD, and a few of them are pretty good. Plus, we get to go back for no charge in two weeks and try again. We'll get a whole new CD and another set of pictures then, so I guess it all works out for the best.

He currently weighs 3 lbs 8 oz and is measuring 30 weeks, 4 days. That's a week and a half ahead of schedule, just as he has been since his 11 week ultrasound! He's going to be a BIG baby. The sonographer described all of his organs and other body parts as "beautiful" and "strong," and reassured us that we have a healthy baby boy. She was surprised that, even though he wiggled and moved the entire time, he never turned his head to face the ultrasound.

Pictures:

This one looks like he's laughing at us!

Little feet!

Christmas Decorations!

2010-11-21T22:23:00.012-06:00

This weekend has been another weekend full of projects! Yesterday, Kevin put in a utility sink in our laundry room. While he worked on that I ran several errands and got ready for a house full of friends to watch the Aggie football game (WHOOP!). Then after church today we noticed that the sink was leaking, so he spent more time working on that. Then he mounted the dresser mirror (finally) in one of our upstairs rooms and hung a full length mirror in our bathroom. He says he's NOT doing anything around the house next weekend!

Anyway, while he worked today I put away our fall decorations and got out our Christmas ones! I know you may think it's early, but the next week is going to be really crazy and I wanted to take advantage of the time I had to do it. Plus I was really excited! Here are some pictures:

Our Tree:

My new favorite ornament:

A pic of the whole room, plus a tired dog and some misplaced boots:

I made these snowmen with my third graders last year in RISD:

Entry:

Front Door:

I didn't put up as much this year as I have in the past because I wanted to go light. I figure by the time I have to put all of this stuff away I'll be about 35 weeks pregnant!

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Kevin and I are so excited because tomorrow we will get to see our little man up close and personal in our 4D ultrasound! I'm hoping and praying that he will be cooperative and show us his little face. It's going to be hard(er) to sleep tonight! I'll share the photos tomorrow evening. Have a great night!

Jaxon's Nursery!

2010-11-13T20:02:00.012-06:00

Kevin and I have been working all day long on Jaxon's nursery! I had already finished a lot in there - I've gotten all of his clothes and bedding washed and put away, and his bed was already made up. But we still had some things that we wanted to work on.

We started out at Hobby Lobby this morning so that I could get supplies to make the letters for his name, and then we went to Lowe's to buy shelves and a curtain rod. When we got back, we tried to figure out where to hang the shelves. In this process, we discovered that we needed to re-arrange the room and move the huge chair out into the game room. This will actually work better for us anyway, since we can rock and feed him in front of a TV when we want to. Plus we'll get much more use of it out there.

Then Kevin got to work hanging the shelves and the curtain rod. He also mounted the bookshelf to the wall to child-proof it, and hung two towel racks in the upstairs bathrooms. He had quite the honey-do list today!

While he worked upstairs, I painted Jaxon's letters and got very angry at the ribbon. Once I figured it out, though, I think they turned out to be very adorable! I also did a ton of laundry since we've been behind on it - but back to the nursery! Here are some pictures of the (almost) finished product.

The photos in the sports frames are of Kevin playing those sports when he was a kid. The exception is the football one, which has the two of us at a Texan's game several years ago.

I think I'm pretty happy with the nursery how it is right now! The only thing I still want to do is make a photo board (the kind with with the criss-crossed ribbons), and hang it over his changing table. Plus I'm sure we'll continue to put little "finishing touches" as it gets closer to his arrival, but I'm feeling very accomplished tonight!

I also want to share my 28 week pictures, even though we took them a couple of days early. Friday was our 6 year dating anniversary so we went out to eat a nice steak dinner and celebrate. Since we were all dressed up, we went ahead and took the picture. Jaxon has grown SIGNIFICANTLY in the last couple of weeks! It's also very cool now because, since he's so big, I can feel exactly where he is in my belly at all times, and Kevin usually can too. His movements shake my whole body most of the time - he sure is strong!

That's it for tonight! Have a wonderful Sunday :)

Jaxon's Dallas Shower (11.06.10)

2010-11-09T19:38:00.021-06:00

Last weekend I traveled up to Dallas to visit with friends and family, and to have Jaxon's first baby shower! My Aunt Laura hosted it at her house, and I was able to celebrate with family from both sides, my teacher friends from Richardson (who I miss so much), some awesome women that I used to attend church with, and even one of my sweet former students and her mom (my room mother that year). It was absolutely perfect, and so much fun to celebrate Jaxon's pending arrival with the people that I care about! We had foods, yummy cake, games, and gifts. Here are some pictures of the highlights:

My amazing Aunt Laura and the BEAUTIFUL and DELICIOUS cake!

Time to snack!

Game time! First we guessed how many diapers were in a huge bag and then we came up with words out of the letters of Jaxon Wayne White.

I accidentally won the game... The prize was a "boo-boo bunny"." Ask Lindsay about that one.

Then it was time for presents! This is a custom name tile that Casey W. had her uncle make. It is so unique and special! I love it.

My teacher friends all chipped in and bought Jaxon's crib set! Thanks, friends!

My family bought the rest of the accessories for the nursery. I can't wait to get it all ready for him.

His Boppy pillow and an unbelievably sweet book from Aunt Cari and Sydni

The Bumbo seat and tray!

I loved every single one of his gifts and am so appreciative for all of them - I just don't have pictures of everything and I didn't want to bore readers with all of it.

Here are some group shots!

Jaxon's two grandmas: I love how excited they look!

My RISD teacher friends - Amy, I'm so sorry we didn't take this before you left!

Kevin's mom, sister, and niece

Former student and room mother

Last but not least, my sis Lindsay. She didn't make it into many pictures because she was the talented photographer!

I unfortunately did not get pictures with everyone there, but your presence meant so much to me!

I stayed with Allen and Casey, our friends from church there. Casey actually had a shower on Sunday, so we were able to attend each others' showers and spend time together. It was a wonderful weekend!

Kevin and I will be pretty much finishing Jaxon's nursery this weekend, so check back for pics!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:58:00.007-05:00

I am way too tired to write anything tonight, but here are some pictures from our Halloween! I made a shirt that says "JAX-O-laNtern" with a pumpkin on my belly, and we carved three pumpkins with our initials. Then we hung out with some friends and passed out candy on our driveway. Successful night!

Jaxon Kicking, Punching, and Rolling (25 + 4 Weeks)

2010-10-28T22:36:00.003-05:00

Tonight Jaxon was going crazy! I think it must be because of the awesome dinner that Kevin and I had tonight :)

Anyway, he was doing much more before I finally got my camera out (that's how it always is), but I managed to get some kicks, punches, and rolls on camera!

He has been rolling (at least I think that's what he's doing) a lot lately, especially after I eat - which tends to make me a little nauseous. But it's also very cool.

I also got some great news today from HR - they have approved my FMLA even though I am coming up 19 days short of a full year of employment at Jaxon's due date. This is a huge relief because I was worried about losing my benefits among other things. Namely my job. I'm still only taking 5 weeks off (6 with Spring Break), but this allows me to be out sick before then if needed, or to take extra time if I decide to. Before, I was trying to meet the hours of employment clause and coming up VERY close.

Anyway, here's the video!

Have a wonderful weekend - TGIF!

25 Weeks!

2010-10-25T18:15:00.004-05:00

25 Weeks has been eventful so far! On Wednesday I went to the doctor and he was appalled at my weight gain thus far. Let me just say that my blood pressure is average and my blood sugar is low. Also, I do not think that I look like a fat cow just yet, but I may be mistaken.

Anyway, my doctor did the thing that pregnant women have nightmares about and put me on a DIET. And not just any diet - I can only eat 1800 calories a day! The baby takes 300 so that leaves me with 1500 for my own 5'10, growing body. I told him that I was going to lose weight and he assured me that I probably would not, but that even if I did that Jaxon will be just fine. Surprise, surprise, I have already lost 6 pounds in 5 days. And I am STARVING all day long! I eat low-cal meals to try to leave room for snacks, but I am only getting three small, 100 calorie snacks per day. I plan on calling him on Wednesday to discuss this little "situation" further.

Other than that - things have been going great! I can feel him moving all the way at the bottom of my abdomen and at the top at the same time - he's a big guy now, and only getting bigger! I feel wonderful and have so much energy, which is a blessing considering my line of work! I have also been very pleased with my skin and my hair - probably a side effect of my prenatal vitamins and iron supplements.

On Saturday night two of our good friends got married and we attended the wedding. It was so beautiful and fun! Kevin and I danced as much as my pregnant body could handle in the 3 inch heels I dared to wear - and Jaxon loved it! I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot of dancing around the house with him in a few months. We took my 25 week pictures a couple of days early, since I was all dressed up for the wedding. Here you go!

I went to this enormous consignment sale last week called Just Between Friends (JBF) over in Klein by my school. It comes to town twice a year - in the fall and in the spring, and it is AMAZING. I bought 5 outfits, 2 robes, 3 hooded towels, 12 washcloths, a floppy seat grocery cart cover, a Milk Saver, a tummy time mat, another play mat, and some toys. Many of the things were brand-new with tags, and I only paid less than $80! It is so much fun to buy for our little boy :)

I'll update again soon!

24 Weeks = 6 Months!!!

2010-10-17T21:01:00.009-05:00

WOW! Time has really been flying by lately! I cannot believe that I am nearing the end of my second trimester and that we'll be meeting our son in such a short time.

We are now 24 weeks along, and I'm getting bigger:

I've been feeling great lately, with the exception of the never-ending backaches. Jaxon kicks almost all day, every day. Usually I love it, but sometimes he kicks my bladder really hard, which doesn't feel great. The other night Kevin and I watched either his head or his butt slide all the way across my belly. It was really neat!

On Friday, one of my students' mothers brought me a WHOLE BUNCH of little boy clothes. I had fun on Saturday sorting through them, but not as much fun laundering them. I did two huge piles of baby laundry and then got everything sorted by age and put into his closet and dressers. Look at all of this (free) stuff!

Then we went to The Dump (a wholesale furniture store, not a landfill) to look for a chair for the nursery. We had already decided to go with something a little more cozy and comfy than one of those wood-framed gliders. We also wanted something that we could use in another part of the house after we don't need it in Jaxon's room anymore. We found an AWESOME chair on clearance for under $300. It's a plush, big, comfy, rocking, reclining, massaging piece of Heaven. I took a nice nap in it today! Here's Bella breaking it in:

Last week I bought and built these shelves for his things:

We are now finished buying furniture for the nursery, and we are getting closer to having his room all ready for him. It's so exciting!

Aside from getting ready for Jaxon, Kevin and I have both been pretty busy with work. I have my maternity leave all figured out, documents signed, and have started preparing lesson plans and materials for the time that I'll be out - which is only 5 weeks. I know it's a long time away, but I will be able to relax once everything is prepared!

We've also enjoyed hanging out with our friends for the last couple of weekends. It's nice to have people over and not do anything fancy. Next weekend we have a wedding to attend and I'm trying to figure out a dress that I can wear without looking completely ridiculous. We've also bee trying out different Life Groups for our church, trying to find a good fit for us.

Alright, it's bed time! Have a great week!

God Has Been Gracious

2010-10-06T22:02:00.004-05:00

Tonight I was blog stalking on one of my "regulars" and she was encouraging other women to write about their stories of hope and how God has blessed their lives. She was asking us to link to her friend's blog who started the idea. You can read other people's stories of hope here. I am going to get real here. I have thought about blogging our story for a while now - and tonight God has put it on my heart to do so. I hope that our story can encourage someone else who is in a tough place.

One year ago this week Kevin lost his job in Fort Worth. He had worked so hard for his company and put in so many stressful, long hours. His unhappiness with the situation had come between us, and the stress of an impending loss of income had haunted us for almost 6 months before it happened. But that's not where our troubles had started.

Kevin and I are two strong willed people. We are very much alike, but very different at the same time. This has always been a positive and a negative in our relationship, as we have learned to build our life together. The first few years of our marriage were, at times, the best moments of my life. At times, they were also some of the worst. There was a time where I could not see myself growing old with him, and all my dreams of us were falling apart. The job loss was when we hit rock bottom.

