Just an update

I feel like now that I'm not doing my gratitude posts (I got too far behind on vacation and then my computer was out of whack for a few weekends, it left me too far back to try and catch up), I haven't been blogging as much. In some ways it's nice to not "have" to blog, but then I feel like things happen and I don't write about them.

Today I was driving to the post office and I saw a mobile groomer's van. I quickly made a memo for myself to check into it when I got home and I'm so glad I saw that truck. I called this afternoon and they're coming on Friday to groom Ned. It's LONG overdue. It's been like eight months since he was last groomed and we have clumps of white hair all over the house (it's gross). I know he's hot with his winter coat and he needs a bath (he's quite scratchy). They'll be coming to us on Friday at 2pm. It'll be awesome. The best thing is that they do not require a complete vet record in order to see him. He's in need of a vet visit but we're in the process of finding the right vet, and honestly, we don't have the money right now to throw away on a vet visit.

Ned NEEDS to be groomed. So it's nice that it's working out where not only will they see him without having a record check, but they'll come to us-- BONUS!! The price is the same as it was in NC at PetSmart, and I like that he won't be sitting in a crate for who knows how long, waiting to be groomed. They have him and only him to worry about. It's perfect.

In other news... my dad has said that he's pretty sure he'll come down to Charlotte in October for The Color Run. My cousin Jessica is coming down from MI and might bring her daughter B with her to run. My cousin Mary (Jessica's sister) is driving over from Washington D.C. and she's going to run it with us too. I'm so excited!!! To make it even better, Steve said that he might start training so he can do it too. He and I have shared the view of not running, but he said he might do it and he and I can take turns pushing Gus in the jogging stroller. :-)

My parents are coming to visit in just over a week! They'll either be coming Friday, Saturday or Monday. It just depends on my dad's work and an obligation that he has on Sunday and if he can get out of it or not. If he can, they'll be here Friday or Saturday and if he can't, they'll be here Monday. Either way, I'm so excited to see them and have them here for a week!!

I was elected President of my MOMS Club chapter. :-)  I start on July 1st and I'm excited. I love the moms in my chapter and I have gotten really involved. I am looking forward to what this year will bring and I pray that it's a good year for me (and Gus). Being the leader of a group isn't always the easiest thing, but I pray that there's a reason I was put into this role and I have a bunch of people who believe in me. 

I'm down nine pounds. My clothes are starting to feel looser, and I feel better. I'm doing a Tuesday and Friday running schedule. I *should* do more, but for now, twice a week at 5:30am is enough. I have found that having two days between workouts has been perfect for me not feeling sore and sluggish. I just need to figure out a better path for my runs. Right now what I'm running is too short (just over a mile) and I need at least 1.5 miles.

Okay... that's enough for an update. I've started blogging on Gus's blog again, so be sure to check it out!! I'm just doing pictures right now (a picture from each day from 2010, 2011 and 2012). It's incredible to see how much he's grown!!!

What's New??

 

"What's New With You?""

I feel like I've been posting nothing but gratitude posts. I've had to rethink the decision to do a post on what I'm grateful for... sometimes it's just really hard to think of something new to be grateful for. That sounds really bad doesn't it?  :-(

We had our MOMS Club playdate here at our house this morning and it was so wonderful. All the moms came and it was a flurry of activity in the basement! The kids all had fun on Gus's roller coaster and loved the activity center and slide. I'm so glad that we have a basement (hold that thought... that's tomorrow's gratitude)!

Here are some pictures from this morning:

 

Riggs (one of Gus's friends)

 

Fun on the activity center and slide

 

Gus and Riggs

 

King Gustafer

 

Aubree and little Ryan

 

Logan and Gus

 

Gus with Logan's shoes

 

Riggs

This past Friday we had a tornado come through the area... it touched down in Marietta and then the path brought it right through Johns Creek. Thankfully we were safe, but we did have to take cover. We had to get Gus up and bring him downstairs and he was a bit confused, but happy to be with us. Thankfully he went back to bed without a problem.

