Thankful

We were happy Jackson was here just in time for Thanksgiving! We definitely had a lot to be thankful for... Thankful that although it was a tough labor, everything came out okay in the end. Thankful for such amazing friends and family. Jackson had so many people at the hospital waiting for his arrival. Everyone was so supportive and willing to help us out with anything we needed. He is definitely loved by many! Thankful that Uncle Jon was able to fly in from Arizona and spend time with his nephew/Godson. We can't wait for him to return!! Thankful that my family from Florida was able to be here for a whole week. We really enjoyed having them here and we already miss them so much! Thankful that my mom was able to take 2 weeks off to stay with us and help us out. We couldn't be more appreciative. The most important thing that we are thankful for is that God blessed us with a healthy, beautiful baby boy. Jack and I have spent many years talking about having a baby and wondering what he or she was going to be like. Our prayers were definitely answered because Jackson is everything we wished for and more.

Jackson Cade

The day we had been waiting for had finally arrived... it was time to prepare for the birth of our baby boy! Jack and I spent the day getting prepared. We cleaned the entire house, did last minute touches to his nursery, packed our bags, picked out his going home outfit, and put his things in his diaper bag.



I checked in the hospital on November 20th at 8 p.m. to begin my induction. Although his due date was just 5 days away, my doctor wanted to go ahead and begin the process due to my high blood pressure. My contractions began at 8 o'clock the next morning. At first they just felt like menstrual cramps, but the pain slowly got worse so I asked for an epidural. Before I explain anything else, let me just say that my body is very sensitive to any pain medicine so I was very nervous about getting an epidural. The anesthesiologist was supposed to give me 10 cc and he accidentally gave me 100 cc which they didn't realize until I was nauseous and numb from the shoulders down! About 2 hours later, I was feeling much better.



Once I was dilated enough, I was able to begin pushing. I pushed for over an hour and we weren't making any progress. His head was faced up and it needed to be faced down. My doctor decided we needed to do a c-section. This was very scary for me because I was not expecting to do that. Jack and my mom had to get scrubs on and they rolled me into a very bright operating room.



So after a long day of labor, my handsome baby was finally here at 8:45 p.m. on November 21, 2011 weighing 7.12 pounds and 20 inches long. I have never felt the kind of love I feel for him! He is absolutely perfect from head to toe and I could literally spend my day just staring at him.

7 Months!

I'm entering into my 3rd trimester now! My belly seems to get bigger by the day and little Jackson seems to being having a blast in there because he is always moving around! It is crazy how much you can already love someone that you haven't met. I can't wait for him to make his debut :)

Blessing in Disguise

New year. New school. New grade.

Unfortunately, I was a part of the DISD budget cut MESS because I was the last one hired at my school. I thought my life was over when I received a phone call that I was being "let go" from my current position. All I could think of was "BABY ON THE WAY.. HOUSE BEING BUILT!" We can not afford all of this on one salary. But thankfully.. God was definitely looking down on me because I received another job a few hours after being let go. Talk about an emotional roller coaster! I now look at my lay off as a blessing in disguise. I am teaching a grade I have always been interested in, 2nd Grade, and I am teaching my favorite subject, Language Arts! Although I am going to miss seeing my old kiddos and co-workers at Peabody, I am very eager and excited about working at Botello Elementary! My classroom is still a work in progess, but here are some pictures of what I've done so far!


This is my bulletin board in the hallway. I am going to write the student's names on the stars once I get them.


This is the view looking in from my door.


This is the front of my room where I will do my whole group.


Here is my calendar board.


Here are my lockers.


This is my computer area. I plan to put up student work on the bulletin board.


This is the view from the computers.


This is my Daily 5 board.


This is my literacy/reading area.

And thats all I have for now! :)

6 Months

The baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Our little firefighter

I am in love with all the cute firefighter onesies we have gotten so far! I just have to share them! My mom bought us these two...




and Jon and Brit bought us this one when they went to New York...



Jackson will definitely be decked out in firefighter gear! Can't wait to start on his firefighter nursery :)

Our house...

Our house is coming together so quickly! I'm glad it is only an exit away from where we live now because Jack and I are obsessed with driving by almost every night!! We met our neighbors the other day too and they were the sweetest family. They already invited us over for one of their barbecues! Jack and I can't wait to move in and start our little family of 3, well 6 if you include our pets! I apologize to my friends and family if all you hear out of our mouths is house and baby talk... we are just SO excited that it's hard not to talk about it! Even through all the excitement, there is still a part of us that is nervous because it is a huge investment to purchase a home. But Jack and I have always tried to make the best decisions for our life and we believe that God would not give us anything that we could not handle. I have to trust that my fortune cookie I got last night is true...



For awhile all we saw were huge piles of dirt, but this past week they have really gotten a lot done! Here is a sneak peak of our house...

It's a BOY!!!

Today was the big day!!! Jack and I found out at 10am that we were having a baby BOY! We were BEYOND excited! We told our family immediately, but had to wait until 7pm to tell all of our friends because we threw an Announcement Party at Main Event. We couldn't wait to share the news with everyone. We asked everyone to wear blue if they thought it was a boy or pink if they thought it was a girl. The majority wore blue and only two people wore pink! Once everyone got there, we passed out the cupcakes. We made cupcakes that had white icing and blue cake so once everyone bit into it they could see that it was BLUE for a BOY!





Here is a picture of our handsome son, Jackson Cade Burns :)

It's July!!!

