The End of Another Summer...

Another summer ends, a new school year bgins! It has been a great summer! We got out earlier this past school year...before Memorial Day...which NEVER happens! I'm so thankful i've had 11 weeks at home, sleeping in and preparing for baby Weston. Next Tuesday, I am going to go back to school for Professional Development (teacher in-service) to prepare for yet another year. This will be my 6th year at Northwood...wow, time flies! Some people ask me why i'm going back to work when I only have a few short weeks until the baby arrives. Well, I'm not going to sit at home and wait for him to come...that's like watching paint dry. I need to stay busy so that time goes by fast! Also, I think being up and moving will help labor progress...so i'm gonna go back to work until I can't stand it any longer! The first day of school, with students, is on August 20th, 7 days before my due date...so I may make it, I may not...but i'm gonna try as long as I can! Also, I'd rather take my time off AFTER he's here, rather than BEFORE he's here. I want to stay at home as long as i can with my little man before I have to return to work. I'm using 6 weeks disability plus 40 days accrued leave I have saved up over the past 5 years. I'm hoping I won't have to return to work until Mid to Late November. Then, I'll only have 3 weeks of school left before Christmas break, easing my way back into the working world. Hunter's mom is going to take a leave of absence from her pre-school for the 2nd semester so that she can stay home with Weston and I can resume working. It's so nice having family that can help take care of him. I won't have to worry about day-care, especially the cost of it! Plus I think it will be easier on me to know that he's being taken care of by his Nana! So, that's the plan for this school year! Can't believe it's already time to start again...ready or not, here they come!!!! Carrie

Tristan and Tyler

My niece and nephew are so special to me! Tristan is 7 years old and is about to enter 2nd grade, and Tyler is 14 months old and cute as can be! I don't get to see them very often because they both live in Florida, but my mom sends me pictures of them all of the time. It melts my heart to see them playing together. I cannot wait for Weston to meet his cousins and play with them. I'm sure he will look up to them because they are his big cousins (but i'm pretty sure he might out-grow them, eventually...seeing as though his daddy is 6'5"). Here are some pictures of them, today, playing in Tristan's backyard! Tyler looks a little scared, but mom said he LOVED it! He is not afraid to get water in his face one bit!

And of course, Tyler is being a boy and spraying his cousin with the hose...boys know how to annoy girls at such an early age!!!

Tristan just found out she needs glasses...bless her heart! They tested her at school and she failed the eye exam. My sister took her to the eye doctor and they said she has probably just gotten used to not seeing very well, and she probably never really knew the difference. I think she's cute with glasses!

And of course Tyler is sporting his "glasses" too:

I love my niece and nephew! I miss them so much and think of them, daily! Aunt Carrie loves you Tristan and Tyler! Sending hugs and kisses to Florida!!

Weekend Re-Cap

We had a great weekend! I'm trying to enjoy these last fews weeks with just my husband because I know once baby comes, it will never be just the two of us again! We have had a great 5 1/2 years together just the two of us, and we are definitely ready to add a new little member to our family...5 more weeks!!! This is a picture of us on July 5th, Hunter's birthday. Last family photo with just the two of us!

On Friday night, we had our last baby shower! This was a couples shower, so Hunter got to come and join in on the fun! Hunter's parents have lived in the same neighborhood for almost 20 years and all of their neighborhood friends threw us a baby shower. It was so fun! We ate great food and got lots of great gifts. Here are a few pics of us opening gifts...

We had a great time and Hunter laughed at how small his clothes are...he just can't believe we are going to have a baby that is going to be tiny (at least i'm hoping he's tiny...he can get big later in life!!!) We have been blessed to have so many wonderful showers! Weston has so much stuff...we are fully ready for him to arrive!!! His nursery has been ready for weeks, and we've gotten all of his clothes washed and put away, closet organized, etc... Hunter and I are both a little anal when it comes to having things organized and ready on time. We even installed his carseat on Saturday just in case he decides to come earlier than expected! On Saturday, we decided to go and buy a few things on our registries that we still needed/wanted. Luckily, we had some gift cards to help us buy those items! We had fun shopping and then decided to go to dinner at Senor Tequila! After dinner, we went to Trevor and Lori's house. Lori is due the same week as me so it's been fun to compare our bellies and discuss our progress. Here's a pic of us taken back in June:

