6 Weeks

Boobear turned 6 weeks old this Wednesday! I left him with his Daddy for the morning and had my 6 week doctor appt. Everything looked good and I got a clean bill of health. It seems like Brady is doing more and more every day. We started the week out with a nice visit from Auntie Hill and Auntie Ally. He slept most of the time that they were here, but that was a good thing when we decided that we wanted to go to Martin's for lunch. We went to Orange to visit Auntie Ally and Auntie Hill later in the week. We also stopped off at MawMaw and PawPaw's to visit with them and Auntie Lulu and Gracie. It was a relaxing afternoon. Gracie and I took a dip in the pool while MawMaw and PawPaw entertained the baby. Today MawMaw came to watch him while I went to the grocery store. I took him with me for the 1st time alone a few weeks ago and I decided that I wouldn't be doing that for a while...at least not when I had real shopping to do. He decided he was going to start screaming in the check out line. Luckily for me, two very nice ladies took pity on me and helped feed him while I unloaded my basket. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers! His Nana also came to visit him today. I hope he sleeps good tonight. I was so proud of him last night. He only woke up twice and went right back to sleep in his snuggle nest...we shall see how tonight goes!
Milestones for the week: Laughing and cooing, holding up his head on his own and hugging Mommy :)

Update After a Long Hiatus

Well, lots has changed since my last post. After I gushed about having such an uneventful pregnancy, it wasn't long before I was in the emergency room with severe abdominal pain. After several days in the hospital I was diagnosed with appendicitis and had an appendectomy during spring break at about 25 wks pregnant...what a way to spend my vacation. Anyway, it all went well and thank God the baby was fine. He was a little fighter. So, after all that drama I wasn't concerned at all about giving birth. After all the poking and prodding in the hospital, the excrutiating pain of surgery and recovery and the sheer exhaustion of the process, I thought giving birth would be a breeze.

And...it was! Due to Brady being breech and so big (thought to be 9 lbs. 10 oz. at 36 weeks) We had our bouncing baby boy on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 7:15 a.m. He weighed 10 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. He was perfect and we were so excited to be parents!

We have had so many wonderful visitors to help us welcome him into the world. We are have been so blessed to have so many friends and family to help us get settled and take care of him. It has been a whirlwind since we brought him home from the hospital.



He is now 5 weeks old and the absolute light of our lives. Although having him with us has been an adjustment, Todd and I couldn't be happier. He is getting bigger and more alert every day. If he would just start sleeping a little more at night, we would all be happier! But he is so sweet that we can't be mad at him for keeping us up!

Life Changes

Well, big things have happened in the last few months! Todd and I learned in October that we were expected our first baby. We spent the first few months being very excited and anxious that things were going to turn out well this time.

I went to the doctor at 10 weeks and everything looked good on the ultrasound. We were so relieved!

I have been lucky not to have been sick very much throughout this pregnancy. I have had only a few headaches and some back aches, but no morning sickness or cramping. I am noticing that as I am getting farther along and getting bigger I am getting a bit uncomfortable and am dreading the last few months. We are almost 6 months pregnant now and everything seems to be going along smoothly. I am hoping that I stay healthy and comfortable until the very end so that I can work until the end of the school year. We found out on February 1st that we are having a boy. I was so sure that it was going to be a girl the whole time that I was a bit surprised. But, I am happy and I know that Todd is so excited to have a little boy. Hopefully one day, we will have a little sister for him to take care of.
We have been busy planning the last month or so and we have decided that we are going to decorate the nursery in Cowboy Chic, lol. Here is a picture of the bedding that I just fell in love with!

We are about to start trying to get the nursery ready and I feel like we have a million things to do. We are enjoying the process and I love that Todd and I have gotten to spend time together lately. He is going to be such a good father and he can't wait until the baby gets here. After much deliberation, lol, we have decided to name him Brady. We are still working on a middle name, but we have plenty of time for that!

Girl's Weekend in Houston

It was such a fun and exciting weekend this weekend! My oldest and dearest friend turned the big 29. Friday night a group of us met at Pappadeaux for a nice celebratory dinner. It was a nice date night, and I was excited that Todd got to come with me for a change. The food was delicious...we hadn't been there in almost a year, and of the course the company and conversation were wonderful.

The girl's and I left early Saturday morning to embark on part 2 of the celebration. We went to Houston and spent some time shopping on Harwin street and took a trip to the Galleria. Later in the afternoon, we checked into our hotel, the JW Marriott, which was conveniently located right across the street from the Galleria. Hillary and I have stayed there a few times. We had a nice big room with super comfy beds. We relaxed a while before we made our way to the Houston Pavillions. We had 8:00 reservations for Pete's Dueling Piano Bar. We thought it might be something fun and interesting to do, plus Hillary loves that kind of stuff so we decided to try it. We got there a little bit early and got a personal tour of the bar and the House of Blues next door by the very nice manager Dexter. He also took the photo of us above, gave us the best seats in the house, and stopped by to see how we were doing several times. Talk about good service!

We had a fun time at the piano bar, but after about 10:00 p.m., the piano players as well as the drunken crowd were getting a little wild and crazy. The noise was getting to me, so we decided to make our exit. We went downstairs to Guadalajara Del Centro which was absolutely delicious! A definite new favorite place. The whole area looked really nice. We will have to visit it again sometime when we go back to Houston.

The next morning, we got up pretty early and headed out for another day of shopping. We had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and even stopped off at the famous Crave Cupcakes for a Sunday afternoon treat-Yum! My favorite new discovery was the newly opened Charming Charlie's in the Galleria. It is a huge accessories store that has EVERYTHING and it is sorted by color. It is a girly girl heaven.