 

Gus and Daddy watching the news in the guest bedroom

 

This was from my phone

 

Seeing Johns Creek on the news was scary!

 

A little scared but okay

 

He felt safe and that's all that mattered!

This weekend I went and got my nails done and decided to also get a pedicure. It's been getting warmer and I've been wearing flip-flops more, but without a pedicure, I've been embarrassed to show my feet. Now they're cute and I loved the foot massage that I got.  :-)

We went to dinner Saturday night (Outback) with the gift card that Michelle and Josh gave me for taking pictures of June. We had an excellent experience and Gus was so well behaved. He ate a TON of food and was happy to be out with us. We even received a compliment from an older lady sitting near us... she said he was such a well-behaved little boy and she was surprised to see someone so young behaving so well.

I love getting compliments on Gus. When we go to Wal-Mart (usually Monday or Tuesday), I often get compliments on his behavior and on how well he sits in the cart and doesn't cause a fuss. It's not always the case... sometimes he's a beast, but usually he's pretty good and I'm proud of him.

Yesterday I framed the dinosaur picture that I made for Gus's dinosaur room. I'm starting to get it planned and hopefully it'll be ready for him to move into on his 2nd birthday. We'll see. If he's not ready to be out of the crib, he'll stay in the nursery for as long as it takes.

 

I think it's so cute!

I also made my goal list... I saw this on Pinterest and was inspired to make one just like it. I added color to mine... but I think it's great!

Hopefully I'll be able to blog more about day-to-day things and not get so far behind on the gratitude posts!!!

See you later!!

:-)

So it's been a while since I last posted something personal... I've been using this blog mainly for photography. However, I am in the mood to write, so I thought I'd take the time while I actually have a free minute.

My life has changed so much since becoming a mom. Gus has brought so much joy to me that there are days when I think, "Is he really my baby?" I don't think I've completely wrapped my head around it yet and there are times when I feel like I don't know what the heck I'm doing! Someone once said, "Moms are so important because they are the ones who shape who their children become." WOW. That's some powerful stuff! I don't want to do anything that's going to cause harm for Gus and I would lay down my life for him. He's the most important person in my life and I can't imagine my life without him.

I really think he was placed into my life for a reason. He IS the son that I was meant to have. There are times when it's scary to think about the future and I vow to keep telling him about his birth mother and father and that they placed him in our life because they loved him so much. I'm hopeful that in the future Gus will get to know his birth family and will just see them as an extension of himself. I want them to be as important to him as they should be, and I want them to know how thankful we are that they trusted us to become his parents.

My mom and dad are on their way here to visit for the week. I am so excited I can hardly contain my excitement! They haven't seen Gus since September and will be so surprised at how big he is! I've missed them so much. It's funny how growing up, I always took advantage of the time spent together with my family, and now that I'm older, I'd give anything to have time with my brothers and their families and my parents.

I've been really enjoying my camera and feel like I am able to take some really great pictures of Gus that I couldn't do without this camera. I've been posting a lot of the pictures on Gus's blog, but also on Facebook.

Okay... Gus is starting to wake so I should close this for now. I am excited for my parents to get here... only four more hours!!  :)

Until next time...
>^..^<

Where to start? Let's see... Aimee and Matt and the boys came for their visit and while they were here we headed to the beach. It was awesome for Gus to stick his baby feet into the Atlantic Ocean for the very first time, although he wasn't too happy about it. We also went to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher and Aimee's boys enjoyed it. Aimee's oldest son especially liked the sharks and was so excited to see the shark exhibit. :)

I recently joined the MOMS Club of Fuquay-Holly Springs- Willow Springs. I went to a meet-n-greet back on August 11th and it was nice. I met three members and another woman that was new to the group. Then this past Tuesday I went to my second event, a lunch at Moe's and met more people. I decided to join and now I've been getting emails welcoming us to the group and they've given us an updated calendar and I also get the newsletter. I like that there are other babies in this group and Gus will get to meet other little ones and we can do play dates.

