I'm Back!

The last time that I wrote in here was about a week before Camden arrived and so much has changed since then.  First of all, we have this perfect little man that amazes me, makes me smile and laugh everyday.  He turned two months this past Sunday (the 30th) and I never truly believed everyone on how time would fly until he arrived.  By the way he was born on August 30th at 6:01 in the morning at 19.5 inches long, weighing 7 lbs 12.8 oz, and I had an amazing and wonderful delivery! It's so crazy to see how much he changes daily and every time he smiles, I cannot help but marvel at the amazing miracle of life that Joel and I created!  I went back to work in October and it has been extremely hard but I'm dealing with it the best that I can. It helps working with some amazing friends and being around adorable (but often rotten) children all day long.  They keep me smiling while I have to be away from my monkey.  He had his two month check up this past week and besides the shots (which he took pretty good) everything was perfect.  He weighed 10 lbs 15.5 oz and is now 23 inches long.  The doctor said he is in the 50th percentile for height and around the 25th-50th for weight.  Needless to say I was relieved when all of that was over with.  Now he doesn't have to go back until the end of December. 
Insanely it is already November and this month is going to fly by. I feel like there is so much to look forward to. First of all the holidays are here and anyone who knows me knows that I am absolutely obsessed with all things holiday related.  I take on Christmas like a crazed person and if it was up to me the radio stations would all be playing Christmas music the day after Halloween... We are going up to Maryland for Thanksgiving, the whole family (Me, Joel, Camden, Sawyer, Marley, and the parents) and it will be the first time most of my family and friends meet Camden.  I cannot wait to be back home and I'm praying for some snow so let's get that going.  Also November 18th Breaking Dawn comes out and I am extremely excited about that. Of course November 17th we will be faithfully waiting in line at the movies for the midnight showing and I will be an absolute train wreck at work the next morning... oh well, it will be worth it! So I have to get going, time for work... only today and tomorrow and then it's the weekend.  Hope everyone enjoys it :)

Last update for a while

I think it's time to update this!
So life has been a hectic blur lately, but in a good way :) My summer VPK session ended at the end of July so the end of last month was pretty chaotic.  The teacher that I taught VPK with for the last school year gave her two weeks right before that happened so everything had been up in the air as for who I was going to be working with this upcoming year, especially with the fact that I'm heading out on maternity leave after the first full week of school (assuming Camden waits at least that long to make his appearance! ) I found out that Kristen is actually staying in the classroom which I am extremely excited about! This week has been a whole bunch of getting stuff together in our room so that it's all ready for the new kids. We have 20 kids this year... at the moment, but the list has gone down and right back up a few times so I guess we will see on Monday for sure which kids will be coming. I'm excited to meet all the new little ones and just hoping I can hold out a little bit longer!

Oh and last week we started our one week appointments with the doctor.  All the fun that comes along with that is checking to see if I'm dilated at all each week. The first appointment which was 36 1/2 weeks I was not dilated but I was slightly effaced... not sure the percentage.  This week when I went I had a doctor besides my usual one and she's not my favorite person for reasons that I'm not going to get into but needless to say she didn't bother checking and I didn't bother reminding her, I figured I can wait until my next appointment (next Thursday) with my doctor to see. Anyways, everything has been going really good. We have just about everything that we need for Camden with the exception of a few minor things here and there.  We still have the put the car seat in... whenever we decide which car to put it in for the trip home and I have to get my hospital bag together. My last day of work before maternity leave is next Friday the 19th so I'm counting down the days to get all the last minute stuff done.  I doubt I will update this anymore before he arrives, and probably not for a while afterwards... I cannot wait to meet him and hold him in my arms and I know daddy and grandparents and everyone else is anxious too!

Hope everyone is doing great,

Love Sam

Quick Update

Everything's been going so fast. I feel like it was just a few weeks ago that we found out we were having a baby, and then that he was a boy, and now in less than 3 weeks I will be full term and he can come at any point after that. At our last appointment we had a different doctor because ours was out and every other appointment we have been told everything looks great and sounds great. Of course this doctor tells us that we need to get a growth ultrasound because he is measuring smaller than he should be at this point. She said this could mean a few different things, not necessarily anything bad. One, he could just be small which news flash I'm no giant! Two, she said he could be positioned really low which could mean that he may come earlier than the due date??? (Not jinxing it but fingers crossed!) Three, he could not be growing properly which would be the one bad thing. Or he might just be balled up, which he does tend to do. Anyways, we have to go back Friday for that so I'm praying everything is alright. I just want to see my everyday doctor, I don't like going to some new lady and having her tell me otherwise!

