Christmas

 Updated Fireplace

Cute changing pad cover!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that Santa brought them everything they wanted this year. Jeremy and I had a great Christmas! All we wanted were baby things off of our gift registry since that is what we really need. At my parents house we always open presents from my Grandma Kirby on Christmas eve and this year we opened my Aunt and Uncles presents, then we go hang out at the Marks till late. On Christmas morning we get up and go over EARLY to my parents because all of my nephews and nieces are excited to open presents. We got so many wonderful things for this baby boy at my parents house including many VT outfits (yup, he will be ready for those tailgates)! We also got the bedding for the crib which Jeremy and I love! Later in the day we go to the Jeremy's parents house and eat food and spend time with them. They also got us many nice things for the baby, like a precious Steelers outfit and a baby monitor. My favorite gift of all from them though has to be the prenatal massage I get to go get (I am super excited)!!!!! We even got a white Christmas as it snowed here all day! We got so many more nice things from both families but there are too many to list. We are very blessed to have such wonderful families!

The fireplace is coming along and is looking close to finish. Jeremy hopes he can get the fireplace finished by the end of this week. After we get the fireplace finished he still has to stone the bar, paint the kitchen, put all the trim back up, and hang the lights over the bar. Nothing to be stressed over right? He works so hard! My big project for this week is hopefully finish cleaning downstairs. When I say I am cleaning downstairs I mean I am scrubbing the baseboards, the walls, the carpets, and everything in between. It is no light task in itself, but it already looks like a completely different room down there!

There have not been many changes this week with the baby other than me continuing to get larger and larger. The baby continues to have no schedule (that I can tell). My ribs have been hurting the past couple weeks and I have found that putting a pillow behind my back seems to help. We do have a doctors appointment this week so I will update you after that. It should be a regular check this week. Next week we start our Prepared Childbirth Classes, which Jeremy and I think should be interesting and fun.

For New Years we are going to a party at Dusty and Danielle's house which we are excited! I hope everyone gets to spend the New Years with the ones they love! Just think next year I will have two cute boys to kiss at midnight!

The Best Time of Year

Basically, our lives continue to center around working on the house! We finally have stone going on the fireplace (YAY!). It is looking great but is a very slow process, Jeremy keeps telling me it is like working a jigsaw puzzle. I am completely amazed at the wonderful work he has done and continues to do. Thanks to Mike and Papa Joe who have helped him this week! We also put in new lights in the dining room and kitchen and they look great! Shew, I feel like things are starting to come together, which is important since we only have 10 more weeks until little man is here!

This week I was supposed to work five days, however, with the upcoming holiday one teacher canceled and then we had two snow days. What an easy unexpected week for me. On Monday I was with a really cute first grade class (that I have been with several times this year), they finally realized I was going to have a baby. The students were so cute because they were really excited and would rub my belly and talk to the baby. One student even begged to rub my feet (I would not allow him to do so!). They even told their teacher the next day about me having a baby! This next week is going to be light as well since the kids only go to school a day and a half before getting out on Christmas break. However, I do get to go in on Monday to be in a Kindergarten room (the kids are going to be WILD).  I have to say these days have been very helpful in getting things done for Christmas and around the house. I am determined to have this house clean and looking nice by the time the baby gets here!

This week the baby has been fairly active. It is really neat to feel elbows and arms just kinda roll across the stomach. I have found it is really neat to feel the baby move at night when I am laying on my side. Jeremy gets excited when he feels the baby move and talks to it telling him to "give him a high five".  For me these days sleep is something I dread. Everyone tells you to get as much sleep as you can before the baby comes. That is easier said than done. I get up some mornings after have only slept for 3 to 4 hours. I sometimes have to make potty breaks in the middle of the night up to 5 times! The hips continue to be the only ouchy part of the pregnancy. They hurt so badly by morning that I wake up in tears. I will be very happy to sleep (even for an hour) on my stomach! This week I also learned that I need to start slowing down. I typically walk on the treadmill for about 20-30 mins. each day. I am also cleaning and scrubbing the house, going to the grocery store, trying to find Christmas presents, cooking dinner, and of course spending time with the dogs. By the end of the day I am exhausted and things are achy, like my back and feet! I am trying to still do everything but with a lot more breaks and not as much at one time! We will see how this next week goes.

