Aunt Deanna's Visit and 1 month pictures

The night that Gracyn was born I called my sis (within minutes of her birth) to tell her she had a beautiful new niece. It was such a surprise. It seems as though everyone in my family has boys! The next morning I talked to her again and she told me that even though she was coming to keep Gracyn for a week in April, she couldn't wait that long to see her and hold her. Here we are- not quite a month late, I am finally posting pictures from my sister's visit on Feb. 20-22. This was a quick trip that took almost as much time to travel as she had to spend here! She had to fly from California!

Here is a picture of what our welcome sign looked like. I have always wanted to make one and this was the first time that I ever did.

We drove to Chattanooga that night so we could see dad before he left for Honduras. DeAnna also wanted to get out to see Mamaw while she was in town. That gave us an opportunity to introduce Gracyn to a lot of our family.

Dad loves to wrestle with his grandsons. I think he is going to have to learn some new moves for his little princess!


Gracyn loves her Aunt DeAnna!


Mamaw tells me that I have the loudest kids...wonder where they get that?

I love this picture. Mamaw looks so happy and proud. I wish that I lived closer so that we could visit more often.

My cousin's puppy- Carter loved playing with him! He also thought it was great that he had on Go Vols clothes!


Gracyn at One Month!

She likes to stick her tongue out!

I also took Carter's picture in this chair each month.


Hopefully I will be posting her two month pics soon! It has been hard to blog and keep up with my friends. I had such an easy time with Carter, except for the trouble gaining weight. Gracyn is a good eater, but she needs to be held a lot. She cries most of the time unless she is being held. It has made things very exhausting lately. I am praying that things will get better soon! Carter is still doing a great job as big brother. He loves his little sis and talks to her so sweetly. I am looking forward to doing more fun things with the two of them this summer.

What I miss about being pregnant

My friend Jenny has had several "Ten Things Tuesday" blog entries. I have thought about doing one for a while but haven't gotten around to it until now.

The things I miss about being pregnant:
1. the big round TIGHT belly that looked cute in most clothes
2. the anticipation of finding out if we were having a boy or girl
3. feeling every move
4. not really worrying about exercise even when the waist was quickly expanding
5. being the only one who knew when Gracyn had the hiccups
(which she continues to have about 4 times daily!)
6. not feeling too guilty when I pigged out on ice cream while watching The Biggest Loser.
7. having the excuse of not being able to reach your toes = pedicure!
8. being tired after working all week, going home to all the work a mother must also do at home, and being pregnant = manicure to go with pedicure!
9. the nesting phase- I sure did get a lot of things organized and cleaned up! Wish I were motivated like that more often!
10. Carrying with me, at all times, a constant reminder of the miracle that was growing inside of me. Thank you God for allowing me to have the honor of being Gracyn's mommy.

Life with two little ones..

I am trying to adjust to our new life. I can honestly say that it is wonderful and very easy at times. At other times I feel so confident and then I get blindsided by all the things that need to be taken care of right then! I know all of you moms out there understand. I am going to try o make blogging a part of my schedule again. I miss all of my friends that I keep up with online! I just feel blessed to know that I don't have to go back to work until April 13th. Only six weeks of work and I will be off for the summer! Here are some pictures that capture our current routines.



Enjoying yummy treats on Valentine's day- Carter would have eaten all 5 pieces in the box if I had let him!


We also spend a lot of time just looking at our little girl.


Gracyn's first bath, with lots of help from her big brother.


Of course Carter has been playing ball(baseball, basketball, and football). Here he is perfecting his catcher's stance.


Gracyn just sits back and takes it all in. So far she is very laid back!

Cheering on the Vols! Even when times are a little rough...

Last Saturday (10/3), we took Carter to his second UT game. Even though the team is not doing so hot (to say the least)we really had a great time. He wore his jersey and his helmet, of course! On our way from where we parked to the Vol walk, a man stopped us. "He looks so cute in that jersey! We have got to get a picture of him!" All right. "Do you have a camera? I can take one for you too." I'm thinking as I look for the camera, which has fallen to the innermost depths of the diaper bag, "Is this guy going to take off with our camera or what? He looks like a nice guy, he has his camera why would he need ours?" Just as I look up with the camera, I notice that there is a really tall (and good looking) man right beside me- It's Eric Ainge! "I had to get my picture taken with him. He looks so cute!" This is Eric talking about Carter who is wisely wearing the #10!

Carter giving Eric a high five. He is really tall but we were on the downside of the hill in this picture making him look even taller!



Jumping in the inflatables at Volunteer Village


Our happy little family!

