Beyond Measure

The fog has finally cleared to see,

The beautiful life you've given me

To feel the breeze of my newborn's gentle breath

With one to walk hand in hand,

To share this life that you have planned

It's like a storybook with dreams

That are meant to see every next step is an extraordinary scene

I know that I've been,

Given more than beyond measure,

I come alive when,

I see beyond my fears

I know that I've been given more than earthly treasure,

I come alive when I've broken down and given you control

I've faced a great tragedy,

But have seen the works of what you bring

A display of faith that you give,

I don't know if I will ever understand

The depth of what it is you've done inside,

But I know that I will won't find any worth apart from you

Everything that I have

Has been given so unselfishly

And shown that even when I don't deserve

You always show the fullness of your love

These are the lyrics of one of Jeremy Camp's new songs, and they say exactly how I feel this Christmas season. I am just so in awe of God's faithfulness and the blessings that he has poured down upon our family. We truly have been given the best Christmas present ever this year!

Motherhood

Mommy - the title that has eluded me for so long. I can't even begin to describe how it feels to finally be a mommy! So far it has been everything I dreamed of and so much more. God is so faithful and has truly blessed us more that we could ever imagine. The past week has been full of all kinds of emotions. I experienced the happiest day of my life as Emma Kate entered the world on Tuesday, and then Wednesday my grandmother, Gan Gan, went to meet her Savior. It's kind of funny how God works, it was like life coming full circle. My grandmother taught me so much about being a wife and a mother, but more importantly she taught me what it meant to love the Lord with all my heart. I will forever be grateful for her!

Onto my sweet baby Emma Kate...her delivery was pretty uneventful and so much easier than I was anticipating. We went to the hospital at about 5:30 Tuesday morning and they started me on pitocin around 7:30. Dr. Burkholder came in around 8:30 and broke my water. After this I started feeling a few contractions and decided to go ahead and get my epidural before they got worse, and it's a good thing I did! I got an epidural around 9:00 and within about 20 minutes I had gone from a 5 to a 9!! We couldn't believe everything was happening so fast, but because I was progressing so quickly my epidural wasn't keeping up and I was feeling a lot of pressure. So the anesthesiologist came back in and gave me a shot of the medication to help with the pain. This worked right away, but it caused my blood pressure to drop so they gave me more medication to help with this and around 10:30 I was ready to push! After a few pushes the nurse said that all we were waiting on was Dr. Burkholder to get there. We waited for about 20 minutes and after Dr. Burkholder got there she was here in only a few more pushes at 11:08 am! She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 inches long.

So far she has been the best baby!! She latched on immediately and has eaten like a champ from day one. We were a little worried because she had a crying spell the first night in the hospital for about 2 hours, but she really hasn't cried like that since. And she's such a trooper. We came home from the hospital Thursday around noon and then had to wake up at 5 o'clock Friday morning to drive to Amarillo for my grandmother's funeral. She did great in the car all the way there and back, in fact she didn't even make a peep. :) Saturday morning we had to take her in for a weight and color check. The dr. that we saw was concerned that she might have jaundice because she looked a little yellow. Unfortunately they called us yesterday afternoon and said her levels were high and that we needed to come back in Sunday morning to have them checked again. They never called us today with the results, but hopefully we will know something first thing tomorrow morning. At first I was really upset and worried about it, but from what I have read it is really common and I know that things could be a lot worse. I just hope we don't have to use the mini "tanning bed"! Speaking of beds, Emma Kate slept in her own bed for the first time last night! We had been putting her in there for naps and she did really well, so we just decided that we might as well put her in there at night too, and she did great! I guess I will quit bragging about my sweet baby girl and share a few pictures with everyone, I know pictures are more fun anyway! :)

13 Days and Counting!

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and it went really well. We found out that we will be having Emma Kate on December 4th if she doesn't come sooner....that's only 13 days!! I say if she doesn't come sooner because I'm already dilated to a 3 and 60% effaced! I know that things could stay this way for a long time, but Dr. Burkholder couldn't believe it considering this is my first pregnancy, and he said it was a really good sign! So, YAY!!! I can't believe I'm going to be a mom in less than 2 weeks, that just doesn't seem fathomable.