My parents are hopefully coming for a visit for Labor Day and I hope they're able to come because Gus hasn't seen them since July 11th! It'll almost be two months since he saw them and they need to be reunited!

I'm still loving staying at home with Gus. I don't miss teaching (yet)... and I don't miss the drama that comes from working in a school. My business has been doing well (www.steveandcat.net/c4) and I've done pretty well this summer season with bringing in some extra money. I've been really busy and have had a lot of orders to complete. Right now I've got one left to do, but it's a BIG order. I could definitely get used to having this be my only job-- I just hope my business takes off more and more!

Until next time...
>^..^<

So I've been a stay-at-home-mom for almost a whole month and so far it's been amazing!

I am so blessed to have a husband that is so caring and thoughtful. Steve comes home and sits with Gus and will change him and feed him. On the weekends I get to sleep in while Steve gets up and feeds and changes him at the 5:30/6:30 time.

I've been making dinner every night and thankfully we found out about http://www.e-mealz.com/ from Aimee and we've been using e-Mealz each night. I've loved cooking dinner and trying new things, and Steve has loved having a home-cooked meal! We haven't been out to dinner since Friday, July 23rd!! To go 11 days without eating out... that's a new Walker record!!

Yesterday we went to Burt's Bees for our very first baby shower. It was so nice of Steve's co-workers to throw us a shower. They went together and bought us some gifts, including gift cards to Amazon and Babies-R-Us. It was nice for Steve to get to "show off" Gus and for the co-workers to see Steve as a daddy.

Gus slept in his room last night for the first time and he did so well! I think I want to buy a video monitor just for some self-assurance, but it was an amazing night! He went to sleep just as he would in our room. I think he might have slept better because he didn't hear us. I'm excited that we made the transition now, so that he just knows that that's where he sleeps. I don't want to have to deal with the separation when he's older and doesn't understand why he has to leave our room. I think it's healthy for all of us, and he still knows he's loved, and it gives Steve and I some "us" time and more sound sleep.

Gus laughed for the first time last Thursday and it was incredible!! I captured it on video, but he hasn't done it since. I try to make him laugh, but I guess I'm just not funny enough yet. He does smile all the time at me, and looks like he's beaming with joy, which just makes me melt. I absolutely love being a mother!!

My best friend Aimee is coming to visit tomorrow with her husband Matt and two little boys and I can't wait! They're leaving tonight and driving through the night and should be here between 10am-12pm tomorrow. They're going to be super tired... so I'm not sure how much fun tomorrow will be, but on Thursday, we're going to the beach! We're going to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher and then we're going to the beach for a bit. It's supposed to be 99 degrees on Thursday, so the beach should be a nice treat!

Okay... that's about it for me for now. I'm sure I'll write again. Oh! I almost forgot! I was featured in an AP article and it was awesome!! I got an email from Ray Bean, author of Sweet Farts, and then he passed on my name and info to the author of the AP article. So then she contacted me and asked me for some information. Then... just this week I got an email from another author named Artie Bennett, and he asked me to read and review his book "The Butt Book". He said he'd send me a copy and then asked if I'd read it and review it on my teaching blog and my website!

Until next time...
>^..^<

One week from today is my last day of school. I am slated to be back to school for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but we still have not heard anything from the lawyer. It's been two weeks and a day since the paperwork was filed with Macomb County and the Michigan Interstate Compact office.

As soon as we hear something we can go home. It's going on four weeks since I last saw Steve and I miss him terribly. Gus and I moved to my parent's house from the hotel about three weeks ago. Gus got a cold and after taking him to the doctor, she said the hotel air was probably drying out his nasal passage and it'd be better for him to be here with my parents. It's been an adjustment-- I'm glad to be around them and spend time with them, but I miss the space of the hotel, and the privacy. I can't complain though because it's saving us a lot of money and my parents get to be around Gus each day and watch him grow and develop.

