Halfway there!

This week marked my halfway point through the pregnancy. The baby has grown so much! My quad screening tests came back clear, and we are so relieved that the baby is healthy! Here are some more pictures from the past few weeks:

We also had an ultrasound this week, but the pictures didn't turn out as clear. They did say the baby has a heart rate of 147 and is 15 ounces, so nearly 1 lb.! I read that the average baby at 20 weeks is only 10 ounces so we might have a big baby! I'm not sure how accurate the measurements are though, so I don't want to get too worried.

Adam and I have been busy trying to get the house all in order before the end of the year. We just finished our kitchen projects with putting up under mount lighting and installing the backsplash. I am so happy with how it turned out!

We also started getting the baby's room together. We decided to keep the bed in the room but rotated it so we have more room for baby furniture. Our crib was delivered a few weeks ago, so we've put that together. Now we just need to find a dresser/changing table and we should be set!

A Baby On the Way

I am so happy to finally be able to write about us expecting our first baby, due in February 2014! Obviously I took a little break from blogging, but I am happy to be back and excited to document this journey.

We found out we were expecting on May 31st and I will always remember the morning we found out. I wasn't expecting the test to be positive, but we were so pleasantly surprised! It was the day before we would be leaving for a trip to Montana with our friends Mindy and Nick, so we had to wait until we got back to schedule a doctor's appointment to make sure everything was confirmed.

A few weeks later, I had my appointment and the doctor confirmed I in fact was pregnant! I've been back for several ultrasounds and bloodwork and everything looks great! Here are ultrasound pictures from our appointment yesterday:

The ultrasound tech, Stephanie, got some great photos and though she couldn't definitively rule out any deformities, she said the baby appears to be really healthy. She said our baby is very active and in most cases of Down's Syndrome babies are more sluggish. I did have bloodwork taken to test for those conditions, but we are praying that everything turns out OK.

We were also able to find out the gender of our baby! We aren't telling anyone yet, because we are thinking of doing a "gender reveal" at our baby shower. I am looking forward to sharing the news because it is so hard to keep this a secret!

I've also started taking weekly photos to show the progress of the baby bump ;) Here are my 15 and 16 week photos:

It's exciting that now it's looking like I'm actually pregnant!

In other family news, my brother and his wife, Michaela, recently got married! It was a wonderful day and Michaela made a beautiful bride! I am so excited to officially call her my sister now! Here a few photos from their special day:

 

 

 

 

 

I know I have said this before, but I am so happy for all the wonderful things happening in our lives right now. Our family is growing and we have so much to be thankful for and I hope I can always keep that perspective.

It's Been Awhile...

Wow, so it's been a few months since my last post! Life has been so incredibly busy and I have just struggled to find a work-life balance to be completely honest. In January, I received a promotion and was thrilled, but it happened during the craziest, busiest time at work! There have been a lot of changes, but I'm finally feeling that I'm getting back to a "normal" schedule.

Unfortunately, with these new responsibilities I have decided to take a step back from teaching the religious education classes at church for next year. I have enjoyed working with the kids, even with all the challenges I have faced, but I can sense that I'm pushing myself too much and need to limit my obligations. I'm still hoping to be involved in a sub and hope that I can find other short-term ways to volunteer at church.

Life on the home front has been busy as well. Adam and I are expecting our first nephew or niece soon and are getting ready for my brother's wedding this summer. I've also been trying to get back into working out on a regular basis and eating healthier and the wedding has given me the motivation to get back into shape! As I stated earlier in this post, I have a hard time finding a work-life balance, so that is one of my goals for the rest of this year. I have a lot of passion for my career, but I don't want to lose sight on what is important to me most -- God, family and friends.

Looking Forward to 2013

Needless to say, I took an extended hiatus from blogging during the holidays. Much of it was because of stress or lack of time, but I also needed sometime away from blogging to gather my thoughts of 2012 and consider goals for the upcoming year.

In the past three months I have had many challenges as a catechist. I have struggled to keep the students’ attention and had difficulty finding balance in my life between getting exercise, working full-time and planning lessons. I realize that an hour and a half may not seem long to many people, but for holding a 9-year-old’s attention I’ve found it to be hard. In taking a look back in what other things were going on at my job, I realize I did try to plan out the lessons as best I could and I need to focus on the fact that Adam and I have taken the time to volunteer and try to inspire and lead these children to grow in their faith and their relationship with God.

I know that you can only perform at your best ability for a certain length of time, so I have enjoyed the past month to recoup and enjoy my time with family and friends. I also think it was beneficial for the students. On Saturday we had our first class back from Christmas break and we discussed keeping the Lord’s Day holy (the third commandment). The students seemed very engaged and attentive, like they were really interested in being there and wanted to be involved. We played a holiday Pictionary game and also had some students do some acting which they really enjoy! It was refreshing to see them so enthusiastic about learning again!