I believe that God knew we needed to have everything stripped away in order to rebuild our marriage and focus on Him, as it should have been all along. That's exactly what He did. As Kevin began looking for a job, we worked together to make ends meet with a mortgage and two car payments on a teacher's salary.

We were blessed when Kevin found a job only a few months later, but it was in Houston. It was a huge leap of faith, especially for me, to commit to leaving the job that I loved in Richardson and moving to Houston with our relationship hanging in the balance. However, I knew that it was what I needed to do, and I felt that God was leading me to do so. That's when everything started falling into place so quickly.

We put our house on the market (at a rough time), and it sold for asking price in just two days. We closed on it in 3 weeks and moved into Kevin's mom's house for a short time. Kevin began his new job here in Houston in February, and the plan was for me to finish the school year in RISD and then join him in the summer. We began building a house in Cypress.

As I began applying to school districts in the Houston area, I found an immediate opening at one of the most desirable schools in one of the most affluent districts around here. I felt compelled to look into it, and it turned out to be a third grade reading and language arts position - my favorite subjects to teach. I interviewed, along with 13 other candidates (so I've been told), and was offered the job. I started less than 3 weeks later. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do to say goodbye to my sweet students and walk out on them in February.

Kevin and I got a tiny, cheap apartment in Cypress as we waited for our home to be built, and we lived in that 500 square feet with our two dogs for three months. Surprisingly, I cherished that time. We found a new joy in our relationship as we took on these new challenges and exciting experiences together. Every evening after we got home from work we would go and look at the progress on our new home.

When I started my new teaching job with only 63 payroll days left, I took a pay cut by 1/3 through September. This put our chances of getting the loan for our home (in this tight market) in jeopardy. We prayed and we saved, and we did everything we could to make it work. Kevin even sold his truck. Everything came together with what can only be explained as God's help, and we closed on our home on May 21st.

We moved that weekend, and then on Monday we were blessed once again. I found out that we were pregnant! Right away we decided that if it was a boy, his name would be Jaxon. Jaxon means "God has been gracious." What could be more fitting for this time in our lives? And, as most of you know, Jaxon will be joining us on February 7th, 2011.

God looked into our lives and saw that we were headed for disaster. He slapped us with a huge wake-up call when we needed it the most. He saved our marriage, moved us to a place where we could call home forever, tied up all of the loose ends, and blessed us with a baby boy. And He did all of this in less than a year.

I learned that I am not in control, but that God is. Everything is according to His timing, not mine. I am forever grateful for the changes that He brought to us, no matter how stressful and crazy, because they saved us in more ways than I probably even comprehend.

We both now agree that we are happier than we have ever been - we have truly reached a new level in our relationship. And we are anxiously awaiting our little Jaxon's arrival early next year. We are close to friends, family, and the church where Kevin was baptized so many years ago. We have truly been blessed.

God has been gracious.

Jaxon Kicking

2010-09-30T19:20:00.002-05:00

This afternoon I got some pretty good video of Jaxon kicking away in my belly! I know it's pretty faint, and it's hard to tell what you're looking at, but I was excited because it was the first time I've been able to catch anything on camera! He sure is an active baby! I can't wait to meet him :)

Have a wonderful night and weekend! TGIF tomorrow!!!

It's a BOY!!!

2010-09-22T22:14:00.006-05:00

It's official!

Jaxon Wayne White will join our family on February 7th, 2011 (although he is measuring a bit ahead of schedule)! This is not surprising since I was almost 11 pounds at birth and I'm told that Kevin was about 9 pounds 5oz. So Jaxon gets his size naturally :)

We had our 20 (plus) week appointment today and the doctor told us that everything looked great and healthy. Jaxon's heart is pumping nice and strong, his other organs are in the right place and seem to be functioning, and his spine, legs, and head are all the right size. He weighs about 1 pound.

He was very cooperative today during the appointment and stayed still long enough for the doctor to get his measurements, other than for a short time when he had an adorable case of the hiccups. Also he kept hiding his private parts with his little foot, but Dr. Montgomery found a way around that! It was very apparant that he is a little boy.

Kevin and I could not be more happy! We wanted a little boy so badly but were afraid to talk too much about it, for fear that we would feel guilty if it ended up being a girl. I know our families are excited as well. It feels so real now, more than ever!

I have learned a few things so far about Jaxon, just from carrying him. He loves music, and he loves food! So he shares his Daddy's middle name, his love for food and music, and who knows what else?!? Hopefully not his love for driving me crazy, or else I am in for it!

After we left our appointment we went to JC Penny and bought Jaxon his first gender-specific outfits. It was fun picking out his little clothes together, and we both really enjoyed it. You can see a picture of his new clothes below, after the ultrasound pics.

Another great thing happened this week - last night Kevin felt Jaxon kicking a lot! He had his hand on my stomach and Jaxon kicked it several times with full force. It was very special, and it's been one of (maybe the most) exciting weeks of my life.

Enjoy the pics! As usual, our ultrasound pics are not much to see. The first one is of his face - if you look closely you can see eyes and a mouth. The second one is head and spine.

Thanks for celebrating with us! We appreciate your ongoing support and prayers for the healthy growth of our BABY BOY! Love you all!

20 Weeks = 5 Months!

2010-09-20T19:20:00.005-05:00

Wow! It is hard to believe that this pregnancy is now at least 1/2 of the way over! Time has flown by and I am so thankful to have had such a smooth ride so far. With the exception of the backaches and being overly emotional, I have had virtually no pregnancy syptoms whatsoever. Thank you, God!

The baby has been kicking so much and so hard lately. I feel him/her all day long, and I am starting to feel the kicks very easily from the outside. I know that this will be the week that Kevin will REALLY feel his baby kicking, and be able to be confident that he really did! I love that feeling. I can be in the middle of a stressful day, annoyed by certain students or overwhelmed by the work I have to get done, and when I feel that movement I just get so happy instantly. The kids ask me every day whether it is a boy or a girl - I tell them that I wish I knew!

The good news is that we are now LESS THAN 48 HOURS AWAY from knowing! I thought Wednesday would never get here! This is the last blog entry that I will have to write and call the baby a him/her, LOL.

Kevin was out of town this last weekend on a boy's hunting trip, so my mom and Lindsay came in to spend time with me. We went shopping, and I got some adorable dresses on sale at Motherhood Maternity (one of which is in the pictures below). That place was like Heaven in a store. Also, my dad's mom ("Mom" to the grandkids and "Great Big Mom" to the great grandkids) sent money to buy us our baby mattress! I picked out a Simmons at Babies R Us and got it for 20% off. It was a little expensive, but it was a gift and I know that I would have spent the money on it either way, because a good mattress is so important. We also had a nice dinner out and just really enjoyed each others' company.

Here are the 20 week pictures:

And our mattress - Thanks Great Big Mom!!!

Check back on Wednesday to find out if we'll be living pink or blue!!!

Getting Started on the Nursery

2010-09-12T17:03:00.010-05:00

As of last week, our plan was to:

1. Find out the gender (in 10 DAYS on the 22nd)!!!
2. Pick out bedding
3. Paint the nursery to match
4. Buy furniture

We already went out of order. Last week I realized that the amount of money we are willing and able to spend on nursery furniture was not going to get us the good-quality, nice stuff that I want for the baby. So I started watching Craigslist to see if I could find a nice set used, for a much lower price. Yesterday morning I checked and there it was! It was the exact set I've pictured in my mind - for a great deal! I called the lady and Kevin and I went to go look at it, withdrawing cash on the way just in case. I knew it was what I wanted, so we decided that as long as it was in decent condition it was too great of a deal to pass up.

The minute I saw it I was in love. I had to have it. These people kept an immaculate house and had taken such great care of the furniture! There was not a scratch on it. So we bought it and brought it home! I got it all cleaned up (just like new) last night and Kevin put the crib together today. It's all set up in Baby's room - and it will just need to be moved when we get ready to paint (Step 1).

I've included some pictures below. It's a Simmons brand Venetian style set in dark cherry. It came with the convertible crib, tall dresser, and dresser/changing table combo. The lady threw in her changing pad and Pottery Barn Kids cover, which is in the wash as we speak. She also tried to give me their mattress and glider, but I would rather purchase those things new.

The only thing we still need to buy are a couple of shelves for books and toys, the mattress, the glider, and some sort of lamp for the dresser.

Here you go!

Kevin building his baby's crib:

The room so far:

In the last picture I tried to get a shot of the whole room. The glider will go in front of the windows and the wall that you can't see (to the left of the camera) will be for the shelving and toys.

Also, Baby White has begun building his or her wardrobe! I have a feeling this will begin to grow significantly after next week ;)

Thank you for loving and supporting us as we take this HUGE next step in our lives. We feel so blessed to have great family and friends to support us.

Santa's in My Belly?!?!

2010-09-06T21:28:00.004-05:00

Today I am 18 weeks pregnant! Baby White has been extremely active lately and I even felt him/her with my hand earlier this week. Kevin still has not been able to feel anything, but I know he will soon because this baby kicks HARD!

We have started thinking about the nursery, and even shopped online together this afternoon for furniture, but no decisions have been made. I do have my little boy bedding picked out, and the colors for my little girl room. We'll find out the gender on September 22nd. I'll be almost 21 weeks at that point - so frustrating that my doctor is so old school. But it's passing quickly so I'm doing my best to be patient.

I have been feeling great! The backaches have continued, but I am getting used to them. It also helps that I can feel the baby move all day long, so my worrying has decreased a lot. Every day my students ask me how the baby's doing and whether I know if it's a boy or a girl yet, like it's going to happen magically one night as I sleep. It is so cute that they care about me and the baby though - they're sweet kids!

Kevin and I have had the BEST weekend ever! Friday night we had a date night, which was long overdue. On Saturday morning we got up and drove to Bryan to meet my parents at my granparents' house. We loaded up and went down the the "bottom" to ride 4-wheelers, cook out, and spend great time with my wonderful family (I rode safely beside my Granny on their Ranger - no 4-wheeling for me this time)! I even found enough wishing rocks to top off the vase at my house I've been working on for a few years now. AND, Kevin and the rest of the men in my family worked hard to rescue us from a 4 1/2 foot rattlesnake that was hiding under the deck at camp! Very exciting.

Sunday morning we got up and went back down to camp to have breakfast and play some game where you try to throw balls close to a target, and then we headed home. We got a lot of chores done (clean house, clean laundry and sheets, clean dogs), and then went to Chad and Julie's house to grill with friends. The boys entertained themselves by playing a makeshift golf tournament with wiffle balls, a wash tub, and various obstacles such as a yoga ball "bunker." Us girls sat inside and talked about girl stuff, like babies.

Today Kevin got up early to go dove hunting while I slept in, and then he came home and we slept in even longer. We did a few more things around the house and then had dinner with our friends at Will and Brittny's house. Their son Chase was very interested in the baby in my belly, and wanted him/her to come out to play. We tried to explain that it would be a LONG time before he/she would come out, but he didn't get it. So I tried to explain that the baby would not come until after Santa comes to visit. Now Chase thinks I have Santa Claus in my belly. He kept trying to find him by lifting up my shirt, and he thinks my baby is going to give him lots of presents. Great! But really, I thought it was hilarious.

So a LONG weekend filled with both FAMILY and FRIENDS. A healthy, active little baby growing in my belly, and a husband who's getting as excited as I am. What more can I ask for?

Here are my 18 weeks pics, taken yesterday:

16 Weeks!

2010-08-23T19:24:00.006-05:00

Today I am 16 weeks pregnant with our wee one! Speaking of whom, I have been feeling him/her moving so much for the last 2 weeks! On the way to church on Sunday, Guac was going crazy with the kicking, and I flicked Kevin on the abdomen to show him what it feels like, only from the inside.

He looked at me like I was crazy.

