Christmas!

I haven't updated in a while. I planned to update right after Christmas, but after my mom ended up in the hospital, updating my blog was the last thing on my mind. Everything ended up fine, and my mom is home now and feeling much better, they were still a few scary days!

So Christmas was great, except for the fact that my mom wasn't feeling exactly herself. Braysen received so many gifts! I can already tell that the child will be spoiled, I can't believe how much he got for Christmas, and he's still not even here yet! I'm afraid to see what will happen next year!

Santa showed up at my parents' house this year, and here are just a few of the goodies that he left for Braysen:
 

 

  Santa also left him this Boppy Lounger. After Marlo raved about how much Emery loved hers, I decided that my little guy probably would need one, too! :) Grammie has already been shopping off the registry!

And yes, I realize that these do not look like "baby" clothes. That's why we love them! I love the fact that they are a miniature version of Tony's clothes.

 

 

My Aunt Stephanie (who has 3 adorably dressed boys of her own) picked out some really cute "boy" clothes for him also! Here are some of them:   

His first swimsuit! It is so tiny! Braysen will be ready for the river by next summer, even if mommy's body isn't! :)

Tony's parents even joined in on the fun:

Joey and Dena stopped by when we were in Havasu to leave these jammies that look like riding gear:

 

We get a glimpse of Braysen!

Today we went for our 3D/4D ultrasound. My aunts bought a package for me for my birthday where we get to go twice to have these ultrasounds done. Everybody wanted to come, so we had a room-full! It was really cool and we got some really great shots of baby Braysen in action.

Chunky boy already! He definitely hasn't been starving!

A little smile.

Little feet!

I know it's a lot of pictures of him, but they gave us 113, so there were SO MANY to choose from!

Our audience:

Aunt Jennifer, Ryan, & Aunt Stephanie

Aunt Stephanie & my mom

My grandma & Kylie

Tony's dad, checking out my belly.

Aunt Jennifer, Ryan, & Tony

The technician was cracking up at our crazy family.

Double digits!

So as of today, according to my ticker, I have 99 days left! Holy cow! Where has the time gone?! It seems like it was just last week that we were at the river for the 4th of July, and I wasn't drinking because I knew there was a chance that I could have been pregnant. It's a good thing I didn't drink, because as it turns out, I was three weeks pregnant. I knew the time was going to go fast, but I really had no idea!

Thanksgiving

 We spent Thanksgiving at my grandma's house.

All of the grandkids. Yes, can you believe that we are adding yet another boy to this mix!? Kylie and I are definitely outnumbered!

Me with my cousin Kylie. I think she really enjoys the fact that I have a big ol' belly!

My brother, another person who enjoys the fact that I now have a FUPA!

My mom. Can you tell we're related?

My dad.

Aunt Jennifer, Aunt Stephanie, & my mom.

23 Weeks!

Tip-a-Teacher

On Wednesday night, our school participated in Tip-a-Teacher at Applebee's in Moreno Valley. The teachers shadowed servers for the night. I swore I would never end up working in a restaurant again once I got my teaching credential, but for the good of our students I decided to do it. :) We were raising money so that our students could have some type of a fun assembly or a field trip, because the districts don't really have the money to provide them anymore, and most of the students at our school cannot afford to pay their own way on a field trip.


So they set each of us up with one of the servers. Somehow, I ended up in the bar cocktailing. Seriously? Who put the pregnant girl in the bar?! It ended up being a lot of fun and we were able to raise a good deal of money for our school. It is amazing to me how much more generous people are when they are giving to the students. I think I made more money that four hour shift that I worked than I did any night in the three years that I was a server! I had one man who tipped me a hundred bucks! It was great to hear people say how much teachers are appreciated. In our profession, we don't hear that very often. It was also really great to see how generous people could be, even with the economy the way it is right now.

On a side note, that was the first night that I received a stranger comment about being pregnant. I had three different groups of people comment on my visibly pregnant stomach. So my belly officially looks like a baby bump and not a beer belly!

WE just love my new pillow!

