Tuesday, February 28, 2012
New blog
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
My Daughter
From August 23, 2011
Today was our ultrasound to find out the gender of our lil baby! It was my last day of curriculum development so I went in for the morning. Much of the morning (actually all 4 summer work days) was filled with conversations about pregnancy. One teacher made a T-chart and asked everyone what they thought I was having. (It was almost split down the middle with one extra voting boy.) I made sure I peed one last time around 11:45am so then I could chug my water after and have a full belly in time for the ultrasound. Michelle said after I left, they all made her keep her phone on the table for when I texted the results.
I got home and Aaron grabbed a footlong from Subway for us to split. I really miss being able to have a turkey and black forest ham sub, but the veggie subs are pretty good too. Anyway, I grabbed my flashdrive for pics of the baby (which it turns out they don’t use anymore and just gave us a CD) and Aaron went upstairs to grab what we had bought for mom at a garage sale a few weeks earlier: “Weekend at Gramma’s” Berenstain Bears book and a little Precious Moments baby figurine. Well, he had moved everything from the nursery because he was priming and sanding and couldn’t find the figurine. We were running short on time so I told him to stop looking. As we got into the car, I joked that maybe he couldn’t find the figurine because it looked like a boy and maybe we were having a girl so it wouldn’t make sense anyway.
I had to pee so bad, mostly because I knew I couldn’t. I warned the technician that as soon as we were done I would need to go right to the bathroom. She told me at any point if I thought I couldn’t make it, to tell her and I could go use the bathroom. She gelled up my belly (and shirt and pants) and our baby appeared on the screen. Aaron gasped next to me as he marveled at the details of the ultrasound and was especially interested when she showed us the blood flow in the umbilical cord. I mentally willed the technician to get to the good part and eventually she did (I think in reality it was less than 5 minutes in).
We saw two little circles on the screen and I think we both thought they were Jacob’s little testicles (they looked a little far apart, but I don’t know what I’m looking at half the time on that screen anyway!), but she then said, “Ok, those are the baby’s hip joints…and there’s nothing there...”as she circled the mouse around where we expected to see the little penis. My eyes got wide and I said, “WHAAAAT!” Aaron let out a half laugh in disbelief as we learned we were going to have a daughter. This little baby we had often referred to as “he,” “Jacob,” “Jake,” or “JT”was in fact a little girl. Our Alexandra Grace. I wish our reactions were videotaped because I really wonder how long my eyes stayed big for. I find myself making them big now as I recall how I was feeling. The ultrasound went on for quite awhile and I (almost) forgot how much I had to pee as we saw her little feet and adorable pudgy lil stomach. She looked like her mom does after a trip to Olive Garden.
The technician explained that my placenta was close to my cervix and she would need to do an internal ultrasound which allowed me to pee ahead of time (the upside), but have a big cold thing shoved up me (the downside). The internal showed that my cervix was in fact blocking where Allie would eventually need to exit and brought in a doctor to explain that if it didn’t move by 32 weeks, we would then need to discuss a possible C-section. Also, they couldn’t get a good look at her heart, so I would need to go back around 24 weeks to have another ultrasound to get a better picture. The doctor was overly reassuring as she spoke with me, which was a little excessive since I wasn’t worried. They told me it wasn’t anything to worry about and I know God has my little girl in His hands, so no need to panic. (I can imagine they do get some panickers in the mix and brace themselves though.) I tried to focus on everything they said, but at the same time wanted to leave so I could start my phone calls and texts!
We got to the car and called Mom on speaker phone. Aaron said, “Hey Mom, we were wondering if we could stop by with pictures of your GRANDDAUGHTER!” She said, “You are KIDDING me!” (The same thing she said when we told her we were pregnant in the first place.) She was just as shocked as we were! She said we needed to call Dad at work since he forgot his cell phone, so we tried his work number and he didn’t answer. Sar was next on the list and she was soooo excited. She said she wouldn’t have been surprised either way because Aaron had had a vision about a boy, but she and I had both had dreams about it being a girl. I texted her the picture and she said, “She’s beautiful! I can take her shopping!” (Typical Sar.) I then went on to text Jenna, Michelle, Debra, my brothers, and whole list of people. When we got to Mom and Dad’s, I posted it on Facebook saying, “SO shocked right now! Can’t wait to meet our daughter Alexandra Grace!” Aaron took a picture of me holding up the ultrasound picture and posted it with a caption that said, “My two girls.” We finally got a hold of Dad and Aaron whispered to give him the phone because he knew what he was going to say. When I handed him the phone, he asked Dad if he wanted to help paint his granddaughter’s nursery. He was surprised too!