We helped Trevor and Lori move some furniture around in their nursery. They are getting close to finishing it...it's exciting! She is due 6 days before me but it will be fun to see who goes first and how far apart our babies will be. We know they will be in the same grade, so that will be really fun! Maybe we will end up in the hospital at the same time...you never know! We go to our last childbirth class with them, tonight...so now we're really prepared! LOL! It's been fun sharing this special time with close friends...something we'll never forget! On Sunday, we did chores all day! Hunter mowed and washed our cars! I did lots of laundry and cleaned up the house. We did our weekly grocery run, which we always do together. Might change after Weston arrives, but for now, we love going to the store together. Maybe Nana and papa will babysit so we can still shop together! I watched the Bachelorette (and Hunter did, too, but shhhhh don't tell) and was glad she chose Jef! Hope this relationship will actually go the distance! Well, that's our weekend re-cap! Nothing too exciting, but I enjoyed my time with my husband! Hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend, too! Carrie P.S. For some reason, I put spaces between my paragraphs and they never show up when I post...It just makes one large paragraph. Anybody know how i can fix this? I hate that it's all jumbled up together. Help!

Week 33, the worst week for me!

Wow, last week was a rough one. A week that I NEVER want to repeat. I had a 4 day workshop planned in Hot Springs to renew my Pre-AP Certificate so that I can teach my Pre-AP classes (a must in public school)! I had a few co-workers going, too, so we decided to meet up and carpool each morning. Monday, I drove, and everything went well. It was a long day, but it went well. Tuesday, a friend of mine drove, and around 9 am, I started feeling a little lightheaded/dizzy. I thought maybe I hadn't eaten enough or maybe had too much sugar, so I tried to snack a little to see if that would help. It continued to get worse so I finally got an ice pack on my neck and laid on a chair with my feet propped up until lunch. I tried to take a small nap, too. After resting, I still felt bad. I tried an apple and about 10 seconds after I finished, the vomiting began. I couldn't even keep water down...I kept feeling dizzy. Finally, my instructor decided to let me go home early. I'm so glad I didn't have to drive that day because I was miserable. On the way home, my friend had to stop in downtown Hot Springs so that i could vomit in a trashcan, in front of everyone. Then again on the side of the highway in Benton as semis are flying by. She dropped me off at my car in Bryant and I drove myself home. I was really nervous because I was still dizzy, but all I wanted was to be home in my bed! I started to vomit again in my car, luckily having a ziploc with me, and pulled over in a random parking lot to finish. It was miserable!! I called my OB and they presribed me a nausea pill that would melt in my mouth since I couldn't keep ANYTHING down. Hunter went to Walgreens to get this for me, along with chicken noodle soup and sprite. I took my pill and finally fell asleep for an hour and a half. When I woke up, Hunter insisited I try to drink some Gatorade and eat some saltines...they lasted about 5 mins. I was so dizzy the room was spinning and I could barely walk to the bathroom without running into the walls. Hunter has never seen me so bad and he was getting scared. Finally at 8 pm, we decided to go to the hospital. I took a trashcan with me in the car...which was a good thing b/c i vomited the entire way there. I was quite a site walking into the ER, but seeing a pregnant woman, they immediately had me taken up to Labor and delivery. I told them I wasn't in labor, just really sick, but they wanted to check the baby out, regardless. They told me that I probably had a stomach virus, and I ended up getting a suppository to stop the vomiting. The dizziness was caused from dehydration, since I couldn't eat/drink all day. I finally was released around 10 pm and got to go home. The medicine made me sleepy, so luckily, I was able to sleep through the night. On Wednesday, I stayed in bed ALL DAY LONG! I had no energy and was still pretty dizzy. I was able to eat and keep food down, but it took me until Friday before I felt like getting up, dressed, and well enough to leave the house for a few errands. Then on Friday, as I'm finally feeling like eating again, one of my molars starts hurting. I bought some Oragel to numb it and thought it would help, but by Saturday morning, I had a full blown toothache. If you've never experienced a toothache before, they are MISERABLE! It was a throbbing pain that went up my face to my temple, giving me a terrible headache. It lasted the entire day! I couldn't chew anything without being in excruciating pain. I tried more oragel, rinsing my mouth with warm salt water, ice packs, heating pad, regular tylenol, vanilla extract (something I found on the internet), hot tea bags...nothing would stop the pain. By Saturday night, I was in tears. Hunter knew I wasn't feeling well all day because I kept grabbing my face and had barely said 5 words all day (which is not like me at all)! Finally, we called a family friend that's a dentist and he prescribed me an antibiotic because he thought I had an infected tooth, along with a pain pill (Tylenol 3...of course I had to get it cleared from my OB). Hunter took me to Walgreens at 10:30 that night and withint 30 mins of taking the pain pill, the pain was gone! OMG...it was wonderful! I had been waiting for the pain pill to kick in and I'm so glad we had a family connection. I knew I couldn't go all weekend with that miserable pain. Luckily, I'm doing much better this week. I'm going to the dentist tomorrow to have my tooth checked, even though the pain had gone away. My OB doesn't want me to have any tooth problems while in labor so she said to get it checked out now! I have stopped vomiting and can finally eat food again! Amen! Weston is still thriving and barely noticed that mommy was sick because he gained 11 oz during that week of my sickness. I felt pretty bad for the poor little guy...probably wondered what all those awful noises were coming from mommy! LOL! Hoping that the next 6 weeks aren't anything like week 33. I'm writing this post so that one day I can go back and remember/laugh about Week 33....hoping that i'll never have to re-live that week again... Carrie

