Sako gets a say

So tomorrow is the day…. 

we get to find out if our sweet Haby Baby is a boy or a girl. 

I still don't have an inkling either way, once I start leaning in one direction I wake up leaning the other way.  I decided to turn it into a fun math lesson where the kiddos made predictions and we made a graph to document to results.  Apparently they couldn't come to a consensus either since it was a tie! ;)  Aren't their pictures adorable?  Kinder kiddos are so cute! 

As for names, I think we are set if it's a girl. It's the same one we have liked from the get go and the only one that doesn't bring up an association to someone else.  (Being a teacher, you cross a bajillion names of the list before you even get pregnant.) As for the boy, we have a top two but can't figure out which one we like better.  We go to bed really liking one and then wake up liking the other.  So we decided to let Sako pick. 

We put the first letter of our top two on two brand new, never been chewed, rawhides. 

Then we mixed them up and Brett gave them a good toss across the living room, 

and let her decide. 

Too bad she is apparently just as indecisive as we are because she picked one, took it across the room and then came back and chose the other one and went back and forth between the two all night.  So, we are no closer to a decision than before. :(  

Tomorrow is the day and we will get to see our little miracle again.  I love sonograms, and as long as baby is healthy this is probably the last one we will have.  (This is the one where they measure everything, check all the organs and so on so prayers that everything is nice and healthy would be greatly appreciated)  We plan to meet up with our parents for dinner afterwards and then text close family and friends.  Both of us had long hard days today and are determined not to let it get the best of us tomorrow too and rather focus on enjoying the moment because it is a time we will never get again and really need to cherish.  

" I prayed for this child, 

and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." 

 ~ 1 Samuel 1:27

we are so very blessed

Side note: If you noticed the ghetto box fan in the background, it is because our AC really did quit on us finally.  Thankfully we have an awesome AC guy who had out back and made sure we did not get taken for granted. Apparently your AC coil should not be rusted like this.  Thank goodness this part was still under warranty! So far things have been nice and cool in this scorching weather. :) 

"Better Together"

                                                "Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart
                                        Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it’s so hard?
                                                     
It’s not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving
                                               I’ll tell you one thing, it’s always better when we’re together ."  
                                                                                                                       ~ Jack Johnson 


I heart Jack Johnson. He pretty much rocks my socks off, and if you have never heard of him, create yourself a fabulous Jack Johnson station on Pandora and enjoy.  I love turning him on at the end of a long day to keep me company while I do my best to whittle down the humongous to-do list that seems to keep growing no matter how many things I actually get to cross off.  Hence the stuffed Vera bag that is overflowing with school stuff including a billion sentence strips that I need to do.  

But it's okay that I brought all that home because I left school at 3:40 with the specific intention of going to sonic happy hour to reward myself for surviving the week so far. :)  Mission accomplished and enjoyed followed by a trip to Target to just get contact solution.   I ended up leaving with way more than that one item, Target seems to get even the best of us including this awesome onesie.  I have stopped myself from buying any clothing for the baby which isn't that hard since there is so little gender neutral stuff, but I couldn't resist this one. Especially since we call the baby "peanut" all the time.

Oh and speaking of the "peanut"  we get to find out gender one week from today and we still haven't fully decided on a name. This would not be a big deal to most people, but it is bugging me like crazy.  We are good on the name for a girl, but can not for the life of us seem to agree on a name for a boy.  Brett thinks everything I like sounds "too last nameish" and I think everything he likes is "boring".  So, it's back to square one I guess.

Kinder Round 4

Well friends, the marathon has begun. 

 Yes, I certainly consider the first day, week, even month in kindergarten a marathon.  You go, go, go nonstop constantly doing a million different things often all at the same time while taking in all the new kiddos and therefore personalities. Kinder is especially hard because so many of the sweeties have never been in school before or have never been in a structured environment with non-siblings so it takes a little adjusting.  But, once we get adjusted and "trained" as I like to phrase it, we are good to go. :) 


 So far so good, considering how overwhelming the first day is no matter how long you have been teaching or how fabulous your kiddos are. 


Did I accomplish everything I wanted with my kids today? No 


Did I learn all of their names and quite a bit about their little personalities and make them giggle like crazy with my awesome puppeteer skills via Chester Raccoon? You betcha


Did I stay at school until 5:30 making sure everything was perfect and ready to go for tomorrow? Yep


Did I not bring home a single school related thing and for the first time ever just come home with my purse to 2 excited dogs and a hubby already cooking a fabulous dinner? Totally


Did I get to eat a piece of the 3 layer homemade from scratch chocolate mouse cake my awesome Daddy made for me and the growing baby to enjoy after a long hard day? It was heaven!


Now I get to enjoy the fact that I also had enough energy to walk the dogs and clean the kitchen, and just enjoy watching the 2 hours Hell's Kitchen special while literally putting up my aching feet.  


Oh, and here are the adorable flowers my own sweet Mommy got for me to remind me that she loves me just as much as the parents love their kiddos that they are leaving with me for the first time. (Notice the primary colors and pencil details)  They made my day all day and brightened up my room and my heart.  

