Mike and Sarah

I wasn't sure I wanted to write a post about Will's arrival partly because I believe this is a very intimate event meant for an exclusive crowd (in our case this would include just Mike and I) and partly because I wasn't sure I'd really want to relive the event. Looking back however, I've realized two things: a) when it's all said and done, the miracle of birth is not as scary as I had built it up to be in my mind and b) should the stars align and we expand our family someday my next experience will be drastically different than this one so documenting it wouldn't be such a bad idea. So without further ado, allow me to explain the day(s) in which we welcomed our little bundle of joy. If you happened to read  this post and this post , then you'll know I went past my due date with Will; 12 days to be exact and I'm 100%, absolutely, positively convinced he would've stayed in there waaaay  longer had we not intervened. On Friday June 13th I had my ...

Today is our 5 year anniversary. 5 years married and 11 years together. Mike's parents came to visit at the beginning of the week and set us free one night to celebrate. We enjoyed a few beers together at El Bait Shop and then had dinner at Court Ave. where I enjoyed my first Blue Cheese Steak salad with a Black Hawk Stout in almost a year!!! We are so thankful Mike's parents were brave enough to stay home with our 2-ring circus (admittedly we worry most about Jackson because he's a handful to say the least :) so we could enjoy some time just the two of us. It was perfect. There's a lot I could say about Mike, about us, and about our adventures together but I don't think, even given a thousand words, I'd be able to capture the last 5 or 11 years adequately. A lot has changed but somehow it seems Mike and I haven't really changed at all, only evolved and adapted as we've grown. We've figured out a lot over the last 5 years and we've discovered...

Surviving the 3rd Trimester Oh boy. The 3rd trimester. You know the saying about March... how it comes in like a lion and out like a lamb? Well it's the opposite with the 3rd trimester... it comes in like a lamb... very sweet and innocent and hopeful and optimistic... and it goes out like a lion... roaring fiercely. I kid, I kid. Kind of. In an effort to make this informative but not scary I shall break this down into pros, cons, and lessons learned which I hope is helpful. Sometimes it's nice to know you're not alone with the thoughts and feelings swarming around your head and every inch of your body. Pros: - You really  feel the baby move. At this point, there's no doubt in your mind that there is a tiny human hanging out inside you. You feel feet, elbows, fingers, entire body rolls, etc. and you can see said extremities as they protrude out the sides of your ever growing belly. Sounds weird but it's actually pretty cool. You can also counter the m...

Will is officially 4 weeks old today and boy has he had a busy 4 weeks of life so far! I'm learning I can't really take time off from blogging because Will changes so much in one week let alone a month or more. As if an explanation of how quickly children grow is really needed, allow me to demonstrate how Will is growing and changing through pictures (with a little update on what we've been up to mixed in too)... Here's Will at 9 days old on his first road trip. We went to Minnesota to celebrate Uncle Jake's high school graduation (!). Just before the 4th of July we experienced unusually cool weather which meant our summer baby had to be dressed more like a fall baby. Luckily, he looks just as dashing in fall clothing as he does in summer clothing. Will's first 4th of July, 2 weeks and 2 days old. At 3 weeks old, Will took his 2nd road trip back up to Minnesota to celebrate his Grandma's retirement...

Scratch that, Teacher Talk Tuesday Wednesday I'm excited about this sporadic staple (is that an oxymoron?) here on the blog because I get to approach this from two different perspectives now... as a teacher and as a mom! A lot of parallels can be drawn between teaching and parenting and I am excited to explore what I know about teaching from the parenting perspective (and interested to see how being a parent effects my teacher brain for that matter). To start, I'd like to revisit a post I wrote  where I discuss the importance of reading to your kids. This is something I've thought a lot about over the last many months and I have to say, it's easier said than done. I'm slowly realizing that building a solid foundation for Will is going to take so much more than just filling his room with books and reading them to him. No, no... this is going to require much, much more. Luckily, I found just the resource yesterday to help me navigate this new role as a parent w...

Surviving the 2nd Trimester I wish I would've written this post while I was actually in my 2nd trimester but alas... I'm backfilling. I say this because now that I've experienced the third  trimester, I have a different perspective of the 2nd trimester and that perspective is... 2nd Trimester = Best Trimester Allow me to share a few highlights of weeks 14-27 (and actually for me the range was really more like weeks 14-34)... 1. Goodbye nausea, hello food! My nausea subsided and I could finally eat normally again, thank goodness. Although, I will say, I had a hard time eating a lot at one time because it made me feel really full on top of  being pregnant which is kind of uncomfortable.  2. Everyone oogles at your super cute pregnant belly and it really is super cute during this time. Just big enough to show but not big enough to steal the show. I will admit, getting dressed was tricky during this time though. The belly wasn't "hard" enou...