I was stressing about work and my dad and I went to dinner last night and we were talking about it. He basically told me that unless I can control it, there's no point in stressing about it. He's totally right, and I have decided to just let go and let things happen as they're going to happen. There have been a lot of rumors about me at work and it bothers me, but there is nothing I can do about it.

Gus is doing great! He's a very cute little man and I love spending time with him. Lately he's been very snuggly and wanting to cuddle to fall asleep on me. It's very sweet! He actually rolled over from his tummy to his back last week, and I got it on the Flip, but he hasn't done it since. It's a good thing I had the camera!! He's starting to practice his smile and is a very laid-back and happy baby. I can't wait to bring him home to NC for Steve to bond with him and see how much he's changed!!

I joined a group called http://www.e-mealz.com/ and I am so excited to get home and start using it! Basically it sends me a week's worth of recipies and then also the shopping list for all the meals. It'll make things so much easier for me and Steve!! I'm hoping that I can either have Steve watch Gus while I make dinner, or make a bunch of the meals earlier in the week and freeze them to just grab as needed during the week.

I have REALLY gotten into World Cup soccer while I've been here. It's absolutely awesome! My dad and I watched the very intense USA/Algeria game this morning and it was awesome! USA won the match (and their group) into the stoppage time... it was so incredible to watch!

Alright... enough for now. I hope the next time I blog it'll be from home!!
Until next time...
>^..^<

Song: "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS

Mood: Tired

This is week three of track out-- which means that a week from tomorrow I go back to work. It's times like this, that I realize that I love being a bum. I feel no desire to go back to work, and yet, I know this last week of vacation is going to go by in a blink. It doesn't help that my entire first week (and up to now) was spent with the flu. It's moved beyond the flu and is now at the bronchitis phase. Not good.

My parents came for a nice visit-- and it was so great to see them. It made me sad that they live so far away. It's my fault for moving, but it still hurts to say goodbye. The good thing is that we're going back up in October for the baptism. It should be cooler up there and we can go to the cider mill (if it's still open).

We went to Carolina Beach for a week last week. We went to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. While it was no Bahamas... it was nice. I don't think we'll go back, simply because CB was very busy and too touristy. There wasn't much to do and the food was not very good and over-priced. I think next summer we're going to maybe go to Bar Harbor, Maine with my parents. We talked about it while they were here, so we'll see. I think it'd be a nice trip.

Scott and Christie haven't had the baby yet-- but Christie's due date is the 15th... which is Friday. I have the 15th as my day (we took bets on when she'd have her) and I have her as weighing 7 pounds and 2 ounces. ;) I am excited to see pictures and to go up and meet her! Steve and I were asked to be her God Parents and we're super excited! I'm a God Mother to my niece Aine, but this will be neat to be the mom and Steve to be the dad. :)

My business is doing really well still. I think in all I've made over $600. Not too bad. Not enough to leave my job as a teacher, but still a nice amount! The biggest order was for $130... and I'm still working on filling it. It takes a lot longer to make the products than I had first expected, but it's fun. :)

We went to another Bulls game tonight- it was SO hot! We ended up leaving early... not only because of the weather, but because Steve goes back to work tomorrow. He's been out for two weeks. One week (when my parents were here) was because he had the flu too. The other week was while we were on vacation. He found out that his boss was fired... I'll just leave it at that, but I'll say I was happy. Steve was surprised, but I was very happy. :)

We got season tickets to the Durham Performing Arts Center. I can't wait to go to our first show! We're going to see Cirque Dreams Illusions, Mama Mia, Wicked, Grease (with Taylor Hicks), Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, and Spring Awakening (not sure what it's about).

Okay-- enough from me. Talk to you later!

Until next time...

>^..^<

So the whole "Post A Day in May" thing was a nice idea, but once I went back to work, I didn't have time to write anymore.

So, it's been just shy of a month since my last post. We have finished the EOGs (End of Grade tests). The kids in North Carolina take the EOGs at the end of the year. The 3rd and 4th graders take a day of just reading and then two days of math. One test is with a calculator and the other is without a calculator. In fifth grade they do the same as 3rd and 4th, but they also do a science test.