We had a great time, great food, great shopping, and great bonding. I can't wait for our next trip. I think we are going to Canton Trade days for my birthday...another new adventure!

Baby Fever

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."

I haven't updated in a while, but I have found myself to be sitting here alone on a Thursday night while Todd is working and rejoicing that yet another friend has announced her pregnancy. While I am rejoicing, I also find myself a little sad and wistful thinking why couldn't it be me. Lately I have been really struggling with the overwhelming desire to be a mother and absolute impatience and at times despair waiting for it to happen.
Most of you that follow me know that last February, after what seemed like years of planning, Todd and I were so excited to learn that we were expecting. The idea of being first time parents was so wonderful that we starting picking out names and nursery furniture almost immediately. We felt that finally we would begin this wonderful family and were so sure that having a baby would be one of the most amazing adventures of our entire lives.
About 8 weeks in I had my first ultrasound and the results were not good. After 3 weeks of being in limbo, many ultrasounds and dr. appointments later, and not knowing whether the pregnancy was viable, we found out that we would not be having a baby anymore. After the shock and devastation wore off, as well as the pain and discomfort of surgery, there was still the burning desire to be a mother.
So, here I am and what feels like months later still desperately wanting to become pregnant and experience motherhood. I am trying to relax and enjoy the journey knowing that in God's perfect timing, I feel sure that we will have the baby that we are so longing for. But, it is hard to not feel discouraged as one after another people all around you are being blessed with beautiful healthy babies.
I am hoping being able to blog about this may help sort out these feelings, and I ask for everyone's prayers for a healthy happy pregnancy when the time is right.

Fabulous Florida Vacation

Last week, Todd and I joined a group of our friends for a wonderful week long vacation in Seacrest Beach, Florida. Seacrest is a picturesque little community with cute beach neighborhoods, perfectly manicured lawns, and bike riding trails.


Our beach house was amazing. Todd and I had the whole third floor to ourselves, which included a big bedroom and bathroom as well as 2 decks and a sitting area. It was heaven. In fact, the plush king sized bed was so nice, that we have already started looking for one so we can sleep like we are on vacation every night!


While we were there we mostly relaxed on the beach and went to the pool. We also spent some time shopping in Destin. We decided to go on a snorkeling tour ( I would not recommend it, esp. if you have even been snorkeling in Mexico, it is not nearly as nice), and some of our group even went parasailing one morning.


Hillary and I also decided to rent some bicycles and went on several early morning and evening bike rides. We also went to two of our favorite restaurants while we were in town- McGuire's ( a Florida tradition) and Landry's. It was a great time, and we were so sad to come home. Can't wait until next year!

New Orleans Girl's Weekend

I am a little late at updating, but while Todd is watching the continuous CNN coverage of the death of the King of Pop (so sad), I thought I would blog before I go out on my 45 min. walk of sweat.
This weekend, I went on a very fun road trip to New Orleans with my two dearest friends in all of the world. We visited 4 lovely plantation houses (Nottoway and Homaus House were my favorite), toured the dirty smelly French Quarter (sorry NOLA lovers), ate at a delightful, yet kind of disappointing swanky restaurant, went on the hottest and most crowded steamboat dinner cruise ever, and enjoyed out tiny and shady hotel pool. I will probably never go to NOLA again in the summer time, it is WAY to HOT to enjoy yourself, but I have to say that I had a very relaxing time with my friends, and it was a great way to laugh ourselves silly and reconnect. Everyone was also very friendly in New Orleans, which made for a pleasant experience.

Since then, I have basically laid around the house and relaxed. I went to my mom and dad's on Tuesday to hang out with my niece. Auntie Hill. joined us and we had a lovely afternoon in the pool. I think it def. helped out tan out. I have been dropping Todd off and picking him up from work (his truck is in the shop), cooking, and cleaning. He is going to be very sad when I go back to work, lol. I also went into work for a few hours this morning. We are testing next week, so I have to get everything together. I don't mind work nearly as much when I only have to work a 1/2 day. Our staff is a little stressed out right now. They were in the middle of doing schedules when they were told that we are losing two core teaching positions...which of course puts more work on everyone else. So, keep your fingers crossed that I really won't have to teach a class next year. I may have to suck it up and be assigned to help out a little. Blah.
I have also decided that I am going to start working on my principal certification through SFA. I think it is a good idea to go ahead and get it, although I don't think I would pursue an actual job as a principal for a while. I would like to go ahead and do it now before we have a baby. It is a little stressful, especially to think about the financial aspect of it, but I think if I stay in education for life, it is probably something I will want to do at some point in my career. Plus, the program seems to be pretty flexible and I should be able to take some classes online as well as some classes in Jasper (hopefully).
I am still working on my diet and fitness plan. I have lost another pound, bringing my total to 9 so far...and I am trying to keep working my hardest. It is getting easier now that I am in the habit of exercising and watching what I eat, but the weight still comes off slowly. I am proud of myself for working out both days that we were at the hotel in NOLA. I think it helped me not gain any weight while we were away eating fattening restaurant food.
I have been a little sad the past few days...it seems like there is so much sadness and grief in the world. Maybe I have been watching too many sad movies and too much t.v., but this week alone, there has been the dissolution of Jon and Kate, the death of Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson, sad topics on Oprah, as well as sad news about one of our dear family members. It is a natural part of life, but sometimes you just get bogged down. But, what does not kill us will make us stronger and tomorrow is another day. I know it is important to appreciate every day we are given and spend our time making the most of it with the people that we love.