Baby Bump

So, this tummy of mine kinda came all of a sudden. I didn't really have anything until about a week ago. And then WHAM! There it was. Funny thing is, somedays its bigger than others. I'm not sure how that works. But here's a picture, and it looks super big because it was a "big belly" day, plus I had on a tight shirt.

20 weeks along - halfway!

Kicking Away

I am so excited! Little Peanut was so active this morning while I was reading. I felt it kick really hard consistently, so I had Andrew come over to try to feel it and he could! Peanut kicked him a lot! It's weird to realize that I'm basically growing another human being inside of me. Anyway, thought I'd share that exciting news. Only 9 more days 'til we find out if Peanut is a boy or girl!

You never know...

You never know when something will suddenly change your life. That happened today. I have sad news and then good news. I'll tell good news at the end because I like to end off positive. The sad news is really just a journal entry, so you can skip the last paragraph if you'd like to go straight to the positive news.

So, for those that read my blog, you might remember how one of my student's parents died unexpectedly earlier in the year. Yeah, total shock. We got through it, helped each other out, and we became stronger. Today, I come to school, totally normal day when the principal pulls me out right in the middle of teaching. I come out and I see a student's mom go in the room for me. I just say a nice hello and go on out not realizing what was about to hit me. (Before going on, in case you didn't know, I taught 4th grade last year at the same school.) Apparently, a 4th grade teacher, my mentor teacher from last year, passed away. She was only like, 52 years old. She went down to visit her new grandbaby in AZ and help out her daughter when she passed out and they couldn't revive her. My principal says that to me, then says, "Don't tell your kids yet, I need to go tell the other teachers" and just leaves me there. Done. One minute, this day's great, and literally one minute later, this day is horrible. I'm now a trainwreck, and I realize why that parent went into my room (so I could bawl my eyes out in the hall and she could stay with my kids while I did so). Unfortunately, when I cry, you can tell for the next hour or so. After trying to compose myself, I walk into the classroom and of course they saw my face and knew something horrible happened. I couldn't tell them, though, because I had to wait 'til all the faculty knew. Here I go, trying to be professional and continue to teach them while processing what just happened. I was able to tell them about 2 hours later once the school psychologist and principal talked to the whole 4th grade. Many of my students had this teacher last year. Everyone had her at some point because we did rotations. I told them right before recess so they could have some alone time if they needed to, go to the bathroom, get some fresh air, or just stay in the room and cry. All the kids reacted completely different. Some had to go home because they were so upset while others seemed to not flinch. Everyone mourns differently. Everything just happened so fast. No one was expecting that at all. You just never know what will happen next in this life and just have to be trying your best at all times. She was such a trooper through all the things she'd been through and I just hope the kids will come to terms that things will be okay. *sigh* What a year it's been so far...

I know, real downer, but I did have good news, remember? We went to our baby appointment yesterday and heard the heart beat for the first time!! It was soo cool and the Dr. said it was really really strong and healthy. I was so excited because I was a little worried going into the appointment. I hadn't been gaining weight (I've actually lost a pound since being pregnant) and it seemed like my belly was getting smaller than it had been last week. Seeing that I'm 17 weeks, it should be going the other way around. Hearing that heartbeat put everything at ease, though. I'm even more excited for Feb. 15th because that's when we find out if it's a baby boy or baby girl! I can't wait!

Love my nieces

I'm with my twin nieces (3 years old) right now in CA and Aubry took my phone and said, "Look Courtney, I'm on the phone with Jesus! Want to talk to him?" Courtney replies, "Yeah! Hi Jesus! I'm getting baptized just like you! I miss you, I love you, bye!"

I love little kids.

Can you guess...

...what we're about the announce from looking at the following pictures??

As you can see, we are fond of children. We love playing with them, holding them, and just plain being with them. We realized, though, that it was about time to have a kid of our own.

So we are going to!!! We're due on June 25th!!!

That's our little peanut at 9 weeks. He/She is now about a month older at this moment. We're so excited!

Fall Break

Isn't it great how I always wait like, a month before posting my most exciting things in life? Fall Break was coming up and I was REALLY missing my twin nieces in Sacramento and wanted to see them terribly. I was telling my sister how I missed them and I was actually looking at plane tickets half seriously when my sister told me good news! She said that my other sister was driving to the Bay Area for a school reunion that same exact weekend! What a coincidence, huh? So I called up my other sister who only lives 20 minutes away and asked if I could just hitch a ride, she could drop me off in Sacramento, drive down for the reunion, then pick me up on her way back to UT. It worked out perfectly. Except for the fact that Andrew couldn't come since BYU doesn't have a Fall Break. Sad day. So here I am with my 4 year old nephew during our 10 hour drive.

He already started going crazy after the first hour was done. My other nephew was smart to bring those huge headphones. Haha.
This is how excited Courtney was to see me!We went to the mall to get their pictures taken. They were adorable and were absolutely perfect for the photographer. Seriously, I don't know if I could've been better. The stranger lady just moved them around and they just kept on smiling. The pictures turned out so good too!

Afterwards, we went out to lunch at Costa Vida and got our free longboards.
Aubry is so cute with her sunglasses on. They're such girly girls. I love it.
Here they are while their mom was looking at their pictures. I was able to play with them on these toys in the mall.

It was such a good trip. It worked out so well, except for the fact that I got home at 3:15am and had to wake up to teach the next day at 6am. *yawn* But I had the students do the math problem of "How much sleep did Mrs. Parker get last night?" and once they figured out the correct answer, they felt bad for me and were SUPER good all day. I love my life.

Wal-mart Adventures

Today at Wal-Mart, I decided to do a couple nice things for others and I definitely got a reward for it.

Number one: A little old lady was looking at these ginormous turkeys that were on sale and trying to move them, look at them, pick them up, etc. So I went over and asked if I could help and so I looked through them with her then put the turkey of her choice into her cart.

God must have been checking up on me at that moment because He rewarded me. He knows me all too well because He blessed me to get behind this:

Yes, camouflage pants, a tye-dye shirt, red shoes, and the whole ensemble was completed with a fanny pack.

Number two: I got in line to check out and this nice guy with only a couple things was behind me. So I was nice once again and said, "You know what? You go ahead of me, you only have a couple things." He was really grateful and because of that nice action, God blessed me again! Yes, this cute little 3-year-old hispanic boy was now behind me in line with his mom and he had a full on mullet. It was even spiky on the top as if they tried to do it, but then the long hair hung down at the bottom. It was quite the sight. I didn't feel right taking a picture of a 3-year-old, especially with his mom nearby. I didn't want to get caught taking a picture either. So I refrained.

God knows just how to make my day.