Cole is here!!

My sweet baby boy, Cole Michael is here. He was born Dec. 26 at 7:27 pm. He weighed 9 lbs and is 21 inches long. He is precious!!! After less than a week it is hard to imagine life without him!! I will post more pics later!

Merry Christmas!!

I had contractions early this morning and went to the hospital, but they ended up slowing way down and I got sent home. So, no Christmas baby for us! I am glad I got to spend Christmas with my family, but am now ready to have this baby!!

Christmas break is here!!

I am very excited to be done with school for awhile!!! Thursday I had an interesting day. I had to run home real quick from work and ended up falling. I guess I just tripped over my own feet as I stepped up our one step into our house. It all happened so fast that it is hard to remember what I hit. I know that I fell on my side. I sat down for a little bit and then hurried back to school because I had kids coming to my room. Afterwards I was talking to a couple teachers and they said I needed to call the doctor. So after school I called the doctors office and they told me I had to come in to the OB department and get hooked up on monitors for 4 hours. Fortunately everything was fine! It was a long evening though! I started having contractions last night, but they went away after I layed down. I am starting to get more and more nervous as the day gets closer and closer... and excited too! I can't wait to see what my baby boy looks like!

Countdown

I am getting closer and closer to my due date. I would have to say this last month definitely isn't an easy one. The worst of it is my left hip. I can't even explain in words how much pain my hip causes me. It hurts when I stand, walk, lay down and just move a millimeter. It has brought me to tears on many occasions. I have tried everything I can think of to make it better, but nothing does. The doctors just say it is normal. I have made it through a week and a half of the pain so far, so I know I can make it... but its hard some days. Everyone at work comments on my limp as I walk down the hallway. I will be glad when Christmas break is here, because by the time I get home from work I am done for the rest of the night. I am fortunate that we had a snow day and a late start this week, so I could rest. Only 6 more days of work...

Thanksgiving break is almost here!!!

I only have one more day of work and then I have 5 days to get some things done around the house and then RELAX!!!! I can' t wait!

I am very Thankful this year for...
my relationship with God
my husband
my baby boy (who will be here in about 5 weeks!)
my family
my friends
my dogs
my house
my job
my health

Where do I put all of this stuff?

I think I need a bigger house for everything I need for this baby! I am trying to keep it somewhat organized as I get it, but it is starting to pile up everywhere. Our guest bedroom is full of Christmas presents, our stroller, infant seat, high chair and exersaucer. The high chair and exersaucer are still in the boxes. Needless to say, there isn't a lot of space. I have my last shower on Sunday, then I will go see what I still need and start getting everything completely organized. My goal is to have everything organized by Thanksgiving, because Justin's mom is coming to visit for a couple days...

I haven't been feeling too bad lately, but am definitely starting to get more and more uncomfortable. I am starting to get swollen and had to take my wedding ring off. My whole body usually is exhausted by the time I get home from work! Unfortunately it is just going to continue that way for the next several weeks! My husband just doesn't quite seem to get it, but I guess most men don't. I need to find him a book to read to explain it all to him, so he sees it isn't just me. If any of you know of any, let me know...

I need to take another picture and put on here... I haven't been good about remembering to do that!

Counting down...

I can't believe it is already November! Our little boy will be here in about 2 months which is just crazy!!

Justin and I went to Cincinnati, Ohio this past Thursday to a Youth Minister Convention. We had a good time, but were exhausted at the same time. Justin's mom lives halfway between Cincinnati and where we live, so we stopped there on the way up and spent the night. Then we stopped there on the way back on Sunday. In the few hours we were back, Justin's mom had a baby shower for us. I was beyond tired, but was thankful for everyone that came. We got home late Sunday. We unloaded our car and I went straight to bed.

It was nice to have a break from school for a few days. Now I am counting down the days until Thanksgiving break. 15 more work days... Then after that 15 more work days until Christmas break, then hopefully our baby will arrive while I am on break!!

Flu season needs to end!!