I can't wait until a few weeks from now when he can actually feel the baby moving from the outside! He will understand much better then how cool it really is. I could seriously sit all day and feel those little kicks and daydream about what our baby will be like.

Here is the 16 week belly pic that I promised last week:

I have been feeling wonderful! Most of my energy is back and I am much more motivated to get things done. The only thing is that my upper/middle back has been hurting SO badly for the last couple of weeks! I come home every day and lay or lean on a heating pad. I just don't know what else to do, since I am so limited on medication/hot baths/etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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On another note, today was the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! I have two wonderful, smart, and fun classes this year. That's not to say that I won't have my challenges, because I already forsee some of them, but I am so incredibly excited. Last year it was so hard to leave NHE and come to a new school mid-year. This year the students are my own, I know "former students," and I'm friends with a lot of the staff. This year I have that feeling of pride and ownership in my class and in my school, and that makes all of the difference! It's going to be a great year!

The news has gotten out about me being pregnant, and all of my students think they need a shot at naming the baby. I listen to their suggestions and just don't tell them that we already have our names picked out! (Which by the way, for my non-facebook readers, are Emma Lynn and Jaxon Wayne). I think they're more excited about finding out if it's a boy or a girl than I am!

I have to go now because my wonderful husband has just finished cooking me dinner so I could relax after my long day. And later I'm getting a back rub! He is wonderful :)

I'll write again soon!

It's been a while...

2010-08-18T19:12:00.003-05:00

I know that I haven't updated this thing in over three weeks, but I have been back at work and you know how it goes. I'm just gonna put it out there right away - I have no pictures to share this time. I will take another belly pic on Monday at 16 weeks and post it (it's growing)! And we went to the doctor today, but our ultrasound picture is no good.

The reason that it's no good is because the baby was wiggling and jumping SO MUCH that it is just a blur! My doctor tried about 6 times to snap a good one, but the baby would not be still :)

He/she was standing on it's head, beating me with it's fists and kicking up toward my ribs at a million miles an hour. Kevin and I, and even the doctor, were surprised at how active it was! When I asked my doctor, he confirmed that what I have been feeling for the last week and a half has definitely been the movement. That is so exciting! We also got to see adorable little fingers, toes, and the spine and ribs. For some reason I just think that baby feet ( both in and out of the womb) are the sweetest thing! It was the best feeling I have ever experienced to see our little one so busy in there!

On a not-so-positive note, we will have to wait FIVE WEEKS until my next appointment, and that is where we'll find out the sex of the baby. Will it be Jaxon Wayne or Emma Lynn? September 26th will bring the answer!

Also a downer, my doctor was quick to point out my rapid weight gain and borderline high blood pressure. No more salt or being in the heat for my blood pressure. As far as the weight goes, he said I'm not overweight and since I'm tall I can gain a bit more, but that I need to take it easy. Great. I'm starving and I can't go walking (because of the heat) to burn all of the calories that I SWEAR I need to be eating! This should be interesting.

Despite all of these downers, and the fact that we waited 2 hours to be seen and the doctor literally beat us out the door at the end of our appointment, it has been the best day! I will be on a high from seeing our baby for quite some time! Oh, and we also heard the heartbeat for the first time! It was very sweet.

I'm going to stop here and not write anything about school, even though that is the (very close) second on my mind right now, considering it starts on Monday. I'll save that for another day!

OH! But I do need to share the fact that I GRADUATED ON SATURDAY with my M.Ed!!! No more Lamar!!! Until they create their Ph.D program, that is. ;)

Have a great night!

12 Weeks!

2010-07-25T20:16:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow I will be 12 weeks pregnant with our baby! It is surprising how quickly these last 3 months have passed. It makes me realize that the rest of the pregnancy will probably fly by as well, since there will be so much going on. School will start, then Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and then BABY! My due date has been moved up to February 7th. Right now I'm planning on working through Friday the 4th; hopefully that will work out! I want to take all of my time off to spend with the baby once it's born.

We'll find out the week of September 15th whether it is a boy or a girl. Initially I was convinced that it was a boy, but lately I have been second-guessing my feelings about that. We are so anxious to find out, although we will be delighted with either one! I'll just be glad to get away from calling him/her "Baby Guacamole" and assign one of our actual names!

I'm not including a bump picture this week, because I still look a lot like my 10 week picture. Kevin has been noticing more lately though; every once in a while I'll catch him staring at my stomach and he'll say "That is really growing!" I'll include a picture next week, to celebrate the end of my first trimester!

I do have our 11 week ultrasound picture for you, though! It's hard to tell what you're looking at because the quality isn't great, but the head is on the left and the baby has it's hand raised up to the face. The legs are on the right, and are curled upward. It was so cool to watch the ultrasound because I was able to see the umbilical cord pumping along with the baby's heartbeat, giving it nourishment and life. It is so amazing to have this miracle growing inside of me, and to know that I am able to give him/her everything they need!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday my parents, grandparents, aunt, and uncle came in from College Station to visit Kevin and I and see our new home. We grilled hamburgers and stuffed jalepenos and had a great time with everyone. Kevin and I both agreed that it was such a blessing to have our family come in and spend time with us.

After they left we took a much needed nap and then had dinner (grilled again) with Chad and Julie. After dinner we watched a huge storm come in and pass, and then we took the golf cart out for one last ride. Kevin's "demo" is over, since the golf cart is sold as of tomorrow. We rode out to the undeveloped land owned by our neighborhood and up onto this big hill. Chad got out and decided to "ski" down the hill, which he could not climb back up. As soon as he got to the bottom, this huge herd of (like 200) cows started running across the field off in the distance. Then they quickly saw our lights and started running at us! Chad ran around to the other side of the hill where he could climb up, we all jumped into the cart, and we sped out of there! What an adventure!

Kevin and I are amazingly blessed by great family, friends, and in countless other ways. We are so thankful for everything that God has done for us, specifically in the last 6 months. Our lives have changed so much, and while it was scary, it was definitely the right thing for us. Thank you for supporting us during all of these changes and exciting times!

Recent Events and a Mohawk

2010-07-15T12:48:00.005-05:00

A lot has been going on since my last post! First, I traveled to San Antonio for the week to visit my family. I had so much fun and it was so nice to spend time with them! Kevin, of course, was not able to go with me. Unfortunately not everyone gets the summers off! My sister and I spent some time together and got some sun, we all spent lots of time just sitting and talking with each other, and we went to a friend's pool on Saturday for a cook-out. The most exciting part was when my mom, Lindsay, and I went to go look at baby things! Of course it is not time to buy anything yet, but it was fun to do some initial research. My mom bought this adorable, soft teddy bear that has "Baby's First Teddy" monogrammed on its foot.

While I had a lot of fun, I really missed Kevin. When I came home on Monday he had made the bed (GASP), vaccuumed, and bought me some pretty pink flowers. It was so sweet! It has been nice to be home, cooking for my husband and relaxing in my own home.

Something exciting has happened over the last week! My belly has started to show the first signs of growing a baby in there! Look:

Crazy, huh?

I have also felt remarkably better recently. I think my body is finally adjusting to the pregnancy. My only problem lately is that I'm having trouble sleeping (suggestions welcome, experienced Mommies). I think my problem is that I'm a tummy sleeper, and that has recently become very uncomfortable. I'm sure I'll adjust to a new way of sleeping soon. Hopefully before I go back to school!

I've been doing a few little projects around the house, but I usually try to limit it to 1-2 per day because I get really tired. Today my project was to organize our attic - the last part of our move that was incomplete. The boxes weren't too heavy so I was able to move them around, but it was SO HOT up there! I got everything all grouped and then labeled the different sections - Christmas, Fall/Halloween, School, Baby, etc. I'm feeling very accomplished!

While I was in the attic I found a TON of baby things that I have been stashing (mostly books, it's the teacher in me) away for some time now, but had almost forgotten about. That was exciting! I also found a whole box of pants that I wore after I gained my Freshman...let's just call it 15 for my own humility. The pants range from 1-3 sizes bigger than I wear now so it will be nice to have them in the coming months!

Aside from projects, I have been hanging out a lot with neighbors and friends. I spend a lot of time at our pool and have been watching a lot of TLC and Discovery Health baby shows. Usually they make me cry, and I've learned to embrace it. Haha.

I'm going to leave you with a funny story, at Kevin's expense. He went to get a haircut earlier this week, and took a shower later that night. When he got out of the shower and dried his head off, he realized that he had been given a mohawk! He flew out of the bathroom in a shocked rage and demanded that I take pictures of the damage so that he could WRITE A LETTER OF DISAPPROVAL to Great Clips. Before I share the pictures, I will say that they fixed it the next day and his hair is fine, albeit a little short, now. Okay, here you go!

Kidney Stones... :(

2010-07-05T21:36:00.003-05:00

This has been a long and painful holiday weekend! On Thursday Kevin and I were enjoying a nice lunch together at home, and right as I finished eating I got this incredibly sharp pain in my middle left back. Over the next 5 minutes it got to the point where I could not walk, sit, lay, or curl into a ball without crying out in pain. I have had kidney stones once before (in college) so I was fairly sure that it was happening again and I was determined to handle it at home this time.

So I went to bed and laid down on a heating pad, took some Tylenol (all I can take since I'm preggers) and started pumping down water. Kevin went to CVS for me to get me some cranberry juice and gatorade. Four hours later I could no longer stand the pain. Plus I started worrying about what if it was something else - something that could hurt the baby. Kevin and I loaded up and went to the Walgreens clinic, where the doctor told me that they would not treat me since I was pregnant and suggested that we go to the emergency room.

The good thing about the emergency room is that when you are pregnant, you are a priority! Everyone glared at me as I walked, crying and bent over at a 90 degree angle, into the conferencing room. They got me put into a room and it seemed like forever before I got some (mild, for obvious reasons) pain medication. We then got a renal ultrasound since they cannot take x-rays or do a CT Scan. In the ultrasound they found a 4mm kidney stone lodged in my ureter!

The only good thing about the night is that they decided to check on the baby at the same time, and their machine is so much newer and stronger than my doctor's. We were able to see our baby with so much more detail! I saw arms, fingers, and legs! Plus while we were looking it raised up it's little arm as if to wave and say "Hey guys, I'm fine in here. Don't worry about me." It was incredible.

Six hours later we were discharged just in time to get my prescription filled before the pharmacy closed. As we waited, we went to Chick Fil-A because poor Kevin had only had a bowl of soup all day, at it was 9:30pm. As soon as we walked in I got light headed and ended up getting sick in the restroom. Not good.

Anyway, we got the prescription filled and got home from the ordeal. I spent the next 4 days in bed, with my INCREDIBLE husband taking excellent care of me. He refilled my cup constantly to make sure I was hydrating myself, got me medicine, fed me meals in bed or on the couch, and generally pampered me. I am so lucky to have him!

By Sunday evening I was up to going to watch some awesome fireworks in our neighborhood with our friends and neighbors. It was a great show, and so nice to be up and about! Then we rode our golf cart around the neighborhood and watched the fireworks that other neighbors were setting off in the street! And today I am almost completely back to normal! Thank goodness that is over!

8 Weeks!!!

2010-06-29T14:51:00.004-05:00

Today Kevin and I went to my 8 week appointment and it could not have gone any better! We got another ultrasound and the baby has grown from 4mm to 21mm in just two weeks! While the doctor couldn't measure the exact heartbeat because it is not audible with a doppler yet, he said that by looking at it he could tell it is between 120 and 150 bpm. This is exactly where it should be and he was very pleased. The best part of today was that, while were were watching the baby's heartbeat, it started to wiggle around! Something about seeing our little baby moving around in there made my heart so happy! The doctor told us that, after seeing such a strong and healthy baby at 8 weeks, the chance of anything going wrong decreases dramatically, to less than 3%. Thank the Lord!

