Catching Up…

I sure had a lot of catching up to do today on the blog.  I apologize for the lack of posting – I’m sure you’ve been holding your breath.  Ha ha!  Things have been super busy with work, getting ready for baby, working at my church, and trying to make it to as many events as I can before life changes.  I’ve been a little stressed out trying to balance it all, but I’m also trying to keep a positive outlook.  For one thing, there is so much I don’t know about being a mom and raising a child, but instead of allowing myself to get carried away with my worries, I’m trying to remember how blessed we are that God chose us to be Haidyn’s parents and that He’ll give us everything we need to be the best parents we can be.  I also know that there are so many people out there for us to lean on, and I need to get better about asking for advice and help when I need it. 

I’ve also been really overwhelmed at work trying to manage everything that needs to be done for my students plus all the extra things that come along with being a teacher plus expectations I put on myself to be the best teacher.  I’ve had a few burst-into-tears moments thinking about how to juggle it all, especially when I think about adding another person to the mix, but I’m learning to let go and only take on the things that are important to me.  Like today…I totally said “No” to a committee that I had originally signed up for!!  Go me!  When the chair person asked in an email if we were all still interested, I took the opportunity to bow out gracefully.  This is a very difficult concept for me, but I feel like that door was opened so I could walk away and make a better choice for my family.  And Jonathan gave me a fist-pump to show his support of my new ways!  I love him for that.

The other part of life that has been hectic is working with the children’s ministry at my church.  I absolutely love little kids and have always had a desire to work in children’s ministry, so this has been a really neat opportunity for me.  Since April I have been in charge of our nursery – kids from 6 months to 4 years.  We are a small church, so our nursery is one room with all the kiddos in it.  Sounds fun and exciting, right?!?  I schedule the volunteers for nursery, write the lesson plans, and get all the materials together.  While I love serving others this way, it can become a little much at times.  Luckily there are wonderful people who have offered to help while I’m out on maternity leave, and I’m hoping that a few others might want to help out in new ways to share the load.  I just can’t imagine turning my back on this opportunity when it’s always been on my heart to serve children.  I keep thinking about the orphanage I visited in Africa and how I wanted to do so much more for those kids than I was able to while I was there…so this is like my little Africa close to home.  There are kids here in St. Louis who need to be loved on, and I feel grateful for the chance to be someone to love on them.

I’m not writing all this to get pity or for anyone to feel sorry for me, because I know that I am blessed in so many ways and my life is so full at this point.  I don’t want any of it to change!  I just know that there must be lots of people out there who are working on balancing life, and maybe you have some great words of wisdom for me…especially about balancing a baby and family when there are other demands on your time.  I know we are all on this journey together, so if I have a big “Ah-ha” moment about how to make it all work, I’ll be sure to let you all know. :)  Have a great week, everyone!

3-D/4-D Ultrasound

This weekend my sister and dad flew up to come to a 3-D/4-D ultrasound with Jonathan and I.  We were thrilled that they would make the trip to be there with us, and it was fun to share in this experience with them.  I realize that I’m totally biased, but I think Haidyn is pretty darn cute.

Daddy and Aunt Sarah waiting for the ultrasound

Grandpa taught mommy how to play games on his Iphone.  He’s so tech savvy these days! 

The proud dad and grandpa were so excited!  I love the look on my dad’s face.  Just ignore the big ‘ole belly…

It looks like we were disturbing her sleep here.  Hopefully she enjoys sleeping this much when she arrives!  Her parents sure do like to sleep in…

Strike a pose!

See what I mean?  That’s a cute one right there…

This picture is cool and crazy at the same time.  It’s amazing that you can see so much, but so weird!  I think she needs to put on a few pounds – guess it’s more ice cream for me!  Woo-hoo!

     Sweet profile

This is her pouty face.  I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of that face, if she’s anything like her mommy! 

