Ava is 2 months old!

How is my baby already 2 months old?! These past 2 months have absolutely flown by. They've also gone extremely slow at times (hello growth spurts!). I go back to work on Monday and Ava will start daycare. I'm so thankful that I had these 2 months with her. I have loved every day that we've lounged around the house or run errands. I have seen how her personality has started to take shape. She has changed so much in these past 2 months. I will definitely miss her more than anything when I'm away from her, but I know that she will be in great hands. 
At her 2 month check up Ava measured 24 inches long and weighed 11 pounds 0.5 ounces. The doctor said that she is taller than 100% of girls her age. I'm hoping she will be tall like Thomas! She can hold her head up for a long time and can roll from belly to back occasionally. She eats every 2-3 hours, except overnight. She usually goes 4-6 hours from her last feeding before bed before she wakes and wants to eat again. She nurses very well and is great at taking a bottle. She only takes a pacifier if she's very tired or over stimulated. 
I am so thankful God chose me to be her mommy. I think back to March 21, 2015 very often. The day I found out I was pregnant. I was so shocked (in a good way!) that I didn't even try to tell Thomas in a cute way. I just woke him up and told him that I was pregnant. In fact, all of the cute Pinterest-y ideas I pinned to tell our families didn't get used at all. I was way too excited to wait to tell anyone. I immediately called my mom (who wasn't surprised at all) and then we called the rest of our family members throughout the day. I can't believe that little peanut is here now. I thank God for her every day. 

Ava Lynn

I figured since Ava is already 6 weeks old I would break my blogging silence and write her birth story! I love reading birth stories! Reading about how a new life entered the world is just so beautiful.  Friday, Nov. 20: I was on my 2nd day of maternity leave and decided to run to some errands. On my way to Target I started having mild contractions that were 10 minutes apart. They didn't hurt so I wasn't worried about going to the hospital. I did my shopping and headed home in case they got closer together and I needed to go to the hospital. By the afternoon the contractions had mostly stopped. I was so upset! I was ready to have this baby! That night, they started back up and got close enough together that I decided we should go to the hospital. Around 2 or 3 in the morning the doctor in the OBER told me that I was only 1 cm dilated and that my contractions weren't real labor. I was so sad! We went back home and tried to sleep.  Saturday, Nov 21: After getting a couple of hours of sleep I got up and made plans with my mom. We got lunch and went to a little craft fair to do some walking. I was still having contractions, but they weren't consistent. I got a decent nights sleep.  Sunday, Nov 22: I honestly don't remember a lot of the day. I was having contractions all day, but they still weren't consistent. Even though they weren't consistent, they were extremely painful. Around 9:40 at night I noticed that they were getting closer together. I timed them for an hour and they were coming every 3-5 minutes. I told Thomas we needed to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 11:30. The OBER nurse checked me and told me that I was 4 cm dilated. I was so surprised! I fully expected them to send me back home again. I called my mom and told her they were admitting me and that Ava was going to be born soon.  Monday, Nov 23: I was moved upstairs to a delivery room. The nurses were so nice. I am so thankful that they were kind and easy to get along with. I got my epidural at 12:30. I was really scared about getting something out in my spine, but it didn't hurt at all. The IV in my wrist hurt way more than the epidural. My mom came in shortly after that. At 2 am the nurses checked me and I was 5 cm dilated. They told me to try to get some sleep. Thomas and I kind of slept for a couple of hours. The nurses came back at 4 am and checked me again. This time I was already dilated 9 cm. I couldn't believe how quickly I had progressed. They came back in an hour and when the nurse went to check how much I was dilated she broke my water. My doctor wasn't on call, so the plan was to have the on call Doctor deliver her. I wasn't necessarily happy about this, but I could deal with it. A little bit later the nurses told me that my doctor had called up there and when he found out I was in labor said he was coming to deliver Ava. (Side note: my OB is the same doctor that delivered me and my siblings, so it was really special that he delivered Ava 😊) Around 6 I started pushing. This was definitely the hardest part for me. I couldn't feel anything from the waist down, so trying to productively push was very difficult. Thomas held one of my legs and my mom held the other. I'm so thankful they were there with me!I pushed for a little over an hour before Ava was born. I remember seeing her for the first time. She had so much hair! The nurses from the NICU were in the room because she was at risk for breathing in or swallowing some meconium. Thankfully she didn't and I was able to hold her soon after they checked her over. I cried as soon as they handed her to me. She nursed a little while after that and then we had our families come in to meet her. It was absolutely one of the best days of my life! I am so thankful that God chose me to be Ava's mom. 

