New Parent Jeeters

As my due date gets closer and closer, I can't stop thinking about how certain people will act around me and my child. Kevin and I have decided to drive up to MO for Thanksgiving. Doc told us to avoid airports and to make sure everyone is up to date on their vaccines...which with my family is impossible and that's like asking them to buy a suit/dress for our visit. It's not going to happen. In fact I never got flu shots in the past unless it was required or they were giving them out at school. Actually I'm not so worried about flu shots but I am concerned about one particular person being around my son. My sister. Over the past year and a half she has tried desperately to get pregnant and miscarried 3 times. It is unfortunate, but turned out better for her in the end, especially in her unstable emotional state and unstable relationship. My biggest concern is that her baby obsession will make her act in a way that could cause harm to my child. In addition, when I told her Kevin and I were going to be strict on who, when, and how people will be holding my son, she stated in a loud aggressive manner, that she was Christian's aunt and she holds every right to touch him and hold him. That she will hold him and that was that. I was speechless. I told Kevin about her aggressive comment in holding our son and he too was made even more uncomfortable with the idea of her holding him. I fear she will be the type of person to see him in his carrier and will walk right up to him and pick him up with asking a soul. I fear she will abuse her holding privileges by trying to get up and move around with him in her arms. My child is a human being not a baby doll toy to be played with. I do not want to show off my child like they do in the Lion King. What my sister wants to do with her children is her business but my son will not be treated this way. I know in general concern I am normal in having these feelings, but I fear, since not too many people know her emotional state, will think I am the one who is over reacting... I want some people to have the opportunity to hold Christian. I trust several of my family members, but I just can't find in my heart at this time to trust my sister with more than what most people give to a very small child when it comes to a new baby. The approved holding comes with 2 adults on both sides and the person must be sitting down. These holds usually last 1-3minutes tops. Now, my sister is 22yrs old. I can't act that ridiculous. But I want to. What should I do in this stressful and impossible to avoid situation?

Job Talk

As I come up on my 31 week of pregnancy (1 week shy of 8 months), I find myself extremely emotional. Kevin and I have been talking alot about future options for his career. Our current plan is for him to extend for 2 years and transfer to a new unit. However, lately he is really just wanting to get out of the military. I don't blame him one bit. His branch has offered several opportunities for enlisted members to get out early because of gov't budget cuts. But the problem with him doing that now is my pregnancy. Without a job, we have no insurance, and if anyone thinks I'm going to give birth in the backwoods with no drugs they are crazy!!! lol We agreed that we wouldn't make any serious life changes til after Christian is born. But then we also have an opportunity to leave enlisted and go reserves, which is in the end less pay and there's lots of things we'd have to do to maintain our living status. We've talked about heading back to Missouri, which is exciting for me. But at the same time it's frustrating. I will want a job too and well, I can't apply for anything now because school starts in 2-3 weeks and I'm still pregnant. No district would hire me being 8 months pregnant and ready to leave them in Sept-Oct. Not to mention, I still live in TX and I don't want to leave my doctor now. Even if we move to Missouri within the next few months, I'd still go mostly jobless for another year. Unless a district has mid-year openings and I had handle breastfeeding during school. There is so much to take into consideration now. Kevin said it best last night, if it was just the 2 of us, we'd have no problem making a decision, but with Christian, that changes everything... That pretty much sums it up. God has been showing us more signs lately on how to get started on the right path out of the military but we find ourselves stuck with the when is the best time to exit question... We need to make a decision soon in order to take advantage of certain benefits.

Father's Day

Yesterday was Kevin's first father's day. Unfortunately he is on deployment and isn't scheduled to be back til Jone 30-July 1st. I got him a card and a few gifts to receive when he gets home. Plus I plan to take him out to eat, which now since it will not be on a holiday will be easier to do. I can't wait for him to get home. Christian, even though he is in my belly, knows his daddy. He knows his voice and he knows when I am talking to him or texting him, because my heart rate changes and I giggle that in-love giggle. Every time Christian knows his daddy is around or talking to me he goes crazy with kicks. Right before Kevin left for deployment, Christian and him started this boop boop game. Kevin would tap on my belly and say boop boop and within a min or two, Christian would boop back. It's adorable!!! I mean they really play back and forth. lol I love it. :-)

Family Update

We went to the ultrasound Doc on Monday and everything was great. Christian is right on target with his growth. He may be one of the few that is born on his due date. He is kicking more and moving around. I feel the kicks and movements when I'm sitting still. He gets really crazy when I'm driving. lol He could be a rock star. :-)
Kevin has started his healthy eating and workout regimen. We haven't been eating the same things but I am really proud of him. It also gives us a less stressful evening. He gets home before me and can have his dinner done by the time I'm ready to start mine. It has been working out nicely.
 Work has been going good. We are almost done with our contract and the school year is coming to a close. I am excited for summer and to figure out what I will be doing this summer. I finally got around to eating sushi. After hearing about my mom and sister's lunches 100 times I decided it was time for me to get back into the sushi world. Pregnant or not, I can find something that I can eat. And I did, I had an avocado roll and California roll. But next time I am going to widen my horizons. I did my research on what I can and can't have. So I am hoping that Kevin and I get out to this sushi place on the Kemah boardwalk for Mother's Day. Oh and not that we have taken advantage of it, but Amanda told me that HEB had a sushi counter. Well we don't have the HEB Plus but we do have the sushi counter at our HEB. :-) Maybe not that my taste buds are fully back, I will look into what they have over there... :-) That's all for now, Kevin is on his way home.