It's Friday and it's July! This is my favorite month of the year! SO many GREAT things are happening this month:

* Celebrating 4th of July with great friends

* Mom's birthday

* Dad's birthday

* Finding out if our baby is a boy or girl!!! :))

* Britney Spears/Nicki Minaj Concert

* My Birthday

* South Padre with some of my favorite people

* Katy Perry Concert

And to start July off, I am 19 weeks pregnant today! Only one more week until we know what Baby Burns is! I also had to go buy my first pair of prego pants... I am actually very excited about this purchase because they are soooo comfy! Here is what is happening this week: The baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces, and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. The hair on their scalp is sprouting. This is a crucial time for sensory development: The baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch.

18 Weeks

My baby bump definitely feels bigger! Here is what is happening this week: Head to rump, your baby is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighs almost 7 ounces. The baby is busy flexing its arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, although he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

Boy or Girl??

Well the time is approaching... we will be finding out on July 11th whether our little muffin is a boy or a girl! The anticipation is killing me and I can't wait to find out! It is going to be so exciting to get the nursery ready and buy baby clothes! Throughout this whole pregnancy people would ask me, "So what do you want it to be?" I would always answer "Boy!" BUT as the time is seeking upon us, I have been leaning more towards wanting a girl! So when it comes down to it, I am going to be happy either way and all I pray for is a healthy baby!

17 Weeks

15 Weeks

Home Owners!!

Well with the baby on the way, it made Jack and I even more ready for a home! We drove by a brand new development in Mansfield and saw a model for an Antares Home. We took a look inside and immediately fell in love! It was everything we imagined and then some! We are done with the starter houses and apartments... we have lived in 8 different places together!! It is time for us to really settle down and find THE house that we want to raise our family in. So, we are officially Mansfield residents and hope to have our house built and ready by October!

14 Weeks

I'm entering the 2nd trimester now and I'm happy to say I got through my 1st trimester without any sickness!! Now I'm about 5 weeks away from finding out if our little muffin is a boy or girl!!

Officially a Fire Fighter!

I am a little late posting this so forgive me! Jack graduated from the Fire Academy on May 2nd! He was rewarded with the Brandon Phillips Award for being a Distinguished Recruit. Everyone in the class had to vote on who they thought deserved this award by choosing who they would trust to go into a burning building with. Jack was completely shocked and honored to have receive it! Now that he is finished with the Fire Academy, he is able to start working at the Fire Station. He is already enjoying work and I am so happy that he is finally living his dream! It is going to take me some time to get used to his 24 hour shifts again because I have been so used to him being home every night! But I have a plan... to keep myself occupied I am going to watch all my recorded tv shows on the days he is working :)

Good job babe! YOU DID IT!!!!

Here are some pictures from his graduation... I'll be sure to post some picture of him in his gear SOON!

12 Weeks

11 Weeks

10 Weeks

Baby on the way!!!

Jack and I have been talking about having a baby for a LONG time, but we wanted to wait until after we got married and got settled into our jobs. In the beginning it was very discouraging because nothing was happening. We realized that it wasn't up to us and we put all of our trust into what God had planned for us. Now we are SO happy to say that we are finally expecting our first child!!! I took the pregnancy test while Jack was at work and to my surprise it came back positive. I still did not believe it and I was in total shock so I went to Target to buy more tests. Three tests later... STILL positive! I was beyond excited and could not wait to tell Jack! He didn't get off work for another 3 hours, the LONGEST 3 hours of my life!! The next day was St. Patrick's Day so I wanted to buy a baby St. Patty's Day shirt to surprise Jack with. When I went back to Target, I found a shirt that looked identical to Jack's St. Patrick's Day shirt! Although it was for a "boy" and we obviously don't know what we are having yet, I thought it would be perfect anyway!

Three incredibly long hours later, Jack finally came home! My heart was beating out of my body with excitement! I walked over to my purse and pulled out the shirt. I said, "Look what I got today!" He stared at it and said, "Is it for Max?" Which is our dog who is clearly too big for the shirt! I said, "Nooooo" He looked at me kind of puzzled and I said, "It's for our baby!" At that point, his jaw had dropped to the ground and he came running towards me. He then picked me up and spun me around and probably said "Oh my gosh!" a million times! Of course we had to tell our family that night! Here is a picture of the shirt I bought...



We had our first appointment on April 18th. Our due date will be November 25! We were ecstatic when we got to see our little baby and hear the heart beat! Here is a picture of our precious little "muffin" (Nickname thanks to Juan. He thought the saying was "muffin in the oven" instead of "bun in the oven" :)

The New Library!

Our school won a $100,000 Library Makeover with the help of Heart of America, Target, and the NFL Association! Not only did we get the makeover, but Target donated 2,000 new books to our library and also gave each student 7 books to take home. Here is a picture of what the old library looked like...



And here is what it looks like now...





This past Wednesday, our school held a huge celebration for the new library. There was an arts and crafts area where students got to decorate flags and trophies. NFL players Dez Bryant, Sam Young, Patrick Crayton and Chris Gronkowski came to kick off our celebration and read books to the students. The other teachers and I were happy to get a picture with Crayton! My students were absolutely amazed with the library transformation and look forward to our library time now!

Monday Madness!

Well because of all the snow days that we've had off, our 100th Day of School got pushed to the SAME day as Valentine's Day. Monday was one crazy day of celebration!! The kids really enjoyed making their 100 Fruit Loops necklace. I gave each kid a cup full of fruit loops and they had to walk around the room to sort the colors onto the correct plates. Then they put 10 of each color onto the necklace until they reached 100! We did all of our 100th Day activities in the morning and the Valentine's activities and party in the afternoon. Their favorite Valentine's activity was graphing the candy hearts (probably because they got to eat them afterwards!) It was an exhausting, but enjoyable day! But next time... I'd prefer to celebrate those days separately :)