Teaching

Back in September I was blessed to start a job that involved something I am actually interested in - kids! My good friend Emma was talking to me about her mom working as a preschool director for a school in Anthem, AZ. Her parents had just moved out here and her mom was getting settled into her new position. I started out by helping Nancy with odd end jobs to help her out and then when school started I became a teachers aide. At first I was moved around between 4 preschool classes and then they decided to keep me in one class all the time.

The teacher's name is Megan and she is very fun to work with. We have 19 four year olds Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It's been really fun and entertaining to say the least :) It's such a fun age, kids really do say the craziest things! After that class is over I work in what's called the extended care class for an additional hour or so. That class is the 2 year old class as well as a hand full of 3's and 4's that stay all afternoon. I work during the transition phase, lunch and recess. Working with 2's is much different then working with 4's! They are very cute and fun yet uncontrollable at the same time :) It sure makes having only 1 of my own sound like a cinch! :)

The school I work for is Called North Valley Christian Academy. It's a newer school and the building I work in is very nice. Here's a pictures of my classroom. Megan is asking the kiddos what they think Thanksgiving means. Most of the answers were food related, a couple mac and cheese answers, hah :)

I try and remember some of the projects we do, for future reference :) Like these cute little apples the kids made at the beginning of the year:

We have a Christmas play coming up in a few weeks and the one thing about teaching young ones is all the songs that get stuck in your head! Songs to welcome them in the morning, songs for cleaning up, songs for prayer, etc. One of the Christmas songs caught on with Levi and now I've heard him sing it a few times, haha.

"Come on, come on ring those bells, light the Christmas tree! Jesus is the king, born for you and me!"

Now he just needs to learn the hand signals and sign language ;)

Finding out we're having a. . .

. . . .A BOY!

At 20 weeks I had an ultrasound to check everything with the baby and me as well as to find out what the sex of the baby was. Literally from the day I found out that I was pregnant I had a weird feeling about it being a boy, mothers intuition perhaps? Before I had told anyone yet I remember when I was at Target looking for a onesie that said 'I love my daddy' on it to give to Levi when I told him. 9 out of 10 times when I'm in the baby section at Target (and most stores for that matter) I would be in the girls section. But the day I found out, I was lingering in the boys section and I thought that was odd because I never linger in the boys section. And while I'm on the topic, a week prior to finding out I was pregnant, I was shopping with my girlfriend Emily and found myself lingering in the boys section in a cute Boutique store. I remember thinking, 'that's weird, why I am in the boys section kind of hovering? I wonder if I'm pregnant and I'm having a boy? Huh.....' But regardless, finding out we are FOR SURE we're having a boy was still a big surprise, knowing that it's for real now. (If it was a girl, I might have been in a state of shock at first! But obviously I would love a girl, also :)

So back to the ultrasound. . .we actually were able to get a video of the ultrasound and the whole experience which I am soo excited and happy about. Now we have been able to show our families the entire ultrasound, which is so special for everyone to see.

The ultrasound lasted about 20-30 minutes. The second the picture went on the tv screen (yeah, it was hooked up to a tv so it was nice and big for us to see!) we saw the image of our son. I instantly had butterflies in my stomach and couldn't help but smile. There really is a baby inside me! It's so surreal to see a picture of him on the screen. He was pretty active during the whole thing, but we were able to get everything tested and also have some great looks at him and his features. It's amazing what they can tell just from looking at these pictures!

Everything they tested from the umbilical cord, the kidneys, bone structure, spine, facial immoralities, etc. everything was "prefect" as Denzell the technician said. Everything looked perfect and healthy and well developed. We are so thankful!

Denzell described our baby as having biceps already, long fingers, high cheek bones, chubby cheeks, big ears, and long arms. Haha. That sounds kind of like. . .Levi! Maybe he will look just like Levi, who knows! He was a few ounces heavier then the average 20 week old, but that is normal. Except if he is going to be anything like his father (a 10 pound baby!!) then that's right on target. (oh no for me :)

Here are some ultrasound photos:

clearly a boy!

Head and upper body

Umbilical cord being tested, all 3 veins were there like it should

During the ultrasound we didn't want to know the sex. I thought it was too impersonal to find out with a technician and thought it would be fun to find out together, doing something else fun. So while Denzell was checking for the sex, we looked away and then at the end of the ultrasound we had him write down was the sex was in an envelope.

Then we went to Sprinkles Cupcakes. We asked them to give us 2 cupcakes and to put either the boy or girl bottle on top of the cupcake based on what was in the envelope. Once we explained what we were doing and made sure everyone was on the right page, they were beyond thrilled to help us. The girls that worked there were so cute, they kept saying how excited they were for us and how fun it was to do this for us because no one has come in to the store and asked for something like this, before.

Then we took the cupcakes home, in their little box, sealed shut. It was kind of hard knowing the answer was right inside the box and it was just sitting there the whole time! Once we got home we finally opened it. . .

It's a boy! We instantly got so giddy, smiled and hugged each other. We finally knew what we were having and we were SO excited!!

My parents were actually just moments away from California, visiting for the weekend. what good timing! Once they got there we shared the news with them and then watched the ultrasound video. We also got to open up a box of cute boy clothes :)

A couple days later we went to Levi's parents house to do the big reveal with them. Debbie had us all gather around the fireplace and had the camera on the self timer when we were opening up the cupcake box for them to see what we were having. I don't have the photos from their camera yet, but here are a few from mine!