Goodbye Mommy

For those who are still following me, it is with a heavy heart that I share the news of my mother's passing. My mother went into the hospital December 13th and passed away on December 24th. She went peacefully surrounded by family. Her service was held December 26th and it was beautiful. I know she enjoyed it. Thanks to all the support and love shown to our family as we deal with this difficult time.

On the pregnancy front; I go back to the doctor next week and in January we will find out gender!

Prayers, good thoughts and possitive vibes are all appreciated.

Run for Sparta 5k (10/1/11)

Today the baby & I participated in the run for sparta 5k. It was a lot of fun to see the kids come out to support the athletic booster club, but i was very disapppointed that there were not more teachers from the school present at the run. My students certainly had fun meeting the baby, as you can see in the pictures.

3 months tomorrow

Lissy, tomorrow you will be 3 months old and the time has flown by! You now weigh a little more than 13 pounds and you are 23 inches long!!!

You like to take baths and snuggle. I'm pretty sure you think you can talk and I love to hear you laugh. Some days you get to spend the day with our good friend Kathleen and her kids think you are amazing!

At Annie's swim meet and Jonas's soccer games you are everyone's favorite. at White Station football games you are cheering right along with everyone else in your Spartan clothes.

I can't wait to see what fun and amzing things you do next!

Love you Lissy Jane!!!!

A week of sleep!!!!

Today, sunday september 4th, marks SEVEN days in a row that Lissy has slept from 11pm or so until 630am or later!!!!

It has bern so wonderful switching to this side of the sleep world. To go from waking up at 3am to sleeping six hours in a row!?!? Bliss.

I am so proud of my baby girl for reaching this very important milestone!

Yeah Lissy!!!!

Kitchen's comin along!

In the last 10 days our kitchen has really been transformed! Geoff went to home depot & got the double oven of his dreams and then to bed, bath & beyond for our pot rack. Obviously, we need paint. But overall the look and feel of the two rooms has really changed!

We really love the half wall where we used to have a full wall and built in desk on the other side. Being able to see all the way like that really makes both rooms feel bigger.

The cookie sheet caddie next to the stove & the microwave caddie in place of the dishwasher may truly be 2 of the best things we have done to the space!

For decorating and storage, I would really love to get ceramic cannisters from target!

But honestly, I just can't wait to be done!

School has started

Today marked day 8 of school. At White Station, I am loving having so many enthusiastic kids! Though they're very talkative, if that's the worst of my problems, I'm set! (I say that, but seriously, talkative kids is just as much a problem as any other...)

This year seems to be off to an amazing start for Jonas! He has a great teacher who loves what she does! She is incredibly supportive & totally "gets" him, which is awesome.

Annie is off to a great start. She has made several new friends at her school, as well as at swim team. She is making good grades and is off to a great start!

Lissy is doing great! She lets me sleep from 1030 - 330 & then till 5. Not the best, but not the worst. She's growing everyday & trying hard to work at holding her head up.

All in all things are starting off great!

Thoughts & Musings

This past week I have packed my son for a week at camp, finished my second thesis and watched my city government argue publicly with my school board. I have witnessed my 5 week old discover focusing on things with her eyes, purchased more summer reading books in my children's constant quest to read more of their literary world and marveled at how all 3 of my children are growing and changing.
I can't help but wonder if I found the world as exciting as they do. Seeing the world through the eyes if my children truly makes me appreciate all off the things that I have in my own little piece of it.
It's hard not to be amazed at all the wonderful things that are our world.

Best quote I've seen in a while... "Instructions for life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." Mary Oliver

SES Championships

Of course we are all super excited to be heading to knoxville this weekend for Annie to swim in the Southeastern Championship Swim Meet!!!

She made her cuts this weekend in 2 events; 50 & 100 breaststroke. I think it was her little sister Lissa, that really motivated her.

Go Tigers!

Wow...

Today is Lissa's 23 day of life and though I am more exhausted than I was before she got here I am so happy to have her!

She has gone swimming a few times, gone shopping, a couple swim meets and been introduced to TONS of family.

It has been such a blessing welcoming baby #3 into our family.

I just had a baby!!!!

Baby Melissa Jane was born VERY early in the morning at 1257am on saturday June 18. She weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long. Of course, we are all madly in love with her.

Lots of pictures to come later!
Rachel

Mother's Day #9

It seems like just yesterday it was May, 2001 and I was pregnant with Annie. Now 10 years later, I have a 9 year old and a 7 year and a baby on the way!

Over those years I have witnessed my children experience all things in life...learning about the world around them and learning about themselves.

They are remarkable children and are so different and at the same time so similar.

When they were born, I was just wanting to make sure they lived to see the next day! Now I can't wait to see what they'll do next, yet at the same time wishing I could slow time down.

This year Geoff did exceptionally well with my card, I've copied the hallmark part, but I'm gonna keep his message to me. Here ya go...