I've been having a difficult time sleeping lately. I sleep, just not well. I have a body pillow that I have had for several years that I was using, but it was pretty sad looking. Natalie was talking about a pillow she bought from Babies R Us. She had only used it once, but liked it so far. I had been looking at the pillow and considered buying it, but it was a little more expensive that what I wanted to pay for it. Once Natalie told me that Gina had one also (Gina is having twins!) and that Gina loved hers, I decided that I needed one.


Needless to say, I bought it yesterday (with coupons of course) and last night was my first night using it. It was one of the best nights of sleep I've gotten in a long time, even before I was pregnant!

Usually in the mornings, Tiffany snuggles in bed with Tony while I am getting ready for work. This morning, when I got out of the shower, this is what I found on my side of the bed...
 

Apparently, Tiffany would rather cuddle with my new pillow. Looks like we have a winner! Thanks for the suggestion Natalie!

Lazy Day

I thought that because I had a day off in the middle of the week that I would be very productive. I was so wrong. One thing that I did do today is work on the lettering for Braysen's wall in his nursery. I still need to do a few finishing touches, but here they are so far!

Definition of a Boy

This is what I have to look forward to. :)

Busy Weekend

What a busy girl I was this weekend! Most of the weekend was filled with getting stuff ready for the baby, but I feel so much better about what was accomplished.


First of all, 20 weeks!?! Where has all the time gone! I cannot believe that I am already halfway done with this pregnancy!

We planned to register on Saturday. I wanted to take my mom, because, honestly, I didn't know much about what exactly we would need. My mom knows tons about babies, so I figured she would be the best person to take. Once we got to my new favorite place (Babies R Us) she realized that there are so many new gadgets and other things that were never around when we were little. We had so much fun! It was an exhausting day. We were there for a really long time, but there were a lot of things that I had already done some research on, so that made things much easier. Plus I have been to Babies R Us about 50 times in the last month, so I know a lot about what they have. So 3 hours later, we finally left the store, and I got away without buying a single thing this time! YES!

Yesterday was supposed to be the day that Tony and I went back to finish up the registry and add anything we forgot. Tony decided that he had a lot of stuff to do around the house instead, so while he busied himself packing up things in the garage, my mom and I took off in search of Braysen's bedding. We were having a really hard time finding a bedding set that we liked. The first obvious choice for a boy is a sports-themed room, which was quickly vetoed. While Tony is into sports and everything, we decided we wanted something a little different. I'm really not into all of the animals and other things they have for baby boy bedding. Some of the little girl stuff is really cute, but when it comes to the boy stuff, the boy stuff is really lacking. This doesn't just go for bedding, this is for clothes, shoes, etc when it comes to boy stuff. Everything has monkeys, lions, turtles, giraffes, teddy bears, or something else really dorky on it. We just wanted something really simple, and not too busy, but we couldn't find a bedding set that we were really happy with, and this was after a 2 month internet search. We found a place that does custom bedding, so my mom and I checked it out yesterday. The pricing was much more reasonable that what I thought it would be, and we got to pick the fabric and style of the bedding. They make everything on site, and it should be ready to pick up in about a week or two! Also at the store, Grammy picked up a piggy bank for Braysen's room.

On the way home, we stopped at a couple more places. Tony and I had already purchased the lettering for Braysen's room, but my mom and I picked up the supplies to actually decorate the letters, so I started on those last night.

We also found this little tiny onesie that i just had to buy!

In reality, this onesie could say "Uncle(s) love dirt", "Grandpa(s) love dirt", or "Great Grandpa(s) love dirt". We've got dirt bike riders coming from both sides of the family! So while I have been fighting the people that say this kid will be on a dirt bike before he is 5 years old, I think I have come to terms with the fact that it is inevitable. Much like my brother, my child's first big Christmas gift will probably be a motorcycle. SIGH.

19 Weeks

Check out our 19 week bumps!

Finally!

Our little guy finally has a name!

Goodbye Little House

Three years ago we were so excited to buy our first house, and it felt like such an accomplishment for us. I love my house. When we first started talking about leaving our house, it was a little scary... until we found our new house. It is literally almost two times the size of our current house, and our mortgage will almost be cut in half! And buying a new house and getting to decorate all over again is always exciting!