Okay, I totally thought I wasn’t going to be THAT parent who is obsessed with their own kid, but I am!  I can’t help it.  I just think she’s the most beautiful little thing I’ve ever seen.  I could stare at these pictures all day.  Is this how everyone feels?  I sure hope so, or else everyone is going to get really tired of reading this blog…

We also got some great news while we were there…she is head down!  At our 20 week ultrasound she was completely breech, so I’ve been researching ways to get her to turn around.  Hopefully I won’t have to try any of those and she’ll stay this way for a few more weeks.  

Baby Jax

While I was in Oklahoma, I got to make the trip to Arkansas to meet Britney’s baby.  Meet Jaxson Landry Fox!  Here he is at 10 days old…

Sweet baby boy

 Getting some love from his mom.  She’s a natural and loves every moment of this experience!  She makes me excited to become a mommy… 

This is Haidyn’s future husband, by the way.  We’ve already decided. :)

Haidyn’s Baby Shower

My wonderful friends in Oklahoma threw me a baby shower in September.  It was the best afternoon!  Haidyn received some wonderful things, and I had a great time catching up with everyone.  Thank you everyone who made this day so special for me!  I truly felt so loved, and I know Haidyn will feel the same way as soon as she meets all of you!!

All the guests signed this book for Haidyn…it’s one of my favorites!  I can’t even read it without tearing up.  She’s going to hear this story all the time!

Melissa made this beautiful lollipop bouquet.  I love seeing Haidyn’s name on things!  It makes me happy.

  The fun ‘H’ for all of Haidyn’s bows…and there are many…

Sweet decorations

The diaper cake…so cute!

Have you ever seen such a cute cake?!?  And it was delicious! 

What a beautiful table!  And the food tasted so good.

My sister and good friend, Elizabeth.  She’s kinda like my other big sister. 

The cutest guest at the party,  Miss Emmie.  Her mom, Kylie, is kinda like my third big sister.  I was so glad they were there!

Haidyn’s first jean jacket!  Woo hoo!

This will come in VERY handy on college football Saturdays.  I guess you’ll be able to tell who’s been holding her based on which side has more spit up on it. :)

There’s that sweet name again…I just can’t get enough!  

My wonderful hostesses…Megan, Mary, Sara, Melissa, Jill and Hollye.

Thanks again for such a wonderful shower!  To all the hostesses…you totally outdid yourselves, and I loved every minute of it!  And to all the guests…thank you so much for taking the time to help us get ready for Miss Haidyn!  We are so blessed.

Haidyn Elizabeth Teal

We finally decided on a name!  Actually, we were pretty much decided on Haidyn when we went in for our 20 week ultrasound, but Jonathan (the name Nazi, as I like to call him) wanted to be totally sure.  He told me he needed the weekend to look through the baby name book.  Seriously?!?  Good luck with that!  What do you think I’ve been doing for the past 5 months?  A few days later he told me that he was okay with it.  Thank goodness.  Because every other girl’s name I’ve mentioned was shot down immediately.  For example, there was Olivia…to which he said, “Ewww!  Sounds like Olive Oil!” before doing his Popeye impression.  Ruined that one.  Then there was Claire…to which I heard, “In high school there was this girl with really big boobs and we used to call her ‘I-double-D-Claire.’”  Again, that was out.  So you see what I had to work with.  To make matters more complicated, as a teacher I had a couple of rules about names: 1.  Never pick a name that could be a boy OR a girl and 2.  Don’t give your child a name that’s spelled in a funky way.  Teachers hate both of those things. 

As you can tell, I broke both of my rules.  Once we were set on “Hayden,” I wanted it to look more feminine…hence “Haidyn.”  The middle name was also a bit of a struggle.  We knew we wanted to do something to honor my mom, and we finally settled on Elizabeth.  It’s my sister’s middle name and my mom’s favorite.  (Side note:  my mom used to always tell me that her two favorite girls’ names were Sarah and Elizabeth.  Guess which daughter got those names?  Yep, my sister.  Then she’d say, as if to make me feel better, only not really, “So I just let your dad pick your name.”  Can you feel the love?!?)  Anyway, back on track…that’s where Elizabeth came from.  And I’m sure you can figure out Teal for yourself…

Sprinkle

We held a “Sprinkle” baby shower for Megan, April and Mary in August in Oklahoma City.  Our three amazing friends were all expecting their 2nd babies, and we wanted to do something special for the new arrivals!  Since the shower, April and Mary have both delivered healthy, happy bundles of joy.  We are waiting on pins and needles for news about Megan’s 2nd little boy…he should be arriving any day now!  The sprinkle was so much fun, and I was so happy I made it back to be there.