He's still awake! It only took about 10 minutes in the car until he was snoring. He takes after his mom when it comes to hard core snoozing! We had so much fun talking him to the game. He was cheering along with everyone and even told a few people "That's not nice, your not posed to say that" when they were booing some not so good plays. He loved doing the wave- even though he was always a bit behind everyone else. I think everyone around us enjoyed seeing the game through his eyes. There were so many people who stopped and talked to us and told stories about bringing their own kids to UT games. I hope this is a fun tradition that we are able to continue with Carter and the new babyfor many years.

It's a....

healthy baby at 16 weeks. We didn't want to find out if we are having a boy or girl. We actually hoped for a suprise when Carter was born, but a little miscommunication with the doctor meant that we found out we were having a boy around 15 weeks with Carter.

Right now the plan is for Carter to get a big boy room (currently the guest room) and move the baby into his nursery. The nursery is decorated with pale lime green walls and white beadboard and other pastel colors. It is a pretty gender neutral room. Several family members have voiced their frustrations with ,but for now we are not swayed! If only we could think of a name!

Changes

I posted this last night but it showed up in June instead of August. Instead of spending more time trying to figure out how to fix it, I am just going to copy and paste it here.

I have always been someone who looks forward to changes. I like to visit new places, try new foods, and I am often rearranging my furniture at home or in my class. Now don't get me wrong, I am big on traditions too. There are lots of things I don't want to budge on. I also like to change things on my terms. I want to make the plans and see them through. Over the past few years, I have grown to understand that I don't always get to plan when these changes will take place. I don't always understand why God makes me wait when I am ready to move on. In time it always makes sense but in the moment, I usually get a little impatient and frustrated.

This last year was really tough for me in a lot of ways. The most difficult aspect of this last year was work. It was just one of those years. I couldn't have had another one like it this year. When I finally made it through the year, Matt and I were focusing on what kind of changes we wanted to make to improve our lives. We thought about moving to Bristol to the FREE house waiting for us. Did I mention that this house is on the lake and was built only 2 years ago? There is a pictue of Matt, Carter, and Wayne taken at the creek about 200 feet from the house on my father's day post. We also though about staying here. As a matter of fact I applied for jobs in Bristol and surrounding systems and transfers in Knox County. I really prayed and asked for God's guidance in the decisions that we would need to make. If I get a job in Bristol do I move and let Matt stay here until he finds a job? Do we sell the house or try to rent it? If I get a job here, do I take it? What if I take it and then Bristol calls and offers a job? What if nothing happens and next year is even harder at school?!!

While I was trying to play the "what if" game, I was also really trying to turn things over to God. That's not easy for me. Remember, I like to be in charge. That's probably why I like teaching. I am in charge of about 20 little people all day long. If something isn't working, I can change the way we do it.

I also thought about all the times in my life when I was looking for what was going to come next, instead of fully enjoying where I was. When I was in high school, I couldn't wait to be more independent and move off to college. When I was in college, I couldn't wait to get married and start teaching. When I was living in an apartment I couldn't wait for us to buy a house. All of these stages were wonderful, but I didn't always appreciate them at the time.

I have to say that when I began focusing on turning things over to God everything became a lot more clear. I have more peace. My life is great, even though it is far from perfect. I am accepting the flaws and working on them.

As far as the big decisions in my life, I feel like God helped me out there. I just started a job at a Cedar Bluff Elementary School where I am teaching Kindergarten. The new building is being finished this year and I love my huge brand new room! It has an office and a huge closet! I will miss some wonderful friends and mentors at Pond Gap but I am ready for this change. I think God knew that I needed a new path to follow.

The week after I went on my interview for the postion at CBE, I began feeling sick. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, I just felt nauseaus all day. Of course (as you know by now), I was pregnant. Another way God was showing me he was in control! We just assumed we would have to go back to a specialist to make it a reality. This baby is such a blesssing. We had wanted a little brother or sister for Carter for a while. I am so glad that we did not have to wait as long or go through all the struggles that we went through before.

I am not the only one with big changes- Matt is going back to school. He started the MBA program at King College last week. He drives to Bristol for class once a week and spends the night. He is really enjoying the learning and I know he is going to do great!Carter also started preschool. We were so lucky to have Holly adopt him as her own the past two years, I was afraid we wouldn't find anything that we would be satisfied with. We still miss Holly, but he is doing well at his new school.

I am humbled by all of the ways our family is experiencing blessings right now. I hope that all of my friends and family who have showed me the example of truly turning things over to God will understand what an impact you have made in my life. I feel blessed to have such wonderful people to go on life's journey with. I pray that you are all well and will continue to live for Him.


Carter's first day at school! He loves his backpack. He left it on for the first 30 minutes each day that first week.

Thanks for taking pictures Matt! I had to be at work :(.

What other things we've been up to...

I'll give you a clue. Check out the new ticker to the right. :)

I also started my new job today! I was ready for change and boy are we getting some exciting changes!