Besides that everything has been good. The baby shower is this weekend and I am so excited! I haven't seen a lot of these people in a long time and it will be nice to see everyone! None of my MD family and friends are able to make it which kind of sucks but it will still be wonderful thanks for my amazing family and friends here. Anyways, I'm on a break and really should get back to work so hope everyone is having a great week. I know it is hotter than Hades here!

Insomnia strikes

So it's about 4:30 am and I cannot sleep. It's been this way for a little bit now. I'm not talking a full night of lying awake just that half night wake up toss and turn until I hope to fall back asleep before work. I'm just so anxious about so much right now, the main thing being pretty obvious. Anxious in a good way but I wish I could still sleep! Anyways, guess this means I have time to update my blog.
So this past weekend we drove up to Maryland for my brother and Andreas wedding. If you're reading this then you probably already know that their actual wedding was in Jamaica in the end of April but since we couldn't make it to that one it was definitely out of the question to miss this wedding, afterall they are two of my favorite people in the entire world! Needless to say the wedding was breathtaking. We had so much fun and had to come back to Florida way too soon!! And I don't know if it's just me, but it seems way hotter than it did when we left Thursday.
So now that all of the weddings we've had planned for the past hmm... Year and a half are over, it's officially baby focus time... Probably part of the reason for my sleep deprivation. Another part would be the fact that My stomach is getting bigger by the second and while my maternity pillow has come to be one of my new best friends, it can only do so much! This saturday we have our 4d ultrasound first thing in the morning, which I booked almost 3 months ago and have been EXTREMELY excited about. And then that night we have cirque de soleil!! So I think now that there's only a tiny bit of time before I have to get up I may actually be able to sleep, but I'm sure this is the first of what will become many random middle of the night posts. Hope everyone is sleeping better than me... I cannot wait for this little man to be here, not expecting better sleep. Just want to meet him and let him know how loved and special he is! Goodnight (or morning)

Love, Sam

Because I Said So...

So maybe I should update... I've been slacking a little. Umm since my last post, not too much has happened in the pregnancy besides my little gummy bear growing bigger.  I had my glucose test yesterday (Tuesday), and despite all of the horror stories I have been told it wasn't 100% awful. The stuff did not by any means taste good, it was nasty... but I didn't get nauseous from it which is always a plus! I did get slightly lightheaded but Camden was wired. I think all that sugar had him going. Or he was trying to escape from the disgusting liquid that his mother was drinking haha. That's really my theory. Just a little bit longer baby, keep cooking. Work has been going pretty good. This is the second week with my new class and the new kiddos are doing pretty good. There are 9 of them, which is wonderful compared to the 20 that we had during the school year.  One of them asks me "why?" about... 7 times a day and I have caught myself responding with a phrase that I never thought I would say, "Because I said so."  I know it's awful, but when you tell a child something like "Don't push him off the porch" and he responds with "why?", I feel that response is much better than would you like me to push you!" Pregnancy hormones are not so sensitive to 4 year olds :p Oh and I actually have a student intern that is observing my class and well that is interesting to say the least... I try and be understanding since I know what it is like but it can definitely be trying. (Side note- I don't understand how someone that wants to be a teacher can never want to have kids... this seems a little off to me) Anyways, I've been trying to take it easy because I get exhausted fairly easy at this point in the pregnancy. I'll be 29 weeks on Sunday so I'm officially in the third trimester and I'm about 7 months. It seems so crazy to think that this time a couple of months from now we'll have a little one. I cannot wait to meet him! Guilty to say I'm a Secret Life addict, and this past weeks episode was, to put it mildly, a tearjerker. It really hit me, and my poor husband had to sit there and suffer through the emotional wreck that is me. SPOILER ALERT for anyone who watches Secret Life and has not seen this past weeks episode because I have to give some explanation...

Two of the main characters went to the hospital to have their baby and the baby didn't end up making it. All of the family and friends found out that the baby was being delivered and came to the hospital with presents for the new parents and baby and of course that was when they found out the baby passed away. Anyways, loving someone, the biggest fear is losing that person. I did not think it was possible to love another human so much that I've never even met before, but I love my unborn child more than life itself. Just the thought of something happening breaks my heart and I hate the thought of anyone having to go through that. I just pray daily that everything goes well with the rest of our pregnancy and that we have a healthy, safe delivery. Okay so I am done with that I guess (If you're still reading I am truly impressed!)

When we went to the doctors, we made an appointment for every 2 weeks up until my 36 week mark. Seeing it all mapped out that way makes it all seem so soon. Starting in July we have something literally every week for the baby, whether it's an appointment, ultrasound, or the baby shower :) Oh and in 2 weeks we'll be heading back to Maryland for my brother and sister-in-law's wedding celebration (part 2!) I am very happy to be able to be there for this one since we were unable to make the gorgeous Jamaican extravaganza.