The test is a BIG deal down here because not only do they announce how every school did on the test, but it's not just a measure of how many passed/didn't pass. They really care about growth. So you could have a whole class that everyone passed, but if they don't make growth, you're in trouble. The school gets recognized and ranked based on the growth, and there's bonus money attached to each school for the growth that the kids show. So it's so competetive and very stressful.

Needless to say, this year, I didn't have all my kids pass the tests and they didn't all show growth. I got my scores on Friday and seriously had a hard time with it all. I feel like I need to just hang it up and quit teaching. I don't know what else I could have done this year. I seriously gave 100% to my teaching every day and I did so much EOG review that I thought I'd lose my mind! I have to think, I can only lead my students so far... if they aren't willing to give 100% themselves, and I KNOW they didn't all give 100% all year... then there's only so much that I can do. Right?

Anyway... that's been the biggest thing that I've been dealing with lately. We bought a bunch of stuff for Scott and Christie's baby shower this weekend. I'm not sure when their shower is, but we bought them some much-needed things that we hope they'll love. I also bought the baby some killer onesies. They are seriously cute!! It's only two more months until I am an aunt again and I can't wait!!

My mom called me yesterday to confirm that they're coming down to visit me over my next track out. So July 24th-31st they will be here. It should be fun! We have our beach house from the 1st of August-6th and I can't wait to go to the beach and just chill. I think we might go to Myrtle Beach, SC for one of the days because it's only 45 minutes away!!

Alright... that's enough from me for now. I'll try and post again before the end of my school year, but it's going to start getting really crazy around here. Next Friday we have our next season ticket Bulls game, and then Saturday night we're going back for a game with my 4th graders. It should be fun!! It's also Father's Day next Sunday...

Until next time...

>^..^<

Where does the time go??? Thankfully I received a comment from my good friend Kate saying that she needed an update... it's been two months since I last wrote! AHHHHHH!!! SORRY!!

It can be rather difficult to keep up with three blogs. Yes, I have this one that's just mine and I can use the words I and me, and then there's the Walker Blog that's the blog for me and Steve. That blog was updated last month with information about our trip to Michigan and Indiana. Then there's my teaching blog, and I try to update that one each week. AHHHH!!!

So anyway, for the last two weeks I've been doing well. I've been getting really excited for this track out- it's been much needed. I had to move classrooms this time, but it was okay. As much as I hate taking everything down and moving, it's a nice change and it's a great way to reevaluate what I need and what can come back home.

This past Friday I moved out of my room in record time. Seriously. I had about 8 kids helping and then two parents. We started around 4:05 and the kids and parents were gone by 4:45. It was amazing to think that it only took 40 minutes to take it all down and move it into Ms. Allen's room for the 3 weeks.

When I go back I'll be in the best room ever... room 600. I am excited because it's the biggest room and it's down the hall from everyone else. I can play my music and not have to worry about it being too loud for anyone!!

This track out is exciting for me because I've got some things going on! Today is my first day for my mentor training. It's class for teachers that want to become mentors to new teachers. I have class every Monday and Wedensday from 4:00-7:00 for the next 5 weeks or so. I had to buy things for class and it made me feel like I was back in college. Thankfully I am done with that!!

I have Jury Duty on October 30th. I am pretty excited to be apart of that since I've never had Jury Duty before! Not that I want to get picked and have the rest of my track out sucked up by a court case, but I think it'll be interesting to see what it's like.

Lastly, I volunteered to work the polls on Election Day. I have to attend two different trainings and then I am good to go. I actually had one scheduled for this morning that I was not aware of, so I called to see if I can do it on Saturday instead. Not sure if they'll allow it, but it is what it is.

That's about it... if you want to see what else is going on, read the Walker Blog because I try not to write the same things on both blogs.

Until next time...

>^..^<

Well... I guess I didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted on here. Sorry!!