Every night I pray that I don't get the flu. I was supposed to get the flu shot today through the school district, but it got cancelled due to lack of shots. So, I guess I will be getting it at the hospital. Plus I will have to get the H1N1 shot they told me last time. It is insane how many kids are sick at our school. Once you get one kid back and healthy another one is gone. I have been using Chlorox wipes and hand sanitizer like crazy. Every day I talk with the kids about germs and staying healthy.

Now they are talking about limiting visitors on OB. Last week they were talking about not allowing anyone to visit, so it would just be Justin and I the whole hospital stay. My mom said now they are talking about letting grandparents come. They haven't completely made up their mind yet. I agree that it should be limited, I just would like my mom and sister to be able to come.

announcement

So, I had my glucose test done today. I didn't think it was as bad as everyone kept telling me. But compared to the stuff you have to drink for a CAT scan, it wasn't bad at all. I think I drank it a little too fast and then I wanted to gag, but it wasn't awful just really, really sweet! Now I have to start going to the doctor every 2 weeks. I am getting a flu shot next week and then the next week at my appointment I have to get the H1N1 shot.

This past month I have been feeling pretty good. I notice there are days where I am not hungry at all, which is strange to me.. I try to force a little something down. I am starting to get more and more uncomfortable, but overall doing very well. I am just getting excited for the baby to be here.

We actually found out what we are having 2 months ago, but have been keeping it a secret so far. Justin's mom is throwing a shower for us Nov. 1 and she is announcing what we are having at the shower. So, if you are reading this PLEASE don't post anything on my facebook so those people don't find out. But we are happy to announce that we are having a BOY!! Whenever we get his room finished I will post pics, but we have a little ways to go. We still don't know his name yet... but we are going to keep that a secret until he is born... It is so hard to pick a name. Hopefully we will come up with one before he is due...

27 weeks

This is not a very good picture, but at least you can see my belly.

Trip to St. Louis

We arrived in St. Louis around 6:30 Friday night, went to the Galleria for a little bit, ate at PF Changs and then got cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory to take back to the hotel. Yum! Saturday morning we went to the zoo for a little bit. The gorilla was my favorite. He saw that we were all looking at him so we walked over to this branch and posed like this. It was like he was modeling... Too funny! After the zoo, we met my good friends Joy and David, along with their daughter Sophie for lunch. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture. Then we went and walked by the arch before going to the cubs/cards game. We didn't go up in it.

This is a zoomed in picture of my favorite player. Unfortunately he is now playing for the other team, but he is still my favorite!

We had good seats in the outfield. Front row! It was a little warm, but overall a pretty nice day for a game. Just didn't turn out to be a win... Oh well, we still had a good time!

After the game, we headed home... It was a nice quick trip away from home to celebrate our 1st anniversary! We weren't able to celebrate it back in August and wanted to go to a game, so we made this our celebration... you can't really see my growing belly in these shots. I need to take a new one to post!

The Joys of Pregnancy

No matter how much someone informs you about pregnancy you will never completely understand until you go through it for yourself. Last week I started getting Charley horses at night. This week I started getting heartburn and acid reflux. I got some Tums and fortunately they have been helping with these so far!

The neatest thing this month is feeling the movement and boy does this baby move A LOT!!! Justin finally got to feel it one time and then he saw my stomach move too.

Every day I look at my stomach and the whole things just seems surreal. It is hard to believe this is all really happening. I have thought about having a baby for a long time and now it is actually my turn...

Haven't decided if I like my new job or not. I miss my kids at my old school and my friends. It is hard being moved to a new school and having a new position. I am hoping things will start getting better. So far all I have done is tested kids, so there is still a lot to my job that I haven't experienced yet. Is it wrong to start counting down the days til the next break???? :)

Baby Shower

For some reason these pictures turned out grainy... Don't know why?? I had my first baby shower this past Saturday, because my sister came back from California. Here is me with my 20 week (almost 21) belly. Along with the yummy food... Lemon cake, cream cheese stuffed strawberries, sweet caramel chex mix.... etc. YUM!!! My sister, Amy (who we just found out is pregnant with #3) She is due 9 weeks after me! And my sister Sara.

I got a lot of nice gifts!!

Grace and Ava decided to dress alike for the shower! They don't get to see each other much, since Ava lives in California!

One Year Ago...