I think I'm rambling so I'm done. I cannot wait until this weekend, much needed relaxation is planned.

Where is the year going?

Is it seriously May 23rd already? Where has the month gone? I should make that where has the year gone... already halfway over!! Life has been busy to say the least these past couple of weeks, hence the no blog. My little guys graduated this past weekend and did such an amazing job with their performance. I was so proud of them. Luckily while their baby pictures were playing on the slideshow I was busy getting them into their cap and gowns so no time to get emotional or else this girl would have been an emotional train wreck. Afterwards my parents and I met up with Joel at Olive Garden, (on the night of the rapture) to eat a delicious dinner. They have this berry drink there by the way and you could say I'm addicted. Of course it comes in an absolutely ginormous glass so finishing one is close to impossible and means you have an entire meal to take home the next day! As 9:00 rolled around we were anxiously looking around the restaurant to see if anyone had fell face first into their pasta. Looks like the senile old man was wrong... yet again. Anyways, we had a good night. Yesterday I got to relax essentially all day which was amazing. Then last night we had Jade and Joey over to see the house and have some dinner. Needless to say as always with the two of them, we had a great time. So now I'm sitting here at my computer on Monday morning thinking about how much these past 5 months have flown and in a kind of shock that this is my last week with my preschoolers. We have spirit week this week which consists of a "what do you want to be when you grow up?" day, "crazy hair" day, "favorite fictional character" day, "dress like a scientist" day, and Friday is our luau which we will be making grass skirts for. All in all it should be an entertaining laid back week.

Short update on the pregnancy, everything is going great. Have a bunch of appointments in the next couple of weeks... I guess that's how it goes as I near the end of the pregnancy. This is my last week of the second trimester and it will be nice to see the third :) Camden has been rolling around and kicking like crazy. Of course he will only do this for me when it's just me and Joel, which just makes me look like a crazy person to, well, just about everyone else that I tell about his acrobatic tendencies. Just a few more short months and I get to meet our little man. Oh and July 2nd we're set up for our 4D ultrasound at A Stork's View and I am realllly really anxious to see him!!!
So that's it for now. Have a great week everyone!

Love Sam

Just a quick update

So I was woken up this morning by my wonderful husband who was leaving for work to wish me a happy mother's day, kiss me goodbye, and tell me that my present was on the kitchen table. Anyways, I was too tired at this point to actually get up and see what it was but when I finally did get up, (AMAZINGLY my pups let me sleep in until about 8:00 this morning!) I went downstairs to find cards and my present. Tickets to go see Cirque de Soleil. I am sooooo excited! I've been wanting to go forever and we finally are. Anyways, so I've just been having a nice relaxing day because my mom has been working all morning and we're doing the family thing for dinner tonight. I figured that I should enjoy being able to relax because next mother's day we will have a little one crawling/waddling around... I would say running but let's be realistic here :p

Besides that, I got a lot of stuff done around the house yesterday and I am officially down to two boxes left to unpack which are filled with important paperwork so until I get some kind of cabinet for them they will be boxed. I still have some things I need to get at the store for the house, for organization and decoration and such but it's coming along really well. I'm about to get on top of some cleaning up around here and Joel and I should be planning a housewarming party here shortly so be on the lookout for invitations :)

I got to talk to Corey and Andrea today for the first time since they've been home. I am so incredibly happy for the two of them and cannot wait for the reception in Maryland. I know they make each other so happy and I seriously could not have picked a better girl for my brother. He deserves her and she deserves him and they are two of the greatest people in the world! I'm happy to say I have a new sister in law and family member, although besides the title not much has changed, I already felt that way :)!

Anyways, just wanted to do a quick update but I guess I should get going and be somewhat productive today... Ha! I hope all the mothers/grandmothers/mommies to be out there have an amazing day and enjoy time with your families!

He kicks!

Joel and I signed all the paperwork to close on our house this past Friday at 9:30 and in spite of all the negative comments we heard about the monstrous amount of paperwork that we would have to sign, it really wasn't bad. Our stack was relatively small and I was expecting another stack to come out when we were finished. Plus the lady that did all of our paperwork must have known my chocolate addiction because she baked us an entire batch of these chocolate-y fudgy cookies mmm... Anyways, so we had practically all day Friday to move which was wonderful because Joel had to work Saturday and I knew I wouldn't be able to do too much on my own. Friday night I ran out to Jacksonville to pick up our beautiful niece Tenley. She stayed with us until Sunday and it was so great spending time with her because it has been far too long and we love that little girl to pieces. So we did a whole bunch of moving and had everything out by Sunday, with the exception of some cleaning to do.  Thank you SOOO much by the way to all of our amazing family and friends that helped in the move. Just about everything that we have ordered (furniture wise) and tv, internet, and phone have all been connected/delivered. We can finally just relax and enjoy us time, with some unpacking mixed in.
In other news, Joel and I are 21 weeks now with little Camden and enjoying every moment of watching him (and mommy) grow. According to my babybump app he is the size of a banana, interesting. I felt him kick for the first time last night and it was soooo amazing. Joel felt it too, which made me extremely happy. Anyways, I have to get back to work but I wanted to update and now I'm going to be late :p

Love you all!

