Summer's End

The last day of summer. It came WAY too soon this year. With the snow day make up days tacked onto the end of the year, and the ever earlier start of the school year, summer was shorter than ever. It didn't help that I tutored an insane amount this summer...I really only had one free day each week for summer activities!!

Therefore, the last day of summer? I had to SOAK. IT. UP.

I did a little poolside reading of What to Expect the First Year while feeling huge in the maternity swimsuit my cousin let me borrow. But I didn't care, I had to enjoy the last time in about 15 years I'll probably sit at a pool and just enjoy quietly reading a book. And I had to learn what in the world to do with the baby once he comes out!! I feel a bit like Rachel from Friends at her baby shower.

I took a nice dog walk with Maggie. The poor thing, I learned at the vet that she's gained a few pounds and I'm sure it is MY fault. Since my feet starting swelling like watermelons two weeks ago, our walks have gone from daily to almost non-existent. She's getting really good at bringing the tennis ball directly to my outdoor lounge chair, though,...which I think is an important skill for her to learn!

I made some finishing touches on baby boy's nursery {more details and pictures coming soon}! Here's a little teaser:

I'm getting super excited for bringing the Read Right Run Marathon to my school! It is such an awesome program and I have so many ideas for making our monthly meetings fun. I really want to build up the positive reading climate in my building.

And now, back to school! Which is another time of year I love, but I will still miss the long, lovely, lazy days of summer!

Thank You Gifts

With the upcoming arrival of baby boy, this summer I spent a large part of my free time organizing and creating. With my crazy tutoring schedule, I didn't have as much free time as I had hoped, so I enlisted a lot of help from my mom to complete all my projects. Boy, was that a huge gift!!

One project was creating thank you gifts for our nurses at the hospital where baby boy will be born. Typically, you might need or want a few thank you gifts for your Labor & Delivery nurses, and a few for your Post-Partum nurses, and in other instances, even less if these are the same people because your hospital doesn't have various wings or floors. However, because Tom works with these fabulous nurses on a daily basis, and they are so [sweetly] excited about our baby's arrival, we wanted them each to have a thank you token, and feel appreciated for what they do--even if they don't directly care for baby boy and I.

SO...that meant a LOT of gifts! After a little research, in order to hit everyone on the day and night shifts of Labor & Delivery, we needed 20 thank you gifts for L&D, and the same for Post-Partum. Whew, 40 gifts was quite a project, and could become quite expensive.  We wanted to keep it cute, and meaningful, without breaking the bank. Here's what I came up with:

Clear Treat bags from Wal-Mart

Hand Sanitizers from Bath & Body Works

Mini Orbit Gum Packs from Amazon

Candy Bars from Sams Club

Next I used my fabulous Silhouette Cameo to cut these cute tags out! We then hole punched them and added fun ribbon to attach them to the baggies, once they were filled with goodies.

I created 20 white tags and 20 blue tags, so I could easily see the difference between the ones that need to be on set out on L&D versus PP. That was just easy for me to keep track. Besides the difference in candy bars and hand sanitizer scents, the thank you bags are all the same.

The final product...in a {unused and unneeded} bowl for easy delivery to the nurses' station. I can't wait to hand them out after baby boy's arrival!

Big Decisions

There are so many big decisions as motherhood is on the horizon. The nursery wall color, which glider to purchase, disposable diapers vs cloth, and the enormous question: to work or not to work? This question has been on my mind (a bit far back there) for years. Growing up, I responded to the "What do you want to be when you grow up?" question alternatively with "a teacher" and "a mom", and by mom, I meant a stay at home mom. It was what I knew, and what I respected, and what I wanted. And then, I grew up, and I started my career. I taught long hours, I built up my resume, I completed my masters degree...all so I could be a better, more well established, and more successful teacher, and career woman. I started to scoff a bit at those stay at home moms, while internally battling with my future decision. What would I do, now, knowing and doing what I do now? What would my co-workers think of me? What would my stay at home friends think of me? What do I want and how do I feel about this momentous decision?

And here we are. At the crossroads, and a necessary decision needed. Through God's great plan, and some maneuvering and begging on my part, and the delicate and momentary good mood of the Human Resources department, I am undertaking neither path. I won't work or stay at home full time, and so it is funny to realize the decision I vacillated between for so long isn't even what I am choosing.