The Sara Study

Through our friends Lindsey and Drew Holbert, we found out about a study at UAMS called the Sara Study. This study is for pregnant moms who are around 30 weeks pregnant. UAMS received grant money for this study in 1998 to assess the neurological development of the fetus. Most neurological damage occurs to the fetus prior to the onset of labor. This study is voluntary and completely free. One bonus to the study is that you get free 4-D ultrasounds at every appointment. They want you to come every 2 weeks until the baby is born and then once after the baby is born (before 3 weeks of age). Hunter and I decided we wanted to participate in the study and had our first appointment on July 6th. We did the 4-D ultrasound first, which was amazing! Baby Weston was wide awake and sucking on his fingers, his toes, yawning, stretching, and moving his mouth all around. We were all laughing at him. We tried to get some good pictures of his face when he wasn't moving or sucking...so it was rather difficult...but we got a few keepers. He weighed approximately 4 lbs 8 oz. at our 32 week visit. Here are some pics of our sweet baby boy:

This next picture makes it look like he has Elvis hair...but it's not hair. He was smashed up against the wall of my uterus, so i'm not sure what that is. I asked her if she thought he had hair, and she said she saw maybe a little on the back of his head, but I doubt much. Hunter and I were both baldies, so we think he may be too...

After the ultrasound, they had me go into a room that looked like I was entering a space shuttle. I had to sit on this stool and lean forward onto another chair that had a cutout perfectly for a pregnant belly, laying my head down on a pillow. I had wires and things strapped around my waist, touching my belly. The lady shut the door behind me, which really felt like one of those doors they close for an airplane. I was all locked in...She could speak to me through a microphone and had a camera to watch me. Unfortunately, I didn't get to participate in the study because they were detecting metal that was interfering with the machine. Come to find out that metal was coming from my mouth...yes, I have several metal fillings from when I was a kid. She said this happens occasionally and we wouldn't be able to continue the study. Oops! I felt bad...but I got my 4-D ultrasound, so I was still pleased. We made another appointment to try again on July 16th, which is Monday. We will get to do the 4-d ultrasounds again, and I can't wait to see my sweet baby! Hopefully, I will get to participate in the study this time! If it doesn't work, this will be my last appointment. Hoping for better results this next week! -Carrie

I'm back...and Pregnant!