~Sam

It's a little late but, It's A Boy!!!

It's Monday morning... April 11th I believe :p I am absolutely exhausted. I had kind of been slacking on the  whole packing situation and then realized that if all goes well we will be in our house this next Friday, which meant that yesterday was packing day. The pups let me sleep in a little bit (sleeping in for me means around 8:00), which was wonderful. Then as soon as I got up, the packing began. I even multitasked by eating breakfast and packing at the same time ha. So my mom came over and helped a lot, but needless to say we got a lot done! I feel like I can breathe a little more now. The rest of the week it will just be a little bit of packing at night and Joel has off tomorrow so he should be able to get some of the heavier stuff done that I had some trouble with. I'm so anxious to get into our very own house and waiting for the final approval that we are definitely closing on Friday is killing me. I just keep telling myself that even if the paperwork isn't all through and worst comes to worst, we'll still be in there at the latest the next week... I'm just tired of waiting around! Anyways, I guess time will tell. Tomorrow we go for our FINAL walkthrough, where we have to make sure that they fixed all the little things that we found during our last walkthrough. So that's pretty much everything on the moving front...
Yesterday marked 20 weeks for the pregnancy. It seems surreal that I am already halfway through the pregnancy. It makes me feel like I have accomplished something because in the beginning so many people sit there and tell you everything that can go wrong. All I wanted to say was I understand but can you just let me be excited and deal with that if it comes to it. So being 20 weeks is kind of like a sigh of relief knowing that I have come this far and everything with Camden and I is looking healthy and on track. I don't think I have posted since we found out 100% it is a boy. I truly did not have a preference, besides on a healthy baby, but I don't think I have ever seen Joel so ecstatic haha. I am so excited to know for a fact because now the shopping can begin :) So hopefully by August 27th, Camden Parker Hart will be here with his mommy and daddy and we cannot wait to meet him!!
So back to work today to spend time with my 20 adopted children :p
I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and I will update as soon as I know 100% that we close on Friday!!

Love Sam

Goodbye March, Hello April!

This last month has been pretty hectic, but amazing nonetheless!  Our anniversary was the 13th but we didn't get to go on our vacation right away. Last weekend we got to go to Charleston, SC to celebrate. Joel had been there before but it was my first time and I can honestly say that I did not want to leave. It was by far one of the most beautiful places that I have ever visited and if you have never been... well you have to go. It is a place that I can see Joel and I living one day in the future. I could just walk down the street under all of the beautiful trees and be perfectly content. Oh and the weather was perfect the entire time we were there so that's always a plus.  Charleston also gave us an idea for a baby girl name :) Which brings me to another amazing thing coming up, Tuesday we find out 100% what we are having, and for those of you who have been asking what I want, I honestly 100 and 10% do not care. I just want a healthy baby and I know whatever we are having, Joel and I will be absolutely thrilled with. This baby will be so loved by us and all of our family and friends regardless of the sex. For those of you that are close to us, which I think it's safe to say if you are reading this blog... (and that live in the area, sorry MD people), we are going to be going out to dinner Tuesday night to celebrate so let us know if you would like to join and I'll give you details. 
So backtracking, yesterday was Suzanne's wedding. The weather was perfect and the bride was gorgeous! The whole ceremony was beautiful and honestly it couldn't have gone better. Weddings are so amazing because you truly can see just how in love a couple is and it makes me feel so blessed going through that experience myself last year knowing that Suzanne and TJ have had the same experience. Sorry being pregnant has truly made me even more mushy than I already was. Anyways, to sum it up, it was perfect... congratulations Suzanne I am soo so happy for you and I love you guys so much!
Today we are going to go furniture shopping to try and get a new set for our livingroom so wish us luck :) Then tonight we might be going to the movies with Kristen and Michael. Oh and Tuesday we also have our home walkthrough because it is entirely 100% finished!!!! I am sooooo excited that everything has been working out so perfectly. Well for now I think that is about it, I've just felt like a slacker not having updated in so long and thought I should.
Oh did I mention I'm 19 weeks today?? Just about half way there :D