We are really looking forward to Christmas with our families and hope that everyone has a Very Merry Christmas!

P.S. Dear Santa,
All I want for Christmas is a couple of good nights of sleep before the baby comes! Oh and maybe all the construction projects finished and the house clean! Please!

A Busy Life

This is by far my favorite time of year. There are so many wonderful things going on around this time. I went to our towns Christmas parade the other night to see my nephew and niece in the parade. We also were able to go to my nephews band concert this week and I was very impressed to see how fast he was able to play the drums. In the upcoming week we will get to go see my other nephew and niece sing in a Christmas play at their church. These activities really put me in the Christmas spirit.

This past week I was able to have the entire week off from work, partly because I had taken that long term job and some principles were not aware I was available again. This was truly a blessing because I was able to accomplish so much during the week. I am also a little concerned with going into classrooms right now where teachers are sick because I would hate to get sick (I have avoided it this far)! I got the house cleaned and washed my first load of baby clothes, steam cleaned the stairs, work on Christmas cards and Christmas presents, and finally return some wedding supplies I bought and never used (like candles and ribbon) to get almost $200 dollars back! I even managed to order contacts and earn $2 using a rebate. 

Jeremy has been taken some days off work to work on our fireplace and go to doctors appointments with me. This week he took Wednesday off to go to the doctors appointment with me but decided instead that he would work on the fireplace. We actually have something that looks like a fireplace! Unfortunately, I still don't think that we will finish until almost time for the baby. Jeremy has been working so hard and I am so proud of him, he has done better than I could have ever imagine!

Baby- We went to the doctor this week to check on baby and do the fun glucose test. The glucose test came back normal so we are all good there. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat which is always nice to hear. The doctor measured my belly and said that I am measuring at 29 weeks instead of 28 weeks which means we may have a baby sooner than we thought! I continue to feel the baby move a lot, sometimes the baby feels like it is kicking my ribs or jumping on my bladder. Jeremy and I did invest in a new bed as I was having trouble get out of the water bed. I continue to be feeling well and hope that I have a good next week because I am working every day (which tends to be a lot harder on my body).

Below are pictures of where we are at with the fireplace right now and new baby bump picture!

Happy Holidays

It has been a while since my last post. Things have been extremely busy around here, plus my computer got a virus and is no longer working (lucky for me Jeremy has lots of computers in the house). We are continuing to work on the house to get it ready for baby. The fireplace has been moving along. We now have gas running to it and Jeremy is framing it in and getting ready to put the stone around it. We are very lucky to have some wonderful friends and family that are willing to come over and help Jeremy get this project finished. It makes us feel very loved knowing that they are willing to work on their days off in order to help us out. While Jeremy has been working on the fireplace I have been working on rearranging the house. We now have a nursery and a office downstairs. My mom helped me put together the crib and dresser (better yet I helped my mom, since she did most of the work). Some days I feel like the house is finally coming together, other days I feel like we have a million things still left to do.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. Jeremy and I watched the parade while cooking a turkey for my family. My aunt and uncle typically cook the turkey but my aunt had recently had knee surgery so Jeremy and I offered to do it.  We go to my aunt and uncles for lunch with my family. One of my favorite family traditions is my mom and aunt put together out first "Christmas present" of the year which consist of lots of things to decorate the house with or holiday clothing. Next, we go to Jeremy's parents house for Thanksgiving dinner. We really enjoy the quiet time just chatting with family over at his parents house. It is always so calm and relaxing there (this might be the last year though because next year we will have babies at dinner). I get so excited for Thanksgiving because it kicks off my favorite time of year. I really enjoy Christmas time and I have decided that it is because of the children in my life. I really love all the cute Christmas plays and activities children do in the schools and I enjoy seeing them be excited about the big day! If you don't know what I am talking about you should spend a day in a kindergarten or first grade classroom near Christmas time.