What I Want My Students to Know

Teaching is by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It is also the most rewarding thing I've ever done. Today, I had a couple of situations where I had to go out of my way, out of my job description, to get a student the help that he/she needed. I was thinking about this my whole (hour long if there's no traffic) drive home. 
I want my students (and their parent/guardian) to know that I am going to advocate for them.  I want to be known as a teacher who cares so immensely about her students.  I hope that my students know that I want what is best for them.  I hope they know that I love them. 
I pray for these students. I pray that they will know how cared for they are.  I pray that they will see Jesus through me. 
I find myself thinking about them when I'm doing things outside of school.  Do they have someone at home who can provide for them?  Did they get dinner tonight?  Did somebody pay the electric bill so they have A/C at their house? 
My heart is just so heavy with these thoughts lately. I hope that my students understand where I am coming from and why I am the way I am. I'm tough on my students because I care so much. 
I want my students to remember me as the teacher who made a difference in their lives. 

Life Lately (part 2)

What a crazy couple of months it has been since I have written. We have moved, unpacked (kinda...), got a new kitten, started the new school year, and had a hospital stay.  I am so thankful for everyone who helped us with the move! We are so blessed to have people who care about us in our lives. We still have some things in boxes, but I think I will get to those eventually  soon. :) Billy is the newest Abernathy. He is such a feisty little thing. He definitely knows how to get on our nerves, but he makes up for it by being extra cute. He is our indoor/outdoor kitty. Right now, he only hunts grasshoppers, but I'm hoping he will graduate to larger prey. 

I started back at Hutcheson JH this fall. It's amazing what a difference a year can make in terms of teaching experience. I learned so many different things last year and changed a lot of my procedures and how I run my classroom. It also helps that I don't have any "double block" classes. I had to get used to teaching everything I needed to cover in 45 minutes instead of 90 minutes. I love my students so much already. They are interested in learning and I can tell that they care about school. Last year, I did not love my job. I dreaded going to work every day. This year is such a different story. I love teaching, again! 

About a week ago, Thomas started complaining that his stomach hurt on the right side. He said he thought it might be appendicitis, but decided to wait and see if it got better. On Tuesday, he decided to make a doctors appointment. They couldn't seem him until Wednesday afternoon. When he went to the doctor, she told him to go ahead and go to the ER. (He calls me at this point and tells me that he is going to the ER. I'm in 7th period, trying not to panic) I decided to stay at school and get a little bit of grading done while he was still waiting to be seen by the doctor at the ER. When I got to the hospital, he had seen the doctor and had some blood work done. I went to get dinner and when I came back, they had just done a CT scan. The scan revealed that Thomas was right. It was appendicitis.

Wednesday night he had the appendectomy. I stayed the night at the hospital. The couch/bed/thing I slept on was not super comfy, but I was so glad that Thomas was okay. We got to go home Thursday evening. Everyone at Hutch was so great about helping me out with everything while I was out. I am so thankful to have an awesome team!!

Thomas is still recovering, but he is doing really well overall! Thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes! 

Moving!

It has been a while since I have written. Since my last post, we have closed on our house, moved a few things in, and are getting ready to make the final move to the new house! We initially planned on tearing up the linoleum in the kitchen and staining the concrete ourselves, but it proved to be too tedious of a task for just us to do. We decided to hire a contractor to tear up the linoleum and do an acid stain. The first contractor I contacted seemed like a nice guy who would be able to do what we wanted, within our budget, and on time. This was definitely not the case. When I contacted him, he said he could start in about 2 weeks. 2 weeks later, he said he could start in about 2 weeks... You see why we changed contractors?! I ended up calling the guy who did my parents' remodel and we started the kitchen remodel last Thursday. When the linoleum was torn up, we found out that staining the concrete wasn't going to be the best option for us. We decided that tile would be better and would last longer. I found some awesome tile at Lowe's that looks kind of like stained concrete! Here is a picture from yesterday: 

We are just waiting to have the tile grouted and then we can finish moving everything! I am so happy that we are going to finally be in OUR home!