"Because you're a Special Wife and mother...
It doesn't take a day like this for me to realize how fortunate I am to be married to you...but the best thing about Mother's Day is that it gives me a chance to tell you what a wonderful wife and mother you are, and that I don't know what I'd do without you and your love"

"Happy Mother's Day with All My Heart"

Honestly, it's one of the best cards he has ever gotten me. Over the last (almost) 10 years of being married and parenting we have gone through so much and pushed each other to the brink of destruction. Now, we have come full circle and in my opinion, we are stronger and better with each other than we were in the beginning. Which of course is part of growing with someone, but it's even better than simply growing with, we've grown together.

I can only hope that we can continue to work together to continue to achieve the goals we have, together. We've accomplished a lot as a family and there is so much more to look forward to, which is the best gift I could be given, future.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms I know.


Sent from my Cellular South BlackBerry® Smartphone

Short Baby Shower Update

So my baby shower was Amazing!!!

So many friends braved the sirens and warnings for crazy weather and came to celebrate the coming of our sweet Melissa Jane!

It was wonderful to have so many friends from so many different parts of my life all together in one place!

Jennifer did such an amazing job hosting and everything was sooo cute and sweet!

I'll have to post more pictures from the shower later on because there are lots of them...not to mention when I was opening gifts, I made some extremely funny faces!

Everyone got Melissa Jane some really cute outfits to wear and bathtime is completely handled now! Geoff was really excited to see a baby bathtub since he likes using them to bathe babies.

It was such a special afternoon and once I finished writing thank you notes all I could and can think about is how lucky we are to have so many wonderful friends and family in our life!

Bored at school?

Ok, so last friday apparently I was REALLY bored! The kids had all finished their End-of-Course test, most of their work is done too, so I showed them a movie...but after watching the same movie over and over and over and over again, I got a little tired of it...

At least my artistic endeavors weren't completely for naught...they are nice to look at and there are still a few empty squares for me to add on to! :)

Have a great week and happy monday!

Passover 2011

So clearly I am behind on all my blog posting efforts. What can I say, life has been busy! Geoff and I have finished our classes for the semester and I took my Praxis exams on April 30, so my goal is to get better at posting before Miss Melissa Jane makes her arrival...

To that effort, this week will totally be a catchup week for me!

Here's the scoop on Passover:

We had passover seder at my dad's house. It was a busy evening full of lots of giggling and whatnot...go figure!

Jonas read the four questions this year and did an excellent job.

The kids had the camera, so all the pictures are from their point of view!

Jonas reading the questions.

And seriously, these are the best pictures of the family...ugh!

I think I'll need to take the pictures next year!

We didn't manage to take our big family picture this year, which was a little disappointing...but we will next year for sure!!!

Happy Mother's day to you all!

My uncle came to visit!!!

So, my uncle just came in town to see everyone again! My uncle Mickey, hosted us all at his house and had a wonderful dinner for us all. It was so wonderful to have so much of our family in one place and to get to catch up with them.

Here are a few pictures.

My dad and my uncle Gary.

My uncle Gary, uncle Tommy, and my aunt Lynn.

My cousin Steven (he's an amazing photographer and videographer.) and me.

My uncle Tommy and cousin Hailey.

Lots of 2nd cousins!!!

It's been a month....

Somehow that seems pathetic to me...

Updates:

1. San Francisco Trip was AWESOME! I love visiting that city. I will have lots of pictures to post in a bit, but let's just sum it up to say there are some cities that are just wonderful to visit and San Fran is definitely one of them!

2. Kids are growing and doing well! We started baseball, soccer, softball and the long course swim season... Phew! I'm worn out just listing all of that! The first few soccer games have gone ok, Jonas still has a lot to learn about the game, but he's trying! First long course swim meet, Annie improved on her times, which is good. Baseball practice and softball practice started off rocky for Jonas and Annie, Geoff (of course) is doing fine with his softball team...go figure! :)

3. Homebirth: Well, due to some changes happening between my midwives and (finally) having the full understanding of the financial implications, we will not be having a homebirth afterall. I am so incredibly bummed... We will be delivering at St.Francis in Bartlett...I will fully expect my friends to make a total nusance of themselves! Flowers and those crazy door wreaths are all welcome! (The more the better!)

4. School: Geoff is set to graduate in DECEMBER !!!!! Yeah! Very excited about that!!! After I interview, I should be officially accepted to the EdD program in Instruction, Curriculum and Leadership for the fall!

5. Maternity pics round 2 will be taken this coming sunday :) so those will go on the blog once they're available...

6. Baby Shower!!! So excited that I have the most awesomest friends in the world and Jennifer is hosting the shower!!! Orignially, she and our good friend Amber were hosting together, but Amber's dad recently suffered a trauma and she is returning to California to be with him. I am sad that she's gone.

7. Home News: Well, Geoff has gotten ALL the stumps out of the beds where the giant bushes were...I'll post pics in a bit...and his dad is working on moving to Memphis! Big Changes! Can't wait to get on the garden!!! Next year should be interesting and the year after, hopefully, we'll have some decent crops.

