Connie's Boys on Lake Michigan

My sister, Connie, just sent these pictures to me. I have not been back to Michigan in over 2 years. Seeing these pictures sure makes me miss home! I can't believe how big her boys (Cejay, Logan, and Alex) have grown....and look how beautiful the view is! Makes me think "Why do I live in dry, hot, Texas???"...oh that's right....I HATE SNOW! ha! Needless to say I need to make more money so I can visit Michigan and my family more often!

Enjoy the pics!

Logan, Cejay, Alex on Lake Michigan

Connie said she had nothing to do with this picture. Knowing Jason, Logan's Dad, he had EVERYTHING to do with it. hahahaaha....Like father, like son is all I can say!

This week

This week has been VERY busy. It is the first week back with the kids and there is a lot going on at work as I try to cram a semester worth of work into 8 weeks.

To start, I had my doctor appointment on Monday. It went fine. I still miss Dr. G. but it is what it is...so I'll suck it up til he comes back. :) My new doctor said Shelby is a little on the small size. My belly is measuring 31 cm and normal is 32-33 cm...so it's not too bad. I've been trying to eat more in hopes that will help her grow more. The doc is vague and that is frustrating...and I'm new at this so I don't know what to ask. My next appointment in 2 weeks he will do an ultra sound and we'll know more then. I'm sure it is nothing to worry about but I am a bit concerned. Then, after that appt I'll start my weekly visits.

I am in the process of getting all my paperwork in for maternity leave. Hopefully that will be completed over the next week so I'll have that lined out. I have 37 days before I get docked in pay. I pray it all works out and I'll be able to work all the way up to her birth and then be back within those 37 working days. If not, then things get complicated. So, we'll see how it goes.

For those of you aren't teachers in Texas....we don't get paid maternity leave. We only get paid the days we save up through our sick and personal days. So, if you don't have enough days you get docked. This is difficult for Ryan and me since we depend so much on my steady income.

Work has been very busy. The teachers are up and running the first week with technology which is SUPER!...This week 3rd grade teachers are using our interactive response system (Senteos) to give their kids their pre-assessment tests. I'm so excited about this! I have two sets and they have been using them all week. Incase you haven't heard of these they are basically little remotes (the kids think they look like cell phones) and they log in with their ID number. They can answer T/F, Yes/No, ABCD, numeric, etc questions. Then, it goes directly to the teachers computer and their stuff is graded instantly. The kids love them, the teachers love them...it is great! Here's a link if you are curious... http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/Senteo/

Today I'm meeting my Rodeo Sweetheart friends for dinner. That should be fun. I am pretty tired, but I'm sure once I eat I'll have more energy and will enjoy all the company. I went to the fairgrounds last night. Ryan and I took 3 horses up there so he could exercise them. They are all fat and out of shape since "momma" hasn't been riding. Anyhow, it was a lot of fun, but too much for me to do in one day. My days are pretty busy...alarm goes off at 5:30, leave the house by 6:40...work til at least 3:45...get home around 5 pm...then, last night, we washed and loaded the horses to go the fairgrounds. We didn't get home til 9 and we still had to feed. I'm just not who I was 8 months ago...I guess I had to learn the hard way.

So, doing all that makes today seem even longer.

We have no plans for Labor Day weekend. It is so hot outside I tend to stay in most of the time and rest. Such a change for me. OH, and tomorrow I'll have 6 weeks left before Shelby's due date. It will be great to have her here with us!

Oh, I almost forgot...I have a friend who is an analyst (fixes my computers, etc) in our district. Anyhow, he and I have chatted back and forth about me being a barrel racer. Well, at some point he learned about El Pacas and made jokes that I rode them on the barrel pattern. It's been quite the joke for some time. Well, today, I got something in our interoffice mail. I wasn't expecting anything and had no idea wht it was...so when I opened it I laughed out loud! He had created an orgami on yellow paper. One side he put "El Paca" and on the other side he put "Shelby's Farm"....oh man....that made me laugh so hard. I plan to put this story in her baby book and put the orgami in there too. He sure did make my day. It was very hectic and that little break made such a difference!

Well, that's about it for me.

Until next time...I'll be dreaming of barrel racing! HA

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

After a VERY dry summer we got dumped on yesterday. We got over 6 inches of rain. Once the rain stopped we went outside that evening and took some fun pictures. I have added them to the Texas link on the right. Enjoy...

This pic was taken in our front yard. This is normally all grass, but it flooded cause of the rain.

I also took a couple of new pictures of me. The same angle gets boring so I added a new angle...how I see things.

