Wrapping Up the School Year!

Eventful would definitely be an understatement for what the last few weeks have been like. First, for the fun - I was like a kid in a candy store at the scholastic warehouse sale. Even Brian had fun! It really was a blast going to a warehouse full of books open only to educators with nothing over $5 and actually having a little one to buy them for! Needless to say, Breck now has a great start to his collection. Seriously, when it was all said and done, I totaled the original list price for the 76 books I got, and it would have cost me $691. I paid $117! Quite a deal! And reading to my son every night is one of the most precious things I just cannot wait to start doing. Matter of fact, since he is big enough now and can start recognizing voices, I plan to start our nightly ritual now. We'll see if my favorites become his! And speaking of things for Breck, his room is definitely becoming all boy. I found a cute football player to stick on the wall and a little football that hangs on the wall with a hook. We have some cute shoes hanging from it right now but we really need some baby cleats! And somehow the idea of adding a guitar sounded good. So after hours at the music store, Brian picked out a cool electric guitar for an early Father's Day present from me and Breck. It hangs in Breck's room for decoration, and though we thought a black one would look better in the room, Brian loved this one that looked like his acoustic guitar. I figure with all the football stuff that will inevitably end up in the nursery, a little brown wasn't so bad. Now, the idea that my little boy has an electric guitar (and an amp!) in his room seems a little ridiculous, but his daddy sure loves it! And I have to admit it looks pretty cool. Did I mention that there

are also LED lights in his room now too? They are mounted above a cool storage shelf we found at IKEA. They cycle through several different colors, lighting up the whole room. Those that know Brian will not be surprised one bit.

Now for the crazy - not only do I have the distinct pleasure of walking slowly, becoming winded easily and occasionally waddling, I now also have a bit of a limp. Yep - I am wearing a boot on my right foot yet again. It's a long story - and not a fun one - but let's just say I can't wait for school to be done with. I am hopeful that when I return to the doctor this Friday, she will let me out of the boot early. I expect her to say that I need to finish the year with it on, but I sure hope that's it. With me at 25+ weeks, she didn't want to x-ray, but

she suspects from the swelling and bruising that it fractured in two places (my middle toe and at the base of that toe leading to the foot). Crazy enough - neither of those places are where it was injured before! Just what I need - new fracture areas to ache in the cold. Yippee... :( I have had some pain in my abdomen, which I suspected was the result of wearing this dreadful five-pound contraption, so I called my OB. She saw me today just to make sure all was good with Breck. He is doing well - kicking would be the least of what he is doing inside there! She said it was to be expected that I would have some pain in my abdomen because he is getting bigger (he's 2 pounds now!) and my ligaments are being stretched out. The addition of the boot causes all of those pains to be a bit more pronounced. So, she just said to take it slow - not sure if there's any way I could be slower!

Now, for more fun stuff! Saturday was our 11 year anniversary! It's so much fun thinking how we have spent more than half our lives together now (16 years if you count the five years dating). I am blessed beyond measure. Seriously, my heart is filled with joy when I think about how good God has been to me in blessing me with Brian.

He is such an amazing man with a heart full of love for me that he is not ashamed to show with expressions of affection daily. And oh how he loves our little boy! I know he just cannot wait to become a father, and I look forward to seeing him fulfill that role that he has desired for so long. I know he is going to be amazing at it! (Breck is kicking his agreement even now!) So, we enjoyed a fun anniversary Saturday, starting out at the Taste of Addison in the afternoon. We went there last year and had tons of fun with friends. (It's kind of funny because my friend, Andrea, was pregnant last year and this year her little girl, Kennedy, got to join us. Next year, Breck will get to be part of the group and Kennedy can show him the ropes!) And let me just say, there is no better place for a pregnant woman to be! Brian propped me up under a shade tree, there was a

nice breeze on a warm day, live music nearby and all the food anyone could crave within a few feet. Brian spent the day running from booth to booth for me. I sampled quite a bit - sampled because after a few bites I was good and Brian ate the rest! We had steak, pizza, fajita nachos, ice cream and a snow cone! Then, after 6 hours, we went to the Melting Pot for an anniversary dessert. Of course, by the time we got there, I was happily starving and Brian had worked up an appetite, so we enjoyed quite a bit of food before the delicious chocolate fondue dessert. I love a place with all my favorite things to dip in chocolate - strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, graham crackers, brownies, pound cake, cheesecake and rice krispie treats. It was the perfect day. And to think it is our last anniversary before Breck gets here made it all the more special.