I was unable to post yesterday on my actual anniversary, because we had a busy weekend. Justin has gone on mission trips to Taiwan in 2006 and 2008 to work at a Sports and English Camp. The missionaries that are the deans of the camp when he goes are back in the states and came to visit us for the weekend. They also brought a girl from Taiwan with them. So... one day late I wish my husband a HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! I love you more than words!!!

Where has the summer gone?

I can't believe summer is almost over... There was so much I wanted to get done. I have about one week left before I need to start getting things ready for school and we will be out of town for half of it... I was really hoping to finish my Hawaii scrapbook this summer. I am so behind in all of my scrapbooks and I know once the baby is here I won't have any time.

I think I have finally started feeling a little better over the past couple of days. And finally I have started to be able to eat a little more, so that is good!

We have guests from Taiwan (missionary friends of Justins) coming to stay with us this weekend, so I need to get back to cleaning my house and then bathing my dogs. What fun!!

Lake Okoboji - Lots of pictures

We went up to Lake Okoboji, IA for a few days. I have some relatives that live up there. The 7 0f us rode in my mom's van. It was a little crowded... Here is my niece on the way up there. We went to the Emporium - tourist shopping area to look around. This is my husband trying on hats.

We went to a little theme park called Arnold's Park for the kids to ride rides. It was really hot!

Here is my mom, Evan, Justin, Ryan and Grace riding the train. My sister and I sat it out.

Grace and Evan riding boats. Grace rode several rides, even a little roller coaster. She loved it. It took Evan a little while to like them.

Arnold's Park is right along the lake.

Every time we go back we eat at Mrs. Lady's. Its a Mexican Restaurant. Ryan is eating an "insane" taco, which he finished most of it.

Sara, Ryan, Justin and I went and played miniature golf. I actually got 2nd... usually I am last!

Justin and I were THRILLED they had a shaved ice place. We got Ryan and Sara hooked on them too. In 48 hours Justin and I each had 4, Sara and Ryan had 3. Grace loved them as well!

At the hotel before we were heading out to go on the boat.

It was a little cool at first when we went out!

Evan is helping Ryan drive the boat. Then its Sara, my mom, and my Aunt Jan (my mom's twin)

Grace loved her first experience boating. She kept telling her dad to go faster!

Evan preferred to go slow...

Justin skiing.

We went to the Barefoot bar for some drinks to cool off.

Overall, we had a fun time... It was nice to get away for a few days.

15 weeks

Here is a picture of me at 15 weeks. Not the greatest picture. I think my stomach looks bigger in person. All of my pants officially do not fit me now, so I have started using rubber bands. Tomorrow through Sunday we are going up to my aunts to go boating, swimming, etc. Hopefully one of my swimsuits will work... I can't believe how fast the summer is flying by... There is so much I want to get done still.

2 down 4 to go

So, my husband is away at work camp with the high school youth from church up in Wisconsin. I hate staying by myself especially at night. I worry and get scared at every noise... I have made it two nights so far, but still have 4 more to go. He is coming home Saturday. Then in about 3 or 4 weeks he leaves again for a week of church camp. I had all of these plans to get things done while he was gone, but unfortunately haven't done much. I did start registering for some baby stuff, because my sister had the day off yesterday to go with me. Now, on to cleaning and laundry... Luckily I am starting to feel better and can get more accomplished than laying around and eating saltine crackers.

Yea!!! It's officially summer for me!!!

Life has been so busy over the past few weeks. Between my mom and us we have had lots of visitors lately. I finally have gotten everything packed from my classroom and have checked out of my room. (Now I just have to finish unpacking our cars...) I can't lift most of the stuff, so Justin gets the privilege of carrying all of my heavy boxes. I can't believe how much stuff I have. Nor could Justin.

Last Tuesday I had a doctor appointment. It was so neat to hear the heartbeat. It felt so much more real. My pants are starting to get tight and some won't even button... I have started my maternity clothes shopping for later on... I found some great clearance deals at Penneys for the winter. Unfortunately we don't have a lot of choices for maternity clothes here. I have started feeling a little better, but still have sick days. I had to leave in the middle of church to throw up, which was lovely. But I did feel better afterward.