Wow, it's been a LONG time since i've made a blog post. Life just gets busy, doesn't it? I can't believe the events that have taken place in my life in just one year! It's been fun, though! Since i'm starting my 8th month of pregnancy, i'd thought i'd start from the beginning of my pregnancy, so I can always remember it! It was Saturday night, December 17th, when I got my first positive pregnancy test. I was home alone because Hunter went to El Dorado for the weekend to hunt (imagine that)! I cheated because I wasn't supposed to take a test until Hunter returned on Sunday, but I just couldn't stop myself from doing it. I had a hunch I was pregnant this month. Waiting for that stupid hour glass to stop blinking seemed like an eternity, so I tried to walk around the house and put away some laundry. When I walked back into the bathroom to see the word "Pregnant" I put my hand over my mouth and instantly began to cry. These were tears of joy! (For those of you who know my story, you know how truly exciting this was for me. I'd been trying to get pregnant for over a year and a half, with one unsuccessful pregnancy back in April 2011). I could not believe my eyes and decided I needed to try another test to be sure. Same positive results. I could not wait for Hunter to get home on Sunday...I kept pestering him to get home and made up some story as to why he needed to return earlier, rather than later. I decided to tape the tests on a paper that said "Surprise Daddy!" and i put it on the computer in the room where Hunter keeps all of his hunting gear (since I knew he would go into that room). When he got home I was shaking and he could tell I was acting a little nervous. When he walked into the office, I followed and as soon as he saw the sign, he just turned around and said "SHUTUP!" I told him it was true and he came and picked me up and turned around in circles. He was in disbelief, too. We were SO EXCITED! We shared the news with my family over Skype that next week, and we told his parents on Christmas Eve. Getting pregnant was by far my favorite Christmas present to date. The next 8 weeks were very scary for us because we were so afraid something would happen and we would lose our baby...but we made it to that 12 week mark and decided to share the news with friends. We knew this baby was in God's hands and we couldn't let ourselves worry everyday. Now here we are at 8 months...God is good! For those of you who don't know, we are having a baby BOY and his name is Weston Daniel Scott! As soon as we found out he was a boy, we had the nursery complete in 2 weeks. We had known his name before he was even conceived, and we were so excited to start his room. Hunter immediately bought paint and painted the walls...my parents bought us the crib, his parents bought us a recliner, and my grandparents bought us the bedding/accessories. His room came together in no time...can you tell we're excited???? As far as pregnancy goes...mine has been wonderful! I LOVE being pregnant!!! I love gaining weight and watching my belly grow...I love when people ask about my baby and how far along I am...I love having baby showers and opening all of his adorable gifts...I watching him move in my belly...I love watching my husband talk to him and get excited when he can feel him kick/move...I love sitting in his room, looking around at it and imagining what life will be like when he finally arrives...I love hearing his heartbeat at the doctor's office...I love eating whatever i want, whenever I want! Yes, there are times when I am uncomfortable and wish I didn't have indigestion or sore feet, but how can I complain when i'm experiencing one of the greatest miracles in life. I asked for this...I prayed for this...God gave me this sweet baby, and I am on Cloud 9. I feel so blessed to be pregnant and I am going to enjoy every minute of it! Life is good! One thing that cracks me up is that I always said I never wanted a baby in August. And God gave me a baby in August. He sure has a sense of humor. The only reason i didn't want an August baby is because that's when school starts...and as a teacher, it's not really a good time to be gone. But what I now know is that I'm not in control. God is in control and He knows whats best for me. Having a baby in August, is actually one of the best times for me. Here's why: I am off all summer and I can do whatever I want. If I don't sleep well, I can sleep in. If it's 108 degrees outside and I don't want to leave the Air Conditioned house, i don't have to! I don't have to find maternity work clothes to wear...i don't have to go to bed early...I don't have to get up early...I get to enjoy swimming in the pool and getting a suntan...I get to enjoy the wonderful fresh fruit we have in the summer...i get to wear sundresses and flip flops (no tying shoes)! It's actually been wonderful! I may go back to work for 2 weeks before Weston is due...but that's it until Late November. It's so nice to have a break from work and get well rested before my sweet baby arrives. I'm enjoying some "me" time this summer, reading books and watching movies. I know this has been a long post, and I'm sorry for those of you who are extremely bored and want to vomit over my pregnancy excitement...but I needed this post. I need to remember how I felt when I was pregnant and remember the good times...because i struggled for a long time before this pregnancy. I know others out there are struggling with getting pregnant, too. But know this...God is in control. He knows what's best for each of us. We just have to trust in Him and never give up! I was lucky to have a loving husband, supportive family, and wonderful friends at my side through all of my struggles...thanks to all of you who prayed for us and our sweet baby. We can't wait to meet him at the end of August!!! Here's a 7th month picture:

Hopefully, I'll be better at blogging this year...we shall see! Have a wonderful summer, Carrie

Update on Mom & Nashville, AR

So, I've been off all summer and I haven't found time to blog...what????? I tell you, the summers make me so lazy! I find so many other things to do...watch tv, layout, bake, take trips, shop, make peach preserves, visit coca cola plants, and of course, SLEEP IN!!!! What am I going to do when I actually have to start getting up at 5:30 again...this girl isn't going to worry about that now because I have two more weeks before that will happen...and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!!!

Update on Mom:

Mom's scar has healed really fast and she's been a trooper! She has had a few curveballs thrown her way, but I know she's a strong woman and can make it through! Tomorrow, she will go to take her Radioactive Pill. She has to be quarantined from people for about 3 days...she will have a scan run to make sure that all of the thyroid tissue is gone so that no cancerous cells are left behind. She has already done a lower dosage of this pill and it didn't kill everything, so this is round two for her. The pill makes her very tired and last time I believe it gave her really bad headaches. She is already tired enough with her thyroid, so i'm hoping she'll have more energy soon! Hopefully, after this scan, she will be cancer free and can resume normal life again. I know that her summer has been consumed with doctor's visits, surgery, and worry, so I hope this will be the end of it! Please pray that this radioactive pill will get rid of everything and that when she starts her thyroid medicine, she will finally start having more energy!