I have been feeling much better the last week. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I found the right prenatal vitamin and started taking it right before bed so I don't feel sick during the day from it. Smells have bothered me more lately, and I got sick for the first time while shredding some chicken yesterday. I also can't stand the smell of fresh paint, which becomes a problem in a brand new house! Other than that, I have just had some stretching pains in my abdomen and a VERY hard time sleeping. Kevin has threatened to sleep in a different room because I am keeping him up with my tossing and turning :(

Our next appointment will be at 11 weeks, three weeks from today. Until then I'm planning on just taking it easy and getting plenty of rest. Kevin has been wonderful with helping around the house, getting me dinner, and being patient. I have just been so exhausted and easily tired out when I try to do anything! I'm grateful for his patience. I have included a couple of pictures for you:

My belly at 8 weeks (most of it is water weight, but with all the stretching pains I've felt lately, I have to believe there's SOME baby to that!):

Our 8 week ultrasound picture (The head is on the right, and if you look closely a little to the left from there you can see a bright little dot - that is the heart beating!):

...and Baby makes three!!!

2010-06-10T18:59:00.008-05:00

Kevin and I are so happy to announce that we are expecting a new member of our family on February 10, 2011! We could not be more thrilled about this! I am currently only a little more than 6 weeks pregnant, and while I realize that it's still early, we saw the fetal pole and even a flicker our baby's heartbeat today! This was one day after my birthday, and the most amazing gift I have ever received. Tomorrow is our 3 year anniversary, so we have even more to celebrate! What a great week :)

We will be going back to the doctor in two weeks to see and hear a stronger, more steady heartbeat. The doctor is also going to monitor me because he saw a little bit of bleeding on my physical exam. He says this is typically nothing to worry about this early in pregnancy, but Kevin and I would GREATLY appreciate your prayers for the safety and health of our tiny one.

You can't see much of anything here, other than the 5mm fetal pole (the beginning of the baby's body from head to bottom). However, it's the first picture of our baby and it's special to me!

We decided a while back that it was getting close to time to start our family, so we went for it. We didn't realize that it would happen so incredibly quickly, but it's another one of God's MANY blessings on us. We got all moved into our new house and finished unpacking on Tuesday, May 25th and I found out on Wednesday. We then confirmed it with 7 more tests over the next two days (the picture only shows day 1 tests, LOL).

We are still fairly early in this adventure, and we would appreciate any prayers that you could send for us. It is a frustrating feeling to know that there is only so much that I can do for our baby. However, at the same time I have full faith that our baby is safe in God's hands. Please join us in prayer for our little one!

We look so forward to the journey that lies ahead of us, and we are so grateful to have you all in our lives to share our excitement!

Four Weeks - I won't be showing for a while but I still plan on pics every 4 weeks :)

Pictures of our (almost) completed home!

2010-05-25T21:33:00.030-05:00

The last few days has been a whirlwind for Kevin and I. On Friday we closed on our house with no problems, and then headed straight over here to seal our tile, slate, and granite. We worked until very late, and thus were already tired when we started our move at 7am on Saturday. We worked until about 1am on Sunday and then slept for a few hours and started again at about 8am. Again, we worked until 2am in the morning that day. Sunday also included a (not so) fun trip to Lowe's in which we shopped for 3 hours and filled a basket and three flat beds with our goods. Yikes. This is a picture of us checking out, but they already turned one of our flats around the corner!

We got a water softener and supplies to go with it, a utility sink, a trash can, and a ton of light fixtures and fans. We also got under cabinet lighting. What a day!

Yesterday Kevin's dad came over to help him put up light fixtures and fans while I met with the blinds company who is doing our custom blinds, which will be in on Friday!

Everything was going incredibly well, until I found fleas on Bella last night. That's right - there are fleas in our yard, and now possibly in our brand new house. There's not much out here, so I guess bugs are a problem. I went to Walmart at 11pm to get flea spray and took care of the dogs to the best of my ability. Now we have the exterminator coming tomorrow to do a full indoor and outdoor treatment, plus the customary first visit to get us started on a quarterly schedule. This is going to cost us $400. OUCH!

Okay, that's all I'm going to write for tonight. The rest will all be pictures. Enjoy!

Exciting Stuff is Happening!

2010-05-20T09:05:00.004-05:00

I know I haven't written in a while, but things (again) have been super busy. Kevin and I have watched our house being completed over the last two weeks. There have been a lot of last-minute things that needed to be changed or fixed, but as of today they are all finished. Which is great, because...

WE GOT FINAL APPROVAL ON OUR LOAN!

I just got the email and I had to share the news. In case you don't know why that is such a big deal, I'll briefly tell you. Since we bought our first home two years ago, lending guidelines have gotten ridiculously tight and it is very difficult to get a loan. Add that to the facts that we both have brand new jobs in a new city, that much of Kevin's income is based on (at this point,un-provable) commission, and that I took a short term pay cut of 1/3 of my salary through August. As you can imagine, receiving final loan approval is a huge blessing and relief. The last 3 months have been a rollercoaster of emotions and we feel so blessed and proud to be buying this house.

At the same time that the final things have been working with our loan, they have put the finishing touches on our home. I am very pleased overall with the amount of detail and care that has been put into it. For example, as you know Bella is a very small, 6 pound dog. She also likes to escape. With our brand new fence and undeveloped lots surrounding our back yard, we had significant gaps under part of our fence. We asked our builder to fix it and, like a hero, he had the fence guys do a very nice patch job along the bottom so my baby girl is contained and safe. This is a small job, but the kind of above-and-beyond that means a lot to me. We also had a small imperfection in the silestone in our master bath and when the patch job didn't look perfect, they replaced the entire slab. We feel well taken care of.

This week has been full of packing! We did not even take that much with us into our tiny apartment, but it is amazing how quickly our little family has spread out and filled up the place. I am starting to get stressed out thinking about the move this weekend, but I know it will go smoothly.

Tomorrow we will close on the house at 3pm and go to pick up our keys. From there, we will go straight to the house and seal all of the grout between every piece of tile in our house. We'll also be sealing the granite and the slate backsplash. It will be a lot of work, but it'll be exciting at the same time.

Saturday morning Kevin is going to pick up 3 guys who used to work for him at the golf course here, who we're paying to help us move. He will go with them to pick up the truck we're renting and work on moving our things from the storage room into the house, and setting furniture up. I'll be moving clothing kitchen stuff, etc. from our apartment to the new house and then supervising the guys as they bring stuff in. It will be another long day! Then on Saturday night we will spend our first night in the house. :)

There are other thigns to write about, but my break is almost over and this is the major thing on my mind right now, anyway! Have a wonderful day!!!

The One About School

2010-05-05T21:09:00.018-05:00

I haven't blogged about school in a while. That's because I have found it very difficult to be excited about my new job. We also weren't having much fun up until the TAKS test last week, because the kids were SO FAR BEHIND that I couldn't spare a single minute. The few exceptions were weekly TAKS baseball and a few days of centers with games and practice. But now, that's all changed! I am starting to embrace all of the technology that we have in Klein and to appreciate the personalities of my new students. I still wish that I had more of a peer group at my new school, but that will come with time.

We do this really great thing for promoting kindness and caring about others. It's called "Bucket Fillers" and it goes with Carol McCloud's book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?". The idea is that everyone in the world walks around with an invisible bucket, and that their bucket is filled when people say or do kind things for them. However, the bucket is "dipped" out of when someone says mean things or acts like a bully. We teach our students to be "bucket fillers" and not "bucket dippers." When you fill someone else's bucket, it makes you feel happy so then you are actually filling yours at the same time. I spend a lot of time saying "Oh my. When you called Paul a huge dork were you being a bucket filler or a bucket dipper?"

To go along with it, we have little paper buckets with slips that others can write on to fill our buckets with. I made each student a checklist of all of the other students so that they can keep track of whose buckets they have filled each week. So far they are really loving it. Here are some pictures:

I've also implemented "Fun Day Friday," on which we do literacy stations during the whole ELA block. This is fun because I am able to do a station at the StarBoard. I am also in charge of teaching art and taking grades for it to my own class, so this is when I incoporate art. We had to do Fun Day Friday today this week because the rest of the week is too crazy with field day, book fair, etc. Here's what we did!

Station 1 was the StarBoard. I had the kids playing a basketball game with common and proper nouns and then playing a grammar scavenger hunt. They LOVE it:

Station 2 was art. I had them cutting words out of magazines to make a verb collage.

Station 3 was research. I gave them a choice between 4 different presidents to research using Net Trekker and they had to write facts about him.

Station 4 is where they work in small groups with me. Today, I was helping them revise and edit their Writer's Workshop rough drafts.

Last is Station 5, which is poetry. Today they were working on Acrostic Poems and they turned out to be very adorable!

I've also added another "treasure" to my list of things you can purchase with tickets. Teacher's Assistant comes at a hefty price of 40 tickets!

Also, this post would not be complete without showing off my first gift for Teacher Appreciation Week this year:

Yes, that is a silk, zebra-print tank top.

The Biggest House Update Yet - and close to the last!

2010-04-29T19:43:00.020-05:00

The last few days have been absolutely crazy! They have done so much at the house!

Yes, I was talking about the house when I said things have been crazy. Never mind the three straight days of testing (Math TAKS, Reading TAKS, Informal Reading Inventory and DIBELS). And the fact that my students have actually only been learning for 7 weeks out of the year - the seven weeks that I have been there. Consequently, it has been a very stressful week. Not to mention the fact that in the midst of the stress of the last two weeks I have received two formal (documented)"walk-throughs" and an hour long formal teaching appraisal - at a new school, new principal, new students. My appraisal was last Tuesday, a week before TAKS! Luckily, it went well and I got a perfect score! I'm afraid I am not so much anticipating my students to accomplish the same :(

Anyway, I wrote this entry to discuss the house!!!

Kevin was working late, but when I went on Tuesday, we had carpet! Bella loves to rub her entire body all over it!

Then when we went on Wednesday, it was AMAZING! They were busy little bees over there that day, for sure!

We had kitchen appliances and a faucet:

We had framed mirrors in the powder room and master bath:

And MY TUB CAME! I have been waiting for this:

We also got our stair ballesters (sp?). Bella loves them!

They also hung our dining room chair rail:

And gave us a nice front door:

They also painted the first coat of our game room:

Also that day, we got window screens, completed light fixtures, ceiling fans, electric outlet and light switch covers, and locks on interior and exterior doors. They also painted our garage door and finished the last coat of our exterior paint.

Today was also a very fun day! They finished our custom paint!

Here is our powder room, a deep purple called True Love - and it is true love!!!

Our dining room and living room have brick red accents, called Cedar Chest:

We also have a brown accent wall in our bedroom:

And here is the completed game room. It's called Cress Green, and again, I love it:

The heat and air inspectors were there when we were this evening beginning what will be a long line of inspections on the house. There are very few things left to be done other than that. It is really starting to look like home! We'll close three weeks from tomorrow.

Thanks so much for being excited with us, and for bearing with my excessive amounts of pictures and updates about the house. It is just pretty much the most fun and exciting thing we have ever done!

2010-04-26T20:36:00.013-05:00

Hi, family and friends!

I haven't updated lately about our house because, well, not much has been happening! We are at that stage near the end where everything slows down due to inspections, ordering of products, and scheduling of speciality workers. However, due to requests from both dads and other family members, we decided it was time for an update :)

Since I last updated almost 2 weeks ago, just a few things have changed, but they have been exciting!

We got our granite kitchen countertops and I love love LOVE them:

The same day, we also got our silestone countertops in the master bath:

Also, they put in the standard marble ones upstairs, but I didn't actually take pictures of those.

The next day we had our backsplash! This was a very exciting day, since it was the first time we were able to see our kitchen selections come together:

I am so happy to see that the colors in the countertops perfectly blend the colors of our tile, our backsplash, and our cabinets (pats self on back)!

Then came the lighting and plumbing, which is still not entirely finished:

Powder Bath Lights:

One of the upstairs bathrooms (they look the same to me):

The shower the in the master:

Master sinks and lights:

Looking toward the front door from the living room:

Light in breakfast area (there is a larger version of the same light in the formal dining, but for some reason I didn't take a picture):

I'm still waiting on my excellent tub!!!

Also, they finished working on the air conditioner. They put in all of the vents and installed the upstairs and downstairs thermostat.