The baby has changed so much recently. I have gotten much larger recently (even though I have actually lost a little weight, the belly continues to grow). I now have trouble getting out of the water bed, so Jeremy and I are looking at buying a regular mattress for the bed instead. It is starting to get uncomfortable when I don't move for a long time or if I am on my feet a lot. The baby's movements have changed. It is not so much kicking anymore as stretching and I feel it on both sides of my body at the same time. The baby has also found my ribs and thought that they would be fun to kick. I actually enjoy being able to feel the baby more and he has been a lot more active recently. Having the nursery set up has made the baby's upcoming arrival more exciting. We are actually making a home for the little guy!

We hope that everyone has a happy and safe holidays and enjoy being around loved ones!

Work...work and more work

Things with the house are really moving along. We have our granite installed and now we are knocking out walls to make room for the fireplace. I must admit there were some times when I wasn't sure if my house was still going to be standing, however, everything seems to be going well. Our goal is to have everything finished by Christmas because then we will need to work on getting things ready for the sweet baby. I will upload pictures to this blog to show you our work in progress!

 This picture is of Coby hiding behind the window curtains....the dogs have not been big fans of the noise!

On the baby side of things......things have been going well. I have another doctors appointment next week. I have been experiencing some of the not so pleasant things about pregnancy. Depending on if I am working my feet have started to swell, but not very bad (just bad enough to convince Jeremy and my wonderful mom to give me a foot massage every once in a while). Baby has been moving around a lot and I have been enjoying that. I haven't been as hungry lately, but I also haven't been able to find exactly what I want to eat! Nothing is appealing to me right now. The other thing I wanted to address was the issue with people and the baby bump. I have gotten bigger to where I feel I look pregnant but apparently to others they aren't so sure yet. I have been around a few other pregnant ladies where people would ask them when they are due or what they are having and then just look at me like its not happening, or people are staring at my belly but don't approach the subject (which just makes it awkward). There are some days I feel like wearing a sign that says "No I am not just gaining weight now that I am married...I am pregnant!" Jeremy and I sit around and kinda giggle about it if it was really awkward because I don't take offense. I feel pretty good about where I am at with my weight I am right on target if not a little below and I am feeling good.

I am very sad that this Friday I will have to say goodbye to one of my best friends who is moving to Richmond. I am very excited for her because I know this is a wonderful move for her and her family, however, I want to be a little selfish and keep her here with me. I wouldn't be where I am today if it were not for her. She stole my credit card out of my purse and signed me up for my teaching license test because she knew I wouldn't do it. She encouraged me in to get my masters in teaching. I am going to miss her so much but I know that we will see each other at tech games and when I go shopping in Richmond. She is going to be the best stay at home mommy! I also get to be a sub for her (for the second time) until they find someone to take her place, which I am very excited about. I love her students so much and I am very excited to be able to work every day with them for a little while!

Welcome November

Things have been a little crazy here lately. Jeremy has had lots going on at work and home and for the first time since June I worked every day for a week. I know some people may say they do that all the time, however, it is really hard to work a whole week after your body has gotten used to a different schedule. I am not complaining. I have been really excited about working and of course it is good money as well. This is the first weekend we haven't had a football game, and as much as we love going to VT football games these weekends are always welcome. We took the extra time to register for our lil' man (I will post our registry for those who want it at the end of this blog, it is still subject to change as we are still making decisions). Jeremy also started to install our fireplace. This will be a very long project as we have to cut through walls and add stone work. This is our last project before the baby comes. After we finish this we will start setting things up for the baby and enjoying the holiday season (hopefully we will be done before Christmas). I am super excited to have all our house projects finished....until then I will try and be patient and as helpful as possible. Jeremy is always working hard between his job and working here.