All is well down here. I have another appointment Monday morning. I'm starting to adjusting working full time again. It is hard to realize I have such little time to get so much done in the evening and be so tired. Oh well...it is what it is...well I need to run...just wanted to share the pictures. I'll write more later if anything exciting happens.

Baby Shower

I have added pictures from my church baby shower on Wednesday. I'm back to work so I don't have time to give details yet. I'll add more as soon as I get a chance. You can go to "All About Shelby Lynn" to see the pictures of gifts, friends, etc. Some of the items were from other people or cute stuff I bought. I'll label later. :)

Here's the latest pic of me.

Last Day of Summer

Yes, I know, it is only August. But, today is my last day of official summer vacation. I am looking forward to going back to work, but thought of driving so far everyday and paying the diesel makes me wish I had a little more time. The good news is diesel prices are dropping. YES! Just in time! It is down to $4.19 at the Needville gas station I frequent. I am hoping it is cheaper in Wharton as I'll be going there today to buy groceries. The diesel prices were as high as $4.70 for most of the summer, so this is a huge break and it will help us. We were spending anywhere between $600-800 a month...so hopefully this will bring our diesel expense down. I can't imagine if we were to be roping or barrel racing!

Speaking of barrel racing...Badger and I went to three races before I found out I was pregnant and we were in 1st place. Now, 6 months later, we are still in 9th place. Not bad since we haven't been to a race since then. People tell me all the time I won't have time to ride or run barrels after Shelby arrives. But, that doesn't stop me. That makes me drive stronger. I also have Ryan. That says it all....he can't wait for all three of us to go to barrel races. He and Shelby cheering me on. I'm so lucky to have a husband that can't wait to be a dad and to really step up to the plate. He makes me so proud.

I remember my aunt telling me as a kid when you start liking boys you want to ride anymore, when you get into high school you won't want to ride, etc. It never stopped me. I always craved it. Even when I sold my horse to move to Houston I only lasted two years before I moved to the country and bought my first horse, Twister. (I still have him and I doubt he'll every leave this place.) There is just something about a horse. Twister and I went through a lot...heartbreaks, losing Mom, losing Ryan (my nephew), sharing beers, celebrating good times in barrel racing as well as just enjoying life on horseback. It's where I belong and, God willing, where I'll always be. I can't wait to share my love and passion for horses with Shelby. If she has half the drive I have we will see her do great things with horses. And, if she doesn't like horses, then I guess that is more horses for me to ride! See, win/win situation! :)

Good News - It is RAINING...I mean raining...not rain 30 min. then stop. It is raining hard with no thunderstorms. So, this is PERFECT for us. We are so excited! I went for a walk in our back pasture yesterday and the pasture was looking kinda sad. So, I was relieved to see rain this morning when I woke up.

How ironic it rains on my last day of vacation. Hahaha...I guess that means I'll be doing house chores. That is ok. I need to do it anyhow. I don't have many maternity clothes so I need to do laundry so I'm good to go with full time work again.

Tonight is my church baby shower. I'm very excited. It means we're getting that much closer to the arrival of Shelby Lynn (only 8 wks left this Friday). I feel so blessed to have such good people in my life! Most of you know, but we have NO family down here. It's just Ryan and me. It really warms my heart to know that I do have such wonderful friends that treat us like family. Friends that are willing to take time out to host a shower for us and to show us how much they love us. Many thanks to Melanie, Esther and Debbie for hosting the shower. I can't express my gratitude enough but I do want them to know how much I appreciate it. What better way then starting with my blog??!!

Well, it looks like the rain took a break so I'm going to go and feed. I'll be sure to add my pictures from the baby shower once I get a chance to post them. Hopefully in the next day or so. :)

Let It Rain

We FINALLY got rain yesterday. We get a Tropical Storm with 100% chance of rain and we don't get any. We get a normal day w/20% and we get rain. What a strange year. Anyhow, we were very excited because we thought for sure the rain clouds we saw were going to past right by our home. But, it didn't. We got heavy rain and strong thunderstorms for about 20 min. then it just rained for another 20 or so min. after that. So exciting. The thunderstorms were so strong we even lost our power. It took 3 hrs to come back on. We lost it around 4:30 at 6 PM I told Ryan he had to go and get the generator cause I was burning up. So, he dragged the generator up to the house and we plugged it into a window unit we had. The cats and I were very happy!

Finally at 7:30 the power came back on. Here's the funny story....We have a window unit in our living room and we also have a coffee table that sits right below it. Our cat Cubby Bear (AKA Roo Daddy...who knows where he got that nickname...Ryan comes up with the strangest names...)...anyhow...he loves laying there and letting the cool air blow directly on him. Well, as soon as I turned the unit back on he jumped up and layed right underneath the A/C unit. It was so cute I had to take a short video...Enjoy!