Well, just 7 days of school (with students) left. My school is throwing me a baby shower next week, which I am totally excited about. And then friends and family in OKC are throwing one the next week. After that, we'll enjoy a bit of a vacation and then summer school. I have a good gig though - the smart kids that want to get ahead in a virtual school. That's right - they are all on computer, and I just have to supervise. Not a bad deal at all! Other than that, just find the pool (conveniently out our back gate), and that's where you will find me for the duration of this summer.

6-Month Checkup

We had our monthly checkup today. Breck is continuing to do well! Some checkups are anticlimatic - blood pressure, measure, heart tones, etc., but I still love getting to hear his little heart beat away! (That's all the video at the bottom is - the recording of his heartbeat.) Even knowing the appointment would take a whopping 10 minutes, Brian took off the morning just to be able to hear his little boy for a few seconds. He has steadily grown stronger so Brian has enjoyed getting to feel him kick on occasion. Boy feels like he is dancing away in there but oftentimes by the time Brian puts his hand there, he stops! I find it quite distracting to be in the middle of teaching grammar and Breck just starts kicking away. Don't know if he is trying to tell me to stop with the grammar lessons already or that he is preparing to become a scholar. I prefer the latter but Brian just rolls his eyes at that suggestion. At the beginning of my pregnancy I ended up losing 10 pounds from being so sick and as of today, I have officially gained six more pounds, bringing my total weight gain to 10 in 6 months. That's right - he's growing but technically I'm back at 0! I like the sound of that - especially after my oh-so-honest 8th graders greet me on a Monday morning with, "You look huge today!" Uh, thanks...

We have spent the past few days shopping around for a learning center. I say learning center because we really don't want to put Breck in daycare. Daycare to me is just a glorified babysitting service where they collect a paycheck and count the hours until you pick your child up. We want Breck to be in a wonderful, nurturing environment where I am assured his safety and learning are at the forefront. I think we have finally found a place that meets those needs. We were both really impressed with Primrose because they have a daily curriculum that begins even at 6 weeks of age. Our little one will learn sign language and they focus on spatial recognition, language acquisition and music theory, in addition to activities intended to develop motor skills. As he grows, so will his curriculum. They encourage elements of language, math, science, art, etc. on a daily basis in a structured, well-disciplined environment - which Brian and I love! They are a bit pricey, but I think it is well worth the cost to have people working so closely with Breck. Here's their website link: http://www.primroseschools.com/schools/main.aspx?schoolID=55

I am so excited about Mother's Day! It is my first one with my little boy. And I've been spoiled already via his daddy :) Brian got me my mother's

ring a while back. I love it! It says: Faith, Hope and Love - which is just perfect. So, he went and got it engraved the other day with "Breck's Mom." And then he gave me my really special gift. He wrote a song for me and Breck AND recorded himself playing it on the guitar and singing it to us. I already have it downloaded to my phone. Breck and I love listening to it. Of course Brian is steadfast in the claim that he doesn't sing well but he is an amazing writer and so accomplished as a guitar player already! And I love hearing him sing because it is an outpouring of his love to us. Ok - I'm sure he is embarrassed that I've mentioned it at all but everyone deserves someone that loves them and their child that much! :) We are both so very blessed.

Beautiful Baby Boy!!

What a great day! We got to see our beautiful baby boy. And that little bit of Coke before the appointment ensured he was active! He looked perfect and the doctor was very happy with his progress. And yes she confirmed that he is definitely 100% boy! He now weighs 10 oz. I feel weird things all the time which the doc says is probably me feeling him and just not realizing that's what it is. With as active as he was on the ultrasound, maybe it's a good thing I can't feel him all the time. This boy never stops! Such a cutie though! And the sono confirmed 10 fingers (it's sad that that is such a big deal for us to hear!! but we were very excited). I love the video because you can just see so much. It's amazing to view God's creation in such a tiny little form.

And great news! My lab results came back today saying that I had not contracted the fifth virus; however, I also do not contain the immunity for it and other virals so I am not allowed to be around little ones 5 and under for a prolonged period of time. The doc says that these viruses die down by the heat of summer, but by then I will be huge and not much help in the nursery at church anyway! Thanks to all that have been praying about this. We are truly grateful.

Enjoy the video below!

