Monday, August 27, 2012

Home for a Hurricane Day

Today school was canceled in my district due to the threat of Tropical Storm Isaac. Now that Parker is in preschool, his school was also closed. Thankfully we have not had much in the way of a tropical storm. Just rain and a few power surges. But, since we are home together, we've made a day of it!

Our morning began with muffins and a movie. Then we went to the mall for a playdate at the new playplace followed by lunch of chicken nuggets, fries, ketchup and fruit- Parker's fav.

I have been wanting to build a fort with this rather large box we have that had our new patio furniture in it. Sooo, we got crafty!

We cut the windows for some light and peeking. Parker used all sorts of colored crayons and made his roof. Then we went crazy with his favorite characters using stickers - Toy Story, Cars and bugs. I used some leftover scrapbook pages and created shutters for the windows. Lastly, we put up some artwork inside using some of his coloring pages of Toy Story and dinos.

An hour and a half later, here is the end result:
Check out that colorful roof
 
 Left and back wall view
 
 
 Right and back wall view
 
 
He loves it!
 
Success!
 
 
 

Monday, August 20, 2012

Level 2 Sonogram Update

Unfortunately the sonogram confirmed my doctors offices' findings. Our baby girl's skull did not grow together in the back of her head resulting in part of her brain being exposed. Her cerebellum did not form correctly and her vermis did not develop. All this took place at day 5 or 6 of her life.

As the tech was doing the sono, I saw our baby's precious little profile and thought in that moment...I'm never going to hold you or watch you grow.

The ache is overwhelming. We know that we must find peace with it all, but it is so hard to know how right now. We our thankful for all of our family and friends prayers, love and support. We definitely need them more than ever now.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Sad News to Share

August 17, 2012 was a day Anthony and I had been waiting for - the day we find out the gender of our precious baby #2. We looked forward to telling our family and friends. Our plan was to have my birthday cake have the hidden surprise inside - blue filling for a boy or pink filling for a girl. After singing "Happy Birthday" we were going to tell everyone our fun secret and cut the cake to reveal baby's gender.

Yesterday morning I saw the start of a rainbow. A beautiful reminder that we would see our rainbow baby later that afternoon. After our miscarriage last August, it was a great feeling.

Wow was it pouring while walking into the doctors office. Anthony was already there waiting for me. We walked right in to them calling us back for our ultrasound. We were beyond elated to discover that our baby is a girl. We saw her wiggling and waving her arms, even heard that wonderful heartbeat. All was well and we both had smiles from ear to ear. "Pink filling it is!", I thought.

Anthony left to get back to work and I waited for my doctors appointment. They called me back again. As I waited for the doctor, I just stared at our ultrasound pictures. Especially the one of her profile and the one labeling " Girl".

The doctor came in and introduced herself. She was one of the two doctors I hadn't met yet in that office so I was glad to meet her. She preceded to tell me that the ultrasound showed that my baby was missing a part of her brain, part of her nervous system that did not ever develop. I tried to understand what she was telling me. I could not believe the news about my baby girl. Then she said we needed a level 2 sonogram for more information and to see if she would even survive. I could not think or see straight.

I called Anthony as I walked out. He said he had this feeling he should have stayed. We went from such a super happy high to shock, disbelief, and overwhelming sadness.

We now await a call for the level 2 sonogram which must be done in hospital by a specialist. Right now our baby girl's future is unknown and our heart aches. I cannot speak about it as it only brings me to tears, so here I sit typing this news because I can't bear to say it over and over to our loved ones.

Holding my buggy boy a bit more today. Telling him "I love you" a bit more today. He is so sweet with his loving hugs and his little voice returning the "I love you". My rock is my husband who cried with me and allows me to continue to cry and offers his hugs, kisses and love to me.

Monday, August 13, 2012

I Heart My Buggy Boy!

Happy Monday all! I hope that your weekend was all you wanted it to be!





My son Parker is such a shining light in my life. He amazes me daily with his expanding knowledge, his loving nature, and his "LOL" humor. He keeps me smiling and laughing with the things he says and does. I couldn't imagine a life without his hugs and kisses and that infectious laugh of his.