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards 

of God's grace in its various forms."  

~ 1 Peter 4:10

"These are the Days"

I had a fabulous "final Friday" of summer.  It started with cleaning the house and doing laundry which I hate sometimes and love other times.  Friday I loved it because it gave me a fresh start to the weekend and upcoming craziness of work starting again. Naturally I listened to Pandora radio the whole time and the song that made a mark on me yesterday was Sugarland's "These are the Days"  The chorus of the song is 

"We can't forget, these are the days
Whoa, don't be afraid
We can't forget, these are the days"

and it hit me that so often I am so busy with life in general that I often forget to sit back and enjoy the ride and have to remind myself that my life is something special that God gave me and wants me to cherish.  So I made it a point to cherish every part of the day. 

I had a Starbucks date with my dear friend and her beautiful son.  She's getting used to being a brand new mommy and it was lovely to catch up with her and get some insight into what's coming.  

I cut 10 inches off my hair.  I am donating it to locks of love, and love the new do.  This morning when I washed it, it weirded me out a bit that I got to use so much less conditioner and had so little hair there. But, I did like how easy it was to style. 

Then I went to Ulta and got some new makeup to play with. 

I finally started reading the book kinder is using to pump up math this year.  I got a few pages deep while having lunch on the patio at Pei Wei.  Yum...

That afternoon my mom and adorable niece and nephew came over to play.   We started it off by watching Sako or "Pyscho" as my mom nicknamed her and the kiddos call her go for a jog on the treadmill.  Our silly dog loves to run on the treadmill and will often stand there and whine until we turn it on for her. 

After that we put on our suits and went swimming at my aunts.  It was so much fun and relaxing at the same time.  These kids are a hoot and I love spending that quality time with them.  Brett joined us after he got off work.  He brought us pizza and got in some excellent "Daddy practice"!

She already loves her cousin and gives "the baby" pats on the head, hugs, and kisses.

16 weeks, 4 days 

Her new best buddy! 

Sweet Ruby fetching the ball.

Swimming away. 

She's got some pretty good dance moves! 

They loved having uncle Brett throw them high in the air! 

Or give them rides. 

Especially the fun "Shamu" rides! 

Even the flowers seemed more beautiful than usual.

We ended the night with a movie (How to train your dragon) and popcorn made on the stove.  They had never done this before and were obviously amazed. 

These certainly are the days and yesterday was an extra special one! 

"So Small"

This is my first post in a long time, and I promise there is good reason for that.  We have had a lot going on at the Haby house and are going through a lot of changes, some big and some small, and I'll get to that…

Me and Brett at our 1st Christmas together 9 years ago as high school seniors. We look so young!

Driving home today Carrrie Underwood's song "So Small" came on and it literally brought me to tears.  Maybe it has to do with my raging hormones, but I just felt the lyrics speaking to me.  (Does that ever happen to you? It happens to me ALL the time, which could be why I love lyrics so very much)  If you are not a Carrie fan shame on you or just can't recall the song, here it is. 

"What you got if you ain't got love

the kind that you just want to give away

It's okay to open up

go ahead and let the light shine through

I know it's hard on a rainy day

you want to shut the world out and just be left alone

But don't run out on your faith

[Chorus]

'Cause sometimes that mountain you've been climbing is just a grain of sand

What you've been up there searching for

forever is in your hands

When you figure out love is all that matters after all

It sure makes everything else 

seem so small

[Verse 2]

It's so easy to get lost inside

a problem that seems so big at the time

it's like a river thats so wide

it swallows you whole

While you sit around thinking about what you can't change

and worrying about all the wrong things

time's flying by

moving so fast

you better make it count 'cause you can't get it back

[Chorus]

Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing is just a grain of sand

What you've been up there searching for

forever is in your hands

When you figure out love is all that matters after all

It sure makes everything else 

Seem so small

Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing is just a grain of sand

What you've been up there searching for

forever is in your hands

When you figure out love is all that matters after all

It sure makes everything else 

Oh it sure makes everything else 

Seem so small"

This song pretty much describes how I feel about life at times, especially this summer. Overall I consider myself a fairly quite person who only opens up to those I'm close to and comfortable with and it kind of takes awhile to get to know me because I have got to feel you out first.  Sure I'm bubbly, but I'm always taking it all in and analyzing everything, and I mean everything.  Relaxing is not a word I am familiar with and I am trying to learn to apply that concept in life.  As I've worked through the learning to "Let Go and Let God" 25 @ 25 goal, I have been better about praying on it and handing big things over to him, knowing he has got a plan, but I need to apply that concept to the little things too.  

This summer I felt awful pretty much 94% of the time.  This had to do with a combination of an overwhelming amount of grad school, morning sickness, and overall stress with too many things pushing in at once.  I basically wanted to crawl into a hole and just survive the next few weeks which is pretty much exactly what I did.  In my mind, it was hard to see through the storm, my own personal storm which seemed like nothing to an outsider looking in but was raging in my world, and almost every day was a "rainy day".  It was 2 months of "a river so big that it swallows you whole" and there were many hours wasted on stressing about about things I couldn't change in all the situations.  

