kankles, chubby cheeks, and an elf on the shelf

We went to New Mexico for Thanksgiving.  For the first time ever.. I froze Woody out in the car.  He and his brother Kolton were freezing... Woody would turn the air hot and then I would turn it cold.... things have definitely changed.

New Mexico was tons of fun! We had a FULL HOUSE, but we did really well in our tight quarters. It was fun to see Woody's family that we don't get to be with very often.

We went on the Polar Express

During our black friday shopping Woody found a sweet awesome jacket/vest.  And then he found a whole outfit to go with it... he looks good in purple. Very Manly

We love visiting our nephew Jake! He is so cute and it gets us excited (and definitely nervous) for J to come!

I had a little boy bring in this present.  He said that he knew that my little boy would LOVE cars and legos.  I thought it was sweet that he would bring some of his own toys to give to little Joseph. His mom came in later that week and said he got the present put together all by himself... that's why I love my kiddos

I put my Reindeer up during my Thanksgiving feast at school... yeah I was ready for Christmas!

My kids have an Elf this year! I must admit that I love him, and so do the kids!! They are always so excited to come in and find him in the classroom.... unfortunately he was late arriving because I have some serious pregnancy brain problems

Ned stole their ornaments from the kids felt Christmas tree

He makes them books and writes funny things on the front.  Some favorites have been:

"Stop picking your nose"

"Ned for President"

And.. I can't remember anymore... remember.. pregnancy brain??

Woody says my ankles don't swell....

I guess in his defense I should add they don't usually look this bad, but when I went on a trip to Pennsylvania for work they got that bad.  They are however SWOLLEN.. Woody just can't tell because they started out so small... but I promise, they are bigger

While I was gone Woody went and picked up our crib!! He also bought the bedding that I have been wanting.  AND he set up the crib so it was ready when I came home.  It was so sweet!! 

Seeing the crib made it feel even more real that this baby is coming!

Woody said, "you mean that big belly isn't enough??"

Ya.. it's not enough

Here is baby Joseph! I still can't believe that there is a baby inside my tummy!! It is crazy to watch my stomach move as he moves.  I am so thankful to have been blessed to carry this little baby!

My belly, cheeks (both sets), thighs, ankles, etc... are all getting bigger and bigger! And I'm pretty sure my scale is BROKEN... there's no way I weigh THAT MUCH hahaha

Hopefully these things mean Joey is also getting bigger ;)

And...

2 more days of school!!

I think I can... I think I can... I think I can..

Baby J and Baby Jake

Holy Moly! Can you believe it is almost Thanksgiving??!! And Thanksgiving is late this year, and I still can't believe it's almost here.  Time sure has FLOWN BY... and at the same time, gone ssssuuuuupppppeeerrrr duper slow.  Here am I at 25 weeks (please excuse my beautiful nail polish):

Life has been pretty normal for Mr. Woody and I.  I have been keeping busy with work and he is busy studying, and watching sports of course.. He tries to do both at the same time, one of them always wins out in the end, three guesses which one it is!!

Still prego, in case you were wondering!! I have had a student ask me if I still have the baby in the belly.  Hah yup honey, it's still there! Which reminds me I heard some students (that I don't know) whisper as I walked by "gasp! She's having a baby!!"

Woody and I are Failing, like epically (did I spell that right??), at preparing for Baby J.  The only thing we've done so far is bring stuff to the D.I. out of baby's room.  We still have not bought one. single. item.  I keep hoping Woody will become interested in buying baby things and do the research for me... so far no such luck.. dangit!

I'm starting to have some braxton hicks. Yippee.  They aren't too bad though, still not as bad as my cramps!! Which, I totally thought I was supposed to not have during pregnancy... who told THAT lie?! 

Our little nephew Jake Douglas Bird was born last week!! He is simply adorable.

