Dinner for Two

November 13, 2014

9 weeks 2 days 

Everybody that I live with is currently on a diet. Everybody except me (and Lilly)! I can't imagine being on a diet and living with a pregnant woman that is eating everything in her path. My dad is down 6 lbs since Monday. I'm probably up 6 lbs since Monday. 

In fact, I am so definitely pregnant that I woke up Sunday morning and cooked (gasp!) a big Sunday breakfast complete with eggs, bacon, and about 14 pancakes. Tuesday we ate lunch in Cary at a D&S Cafeteria. That was a dream come true. I even had room for desert. Today when I got home I was greeted with the smelly smell of a crockpot meal which almost made me barf. Mike brought me home some habachi chicken with rice. I love that man. I thought I would have enough leftover for lunch tomorrow, but who am I kidding? Everybody stared at my delicious food while they ate their diet meal. And now I'm in a food coma on the couch. 

I think one reason I'm eating so much, besides the obvious reason, is because I feel like I have to feed the nausea, like it's this big mean monster that I have to keep feeding so it doesn't completly attack me. Everytime I feel the slightest bit hungry my nausea monster takes over full force and my two choices are to eat or barf. 

One food that makes me feel better is carrots. Weird, right!? Munching on a cool crisp carrot has saved me from the monster many times. Atleast it's not a snickers bar. 

And while I'm on the complain train, I might as well vent about how uncomfortable I already am. I feel huge. My stomach feels so tight and itchy already. I feel like my dinner just sits in my chest after I eat. I'm sleepy. I'm stuffed up and sneezy (common pregnancy symptom). My pregnancy brain has already embarrassed me a few times. And my jewelry is irratating my skin!! Geez, it sounds like I'm all of the seven dwarfs rolled into one. This pregnancy is already so different than it was with Lilly. I didn't dare complain when I was pregnant with Lilly. I was just so happy to be pregnant that I didn't care about anything else. I'm still happy and feel incredibly blessed to have this new baby growing inside of me, but maybe I'm a little more human this time around. Maybe because I know what to expect this time. I know way way way more about pregnancy, the good and the bad, than I ever did with Lilly's pregnancy. The more you know, the more you grow (literally)! But I'm going to soak up every minute of this pregnancy as I can because as hard as it can be, it's the most incredible experience you can have. 

I can't wait to meet this baby. 

Here We Go Again!

November 1, 2014

7 weeks 4 days

We found out we were pregnant the Friday morning of October 10. We found out we were pregnant with Lilly on a Friday morning too. It's hard to describe the feeling those 2 pink lines give you. We giggled like kids. We laughed and joked about having a baby while living upstairs in my parents house. We hope we are settled into a new house by then, but I guess there is a possibility we won't be, depending on when we sale our house. But right now we are just focusing on the positives! 

We had our first ultrasound on October 29. The baby was upside down so it looks like they are standing on their head :) We heard a strong heartbeat of 141. Best sound ever. And just like that I had the same feelings I did with Lilly. It feels weird to think about loving another baby as much as I love Lilly, but I don't think this is going to be a problem. Our due date is June 17. Lilly's due date was April 16, but she was born on the 4th. I wonder what this baby will do? I've already asked the baby to please be born on the last week of school so I can enjoy a nice long summer with him or her. Lilly seems excited and she keeps telling us she has a baby in her tummy too, named Ella Charles! 

But holy moly.... I never knew something the size of a blueberry could make me so sick. I guess this baby is already trying to outdo their big sister. I have puked and puked and puked some more. I constantly feel like I drank 15 beers the night before. I've even had throw up parties at work!! One day after school I drove straight to my grandparents house and laid on their couch for an hour. When we were sick as kids, we called their couch the "sick couch" because we would lay on it all day while grandma took care of us. The dr gave me medicine on Wednesday. Thursday was the first day in a while that I haven't lost my food. But the medicine makes me feel funny, very drowsy but jittery. And on top of that, I puked after our trick-or-treat hay ride on Halloween. Boo. This baby better be cute!! 

November 8th, 2014

8 weeks 4 days 

I need to knock on every piece of wood I see.. But... I think I'm starting to feel better. I stopped taking the first medicine the dr gave me and now I just have zofran. I'm only taking it if I feel like I'm about to puke. Yesterday and today I have felt half way normal, just a little queezy. Maybe I will be back to normal by Thanksgiving!! 

And can we talk about this baby bump! I guess it is true that you show earlier with your 2nd. None of my pants fit. I never thought maternity clothes would feel so good. We decided to announce my pregnancy now because it's getting pretty dang obvious. And we are excited. And I'm pretty sure my nieces already told everybody they knew. I think we announced Lilly's pregnancy even sooner than this baby. We are horrible at keeping secrets. Babies are blessings... Even if they do make you sick :) 

Same Ol' Same Ol'

Well, let's see here. I haven't sat down and wrote a blog in a few months! That means life is super busy, and boy is it! Except right now. Right now Lilly and I and Mike are watching Peter Pan. One of her (and my) favorites. She keeps calling me "mom" tonight instead of "mommy". I can't decide if this is cute or heartbreaking. 

