2nd Ultrasound

Well at our 2nd ultrasound, they told us it is officially a GIRL!  Yippee, Amelia Hope will be joining us in October!  At this ultrasound, they also confirmed that her heart clearly had 4 chambers and all was well.  We got to see little Amelia sucking her thumb, and it was so so precious.  These pictures were taken at 22 weeks and we are now 28 weeks so she has grown leaps and bounds by now!

Half-way There!

Can you belive I will be 22 weeks pregnant tomorrow, which makes us over half-way there!  We are so excited!  Our 20 week anatamy scan went really well, and the tech said she "thought" it was a Girl!  We go back tomorrow to confirm that and check out the 4 chambers of the heart one last time.  Since it is a girl, we are naming her Amelia Hope, and we just know she will be precious.  The last 2 weeks Amelia has been extra active, kicking and flipping around, and Jason has even felt her for the first few times which has thrilled him!  I took Amelia on her first plane ride this past weekend to visit Milwaukee, WI to see my friend Alice and her fiance Cam.  Amelia handled the plane ride better than I did; I hate flying!  We had a wonderful time sightseeing and eating cheese.  The weather was also much cooler which was a needed break from the 90-100 degree weather we have been experiencing down in SC.  As the school year winds down, and summer begins, we are excited to get Amelia's nursery put together, and to visit with family and good friends back home and at the beach.  I will be turning 30 in 2 weeks, and cannot believe how blessed I am to be entering parenthood at such a wonderful time.  We will put a picture up of our next ultrasound on Thursday!

Daycare Drama

Oh Baby!  We have been researching daycares.  Sigh.  What an overwhelming experience!! (and we do not even live in a big town!).  First, everyone that you ask will have a different opinion or each daycare.  So that was not really helpful.  Second, both Jason and I work early morning jobs; I need to be at work by 7:15-7:30 and Jason needs to be in Savannah by 7:30 also.  SO, most daycares in our town do not open until 7 or 7:15.  Annoying.  Also, because we both commute, nothing is really close to either of our workplaces.  We are still touring all of them but it has come down to either we need an early morning drop off in Bluffton, OR we will have to find a center on the Island. 
Our next big surprise was how much CRAP you have to send with your baby for daycare.  I am talking about 3 sets of crib sheets, blankets, burp cloths, extra clothes, bottles, passies, kleenex etc. etc.  It only seems like so many things mostly because we don't have any of this yet for ourselves.  It just reminded us of all the things babies require and that we do not know how to use some of them either. 
Lastly, every time I visit a center, it seems to be chaos and babies everywhere.  I know they are fine and the ratios are legal, but I just worry about leaving such a young infant.  I know this is normal and it will get easier, but it is still hard!
We are visiting many this week and on the 19th after our doctor appointment, so we will let everyone know where we decide!

Sticky Bean Smitty

Well, since we have gone public on facebook, we finally decided to update our blog!  We promise to write more since we have a bun in the oven and hope to be connected to friends and family back home through the blog to share our experience.
First, meet little Smitty:

This picture is actually "old" now as it was taken at 10 weeks, and we are now 15 weeks!  Smitty has surely grown leaps and bounds since then (and so has mommy).  Seeing Baby Smitty at 10 weeks was such a job because he/she was bouncing all over the places flapping his/her little arms and legs.  We have our anatomy scan on May 19th, and then we can stop calling him/her a bean or an it.  We can not wait!
At our last appointment, the heartrate was down from 155 to 145, so we are still leaning towards little Andrew instead of little Amelia, but of course no one really knows! 
No other new news to report besides the bean.  Jason and I both are happy in our jobs and even happier to be working the same shift together.  We will soon learn my fate about my contract extension for next year, and as soon as we do we will be shopping for a bigger place to live so everyone can come down and babysity for us.
Much love.