But now as the closing of escrow on our new house is getting closer and closer, I am watching as my house becomes more and more bare. Every day I am packing up our things. It is making me very sad to leave this house. It is at the point right now where I can't even stand to be here. The walls are so bare that it no longer feels like home to me. Tony doesn't usually get off work until somewhere between 8:30 and 10 at night, so I spend a lot of time at home by myself during the week. I have been getting off work and staying at my parents' house as long as possible, because I can't stand to be here with all of our things packed away. I'm ready for our new house to close so that I can move on and make that house my home. But at the same time, it will be heartbreaking for me the day we actually move from this house. Goodbye my little house.

I've got a feeling

Seriously! There was a day last week that I swore I could feel Little Guy kicking. It's a little hard to tell, because when I lay down, I can feel my pulse all over my body, especially in my stomach. When I thought I felt something, I thought it was too early, and I just convinced myself that it was my pulse.

We spent yesterday and last night in Havasu for Tony's Grandma's birthday party. Some of his family members were asking me if I had been feeling any movement, and I told them I thought so, but I wasn't really sure. After I ate, I was sitting at the table, and he poked me twice. Tony's cousin Heather took one look at my face and asked me, "What's wrong with you?!" She could tell by my expression that something was going on. I told her that I thought he was kicking me. Then later that night as we were standing around talking, I felt him yet again! Still the pessimist, I thought maybe it was just my food digesting.

So then today I was sitting on the computer, and I felt the little stinker three more times! This is definitely not a fluke! We have movement people! Maybe this pregnancy feels real after all.

I was right!

We decided we couldn't wait until our Dr. appointment to find out the sex of our baby. We just had to know! We went for our early gender determination on Saturday. I kept telling everybody that I was sure it was a boy. I was even hesitant to pay for the early gender determination, because I was so sure. I heard from so many people that they thought I was wrong, they thought it was a girl. As it turns out, I was right!


Free Glitter Graphics, It's A Boy Glitter Graphics

We are still working on a name for our little guy. One reason that I was so sure it was a boy, is because we had picked a girl name fairly easily. I knew that because it was too easy, the baby was definitely not a girl! So now we are trying to figure out what we are going to call him. I'm tired of using the pronouns "he" and "him" when I talk about him. We have it narrowed down to a name that both Tony and I like, but he's having a hard time committing to it. I think he's afraid he's going to find something else he likes better.

After we found out it was a little guy and not a girl, my mom and I spent the rest of the day shopping. We got a lot of great stuff for little man and a lot of great stuff for my new house. Almost everything on sale, clearanced, or with a coupon, of course. Would I shop any other way?

Venting

The public school system in California has given me so many ups and downs that I feel like a ping pong ball. I went from being pink slipped in San Jacinto because of budget cuts. So we were thinking we were going to lose our house because of our income. Then finding a job at the last minute in Riverside. Then deciding that we would be able to hold on to our house. Then finding out a few weeks later that I had an even better opportunity at the same school site. Then getting pink slipped again last year in Riverside. Then thinking that we were going to lose our house again because of our income. Then deciding to just give up and walk away from our house because they lender wouldn't modify our loan. Then getting my job back in Riverside. Then finding a new house because I had a job again and we could afford it again. Now this.

Apparently, enrollment is down at our site and has increased at other sites. One teacher has to go to a different school. Our principal has asked for somebody to do a volunteer transfer, but because they won’t tell us the new school site or grade level, nobody volunteered. Can you blame them? So it goes down to seniority. Lisa, Linda, and I all have the same hire date, so basically they are going to decide between the three of us.

I cannot believe this can be happening. I mean, I just finally got all of my boxes unpacked again about a month ago, and now I may have to pack them back up again just to set up in a new classroom in a new school? It’s like the first day of school all over again, except it will be October! And in all this unpacking, repacking, and unpacking again of my classroom stuff, I am trying to pack up our house to prepare for our move! I’m trying to be positive and think, “At least I still have a job.” But I’m finding it very difficult to stay positive with everything that is going on right now. I need a cocktail! Oh wait, I can't have one.