So, here's what we have been up to! School is great and exhausting. I love Deep River and everybody I work with. My students are way to sweet and they have some awesome parents. We had a pumpkin day today where we counted and sorted pumpkin seeds. The kids brought in 15 pumpkins! 15!!!! It was a fun day. But one thing I didn't expect was how different it would be to teach in a new county. In some ways I feel like a first year teacher all over again as far as staying late and getting everything done. But that's slowing down now that the first quarter is over and things are starting to feel a little normal. 

Except that we still live with my parents. Which is fine and they are super helpful. But I never knew how much I would miss my own bed. Holy moly I miss that bed. We have had lots of people look at our house, which is great, but no bites yet. I hope we have our own place sooner than later. And I know we will. Just putting my faith into Gods plan for us! But I wouldn't mind if you said an extra prayer for us tonight. I would love to have a new house for Christmas! Maybe I'll add that to Lilly's list for Santa. 

On more exciting news, Lilly is 99% potty trained!!! She is in panties full time, even during naps, but diapers at night. This is all because of her wonderful teacher at school. I was going to try and potty train her over the summer, but I was too lazy and didn't have a clue what to do, so thank goodness for her teacher that picked up my slack. Now she won't have to go to kindergarten in diapers! Score! 

So, overall things are good :) We get to see Cole, Lindsay, Addison, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents anytime we want. And that has made everything else totally worth it. Even not having our own king bed to sleep in. Excited about our future :) 

If you can read this, thank a teacher.

It's here. The night before the first day of school. I'm excited and nervous and anxious. I probably won't sleep well. I have my backup alarm set. And at 7:40 am I will be greeting my new bunch of 2nd graders with a big smile on my face and a warm hug. There are thousands of teachers out there tonight who are laying in bed right now finalizing their plans, rehearsing their day, making their lunch, laying out their clothes, and adding their students into class dojo. This blog post goes out to you. You are the reason why learning about decimals is fun. You are the reason why children can't wait to check out their next library book. And for some, you are the reason they even come to school. 

Teachers are powerful. 

Think back to your favorite teacher. I have many, but my absolute favorite is Mrs. Fran Bradely. She was my first teacher ever, and I remember many things about kindergarten, like our teddy bear picnic and singing songs at our Christmas program. She made school fun. I would come home and play school until it was time for supper. I told anybody that asked that I was going to be a teacher when I grew up.

 And then the time came to make a decision about college and a career path, and all of a sudden I felt nervous. That's a huge decision to make, and I didn't want to make the wrong one. I quietly cried myself to sleep a few times worrying about that decision and leaving home, even though I told my parents I couldn't wait to go to college. Did I really want to be a teacher? They didn't make squat and they had to give all these assessments. I wasn't so sure anymore. I prayed that God would lead me in the right direction. I prayed for a "sign", like many do when they come to a fork in the road. And then, there it was. Sitting in my mailbox one day that summer. A letter from Mrs. Bradely. 

As I read the letter, I learned about all of my fellow classmates from that kindergarten class in 1990. You see, Mrs. Bradely had taken the time to research what all of us were doing and where we were headed after graduation, and then found all of our addresses and mailed us the poem she wrote. She did this every single year, with every single class she taught. 

And that is why I graduated with a degree in Elementary Education. Not because teachers make the big bucks, or because they get summers off, but because they can make a difference in the life of a child every single day they enter that classroom. 

Teachers are powerful. 

God bless the teachers of North Carolina as they start their 2014-2015 school year. I pray that God gives you the patience, time, and energy you will need, and I pray that you can touch the life of a child each and every day. Let's do this! 

Through The Eyes of a Two Year Old

There have been many things that have surprised me after becoming a parent. I'm surprised how much I can accomplish with little to no sleep (basically Lilly's whole first year). I'm surprised at all the little things that gave me anxiety (I'm guilty of misusing google). I'm surprised at how FAST she is growing and changing.

But one thing that has surprised me the most is that I learn more from Lilly than she does from me. My daughter teaches me more about life than I teach her. Have you ever seen life through the eyes of a two year old? It's pretty spectacular. It's humbling. It's innocent. It makes big things seem small, and small things seem big. 

Just the other night, I was getting Lilly ready for bed after a long, hot summer day. We went downstairs to let the dogs out and of course Lilly wanted to walk outside too. My inner voice was saying "great, this is going to take longer than it should", but being too tired to fight the tantrum that might happen if we didn't go outside with the dogs, we went and stood on the porch. I told the dogs to hurry so we could all go to bed... And then the sweetest little two year old voice I've ever heard said "ohh look at the stars mommy, they beautiful". And sure enough, there they were. Hundreds of stars twinkling in the sky.. And I saw them through the eyes of my two year old. Magical. Beautiful. Breathtaking. 

