aaand I'm back!...maybe ;)

Wow, has it really been since July that I have posted?? I'm horrible at this blogging thing...I really am going to try to be better, but I always say that, so who knows! It's a Navy Reserves weekend for Sean, and I couldn't get back to sleep after he got up at about 5:00, so I'm trying to take advantage of this extra time and update the blog...yay! Well, a lot has happened since I posted last, but if you are reading this it's probably because you know me and you already know what's going on in my life (for the most part at least), so maybe that's why I'm not very motivated to write frequently. Nevertheless, a quick rundown should suffice....

end of July - went to the Dominican Republic for vacay with great friends, had lots of fun
August - had 18 week ultrasound and found out sweet baby is a BOY!:) We both really wanted a boy, so we were very excited and it was SO fun to see him move around, trying to suck his thumb, etc. His name is Landon Edward, and we can't wait to meet him in person!
end of August - started the '10-'11 school year with a sweet group of 4th graders(love them!) and some great co-workers
Labor Day Weekend - went to Chicago for a bit of a "babymoon"....had a blast sightseeing with Sean, enjoying beautiful weather, eating great pizza, going to Cubs game, etc.
Busy weekends ever since filled with Aggie football (oh how it breaks my heart almost everytime, but I still come back for more - always full of hope and anticipating a big victory to turn the season--no,the decade--around), a wedding, Sean's 10-year high school reunion, birthdays, etc.

I am now 27 weeks pregnant and about to enter the third trimester. I'm still feeling good and very blessed with a great pregnancy. Landon is moving around so much, and I absolutely love that feeling. I am counting down the days until I get to hold him in my arms instead of my belly! I just want to SEE him and cuddle with him! :)

We have decided to do something a little different for his room...we are painting the ceiling a pale blue color that matches his bedding and leaving the walls the same neutral taupe color. I just have a pretty simple taste when it comes to wall color - I like all the rooms in our house to flow together - but I felt like it would be pretty boring to do absolutely NO painting in a baby room, and we heard the idea to paint the ceiling and loved it. I think it will be really neat. We are painting today after Sean gets home, so we'll see! I'm also about to get ready and go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby to get some wooden letters and paint for his name to hang on the wall above his crib...I think it will tie everything together. We are picking up his furniture next weekend when my parents are in town...I can't wait! I think everything is finally starting to come together! :)

Well I better get going...the Ags play at 11:00, and I have to be back from my errands and ready to root them on before kickoff. I'm hoping--no, planning--for a big Aggie victory against Mizzou today. Admittedly, that just might be part of the reason why I couldn't get back to sleep this morning...I think I really am addicted!

Could it be??

This is going to be a quick post, but just wanted to stop by to say that I'm PRETTY SURE that I have felt the baby move. It started a week or so ago...I just felt it once or twice over a span of about 3 days...it was a fluttering feeling, like the baby did a somersault or something. I wasn't sure if that was it or not, so I didn't want to get my hopes up and go out and tell the world or anything. Well, I have felt that same feeling more and more frequently over the past few days (like 3-4 times per day now). It's still VERY slight (I kind of have to be paying attention to notice), but it's that same feeling, and I am about 90% sure it's not anything but the baby. I'm only about 13 weeks along right now, so it's very early to be feeling movement, but I'm not really surprised - the doctor told me I'm really sensitive/in tune to things happening in my body. He concluded this because I was feeling a certain cramping feeling really early in my pregnancy (and worrying about it of course) that is normal but most people don't notice. Anyway, this is getting a little wordy just to say I'm feeling movement, but I feel like people are going to think I'm crazy since it's so early, so I have to explain! :)

a HUGE tiny Blessing

I'm so excited to say that we are moving on to the next chapter in our lives...parenthood! Yes- Sean, Baby and I will be a family of 3 in January. I'm so happy to nearly be finished with the first trimester, and the pregnancy is going really well so far. I'll stop right there, though, because I guess I should start at the beginning of the story...

I actually found out on Mother's Day, so that was really neat. Upon seeing the word "Pregnant" pop up on the test, I immediately dropped to my knees by my bed in prayer. I was so happy and scared at the same time, but I was also thankful that I have a loving Heavenly Father who I can trust to guide me through this entire journey...from now, to the birth, to the first steps, to the first day of kindergarten, to high school graduation, to his/her wedding, and everything beyond and in-between. After that I was just excited and at peace with the whole thing. It was so fun telling Sean we are going to have a baby, and he was just as thrilled as I was.