Call me crazy

Some people may think I'm crazy, but we've already purchased some of our nursery furniture. I'm really big on finding ways to save money. Everybody knows that when I was buying stuff to decorate my first house, I only bought things that I had coupons for or things that were on sale. Even our couches and bedroom set!


As far as nursery furniture goes, I had already been checking out the Babies R Us furniture about three different times, so I already knew exactly what I was looking for. We also bought the Baby Bargains book, so that I could get reviews on the safety information for all the cribs. Well, I found three different sets that I liked, but one was rated a C, one was rated an F, and one was rated an A. We ended up buying the set that had an A grade, which was the one that was more our taste anyway (and my favorite set anyway).

So, back to my frugalness. I happened to have some 15% off coupons from the last time I was at Babies R Us, but they were getting ready to expire. Sooo, I just had to use them before they expired. Expiring coupons burn holes in my pockets. So we ended up getting a Babies R Us credit card to get an even BETTER discount (they take 10% off your first purchase). We ended up saving 25% off our nursery furniture! Quite the deal, if you ask me!

The only problem was that to use the coupons, the furniture had to be in stock. I checked online before we left, so we wanted to pick the furniture up today in order to make sure what we wanted would still be in stock. All the boys (my dad & Tony) were still at work, so my mom and I took my dad's truck to get the furniture. We didn't realize that we would need to strap it down (isn't that what those boys that load the furniture get paid for?). We had to call Tony's dad to our rescue. He lives nearby, so he came to our rescue and strapped it down for us so we could make it home without losing anything on the freeway.

So, call me crazy for buying it so soon, but I'd like to see you find a better deal!

First Baby Gift

A few weeks ago, baby Schuler received their first presents (aside from all the things my mom has bought since the day she found out I was pregnant. Seriously, she went to Babies R Us the day I told her I was pregnant!) So, I got to my mom's house and there was a package from her friend Kathy that lives in Arkansas. The package was really some old fashioned candy that Kathy sent to my mom. But with the candy were these two little tiny onesies that Kathy found. She is a huge Razorback fan. My mom didn't tell me who they were from, but I immediately knew! It's so exciting to have things for the baby, so I just had to post the picture!

Goodbye First Tri!

Your fetus is forming teeth and vocal cords... savor this, their non-functional phase. Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy. (Much more convenient.)

 Today, I am officially 13 weeks, and officially into my second trimester! The baby is the size of a peach, which is really weird, because I have been eating peaches in my lunch every day this past week. I don't know what has been going on with my sleep patterns, but the last few nights I haven't been able to sleep. I was up late last night packing up our house (more on this later) and was up early right after Tony left for work (yes, he is working on a Saturday... we're having a baby people!). You would think that because it's a Saturday my body would want to sleep in. Not happening today. Maybe I'll do a little more packing before I meet my mom to buy stuff for my new house. Then it's off to Bunco after that! Looks like my days of DRUNKO are over for a while!

Scary Week #12

So today was probably the scariest doctor's appointment I have ever had! I think it was even more petrifying than my 8 week appointment. At the 8 week appointment, I wasn't really sure what to expect, so that was a little scary in itself. I was had prepared myself for the worst, but was hoping for the best. Thankfully, it was for the best. We got to see our little peanut on the ultrasound, heartbeat and all.

For today's appointment, I was still a little nervous, because I have heard from so many people that most miscarriages occur in the first 12 weeks. So, if you know me well enough, you know that I am the biggest worry wart. So again, I was preparing for the worst. As I sat in the waiting room for over an hour, some girl comes out of the exam rooms and sits down looking very agitated. She then proceeds to tell everybody on our side of the waiting room that she just lost her baby at 8 weeks and that they were sending her to the ER for a D&C. OK, can you say panic?! I sat in terror for the next 10 minutes. She kept talking and I kept trying to tune her out (something I think I've picked up from my students). That is definitely NOT something that you share in a room full of pregnant women. Needless to say, everything was fine with me. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat and found out that all my blood work came out ok. For once in my life I actually know my blood type. An hour of waiting and all that stress for nothing!