They also installed our alarm keypad and finished our base paint and trim.

Okay, maybe they've done more than I thought.

Still on the list:
-Formal dining chair rail
-Custom paint (powder room, fireplace wall, formal dining, master, game room)
-Exterior paint - last coat
-Last light fixtures and ceiling fans
-Built-in Appliances
-Carpet
-MY TUB
-Staircase railing
-Top-to-Bottom cleaning

And then we'll be done!

Mostly an update on the house

2010-04-15T21:15:00.016-05:00

The house has been progressing very quickly this last week!

They brought all of our cabinets in on Monday. They look great!

Kitchen

Master bath

Headknockers in each bathroom

Then on Tuesday they did the floor tile.

And the fireplace:

Then on Wednesday a lot happened!

They finished the wall tile in the bathrooms and all of the grout. I'm very happy with my choice to go with dark grout:

They also put in our sprinkler system and dropped off our sod:

The most exciting part of Wednesday was that they finished the brick and stone on the house and I LOVE IT. We even have cute little shutters, which were a surprise to me.

And then today was another very exciting day. They put in all of our landscape!

Not much happened on the inside today, other than the last little bits of trim went in and we got a hand rail on our stairs. I also picked out our paint colors today. They're painting later this week I believe. We're painting under the chair rail in our dining room a brick red color, and also the fireplace wall in the living room. The game room will be a light olive green color, we'll have a brown accent wall in our bedroom, and the powder room downstairs is going to be a deep purple. Our base paint for the rest of the house is a dark khaki color, and the trim is linen - kind of a creamy off-white. We're starting to get really excited now!

On another note, work is going a little better. On TAKS Baseball this week, students in both of my classes got almost every single question correct! While it's a huge relief, I refuse to "count my chickens before they hatch," and instead am going to continue doing everything I can until TAKS on the 27th and 28th.

Have a great weekend!

My first funny story in my new job

2010-04-12T21:42:00.002-05:00

I have this boy in my morning class who is very...intense. If he forgets his homework he cries and yells "I'M SO SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" over and over. If he accidentally bumps into someone he throws his body down in front of them and begs for forgiveness. If I go too fast and leave him behind when I'm teaching he gets really angry and frustrated.

Intense.

Anyway, he likes his things to be in order. The problem is, my afternoon class comes in and sits in the same desks where my morning class keeps their belongings. Last Thursday, "B," as I'll call the intense boy, noticed that a sticker had been partially peeled off of the top of his pencil box. Let's just say you would think his little world was ending. I finally got him all calmed down and (I thought) he realized that it was not that big of a deal.

I was wrong.

Today he asked his afternoon class teacher if he could use the restroom. Only he didn't go to the restroom. He came to my classroom to find out who sits in his desk.

He stood at the door while I was in the middle of a lesson, pointed dramatically, and yelled "AHA!"

"THERE"S THE LITTLE THIEF WHO HAS BEEN VANDALIZING MY PROPERTY!!!"

"What? No I haven't!"

"DON"T EVEN TRY TO LIE TO ME, YOU LITTLE CROOK. I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!"

This went on until I could get B to go back to class, which was impossible until I removed his pencil box from the vicinity of the culprit.

It's never boring.

A Weekend With My Family!

2010-04-11T22:23:00.014-05:00

This weekend Kevin and I traveled our (now extremely short) drive to Bryan to stay with my grandparents at their house outside of town. My mom, dad, sister, and her boyfriend met us there for a fun weekend.

We spent most of the day Saturday down at my grandparents' land, riding 4 wheelers and getting muddy, and then ate hamburgers for lunch. Here are some 4-wheeling pics:

Kevin and me

My mom and dad

Lindsay and Nick

It was so muddy!

Grandaddy and Granny drive the Ranger, usually with a lot of us in the back!

Then we took some silly pictures in the bluebonnets :) Not a WORD about my pink boots. I wear them while I ride 4-wheelers to protect me from the mud. Plus, they occasionally aid me in catching a delicious bass.

It seems as though we always find an adventure down there. Last time we rescued some buzzards trapped in an old deer stand. This time we found a log to move off of the road.

Later that evening we got cleaned up and went into town to eat at Mr. Gatti's. Then this morning Grandaddy cooked us a great breakfast and we headed home. We are REALLY loving that short drive since we now live in Houston!

I love my family :)

House Update...Plus some :)

2010-04-08T22:03:00.018-05:00

Since my last post about the house, a lot has been going on. Kevin and I have continued to go and check it out every night. It's been good because we have discovered a lot of things which we've had fixed along the way. For the most part, the whole process has been going very smoothly and we have been very happy. The problems have been very minor.

I ended my last post at the point where our home had a roof and insulation. Here's what's happened since then:

They dropped off our brick and stone. We were so excited to see it! We had a minor crisis when we thought we hated the brick, but it turns out that we love it!

There were huge piles of brick everywhere all around our house!

Then they started bricking:

Later that week, they started our stone:

Here is another view of the stone:

The stone on the inside of the front porch:

It remains unfinished at this point because they ran out and had to order more. However, I saw it in the driveway today so hopefully they will finish tomorrow!

At the same time that they were doing the above work on the outside of the house, they did sheetrock and drywall on the inside. This is a view from the back of the living room looking toward the front door.

Earlier this week they textured our walls:

...and our ceilings:

And today, they started the painting! It only has one coat so far, so it looks very thin and messy. But I am going to love the color. This is our formal dining, office, and entry.

Here is our living room. The good news is that I think the fireplace is past the point of being able to be stolen now, LOL.

This is a view from our breakfast area.

They also poured Kevin's back porch!

And they poured our sidewalk and front walk. The gaps in it are for the bricks. They'll also lay bricks around the side and build this weird little brick stoop that everyone has to have. This is a view from the front door:

And from the street:

It is really coming along! Tomorrow they will finish painting and then next week we will get our wall tile, cabinets, and countertops. Let the fun begin!

Aside from the house stuff, we pretty much have not had a life. We're trying to save as much money as we can since we are now planning to close on the house a month earlier than we orginally intended (May 27th)! We have been enjoying our time together though, which is why I moved here so quickly in the first place. We have also been hanging out with our friends a lot, mostly just for dinner and hanging out at their houses. We are so excited to be building 2 doors down from some of our best friends here!

Kevin's work is going well. He is still enjoying his new job. He was a little dissappointed when he sold his truck in March, but it was pointless to keep it since he has a nice company truck now. It sold very quickly - another thing that has fallen into place for us recently! God continues to bless us and we are so grateful.

My work has gotten better as well. March was very difficult as I tried to set a routine with a class who has not had a solid one all year. They were literally OUT OF CONTROL. They're behavior has come a long way though, and I am now actually fond of my morning class. My afternoon class has some real characters in it that raise my blood pressure daily. It's a challenge for sure. Academically, they are on the right track finally. The week before I came they had taken a released TAKS practice test and their scores were scary. Most kids scored in the 60's or 70's and several failed poorly (including a 19). After teaching them for 5 weeks I knew it was time to try it again. All 34 of them passed, with the exception of the two afternoon class boys who fail everything on purpose because they think it's funny. However, on their retests they passed as well. Most of the scores were in the high 80's or 90's! There are only 12 school days left until TAKS, so this was good news. We're not out of the dark yet, though, and I'm still nervous!

I will begin my 11th grad school class on Monday. It will last for 5 weeks and then go straight into my 12th and final class. The 12th class is just writing a paper and completing my online portfolio, which I have already almost finished anyway. It's almost over! I'm scheduled to take my principal competency state exam in June. I'll start studying very soon!

This weekend we'll be visiting my family in Bryan, and I am so excited! We're going to ride 4-wheelers, have good family time, and grill burgers at the camp. We're looking forward to the down time.

That's about it for us. I'll try to update sooner rather than later.

2010-03-14T22:40:00.001-05:00

A Very Special Presentation

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Progress on our home!

2010-03-14T21:23:00.015-05:00

First we picked our lot:

Then we picked our brick and stone:

Finally, we were ready to start building!

They leveled our land...

...and poured our foundation:

We wrote our name in the wet concrete of the driveway:

They framed our first floor:

And then our second floor:

Then they started putting in the insulation (and some siding):

The doggies are very excited about their new house (they are at the top of the stairs in the game room):

Update

2010-02-27T12:39:00.012-06:00

A lot has been happening since I last wrote. My last day at school was Tuesday the 23rd. It was one of the hardest days I have ever had. I had to say goodbye to my students and then to my friends, all in one day. Those kinds of days are just supposed to make you stronger, right???

Wednesday morning I got up early and loaded the last of my things into my car, cleaned up after myself at Debbie's house, and hit the road for Houston. It was a strange feeling knowing that I wasn't going for a visit this time, but for real. I got to the apartment in time to get a few things done before Kevin got home. It's weird because we didn't take hardly any of our stuff out of storage because it is all wrapped up and packed nicely. We are living out of boxes and suitcases instead of dresser drawers and I have hardly anything for my kitchen. We are renting a washer and dryer instead of getting ours out. Our apartment is very tiny (and disorganized for right now), but it doesn't even bother me very much. Two things that I have learned from this whole experience are that God will provide us with what we need, and I cannot be in control of everything.

I spent Thursday morning signing paperwork with Klein ISD at Human Resources, and then went to meet the faculty and my students at Haude. I was there again yesterday observing and working on understanding the curriculum and writing lesson plans. My students have not had much consistency all year, and they are completely out of control, to say the least. I have seen more disrespect, attitude, and lack of courtesy for others in the last 2 days than I have ever seen at Northwood Hills. I have my work cut out for me!

Yesterday (Friday) after school Kevin brought the rest of my boxes up and helped me set up my classroom. I moved every single thing in the classroom around and completely rearranged it. At first I was worried about (again) the lack of consistency for the kids. However, I think that a major change is a good way to start off our new beginning on Monday. Kevin built shelves and moved things while I unpacked and worked on bulletin boards. Six hours later I had a completely different classroom! I did my best to bring some color in (I forgot to take "before" pics, but there was NOTHING on the walls and no color at all). I also tried to maximize instructional space and make the environment happy for the kids. I think it all worked out well, partly due to the fact that I have a HUGE classroom and a lot of neat stuff! Here are some pictures:

This morning I got up early and worked through my graduate school assignments, which I have not been able to touch all week. I also did laundry, responded to 16 emails from my previous students (I set them up with epals monitored email so that we can stay in touch), finished my lesson plans for next week, and worked on my grad school portfolio. Now I am about to head back to bed for a nap while Kevin unpacks some boxes (he was sleeping all morning)!

Tonight we are going to Chili Cook-Off (apparantly a HUGE deal here in Houston). We have tickets to a booth and are looking forward to some great food, friends, and music. It will be nice to relax for the first time in a long time. And tomorrow we are going to go back to the church where Kevin was baptized and then go look at our house (they are working on ground plumbing and slab) and walk our dogs around our new neighborhood for the first time. Fun!

Have a great weekend!

The BIG Update

2010-02-19T20:38:00.007-06:00

I wrote the other day about how I had some news to share, but that I wasn't able to yet. As you know, Kevin has started a job in Houston and I was planning on staying at my school for the rest of the school year. I have been living with Kevin's mom in Fort Worth, and the drive has been very long and has added 2-4 hours to each of my already long days.

This, combined with the fact that I was apart from my husband, made for a very difficult situation. About 2 weeks ago, an opportunity literally fell into my lap for a third grade reading/language arts position in an excellent district and school just north of Houston. I took a day trip down there (long drive!) and interviewed. The next Tuesday I was offered the position, and I will start next Friday.

This all happened so fast! The Lord has taken care of everything for Kevin and I so far, and I had to take this opportunity because I feel like it is the next step that He has provided. It has been an incredibly dificult and emotional decision because I love my job so much. I have some of the best friends and colleagues that you could ever imagine there. I also teach the most smart, funny, loving, and adorable children that I have ever met. My heart has been torn between being with my husband and being at my job. Once I broke it down and looked at it simply, the choice was clear. I need to be with my family.