We invited Mom and Dad out to Red Lobster to celebrate and gave Allie a good taste of salad with extra French dressing, baked potato with just butter, and lots of shrimp. Before we left, Mom reluctantly showed me a blue striped hat that she embroidered “Jacob” on. She *always* waits until she’s certain people know what they are having and how to spell the name before she embroiders anything. Guess we’ll save that one!
I found myself shaking my head in disbelief often, but completely excited. Although I was convinced I would be welcoming lil Jake into the family in a few months, I held not one ounce of disappointment. I know I will have an amazing daughter who I will fall madly in love with as soon as I lay eyes on her.
Sorry Tracker, but there’s a new favorite in town.
P.S. We found out when we were in for the ultrasound that there was an earthquake that some people in Rochester felt. The earth shook just for the news of our baby girl. :)
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Stream of Consciousness
Sometimes I wonder if I were someone other than myself, would I be friends with me? I think most of the time my answer would be yes, but other days I think I would just annoy myself.
When I worked at the bakery, one of the things I loved was the older people I was surrounded by. Most of them were customers, but one older woman I worked with had all these saying that cracked me up. If your ears were ringing, she would ask you which ear it was. "Left for love, right for spite!" she would say. An itchy palm meant you were going to come into money soon and an itchy nose indicated you were going to kiss a fool. (Usually my itchy nose was due to the fact that I was often shipped back into the kitchen for random jobs and hello, there's flour everywhere.) I would often hear a customer say to her, "Oh to be young again!" and she would always answer, "...and know what you know now!" One of those things I wish I knew when I was "younger" was about finances. I just love where Aaron and I are now in terms of being proactive about our finances and having a clear plan for the future. I have always been pretty responsible with money, but I wish we had come up with this system before we got married. Live and learn!
I'm still pretty addicted to reality TV. Survivor, Amazing Race, Celebrity Apprentice, Biggest Loser...all so amusing.
I reaaaallllyyy want another puppy, but because of the aforementioned fiscal responsibility, it's a no for now. Not in the budget.
I have reached my goal weight and I have finally switched my mentality of exercising. In the past, if I was happy with my weight, I didn't exercise. Now I am happy with my weight, but I work out to feel healthy and strong. Progress I'm proud of. :o)
I can't even express how thrilled I am that grad school is over. I am absolutely loving having extra time. I feel like I'm on top of things at school, I have time to exercise, I'm spending quiet time journaling and reading my Bible much more often, my house is cleaner, and I have time to volunteer and be social!
Girls' nights are my favorites. We are being very intentional about making time for each other. As soon as one girls' night is over, we start emailing each other possible dates for the next one. It usually takes a few weeks to synchronize all our schedules and find something that works, but we've been on top of it and getting together at least once a month. I looooove it! It's such a wonderful time of laughter and stories and sharing about what's going on in our lives. I feel more connected to these girls each time we get together.
6 years. That's how long I've been teaching and I still wholeheartedly love it. I LOVE my job. It's tons of work and some days is completely exhausted, but it's my passion. I feel so blessed to have found something I love doing. It satisfies my love for working with children. It feeds into my need to organize things. It allows me to opportunity to be a life-long learner right alongside my students. It gives me an avenue to be creative and try new things. Love, love, love it.
I think my Tracker is the cutest, sweetest, most lovable pup...even though he's recently destroyed two books and a Pier One pillow.
I would really love to start painting again.
April is getting married in 2 months and I still haven't processed it yet. Soooo excited for her and can't wait to jump on a plane to go to Tennessee for the wedding, but it really hasn't hit me! My how things can change from one summer to the next! ;o)
Ben and Jerry's Half Baked ice cream is out-of-this-world amazing. So are the calories per serving.
I'm learning more and more about God's grace and how He fully expects us to mirror His example. It's not easy.