Whenever I look at him, I think he is SO BIG... probably because I know that a baby of that size will be in my tummy soon..... and... I will have to push him out.  These thoughts make Jakes size multiply by 10 I think

They made me change his diaper to "prepare myself".. Sadly I don't have the picture of the fact that it ended up taking 3 of us!! Because the poor baby kept pooping once I took his diaper off

Woody just loved seeing little Jake! He just stared at him and snuggled him.  I could tell that it was making him pretty excited for his own little guy.

I'm exhausted, and it's past my bedtime... so I guess that's all for today!

The monster in your computer

We live in a world filled with some really amazing things.  

Because of the internet - My parents will be able to see my Baby J grow up no matter where I live, with face time, sending pictures, sending videos etc, I can keep in contact with friends who have moved all over the country and world, I can get an e-mail from my little sister serving a mission in an instant, instead of having to wait for the mail to bring it to me, I can google ANYTHING from how to make a certain meal, to how to perform CPR.

The internet is incredible, and has provided all of us with truly good ways to use it.  However, like all things, you have to take the good with the bad.  One of the vices that has come with our internet age is, pornography.  I KNOW that this can be a touchy subject for some.  But, for me and my family, it is a simple black and white issue.  Pornography. is. bad.  It ruins lives.  And the most unfortunate thing of all is that the lives that it is now ruining are becoming younger and younger.

Right now there is a petition going on to require porn to be an "opt in" feature, rather than a standard feature.  Should this be put into action, it would make it so that instead of having pornography popping up out of the blue, users would need to change certain settings to allow themselves access to the pornography.

 Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day  Saints, I am a firm believer in agency.  If pornography was to be made an "opt in" feature it would enhance everybody's agency.  My kids would no longer be forced to view pornography by accidentally clicking the wrong website.  And the person who feels it is his right to view pornography would not be forced to stop, he/she would simply have to take additional measures to access it.

I truly believe that having this feature is a step in the right direction.  I hope that everyone takes a moment to think about signing, and how it will better our future should this come to pass.

Click here to sign the petition

Telling my students

Well life is CRAZY!!  School is busy (when isn't it busy?) and I'm... growing!!   I tried to buy me some new clothes last weekend and totally BOMBED!! I only found one Maxi skirt that I liked, so needless to say another shopping trip is coming my way.

I had my 20 week ultrasound appointment today!! Woody was able to  come with me and we loved looking at our little baby!! HE had some crazy legs, he gets that from me (it was my nickname in soccer).  And that's right I said HE

Woody and I are super excited to welcome Joseph Albright Palmer into our little family! We are calling him Baby J, it has a nice little ring to it :)

I left school for ultrasound today, so I decided today was the day to tell my kids about me being pregnant.  I LOVED telling them.  Seriously, their faces can't be any cuter on Christmas morning.  They were all SO excited.  They made me cry.  

They had lots of questions:

"will you still be our teacher?"

"can we see the baby?"

"what will you do with your baby?" 

and some AWESOME compliments: 

"you don't even look pregnant"

"I didn't even know!"

We graphed whether they thought the baby would be a boy or a girl.  I had 14 students guess boy, and 10 students guess girl.  Then they told me some of their name choices.  

Some girl ones were

- Lilly

-Rose

- Jane

- Haven

- Baby Palmer

- Pink

- Curly

Some boy names:

- Toby

- Jack 

- Owen

- Haden

- Donathen

- Mr. Palmer

Obviously some of them were better picks than others.  

Then after the ultrasound, I went back to school and told them it was a boy.  We looked at my ultrasound pictures and they all said, "aaaawwww, let's see him in real person!!"  They were so cute.  Then I told them his name would be Joseph, and I got quite the reaction, we have a Joseph in our class. Seriously, so. much. fun.

Unfortunately, the baby news was pure SUGAR to my students.  We did NOT have a productive day afterwards, but it's ok!