Only 27 days of school left after today...not that I'm counting down or anything....

More later!
 

So much has happened!!!

First, I should probably apologize for having been MIA for so long!

Here's the news...

1. Baby: all is good! She and I are trying to bond...She really seems to be happy with kicking away!

2. Fun things: My baby shower invitations arrived!!! (This is the one thing that I really wanted to be OCD about. And I figured if you're gonna be OCD, well why not just handle it completely...)

Thanks to Kathryn, one of my teacher friends and a WSHS grad, I found the cutest invitation here. Thanks!!

3. School things... well, I'm approved to teach for year #2...but we still don't know where...

4. Science teacher things.. I just got back from San Francisco!!! It was AMAZING!

A few picks are below, but it was absolutely incredible! I got to go to the California Academy of Science, the Exploratorium, Fort Mason, Hyde Park, Union Square Park, the Presario, the Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate Beach and Park, walk through the largest Chinatown in the country, walk through Little Italy, Ghirardelli Square, eat at AMAZING restaurants; Burger Bar, Capurro's, Crab House, In-N-Out Burger, Honey,Honey and a few others!

Lombard Street...not the "crookedest" street in the country, but it certainly is winding...

Forget "I'm on a Boat" check-ins on foursquare...I got to do an "I'm on a Cable Car!"

The living roof at California Academy of Science, waay cool!

Do I need to explain above or below??

So sweet!

4. Now, for the best news all week....

My cousin and her husband have safely returned from service in Afghanistan!!!!

I am so grateful to the men and women who serve our country, however, I am most grateful for the safe return of these two wonderful people!!

It's been over a week!?!?!?!?!

Oh my goodness! I can't believe I let a whole week go by without posting!

Ok, first we'll start with baby news, I had a check up with the midwives... I have reached the point in my pregnancy where I no longer want to know what my weight is. Amy informed me that my weight was fine, I've only gained 2 pounds in the last month and she's fine with that, which is fine with me. Jonas, of course, was only concerned with one thing...hearing Melissa Jane's heartbeat.

She is definitely my girl...she couldn't decide how she wanted to lay! Amy and I couldn't decide if she was head up or down...but once we found her heartbeat, she sounds great!

I had an insane to do list for this weekend. Most is done.
1. I have cleared our dining room table of years worth of paper. I should have taken a picture! No joke, this was at least 6-7 BIG boxes of paper all mixed up! Now everything is organized and either thrown out, waiting to be shredded, or put away!
2. I got 3 more boxes of random things put away from in front of a bookcase in the family room.
3. All my clothes are put away (and not on the end of my bed.)
4. (My mother would be shocked) I have now gone a whole month of making my bed in the morning!!!!
5. I got 2 CD organizers and put all the CDs in the organizers (and got rid of the cases...my what space that saves!)
6. We have emptied half of the kitchen so Geoff really will be able to start the kitchen remodel!!! YEAH!!!
7. All that's left now is the errands...

Ok, new post coming later...with pictures!!!

I've got to tell yall about baby stuff and go girl art!!

I've been a slacker!

Okay, here's the quick dish...

Memphis Tiger Swimming was awesome at Districts!
Annie swam great! She went best times in 6 of her individual events and her relay swam strong both days! She did a great job staying awake on the way to Nashville, but alas she conked out on the way home...Thank goodness for cell phones!
We had a great time getting to see Gigi and meet Chuck. A bunch of us went and got lunch/dinner together on Saturday after the meet. Then, after we got back to the hotel, Annie and some friends went and swam in the hotel pool, followed by playtime in our room.
Sunday was spent with more swimming and passing out the Championship Tshirts and Coach Cheryl's birthday!!! We got lunch at Panera's on the way home with Abby and her dad.
All-in-all it was a wonderful weekend...though we missed Daddy and Jonas a lot!!!
Here's a few shots of Annie and her friends:

In home news,

more of Melissa Jane's dresses have come! And my wonderful friend Shelley snagged some awesome things for me at a huge consignment sale today, while I was stuck in a training...

Geoff has cleared almost everything from our Den so the next major thing to happen is the GIANT goodwill donation tomorrow!

Annie and Jonas' beds are now in Jonas' room, dorm room style. They love it and Melissa Jane will be getting a room and a crib! Here's her crib bedding we I registered for: 

Isn't it super cute?!?!?

I really wanted to make something, but I have no confidence that I could actually get it done in time...

In baby shower news, I now have 2 hostesses! I feel so blessed to have so many friends who are all helping us prepare for Melissa Jane! I can't wait for her to get here and meet all these wonderful people!

School is progressing along nicely for me at U of M and work-wise. I finally figured out how to access my students scores, and come to find out, they're mostly improving overall!

My belly is officially sticking out noticeably and there is no longer a question of fat or pregnant...

I know there's more I should be sharing, but I just can't remember everything anymore and my our her bowl of cereal has just arrived...