Staying at home and lots of snow!

Well I started this week with my last official day of work. They needed to lay somebody off and I volunteered since our plan was for me to hopefully not work after the baby was born. I will still be going back to sub on and off if my Dr's allow it (we will see the progress of my pregnancy at my next appt/US and hopefully know if bedrest/preterm labor is in the picture or not). I will miss seeing the kids everyday, but am a little glad to have some rest for my aching back.

We are preparing to leave for all of our Christmas activities tomorrow, but they are talking about a hue storm. Brian was supposed to work 1/2 a day, but hopefully he wont have to go in so we can get on the road earlier. We are supposed to get 12-20", so we may be delaying plans to go to my parents for a day, so we miss driving in the main part of the storm. It should be an interesting Christmas, that is for sure!

We hope you all have a safe and happpy holidays! Enjoy all of the snow if you are in the midwest!

Merry Christmas!

One week until Christmas! I am so excited for the holidays! It is weird to think that next year we will be parents and "Santa" will be coming to our house, LOL. I have a feeling it is going to be a crazy couple of days, just like Thanksgving we have a million places to go. We are going to Brian's parents on Christmas Eve for church and opening gifts with them. After spending the night there we are heading to his Aunt & Uncle's at 11am, then to my Grandparents on my mom's side at around 1pm, and my Grandparents on my dad's side at 4ish. Then off to spend the night at my parent's house and open gifts with them the next morning. All in all it will be nice to see everyone this year (we cut out a few stops the last few years) even with all the craziness... but next year we will be downsizing! I don't think we are doing all that driving, spending nights and other people's houses and having "Santa" come there instead of our house, with the baby.

I am also excited it is only 3 more weeks (21 days!!!) until our ultrasound! I have started knitting an adorable blanket, but the only colors I had we pink and purple. I figured pretty much everyone I know is having a girl right now, so if we end up with a boy it will make a nice baby shower gift (although Brian thinks I am jumping the gun just a little by starting a girly blanket now, LOL).

I also got some more big news at work this week... more to come on that next week though. Yay for the holidays and time with family/friends. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Work and Cookies!

This week was a really long one. I started preparing for maternity leave at work. I am now a float teacher, instead of a preschool teacher with my own class. They promoted my assistant to be the teacher and put another assistant in there so they could run the room before I leave. It is nice to get to float to all of the classes and fill in, but a little stressful for someone who likes plans.

Brian has had a long week at work as well, staying late for the big order he went to work on last weekend. But even with the stress, we are just glad we have employment in this tough economy.

I am excited, tomorrow we are going to my parent's house to make/decorate Christmas cookies. I love frosting the sugar cookies and getting to use the sprinkles to make them pretty! It has always been my favorite part (I think even more so than eatting them!)

Hopefully next week goes better and faster than this one. I am counting the days until our big ultrasound (28 if you were wondering!) and hoping that the time goes quickly!

A little bit of everything week...

Last Friday we got to go see "New Moon". It was a good movie, but we both still liked "Twilight" better (although to be fair, I like that book better too...). It was nice to get to spend a day out relaxing. We also had lots of fun this past Sat. at my parents house for our second Thanksgiving. The food was good, it was nice to see family, and we stayed late to play some games with my parents (Wii resort sports).

This past week we got all of our Christmas cards out, the tree up and most of our presents bought/wrapped. I am excited to be done and even more excited for Christmas to come! It is weird to think this is our last holiday without kids! I am sure next Christmas will be a blast!

On Monday we both had the day off and got to hang around the house for Brian's b-day. He ended up putting a cable/internet hook-up in the kitchen so we can finally start moving the office out of the nursery.

Yesterday we got to go to another appt. We heard the heartbeat again (this time 150 bpm) and got to make our appt for the big ultrasound!!! We will find out if we're having a boy or a girl on Jan 8th. I am sad it isn't in time for Christmas, but excited we finally have a timeline!


Today we are going to Brian's parents to celebrate his and his dad's b-days. Brian had to go into work for a few hours, so we are there right now before we head to Eagan. I am going to spend the morning at the mall while he builds some giant servers... LOL.

Giving Thanks...

Thanksgiving was wonderful yesterday, and we get to do it again tomorrow! I had not seen all of Brian's cousins from Georgia since 2007, so it was nice to catch up with all of them. Brian's parent's house was packed with people, but full of love as well. We ate food, we shared what we were thankful for and we played some really crazy games that involved a lot of laughter!

Brian's aunt and cousin gave me a beautiful necklace that has two little footprints cut out of it and says "Our family just grew by two feet". It is the cutest thing I have ever seen! It was nice to get to share with our family my growing belly and starting to have everyone want to touch it, LOL. They are all so excited and we had a big debate whether it is a boy or girl (I think girl won).

Today we are excited to start putting up Christmas decorations, finish Christmas cards, and get to go on a date to see "New Moon" and go out to eat. It will be a nice relazing day before more family tomorrow and a Sunday full of football. We are also lucky enough to both have Monday off as well, since it is Brian's 26th Birthday. Then next week will be a fun short week until Friday when we have our next Dr. appt. (the last one before we find out what it is!).

We cannot believe how fast this year has flown by, and how crazy the holidays already seem! We are thankful for everything we have been given this year. For being happy, healthy and loved. For friends, our home and jobs. For our growing family, and existing one. For each other and the grace of our Lord. Happy Thanksgiving and remember what you are thankful for this year...

End of First Trimester!

Yay!!! As of monday I will officially be 14 weeks and in the second trimester! 1/3 of the way done! As of this week I all officially don't fit into my regular pants anymore, LOL! They work ok while standing, but while sitting (which I do at my work, on the floor with the kids, a LOT) they are not so comfortable. I am excited to be starting to get the cute little belly though, so I guess buying new pants are just going to be part of that.

