Life in July

I like keeping a blog. But with everything on my plate, it isn't near the top of my priority list. And since Carter has been born, I have been really good at sticking to my priority list. It is necessary in order for me to do everything.

One quick blurb about my life for the next 10 months, and then onto Carter.

I will be:

• starting a new job in a new district, teaching a new subject and a new grade (6th grade math)
• Enrolled in 3 grad school classes this fall (I've only been doing 2)
• working on my capstone research project in addition to the 3 classes
• building a house and hopefully have it done by April
• sticking to a very strict budget, which means more cooking and less eating out!

I think I got it all. I keep dreaming for the day in May where I have graduated, have my Master's, am moved into the new house, and am done with the school year. I can do so much with my time! Scrapbooking! Reading! Crafting! Blogging! Sleeping! I'll have so much time, I won't know what to do with all of it. 

Now Carter. Our almost 9 month old! EEK!

I can't imagine life without her. She is absolutely the best thing we have every made. My favorite thing about her is how she can get anyone to smile. I can't count how many times I'll look at her in a public place and she is just smiling away at a person until they smile back at her. 

Here are pictures from the last month. 

She doesn't like it when we close doors on her. She wants to explore everywhere and not be restricted in any way. That is a flashlight in her hand. She doesn't seem to like normal toys. She'll carry around socks, a piece of cardboard, a metal container, tupperware lids, and spoons. 

Charleah and I were talking about how our babies don't seem to just fall asleep in random places. They definitely have to be force to go to sleep. Then the next day Carter fell asleep like this. 

We went to Austin last week. This is the only picture I got of the three of us. It is at a graffiti wall. It was also before Carter busted her nose at the hotel. 

Carter busted her nose at the hotel about 20 minutes after we checked in. Part of the bed frame was broken and sticking out hiding underneath the bed skirt. She tried to pull herself up on it and fell, resulting in a lot of blood. Chris first reaction "She is going to need stitches" I felt so sick about it. I am not the best around blood from other people.  She cried for about 3 minutes and then was fine. Until the doctor tried to clean it and she had to be held still in order to do everything. Do not tell this girl she can't do something. Luckily, the doctor just put some "medical grade super glue" on it. It already looks so much better. 

Pics of Carter

I haven't posted in forever and not I am procrastinating a 15 page paper that is due on Wednesday. (I am on page 10, so I deserve a break.)

So here are some random photos of Carter.

She love look at phones. I turned the camera on my iPhone on one day and we got some selfies. 

Her she is playing tug-of-war with the napkin. She is such a good baby when we go to a restaurant. I don't think she has screamed once at one.

Love it when she falls asleep in my arms. When she is tired, she likes to cuddle.

Cutest baby!

I get pictures like these when I am at work. I miss her so much when I am there so little pictures like these brighten my day.

For the first two months of her life, Carter had a hard time gaining weight. This picture is taken a month a part when we started feeding her more formula. Her cheeks got so much more chubby.

She went from 1% weight at 2 months to 18% at 4 months.

Life is just better with her!

It's a Girl!

I have been patiently waiting for this day for a long time. And then for the last week, not so patiently waiting. 

I haven't been sleeping well the last week because I would wake up every day thinking "Today's the day we know the gender!" and then I had to remind myself that it was only Saturday and we still had to wait 3 days until the appointment. 

Chris patiently waited, until we were at the doctors office and we went into the sonogram at 9:35am instead of our appointment time of 9:20am. 

But we made it in and within 2 minutes she had told us it was a girl. She measured some stuff, showed us her face. Told us what she was doing (because honestly, those things are hard to read.)

Towards the end, she was curled up with her little hands in front of her face and her legs tucked into her. 

So...we are having a girl! We went shopping as soon as we left the office and got a couple dresses. It was hard not to buy more. We had to narrow it down a lot. Only 20 more weeks until we meet her!

For the record, I have been saying for the last week she was a girl. It was the first time all pregnancy I felt like I knew the gender.

A Baby!

I am finally ready to type out my pregnancy so far. I have been exhausted everyday and have not felt like doing anything... even type.

This is our little coconut at 10 weeks.  I am currently at 16 weeks and in the second trimester.

We have heard the heartbeat twice. And it is amazing every time. I still have a hard time believing I have something growing inside of me so hearing it shocked me both times.

We had been trying for 3 1/2 years. I have posted about it before. I knew that we would be parents someday; we just weren't sure when one day was going to happen. It didn't seem like it would be happening anytime soon.

At the beginning of February, we went to see a specialist to discuss our options. One thing we were told might help was surgery. Since it was an optional surgery, insurance wouldn't cover much. We were trying to figure out how to pay for it, when to take time off work for recovery etc.

At the end of February, I realized I was about 5 days late which doesn't happen. I have trained myself over the last 3 years to not freak out every month and just let things happen. I went and taught Saturday School and then as soon as it was over I got a pregnancy test. Chris was at a debate tournament and I wasn't planning on telling him anything just in case it was negative.

I took it and walked away for about 5 minutes. I wanted to make sure it had time to tell me the truth.

A faint line is still a line! I broke down in the bathroom crying of joy. I couldn't believe after years of trying I was finally seeing this. But since I have read a pregnancy test wrong before, I immediately called Chris. Who didn't answer his phone. When he finally did, I told him I was sending him a picture that I needed him to look at.

He still took forever to get back to me. But he finally called me back and we decided that I should buy a more expensive test just to make sure. Which I did and got the word "pregnant" to flash.

And 12 weeks later, I am still pregnant. I have taken some belly shots, but they are far away in a camera somewhere. And I am not showing yet anyways. I can tell there is a difference, but not too many other people can.

We find out on June 11 what we are having. Chris says boy (because he is scared of girls) and I don't care. I just want a healthy baby.

We still have 26 weeks ahead to get through. As soon as school gets out (in 9 school days) I am going to start crafting and cleaning organizing our second bedroom. I've got all summer to get it done.

PostSecret

Sometimes PostSecret just hits you. 

I made this

And I really like it. Actually LOVE it. It is not perfect, but I have been practicing a lot and learning some new stitches and my beanies are getting better.

Right now all I want to do is craft. Sometimes I wish I could just quit my job and craft all day long. But I might get bored with that so I will just have to settle with doing it at night.