I have started looking around at things I will need for the baby. My sister is coming to visit in August. (She lives in California) and wants to have a shower for me, so I wanted to start finding things. ONce again, slim pickins here... Anyone have suggestions on some things I must have...

So Glad its Saturday!

It was great to sleep in today. I have felt miserable all week and actually don't feel so bad today! Hopefully I don't jinx it! My sister and I are still having to take care of my mom. We take turns going over to her house. It makes for some long days though. She can't put any weight on her foot until she goes back to the doctor on June 16. Then they will do more x-rays and see how she is healing.

We have 6 more days of school and they will be very busy. I will be glad and sad when the school year is over. Sad because I won't be at my same school to get to see my kids next year. As soon as school gets out I get to start packing up all of my stuff. Fortunately they come and move it all for me. I actually think a reading position will be better for me being pregnant than teaching Kindergarten. Working with small groups will be nice.

The day after school gets out I have a doctor appointment. I am very excited to hear the heartbeat.

I am going to go attempt to plant my geraniums now. I went to dig up the old plants in the pot from last year and found a colony of ants. There were thousands! I was grossed out! We sprayed and dumped all of the old dirt out. So, now I have to get all new dirt before I can plant them. I love flowers! They make everything a little brighter!

Poor Mom

My poor mom has had all kinds of things go wrong for her lately. Today is the worst. She twisted and fell at the bottom of the stairs, hit her head on the tile, scratched up her arm and hurt her foot. I talked her in to going to the ER. It turns out she broke a bone in her foot and it is shattered. So she is most likely going to need surgery. I have to take her to the orthopedic doctor on Tuesday. She has a boot on her foot and crutches. She can't put any weight on it. I just feel bad for her... Say a prayer for her and her surgery. She is scared of having surgery...

Special Christmas Present

Justin and I will be getting the best Christmas present ever this year.... a baby. I am due Dec. 27. We are very excited! I am only 8 1/2weeks along, but couldn't hold in the secret any longer. I had to do a presentation at school today... a powerpoint of my first two years of teaching, so at the end my co-teacher Allison put that we were expecting on it. Everyone was so surprised! I wanted to be able to tell them before school was out. I have been trying to eat every couple of hours, but I still feel awful most of the time... and EXHAUSTED.

Counting down...

The end of the school year is such a crazy time of year. There is so much going on... We have only 13 more days! YEA!! Then I get to pack up my room to move to another school, which won't be a ton of fun... but maybe it will help me clean out some stuff that needs pitched. Since I won't be teaching Kindergarten, I need to decide what to pack to take home and what to pack to take to the new school.

For every day for the last 26 days of school we have been counting down starting with A was Apple Day, B was Banana Day, C was Cub/Cardinals day ( you would understand this if you lived in the midwest). etc. Well tomorrow is N day, which is Nice to each other day. One of my students said, "What are we going to do for that day?" To which I responded, "We are going to be nice to one another." They kind of looked at me for a second. I said, "Wouldn't it be nice if every day was be nice to each other day!" What a different world it would be... By the way Z is zip up and go home day!!

My husband is slowly recovering from his motorcycle accident. He has started playing softball again. He plays in a men's league on Mondays and Thursdays and our church league on Tuesdays. I usually only go to the church league games, because I have people to sit and talk with.

Justin's sister and her family are coming to stay with us this weekend, so we will have a busy weekend. She has a 6 year old and 1 year old, so it will be fun to see them.

Could we rewind and start the week over again?

I found out yesterday that I have been reassigned to another school teaching reading. I am lucky that I still have a job, however I like Kindergarten and I like my school. It stinks being low in seniority. I am very upset about the whole thing, but hopefully things will work out for the best.

Memories

My dad passed away two years ago today. Some days it feels like forever ago and other days it feels like just yesterday we got the phone call. He is missed greatly by all of us. Here are a few pics of him. The first one is of him and me when I was 5 weeks old. My dad and I at high school graduation.

His eyes are closed in this picture, but I like it anyway. It was taken at a Christmas a couple years before he passed away.

This is one of the last pictures we have of him. It is my favorite. It was taken the November before he passed away for his 60th birthday party.