I am also very excited for Thanksgiving next week! We get to spend Thursday with the Hanson's and a lot of extended family. Brian's aunt, uncle, cousins and grandma are flying in from Georgia, and his aunt, uncle and cousins are coming over from Bloomington as well. I think that will make 17 of us at his parents house... so it will be packed! Then on Saturday we are having dinner at my parents, which will be a little smaller. My brother Matt will be out of town, and my dad's parents will be at my step-aunt's in Missouri. That just leaves my parents, mom's parents and brother, so 7 of us. I am mostly excited to only be working 3 days out of the next 11!
It will be a nice break to relax and hangout with family.

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and count your blessings! We know that we have a lot to be thankful for this year!

TGIF!!!

I am going to start off by saying I am SO glad it is Friday! It has been an incredibly long week. I had conferences at work with the preschooler's parents Monday and Tuesday. Then I had observations of my classroom for a kindergarten readiness program Tuesday and Thursday. Add a few meltdowns by the kids and a GIANT canker sore and that was my week in a nutshell. I am ready to spend tomorrow with the Hanson side of the family for my mother-in-law's birthday and relax a little.

Last Saturday we went to my cousin's wedding reception at Pier 500 in Hudson. It was the first time I have seen my extended family since we announced we were expecting. I didn't know so many people could ask you the same question in less than 2 hours... How have you been feeling/Have you had morning sickness? I also found out that my cousin who is a month older than me is expecting her first child, due May 12th. So our kids will be about 2 weeks apart. It will be nice for our kids to have somebody close to their own age, since I don't think they will have cousins of their own for a while!

Well, I think I am going to go enjoy my day off of work and maybe take a nap! I guess I should enjoy being able to do that before the baby comes! :-)

Heartbeats!

On Monday we got to go in for our second appointment. It was a crazy day, we showd up as our midwife was going to the hospital to check on a patient starting labor. The nurse said she should be back shortly, she wasn't delivering anytime soon so it wasn't a big deal. 5 minutes later the nurse came back to tell us the baby was coming now, and said the midwife wouldn't be able to make it to the appointment. Since the hospital/clinic is 20 minutes from our house, and my midwife was going to be out the rest of the week, they squeezed us in with another midwife between appointments.

Even with all this craziness, we got all of our questions answered and got to hear the little heartbeat! It was 170 bpm (normal at this stage is 120-180). The old wives tale is that if it's high it's a girl, so I am hoping that is true for us! :-) It was so cool to hear it going so fast and really feel like something is in there (because other than the boobs hurting and having to pee all the time you really don't feel pregnant yet!). Our next appointment is the 1st week in December, and then the one after that we should find out the sex of the baby!!! (It should be the week between Christmas & New Years, so it will be a good holiday surprise!) Hopefully all stays well!

Cereal & Heartbeats

I am now 10 weeks, almost 11. I am glad to be nearing the end of the first trimester, even though I haven't had it all that bad. I just cannot wait to get some of my energy back and not hate cereal anymore! LOL (it is the only food that I have absolutely not wanted to eat, and I've always loved it! I am slowly being able to eat it for dinner, but still can't hande it for breakfast.)

On Monday we get to go in for our second appointment. We should be able to hear the heartbeat at this one (put a noise to what we saw at the last one). As much as I hate going to the Dr. I have so been looking forward to each of these appointments just to be reassured everything is going as expected. Nothing feels "normal" in a first pregnancy so you worry about everything, and I am a worrier by nature!

We are just praying our little one's heart is growing strong so we can hear it in a few days!

Date at MOA

Brian & I finally got to have a date outside the house! (which doesn't happen very often) We went to the MOA to walk around and shop a little (start looking at the infamous maternity clothes). Then we went to dinner at the Twin Cities Grill, where the best chicken casear salad EVER is! It was nice to just get to spend a relaxing day with him after all the craziness of being sick and dealing with sick kids at work.

I still have a sinus infection, despite the anitbiotics the Dr. put me on. So now I am on a different kind, plus some sudafed to hopefully knock this all out. It could be worse though... it seems like H1N1 and Influenza are spreading like wildfire all around me, and I haven't gotten anything yet! (keeping my fingers crossed!)

We are praying for good health!!! Hopefully you are staying well too!

Another week down...

This week I have not been feeling all that well because of a cold, so when I went to get my flu shot I asked them to check me out. The Dr. told me I have a sinus infection (which I had oct-may last year and the strongest meds wouldn't get rid of) and put me on amoxicillin. Hopefully this helps, because I am getting miserable (but I have my doubts).

Someone at my work announced this week she is expecting and due three days before me, so it will be a baby race! I'm glad I am not the only one who is going to get HUGE! :-)

It has been a crazy, busy week and I am glad it is finally over! Now for a weekend of rest and relaxation!

One Fish, Two Fish, A Little New Fish!

We are expecting our first child! I am 8 weeks along, so only 32 more to go until we get too see our child. The little one is due May 24th 2010. We are excited to have a spring baby!

We got the joy to tell our parents on a very appropriate day, Grandparents Day (Sept. 13th). We gave them cards with little magnets that said "World's Greatest Grandparents". This is the first grandchild on bothsides and the first great-grandchild on my dad's side, so this child will be extra loved! Our brothers were also very excited to hear the news that they were going to be uncles.

We had a little scare right after we found out, so we got to have an ultrasound about a week ago and see the baby. It was great to see the heartbeat (132 bpm!) and make sure everything was fine!

Hopefully that will put some of the worrying behind us (although I know the rest of our lives will be filled with it!). We are thanking God for our little miracle and praying he keeps our little family safe!