Then came the phone call to my parents...it was so soon since I hadn't been to the doctor yet or anything, but I just couldn't resist the opportunity to tell my mom on Mother's Day...I wish it could have been in person, but it was still so much fun on the phone. At first she didn't believe me - she has been waiting a looong time for this - but when Sean chimed in and said we were not kidding, she finally believed us and started crying tears of joy...in the middle of WAL-MART...LOL:). I couldn't believe it took Sean's convincing her to believe me...that would have been a pretty mean joke on Mother's Day! I guess I can't blame her too much, though - I do enjoy a good joke, and she always says I'm a pretty convincing "storyteller". ;) Anyway, then she gave the phone to my dad (they were out in the parking lot by then, haha) and we told him. He was just beaming with joy as well...it was so fun telling them the good news!

Next we went to dinner with Sean's parents for Mother's Day. We had fun telling them too. Larry (Sean's dad) gave us high fives from across the table...it was really cute how happy he was. :) We are so blessed to have such loving and supportive parents. This baby is going to have some FUN grandparents! Not to mention the awesome Aunts and Uncles-to-be! Kami actually predicted that I was pregnant before I even told her...I have no idea how she knew...I guess it's just that sister's intuition. :) Our awesome families truly do make this experience even more exciting than it already is...I love each and every one of them so very much!

Since then, I started feeling more and more pregnancy side effects as the days went on. Luckily, summer was just around the corner, so I only had a few days at school where I really wasn't feeling great. I feel so fortunate, though, because I never even got sick...I was just queasy pretty frequently throughout the day, and that could usually be helped by laying down for a few minutes. Probably the most annoying thing was my lack of appetite. I normally LOVE eating...I mean, I'd say it's a hobby of mine...but not for the past 6 or so weeks - I pretty much just ate because I had to. It was never really good or enjoyable. Now if I were on a diet or something....PERFECT! But I'm definitely not (other than just trying to eat more nutritiously), so I'd prefer to have my full appetite. I didn't really have that many cravings - I loved watermelon for awhile, but that only lasted a few weeks - mainly it was just food AVERSIONS. All of a sudden I cannot stand most meats...I can handle beef in small quantities, but chicken, pork chops, fish, etc. = BLAH! All of a sudden those things sound (and look and smell) so gross to me. I guess Baby must already be a true Texan, preferring beef and all. Fortunately, my appetite came back and the queasiness went away almost completely as of about a week ago (just in time for my bday!)...I'm still not eating chicken, fish, etc., but hopefully that will come back to me soon as well. Overall, I feel like Baby's been pretty good to me - especially since the majority of the queasiness, etc. went away at the 11 week mark, which is BEFORE the end of the 1st trimester! Other than a weird deal where I felt like I was about to faint in the shower yesterday, everything has continued to go very smoothly this week. Woohoo! Thank you sweet Baby! :)

Now for one of our first baby pictures....this is the ultrasound pic from 8 weeks. It's not all that clear, but if you look closely you can see his/her head at the bottom and feet pointing up. I think it's cute already, but I'm a little biased. ;)



I had an appointment on Wednesday and was hoping to get another peek at the baby to see how much it's grown, but I was disappointed to hear that my next ultrasound won't be until the 18 week mark. However, I did get to hear the heartbeat which was so fun! It was beating so fast! I think most moms get emotional and maybe even tear up a bit when they hear the little heartbeat on the doppler device for the first time, but what did I do?...I laughed! The nurse probably thought I was crazy, but I couldn't help it...I have no idea why! Nevertheless, I just loved hearing that precious little heartbeat, and I wish I could have listened longer! I have another appointment on July 28th, but the one I'm REALLY looking forward to is on August 16th at that 18 week mark. That's when we'll (hopefully) get to find out whether it's a boy or girl! I can't wait! It is my first day back to work, so that definitely gives me something to look forward to at the end of the summer!

Well, this has been a really long post, but I think I have summed up most of the pregnancy so far. But in the interest of "keeping it real"...I just keep on thinking about how different our lives are going to be from here on out. Some things I will REALLY miss...like being care-free, going out and having fun with friends...having free time to myself...lots of things really, and yes, most of them are selfish...I just kind of feel like the days of my youth are ending, and I don't know if I'm completely ready for that. BUT I know that this precious little one is going to make up for all of those things and more. I think it's like this with almost any major life change. It's always a little bittersweet closing one chapter of our lives and opening another...but in this case it's mostly SWEET. One thing I know for certain...I'm already more in love with this baby than I ever thought I could be, and I know that love is only going to grow infinitely from here. And that's a cool feeling. :)

YAY for MAY! :)

