2013 in Review

Well, 2013 has come to an end, and Drew and I have had an amazing year full of travel and the start of major life changes. We look forward to all that 2014 has to offer.

This year Drew and I joined a co-ed softball team with our life group. I never played sports before, I thought it was a lot of fun.

In April, Drew and I traveled to Las Vegas with his parents. We had a great time eating and going to a bunch of shows.

I turned 27 this year and Drew took me to see Wicked when they came in town.

We has a life group girls weekend, it was so nice to get away and hang out with my friends.

Drew had his annual work training in Boston, and of course I joined him. We headed out to Fenway to tour the park and we ate delicious Italian pastries in North End. After we returned from Boston, Drew and I headed to New Orleans for a weekend away, but we have no pictures to document the trip.

Then after we got back from New Orleans, Drew and I headed up to Nebraska for his cousin's wedding. We were very busy traveling this summer.

Drew's cousin married a truck driver and all the guys in the wedding brought their trucks, it was definitely a unique get-away car.

Our big trip of the year was Ireland. The country was absolutely beautiful, we had a wonderful time experiencing a new country and culture.

I'm am at the same school this year, and still teaching resource, but this year we each got our own room and I am teaching Kinder and 1st graders with special needs. I love my little home away from home!

In October, Drew and I headed out to New York with his parents. It was very similar to our trip to Las Vegas, full of shows and food. Drew surprised me with tickets to Wicked on Broadway....AMAZING! I did not enjoy the traveling as much as I did with Las Vegas as I was battling morning sickness.

The biggest thing to happen to our little family this year is finding out that we will be parents in May, a little nerve racking and exciting all at the same time.

For Christmas, Drew got me the DSLR camera I has been wanting, such a great gift. Be prepared for the pictures to follow as I figure out how to use it.

I hope you had an amazing 2013 full of love, blessings, and great memories. Happy New YEAR!

7 years...

It has been a wonderful 7 years with the love of my life, my best friend. God could not have blessed me with a better soul mate. I am so thankful for the wonderful man that he is. He is hardworking, sweet, compassionate, talented, silly and all together wonderful! I'm am grateful for the 7 years we have had together, and I am looking forward to this new phase of life as we enter year 8!

18 Weeks

how far along? 18 weeks

how are you measuring? Right on track
size of baby? size of a sweet potato 

heartbeat? 152 bpm 

total weight gain/loss? -10 lbs. 

maternity clothes? Yes, I finally caved (Drew made me spend some money) and bought a pair of jeans (mine were starting to hurt). I can still wear regular shirts.

stretch marks? Nope.

sleep? I'm still tired, but I no longer need daily naps. I do get up once during the night to go to the bathroom, and I feel like I toss and turn a lot at night.

best moment this week? We got to see the baby moving around at our 18 week appointment, baby G was kicking away and waving.

movement? I'm not sure if I am, I think I might be, but not entirely sure.

food cravings? Orange juice and oranges

gender predictions? Drew is dead set that we are having a boy, I'm pretty happy either way. At the beginning I was pretty adamant that we were having a girl. We will find out May 26th!

what i miss? Sleeping comfortably through the night, I know it will be a long time before that happens again. I also wake up every morning with a headache, which I miss being headache free.
what i'm looking forward to? getting the nursery done, it's in progress!
how are you feeling? I'm feeling good, I love being able to eat again, and healthy food is starting to sound good again!

Telling Drew the big news

I've known for a couple years how I wanted to tell Drew we were going to be parents and the occassion finally cam about!

I sent Drew on a little scavenger hunt that started with an email saying...
"Now that the day is done, lets go and have some fun! Go pick up some drinks from the place we first met and clue number 2 will be waiting for you."