Ryan broke his thumb this week. He was kicked by a horse. He has to wear a thing around his wrist and hand. It holds his thumb straight. They wanted to put a cast on but he said he couldn't do that cause he needed his hand to work. He shoed 2 horses and trimmed on yesterday with the thing on his hand. Poor thing...It took him longer than usually cause he couldn't bend his wrist or use his thumb. Of course, it is his right hand. He is doing ok...so that is good. He'll have to wear it for three weeks.

I had my dr. appt this morning and it went well. My new dr. is still not Dr. Giammarco, but he seems nice. He and is staff seem to have a more entertaining personality. I like that. I don't like going in and just feeling like another number. I also asked how Dr. G was doing and they said the doctors said he's doing better than expected at this time. So that was reassuring. Praise God. Please continue to pray for him as he recovers. I look forward to going back to him. I have REALLY REALLY missed him.

I went into work today to start getting ready for the new year so I guess I should keep this short. Here are a couple of photos of me. I guess I need to deal with the reality that I have gained weight...These were taken this past week.

Sady loves to lay with Shelby and me and snuggle with Shelby. I will put her between my legs and she'll stretch her paws over my belly and rest her head on my belly. It is really cute. She also likes to lay on the side like this pic. I took it myself so it didn't turn out all that great...but I thought it was cute.

Tropical Storm Eduoard

Well, yesterday at this time we were expecting 4 inches of rain in our area. LOL TS Eduaord came and went and yet another day of no rain. Arg....we mowed the lawn yesterday with the hopes of rain and green grass. Now, it will probably fry. Oh well...less work for me, right? :)

So, today we went to our friend's (Jesse and Rebecca) house to hang out and play games with them. It was nice not sitting at home and hanging out with good friends. We had a lot of fun.

My dr. appt. got cancelled cause of the T.S. So, we moved it to Friday. Tomorrow I have my training and I'm looking forward to that. It is a long drive though. Luckily I'll be able to ride with a fellow co-worker 1/2 of the way. That will be nice.

That's about it for me. Pictures are coming soon...

God Bless!
Stacie

Last Week of Freedom...so to speak

This is my last week before we start school again. Where did the 2 months go? It sure was nice being off and having a chance to relax. This summer has been hot and keeps getting hotter though! I wish we could work in the summer and take our 'summer vacation' another time like early spring or late fall! Then we could do things outside during the day.

The weather has been super hot and dry to say the least. There has been no breeze and the temps are reaching the 100 degree mark. I still don't miss the snow! Ryan and I talked about that yesterday. He says he does. Poor thing...as long as he is married to me I don't forsee us living in the cold climate. You Northerners can have that! I lived it for 23 years and that was enough. Of course...as they always say...never say never...

I have no big plans for this week. I applied to be a "SMART Exemplary Educator" and that entitled me to a free training through SMART Technologies. So, I'm going to that this Wednesday. My friend, Rachel, will be presenting so it will be good to see her as well. She lives in Houston and travels several days during the week so I don't get to see or talk to her very often.

I also have a dr. appt. on Tuesday. It is just the usual appt....check your blood pressure, baby's heartbeat, and how big you've gotten. I'm sure I have put on quite a bit of weight cause Shelby has gotten pretty big this month. 10 more weeks! YES! Ryan and I are both very anxious and ready for her arrival.

We took a pic of me yesterday but I didn't like it so I'll take another one soon to post. This weight gain can be mentally challenging! The other day Ryan told me I had something on my pants in the butt area so I looked back to see what it was and...BAM..."Baby Got Back"...I said "Where did that come from???"...so now I got what I would call a "Getto Booty"...Ryan likes it...I'm not so fond of it.

I do have to do some more maternity clothes shopping. I need some more pants as i only have two pairs for work. I don't like buying pants online cause they tend to be short and I need to try them on.

That's about it. I woke up this morning at 3:30ish and tried to go back to sleep with no luck. So, I'm up writing this, checking my email, facebook, you know the usual stuff to make me sleepy again. If I take Tylenol I can sleep all night, but w/o it I tend to wake up from all the aches and pains I'm experiencing. (I am not sure if I should take Tylenol everyday...probably not...I need to ask my doctor.) It sure is going to be tough going back to work. God Bless all my friends that had to work through their entire pregnancy. I am very happy that I had these couple of months off to rest. It's funny....we can plan and plan...and then when it doesn't go are way we might become frustrated...only to find out that God's plan is ALWAYS better. Having the summer off was definatetly better. I call it my "Last Peaceful Summer"....hehehe....