Happy Easter, everyone! We go back to the doctor officially this Friday, April 9th, so nothing big to report for now. We just thought we would post a picture today. (We took it in Breck's nursery so people could see the colors. We haven't done a lot of decorating in there yet, but it has paint and furniture!) I guess I am officially "showing" since complete strangers are now starting to come up to me and ask when I'm due. It's good though. Seeing as how I've had no weight gain (being sick 4 days out of 7 will do that to ya), I am surprised at how big I appear in the picture! I have had a great 7 days in a row (longest so far) without throwing up even once. It was nice!! (Knocking on wood now...)

A little side note...I am temporarily banned from working in the preschool at church. It seems two young ones had fifth disease and this is potentially hazardous for pregnant women. I had to go to the doc Friday and have some emergency labs drawn to see if I contracted it. The bad news is that it takes 7-10 days to find out the results. The good news is that the ones who had it were not in my area and supposedly they were contagious the week before (and I wasn't working that week). So, for now, I am just trying to be positive and not worry. But extra prayers wouldn't hurt!

The Cat's Out of the Bag...So to Speak

So, nothing big at our March appointment, but since we went to Oklahoma and shared with family the baby's gender, I thought I would officially post it here as well. We are having a little boy! Breck Dylan Boydstun will no doubt be the spitting image of his father and his athletic ability (as long as my influence for 6 months of the year when he's busy with football doesn't override that)!

What a Laid-Back Little Kid!

You have to love it when the sonographer says that your child is quite photogenic - and at 12 + weeks, what does that mean for the future? Guess we have quite the little ham on our hands. Everything looked great at today's appointment - YAY!! Our child was even kicking back, waving to the crowd (see the video below - it's pretty funny) and sucking its thumb. At one point we asked if she thought she could determine the sex, just wanting some confirmation on our fertility specialist's hunch, and when she rotated the view, you could see our kid laying there with legs in the air, ankles crossed just showing everything to the world. Sorry - but we cut that part out from the video until we announce it to family later. So, not a bad week after all - we got to see our baby three times in eight days! And I got the all-clear for stopping my meds! Woo-Hoo!! Brian thinks it has acted as some sort of miracle grow for Baby B since it everything is developing faster, bigger, clearer than it should for my gestation. I am hopeful that this means I can go longer than 24 hours without hating food. I have shared with some the fact that McDonald's cheeseburger happy meals are the only thing I've been successfully eating for a week and a half now. I tried to branch out to nachos from Taco Bell and On The Border, but that didn't go so well after only a day and a half, so I'm sticking with McD's! It was pretty funny too, because we saw the baby maybe 30 minutes after I ate the happy meal last Friday, and the kid was doing summersaults! Unfortunately, now I return to a normal schedule - no more pampering - so March 11th is the next appointment and the rest will follow every four weeks. We won't have another sonogram until 18 weeks - Boo! I do love seeing our baby! So I guess I'll just have to stare at these pics and video for quite a while. What a tough chore :)

Such a Better Day!

Thank God for great doctors! I have been so stressed out since our appointment yesterday. I mean, you can't hear the words bleed and think "no big deal." I called our fertility specialist today and told him what my new OB said yesterday. And do you know what he did? He told me to come right in! Seriously, today was a crazy day because of snow so he was already short-staffed but said he would stay late and see me so that I wouldn't spend one more minute worrying. He told me I should never ever have to be scared or worried and that I could come see him anytime to ease my fears. When we got there, he looked all over only to find absolutely nothing to be worried about. He said there was not a bleed at all and that our baby looked perfect. And Baby B was crazy active. I mean it, the baby was moving all around and spreading its legs so we asked the doc if the baby was trying to show off anything. He said he had a pretty good idea what the sex is (not 100%) but a good idea sounds great to me! He wrote it on a slip of paper so Brian could read it later and surprise me for Valentine's Day. We have decided this baby is all about the holidays - found out we were pregnant on Christmas Eve, basically know the sex for Valentine's and the baby will be born Labor Day (or there abouts!). Now, because he wasn't 100%, I think we'll keep the news to ourselves for a while, until it is definite. Thanks to all the prayer warriors I have out there that have been sure to pray since we heard about a possible concern yesterday. God has blessed us so greatly with wonderful, praying friends and family! Check out these pics and video. His ultrasound machine is SOOOO much better!

Ok, I turned this one upside down because you can really make out some facial features! Brian thinks the baby has my nose but we think that is definitely Brian's bottom lip sticking out!