We all miss him greatly, but know he is in a better place. One day we will all join him. We love you dad!

Husbands keep life interesting...

I got a phone call from one of the adults that helps Justin on Sunday night at youth group that I needed to come pick him up. He had decided to ride someone's motorcycle and crashed into a van in the church parking lot. He had never driven one before, so I am not sure why he did this???? When I arrived to pick him up, he looked like he was in a lot of pain. They had called the cops to report the accident and for insurance. He burned the inside of his right leg from his knee down. He also has a lot of cuts and scratches. We ran to Walgreens to pick up some burn cream, sterile pads and gauze. A friend of mine's husband use to be a EMT, so he came over and helped wrap it.

I was going to take all of today off, but the sub I wanted couldn't come in until 12, so I just took a half day today and then also tomorrow off to help him. He is fortunately doing a lot better, but his burn is going to take a long time to heal... Keep him in your prayers...

By the way, he will never get on a motorcycle again... Not just my words, but his as well...

Rock out!

Saturday night we went out to eat to our favorite mexican restaurant, Amigos with my sister, brother in-law, niece and nephew. Afterwards we came back to our house for some wii bowling and guitar hero. While we were bowling Grace and Evan were putting on a show for us. As you can see my niece loves to sing. She made up all kinds of songs. I wish we would have videotaped it. The middle picture is my favorite of her...

30 days left

We only have 30 days left of school! I have started my countdown. This time of year is always exciting and sad. It's hard to say goodbye to the 21 kids I have had for the past 9 months. I feel like they are mine... However, I am ready for summer and a break! This time of year is very busy with field trips, testing, assemblies and preparing for our Kindergarten graduation. So with so much to do the next 30 days of school should fly by... And then I will be enjoying my tattle-free summer!

Babies everywhere!

This must be the time of year for babies. I have lost count of how many people I know that have had babies within the past month and who are about to have a baby. Congrats to all of you! I look forward to joining motherhood one of these days along with you.

Happy Birthday!

We have had a lot of birthdays lately. On Monday we celebrated my brother in-law's birthday. Friday was our dog, Wrigley's 7th birthday. Saturday was Justin's 30th birthday. Sunday is our niece, Maya's 4th birthday and this next Friday is our niece Keelie's 6th birthday. Saturday morning we woke up to toilet paper all over our backyard, thanks to some kids in the youth group. Justin wanted to go to a Japanese restaurant where they cook on a grill in front of you for his birthday. I forgot to take pictures there. My nephew, Evan was scared of the fire, but my niece loved it. Justin with his Dairy Queen peanut butter cup blizzard cake.

Justin with our niece, Grace.

Evan. He finally smiled for the camera when I told him he had to take a picture to get a piece of the ice cream cake.

Today we drove to a college an hour from here to see Justin's old tennis team. The college he played for was going to be in this town. He was looking forward to seeing his old coach. We got there and no one was around. Finally an hour later, tennis players started showing up. We went and asked them about Justin's old college and to find out if they were still playing. Turns out that another team was late showing up to the tournament yesterday, so Justin's college played both matches yesterday and we missed them. So we drove 2 hours round trip for nothing....

I am glad this week is over. It was an exhausting week back after spring break. Then I had conferences til 7 Tuesday and Thursday. 44 days left of school... I am counting down

Pictures from our trip

We finally got our camera cord, so I could upload our few pictures from our trip to Minneapolis. I don't understand why they are in the opposite order I put them in, but oh well. These are pictures of us at the aquarium at the Mall of America.

This is us at the basketball game.

Trip to Minneapolis

So, I took a couple of pictures on our trip, but I can't put them up yet. Henry, our beagle, chewed through our cord to our camera. I went to Walmart, Target and Staples, but nobody had the right cord, so I had to order one on the internet. I will have to post them once I get it

Justin and I left Sunday morning and drove through lovely rain to get to Minneapolis. Once we got there we went straight to Target Center to watch the Minnesota Timberwolves play the Oklahoma Thunder. We had pretty good seats for the game, but it wasn't too exciting of a game. We enjoyed the dunking show at half-time though. After the game we headed back south to find our hotel. There is a LOT of construction going on, but we managed to find it. We had to sit and watch some of the NCAA games of course. So far I am ahead of Justin and my brother in-law. Then we went and ate at PF Changs and had some yummy lettuce wraps. Right next to PF Changs was a Cheesecake Factory, so we got a piece to take back to the hotel.