Then today, it hit me out of nowhere that "the mountain I've been climbing was just a grain of sand" and what I've "been up there searching for is forever in my hands".  I am now completely done with graduate school and have a master's degree in library science.  I worked very hard to get it and spent the past 14 months pushing myself to the limit to do so.  Now that it is over and I never have to think or complain about it ever again, I can finally look back and reflect on it.  It seemed so overwhelming at the time, in the midst of it all, but it was just another path in the road God designed for me.  And you know what, at the end of the day, even though I am glad I have it, that expensive diploma hanging on the wall really doesn't matter.  The fact that I am beyond blessed with a plethora of beautiful, loving, and amazing people surrounding me is what really matters. 

I have a husband who I adore and appreciate more than words can describe.  He may not be my entire world, but he certainly is the sun that lights it up and keeps it spinning.  I have parents that love me deeply, constantly, and entirely as well as siblings and nieces and nephews whom I love.  Lucky me, I also have a second family of fabulous in-laws packed with parents who love me like a daughter, brothers who welcome me as a sister, and a sister-in-law who is easily the sister I never had and one of my most treasured friends.  My extended family is awesome as well and are the strongest people I know, especially my aunt Dawn, uncle Mickey, and grandmas.  I love you all so very much, even if I don't say it as much as I should.  Let's not forget my two furry, four-legged babies and the sweet gift growing inside me right now that I know I will love with more intensity than I ever though possible. 

Take it to the next level and I have some pretty awesome friends who I can not see for months and then pick up with like we had never been apart. I also work with great people and truly love my job, which makes earning a paycheck 10 billion times more enjoyable.  Even the little things like the fact that I have a nice roof over my head and plenty to eat are blessings that I sometimes forget to count. 

My world is full of love and now that I've figured out that "love is all that matters after all"  all the things that seem scary or overwhelming to me right now really are "so small".

Since that was a dozy of a long post let me sum up the changes/ recent occurrences for you.

* My husband started a brand new job this week. 

* I am done with grad school forever! :) High five for me!

* We spent a nice long weekend at the coast to celebrate the above two things. :)

* Summer is over. :( I can't be too sad about this because I never really had a break, but still.

* I get 22 maybe more like 24 brand new kiddos in my class in a little over a week.  Scary and exciting all at once.  I am already having the back to school nightmares and have spent days in my classroom organizing EVERYTHING.  

* We are starting to shop for daycares.  Apparently you have to get on a waiting list months before the baby is born so ANY guidance in this area would be greatly appreciated. 

* I'm over morning sickness, but the doctor told me that the back/ tailbone/ round ligament pain I am experiencing is going to be bad/ get even worse for me due to a slight medical issue.  Lovely.  The things we mommies go through for our kiddos. ;) 

* Our AC is broken. Not not cooling broken, the guy put a "patch" on it while we order parts/ determine how much needs to be replaced, but it is likely to stop cooling pretty quick here.

* The door handle on our car is broken too.  To get out of the car we have to leave it running, roll down the window, open the door by reaching out and opening it from the outside, roll the window back up, and then turn off the car.  Ghetto much?  

* We find out the baby's gender on August 31st.  Brett and my mom think girl and I am kinda thinking boy.  KIND OF, like 48% of me thinks girl and 52% thinks boy.  I'm a pretty intuitive person; I told Brett I knew I was pregnant about 6 days after conception, way before a test would show it, and was right!  I would truly be happy and beyond blessed with either gender so maybe thats why I am not having any real intuitive feelings.  Brett says as long as they are healthy, happy, can throw a ball, cast a fishing pole, and shoot a gun, we've got a winner. ;)  I think being able to read a book and being nice are plusses too…

* I have a hair appointment at 11:45 tomorrow.  I still don't know if I am going to cut it all off… I have reached "mermaid hair" status which was another goal on my 25 @ 25.  I am sick of blow drying/ straightening it all though. It takes forever when it is this long and considering I am not going to be able to just ponytail it like I did all summer starting on Monday, I better have a plan.  Also it is naturally curly as you can see in the opening picture and when it this long the curl is just a stretched out nasty mess rather than cute so I pretty much have to straighten it.  Brett said he thinks it might make me look 12 if it is short, so it might be a game time decision when I get in the stylist chair.  Here is the current length.

* My mommy took me shopping for some new clothes.  I went through my closet to see what fit and what didn't and realized that even though I'm not showing too much, this baby is starting to give me hips and a butt which I have never really had before.  I also can't button even my way low rise pants and have invested in a Bella Band to try and drag a few more things out. I've only gained one or two pounds thus far (16.5 weeks in) so it's not just that I'm already getting fat…   Destination maternity has the baby belly things that you strap on to see what stuff will fit like when you get farther along and my mom and I had fun with that. ;)