It is so wonderful to think that this little guy is half me!!










You may not be able to tell, but that's Parker (wink,wink)


I walked in to alot of his cars and trucks all lined up on the coffee table.



He was playing with googly eyes and stickers and said,
"Mom Mom, baby wants to play. Baby needs a face."










Thursday, August 9, 2012

18 Weeks - We Soon Find Out Pink or Blue!


I am, as I'm sure you'd imagine, very excited and eager to find out if Baby is a boy or a girl. We'd love pink, but we love our little Parker so blue is welcome too!

With the internet and mother's of the past there comes many alternative ways to try to figure out if you're having a boy or girl. From Chinese Gender charts to Old Wives Tales to urine tests. I thought I'd try out all that I could find and do a little research.



Let's Begin with Chinese Gender Charts


A Chinese Gender or Birth Chart supposedly predicts the gender of a baby with a 93 percent accuracy. This chart- found in an ancient royal tomb near Beijing – is said to be over 90% accurate in predicting your baby’s gender. You generally enter in your age at conception and the month of conception. Some ask for due date instead of month of conception while some others ask for your complete birth date. I set out to try the first ten sites I found that claimed to predict your baby's gender.

Here were my findings for my predictions:  Girl = 6 , Boy = 4

[Website I Traveled To]


Urine Gender Test
Urine based test that predicts baby gender as early as 6 weeks with results in seconds $24.99 with free shipping. You are able to order up to 50 tests which I can't fathom why anyone would need to purchase 50 tests. Odd. [http://www.gendermaker.com/]

With us finding out very soon what we are having, I couldn't bring myself to order this to try it out. I've had some friends from my Toddler and Baby groups try them though. They found it hard to determine the color which is needed to see if you're having a boy or girl.


Old Wives Tales

There are soooooooo many out there. I picked a few and will include the websites should you want to check out the rest.

Wedding Ring Pendulum - Simply put your wedding ring on a chain or piece of string. Hold it over your belly and watch the motion. If the ring moves in a circle pattern, the baby should be a girl. If the ring swings in a side to side pattern, then the baby should be a boy.

Nausea and Vomiting - Girl = strong, Boy = none to mild

Fetal Heart Rate - Girl = above 140, Boy = below 140

How Your Carrying - Girl = high, Boy = low

More can be found at = American Baby


Birth Experience Predictor

At SheKnows Pregnancy and Baby [http://www.pregnancyandbaby.com/generator/madame-zaritska-predicts-your-birth-experience] Madame Zaritska (whoever she is) predicts how your birth experience will be along with gender, weight and baby's features. Here's my results after answering a few questions:

"The day you deliver, outside will be cloudy. Your baby will arrive in the early morning. After a labor lasting approximately 10 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 5 pounds, 4 ounces, and will be 17-1/2 inches long. This child will have medium green eyes and fluffy blonde hair."

I found it interesting that the weight would be so different from my son's who weighed in at 7lbs, 10oz and was 20in long. Plus, both my husband and my hair are naturally dark brown, yet baby will have "fluffy blonde hair". Hmmmmm! AND! The site gives you the option to start over, so in the interest of research I did. I entered in the same answers as before and here were my new results:

"The day you deliver, outside will be overcast. Your baby will arrive in the late night. After a labor lasting approximately 24 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 4 pounds, 9 ounces, and will be 20 inches long. This child will have medium hazel eyes and barely there brown hair."

Ok, so virtually every bit of my prediction changed. As I was feeling when I first came across this predictor, there is no science nor rhyme or reason to the predictions. It's purely for entertainment.

If you are expecting or want to see if your current child's prediction is correct, try out one or more of the Gender prediction charts. As you can see, I was not able to get a definite as to whether I am having a boy or a girl. However, when I checked for Parker it did predict boy. You decide. : )


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Getting Organized

It's a Tuesday Tutorial!

Every teacher needs a great lesson plan book to help them get organized for each day. I found an awesome idea on Pinterest that I'm trying out this school year using a Five-star spiral notebook and colorful Post-its.