A Day Late

Normally I try and post every Sunday but since yesterday was our 1-year anniversary I was slightly occupied
:) We had a wonderful day but I'll get to that later! Sooo Friday at work seemed extremely long... I think just because I was anticipating the weekend so much. After work Friday, I got Scooter (my parents dog because they were out of town all weekend in MD) and went home. Joel and I had a nice relaxing night because I knew it would be a busy weekend.  So Saturday morning I went and did some shopping first because I felt the need for some new clothes. Then I met up with Kristen and her friend Laura and we went and got our nails done, which was definitely needed! After that, Kristen and I went and grabbed some lunch with the adorable Isaiah (This just made me so much more anxious to know if we are having a boy or a girl). Then it was time to get to Tiffany's shower. It was a lot of fun and definitely entertaining to say the least. So after a loong Saturday, and a tired day for my wallet :p, I went home to my wonderful hubby to relax for busy day #2. Oh and Joel gave me my anniversary gift a day early, well technically it was almost 12 so... But he gave me a beautiful watch with diamonds all around the face, which I want to wear so badly but he has to get some links taken out of it first, and an amazing baby book which I have already began filling out :)

So Sunday we got up early and lounged around for a little bit. Then when I finally stopped being lazy I got dressed and we went and grabbed some Chili's for lunch, courtesy of the gift card my parents gave us for our anniversary :) After that we went and looked at our house, which was painted on Friday and I am absolutely in love with the color. It looks so home-y and we're both extremely happy with the way it came out! We got to walk through it which is always exciting when anything new has been done. I'm so ready to be able to move in! Then we went back home and decided we would start doing some packing after the excitement of seeing the house. We filled all of the boxes we had, pretty much just with our movies sadly, and relaxed a little bit before our night out.  Joel and I had our first date... ever, at The Surf. So Joel thought it was only right that we went there for our first anniversary dinner :) So I got a yummy lobster dinner and of course Joel stuck to his chicken. The meal was delicious and Chels was working so we got to see her too! Then we went to the movies to see Red Riding Hood. It was amazing! I really didn't know what to expect but they did a great job with it. After a tiring day, we went home and ate a slice of our wedding cake... we were both a little skeptical of a year old cake but it actually still tasted pretty good so thank you Publix :p And that was the end of our weekend!
Oh, on a side note, yesterday also marked 16 weeks in the pregnancy so it was just an exciting day all around!

So now I'm sitting here typing this when I should be getting ready for work.  Tomorrow I have another doctors appointment in the morning, I would think they get sick of seeing the same patients over and over... I get to give more blood, joy.
I hope everyone had an amazing weekend!

Love, Sam

Happy Sunday

The past couple of days have not been the most fun. I woke up Thursday feeling a little off from my usual self but of course just pegged it as morning sickness and went to work.  A few kids were out because a couple of different things have been going around but I didn't think anything of it.  Thursday night was a leftover pizza night (it was delicious by the way!) and alllllll of Thursday night/Friday morning I was up, just about every hour on the hour getting sick.  At these point I was completely set on the fact that my child does not like pizza and that I would not eat it again for the remainder of this pregnancy! So Friday morning I woke up to get ready for work and felt absolutely miserable, my body was weak, my chest hurt, the nausea was still there, and I was freezing.  For some reason I still had it in my head that it was just morning sickness.  Anyways, as the work day went on, I realized I was being a little bit oblivious considering we were down to a little over half our class size at the start of the day and some kids were coming and going as the day went on, (in our class and other classes).  Joel took me to lunch because he is wonderful and was determined to get some food in my stomach and I decided on chick-fil-a because I have learned that this is an all American child and that's what I seem to be able to handle best for the most part. I ate about half of my meal and couldn't do any more. Got back to work and there went that half of my meal :( So I was just about done for the day. I got home and had another night hanging out with my friend the toilet. All day yesterday I laid on the couch. And I have woken up this morning to feel (for the most part) so much better.  I still feel a little weak/sore but Joel said that's probably just from getting sick so much. So since I'm sure anyone reading this is so thrilled that this whole post has been about me being/getting sick I'm moving on!

Well first of all today is Krista (our niece's) 3rd birthday party. And I'm so happy to be feeling better because we haven't been able to make it to her 1st or 2nd, so I'm pretty sure missing this 3rd would officially deny us any Uncle/Aunt rights :p So at 2:00 we will be heading out to that! There's nothing like a little one's birthday party!!
Today is also the start of me being 15 weeks!!  15 weeks isn't really any major milestone that I know of, it's just always exciting when I can open up my BabyBump app on my phone and see that I'm one week further and have one week less to go.  Speaking of the "BabyBump" app, I find it mildly amusing that every week when it gives a size comparison of our baby, it always compares the baby to fruit.  This week apparently it is the size of a navel orange... last week it was the size of a lemon (apparently these fruits vary in size by .6 inches if you were interested :p) Just a little useless knowledge. So this was a pretty boring post I suppose but now I'm going to see if I can either convince someone to pick me up some breakfast since my hubby is still sleeping and he has already done so much for me for the past couple of days, or I will call up Fernandeli and get them to deliver!