My principal has been more understanding and supportive than I ever could have dreamed. It has been hard on her, just like it will be on a lot of people involved, but everyone is handling it so well. We have found a great teacher to take my place, who happens to be moving down from Mississippi at the exact same time to be with her own family in Dallas. If you ask me, that doesn't seem to be a coincidence.

The reason that I needed to wait until today to write this news is because this is the day that I told my class the sad news. I wanted them to know first before too many people found out about it. It was a ery emotional day for all of us, but I know that they will be okay and they are in great hands at my school.

I will be working on Monday and Tuesday, and then will use Wednesday to make the move. Kevin and I already have a small apartment down there while they are building our house. Thursday I will sign paperwork at HR, Friday I will meet my kids and spend the day observing at my new school, and then I start teaching on Monday!

I have been working until almost 8pm every day this week because I'm trying to make this transition. It's tricky leaving in the middle of the year, because my kids are so used to all of my supplies, creations, routines, etc. I have been working on very detailed notes about every, single, teeny-tiny thing that I can think of. The poor new teacher is going to be so overwhlemed. I also wrote full lesson plans (as if for a substitute) for the first week I am gone. I have been recreating bulletin boards, posters, my small group files, and anything else that I want to take with me. If I didn'f I would feel as if I was robbing my students. I just started packing my classroom tonight, and I still have a lot to do.

After our emotional conversation today, I played a game with my students to lighten the mood. Everyone ended up leaving happy! During the game, my back was to the white board. Apparantly the kids who were eliminated were writing me notes on it. I took pictures of their sweet, sentimental notes after school. Here they are:

Do you see why I am going to miss them so much? They are amazing little people!

Have a great weekend!

A (kind of) Update

2010-02-14T20:35:00.006-06:00

Howdy, all!

Kevin and I have been super busy lately, so I apologize for the lack of updates. There are some (great) things going on with us that we are not quite ready to talk about, but we will be soon. So stay tuned.

As many of you know, on Thursday it snowed here! In Fort Worth (where we are now living with Kevin's mom), we got almost 12 inches of snow! It was crazy. Kevin and I built an awesome snowman; I thought you might like to see it :)

We played in the snow for about 5 minutes at school on Thursday, just long enough to let the kids create some memories! We had a blast and took some adorable pictures. Unfortunately I cannot share them with you because of confidentiality issues, but I love them!

I learned a valuable lesson that day: When surrounded by 23 eight-year-olds, do NOT throw the first snowball. Under any circumstances. Let's just say it wasn't pretty for me. I ended up tripping and falling, and as I laid in the snow they continued to pelt me with snowballs as I screamed for mercy.

Later that day we had our Valentine's party. It was a loud, chaotic, fun day. I love those.

I'm going to write again later this week when I have some more time and share some things with you. Until then, have a fantastic week!

We have a lot going on!

2010-01-25T23:47:00.006-06:00

WOW. So much has happened since the last time that I posted! It's amazing, though, how all of it has ended up turning out for the better.

Kevin and I were packing up our house in Flower Mound on Thursday night preparing for the movers to come on Friday when we received a phone call from our David Weekley sales consultant. We are unable to do the elevation of our floor plan that we signed and paid earnest money for a month ago, because we are only 3.5 lots away from one of the same elevation instead of 4 full lots. We were very upset to find this out less than 2 days before our design center appointment, since I had put hours of work into making our selections and budgeting for that house. We voiced our displeasure with her and told her to cancel our appointment because we were going to have to start over. With her, she asked? We told her we didn't know. Immediately she said she would call her boss and figure something out to help us stick with DWH.

We found out the next morning that they are going to give us a bigger (by 400 sq. feet), better floor plan for the same price. The same floor plan, in fact, that we had originally wanted but moved away from because the base price was 20K too high. All of the sudden it's affordable!

So we started over with the Medlock, and went into our design center appointment on Saturday a little less prepared than I would have liked. We spent 4 hours there picking out everything from countertops, cabinets, and sinks, to tile, grout, and backsplash.I was shocked at how many choices there were and at everything that we had to pick out. David Weekley gave us a design center incentive of 10K, and we managed to stay within that budget! I am so happy with the things that we picked because we stuck with a lot of standard options and upgraded the little touches that will make a huge difference. I am in love with our master bathroom and our kitchen.

Sunday we met with our consultant again to finalize the new contract, and then Monday we met with our builder for the first time for our preconstruction meeting. We had to pick out where all of the electrical and multimedia goes in the whole house, and also decide what to move around, what walls to move or delete, etc. Wow. Then he put a "sold" sign on our lot and took a picture of us standing on it (see below).

So that's all of the news about the house. They will begin construction in about 2 weeks and be finished by early June. Now back to Friday morning in Flower Mound. Kevin begged me to stay home that day to help but I really wanted to go to work. I should have listened because I was rear ended that morning on 635. I'm okay, but my car was not so fortunate. It's got a big long scratch and a lot of paint transfer. After that happened, combined with the fact that I left a lot unfinished at home and the builders were coming at 2pm, I decided to call a sub and head home. I helped Kevin and we were ready for the movers right as they arrived. They loaded our house for 6 hours!!! And then they ran out of room in their huge truck and Kevin had to go rent a U-Haul to finish up. Saturday morning we (and the movers) put the entire contents of our home into a climate controlled storage unit. Then we headed to the design center. That was a long day.

After our builder meeting on Monday, we drove back late to Flower Mound and loaded up both of our cars with our stuff to take to Debbie's house. Kevin was very angry about the amount of clothes that I have. We got there at about 10 and unloaded and umpacked until almost midnight, when I sat down to write this blog. I am now about to go to bed because I have to leave this house (in Fort Worth) at 6am to be at my school (in North Dallas) at a decent time. Wish me luck.

Here are some pictures.

In front of our pile of dirt:

Our new floor plan (3000 sq. feet). We are switching the powder room and utility room and knocking out a wall to make a larger utility room. We are also converting the formal living room to a study with french doors and adding a back porch. We'll also add a fireplace (yes, that is an upgrade - weird, I know).

This is our elevation on a different house. We will have maroon brick, and the center point of the house will be made of white flagstone.

We close on the sale of our home here on Wednesday afternoon, and then the last thing that needs to fall into place is me finding a job for next year!!!

Good News Update

2010-01-10T18:52:00.003-06:00

Hello, friends and family!

Last Thursday Kevin and I had dinner with our realtor (the one who helped us buy our house 20 months ago). She gave me a compliment on how clean my house was, but still said that it may take a while to sell, since the market is slower than it typically is.

She listed it in MLS and put a sign in our front yard on Friday afternoon. She hadn't even had time to post pictures or her virtual tour by the weekend. Kevin and I had 2 showings on Saturday for the same people, and then 2 more today with 2 different people. At 3pm we had a great offer on our house and sent in a counter-offer. They accepted it!

We are getting $1,500 less than our asking price, which was high. It also happens to be $10K more than we paid for our house less than 2 years ago, which is still amazing to me. We have to close on January 29, which will be very tight for us. But it's good because that's another month (February) that we will be able to sock away money toward closing on our new home. Our realtor also knocked her commission down to 4% (from 6%) because it was such an easy sale. She was shocked at how well it all worked out. We still have to make it through appraisal and inspections, but we all suspect that everything will go smoothly.

Basically, God is doing great things for us. All in the last month, Kevin got an amazing job opportunity, we have the priveledge of building a beautiful house for our future family in a great neighborhood, and our house here sold (after only having to deal with 4 showings). It's so cool to see how great things are coming out of the hardest time in our lives thus far.

There are still a lot of things to work out with our move, the priority being that I get a job in Houston. This has now become my new focus, along with packing our house up so that we can move in with Kevin's mom on January 23rd. We're going to hire movers to take our stuff to storage in Houston (and follow them down there to supervise) that weekend. Then Kevin and I will live at Debbie's for two weeks together until he has to move to Cypress, and then I'll be there for another 4 months. I am so grateful for her hospitality!

We also still need to secure a pre-approval for our new home before we go to the design center on February 13th, as we will have to put down a 25% nonrefundable deposit on our upgrades at that time. We'll be meeting with our lender hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday.

Oh yeah, Kevin is also going to have to sell his truck to make our debt to income ratio work with his (very) base salary. The vast majority of his income will come from a great commission program that the underwriters cannot take into consideration since it is a new job in a new city. His new job is giving him a company truck in February. So if you know anyone who is looking for a F150 with a lot of upgrades in great condition, let us know!

So that's the update! I am finishing my ILD training this week so I will be out of school another two days, and it's only a four day week. I really hate missing school! I miss my kids, and even though I have great subs and detailed plans, I still worry about the instruction that I am not giving them when I'm not there. My next course for grad school is also starting on Tuesday, and I'm trying to complete an online Defensive Driving course as I write. Actually, I'm on a mandatory 12 minute break. Talk about busy!

I hope that all of you are staying warm in this cold weather! Thank you for your encouraging words, good thoughts, and prayers as Kevin and I work through the details of this big life change that we are approaching. I love you all more than you know!

Meagan

Our BIG News!

2010-01-04T22:10:00.006-06:00

We are moving!

As many of you know, Kevin and I have been going back and forth on whether or not to pack up and move to Cypress (Northwest Houston area) for a couple of years now. It has never just seemed right to me until now.

Kevin went in to interview for a sales position (here in DFW) about 2 weeks ago and was offered the position, but the guy decided he would be more useful in Houston because of his relationships with the golf course industry guy down there. When he came home and talked to me about it, my intial reaction was to shut it down, and he accepted that, which meant a lot to me. A couple of days later, as we spent a lot of time in the car driving to visit our families over Christmas, we had some time to talk it through. Without the pressure on me, I was able to see that there were far more pros than cons to the idea. Basically the only con is my job, because I love it so much. If I could pack up my school and everybody in it and transport it with me, my life would rock! While I am sad to leave my job, this is an excellent opportunity for Kevin and our family, and I have faith that God will provide me with another job that I love.

Also, a while back when we intially talked about moving this year, our realtor told us that the best possible time would be to list our house in January or February, because of the way the market works around here. As it turns out, that is now perfectly in our timeline. To make matters even more interesting, a house of our floor plan one street away from ours sold for MUCH more than we paid for ours after only 3 days on the market, about one month ago. It just really seems as if everything is pointing in the same direction!

So Kevin accepted the job on Tuesday after Christmas and then we headed down to Cypress (as we had already planned) to stay with friends for New Year's Eve. We planned to talk to some builders in a new neighborhood (Bridgeland) while we were there, and maybe see if they could hold a lot for us near our friends to build on in a couple of months. David Weekley went over and above for us; they would not hold a lot but are going to go ahead and start construction NOW and then hold our house empty for 2 months until we close on June 30th. We also got our lot premium waved and a lot of other incentives, so we were excited. So yes, we are building a house now!

We are using this floor plan, but adding another full bath upstairs, a fireplace, and converting the formal living into a study.

This is a picture of our exact elevation that we have chosen, but with different brick and stone.

And here is OUR brick, stone, and exterior paint colors. With the paint, it is the lighter two colors on the bottom of the page. I am so excited to finally have flagstone on my house. For some reason I love it!

I think we'll love our house, and our neighborhood. It is a master planned community with 900 acres of lakes (residents can rent canoes and paddleboats for free), and also walking and bike trails, pools, splash pads, work out facilities, catch and release fishing, butterfly gardens, etc... It will be a great place to raise kids in the future.

So as it stands right now, our house here should hit the market in the next few days. I have been de-cluttering and packing (staging) like a fool. When it sells, Kevin will be moving to Houston (to stay with a friend) and putting all of our things in storage until we close on our new house at the end of June. I'll be staying here to finish out the current school year. Kevin's mom offered to let me stay with her and it looks like a good option for us, so we'll see.

I could use some prayers to keep myself pulled together throughout this process as I teach my 23 kiddos, look for a new job in a different city, finish graduate school and all of the certification testing that goes along with that, try to see my husband occasionally, sell a house, and build a house. Wow. Also, I must find a job by June 1st in order to ensure that we will get our loan, so I'll be working hard toward that goal.