I have a nice big list of quotes from my students that I need to post, but unfortunately I don't have it with me, so I can only tell you the ones I remember:

We took a math test today, and 2 of my students were gone to a reading class.  After one of my little boys came back he said,

"oh you guys had to take a math test?? SUCKERS I was at reading! hahahaha"

Little boy: "Mrs. Palmer, you should be a witch, then I would pour water on you! Splash!!"

The Too Tight Pants

Oh. pregnancy.  I think everyone has a love/hate relationship with being pregnant (or am I the only one??). Even the girls who we all admire (secretly loath) for having an 'easy' pregnancy don't have it all that easy... comparatively.  The things we could talk about it. Nausea. Sleeplessness. Headaches. Pregnancy brain. Tired to the bone. The belly.  And I'm ONLY 16 WEEKS pregnant!!! And yet, these words are my new friends... you know the ones that you never invite over to your house?

I dreamed of being pregnant WAY before I actually was pregnant.  And even before Woody and I were trying I was drawn towards the pregnancy articles. (like a bug to a light.. like a bug to a light)  I especially loved the "dressing the bump" articles.  "aw sweet!" I would think... "I can be cute and pregnant".  I was totally prepared and ready to Dress. My. Bump! BUT, where on earth are all of the articles on dressing the chub?? You know the belly you have BEFORE the bump? Where people look at you and think.... is your belly getting bigger? Or....

No matter our size we all buy clothes that fit us.  And, no matter our size, there is a point in pregnancy where those clothes no longer fit.  Wait.. you mean to tell me these pair of pants that I have had since 8th grade (ya, I'm that out of style) aren't going to work any more??!! WHHHAAATTT It's rather unfortunate that this time has come for me.

Getting dressed in the morning now takes me twice as long as it used to.  Even when something still 'fits' it no longer looks the same, and there are some things that just don't work with the little 'extra' (in more areas than one) that I have. 

I have only had a few items that are now located in the... "after pregnancy, way after pregnancy, and maybe not ever again" pile. Today, however, after an eventful day, I had to add a pair of pants.

So this morning, I'm doing my morning ritual of trying things on, taking them off and tossing them on the floor, trying something else on, take it off.. tossing on the floor... When I decided on a pair of work pants that are my "nothing is working" go to pants.  

When I put them on I noticed that they were a little tight around the waist but, I'm tough! I can handle this! And I'm not even that big yet... So they stayed on.

Unfortunately, not my best decision.  My belly grows continually throughout the day (can't be too surprised since I eat 24/7) and soon my "kind of tight" pants turned into my "get these off of me now!" pants. There were some repercussions, such as, the tripling of the already too often need to use the bathroom, and a sick feeling that comes now when my belly is constricted. I quite honestly thought of changing into my sweat pants that I had brought to do yoga in that afternoon.. Thankfully I am not THAT crazy yet.  (I have however, undone my belt at a family gathering because it became too tight, that's legal when you're pregnant right??)

Baby P was not loving the tight pants today either.  Whenever I would sit down (And the pants got a little tighter) I felt a whole lot of movement from the babe.  He/she was saying "hello mom!! You are squishing me!! Get off get off get off!"(they get their bossiness from their dad) Sorry Baby P.. you had to be squished.

SO with a little bit of scorn (because of they pain they caused me) the pants are now in my ever growing pile.  And I am planning on getting me some pregnancy pants with an elastic waist. Done and Done. 

Pregnant lady teaching

Hey folks!! Life around here is definitely getting much better!

My nausea is beginning to go away so I no longer feel it ALL THE TIME.  It just comes and goes and I find myself beyond grateful for the moments when I don't feel anything in the tummy (no hunger, no nausea, not stuffed etc.) For a long time I completely cut out milk from my diet (because my lactose intolerance got so bad) but I am beginning to slowly introduce it back in and I am, again, really grateful to be able to have just a hint of cheese on a few things!

School is keeping me uper busy!! I love my new kids they are simply adorable, as always. I have had some fun moments with them so far.