I am now going to busy myself the rest of the week with Christmas shopping, decorating, and of course EATING! I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. I guess because I can eat all I want and not feel guilty about it! :)

Now to the real reason of Thanksgiving. This year I am thankful for a healthy pregnancy and the sweet baby girl growing inside of me, an amazing husband who is extremely supportive and can always make me smile, a wonderful family who would do anything for me, and sincere friendships that make me a better person!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Month in Review

Wow, where has the time gone!? I have been meaning to write a post for the last two weeks, but something else always seems to come up. October was a fun-filled month in preparations for Miss Emma Kate, and I'm happy to say that I think we're finally ready. Well, actually, hopefully we will be after our ALL DAY child birth class on Saturday. Several people have told me that it's a waste of time, but I really feel that the more I know and the more prepared I am, the better it will be. We shall see...

Brice and I are so blessed to have the most thoughtful and amazing friends and family. We had a shower here in Lubbock a couple of weeks ago, and then a shower in Lazbuddie the following weekend. And let me just tell you, this baby will definitely be stylin'...Brice said he doesn't think he's ever seen so much pink in one room! We now have pretty much everything I can possibly imagine needing for a baby, too bad half the things we put together she probably won't be using for several months! I never imagined that a little baby's things could take up so much room. We are definitely realizing how small our house really is, and from what we hear it only gets worse as they get older! :)

We also had what will probably be our last sonogram done about 3 weeks ago. Everything looked good, and we just can't wait to see those chubby cheeks in person! At that point they estimated that she weighed 3 pounds 14 ounces, so I am assuming she's over 5 pounds by now! As far as the pregnancy goes, things are still going pretty smoothly. I am definitley getting more uncomfortable now, and can understand why most women don't describe pregnancy as being a "breeze" (like I have up to this point!). But I know it will all be worth it in the end. I had an appointment with Dr. Burkholder this afternoon and he said we could schedule an induction at my next appointment, which will be 2 weeks from yesterday. Being the planner that I am, I am VERY excited about this. I know she could come earlier, but I like the thought of knowing that I don't have to go past a certain date. In my "ideal world" (as Brice likes to call it) I would like to schedule it for December 5th, which is 4 weeks from today!!

Here are a few pics from the last month:

6 Weeks Down!

Wow, I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since I have posted. Time is definitely flying by now that school has started back. And it seems like the weekends have been just as busy as the weekdays...there has just been so much going on! :)

First of all, I can't say it enough, God has blessed me with the sweetest class ever!! I have 19 of the cutest Kindergartners, who are all so excited just to be at school and to learn. I can't believe how different 2 kindergarten classes can be. There are several of my students from last year that I really miss, but at the same time there are a few that I see running down that hall that I think, oh goodness, I'm glad I don't have to deal with that this year! This past Friday we had "Crazy Kindergarten" day. Here is a picture of everyone in their "crazy" hats.

A couple of weekends ago we went camping in Roaring Springs with some of my friends from school. I had never been camping before, but I had the BEST time...I even slept in a tent!! By the time we left I was ready to go buy a RV and get a membership at Roaring Springs. It just seems like such a great place to go on vacation when you have kids. The best part about it was they had a natural springs pool that was pretty amazing. It was extremely cold, but so refreshing at the same time. We road 4 wheelers, played a little golf and hung out by the campfire. The only down side was that we almost all go eaten up by chiggers! Here are a few pictures from our trip.

And now for an update on Miss Emma Kate, I am now 30 weeks! I can't believe I'm already in the 30's...how exciting!? I'm still feeling really good and enjoying her crazy movements, I swear sometimes it feels like there's an alien moving around in there. I had a doctor's appointment today, and I will start going every 2 weeks now. We are going to be pretty busy between now and Thanksgiving so I'm hoping the last part of the pregnancy will go by pretty quickly...I just can't wait to hold her!!! Here a few pictures from our 4D ultrasound we had done a couple of weeks ago.

Look at that sweet little face!!

I love how you can see the little dimples on her hands!

So Long Summer!

I guess summer was actually over 2 weeks ago when I had to return to work, but technically it's just now ending considering the kids come tomorrow! I am actually really excited about school starting and getting back into a routine. We had open house last Thursday evening and it was so fun getting to meet all my new kids, and even better getting to see my kids from last year! As of right now I have 18 in my class, but I'm sure that will change by tomorrow morning, considering last year I started out with only 17 and ended up with 21. But that's alright, I trust that whoever God places in my class is placed there for a reason. I will definitely let you know how tomorrow goes...I'm anticipating lots of tears!