So anyway, that's our news. We'll keep you updated as things happen, but for now that's where we stand. Thank you for reading my long post!

Our Holidays

2009-12-29T14:37:00.015-06:00

Hello! I'm sorry that it has been so long since I've blogged (again). I really have no excuse this time, since I have been out of grad school and school for over a week now. Hey! There's my excuse - I have been enjoying some down time with my husband.

I'll post some pictures of our festivities at the end, but for now I'll just tell you about them. First off, let me say that I am SO DISSAPPOINTED that I missed out on the white Christmas that happened in our back yard, but spending time with our families was well worth it.

We left for College Station on what Kevin likes to call "Festivus" (from Seinfeld). Otherwise known as the day before Christmas Eve. (I just now asked him how to spell that and he is yelling quotes across the house - "And now for the airing of grievances, because I GOT A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH YOU PEOPLE!").

Anyway, we arrived in College Station and spent that afternoon and evening just hanging out with my family. We took my sister into town and ate at our old Freebirds, which was amazing as usual. The next morning we got up and drove into Temple to spend the day with Kevin's family. We went straight to his Aunt Peaches' house where she made us a delicious breakfast of pancakes and ham. It snowed while we were with her! After spending a couple of hours there, we went to Christmas at his dad's side of the family. It was really great to see everyone and all of the adorable little kids there. His cousins have some of the most precious children I have ever met.

From there, we were supposed to go to Salado to see his cousin who was released from Parkland hospital here in Dallas a little over a week ago, where he was being treated for severe burns. After that we were supposed to go back to Temple for his mom's family's Christmas. Unfortunately the weather got so icy and dangerous that we had to head back to College Station early instead. We did, however stop by his mom's sister's house to drop off our gifts and some of my oreo balls, which were specifically requested by his cousins. I hear they went quite quickly, LOL.

Once we got back to College Station we spent the day with the guys playing Wii Mario Cart and the girls doing puzzles and chatting. It was a perfect Christmas Eve. Then, on Christmas morning, my Aunt Tina, Uncle Larry, and Justin joined us for my family Christmas. I love my family so much and enjoy every second that I spend with them! We tried for the second year in a row to do a gift exchange (the kind where you get a number and steal from each other). The problem is, everyone bought something specifically for them and ended up unwrapping and taking home what they brought. That was actually no fun, and may need to be re-examined for next year, LOL.

After we opened presents, we ate a good lunch and just spent time together with games, puzzles, more Wii, and naps. Then we watched Polar Express in 3D, which was so cool! Especially the part where they are squirting hot chocolate into the mugs - it's like it was being squirted right out of the screen and into your face!

We got up the next morning and ate a delicious breakfast prepared by my Grandaddy, and then we hit the road to come home. The next morning we got up and went to Kevin' mom's house for our small family Christmas with her and his sister's family. That was so much fun - once again we ate great food and spent quality time with family. Sydni (Kevin's niece, 6 yrs old) is my best little buddy and she brought most of her gifts from Santa to show me and to play with me. Debbie and I even played a Spongebob Cranium game with her. We opened presents over there, and then we spent most of the day just chatting with Debbie, which was nice.

Once we got home I took down all of the inside Christmas decorations, including the HUGE tree, while Kevin played RC cars with his little neighbor friend in the garage. I also ran the self-cleaning cycle on my oven for the first time since there was a big spill in there a while back, and I smoked up the entire house for 3 hours. Like eyes burning, coughing, need to get out of the house type of smoked up. Oops. At least it's clean now, though :) Then yesterday Kevin took down all of the outside decorations by himself while I ran errands and took a nap (payback).

It has been a wonderful holiday season, and we still get to go see friends in Houston to celebrate the New Year! Here are my pictures. I unfotunately did not take my camera in at the White family Christmas in Temple, so I have no pictures of that. I then also neglected to take my camera with me to the small Christmas at Debbie's house and therefore have no pictures of that either. Basically I am a bad photographer:

This is the snow at Aunt Peaches' house. You can't really see it :(

I was very excited!

Here is Bella in her Christmas robe.

My Grandaddy with Bella (and yes, she had a wardrobe change)!

Tex enjoyed opening presents this year, LOL

Lindsay, my dad, Justin, and Uncle Larry

My mom, Granny, and Grandaddy

Kevin and Me :)

Uncle Larry opening his own present

My dad, also opening his own present

Silly

Granny's eating here, so she has the attention of all of the pups!

This is my favorite picture. My mom bought Bella this jacket/vest SPECIFICALLY so that she could match her on Christmas. Pitiful, yes. Adorable, yes.

So there you have it! As I blogged this entry, I am sitting on my couch smelling chili in the crock pot and watching big, beautiful snowflakes fall outside my window. Life is good.

Check back soon - Kevin and I have some things that we are still trying to figure out, and work out, but we may have big news soon!

Everyone have a Happy New Year! We think 2010 is going to be a great year for us, and we wish the same for all of our friends and family!

The Countdown Begins...

2009-12-11T21:20:00.007-06:00

When I was growing up, my parents always filled a stocking for my dog, Sparkey. He would get a toy or a treat out of it every night leading up to Christmas, for several days. It was always so fun to watch him get excited and "ask" for his stocking. For a couple of years now, Kevin and I have been doing the same for our dogs. When we get the stockings out of the attic, Tex and Bella's noses go into overdrive. The stockings been hanging empty on the mantle for 2 weeks now, driving our dogs crazy, but that all changed tonight!

Tonight they got their first toy!

I love carrying on traditions; it's one of my favorite things about the holidays!

Post-Thanksgiving Update

2009-11-28T21:56:00.003-06:00

Howdy, everyone! Kevin and I have been enjoying a nice break together from the regular stresses of life (for me, mainly just work LOL). We didn't travel this year for Thanksgiving, and instead had a really nice lunch at his mom's house in Fort Worth. It was really relaxing and the food was great!

Also, we decorated for Christmas. I have both of my trees up and Kevin got lights hung outside yesterday. Now I've started wrapping presents for under the tree! For obvious reasons, Christmas spending needs to be light for us this year. I love giving gifts, and the thought of not doing anything this year was just not sitting right with me. So I decided to hand-make my gifts. Every single gift that we give this year will be hand-made and special. I actually think that's what it should always be like, come to think of it!

Kevin's birthday is on Tuesday (the 1st) so I got him a little something today. Let's just say that I have figured out the way to please Kevin with gifts - pretend that I am buying for a 12 year old boy. His mom apparantly has this figured out as well, and gave him a remote control helicopter for his birthday. Which of course, he promptly broke while flying it recklessly in the cul-de-sac. Now we get to go to the hobby shop for replacement parts tomorrow, haha.

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School has been going extremely well. I absolutely love my third grade class, and I am so glad that I switched to third this year. I have so much fun with them! I am so blessed to have a job which I enjoy so much. Sure, there is a lot of stress, some frustration, long hours, and tests of my patience. But none of that even matters because I enjoy my time with the kids 95% of the time.

In late September my students took a reading benchmark test to determine their comprehension on TAKS test-like passages and questions. They did less than spectacular, which of course is to be expected so early in the year. Still, it was extremely disconcerting to me as their teacher to see that only 58% of my students were currently in line to pass the test.

After this test, I immediately began working on a plan for comprehension skill-based small group instruction. My main problem with small groups has been that I never know when I am going to have time to pull them or what my kids will need help on at that time. I like to pull them 2-3 times a week, but it is really hard to plan for. And when you don't know how to plan for them, you don't get copies made, etc. SO I decided to put together a small groups file.

First, I went through the entire set of TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) for third grade reading. I took note of every comprehension strategy and skill that they need to learn (inferences, cause/effect, sequencing, author's purpose, summary, etc.) There are 20 of them in all. Then I made a chart of all of these skills and included rows under each column for each of my struggling students.

Then, I went through the benchmark test and determined which problems addressed each skill, and from there determined which skills the students had mastered. Next to those skills, the students got a check mark in their row. There were not very many checks on my checklist.

From there, I was able to search all of my resources (online, hard-copy, out of workbooks, and some that I created new) and pull 4-5 resources for each skill area. Some are games, some are worksheets, etc. I turned those in to get 7 copies of each and had them laminated. I then filed them according to skill behind my small groups table.

I immediately started pulling small groups and using my new materials with dry erase markers. I focused mainly on context clues, author's purpose, and summarization. When we gave a mock benchmark test last week, guess which skills they had mastered? On that test, 84% of my students passed. That's a lot better than 58%, huh? I'm excited to see what we can do by the time the TAKS test comes around in late April!

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Teaching third grade is never boring, and my students always have me laughing. Here are some funny (and some cute) things that happened just last week:

1. I was given this note:

When I opened it, about 30 little notebook paper hearts fell out and inside it said "Lots of little hearts just for you."

2. I also received a note (written in colorful marker) that said "Mrs. White ROCKS! And colors ROCK too."

3. I got a note in the shape of a snowflake that said "I thought you wanted a snowflake."

4. At lunch groups, a little boy said, in a very serious tone: "Mrs. White. Did you know something? Did you know that you have a MEXICAN in here? And it's me."

5. Also at lunch groups, the kids asked me what sports I used to play. When I got to swim team, a little girl had a story. She said "My mom won't let me do swim team because she says I can't swim. But really I can swim, she just doesn't believe me. One time I decided to show her that I really can swim, but the water was actually kind of too deep. So then I almost drowned. Yeah - I guess it didn't really help me out that much."

6. My recent favorite: On Tuesday I decided to give my kids a fake quiz. All it was were a bunch of hilarious questions about Thanksgiving etiquette which made them (and me) laugh. But I started out really seriously and told them to take out a piece of paper for a pop quiz. I warned them that it was so important that I was going to take 3 GRADES on it, so if they failed they would probably fail third grade. I know, I'm so mean. Before I could start the "quiz," P brought me a note that he had furiously cut out of his writing journal in the shape of a heart. On it were the words "Mrs. White, you stole my heart." He watched me read it and then asked me if we still had to take the quiz. I told him that I appreciated his kind words, but yes, they still had to take the quiz. He sighed and muttered "It was worth a shot."

Thanks for sticking with me through my long post! I'll try and not wait so long before I write again, but I can't make any promises. I stay unbelievable busy between work, grad school, and still trying to be a decent wife!

Finally an update!!!!

2009-11-04T19:02:00.005-06:00

Hi everyone! I am so sorry that it has been almost a month since my last update. I have been swamped with a lot of things going on. There has been the typical - balancing grad school with teaching a new grade level. Then there has been the fact that Kevin and my life has been turned completely upside down over the course of the last month.

Kevin was laid off from his job one month ago on Monday. He has been really fortunate to have a lot of leads and a lot of very promising interviews already. In fact, we are waiting to hear back from two very good prospects tomorrow or Friday. Fingers crossed! They are both for Account Manager positions at landscape companies. With everything going on, its just been difficult to find time or energy to update. We both believe that his being laid off was a blessing in disguise for more reasons than one, and we are looking forward to the next step in God's plan for us.

Have I told you that I love my new job in third grade? I know I have, but too bad. It is so much fun to just talk with the kids, especially during our weekly Lunch with Teacher days. I always find out interesting information about a lot of things. Last week I found out all about a girl's 5 stepdads and how her mom ran off each one. This week a boy informed me that he was "cursed" and his milk would spill if he tried to open it. I then opened it for him and it spilled all over me.

They are so clever! When I was explaining a game yesterday I told them that the winner would be the person who had the most cards at the end of the game. I was then asked if "possibly the person with the LEAST could be the winner, since it's always the same old people with the most."

I was also told this week "______ called me ________ Markuhhh and I am NOT a wiyting utensil!"

Today at recess I was walking down the long sidewalk to the door that we line up outside of to go in. A boy walked calmly past me and Kara (another teacher) and said "So, who thinks they can beat me to the door?" I took off running, heels and all, and beat him big time. Then he told me I was "pretty fast for an old lady." He then told Kara "Your little friend over there is faster than I thought." It was pretty funny!