But God's plan--although sometimes hard to understand and definitely difficult to wait upon--is good. I am embarking on a new journey, one as a part time teacher and part time stay at home mom. I am thrilled, and sad, and excited, and scared. We realized I do in fact need to work, and so the full time stay at home option wasn't in fact an option at all. But, I couldn't bring myself to abandon that long term dream. And so we are here. I am feeling very good about the change, but it is hard to know what the future will be like, so naturally I have fears at well. Will I like it? Can I handle it? Will I miss my baby? Will I miss my job? I know I'll cry the first day back and be stressed about breastfeeding at work, but I know I'll enjoy adult interaction and the feeling of doing something to benefit others.

This article encouraged my spirit today and made me feel as though I am making the best decision for our family. I'm so thankful for this part time opportunity.

What If the Best Years of Your Life...Just Aren't?

2nd Trimester

I'm so thankful to be finishing my 2nd Trimester! Baby Ganz is growing big and strong, and he is very healthy! We could not be more thrilled and I can't wait to be sharing my 3rd Trimester collages!

Here's my chalkboard tracker collage from the 2nd trimester:

And my photo collage from the 2nd Trimester:

Baby bump is growing, that is for sure!

Perks

Tom gets very few perks in his 80 hour a week residency, but this weekend we got to enjoy one! After our nursing class, we headed up to Labor and Delivery and Tom gave me an ultrasound! It was so fun to see our little guy moving around and measure his growth. I felt a bit like Rachel from FRIENDS here, though.

Tom is so talented at doing and reading ultrasounds, I'm so proud of him. But, as he was all "oh, look, the baby's resting his head on his hands," I was all, "What?! Where!? I don't see it....there?! huh?"  So, after Tom readjusting the entire machine so he could simultaneously move the ultrasound probe AND point out the baby on the screen, I was able to understand [i think] all the movements of our little cutie. In my defense, as the baby gets bigger, you only see one small portion/body part at a time so it is hard to piece it all together.  It was easy back when baby was small, but now he is over 2 pounds!!

It really didn't matter, though, because seeing his movements and heartbeats were all I needed to make me thankful and overjoyed!

It's a...

I was one of those people who totally mocked the idea of a gender reveal party. I mean, come on, now you have to attend a party to find out the baby’s gender?! SO cheesy. It probably didn't help that I felt like everyone around me was having babies and it wasn't happening for me.

So, fast forward, and here we are: 20 week ultrasound ahead and what do I insist on having? Why, a gender reveal party, of course!

I am so glad that we went through with the party, though, as it was the highlight of our pregnancy so far.  I wanted to enjoy the fun and creative details, and of course, I had a grand vision. I tried to keep it simple, but I did create ties and tutu clips with my brand new Silhouette Cameo (thank you Tom!) for everyone to wear based on their guess. I bought some poufs off Amazon that I fluffed up, and we had a casual and fun BBQ one Saturday in April to announce the big news. Tom and I found out ahead of time, as it is pretty easy for OBGYNs to read ultrasounds. It was actually very special for us to find out together and have those moments together, then share that with family.

I really wanted to do something creative, and I had seen on a blog—but never heard of anyone doing it in real life—a question mark piñata filled with pink or blue confetti. Being who I am, I thought, I can make that! :) Well, about two weeks beforehand, I realized I had NO time to be making my own piñata, and had a bit of a meltdown. Thankfully I have the best parents in the world who said they would attempt it. And it turned out great! They created the shell and I spray painted and decorated it. I thought, wouldn’t it be cute to do little poufs of tissue all over? And 7 hours later, it was done {how do I always do that to myself!?}!

It was such a joy to have our closest friends and family around us as we announced our little one’s gender. And, we have it all on video, too! We are so thankful to be at this point and overjoyed about our bundle of…

BOY!!

Summer Reading List

One of my favorite things about summer is enjoying reading a good book by the pool...or better yet, the beach! I love soaking up the sun while checking out a new read.  Unfortunately, it seems there is never enough time in the summer to read, and now I keep thinking, this is my LAST free summer for reading with baby arriving this fall. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled about baby Ganz, but I'm just being realistic. The days of lounging by the pool without interruptions are probably near long gone! :)

So, here's my incredibly long list, and is probably beyond my ability to actually get done [what with tutoring and prepping for baby]:

For EDUCATION:
Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer's Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits

For FUN:
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay

For BABY:
Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method
The Happiest Baby on the Block
On Becoming Babywise
What to Expect the First Year