All the girls…friends since high school!  Jill, Hollye, Mary, April, Melinda, Megan, me and Sara

Mary and April opening gifts for Ryan and Jack.  I haven’t been able to meet them yet, but both babies are ADORABLE in pictures!

Megan opening gifts for Karsten…I just can’t wait for him to get here!

All the pregnant chicks…Mary, April, Megan, Jill and myself…in order of due date :)

I had a wonderful time hanging out in OKC for the weekend.  Hollye came up to spend the night with me at Jill’s.  We worked on shower stuff and even found time to go to a baby wearing class (where you learn about slings and carriers) and to have a private prenatal yoga class taught by Miss Jillian herself.  On Sunday my sister came down, so we all went to brunch and then to visit my mom’s best friend, Michelle.  She is making our baby bedding, so we took over the fabric and had a great time catching up with her.  I feel so blessed to have such amazing women in my life!  And it’s extra fun to share in all this happiness with them.  Now I’m looking forward to our kids growing up together…what fun!

4 years ago…

I married my best friend in the whole world!  I felt like the luckiest girl in the world that day, and today I feel even more blessed. 

I love this picture because we were dancing to “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias.  Yes, that’s right.  My sweet husband has a man crush on Enrique, and I had to beg the DJ to play this song for him.  I mean, I was wearing a big white dress, you’d think I could get a stupid song played!  After a good hour of convincing on my part, the DJ finally caved in and and we got my favorite dance of the night.

Jonathan is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I told him that I feel like the vows we took hold so much more meaning to me today.  We definitely understand what “for better or worse” means more today than we ever could have a few years ago.  Facing the “worse” parts - like struggling to get pregnant for 2 years, a miscarriage, losing the most fabulous mom and mother-in-law, and losing two wonderful grandparents - have made us so much stronger today.  And God is so faithful to give us the “better” parts to go along with the hard ones - like a great relationship, a loving family that is always there for us, wonderful friends, jobs we both enjoy, and a baby on the way!  We couldn’t be happier.  I would do it ALL (yes, even the rough stuff) over again if I could choose. 

Okay I’m finished being sappy.  And I realize I’m really behind on posts…life has been super busy and at times overwhelming lately.  But I’m learning to view my life as “FULL” rather than “BUSY” (thanks to a good friend) and to be thankful for all the wonderful things going on in our lives.  So when it stops being so “FULL” for a few moments, hopefully I’ll get caught up…  

Table Rock Lake

The weekend of August 15th, we headed to Table Rock Lake with Jonathan’s family.  We got to celebrate his sister Sarah’s birthday and just relax with everyone for a few days.  It was a much needed break, and we had a wonderful time.  I meant to take a lot more pictures, but what can you do?  I did think to bring my camera along when we took Samuel fishing…

Walking down the dock with Papa

Samuel and Papa waiting on a fish

Ohhh, I hope I caught a good one! 

The fish Uncle Jonathan caught (with Samuel’s help, of course!)

         Getting some help from Uncle J and a random dog

After we fished, we took Samuel to the other pool with the slide.  Jonathan tried to get him to go on it, but Samuel was content to watch Uncle J from the bottom…

  And that’s how it’s done!

 Sweet Joseph…I had to include this picture of our youngest nephew because he is just so darn cute!

It’s a GIRL!

Jonathan and I are thrilled to announce that we are having a baby girl!  Jonathan knew all along…he said it was a girl the moment we found out we were pregnant.  We are extra excited to add this new little girl to our family, especially after losing two important women in our lives this year – my mom and Jonathan’s grandmother. 