I hope everyone has an amazing Sunday!

~Love Sam

It's a...

So this weekend has been very eventful starting Friday.  As soon as I got off of work Friday, Joel picked me up and we went to our house to meet with our contractor to do the pre-drywall walk through.  It was amazing how much has progressed just in the past week of us being out there.  The roof is now up and all the windows are in.  We got to walk the whole house which has been framed and insulated.  Seeing it every step of the way makes me that much more anxious for it to be finished.  Anyways, I didn't take a picture but the next time we go out there drywall will be complete so the pictures will be better!  Then Friday night since we were already more than halfway to Callahan we figured it would only make sense to drive a little bit further and get some Chicken House :p.  Then we relaxed all night which was wonderful. 

Saturday was the day of Suzanne's shower and I got up earlier than intended and headed over to my mom's house to start getting ready for the day.  Jackie and Chelsey met me and we got everything together and the bride to be showed up and shortly after the party started.  It was a lot of fun and a good turn out.  After everything was cleaned and everyone had left, it took me no time at all to pass out, taking a way longer nap than intended.  By the way, what's up with this fog?  During my drive home last night it was insanely foggy and the morning before it was the same way... creepy.

Today (Sunday) has been wonderful too.  I had a nice relaxing morning and then around 12 I met up with Heather to have some lunch.  We went to San Jose Mexican Grill, which it was my first time, and it was absolutely delicious.  I haven't hung out with Heather in so long and it was so nice catching up with her.  Then we made a quick stop back at her house and then headed out to Shands to meet with Joel and do another ultrasound.  It's so convenient having your husband work in the hospital with an ultrasound machine and I love seeing the baby so of course I jump at the opportunity any time I can! Anyways, at first the baby was being stubborn as usual moving all around and crossing its legs but eventually we got a pretty good shot and of course it won't be definite until April 5th but.... We're about 90% sure it's a boy!!!

So it has definitely been an eventful weekend! And a great weekend :) And now I cannot wait for Joel to get home so that we can celebrate what probably is! I know I should be waiting to post this but I'm excited so....
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday!

Hello Second Trimester, It's nice to see you!

It is officially February 20th and do you know what that means? It's the second trimester!!!!! This takes a big weight off of my shoulders.  Although I feel like so far, this pregnancy is flying by.  The nausea is finally starting to calm down which is wonderful.  I have definitely learned that there are certain foods that little baby Hart is not a fan of.  Chinese food can pretty much be scratched off my menu altogether.  Thankfully Mexican food is still okay because I don't think I could live without it.  I have a sweet tooth like never before.  That's enough on food... We go to the doctors again on Wednesday and I'm very anxious to see the baby again and see how much he/she has grown :)

On another note, our house is going up so quick.  Everytime I see it or see pictures I am just amazed at the progress, and honestly still in shock that we're even buying a house.  The past few years of renting was nice for financial reasons but the idea of having our own house and not having to rely on someone else for everything will be a breath of fresh air.  I cannot wait until April for it to be all finished so that we can move in.  Oh by the way, if anyone has any boxes or knows of places we can get some let me know... the sooner we can start packing everything up, the better.
Well that's about it for now, I'll post pictures Wednesday as long as we get new ones :)  Time to get stuff done that I have to today. Hope everyone's having a great Sunday!

~Love Sam

Bieber Fever... It's an epidemic

So after my last adventure, we have finally found the generic of tylenol cold. I had been taking Sudaphed... or something like it, but baby Hart decided he/she did not like Sudaphed, and the toilet and I got to know eachother better than ever this past week.  I joke about it but it was absolutely miserable. Anyways, the tylenol cold has been doing better, but I'm still not 100% (I fully believe I will get there... eventually!) Today after work, Joel picked me up to take me to go get blood work done for the pregnancy. A couple days ago the plan was to ride out to Shands and he would draw the 1, possibly 2 vials of blood that was needed and run it to the lab.  Well because of traffic, we got out there later than planned and had to go straight to the lab.  This meant that Joel could not do it, someone else had to. So she pulled out a bunch of empty tubes and another nurse walks in the room asking her what she is doing with all those tubes and to wait a second so that she didn't get the wrong amount and have to do it all over again.  After a couple of minutes, the other nurse returns and switches out two of the "lavender" tubes for two BIGGER "lavender" tubes.  This totaled, wait for it, 6 VIALS of my blood.  If you know me at all, you know I don't do blood. I don't like to give my blood... I'm anemic and I like to think that what is flowing through my body is rightfully mine. Needless to say I wasn't feeling completely myself afterwards between the neverending cold, the 6 tubes of blood I had just donated, and the pregnancy and anemia factors on top of that. So now I am home, feeling a little loopy. We just got done watching last nights Glee which was absolutely wonderful.  First of all, I cannot believe that Glee did a Bieber episode. Joel's response was "Everyone's catching the fever."  Second of all, they sang some Rent which is my all time favorite musical! And Sue attempted "Sue-icide" throwing her into a musical number. Oh how I love my Glee. Anyways, I'm going to go catch up on my other missed shows.