It's true... the wait is finally over... Baby P has officially joined the world. William Michael Pentek  finally  joined the world on June 18th! Truth be told, I was  completely shocked  it was a boy. I secretly was convinced it was a girl the entire time I was pregnant, honest. I didn't say anything ever because I truly did not care either way, it was just a feeling I had. And I was wrong! Mike was actually the one to announce the sex once he came out and I was in shock!! Here's Will the day after he was born. Here's Will as we packed up to leave the hospital. This picture cracks me up because the look on his face looks so  skeptical as if he's thinking, "are they really going to send me home with these  two?!" haha, can't say I blame him. :) Will is now 12 days old and we've been home for a week and 2 days. He (and we) even survived his first road trip to Minnesota this past weekend. We are adjusting very well...

One positive to come from going past our due date was the delivery of our nursery rocking chair/recliner. We ordered it way back in March but it took 12 weeks to come in which meant it was scheduled to arrive the week after baby's due date. Lucky for us the chair came right on time (to the date, impressive huh!) so we picked it up, hauled it home, and have been admiring it ever since. This also made me realize we've added some other things to the nursery since the last time I posted too so without further ado, here's the nursery in it's "baby ready state". I hung the sign from my MN shower from the valance on the window. It says Little Pentek and looks super cute. I plan to hang curtains there eventually but want to wait until we know whether baby is a sister or a mister. The changing table area is all set to go with our pad and wipe dispenser. We also have a sound machine and monitor ready for use too. I ...

First off... still pregnant. This isn't one of those fake out posts where I start with my normal blog ramblings and then surprise! hit you with pictures of our sweet little one at the end. Just wanted to get that out there. Second, I've discovered yet another super fun thing about going forever  past your due date... (apparently, the longer I'm in this state, the more dramatic I get about the sheer length of this journey). The websites who have been there for me since the beginning... the ones who so sweetly emailed me weekly to tell me how things are changing for me and for baby... turned on me last week... Of course I opened each of these emails only to sputter aloud, "oh really, that's how it's going to be huh?! You're now going to mock  me and highlight the fact that I no longer fit the description of an "average pregnancy". Ugghhhh ." I suppose the thought of sending a mass email update to those of us still p...

Here are a few more things I've learned since this exciting post ... 1. Some babies really, really do not come on time. Also, fun fact, I was 3 weeks late. My mom is convinced they had the due date wrong and if I'm being honest, Mike and I both have actually thought June 6th was early the whole time I've been pregnant (but what do we know, right?). Anyways, if blogs existed back then and my mom had one, she could've written similar posts. 2. Going into the doctor frequently is both encouraging and discouraging all in one. It's encouraging because you get to hear the baby's heartbeat for an extended period of time. They strap two fetal monitors to your belly and you get to just listen to the hum of baby for a while. It's discouraging because they can't really tell you anything except, the baby looks good and mama looks good (at least in our case). These usually last 20 minutes or so but yesterday I was strapped to the machine for twice that time becau...

When all was said and done, Baby P actually received 4 baby showers! 2 away with family and friends and 2 local with friends and co workers. The first shower was put together by my closest girlfriends up in Minnesota. It was a quaint brunch-eon at a great restaurant in my hometown. Everyone was gathered around a large round table and we had a great time catching up with one another and talking all things baby. I was beaming and still am thinking back on it. Words can't express how much a love these people :). Our second shower was in Illinois with Mike's side of the family and was put together by Mike's sister, Aunt Missy and mom. It was a Wizard of Oz theme which I went bonkers over! The Wizard of Oz is my favorite movie so when I received the invitation and discovered this would be the theme of the shower I couldn't believe it, it was so perfect! This table was in the entryway. The dress and little shoes were made by my grandma ...

Registering Yes... after a nice 5 year hiatus, Mike and I found ourselves once again faced with the task of registering for yet another huge life changing event. If you recall, registering for our wedding started off a bit rocky but luckily, we pulled ourselves together and everything turned out just fine (and we're still thoroughly enjoying everything we received from our wedding almost 5 years later). Now, in my opinion, registering for a baby is substantially easier than registering for your wedding. There's less to think about and  there are stores dedicated to all things baby therefore  it is possible to get literally everything you need from one place... this is exactly the way I operate, one stop shop baby . Here's how we navigated the world of baby registering... When to Register: We officially registered at the end of March but we definitely could have done it sooner. It's not like your needs change so it can really be done anytime before baby s...