I have one little boy who raises his hand and I say "yes bob" and he always replies, without fail: "mrs. Palmer, I have a question"  (thank you thank you.. I had no idea)

Boy: when I look at the flag it makes me think of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and....
little boy sitting next to him whispers: and the Holy Ghost
Boy: oh ya and the Holy Ghost

I have another little boy who whenever I take them specials makes a heart out of his hands and looks at me through it as he passes.. aw so cute!

After the BYU game:
girl: Mrs. Palmer I went to the BYU game.  We left at (told me the exact minutes) and the score was (told me the exact score)
me: wow! That sounds way fun!
girl: ya and the next day the coach got fired because of all of the running that we were able to do!!
(teaching them young!!)

We did the JIGALOO song today to go along with learning the 'ig' family.  The kids loved being able to do their own jig, and we had a ball laughing and jigging!

I love my kids SO MUCH. I am definitely a lot more tired than I used to be and have to work a little harder to be patient.  But they are my favorite and I am so grateful for them.

Here are some belly pictures....

Oh AND I do prenatal Yoga with another pregnant lady at school.  I love the stretch it gives me and how relaxed I feel! It really helps my stress level after long days at school.  I did a 'regular' yoga today.  It definitely kicked my butt, I loved it!!

I have been feeling the baby kick since around 12 weeks and loving feeling him/her move.  It is definitely a miracle of life!!

A small update

Life has gotten pretty crazy around here!!  I started a new school year YAHOO!

I was SUPER nervous to start this school year.  I have been pretty sick (the joys of pregnancy) and I was worried about waking up earlier, having patience while feeling yucky, whether or not school would make me feel worse etc. BUT as always, the Lord has blessed me a ton!! Although I feel extra sick in the mornings I am able to get into a groove at school and hardly notice my nausea once my day gets going.

After the first day of school I will admit, I wanted. to. cry.  It was a very overwhelming first day.  I have a little girl who is diabetic this year and I am in charge of testing her, watching her levels and making sure she gets the right amount of insulin.  I felt completely inadequate for this on that first day of school.  Her levels have not been anywhere near normal the past couple of weeks so I have now experienced a large variety of situations and feel much more comfortable with the whole process.

I love my kids already! They are all so sweet (even the ones that test my patience) and my heart yearns to help them grow.  I am so grateful for a job that, to me, is 100% connected to my Father in Heaven.  I pray about and for my kids all the time and am grateful to know that my Heavenly Father is with me in my classroom to help me help the students.

Woody also started school, He is only taking 2 classes this semester, plus labs, so his schedule is lighter than normal.  He is still working at the imaging clinic and loves his job!

We both feel so grateful that we have been able to get pregnant and are pretty excited for out little baby to continue growing! I will admit that pregnancy is tough.  I have definitely drawn closer to my Heavenly Father as I lean on him to help me get through the tough times. Trials are blessings, and blessings are trials. 

I watched some mormon videos this morning and cried through ALL OF THEM! This one was my favorite, I hope that woody and I can be this sweet to one another. Sometimes life gets in the way, and we forget the most important things in life are our relationships, with one another and with God.

We're Pregnant!!

Woody and I are having a baby!!!!

If you recall 2 posts ago, where I ovulated twice, once without the hubby.. well I thought for sure that we weren't pregnant.  So I waited very patiently for my period to come. 

Around day 40 of my cycle I got really sick.  I was constantly nauseated, cramping, and other fun things. We had people ask Woody and I if I was pregnant and we just laughed thinking no way.  I am sick too often for that to be our sign. So I continued feeling crummy and waiting for my period.  One morning while I was praying I had the unmistakable feeling that I was pregnant. I called Woody and made him buy a pregnancy test and come home so I could take it. After I took it Woody checked on the test and said it was negative, he continued to look at it and said "well maybe there might be a second line..".  But I didn't want to play that game so we threw it away and went on with the day.

