A Lifetime of Love

They were both at Jeannine's wedding! The wedding was great, probably one of the best I've ever attended. It was classy, yet fun, much like Jeannine's personality. It was at a ritzy country club in the Ballentyne area of Charlotte. It was gorgeous! We sat with some friends of ours from the neighborhood, which I was glad because they all know Th so he was able to be himself. One of the evening's highlights was watching Th dance. That kid has some moves! He was making me laugh so hard I was crying! I'm not too sure where he learned his moves (a-hem! TJ !) because TJ and I don't dance around the house, but regardless, he was the hit of our table. Another highlight was when Sir Pur (the Carolina Panther's mascot) made his appearance. It was awesome! Of course we forgot our camera so the only pictures I have are from my phone but the quality is poor because I didn't have a flash. Oh well. Th thought that was the best, and it was really neat to see Sir Pur ...

I managed to somewhat successfully find time to study for and pass the 3 tests I had this week. I won’t get my grades until next week, but I feel confident about my overall performance- by no means a perfect score but hopefully all A’s. I meet with my advisor in about 10 days to get clearance for registration. I can’t believe this time is here already- I will soon be registering for my final semester! As stressful as this semester has been and continues to be, it really is going by quickly. I am half way through it and I still have my hair and it’s not completely gray! LOL! I am just more excited that I will soon be completely done and hold a teaching certificate in my hand. It still seems very surreal. I’m sure it will take me 6 months to recover from my “school mode” mentality once I graduate. I need to begin thinking about what to do with the rest of my life. My mentor teacher keeps telling me she wants me to come back, and I have another friend who works in a different school distr...

I am struggling even more to find a balance between home and school. Teagan is such a great baby, and I really have no complaints about her. She sleeps well, waking to nurse every 3 hours. I try to time it so that she nurses around 10:30 or 11pm, and then every 3 hours after that. TJ gets the first feeding and I get the second. It gets difficult when she wakes around 5am because I wake up at 5:45am, and I usually finish nursing around 5:30am. Obviously those mornings are more difficult for me because I am waking 45 minutes earlier than I’m used to, but I overall I can’t complain. I am very thankful she takes a bottle and TJ is willing to get up with her, too. One day last week I let him sleep and took all of the feedings myself as a way to say thank you to him. Because of my school load, TJ and I had to make a difficult decision about T.G. I really didn’t want to have to send her to preschool 5 mornings per week, but it was just too difficult for me to get anything done at home with he...

Here are the much anticipated pictures of Teagan that everyone's been emailing me about! :) A close up of her beautiful face. On the bilibed in the hospital. I affectionately call this her "space suit". Do you see the bright lights emanating from underneath her? It was literally like a tanning bed (except without the tan). A close up in her space suit. Look at those cheeks! :) One of Th's many birthday celebrations. This was for my benefit while I was in the hospital. My mom-in-law baked and brought cupcakes for us to celebrate. She wasn't too happy about going home! We were about to be wheeled out to the car. She calmed down and went to sleep.

Being a Special Education teacher (almost!), you know I can't resist the opportunity to brag on some very special people to me. Although I do not know the people in the video personally, I think they represent those whom I do know very well. In honor of Down Syndrome Awareness month, please watch this PSA (public service announcement) that will be airing inside Wal-Marts throughout the nation. It was because of some wonderful athletes with Down Syndrome and other cognitive disabilities that I decided to devote my life to teaching those with mental retardation. I learned a lot from them, and hopefully, through this PSA, you will learn something, too.

Teagan has been cleared of her jaundice diagnosis and I returned the bed yesterday. She slept great last night in her crib (I was a little concerned since she's been on the bilibed since birth). Her skin coloring looks great and I am enjoying just holding her, although I haven't seen her much today because of my school schedule. I am looking forward to getting home tonight; I miss her. :( I taught today and overall it went well. Today isn't the first day I've taught, but it's the first time I've implemented my own lesson. My mentor teacher observed and critiqued me, and I have some things to reflect on to improve the lesson. I learned some things and am very happy that I had the opportunity to do so; some things can't be taught, only learned through experience. This is one of those things. Well, I am headed to my last class of the day. I can't wait for 5pm to arrive- school's out!

Teagan is doing better with her jaundice. Her levels were down on Friday but rather than taking her off the bilibed now and risking her levels rising again, the doc kept her on the lights through the weekend. I have to take her back tomorrow afternoon and will more than likely return the bed. Yesterday and today have been the first we've been able to really hold her and love on her. Because of the jaundice, she had to be on the bed except for feedings. Thankfully she has taken a bottle fine (unlike T.G.) so TJ has been helping with feedings in the middle of the night. I have been nursing around 11ish, then he gets the 1ish feeding, and I get the 3 and 5ish feedings. But, since it was the weekend, I also got to sleep in until 8:30 so I don't really mind. The bilibed has been a mixed blessing. Teagan is my first child who hasn't slept with us in the beginning. I have always had the baby in bed with us to make nursing in the middle of the night easier (I have a co-sleeper so...