We were thrilled that Jonathan’s mom and sister could join us for the appointment.  It made the day even more special.  When we got into the room for our ultrasound, I asked the tech if she was going to tell us the gender at the beginning or end.  She said, “I don’t know.  It depends on when I find out!”  I told her that my sister wanted to be on speaker phone when she told us, so she said, “Well, let’s just go for it!”  We got my sister on the phone, and Jonathan’s sister started filming it on her iphone.  (We weren’t supposed to do either, but the tech said we were so much fun that she wouldn’t tell!)  She stopped when she could tell what it was and asked us what we thought.  Everyone yelled, “A girl!” except for me.  I just sat there in shock.  The tech asked why everyone was crying except me, which made me like a bad parent.  But in my defense, I’m really weird about crying…I don’t cry when I think I will and totally lose it when I don’t expect it.  Weird, huh?  I didn’t even cry at my wedding!  But I had been thinking and secretly hoping that we would have a girl...I had an amazing relationship with my mom, and I really hoped I’d be able to have that with my own daughter one day.  After a good 5 or 10 minutes, I did say, “Well, I guess she’s going to need a pair of Uggs!”  I have a tendency to focus on the important things, as you can tell.

After we found out, the tech completed the rest of the ultrasound and said everything looked good.  Our doctor confirmed that afterwards, so we are ecstatic.  We got to see the spine, brain, four chambers of the heart, all her fingers and toes, and even her bones.  It was so amazing to see how much our little girl has grown in the last couple of months!  We can’t wait for her to get here.

So now our house has officially become the holding place for all things pink.  Clothes, skirts, shoes, bows…you name it, we’ve got it and it’s all PINK!  I’m loving it.  And just in case you were worried about those Uggs…my sister has already taken care of them. :)

Waiting with Aunt Sarah before the ultrasound

Sarah, Jonathan and Savta waiting 

The baby waited patiently as well

Her feet

A hand and foot…I’m amazed at how well you can see her bones!Her sweet profile

IT’S A GIRL!!!!! 

Jonathan doesn’t like me showing that last picture, but I think it’s cool!  He’s already super protective…it’s so cute.  And here’s part of the video Sarah took while we were finding out.  She had to cut it down to send it to me, so I’m hoping to get the full thing soon.  If you watch the full thing, you can hear everyone shouting…it’s really sweet!  We can’t wait to meet our little princess!!!

How I spent my summer vacation

I have to be back at work this week.  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are teacher workshops.  I know, I know.  I shouldn’t complain – I just spent 2 1/2 fabulous months at home and taking trips to visit friends and family.  It’s just always sad to see summer come to an end… 

Over the summer Jonathan and I have been super busy doing projects around the house.  I managed to take a few shots of some of the finished work.  We are loving the changes!  It’s funny how you can live in a house for 4 years and talk about all the things you want to change without doing anything.  Then you think about bringing a new person into your home, and everything becomes an immediate issue.  Even if that person won’t notice nor care about any of this, but still…I’m glad Peanut will have a nice, cozy house to come home to. 

Guest bathroom:

Crown molding and new baseboards upstairs:

New hardware on all the interior doors:

New guest bedroom (used to be office):

      Those were the best pictures I could get…the room is super small.  Sorry to all the guest who come visit!  But I think it’s nice and cozy.  It will be even better when I get some lampshades and a picture or two on the walls. :)

The new office (moved into the basement…luckily Jonathan was willing to share a space in his “man palace”):

   

My wonderful husband also surprised me earlier this summer by painting the outside of our house.  The front is white siding, but the other three sides were this ugly shade of yellowish-cream.  We have no idea why anyone would make the front of their house a different color than the rest, but we managed to leave it that way for 4 years.  What is wrong with us?!?  Now the outside is all one nice shade of white (boring, but at least it’s the same!) and the side door has been painted black.  I don’t have pictures, but I’ll try to add some later.  I know, keep holding your breath for those…

We still have several projects we’d like to finish in the next few months – most importantly getting Peanut’s room ready and replacing the yucky carpet upstairs – but I’m so thankful for all the things we’ve been able to do so far.  I feel like we accomplished a lot!  So come visit soon…we’d love to have you try out the new guest quarters!