I knew in my heart of hearts that I was pregnant so I decided I would take another test in the morning.  I couldn't sleep at all that night and had lots of dreams about taking the test.  I woke up at 5:00 and couldn't go back to sleep so I laid in bed until 7:00 and decided it was late enough that I could get up.  I took the test and watched it eagerly.. the second line was so faint I didn't know if I could believe it.  So I woke Woody up and sent him out for another test.  This time we bought one where the words "pregnant" or "not pregnant" would appear on the screen so there were no guesses!!

Woody watched the little screen and I watched Woody, unable to look at the test that would change our lives.  AND it said pregnant!! I always imagined I would cry at this point, but I didn't.  It was too surreal and hard to wrap our heads around.  But we were giddy and excited! And happy for a no nonsense test.

I had already made my doctors appointment to begin infertility testing, so I called up my OBGYN to switch the appointment to my first pregnancy appointment.  The lady was cute she said, "our doctors are so good you just have to make an appointment." 

I truly feel like this baby of ours is a little miracle.  A gift from our Father in Heaven and I am so grateful for my growing baby. 

I know there are so many of you struggling with having a baby and my heart literally ached for you when I could no longer travel that road with you and help you along it.  I pray for all of you (whether I know you or not) every night that you will have the strength needed to go through your journey and that in the right time, the Lord will bless you with a baby. 

My little sister is on a mission becoming a spiritual giant, in her last letter she talked about how God will make our weaknesses our strengths. I know that if you walk with God through your trials He will make you strong because of them.

Life is Good

Woody and I have been loving life lately.  Everything about summer is my favorite.

Woody ran RAGNAR with his family 2 weekends ago?  He said that it was one of the hardest things he's ever done, very rewarding, extremely fun, and utterly exhausting.

Over all he must have had a pretty positive experience, because he's going to run the VEGAS Ragnar in November.  He said mostly he wants to because then he will get the Saints and Sinners medal.  You get 1 guess as to which state represents sinners...

I elected to stay with Woody's mom during Ragnar and help babysit the hoodlums.  Remember how much I love being an aunt?!  I love these cute nephews of mine.  We had a fun-filled day: pancakes, swimming, movie and outside play!! The boys LOVED the play in the park.  All of them did so much better at that then at the movie.

I also enjoyed the play! I loved being outside, and there is just something about seeing a play.

On Tuesday, after Ragnar, Woody and I went with his family to Provo Beach Resort.  It is a pretty happening spot. It was fun to watch them do the Flo-Rider.. but a little bit on the pricy side to participate in!

My brother in law Justin got up and got surfing!! Can't even tell that he's from Utah can ya?

Woody and Kolton found their inner kid at Provo Beach Resort.  They raced each other on the basketball game a lot a few times.

It was my BIRTHDAY! Yay me ;)

The Saturday before my B-day Woody and I went out to dinner to celebrate.  He made  friend in the Armadillo!

And we went and saw White House Down.  I really liked the movie, but told Woody there was a little too much killing.  He laughed at me and said "well what did you expect?!!"

My birthday was on Sunday.  I got to facetime with my parents.  Not the best picture of our facetime experience but I LOVE THEM! They are the best parents a girl could ask for!!

I got to wear a new dress that my MIL Tina bought for me!

And my sister and I ended up matching at my birthday dinner.  Haha we've been matching since high school.  It happens all the time!!

Lately during my scripture study I have been reading in Alma.  Alma is a book (a selection of chapters) inside the Book of Mormon.  If you do not own the Book of Mormon, you can read it be clicking here!

Alma 38:5 

And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

Alma 14:13

And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord. But, behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us not.

Trials are tough.  Don't ya think? I've had something that I've been praying particularly hard for lately.  And while I have prayed fervently I have decided to change the way I pray.  While I pray for the thing that I desire, I always include the prayer that the Lord's will be done.  I have also prayed for the strength for whatever comes, and to be turned into the person that the Lord would have me be.  