I also realized that I needed to make some changes as far as my time management. This has always been a “work in progress” thing for me, as I’m sure it will continue to be. To help manage my time, which always seems so limited, I have decided to start doing morning workouts. Those who know me best know I am definitely NOT a morning person, so this has been quite the adjustment for the girl who loves the weekends where she can sleep in! However, this past week, Adam and I got up before work to get in our exercise (he works out on the elliptical machine while I do a workout video) and were able to do so 4 out of the 5 week days, and I also squeezed in a workout on Saturday morning before our class! The first few days were rough, but even with the lack of sleep I feel it was worth it because I had energy throughout the day! I think winter is probably the hardest time of year because it’s so dark outside but I’m looking forward to the spring when I can go running in the mornings and enjoy the sunrise! This has really helped me manage my time better and feel more productive! It’s nice to say that as of 7 a.m. you have already completed your workout for the day!

Another resolution I have is to have more appreciation for all the blessings God has given us. I found an idea through Pinterest in starting a “gratitude jar”. The idea is that as positive things happen in your life throughout the year, you write them down on pieces of paper and put them in the jar. On New Year’s Eve, you open the jar and read all the wonderful blessings you had over the past year. We got our jar from Target and it already has a few pieces of paper in it – 2013 is off to a great start!

I am really looking forward to what 2013 brings. We are expecting our first nephew or niece in April and are excited to celebrate my brother’s wedding in August. Adam and I really do feel blessed to have the family, friends, jobs and opportunities we do. I continue to pray for everyone to be happy, healthy and find peace.

Thankful for Music

During this month, I have seen a number of posts on Facebook about what everyone is thankful for. Many of them included family members or friends they are thankful for, which is indeed a wonderful blessing, but this year I thought I would write about something different that I am thankful for – the gift of music.

Music has been a very important part of my life. I started taking piano lessons at 6 years old, joined choir in elementary school and also was involved in dance at a young age. When I was little I didn’t really like practicing the piano or going to my lessons, but now I really appreciate that my parents encouraged me to play an instrument. Adam and I now have my keyboard that I learned on and I really enjoy playing now more so than I did as a child. Music for me is a stress reliever. When I feel overwhelmed, I can spend hours at the piano learning a new piece or taking out old music that I have enjoyed over the years. There are even songs in church that I relate to and have come to love. “On Eagles Wings” in one song in particular that is special to my family and I. It was a song that was played at two of my uncles’ funerals, so anytime I hear it I always think of them. Music can be very moving and I love that it can be passed on to new generations. I look forward to someday teaching my own children music and hope they will love it as much as I do.

When I was 16, my parents got me an acoustic guitar. Twelve years later I have yet to learn how to play! Except for one or two easy songs, I haven’t taken the time to learn the instrument. Next year, as my new year’s resolution, I am hoping to take time to learn how to play. I am hoping to have an appreciation for the guitar as I have with piano. I feel music really is a blessing and a gift and certainly don’t want to take it for granted.

Purposeful Prayer

Prayers are an important part of our relationship with God, but they are just words unless we pray with purpose. This week in class we will be talking about worshiping God and how to do so we have to pray with our whole heart. Some of the prayers we say in Mass are routine for parishioners that it can be easy to just say the words without considering their meaning. I am guilty of doing this and recently I have been trying to focus more on what the words in our prayers mean. I feel like this can be practiced in other parts of our life. We need to have the right intentions when we are helping others and not expect things in return. We can have the appearance of being a good person and behaving in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, but only He knows our true intentions and what is in our heart.

The past few weeks have been challenging for me and I have found myself not turning to God when I really need Him. I’ve been letting the stress of work get to me and instead of turning to Him, I’ve been trying to deal with it on my own. Now that things have calmed down a little I’ve had time to reflect and realize I need to stop thinking I can solve these problems. I think I will continue to learn ways bring all things to Him—both good and bad—and He will help guide me and learn how to find peace in even stressful situations. I have always been one to worry about what other people think of me and making a good impression on others. I need to keep in mind that as long as I am working hard and putting my heart into my work, it will be pleasing to the Lord. In the end, that is what really matters.

Acting It Out

Last weekend our lesson about how we can follow Jesus. It focused a lot on ways we can live our life that is pleasing to God which includes helping, serving and sacrificing. We discussed how we can help those in need emotionally (offering our support and prayers) and physically (helping rebuild homes for those who have been hit by a natural disaster). This was a lesson where we could have the kids talk about personal experience and share about who they are praying for or how they have helped others in the past.

Probably my favorite part (and I think the kids’ favorite part, too) was when they were able to act out a scenario when two friends or siblings got into an argument because something was said that hurtful to the other person. Almost every student volunteered to take part in this activity and they were really excited to get up in front of the class and show how to resolve a problem. Of course, a few of them were goofing off so I had to guide a few of them through and help them figure out how to sort out the problem and forgive one another.

Seeing how excited they were to act out these skits, I realize I need to incorporate more activities like this. It puts the focus on the kids and really applies what they are learning in the lesson.