Yesterday I had this conversation:
Student: "_____ called me the a word."
Me: "The really bad a word?"
Student: "Yes."
Me: "Like, the really short, bad a word?"
Student: "Yes! Like the one that you put on the Boggle board."
I looked over and, yep, there it was. A possible letter arrangement on the bottom or my board clearly spelled out "ass." I made a shocked face and my class erupted in laughter. A girl then said "Yeah. You should really be more careful, Mrs. White. Last week it said 'damn' but don't worry I didnt write it." Yikes. See picture:

While I'm posting pictures, check out this one of Kara, me, Emily, and Casey on mismatch day of Red Ribbon Week:

Try asking your third graders this question: "What is the hardest mineral?" Guaranteed you will get answers like "rock" and "metal." At least I did.

Speaking of science, though, we had our first science benchmark test today (my first ever; we didn't take them in first grade). You wouldn't believe the stuff third graders are tested on - all kinds of measurement and facts about the sun and planets, renewable/unrenewable/inexhaustable resources, and even Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness! My kids really did their best, and EVERY single one of them passed it! In fact, my class average was a 91. I am so proud of them.

This afternoon, we also took a math test. EVERY single one of my kids passed that, too, and the class average was an 88! The test was difficult because it was problem solving. There were a lot of two-step problems, extra information problems, tables, etc. The math (after they figure out how to set up the equations) was three digit addition and subtraction with regrouping. There were also a LOT of critical, higher-order thinking questions. Again, I was so proud of them! We ended the day with a little bit of an extended recess as a reward for their hard work during almost four hours of testing today.

Reading is looking up, too. On our Scholastic Reading Inventory last week I had several students increase their scores significantly from the test in September. In fact, two kids raised their scores 300 points and another raised her score 350 points! It's really starting to come together.

Kevin and I are just sitting on the couch, trying to catch up on some shows we have on DVR. A minute ago he said "I didn't VISUALLY see it..." I teased him and asked him if he auditorily saw it, or if he tactilely saw it. Annoyed, he said "Speaking of TACT, you have none." Haha

This post has definitely been disorganized, so I apologize. I'll write again soon, at least sooner than a month from now! I'm going to go spend some time with my hubby now :)

Third Grade Comics :)

2009-10-12T19:17:00.007-05:00

I was very impressed by the creativity my kids showed in writing their comic strips in the computer lab today. I took pictures of my five favorites to share with you. Hopefully they'll put a smile on your face like they did mine.

Click them to make them larger so that you can read the words.

"The Look"

"Dancing is or Weirdos"

"Do You Have School?"

"Trixster"

"Old School"

School update

2009-09-28T20:20:00.012-05:00

In class, last week I had the kids start practicing a few reader's theater scripts just for a fun little activity. Today I let them spend about 20 minutes rehearsing and making costumes for their performances. It was so cool to see their creativity at work! Of course I can't post pictures of the students, but there are a few that I think I can get by with:

The best was when Chicken Little tore up some pieces of paper to use as corn to peck on the ground and then went a little overboard with the pecking. That's when I found myself saying: "If you don't stop pecking the ground, your beak is going to fall off." Shortly after that I started wondering what kind of circus act I'm running around there...

Speaking of child creativity, Thursday was presentation day for the kids doing my independent study program that I blogged about here. It was one of those times that (as a teacher) I was so proud that I thought I was about to cry. I didn't tear up when T taught us about famous chemists and then performed two chemical reactions for the class (soliciting a TON of ooooooohs and aaaaaahhhhhs). I didn't tear up when J taught us about pop art, or when H taught us about killer whales. I didn't even get teary eyed when J taught us all about Einstein's childhood or J spoke about how to become a PE teacher. What got me was when M sat down in my rocking chair to read us her children's book (that she wrote) about giraffes. She asked us to close our eyes and pretend were were baby giraffes, and she was going to be our tour guide through our early lives. She then proceded to read her (beautifuly written and illustrated) book in an Australian accent. Precious!

It was truly amazing and I was so proud of my kids.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE teaching third grade?

...Not that 1st was bad....

But I'm happy right where I am!!!!!

And guess what else? I am OFFICIALLY 1/2 way finished with my M.Ed in administration!!!

A quick one. Okay maybe not so quick.

2009-09-21T21:39:00.003-05:00

Hello, family and friends!

I have been feeling guilty about not updating very often because I've been told recently by people that I don't get to see very often that they check my blog often to see what's going on. I'm going to try and do better!

I guess I'll start with a home update. I got pretty sick last Thursday and left after school with an over 100 degree fever. I stayed home Friday, slept all day, and started feeling better by Saturday. Saturday Kevin and I went to dinner and Speed Zone (putt-putt and go carts) with some friends. Jarrett and Van were visiting from Detroit and it was so awesome to see them and spend time with them! Afterwards they and Allen and Casey came over and played some serious Guitar Hero, lol. I tried the drums on "hard" and it almost killed me! Sunday Kevin and I went to the Ranger's game, out to dinner with the same friends, and then came home to relax and watch the Cowboys. I did some laundry and got to sleep early while Kevin watched the game in bed.

I'm thinking I need to take little Bella to the vet again because she has developed some sort of allergy on her legs. I'm thinking it's from the grass or some sort of weed in our backyard (or maybe a fertilizer or something)? It's weird because we havent changed anything in our yard but this started a couple of months ago. It doesn't matter if she's only out for 2 minutes; when she comes back in she'll have these red blotches all over her feet and legs. She's been licking them so much that she's starting to lose hair around her toes. Yikes. I feel like such a bad dog mommy, but I have been so busy! I've been washing her feet when she comes in and giving her baby benedryl morning and night. I just don't know what else to do but to take her in. Sigh.

Okay, on to school. This morning I got up super early and arrived at school before 6:15! I knew I would have a lot of grading and clean-up to do since I had a sub on Friday. I got it all done before school and was happy to see my kids. One of them said "I can tell you're feeling better because you're smiling today. You weren't smiling on Thursday." After school I had tutoring from 3:00-3:45, and then PACE from 3:45-4:45. Man that was a long "kid day." There are two types of long days when you're a teacher: There are days that are long because you stay late to catch up on things, grade, etc. And then there are long "kid days," days that you can't get anything done because you are running a million miles an hour in front of the kids and involved with them. That was today.

I gave my first math assessment of 3rd grade today. I was terrified about it because it was SUPER HARD. I'm not kidding you guys - ridiculous. Well, Kara was right and my kids really came through for me! The work they were showing, along with the fact that several of them suprised me by making 100% on, made me seriously want to jump for joy! I was so proud of them :)

I have to share this with you because it was so hilarious. The other day we were writing about the worst day we've ever had and his little boy wrote: "The worst day I ever had was when I was playing baseball with my friends and the ball aimed right for my KIWIS." HAHAHA. Hilarious.

I'm still loving being a third grade teacher, in case you couldn't tell.

Annnnnd then there's grad school. I am one week (one assignment, a discussion, and a test) away from being 1/2 way done with my program. Six classes down, six to go! The good news is I've heard that I've already gotten the worst 2 out of the way during the first half of my rotation, so that's a relief. In about 3 months it will be time to take my Texes Principal Competency exam...shudder. I'll also get really busy with PDAS and ILD training...two more things required for certification and graduation from my program.

I'm watching one of my new fave shows now, lol...HOARDERS! I just finished up some laundry and got my crock pot ready for tomorrow's dinner (bloody mary chicken). After the show's over I'm going to sleep. Goodnight!

Update :)

2009-09-12T16:22:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I've gone two weeks without posting...again! Actually I can - life has been so busy lately. Between adjusting to a new grade level, working three days a week at the after-school program on my campus, and trying to survive my online M.Ed. program, I barely have time to breathe!

School is going well. I enjoy my older students because I am able to spend almost my entire day teaching rather than reminding them how to behave in school. I can also laugh with them and genuinly enjoy talking with them. Every Tuesday I host "Lunch with Teacher" day for students who choose to purchase it with their tickets. I typically have about 6-8 of them and we just sit in a circle and talk and laugh. I really like it! I am very happy with my class.

It's been a little difficult adjusting to the increase in grading and the (already) increase in stress to prepare them for the tests in the Spring, but for the most part it's been a smooth transition. It's also been stressful figuring out how to differentiate my instruction to benefit ALL of my kids, since half of them are gifted and the other have are struggling. I really have no "in between," which is who the district-provided curriculum is intended for. I think I've just about gotten it figure out, though. When my principal asked me if I would ever go back to 1st, I quickly responded "No!" Not that I didn't love 1st, but I've realized how much MORE I love 3rd :)

Last weekend I spent a relaxing weekend with my family in College Station (my parents, Lindsay, and her boyfriend Ben met me at my grandparents' house) with my family. We spent most of the weekend riding 4 wheelers on my grandparents' land, which was so much fun! We like to blaze our own trail through the brush as we go along in our train of 4-wheelers, the Ranger, and the jeep. One evening we went into town and ate at Mr. Gatti's, and then the 4 teens (my cousin, my sister, and their significant others) played games (ok, maybe I played a few too). All in all, it was just a great weekend.

This weekend it's rainy in FloMo, and we slept in until after noon and watched a movie. Then I took a midterm exam and graded 7 stacks of papers. All that's left to do this weekend is get my nails done and clean the house - maybe not in that order! We're currently debating what to have for dinner and where to go to church tomorrow. Decisions, decisions.

I do have a couple of funny stories to tell you from the week, actually the first is from last week but whatever.

1. I've befriended the man who comes to do maintenance at our school every two weeks, but I was still surprised when he brought me a gift back from his trip to Mexico the weekend before. He walked in near the end of the day while my students were working and handed it to me, and then I thanked him and asked him about his trip. No big deal. It was a cute circular woven box with flowers on the top (perfect size for tortillas). After he left, one of my students and I had this conversation:

Student: What's in that box?
Me: Nothing. This IS the present. The box is actually the present.
Student: I think theyuh should be a wedding wing in theyuh.
Me: Um, well, I actually already have one of those (I show him my ring).
Student (flustered): Oh. Okay then. Maybe anothuh kind of wing then, whatever kind of wing you pwefuh then!

2. During our Tuesday lunch, I high-fived one of my students for some reason. She then said. "Okay. That was really weird. High-fiving your teacher is really weird, but very cool at the same time. I'm glad I have a young teacher to do awesome things with!"

3. Two of my students interviewed the math-science lab teacher for their independent study projects. Both of them happened to be in Tuesday Lunch shortly after. One of them announced that Einstein was kicked out of school for bringing a skunk in his lunch box releasing it in the classroom, and chasing it around "squeezing his sprayers to stink up the place." Immediately after, the other boy says "So kids, who wants to take a big whif of sulfuric acid?" What interesting conversations we have...

I'm sure I'll think of more after I publish this post, but I'll just have to post them later :)

Quick update

2009-08-31T21:48:00.002-05:00

Let me just say that I LOVE MY NEW JOB teaching third grade. Love it. I am busy every second of the day, but it doesn't phase me. I catch myself walking around with a huge smile on my face. I wish everyone could feel this way about their jobs. The kids are so fun and much more independent. I enjoy teaching more difficult material and spending less time teaching how to behave in school, how to sit in a desk, how to flush the toilet, how to sit on the carpet, how to walk in a line, etc.... Don't get me wrong: I LOVED 1st grade and I was hesitant to switch. But I haven't looked back since the 1st day of school!

So today I was told this by a little boy: "Mrs. White, yesterday I had an ARMY of lices in my hair! I think we got all the adult lices out, but there may still be some eggs stuck in there."

Nice.

Also a little boy wrote about how one time he was really excited when his mom bought him two new dogs: a boy and a girl. He wrote about how he played with them outside for a while and then got hot so he went in to watch TV. Then he wrote this: "Two hours later, my second dog was pregnant."

Well, little boy, it's a good thing you were watching TV instead of your dogs, then.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

More updates later in the week, when I can find time between grading papers, doing grad school, and....oh yeah.... being a wife.