We all want to have our trials to be taken from us.  Sometimes they are. And sometimes we have to wait for them.  Even while we wait for them, we can have Faith, enjoy life, and stay strong in the Gospel. 

I saw a good quote on Pinterest the other day that I would like to share:

Patience isn't the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

First off, I totally forgot to mention this, BUT my baby sister went on a mission!! She is going to be the best missionary ever! It was kind of hard to say goodbye.  But I know she is doing the right thing and that she will bless the lives of others by bringing them the Gospel.

So to help cheer my parents up after letting their baby go (and because who can resist a vacation?) my sister Heather and I spent a week in Vegas.  Cheering up mom and dad was really hard work, but someone had to do it.  I mean we HAD to hang out all day in the pool.  Feel bad for us?

So, if you think like my sister does you're wondering... "WAIT!! Don't go! A week away from your hubby?? Aren't you trying to get pregnant? Isn't that sort of hard to do without a hubby?"

BUT don't worry you worriers I planned ahead... well I thought I had.  SO the week before my BBT dropped and I was experiencing minor other symptoms of ovulating (does that word freak you out? I used to not like saying it but now I'm used to it... so sorry if it's TMI for you).. back to my story... so I took a handy dandy ovulating test and got this bad boy

OH! HEYYYY SMILEY FACE!! 

Incase you're wondering what the smiley means... it meant I ovulated (oh shoot, I said the word again). The next day I took another little test, and no smiley face... So needless to say I thought DONE AND DONE.  Vegas baby!!

Well.... while in Vegas I started having some SERIOUS signs of ovulating.  So much so that I thought there was no way I wasn't ovulating.... So... I went out and bought some more ovulating tests.

My niece wanted to hold the test, sure babe! Why not?

 She asked me what it was and I said it was a test for me take.  K said "Oh, will it tell you wether or not your happy?" (it has a smiley face on display) Yup.. exactly Kakes very observant.

Now it was TIME. TO. TAKE. THE. TEST.  Do I want to be right about observing my ovulating sings, which means I want a positive test? Or do I want to be wrong because I'm currently very far away from the hubby and getting pregnant is looking pretty slim... (I was wishing the latter)

OH! HEY SMILEY FACE!!... go away

And in case you were wondering... I got that stinking no-good lovely smiley face for 5 days in a row!! I still had the smiley face on Sunday when my sister and I were supposed to drive home, however her little girl had a terrible ear ache and so we stayed an extra day

On Monday when I got back I took another test..

 OH!! HEY SMIL.... Hey?!! WHERE'S MY SMILEY????

Needless to say, I am most likely not pregnant.  But wait?! I got positive ovulation tests days a part the first time?? (you may be wondering) Oh, yes, yes I did.  And anything else about periods that are normal and supposed to happen that you think is always the same.. is not the same for me.

But I loved my time in Vegas!!  I got to hang out with my two little nieces who adore me (I'm very modest)  and I absolutely love!  If I can't be a mom right now, at least I am an aunt.  It's awesome

I got to visit a very sweet baby!! My cousin Jenn just had her.  She was adorable!!  Oak and I had to fight over who got to hold the baby.

I am so sad I don't have any pictures with my mom!! But I hung out with her all week, she's the best!

And I got to spend Father's Day with my Pappa.  He's the best father a girl could ask for.

So.. Ovulating (how many times did I say that word this post?) without a hubby was rather unfortunate, and a little discouraging.  I guess we will just have to wait until next month.

And although I had a serious step back in the baby progress, I loved my time with my family.  And quite honestly I don't regret it.

There is a wonderful talk from the Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ, President Monson, called Finding Joy in the Journey  I would like to share a little part with you:

"Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family.  One day each of us will run out of tomorrows"

Don't wait for that one thing to happen to be happy, And we all have that ONE THING (who can guess mine?) BE HAPPY NOW.  It is a choice, and can be a very difficult choice to make some days, but make it everyday! BE happy, enjoy life, and life will be good.