On the baby side of things..... I have def. started growing more and more. I did have a scare on Friday where I hadn't felt the baby move in a while and I got really upset. Not to worry though the baby has been moving around lots and is doing fine! Sleep is getting increasingly harder with my hips hurting. Jeremy and I have decided on a name for now (it is subject to change and we are not telling people until the baby gets here)! It is finally nice to have things coming together, it makes lil' man seem more real and we are getting more excited.

 Here is the link to get to our baby registry. You may have to put in my name to get to it. For city make sure you put in Salem! Click Here:      Heather and Jeremy's Baby Registry

Pictures

  This is how I first told Jeremy were were having a baby.... it was a Thursday afternoon and this was laying on the bed when he got off work. He could hardly believe it!

 The cake from our party! Yummy!

 Me at 21 weeks pregnant!

Besides the fact that I look horrible, I love this picture. Coby is all cuddled up with his head on my tummy while I read the book. Do you think he felt the baby kick?

It's a....

It's a BOY!! Jeremy and I are going to have a son and Coby and Miley are going to have a little brother. We love thinking of all the different ways we can say it! The gender reveal party went off great and we are so thankful for all the family and friends that showed up. Everyone of you will be a big part of our child's life...whether our children are going to grow up together, your an aunt/uncle/grandparent/great aunt, and even if your just family friends! We have to give a BIG THANK YOU to Suzanne Adams (Jeremy's Co-worker) that made the cake. It was very cute and very yummy! I will post pictures soon of the party! I have felt for the first time the baby have the hiccups...what a neat feeling! Jeremy and I have decided not to tell people the name until the baby is born! I think that is all the important things for now...I need to get shopping for my precious little boy! :)

All Kinds of Love

This past weekend was Jason's (Jeremy's brothers) wedding. The setting was at their farm house on the country side in the fall. The weather turned out beautiful for the event! On Saturday they had the "preception" which consisted of games and a bbq. It was so relaxing and nice to be able to enjoy family for such a wonderful event in a relaxed setting. I played a fun game of croquet with Grandpap, Karen Jo, Sara, Tim and Dusty. By fun I mean in the dark and Jeremy may or may not have helped me cheat (I was in last place and so far behind he felt bad for me). I have terrible aim. I love the fact that Jeremy's Grandpap will get out there and play with the grandkids! The bbq was delicious (and the cupcakes too) and the friends, family, and love was abundant! The next morning they had a sunrise ceremony, which was gorgeous. Reverend Bo did an amazing job and Pappa Joe made them a song and sang it. It was the perfect little wedding and everyone really seemed to enjoy it!

Baby Update: The kicks seem to be getting stronger now. I really love feeling the baby move around inside of me. My back in the past week has really begun to hurt (I told Jeremy that just meant more back rubs for me). Sleeping is getting harder because I have trouble finding a way I am comfortable. One of the most shocking things I learned this week is that when I stand up straight I can no longer see my feet (hopefully I will see them again in a few months). I got a great baby care book from Kelly Shores that I am starting to read. I still cant complain though, even with all of these things I have going on I still feel pretty good and I have actually had a lot of energy! I pray every night for my baby to be safe and healthy. I am so blessed!

We are excited because next weeks update will let you know the sex of our baby!!!

Thank You Mom and Dad

Let me start off with...I am so happy it is Friday and Jeremy comes home today! Jeremy left on Sunday to go to Minneapolis for work. I think it is kinda funny that they send the two guys who have a pregnant wife off for a week (maybe they think they need a break from us?). I am, however, really lucky to have my parents next door when I need them. This week I spent a lot of time over there...especially because they were feeding me! They cooked me dinner every night, and sometimes lunch too. My parents fixed me a breakfast dinner one night, which is my favorite. My mom came to my house at nights and kept me company, which is super helpful because I don't have to keep the dogs locked up! Even though Jeremy was not here it turned out to be a pretty good week and I realize how thankful I should be to have my parents next door to me!