Here are a few things I've learned in the past 7 days... 1. Babies don't always come on time. 2. You're not considered "overdue" until you're two weeks past your due date. 3. Due dates are called Estimated Dates of Arrival once it's determined the baby will not arrive on the due date. I'm convinced if you actually have your baby on your due date it's still called the due date and everyone involved in baby's arrival pats themselves on the back for being masters of the universe... the universe of being correct and "on time". 4. Apparently I am a planner and "planner" is a kind and acceptable way to call someone a control freak. 5. As much as it pains me to admit, the secret thoughts in my head over the last week prove #4 to be true. (These would be the thoughts I'd rather not share with anyone such as, "If I put my mind to something, it always works out. So if I do a , b , and c the baby will come out. But i...

The weekend of May 17th and 18th was a big one for us. Both families made the trip to Des Moines to celebrate Mike earning his Master's degree. We had a great time all together and it was great to take time to celebrate Mike a midst the craziness of everything else going on this spring. Mike officially completes his degree in August but this was the graduation ceremony to celebrate his accomplishment. Way to go Mike, we're all so proud of you! This officially makes both of us "Master Educators"... do you think this status will help us be Master Parents? ha!!!

Alright, so it's time to discuss the inevitable. At some point around your 2nd trimester, whether you want to or not, you will need to buy maternity clothes. I've come to realize some women get very excited to buy new clothes but I would not say I fell into the "excited" category but definitely came to realize around week 25 that new clothes were necessary. So here's how I navigated the maternity clothes scene. For the record, I am no  fashion-ista. I am very basic and enjoy layering which are the two ideas I kept in mind when I started shopping for maternity clothes. This ended up working very well because once I purchased a few essential tees I could actually just wear the sweaters, button downs, and cardigans I already had in my closet. Score! This honestly made me feel the most comfortable throughout my pregnancy. I bought one shirt with the "traditional" maternity shape but personally did not feel comfortable in it. It was too bulky for my liking ...

Today marks the official last day of school for Mike and I. It was a great year. Mike was able to spend 2/3 of his day teaching advanced 8th graders which he was really happy about. The advanced 8th grade curriculum is the same as the 9th grade curriculum which Mike really likes teaching (this is what he taught during student teaching but hasn't been back to it until last year). Mike and his team also raised the proficiency scores for their 8th graders by 10% this year which is definitely something to celebrate. As for me, saying this year was great is actually quite an understatement. If you recall from previous posts  my school is in the midst of large scale changes, the largest change of note is raising our proficiency scores quite drastically. Last year, we did not experience the success we anticipated or needed but this year... this year,  we did. We raised our whole school score by 15%, our 4th graders improved by 18% and our 5th graders improved by 20%! It was such a ...

Jackson officially turned 1 year old on May 7th! We didn't really do anything out of the ordinary but we did make sure he knew just how much we loved him with lots of scratches and play time. I also made him sit through a brief photo shoot before I left for work to make sure we documented him on his special day. To tell you the truth, this first birthday marks a huge milestone in our eyes because lab puppies are a lot of work! We're thankful we made it to this date and that all three of us are still in one piece (4 of us really including the nugget which has actually been subjected to a lot of attention from Jackson in the form of bumps, nudges, sniffing, and licking). We're quite proud of Jackson and ourselves because he really has come a long way. He's calmer and his attention span is much better than it was when he was a young puppy. This means he not only listens better but he also knows when we're trying to tell him something and will a...

Around the end of October/beginning of November Mike and I started talking seriously about taking one last trip together before the baby arrived. Mike actually brought it up but I had been thinking about it off and on too. We started by talking about a weekend away but then ultimately came to the conclusion that this trip should be more extravagant. We knew the trip would have to happen sometime during the school year leaving us a limited time we'd actually be able to be away for longer than a weekend. Winter break and spring break were really our only options with winter break sounding more appealing because I'd be 18ish weeks along which meant I'd be out of the 1st trimester blahs but still far away from the 3rd trimester blahs and hugeness. When it came time to nail down location, I definitely wanted to go somewhere warm but tropical wasn't necessary (mostly because then I'd want a tropical poolside cocktail and I didn't need anymore reminders of the fact tha...

There are so many things happening right now... It's almost the end of the school year. 2 1/2 days with kids to go (4 days total, the last 1 1/2 days are just teacher days). It's almost the end of another soccer season. Which hasn't been wildly successful so Mike isn't too sad about the season coming to an end. It's almost  summer. Even though the weather for the past week here in Iowa has been more like July heat. It's almost  time for my little brother to graduate from high school. Tear! It's almost  time to have this baby. Which also means it's  almost  too late to post all the things I'd like to post before the baby arrives. Must get on this. Now. I walked out of school today with a fellow teacher and she said, "when are you due again?" and I said, "next Friday." Holy sh*t, this is really happening.