Update on my weekend in Nashville, AR:

I had the best weekend! My wonderful friend, Ashley Jamison, took a group of us home to meet her family and to make peach preserves! Ashley was an amazing hostess, and was constantly preparing food for us...she's an awesome cook! Here's our weekend recap:

We left around noon on Friday, and made the 2 hour trek to good ole Nashville, AR. For those of you who don't know, I was not born a "southern" girl. I was raised in Indianapolis, IN...No Ya'lls and Fixin's and Coke (we said POP)...so this was an eye-opening experience for me. I really enjoyed going out to the country and traveling down dirt roads as the cows "moo-ed" at me (which if you know me, I'm scared of dogs, so this really scared me...haha). Ashley's family owns a lot of land, and practically all of her dad's family lives on the land....so as we entered town Ashley pointed out where everyone lived, Granny, Poppa, Aunt Amelia, Aunt Jackie, Cousin Micah, Cousin Ace...and so on. (There are WAY too many to remember, haha!)

Once we made it to Ashley's, we unloaded the car and got right back in to head over to her Cousin Tela's house. Tela is building a house with her husband, and man was it beautiful!! Tela just found out she is having TWINS, so it was fun to see her! She was in Kojies with us at Harding. We left Tela's, and went home to help Ashley cook supper. She made fried chicken, fried okra, creamed corn, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, and a delicious salad. Mrs. Bernie made Mocha Cheesecake for dessert! We tore up the kitchen, but it was worth it! We spent the evening cleaning up our mess, before we finally decided to hit the hay. We needed our rest before the Peach-Mania began.

On Saturday, we arose to the smell of homemade cinnamon rolls (Ashley spoiled us, if you can't tell already!) Lindsey and I began to sit at the table and peel some peaches, and some more peaches, and even more peaches. Talk about a sticky job...but it was fun! Ashley decided we could go first to make our preserves, and she coached us through the process. What a wonderful coach! Here's a picture of me cooking: (no makeup, so don't mind me)



And sweet, pregnant Lindsey:



And here are my peach preserves, waiting for the lids to "pop" and seal:



After we made preserves, we took the leftover peaches, mixed them with sugar and this fresh fruit powder (to keep them from turning brown), and we loaded them up in freezer bags. This way we'll have some frozen anytime we want to pull them out and whip up a pie or cobbler. YUM! So most of saturday was taken over with peaches...Granny came to help us, and she was so sweet...she showed us how to peel easily (because me and a knife is scary business). Her and Poppa picked all of these peaches for us out of their Orchard, and they were so great to do this for us! Thanks Granny and Poppa!!!!!!!!!!

After peeling peaches, Ashley's daddy took us to the Coca-Cola Plant where he works. They just celebrated their 100th anniversary in Nashville, AR, so there was a Museum to walk-through with Coca-Cola paraphernalia from years and years ago. I loved all of the old Coca-Cola machines...we took some fun pictures, too!

The plant, complete with Ashley's mother:



Lindsey and me in the museum:



The coke machines:



Now that's a lot of COKE!!!



And of course we took silly pictures:













Can you tell we had fun at the Coca-Cola Plant???? We really enjoyed getting to see everyting! Thanks, Mr. James for taking us!!!!!

When we got home, Ashley started working on another dinner...Greek Salad, Squash Medley, Rolls, and her dad grilled chicken with an awesome marinade. Granny and Poppa joined us for dinner...we had a great dinner! After dinner, Caroline, Lindsey, Ashley, and myself decided to take a walk. We walked over to Granny and Poppa's house...this is when the cows were "moo"ing at me and I started walking faster...the girls made fun of me. I know a cow is not going to "get me" but I was still nervous. They were LOUD!! And there were TONS of them! We made it home, safely (thank goodness), as soon as the sun went down. We finished the evening wrapping up the peaches we hadn't finished yet...I slept great that night. Lots of work!

Sunday morning, we went to Ashley's church, and got to meet a lot of her family members. We went home and Ashley made us taco salads. Ashley's mom, Bernie, made us cookies fresh out of the oven...YUM Then we packed up our things and headed home. We really had a fabulous weekend! I enjoyed meeting new friends...Sarah, Valorie, and Caroline...along with all of Ashley's family! If anyone is reading this, thanks so much for a great weekend! I loved every minute of it and I learned a lot!

I'm officially a peach preserve making queen,
Carrie