First decide a layout that will work best for you and each course you teach. Since this year I only have three preps, I was able to make three rows for each subject and a column for each day of the week. I simply used the Post-its to judge where my rows and columns would go and then used a PaperMate Profile 1.4 pen to make each of the dark lines. You may notice that my Thursday Post-it is smaller than the rest, this is because of the slight lack of space for a full Post-it. I decided on Thursday as my smaller Post-it because my school will be implementing an enrichment and intervention "period" on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then I used PaperMate's Flair pens (which I LOVE!) to label each of my preps/subjects.

I find that this type of lesson plan book lends itself well to changes and allows for flexibility. If you fall behind, you just have to move the Post-it's to the desired day(s). If you change a lesson, you just switch out the Post-it with your new lesson. If a layout needs adjusting, you can change it from week to week when creating your week's lessons. I plan to take it a nine weeks at a time. I'm excited to plan now! I know, I'm a nerd. : )


Pinned Image





Monday, August 6, 2012

Bye, bye Summer Vacation



Happy Monday all! Well, my summer vacation has come to an end. I had my first day back to work today for a training. Just when I've picked up on some new hobbies that I'm excited about (crafting, blogging, and adding to my cooking repertoire) now my time will be limited by work. However, the thought occurred to me that I will be creating some crafty things for my classroom. AHA! I love Pinterest! Such great ideas! I plan to post some of my classroom crafts on here.

I am excited about the new school year, my curriculum and all the possibilities awaiting my students and me. Here's to a positive start to a productive and fun year!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Our First Pool Adventure!


Ever since we bought and built our current home we knew we wanted to have a pool. We moved in October 30, 2011 and have been busy making it our "Home Sweet Home". Our pool construction began at the beginning of June 2012 and is finally complete! Well, we want to extend our deck a bit more, but it's ready for swimming.

Time for our first dip into our new pool! 
  

I'm going to jump. Ready 1, 2, 3


 Splash!


 Playing with one of the deckjets


  
Being lazy on the sunshelf


Parker getting his swim on




Enjoy your weekend everyone!


Thursday, August 2, 2012

We're 17 Weeks Preggo Today!

How far along: 17 Weeks

How big is baby: Baby weighs as much as a turnip and is around 5in long from head to bottom

Total weight gain: 8lbs

Sleep: Great, no complaints

What's happening with baby this week: Baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone and can move all his or her joints. Baby will start to form fat under the skin this week which is important for generating heat and maintaining a steady metabolism. Baby's movements will become stronger and more frequent. Loud noises outside the uterus may also startle Baby.

Food cravings: Nothing really. Occasionally I want something salty.

Food aversions: Coffee .... I know, no Starbucks for this Mom-to-Be. sigh.

Symptoms: Over-full feeling still but my afternoon exhaustion is waning.

Movement: Feeling Baby fluttering and moving about when I'm laying down.

Gender: Still unknown, but we find out in a few weeks!!

What I’m looking forward to: Finding out Baby's gender and hubby and Parker feeling
Baby move.

What I miss: Nothing. : )


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Where My Story Begins...

Of course my story began at birth and I could bore you with all the details as I grew up like being a goody two-shoes in school, singing in show choir, cheerleading, and enjoying any concert I could get to. Along with those experiences, it was definitely my wonderful and loving parents and my caring friends that helped to form the woman I am today.

I'm going to start my story when my life changed in such a special way - becoming a wife and mother. I married my best friend and the love of my life on June 7, 2008. Together we have built a life and a "home sweet home". We always talked of having a family and were blessed with such a precious gift on October 13, 2009. It is true what "they" say, my buggy boy Parker changed my life for the better and I couldn't imagine that sweet and funny character not being in my life. He will be three years-old soon and I'm trying not to freak out about how fast he is growing up. (Ok, silently freaking out!) But there's BIG news! Parker's going to be a big brother!



My attempt at blogging will focus on my life story that I'm creating one day at a time through my marriage, my son, my pregnancy, and work. I'm also a cook and crafter in training, so there will definitely be some laughs as I try my hand at both. Follow my life story as it's written.