On the baby side of things, not much has changed. There are some days I feel the baby move more than others. Night time from around 8-10 seem to be the babies most active time. I cannot wait for Jeremy to get home and try and feel the baby move for the first time!

Next weekend is Jason and Cari's wedding. We are all so excited for them and really excited that we get to see family again. I think Jeremy is most excited that his Grandpap will be down for the wedding. I can't wait for all the fun to begin! :) 

Quick Update

Not too much to report to you on this week. The biggest changes have bee that I have been able to feel the baby move (which is weird and exciting at the same time)! Some days I feel the baby move more than others and most of the time it is when I am laying down. The movement last between a couple seconds and five minutes. Furthermore, I have been trying to talk to the baby more as it is starting to be able to recognize voices. Last night as I was talking to my belly and rubbing it Coby (our dog) came over and started sniffing and looking at it. He was wondering who Mama was talking too. It was really cute!

We will update you if anything changes or anything new happens!

Everyday Life

Most importantly let me update you on the baby! I told everyone wrong when I said I had an appointment on Wednesday. My appointment was yesterday (Monday). Jeremy has been amazing being there for me at the doctors appointments, he has a lot going on at work and he manages to make it to everyone of the appointments. He is even scheduling work trips around our appointments! The doctor was pretty quick yesterday. They found the baby's heartbeat...although they did have a little trouble finding it (the baby was hiding). They also took more blood from me. From what I understand I need to get over my fear of needles because this is going to happen a lot. Our next doctor appointment is October 20th and we find out the sex of the baby then! We are going to do a gender reveal party on the 21st. Instead of finding out the sex at the doctors office we are going to have them seal up the results and we will take them somewhere to have a cake made. The icing on the inside of the cake will be either blue or pink, while the outside icing will be white. Then we are having friends and family over for a cookout and we will cut into the cake to find out if we are having a boy or a girl!!! We are so excited and we think this will be a fun and different way to let people know the sex!

As for me I am at the awkward stage where you can tell I am gaining weight but when I wear certain clothes, such as sweatshirts, you can't tell that I am pregnant! I have felt great and seem to be getting little burst of energy. The biggest change this week for me was my  hormones. Poor Jeremy! Sometimes I am laughing and the next minute I am crying or mad. I keep getting upset over silly little things (which I realize afterward), but at that moment I seem to feel like it is important. Lets hope that I get over this stage quickly!

As many of you know I finished my teaching degree last year. I have been unable to find a teaching job, with the economy the way it is many school systems are simply rearranging their teachers instead of hiring new ones. I have had very mixed emotions about this since becoming pregnant. I really LOVE teaching but I know that it may be a blessing to not have a full time job with the stress while I am pregnant, especially if I am going to be out for several weeks in March. Instead I am substitute teaching again (which during the winter and spring months you make really good money doing). The problem is during the fall not many teachers are out because they are trying to get the students used to the rules and routines. So during the day I try and keep myself busy by doing house work or running errands and of course playing with our two dogs.

Jeremy and I have so many things going on in our lives and we count our blessings each day. Thank you to those of you that keep coming back to read. :)

Trip to DC

As some of you may know we have been working on remodeling our house. We are putting in more cabinets, tearing down a wall between the dining room and kitchen, and installing a fireplace upstairs. We have already put down a new tile floor (which was necessary thanks to Miley our dog who ate our laminate flooring). This weekend we bought new cabinets from Home Depo. These were on sale but were unfinished. Now Jeremy is going to work all week on staining and installing these cabinets. He has worked so hard and the place is really starting to come together. I am sure I will have more to tell you as we work more on these projects!

On Sunday we traveled up to Fredericksburg, VA for Kristi and Mike's wedding. The wedding was beautiful! The weather was perfect for a wedding and the wedding was right on a beautiful lake. Jeremy and I were excited about this wedding because we got to sit back and enjoy it. They had a live band play at the reception which was a lot of fun and the band was really good. Jeremy and I actually didn't dance much though because were were enjoying visiting with our friends from D.C. and enjoyed watching everyone.