Since the last post we've been to THREE Durham Bulls games! Yes! Three! The first one we went to was with Steve's work on Wednesday, August 13th. They had the Clorox Family Day event and we were able to go and get free hats and they had an all-you-can-eat buffet of fried chicken, hotdogs, hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad, coleslaw and soda. We weren't sure if the game was going to happen or not because of all the rain, but we went and it rained on us. The temperature dropped over the course of the day and by the time we went to the game it was in the 60s. PERFECT weather for baseball.

The second game that we went to was last Saturday (August 23d) with Stacy from work and her boyfriend Ben. Stacy is teaching 4th grade with me this year and she and her boyfriend just moved here from Michigan. She went to EMU also! It's very cool that I have that connection with her. She's super nice and really sweet. Steve and I wanted to go to the Mellow Mushroom before the game sometime and then head over, so we did with Stacy and Ben. The pizza was outstanding!! We had lousy seats for this game, but they were about all that was left. There were fireworks after the game, which was cool. Again, it rained... three for three on the Bulls games and rain.

Then, because it had rained on the August 13th Clorox Family Day event, Burt's was able to get more tickets (even though there's no rain policy) because there were a TON of unused tickets that they returned to the Bulls. They rescheduled the rain event for last night (August 30th). It was the very last regular season home game for the Bulls. And guess what? IT RAINED again!! This time we were under the roof and didn't get wet at all. There were only a few people from Burt's there. Probably because it's Labor Day weekend. Anyway, they won and it was an outstanding game. After the game we went to the lower seats and watched the fireworks. It was wonderful.

Now our focus is on getting through this week and getting ourselves and the house ready for us to travel up to Michigan on Saturday. We're going to clean today and then have tomorrow to "rest" but I don't think that's going to really happen. I have a TON of school stuff to do and tomorrow is when I'll probably get to it. We have a birthday party for our neighbor tonight. As much as I don't want to go, I'm kinda looking forward to it because all our other neighbors will be there and we don't know any of them. Should be interesting.

My good friend Amy (Maylone) Brauer had her baby at 1:15 am, August 30th. His name is Charlie Brauer. I am so excited for her!! She's going to be an amazing mother!! I don't think we'll get to see him when we're up north next week, but I can't wait to see some pictures. My other good friend Aimee is there today visiting Amy and the baby, so I hope she takes some pictures and can share them.

Enough for now... I'll write again (I hope) before we leave for Michigan. Dave and Heather and the kids are already there, and this weekend they're up at the cottage. I'll blog tomorrow about Labor Day... it always gets me sad because for 18 years of my life I ALWAYS went up north for Labor Day. I told Steve last night at the game, if someone would have said to me two years ago that I'd be spending my Labor Day weekend at a Durham Bulls game... I would have thought they were crazy.

Until next time...
>^..^<

Song: "You May Be Right" by Billy Joel
Mood: Content

It's really weird that we've been in NC eight months already. As much as we love the great weather and love the area that we're in, I really, really miss my family and friends. I think the holidays are the worst for me. We made it through the 4th of July... Labor Day (that was a rough one)... Thanksgiving and then we were with family for Christmas. Now we're going into Easter and it's hitting me again that I'm so far from family and friends.

I feel like everyone that I know is pregnant. I am happy for all my friends that are moms-to-be... but I can't help but wonder when am I going to get to experience all that. Steve and I are taking our time with trying to conceive, but it's still a bit disappointing each month when we receive word (so-to-speak) that we're not pregnant. We're not at the point that we're taking temperatures or anything like that, but it would be nice it it would happen soon for us. It seems like we're finally getting things organized and settled and the next natural thing for us to do is to start a family.

In the meantime, I've decided that I'm going to go for my National Boards for teaching. The state of North Carolina will pay for me to go through the process, but I have to have three years of teaching in NC under my belt before they'll pay. So... I have to wait two more years before I can start the process. I'm not too concerned about it because I wanted to wait until I've taught for 10 years before starting, and it'll be exactly 10 years when I can begin.

Enough from me for now. I'll write again later... maybe. ;)
Until next time,
>^..^<