I am so happy to say that we have made it through the TAKS test and are now on the home stretch to sweet sweet summer! I love May - such a fun and exciting month! This school year has FLOWN by, but I have to say that this past week was rather loooong. 2 days in a row of walking around my classroom for hundreds of miles "actively monitoring" during the TAKS test while bored out of my mind is not what I call fun...I don't remember the Writing TAKS being nearly as boring as these 2 tests were (math and reading), and that was just 2 months ago - I guess it helped that writing had 2 parts to it, and it was only 1 day. Anyway, on Thursday and Friday I had a sore throat and body aches - It was not fun, but I still went to school because unless I'm feeling completely miserable or it's something that's highly contagious (definitely don't want to get anyone else sick), it's just easier to tough it out than to do all the lesson plans and prep work for a sub and just hope that I didn't forget anything and that everything runs smoothly, and then have a ton of catch-up work to do when I get back... Not worth it! Also, I was supposed to get a new student from Ecuador who supposedly doesn't speak English, so I figured I should probably be there for that. I had already told my students about it and had practiced my "Bienvenidos a mi clase!" in my best Spanish...but alas, he never showed up! My students were so disappointed. Oh well, maybe Monday...? We shall see!

The week definitely wasn't all bad, just long. I went to a wine bar on Wednesday with a sweet new friend/co-worker to chat for awhile and get to know each other better, and that was really nice. Then yesterday after school my team and I went to a Mexican food restaurant for dinner...we always have so much fun and lots of laughs together. I have been so blessed in my career - I love my school, love my co-workers, and love my students...such a good situation, and I simply cannot thank God enough for that and the many other blessings he has put into my life.

Splendid Spring Break

Spring Break has been absolutely wonderful so far with only 1 exception...it has gone by waaaay too fast - it feels like it just began and it's already Thursday! But that's no big shocker - I could tell you that was going to happen before it even started. Well actually there are 2 exceptions to the splendid spring break because we did have a little trip to the hospital this week, but I'll tell more about that in a minute.

I haven't done anything too spectacular this week...just a bunch of little things that have been fun and relaxing. On Saturday, I helped host a baby shower for my friend Amanda. My friend Amy and I had a great time putting it all together, and everything turned out fabulous! I can't wait until Amanda's baby Cole is born! Anyway, that afternoon Sean came back from his business trip in NYC with a little blue box from Tiffany (woohoo! This boy definitely knows one way to my heart!)...I opened it up to find a cute little porcelain keepsake box with New York landmarks on it...it's like the ultimate New York souvenir--love it!

On Sunday I went to church with Natalie, and Sean had to go to the Reserves. He came back home that night and suddenly got nauseous. He could not stop throwing up that night and couldn't keep any fluids or anything down, so we decided to go to the hospital at about 3am to get him hooked up to some fluids and anti-nausea medication...poor thing was miserable! Thankfully it worked and we went home around 6:30 to get some rest. He was feeling much better the rest of the day - just a little weak. That same thing happened a few years ago when we lived in San Diego and nothing worked until we went to the hospital, so that's how we knew to do the same thing again. We still don't know whether it was food poisoning from something he ate at lunch that day or a stomach bug. Either way, I'm glad it went away fast and he had all day Monday to rest up before going back to work.

On Tuesday I met Sean, Natalie, and my father-in-law downtown for lunch. We had a great time eating and visiting, and afterwards I made Sean play one of those old games at the front of the restaurant that tells you what you were meant to be - it told him he was supposed to be a doctor...guess he has a long way to go, ha!

Yesterday I met up with my friend Hayley for happy hour...we had a great time chatting it up and drinking margaritas, which was fitting for St. Patty's Day since they are green! I just love Hayley--we always have so much fun. She is so down-to-earth and easy to talk to.

I wish I had pictures to share of all these little adventures -- one of these days I will get better about taking pictures, promise!

Actually I do have 2 pictures taken from my iphone at the rodeo a couple weeks ago...one with Hayley:
And one with Sean:
That counts for something! :)

Today my Mom is coming to visit for the next couple days...we are going to relax, shop, etc....I'm so excited! I love hanging out with my little Momsie--in addition to being my MOM (that word says it all - that bond can never be broken!) who I love so very much, she really is one of my best girlfriends! She knows me better than almost anyone, and I can just talk and laugh with her for hours! Anyway, I will end this aimless little spring break blog post with a quote I heard on Grey's Anatomy a few days ago that I just love and think is so true:

"It's the accidents that always turn out to be the most interesting parts of our day, of life -- the people we never expected to show up, the turn of events we never would've chosen for ourselves. All of a sudden you find yourself somewhere you never expected to be, and it's nice. OR, it takes some getting used to...but still, you know you'll find yourself appreciating it somewhere down the line. So, you go to sleep each night thinking about tomorrow - going over your plans, preparing your lists, and hoping whatever accidents come your way will be happy ones." :)

Telluride

Wow, has it really been since September that I have posted?? I am horrible about this, but I will get better...someday. :) Anyway, we got back Wednesday night from an absolutely wonderful trip to Telluride, CO. We met Kami and Donny (my sister and brother-in-law) and a couple of their friends (Brian and Heather who we'd only met once before, but we will definitely have to hang out again because they live in Houston and they are so much fun!) there. Donny's dad owns a beautiful home there:
It was ski-in, ski-out with several luxurious guest suites, 2 hot tubs, upstairs/downstairs kitchens and living areas...really just too much to even name. One of the neatest things was that all of the wood and stone in the house was from some sort of cool place or story. For instance, the logs were all involved in a forest fire, so that's why they have the dark markings on them.