We have had an incredibly busy August, which is why I am just now updating. Just a little re-cap of our busy month: my mom had a hysterectomy, my grandfather had to have an abdominal aneurysm removed, Brice had a small wreck, my car broke down, we had company for 2 weeks, my little sister moved off to school, and finally we ended this crazy month with a little trip to Lazbuddie to play golf! Wow, that makes me tired just thinking about it. Hopefully things will slow down a little now with school starting for both Brice and I. Well, actually things are about to get even busier for Brice with his school starting. He has decided to take 9 hours this semester in order to be finished by May! I tried to tell him he was crazy, but he thinks he can handle it. He will be in class Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00-7:30!! And he's just praying that EK doesn't come early so that he can get through finals without becoming a dad first!

We have just about finished the nursery. We got our glider in last week and I absolutely love it! I was worried that the colors might not match, but I think it looks great. And we just finished putting together the bookcase a few minutes ago. I still need to get the wall letters for her name, a few baskets for the bookcase, and a changing pad, but other than that I think we're about ready!

Here are a few pictures of the almost finished nursery:

Half way there!!

Well, I'm officially half way there...I'm 20 weeks today! In a lot of ways it seems like it has gone by really fast, but at the same time it kind of seems as if I have been pregnant forever. I'm sure the 2nd half of the pregnancy will fly by though, especially once school starts!

I feel so blessed to have had a fairly easy pregnancy so far, and we just continue to pray that Miss Emma Kate continues to grow as she's supposed to. And we pray that when we go back to Dr. Atkinson in 2 weeks that he doesn't change his mind and say she's now a he!! I don't know why, but I have had a lot of anxiety about this lately...maybe it could be because everything is PINK! :)

Thanks for all the prayers up to this point...God is SO faithful!

Busy Bees, Doctor, and Will!!

Brice and I were quite the busy bees this weekend. We decided to tackle the nursery! And Brice was very cooperative and agreed to do stripes even though it was a lot of work!! We still have to add the chair rail and do some touch ups on the paint, but overall we were very pleased with the results. (Now we just have to pray that they don't come back and say she is now a he!) Also, I had a doctor's appointment this morning and my doctor decided to move my due date up a week! So, Miss Emma Kate's EDD is now December 15th, and he said she will most likely make an appearance the first part of December.

Here are a few pics of the nursery...what do you think??

Also, Will Hutson made his debut today!! He arrived at 7:23 this morning, and I'd like to give a shout out to my good friend Denae who made childbirth sound like a piece of cake! Stay tuned to her blog for more updates. For the time being enjoy this picture of sweet baby Will!

Vacation

Well, we had a great time in Dallas this past weekend. This was our mini-vacation for the summer so we decided to splurge and stay at the Omni Hotel. It was SO nice. I felt like we were in Vegas when we were in the lobby. We pretty much just shopped and ate! Brice was a trooper and didn't complain once about all the shopping. Saturday night we went to see Transformers at Studio Movie Grill, where they serve dinner in the movie theater. If you haven't ever been there, I highly recommend it...it was so much fun! We got tons of clothes for baby girl Foster...I just couldn't resist because there were so many great sales going on. And we got bought a crib and ordered the bedding as well. I know it seems kind of early to already be working on the nursery, but I want to get as much done as possible before school starts (and because it's just so fun!!).

Here are a few pictures of the hotel and some of our purchases:

It's a......

GIRL!!!!!

We just got back from our appointment this morning and I just can't believe it! Even after last weeks appointment I kept telling everyone, oh no, I'm sure it's still a boy. (I even bought an Easter outfit for "him" yesterday!) It was so funny, everytime the nurse would try to look between her legs she would literally put her hand down with her fingers spread apart, as if she was saying STOP! Haha. I told Brice she's probably mad at us since we have been calling her a boy for the last month! :)

And I guess I now have a busy day ahead of me because I have lots of little boy clothes to return! Brice assures me that the shock will wear off as soon as I start buy little girl clothes though, and I guess I can finally have my way with the polka dots!! :)