He headed off to Chick-Fil-A in the mall where we first met when we worked there for a summer. At Chick-Fil-A another note was waiting for him...
"Dinner and snacks are waiting, but hurry because the ducks are coming. Just remember I love you and I'd marry you all over again! Go PARK the car and I'll see you soon!"
This note sent him to the park where he first told me he loved me and proposed...I though what a perfect way to tell him about the next big news in our life.

When I saw him park I walked up to him and handed him my phone with clue number 3, a picture of the positive test on my lock screen.

He was super excited and then we enjoyed a picnic by the pond with some sparkling cider, I bought baby blankets for our picninc blanket and layed out some I love daddy onsies.

14 & 16 Weeks

how far along? 16 weeks

how are you measuring? I'll find out in a couple weeks at my 18 week appointment
size of baby? size of an avocado 

heartbeat? 160 bpm (at our 14 week appointment) 

total weight gain/loss? -15 lbs. (I'm up 5 lbs from the last time I weighed myself)

maternity clothes? Not yet, but I love getting in my PJ's or sweats when I get home from work, my pants are starting to get a little snug. 

stretch marks? Nope.

sleep? I'm pretty tired, but I finally feel like I'm starting to get some of my energy back. I toss and turn a lot a night which is not something I'm used to.

best moment this week? Being able to make dinners during the ice storm.

movement? Not yet.

food cravings? Nothing, I'm still not completely enjoying food, nothing really sounds good.

gender predictions? Boy,just listening to people talk about their morning sickness and mine being similar it makes me think baby G could be a boy.

what i miss? Food sounding good and not making me sick.
what i'm looking forward to? hopefully feeling better in the next couple days/weeks
how are you feeling? nauseous and I'm starting to feel a little frumpy as I've hit this in-between stage.

Well, it's happening...

May The Luck Of The Irish Be With You

Last month, Drew and I were blessed to go to Ireland. The weather was wonderful and the contry was absolutely breath taking. I am so thankful that we had a chance to go with friends and get away before school started. This has definitely been the start to one busy year!

We started our trip in Northen Ireland and we have scenic view driving pictures from tons of places. These are just from driving around Northern Ireland.

Woo-hoo, we made it to Ireland!

Our first official stop in Northern Ireland was the Giant's Causeway.

These rocks that are like steps are all the exact same shape and it looks like someone carved them all out, but they are all naturally formed.

The next morning before we headed out of Northern Ireland we stopped at the beach that we just down the block from our bed and breakfast.

We stopped in Belfast and toured the Titanic museum. Belfast is where the Titanic was built.

From there we drove down the west coast of Ireland and stayed in a Castle near Galway. We stayed at some of the nicest hotels I have ever been to, this trip was definitely wonderful!

Near Galway is the Aran Islands and we headed there for the morning. They are incrediby rocky islands and to make room to build houses and have and for cattle they had to move the rocks, the island is covered in rock walls. The island we went to is also where they filmed Leap Year.

 From Galway we headed to Kilarney, but not before hitting the Cliffs of Moher, they were beautiful. Drew definitely made me nervous walking to the edge!

We stayed a night at Hayfield Manor, a beautiful hotel in the heart of Cork. Its a quiet, quaint place in the middle of a big city. It was so luxurious, Drew had wine and chocolate covered strawberries waiting in the room when we arrived. I felt so pampered on this trip.

 In the town of Cork is the "fairly" famous Blarney Castle. We were some of the first people to arrive that morning and we practically had the castle to ourselves. Drew and I now have the gift of eloquent speech after kissing the Blarney Stone.

No day in Ireland is comeplete without drinks, so we headed to the Jamison Distillary and toured the place and of course finished with some whiskey. We are now pro-whiskey tasters.

We finished out our trip in Dublin where we stayed at the Ritz, where we had an AWESOME suite! Seriously the best room ever. We headed to Powerscourt a beautiful estate and gardens.

We finished our trip out at Guiness, with a pint at the end. 

The bartender was so crafty and put clovers in our foam.

We had a wonderful trip to the Emerald Isle and I definitely hope to go again someday!