Love and Marriage

Lately I have noticed that Kevin and I are showing our love for each other in ways that are different than each other and occasionally we discuss how the other isn't showing enough love. It turns out that even though we both took the profile for our primary love language, it wasn't as accurate as we though it was. In fact when we took the profile we were still living apart and now that we live together, our love languages has changed. Luckily after being told to read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman by two different people I gave in and bought it. I now know what Kevin's new love language is and I was able to read the chapter on it and ways I can show him the love he has been looking for.
In addition to that, Kevin showed me his love on his first day off from work. I assumed he would prepare a surprise dinner and that would be it. But when I walked in the door after I got home from work, He hugged me and kissed me. Then he completely stripped me down and carried me to the bathroom. When he opened the door, the lights were off but the tub was glowing with candles surrounding the water. The oil burner was going and he had daisies floating in the tub. Once I got in the tub I leaned back on my fairly new tub pillow and smelled the white tea bath salt in the water. Kevin told me to relax while he finished getting dinner ready. He put on the Michael Buble CD and told me when the food was in the oven he would come back and wash me. I was completely speechless and not sure what to think, but I listened and relaxed. When I got out, he had dinner ready and it was stuffed chicken covered in cream of mushroom soup and chicken flavored rice. I was SO good I asked for seconds!!!
Now I am offically on my 9-day weekend. Since the students are taking their state tests next week Sylvan does not need to be there, so I have the week off. Monday, Kevin and I have off together and we have some things to take care of. Then that evening I am going to "Ladies Night Out" with Melissa at the Sagemont Church.
I also intent to pick up my cooking again now that I'm feeling better and have the time to cook next week while I am off work. So my cooking blog should be getting some attention too. :-)

Don't Give Up-Grow Up!

Recently I spoke to my Aunt Vicki on FB and mentioned I was worried about how Kevin and I would deal with our son coming into the world and if if would affect our time together and the household chores we share. I know the answer but I was looking for ways for us to remain close and not allow the stresses of our baby harm our relationship. She got this from a church in Orange, TX on April 7th and passed it along to me and I loved it so much I'm sharing it here. :-)

Balanced and Blessed Series

Don’t Give Up—Grow Up!

Six Steps to Help Your Marriage Go the Distance

     In this final session we are focusing on growing up, not giving up.  I love this session because we will be looking at six steps that will help your marriage go the distance.

     Our world is composed of lovers and losers, and to avoid becoming a loser we need to learn how to become a lover.  Once again, God’s Word gives us practical instruction on how we can love our spouse and grow up as believers.

     To help us remember how to be a lover who encourages and not a loser who complains, let’s remember the acronym L-O-V-E-R-S.

     “L” represents the word “laugh.”  The Bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh. 8:10).  The Bible also says that a merry heart does good like a medicine (Prov. 17:22).  To have a great relationship, all of us need laughter and joy in life.  The joy of the Lord can be your strength, and the joy of your marriage depends on your laughing and building a balanced, God-honoring life together.  Fun does not always just happen—we have to plan it, to build margin into our lives so we can do fun things together.

     “O” represents “overlook.”  As a psychologist, I cannot tabulate the hours I spent with married couples who were fighting over things that did not matter.  Something within us wants to take control of the universe, wants to force others to do what we want them to do!  This insane craving is in me and it’s in you.

     “V” stands for “value”—we need to learn to value our spouse.  Too often we judge and reward people based on their actions or-more particularly-what they do for us.  We do not look at people as God’s gift, as His creation.  We need to remember that we cannot control how people live and perform—we can’t change them.  What we can change is how we see people—as dearly loved creations of God, made just like us, created in the image of God.  We are more like others than we admit: all of us are doing the best we can as we journey through this life on earth.

     “E” stands for “encourage.”  Think about people who have touched your life the most, those whom you remember fondly even after the passing of time.  Chances are every one of those people encouraged you, believed in you, and affirmed you in meaningful ways.  Encouraging others is one of the most effective of all human behaviors for building a marriage and a life that will go the distance.

     “R” stands for “realize” and “remind.”  We need to start realizing what’s really important in life and develop a habit of reminding ourselves every day.  In the end, it’s all about three things: faith, family and friends.

     “S” stands for serve—serving others, serving one another.  The Bible says that Jesus came to serve, not be served.  Serving our spouse is an act of love given not because we “have to” but because we “want to”—because we love, not because it’s our job description.

IT'S A BOY!!!

I know it's been awhile since I have posted. I have been busy moving into our new apartment and then cleaning it up and trying to enjoy my husband. Everything is going really good. Work is good. I'm finding my groove in my teaching and my kids crack me up with their silly questions of why I'm not "fat" yet if I am pregnant. Trust me I wish I was ballooning, but it'll happen in good time. For now I am enjoying the fact that my taste buds returned and I am feeling more energetic lately. I can get out of bed and eat real food without spending the first 10-15 minutes hugging the toilet bowl everyday. I'm starting to eat more and more things as the days go on. I'm still alittle wary of a few things but overall I'm just happy to eat more than crackers and cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. lol We went to the ultrasound specialist last Monday and the doctor was able to tell us what we are having. As you can read, we are having a boy. It was Kevin's first doctor appt with me so it was really exciting for him. The baby was bouncing around and kicking. Kevin's eyes were lite up the whole time. He looked like a little boy on Christmas day. Adorable!!! We have been debating names for our little boy. But I think we decided to stick with our original name, Christian Michael. Well that's all for now. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!!