Love to all,

Sam

Am I being punk'd?

Sunday night when I went to bed, I knew a cold... or something... was coming. But knowing there was nothing that I could do, I went to sleep.  Surely enough, Monday morning when I woke up I felt a little off.  It mainly just started with a bad headache.  Monday was extremely busy though, and rainy if I'm remembering my days right, so naturally when I got off of work I didn't feel like going to the store.  Tuesday I woke up, my headache was still there trooping along and it had a new friend, runny/stuffy nose. So me and my box of Kleenex headed off to work, but first I called my mom and asked her to pleeeease get me some Tylenol and bring it to me on my break. (I have learned that Tylenol is one of the only things that I can take while I'm pregnant for a headache).  Anyways, I got the Tylenol in me and my headache was manageable.  Of course Wednesday morning I woke up and could barely breath through my nose, sore throat, headache, cough, the works! I attempted to get myself together, although I'm sure looking at me it didn't seem like I had done anything yesterday morning, and left early so that I could run to the store because I learned that I could take Tylenol cold for a cold. I was soooo excited! I ran to CVS, which was an adventure in itself (long story short I learned the life story of a CVS employee who after hearing my dilemma informed me she was glad she never got pregnant because her boyfriend/fiance of 4 years cheated on her with her cousin... trust me it was much longer than that though). Oh so first you have to hear the "dilemma". So knowing where the medicine was, I went to the back of CVS and went straight to the aisle with the cold medicine.  I searched high and low for Tylenol cold until an employee finally walked up the aisle and I asked her where it was.  She asked me "Is that something new?"  Tylenol cold??? Really?  I'm pretty sure I've taken it since I was about... 3?  When I'm not feeling good, it's really hard to be nice to people who aren't helping me out, I sucked it up though and said I don't think so... So she looked all around for it and said she didn't think they carried it yet.  So then the lovely employee whose life I was about to learn all about came walking back asking what we were looking for.  I told her Tylenol cold and she said oh it's over here, I almost hugged her I was so excited.  Then when we walked over to where it was supposed to be she said "Oh that's right, I forgot it's on recall.  But I don't know why they don't still keep it on the shelves for when people need it.  We have a million other cold medicines though."  As if I didn't see that standing in a cold medicine aisle, so I told her I was pregnant and that was the only thing that I knew of that I could take.  This is when she replied "that sucks, glad I've never been pregnant" and proceeded with her life story.  So I picked up some cough drops and figured I would at least take some Tylenol to hold me over so that I didn't die before the day ended.  When I got off work, I called my mom to tell her my unfortunate story and since she was at my house I asked her to look at the list of meds my doctor gave me and see if there was anything else that I could take for a cold.  She found Sudaphed on the list and called the pharmacy just to make sure it was okay.  So I figured one more trip would do it.  Not in the mood to deal with anyone at CVS, I made a Walgreen's stop on my way home.  I had to get the Sudaphed behind the counter, I think just because there had to be another obstacle in my way.  So I handed the guy the little "sudaphed card" that I found on the shelf and he said to me, and I quote, "I'm sorry we're all out of Sudaphed".  I seriously thought that I was going to cry in the store, I didn't know what to think besides that fact that maybe I was being punk'd because there was no way that Tylenol cold was recalled and Sudaphed was sold out.  But then he said, "But we have our brand, is that okay?"  Naturally, I took it... Sudaphed, Wal-phed, (which is seriously what it's called), I didn't care the name of it if it could make me feel better.  So to end my long rant, I started taking it last night and while it really only helps with the nasal congestion, that has helped my headache to go away so now I'm really just left with a sore throat and a smoker's cough... which is really attractive by the way.  But I'm alive and I can deal with a cough, next on the list is chloraseptic spray and I will be on my way back to my normal healthy self again.  So sorry if you wasted your time reading my long rant about my adventures of being sick.  Moral of the story, if you ever need a job, go to CVS because I don't think they have many requirements to work there.

 ~Love, Sam

I survived week 1, now let's go Packers!!!