We stood outside for a very long time that night, just looking at the stars. 

Life is busy, and life is short, so thank you Lilly Bug for showing me how important it is to appreciate the simple moments in life. Thank you for showing me how every day things can still be beautiful. But most of all, thank you for allowing me to see life through your precious little eyes. 

Every Summer Has A Story

Sheesh...This summer needs to get a speeding ticket it's been going so fast!! We have been having so much fun. Our upstairs palace in my parents house is slowly becoming home for us and everybody has adjusted pretty well (yay!)... Even the dogs have become best friends. 

I spent the beginning part of this summer keeping my nieces while they were out for summer. That consisted of many pool days (yes, I mastered putting sunscreen on 3 kids and myself! Where's my trophy?), golf cart rides through the woods, ice cream, dress up, going to the park, and watching old school Disney movies. Lilly is obsessed with her cousins and they are actually very helpful with her too. They even like changing her diaper (score!!!). The girls started school last week (year round) so now it's just the two of us. We loveeeeee our visits with Ella Charles (aka the cutest baby in the world). Lilly loves her so much that she even tries to act just like her when we visit.. Stealing her paci's and everything... 

We have also spent some much needed time at the beach with our families. Lilly and Cole had a "friendly" competition to see who could pee pee on the potty the most! I think potty training is right around the corner. Oh boy! 

Lilly has really been enjoying her weekly gymnastics class! It's way too cute. They even play the Frozen soundtrack which takes it to a whole new level. She has mastered her front roll and pencil roll! 

Operation toddler bed didn't go over as planned... So Lilly is actually in the big queen bed in the room beside us with a bed rail. Our rooms are connected with a jack and jill bathroom which is the only way she can get to our room since her door is closed off. I have woken up twice to her staring at me in the face, even though the video monitor volume was on full blast. That has freaked me out so we are working on teaching her to yell out to us if she wakes up instead of getting off the bed. 

I spent a glorious girls weekend with my best friends in Wilmington this past weekend. It was so relaxing! We decided to venture out to a roof top bar Saturday night. You know you're a mom when they play "I'm Sexy and I Know It" and all you know is the Elmo version of the song. Such a fun weekend! 

http://youtu.be/dme9clldFts

So now we are just going to enjoy our last few weeks before I start work (teaching 2nd grade at Deep River Elementary!!!) and Lilly starts daycare. Maybe I won't cry this year..!? Yeah right, I'm about to cry just thinking about it. 

Slow down summer!! :) 

Daddy To The Rescue

We are officially all moved in with my parents! And it only took a little bit of blood, sweat, and tears! :) 

My mom came down last Wednesday to stay with Lilly and me. I used her car to get the last little bit of what was left in my classroom since it's a lot bigger than my car. She kept Lilly and cleaned the house which was a HUGE help. Then she drove my car back to Sanford on Friday so I could pack the rest of our stuff in her bigger back seat. I went to work for about an hour to finish up some last min things and to say goodbye to my fabulous coworkers. That was hard and so bittersweet. I am really going to miss Grifton. 

Mike came on Friday and once again Lilly was SO happy to see him. I am so so so glad that phase 1 of moving back home is over. Being away from Mike for 4 weeks was the hardest thing ever, and he absolutely hated being away from Lilly. 

We spent all day Saturday getting the house ready. Mike put the "For Sale" sign in the yard and spent the whole day outside cutting the grass and hauling off stuff to the dump. Lilly and I stayed inside and finished cleaning/packing. By 3:00 we had packed up both cars and were ready to hit the road. But there was one problem..... 

I couldn't find my moms car keys! I started searching every single place that I thought a toddler would hid keys (trash can, toilet, couch cushions, all the bags in the car..) until I decided that they were nowhere to be found. A quick phone call home confirmed my worst fear... The keys to my moms car were in her pocketbook.. Which was with her.... In SANFORD! 

Thank goodness Lilly was staring at me, because I probably would have NOT kept my cool as good as I did. And besides... How mad can I be at the lady who is letting me move in to her house with a husband, toddler, and dog... For free! She's lucky she's so great! 

Daddy to the rescue!! My wonderful dad jumped right in his car and drove 2 hours to deliver the keys so we could go home. I have never been so happy to see the Lee County sign in all of my life... And wine! 

We got home around 7 and I unpacked everything into our new room. It feels so good to not have to be apart from Mike anymore! We celebrated Father's Day on Sunday with both of our daddy's and didn't have to drive 2 hours back to Winterville. I could get used to this :) Life is so good.