Monday was a BIG day for us Hokie fans! Jeremy and I traveled up to Washington D.C. to go to the VT vs. Boise game. We knew that this was going to be an exciting game (but we had no idea how exciting it was going to be). We tailgated at a bar in D.C. and got a free bus ride to the game. We were so lucky because we had great seats for the game (Thanks Tiffany and John!). We had first row endzone seats and it just happened that most of the action went down in that endzone. It was impossible not to be up yelling and cheering during this game. I tried to apologize to the baby for the stress and explain that soon enough the baby would understand why mom is so worked up! When Boise State scored the final touchdown apparently Jeremy and I were shown on ESPN. They said I looked like I was about to cry (which sounds about right). We are disappointed in the loss but still had a great time at the game!

Okay, Jeremy and I LOVE football season. With the Hokies and Steelers games how can you not love this time of year? Now we have another reason to love football season, we joined a fantasy league together. We picked our team and now have to figure out how to play them by tomorrow night! This should be interesting.

The baby and I are doing well. We go to the doctor next Wednesday. I am starting to have more energy and I am noticing more and more my little bump. We will update you more when we have some news!

The Beginning of a New Life

Hey everyone! Since Jeremy and I have friends and family all over the country we thought starting a blog would be a fun and neat way to let everyone know what is going on with us. I am still learning how to do everything with the blog so things might change, however, I will try and give you an update at least once a week. This first one might be a long one because we have so much to tell you!

Jeremy and I got married on July 31, 2010. We were so blessed to have friends and family from all over come to celebrate with us. As many of you know that day was overcast until time for us to walk down the isle, then the rain started. We were so lucky that our guest were so understanding and willing to go sit out in the rain. One of the most heartwarming things to me is several of our guest went out and helped dry the seats (we have some amazing people in our lives). We really enjoyed the reception because we were able to spend time with so many of our loved ones. Someone pointed out that we had the perfect first dance song because the song at one point says, " I never worry if it's rainin' out side...cause' in here with you girl the sun always shines".  One thing we wont be able to forget from the night is some of the men in attendance could really dance! The only thing I think would have made the day better would have been to hear Papa Joe sing our favorite song I'm Gonna Love You Forever (by Randy Travis). However, Papa Joe sang the song to us the other night when we went to his house and it was absolutely beautiful! What an amazing wedding day we had thanks to our friends and family!

For our honeymoon we went on a cruise to the Grand Turks, Half Moon Cay, and Freeport Bahamas. We left out of Baltimore, MD and had two days at sea, three excursion days, and one day at sea on the way home. We got up the morning after the wedding to drive there because the boat left at 5 that day. Apparently we should have planned a little better because we almost didn't make it in time. We were a little stressed out getting there, but once we got there everything seemed to calm down and we were able to enjoy ourselves. We spent half of our time on the boat eating and sleeping because we were so exhausted from all the excitement. Our favorite excursion was the snorkeling and sting ray adventure in the Grand Turks. While snorkeling we saw a really neat sea turtle, some barracudas, and other neat fish. Then we got to hold a huge sting ray and if you kissed the barb then you got seven years good luck! We had a blast on the cruise and would love to go on one again someday!

Now to some of the most exciting news....Jeremy and I are expecting a baby in March! That's right, I'm pregnant! Jeremy and I are so excited because we knew that we wanted kids right away! I am currently 14 weeks along, which means I am already past my first trimester. The first trimester went well. I never got sick, although I did get nauseous every once in a while but it was very few and far between. The main symptom I have is I am extremely tired and very hungry. I am having trouble finding motivation every day, but I hear this gets better during the second trimester. We have been to the doctor and heard the heartbeat and seen the baby wiggling around. We are so blessed! I am beginning to show just a little (if you look really hard). I have another doctors appointment coming up soon and we will keep you posted on how things are going!

We are going to a wedding this weekend and the VT game with some friends. We can't wait to spend some time relaxing and watching some football!