We had a blast skiing and hanging out in Telluride. On Valentine's Day while we were eating lunch we noticed that Ed Helms (Andy from The Office, also from The Hangover) was eating at the table next to us with a couple other guys. After debating back and forth for a while (should we try to get a picture with him, should we not? The guys were obviously leaning towards NOT, but the girls were just too tempted!), Kami was brave enough to tell him we were big fans and ask if we could get a picture. I'm so glad she did because he was very friendly! He asked where we were from and we talked for a bit. We assumed he was just their for vacation so we didn't ask, but it turns out he was in town for some sort of comedy show that he was doing with some other guys. We didn't know that until later on when we saw the sign for it, and we called to try and get tickets, but it was sold out. :( mwah mwah. Oh well, it was still really neat to meet him because we are all huge fans of The Office!
Pictured L-R Heather, me, Andy (well I guess it's actually Ed but it seems much more natural to call him Andy), and Kamster!

We did a little shopping around Telluride that afternoon, and that evening we had Valentine's Day dinner at Allred's. Allred's is a really neat restaurant on the mountain (you have to ride the gondola to get there!) where Will, our next door neighbor from when we were kids in San Antonio, is a chef! It was so great to see him, and of course the food was delicious! I wish we would have gotten a picture with him because we ended up not being able to get together after that. At least we got to see him for a short time....what a small world this is! I miss those childhood days in San Antonio with the "Winter Hill Gang."

Most of the remainder of our time in Telluride was spent snow skiing. I hadn't skied since we went to Big Bear in California a couple years ago, but it's just like riding a bike - it's easy to pick right back up where you left off. We had so much fun...I really love skiing, and I've decided I want to try to go at least once every 2 years from here on out.
The whole group:
Sean and I on the "See Forever" run:


On Wednesday morning we left for our flight back to Houston. At least we only had 2 days until the weekend, so it kind of eased us back into the real world, but it was still sad to leave. I just love traveling...can't wait to start the countdown to the next trip! For now, I just have to focus on getting my students through the Writing TAKS successfully...I will say it was nice to come back to my little ducklings on Thursday! I kind of missed them even though I only missed 2 days of school. I call them my little ducklings because when they follow me in line it reminds me of ducklings. Some of the boys aren't too crazy about the idea of being called "ducklings" but I stick with it anyway. Hehe :)

Classroom, Labor Day weekend, etc....

As you can imagine, the past few weeks have been very busy with school starting and everything....hence the reason for not posting in about a month. However, I am finally coming through with a couple pictures of my classroom as promised. Keep in mind that my room is in an old portable with those oh-so-stylish brown paneled walls.... so you have to cut me a little slack there....it's not so easy to make that look cute! I have given it my best shot, though, and I will continue to add things and make improvements throughout the year.

I absolutely LOVE my students, my school, and my team. I can't imagine myself wanting to change grades or schools or ANYTHING anytime in the foreseeable future. I really do love my job -- the only downside is the looong hours I have been working, but I was expecting that, so no surprise there!

Last weekend we went to the first A&M game and then to San Saba for the rest of Labor Day weekend. The whole weekend was so much fun - we didn't want it to end! The Aggies played a great game, and we had a lot of fun sitting with Shannon, Jonathan, Evonne, and Brannon.

After the game and a brief visit to the Chicken, we drove to San Saba. The "Franklin" side of our family was in town and we had so much fun visiting with all of them. My Uncle Jerry's friend had flown in from Houston, and on Sunday morning he took us for a plane ride around San Saba. It was really cool to see our house and everything from the air.

After that we went down to the river and sat in lawn chairs in the shallow part, chatted, and relaxed. Then we cooked out and had some delicious doves and fried fish. On Monday we relaxed a little more, played some 42, and got ready to head back to the real world. It was a wonderful weekend and I can't wait to go back! :)

Last night we went to the Woodlands for a Brad Paisley concert with Shannon and Jonathan...it was really fun, I just love Brad Paisley. Now we are just watching some football, I'm grading papers, and about to go run some errands. Tonight we are going out with Shannon, Jonathan, Evonne and Brannon. Evonne and Brannon are in town from San Antonio. Should be a fun night! We're eating Mexican food and I feel like it's been awhile (at least a week! haha) since I've had Mexican food, so I'm getting really excited. :) Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! XOXO