I officially survived the first week of my new job! At first I wasn't sure what to think, coming into a new classroom with another new teacher after these kids had just lost 2 teachers that they were familiar with since the start of the school year. But they quickly grew to love us... I wouldn't use the word 'love' if it weren't for the 50+ times that I was told "I love you" accompanied by a giant bear hug (It truly amazes me how tight these kids can squeeze you considering they're size!).  So all in all it went very good. I'm starting to get more used to the routine, which is always my biggest concern in starting a new job.  Not necessarily the new people, although that is always a little scary, but knowing what to do, when to do it, how to do it, where everything is, etc... I hate not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing but I think I've gotten pretty familiar with my job expectations now that the first week is over.  It was really hard going in to Barbara Jeans yesterday, being so exhausted from the long week, but I made it through and today I get a real day off. No Step By Step, no Barbara Jeans, just me relaxing (and cleaning).  Today I am also officially 11 weeks. Which means only about 2 more weeks until I can rest a little bit easier knowing that I am entering my second trimester. It also means our baby is about the size of a lime :) so tiny, yet it does so much to your body. Well that's about it for today.

Oh one last thing, it's Superbowl Sunday so that means Go Packers!!!!!

Beginnings

So we went to the doctors and had the most amazing experience, I truly could never have imagined how it would feel to see our little one moving inside of me. I think up until that moment, as excited as I was, I was almost skeptical. I had a feeling that the millions of test that I had taken were wrong or something could go wrong... and I still slightly feel that way. But seeing our baby rolling all around, kicking and punching, and its little heart beating way faster than I could have imagined... was just an experience like no other. It was so sweet seeing Joel's reaction too, he is going to be such an incredible dad! Anyways, we go back February 23rd and get to see our little gummy bear again :) I'm so anxious to see how different it looks, and I hate having to call the baby "it" but that's truly all that we know it is right now so that's the best I can do.

On another note, I started my new job today as a VPK teacher. When I did my internship I was in a class with 18 2nd graders, ranging from 7-9 years old. Now I'm in a class with 4 and 5 year olds. It's amazing how much these children grow in just a couple of years! But I know that I am going to love it. These kids truly depend on you for just about everything. They are sweet as can be and know how to get away with anything. It's going to be hard being strict with them but I gotta do what I gotta do! The staff there is so friendly and willing to help out, which is wonderful with me being new to this age group and with it being my first classroom. I was worried that they would treat me like a child since I look so young but there are some teachers there that are not much older than me and even the ones who have quite a few years on me are very respectful and excited about adding someone to the Step By Step family :) And my wonderful hubby was waiting outside for me on my lunch break to take me out to eat, how did I ever get so lucky?
Well after a rewarding but exhausting day, I'm going to relax so that I have the energy to do it again tomorrow!

~Sam

With changes comes something new

So normally I find myself saying that a lot has happened in the past year, which definitely would not be untrue... marriage, graduation, a move. It's definitely safe to say that a lot has changed in the past month, and I find myself truly blessed... Hence- Why not start a blog! We found out just before Christmas that we're pregnant and couldn't be more overjoyed about it. Those of you who know me know that I am 1 ovary short of the full package and we didn't know how easy or difficult it would be to conceive, about a week after I learned some extremely disconcerting news however, which really threw me for a loop, God gave me this little blessing. I guess everything happens for a reason right? Anyways, I have determined that I hate the coined phrase "morning sickness" because even though morning sickness is REAL, it's just as bad at night... can somebody please come up with a better name? At the end of December I called to make an appointment with the baby doctor (I prefer the term 'baby doctor') and the first date they had available was January 27th.  Guess what today is? January 27th!! I find myself counting down the seconds because naturally the only appointment they had available was 3:00 so we have to wait all day long. I'm just hoping to hear the heartbeat! A little sneak preview wouldn't be so bad either :) So I could go on and on about this pregnancy but I'll stop with that now and move on. After graduation I decided that I was going to take some time before looking for a job working with the little ones, no real reason behind it... just because. Anyways, after finding out about our little surprise, I decided it wouldn't hurt to look for a job that had an actual maternity leave. I mean don't get me wrong,  you can't beat the money you earn serving, but the hours haven't been that great there lately with it being the slow season. I stopped in to this little "learning center" called Step by Step which is about 10 minutes from the house that we're currently building. Oh I left that out by the way, we're building a house! (We just got pictures showing us what they've done so far... very exciting!) Wow I'm all over the place, so the manager just so happened to be a parent of one of the little girls in my 2nd grade class at YPS. Right away she told me there was an opening and I got called in for an interview yesterday.  Long story short, I got the job as a pre-k teacher! I'm extremely excited!! I'll be co-teaching with another teacher until May and then in June I will get my own classroom for summer term.  So for now that's about it... I think I wrote far more than I intended. Until next time,

Sam