Our neighborhood garage sale is coming up in about a month and I'm so excited. We aren't having one this year so we get to just walk around enjoying everyone else's and hopefully find some good deals. Last year we made a good amount of money and had fun, but it was soooo much work. Plus I have a tendency to go overboard so everything was super organized, plus we sold drinks and goodies too. I wanted a comfy place to sit, so the swing from the deck was moved into the garage, etc. Too much work to do two years in a row. Plus we really got rid of so much of our stuff last year we really wouldn't have much to sell this year.
That's all for now. Debra and Amy, are you two happy now? :o)
Friday, December 31, 2010
Reflecting on 2010
What a full year it has been. Looking through these pictures from the past year reminds me of how blessed I am. I have experienced many things this year and have spent so much time with family and friends. I have apparently gone to many festivals (as my pictures prove) and I have experienced many friends become parents for the first time. I am still watching others who are anxiously anticipating the arrival of their new little ones. We also witnessed 4 more couples become husband and wife. What an amazing year! It's hard to believe so much has happened in just 12 months.
I am always excited for the new beginning and the fresh start offered by a new year. Time to get out a brand new journal and start again with the memories, prayer requests, and hopes for a new year. Praying for a year of growth and restoration for some of my closest friends who have had a difficult year. But before moving on, I like to look back and see what happened since my fresh start last January...
We welcomed in 2010 with a party at Pete and Jenna's. Their big Italian family embraced "our" Spanish tradition of eating grapes at midnight. 12 grapes starting at 11:59 and 48 seconds. One grape each second to symbolize good luck for the upcoming 12 months.
"Have you heard the news??"We puppy-sat Mulligan while his new little sister was making her big arrival at the hospital.
Mully meeting Grace Makenah for the first time.FEBRUARY
Our addiction for the stressful game of Bananagrams intensified.MARCH
We celebrated Becca and the soon-to-arrive Norahat a baby shower put on by the amazing Rachel.
My parents shocked us by getting a golden retriever puppy named Cooper.
I went to Michelle's baby shower (my long lost partner in crime who I missed terribly at school).APRIL
After 3 months of bedrest, Michelle gave birth to ahealthy, adorable boy named William Alexander.
Me and my lil buddy :o)
Will was born on Aaron's birthday!
Aaron and Dad prepped the deck for our new pool after the old one left us in December.
Tracker's 1st birthdayMAY
Our greeter for our first big neighborhood garage sale.
Alycia and her man at her 30th birthday party.
The two Bethanys - my lil sister came for a visit. :o)
After what felt like years and years and years, I finished my Masters and graduated!!!
My supportive husband throughout this journey.
Lilac Festival with the girls!
Mother's Day
Visiting Michelle and Will
Holding my finger :o)
Our new pool!!!JUNE
My graduation party
Lots of swimming...
Jen and Wendy are back from China!!
Fundraiser for Golisano's Children's Hospital in honor of Cameron's miraculous story.
The ones who planned it all. :o)
The family at the movies...truly a momentous occasion.(First time since Home Alone.)
Father's Day
Campfires at Pete and Jenna's - a summer must.JULY
Cookout with Uncle Rod and the StrublesAaron was the best man at Greg and Jenn's wedding.
3rd anniversary trip to Pittsburgh
Spain WINS the World Cup!
Adventures while PJ and April were in town
Corn Hill Fest with Brooke!
Triple date night with new friends Jon and CassieAUGUST
Kelly and Wale came to town!
Matt's famous BBQ
Park Ave Fest with Brian, Brittany, Sarah, and MindyFinally painted our master bathroom!
Jenna's new classroom...yikes!The who-can-write-a-better-children's-song competition
Dinner with the Greer family :o)
My love started his internship during his last year of undergrad!SEPTEMBER
Gram's birthday party
Naples Grape Fest with Wen and Holly
OCTOBER
Aaron and Michele's wedding
Jess and Anthony's wedding
Nate and Michelle's wedding
Christy's baby shower
Corn Maize!
Hilton Apple Fest
Halloween with the Keller's and Shipman's
NOVEMBER
Aaron and I did RLife together for the first time...we were
thrilled to be in Uncle Al and Aunt Cindy's group!
Moving day for Sar and Ben!
Boots' birthday party
Thanksgiving
DECEMBER
Picking out our Christmas treePatrick and Andrea's Christmas party
Our home2nd annual cookie frosting party
Christmas service at The Father's HouseChristmas Eve Eve
Christmas Day