The next day we went to the Mall of America. It was a very big mall, but somehow I imagined it to be even bigger. We did some shopping, rode a couple of rides, went to the aquarium, and played miniature golf. We ate yummy shrimp at Bubba Gumps along with my mango pina colada. YUM! We were at the mall from 10-7:30. By then our legs were sore and we were tired of walking, so we headed back to our hotel.

Tuesday we went to a couple of stores and then headed home. We stopped briefly at an outlet mall and then later for dinner. We got home by 7 Tuesday night. It was so nice to get away for a couple of days. Our dogs missed us. Thanks to my mom, brother in-law and a girl from the youth group for taking care of them.

Now we are back to our home and all of the things we need to do here. We have started painting our family room in the basement. We already painted our living room, hallway and office. Next we will be on to our bedroom/bathroom if I can ever pick out a color.

Busy, busy, busy

Not much has been going on in our world... Just busy with work. We have Kindergarten Round-up this week and then report cards will be going home along with conferences, so I have lots to do this week before spring break! Justin's mom came in town for the weekend. It was nice to see her. Justin is with the youth group at a hockey game this afternoon, so I am at home relaxing, doing laundry and reading Twilight. Since half of my school has read them, now it is my turn. One of the teachers is having a Twilight party on Saturday, so my goal is to finish it by then.

Dr. Seuss' Birthday

At school we have been having fun reading lots of Dr. Seuss books. In Kindergarten we do a rotation on Dr. Seuss' birthday. I got to be in charge of making green eggs and ham this year. Since my husband has such a flexible schedule I made him come help me along with another mom. I couldn't have done it without them. It was a lot of work! Not only did my hands stay green all day, but my room smelled like eggs and ham all day. It still smells like it today. There are 3 Kindergarten classes, so we got to make them 3 times. In the other classes they got to make ooblek and hats. During my class I was passing out eggs, when I heard somebody spill milk. I went to see who it was and got my foot caught in someone's chair and fell on my knee. It still hurts really bad and I will probably have a lovely bruise. I had to fill out a workman's comp paper in case something happens with it. The rest of the day my kids kept trying to rub it for me. They are very sweet! It was an interesting day! Unfortunately the only pictures I have are my kids and I can't put them on here. I should have taken a picture of Justin cooking... oh well..

Is it Spring break yet?

Justin and I had been hoping to go to Vegas for Spring Break. He turns 30 August 4, so it would have kind of been a birthday trip. Unfortunately due to all of my medical bills from my surgery in December, we are going to have to hold off on our trip. We still wanted to go somewhere and get away for a little while. So we decided to go to Minneapolis for a couple nights. I have never been to the Mall of America and have always wanted to go, so now is my chance. Spring break is still a month away, but I am already counting down the days. I love the kids in my class, but I will definitely be ready for a break!

Valentine's Weekend

I got my Valentine's gifts a day early. Justin gave me a pair of V-day pj pants, my favorite heart candy from the Hallmark store, and the book The Love Dare (from the Fireproof movie). Then we went out to eat to a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food on a grill in front of you. It was pretty good. Unfortunately when we came out of the restaurant it was snowing once again. I am so ready for winter to be over!!

Saturday we had a Valentine's dinner with my mom, sister and her family. My niece wanted to come home with us afterwards, so she came over to spend the night. Try sleeping in a bed with your husband, niece, golden retriever and beagle. Even with a King size bed, it was very crowded. Justin and Wrigley eventually went upstairs to sleep, which gave us more room and I could finally fall asleep.

Our dogs

Here are my two dogs. Wrigley is a golden retriever and almost 7 years old. Henry is a beagle and is 6 months old. They keep our life interesting. We finally had a nice day today (60 degrees) and got to take them out for a walk. Unfortunately there were a ton of puddles from the melted snow and our dogs were filthy, but they had a good time.