Wish Me Luck

After 6 blissful weeks home with my sweet, adorable Tylie, I have to return to work tomorrow. There are parts of my job that I have really, really missed over the past few weeks, and other parts that I dread returning to!

First of all, my dreads...
-I dread doing lunch duty and walking in the halls surrounded by a bunch of "the world owes me something because I was born into it" teenagers who have no respect for rules, the campus, teachers/administrators, or themselves.
-I dread all the paperwork that comes with being a teacher...particularly the kind of paperwork that ends up in a file cabinet that nobody ever opens for years and years, and serves only one purpose---to tear down trees and add to the economic crisis that the school district seems to be in.
-I dread looking at my classroom all day, every day, which happens to be in the oldest, dirtiest building on campus and which only has nicely painted walls and cabinets because I took the liberty to apply a fresh coat before I was willing to work in there.
-Mostly, I just dread being away from my daughter, because I love her so much and could spend all day watching her facial expressions, listening to her new sounds, and snuggling with her!

What I'm looking forward to...
-I am looking forward to getting back into a routine.
-I am looking forward to feeling like I have a productive life, and am actually contributing to the general well-being of our small, southern family.
-I am looking forward to hanging out with my totally cool co-workers again! I love Rhonda and Debbie, and I love having girl time (even when it's only during 7 minute in-between-classes breaks, and lunch duty)!
-I am looking forward to working with my 6 wonderful students who keep me on my toes, teach me something new, and make me laugh out loud every single day!
-I am looking forward to having a paycheck again... :)

WISH ME LUCK!

Random Sampler

Here are some of my favorite pictures over the last month. Now, my husband will tell you that I take entirely too many pictures, and he's probably right. But, I can't help it...especially when I can catch such funny things!

Dad, I'm glad you want to hold me....but would you mind actually HOLDING me?! :)

Life is just so hard for babies, isn't it!

This picture cracks me up!

Sitting in her carseat, apparently before she's old enough to hold her head up by herself.

Stretch those little muscles....go, baby, go!

Daddy playing a mean trick...so funny!

Whatever she wants, give it to her quick!

Now that's what I call comfortable.

Sleeping in her bassinet...she wiggled all the way down to the bottom...maybe it's more comfy that way.

We try swaddling her, but she doesn't seem to like it very much. She usually fusses and squirms until she gets loose, and then she calms down and falls asleep. Brent says she's claustrophobic like he is.

Just chilling on the couch.

One Month Old

I can't believe it's already been a whole month since Tylie was born! Our sweet little girl has brought us over 4 weeks of unbelievable joy, and we couldn't be more grateful to have her in our lives. Here are some pictures of what our beautiful sweetie looks like at 1 month old...today was her first time going to church, and we took these pics after we got home.

This picture was taken after Tylie took one of her first showers, and then fell asleep on the floor. We can't get her to fall asleep in her bassinet, but the floor is comfortable??!! Sigh...children...

She's Here!!

Tylie was born on August 20 at 12:21 am. She was 7 lbs 14 oz and 20-1/2 inches. She is sweet, beautiful, and already stubbornly independent. We love her, and feel so blessed to have her in our lives! Thanks to everybody for your love and support!

First time dad got to hold his new little girl

On our way home from the hospital after a long few days!

Mom's first attempt to take semi-professional pictures

Just a cute, sweet picture...we love her so much!

Long Overdue....but nobody's surprised, right??

I have about a hundred pictures waiting to be posted to my blog....we've also had a fairly fun and eventful summer that I have been planning on writing about. All you avid fans and supporters of our southern life, get excited...you will hear more sooner or later.

However, this blog is just a teaser to let you know that it will probably be later. Brent and I are being induced first thing tomorrow morning, and will (if everything goes smoothly) have our new little girl in our arms by early afternoon. We love you all!! You'll hear more in due time!

Starting the Summer Off Right

As soon as school let out for the summer, Brent and I took off for the beach! We both really needed the break, and with the baby coming it may be the last one we ever get....so, we booked a hotel and spent three days in Myrtle Beach. Although over-commercialized and way too "city" for me to ever dream of living there, it was a perfect vacation for a couple days and we had a blast! Here are some of our favorite pictures from the trip.

This is the beach we stayed on. It was absolutely beautiful! Our hotel was right on the beach so it was easy to walk down the stairs and onto the sand.

We spent most of our trip basking in the sun and soaking up rays.

We also searched for seashells, and found quite a few beautiful and unique ones.

We got to see a bunch of living creatures like this hermit crab! Brent grabbed it because he thought the shell was pretty, and then realized there was a crab inside...so cool!

This star fish washed up on the shore near us. He's missing one of his limbs, but Brent threw him back into the ocean in hopes of saving the little guy.

In addition to those, we also saw a regular ocean crab about the size of a softball, an entire school of fish glistening across the top of the water, and birds that dove into the ocean in search of food. Then, Brent had a "National Geographic" moment when he happened to glance out into the ocean and saw a fish about 1 foot long jump out of the water, followed by a fish about 3-4 feet long in hot pursuit. They came about 6 feet out of the water, arched, and dove back in. It was so fun for him to see that!

Here we are just enjoying the water.

Since Myrtle Beach is practically the golf capital of the world, we just had to hit the miniature golf course! They have over 50 mini golf courses in that town with a variety of themes. This one was a Captain Hook theme.

Brent is a bit proud of his hole-in-one...

Then I got my revenge with a hole-in-one of my own! (Of course, I lost by about 15 strokes, so I don't know if you can really call that revenge...)

One of the last things we did was visit the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium. They had full-size sharks, sea turtles, plenty of fish, an octopus, and much more. In one area, they had a huge tank that you could walk underneath, or ride the moving sidewalk. It was really neat. However, our favorite part (by far) was....

Petting the sting rays!! They had a huge tank full of about 5-6 different kinds of rays, and they were awesome! Some had soft, slippery skin while others had rough skin. Some were really friendly and playful like dolphins, and others were more mellow. Some had spots, dorsal fins, upturned noses, funny shaped mouths...it was quite the experience! We both could have spent all day there!

After three days, we were exhausted! We had a great trip, and felt blessed to have so many wonderful experiences while we were there. It was really hard to head back home and back to real life, but we were refreshed and ready.

Baby Bump

Here is the newest picture of our little baby bump. I have officially crossed over from "Hmmm...she looks like she might be pregnant, but I don't want to embarass myself if I'm wrong" to "Congratulations! How far along are you?" In other words, everybody, including complete strangers, assume that I'm pregnant and then proceed to touch, point at, and use my belly as a out-of-school lesson for the youngsters they are toting around with them. Fun stuff! In this picture I'm about 28 weeks along.