High Speed January

Well, so far this first month of the new year is flying by!
We had a great time in Gboro for MLK weekend celebrating Jack's birthday, and see my family as well.  Although I love our time in Gboro with everyone, slowly, our home in S.C. is becoming home.  We are sometimes eager to get back to our little routines.  It is nice to be happy in both places.
So far, our favorite Christmas present is Audrey and Charles' gift of the BluRay player and Netflix!  We love being able to watch our favorite movies and shows instantly!

Even though our week was short after MLK weekend, is was a busy one.  I had my monthly bookclub meeting, which I look forward to each month!  We keep attracting new amazing women, and keep reading great books!  This month we read The Lace Reader, and we also found out that The South Magazine is going to do a feature article on our bookclub.  Miki, our founder, had the great idea of starting an Adventure Book Club, where after every book the host picks an adventure that correlates with the book.  It has been a blast so far, and I look forward to every adventure!

This past week I had a day of professional development, which is pretty much a bunch of teachers that sit around and complain about everything.  My profession is so hard to stay positive in!  I hope I can stay optimistic for a few more years.  I also had a girls night with some of my amazing coworkers, and then Jason and I went on a date on Saturday night.  We searched and searched for some awesome Bluffton restaurants to visit, and of course ended up picking La Hacienda.  Will we every stray from chips, salsa, and margaritas??
We are looking forward to February as we are hosting a SuperBowl party!!  Also, I will be heading out of town for a while to chaperone our school's Model U.N. team.  We are competing at Georgia Southern University where we placed 2nd last year.  I am excited to see so many bright high school students debate about the world's pressing problems!
As always, come visit if you wish! We love you!

Winter Weather

Well, it is official!  I got my first 2 hour delay of the year!  Yippee!  I know most of the South is getting mucho snow and ice this week, but I was so excited to see Freezing Rain on our forcast that I could barely get to sleep.  The roads were fine driving in this morning, but inland areas were right at freezing so the whole county had to delay.  The school pretty much fell apart this morning with teachers and students not knowing about the delay, no bell schedule, etc.  I was just happy for my 2 extra hours of sleep!

We are excited to come home again this weekend to celebrate Jason dad's birthday!  We are also excited about the 3 day MLK weekend!

Even LAMER

Ok, well I think it might be hard to catch up on everything Jason and I have done since October.
Here is the short and sweet:
We had the BEST time with dear friends Megan and Sean who came to visit!

We also had an awesome time enjoying Savannah around Halloween time.  We took a haunted walking ghost tour with Audrey, Charles, Lauren, and Alan! Then I took a traveling hearse tour with my book club (in honor of Pride and Prejudice).  Then... we went on a haunted pub crawl with Jack and Cindy! I think I know all the ghost stories now, so come on down next year!
Other highlights of fall include going home for the official weekend of Halloween and seeing Jack Henry trick or treat.

November had its ups and downs.  I was able to travel home for Thanksgiving, but without my hubby who had to work the entire week and weekend.  We also have been struggling in our attempts to start a family.  This has been both humbling, emotional, and an exciting time in our relationship.
December FLEW by!  I had my FIRST oyster at my staff Christmas Party Oyster roast (it was ok), we went to another neighborhood oyster roast, attended the Bluffton Christmas Parade, and some of my girls from work had an enormous cookie party! 
We were able to come home for Christmas, and though it was a whirlwind of family, friends, snow, and food- it was a GREAT time for us!  We really miss everyone in NC, but it did feel like "coming home" when we drove back to SC.  We took down Christmas, cleaned and organized, and are ready to enjoy 2011.
Work is going good for me.  I had excellent observations in the fall, and am starting a new chapter of the National Beta Club of my school.  Jason is also doing well in work.  Had a good performance evaluation in October, and really really hopes that the first shift vacancy could possibly be his soon (fingers and toes crossed!).  We hope to have more visitors once the spring time arrives. 
I will try and post more pics of our Christmas visit soon.  AND I will try and update more frequently! Hugs to all.