January 2013

Current Weather: 56 degrees and sunny
Current Gas Price:  $3.27 per gallon
Total Cockroach Count:  8 (first sighting of the 2013 year...in our bedroom...gross!)

Greetings dearest family! It feels like such a long time since we have seen y'all but really its just been a few short weeks.  We've had a busy start to the new year and we're so excited for what this year has in store for us.  Not much has changed in our daily routines...Wes is on PEDS (but will switch to TMED this Thursday) and I'm just working as usual.  Not too much to report on that side of things.

We were really excited to have Brent come and stay with us for a few days! We always say that we are so blessed in the siblings that God has given us! We have truly wonderful brothers and sisters! We miss seeing you all more often and think of you very often!

We took a stroll in Sumter National Forest (the only place to go hiking near Greenwood) while Brent was here! The guys were very patient with me as I can't walk as fast anymore (I keep getting slower and slower) and had to pee really bad! 

The most exciting thing happening now is, of course, the baby! As y'all know we did find out that we are having a GIRL!  That was certainly a huge thing to find out and we're now feeling as though we can begin moving forward with "baby preparations."  We feel so blessed to be having a sweet little girl.  We have officially decided to name her June and we've already settled in to calling her that! We have a few ideas for a middle name but have not settled on a favorite yet! Haha, in the craziness of these last several weeks we have honestly not discussed it very much.

We took this picture at 17 weeks.  We were on our way to have Wes do an ultrasound and try and figure out the gender of our baby.  Shortly after, Dr. Amaya did a freebie ultrasound for us and both she and Wes left suspecting that we were having a BOY! So our ultrasound at 19.5 weeks was rather shocking when the suspected "boy parts" were nowhere to be found!  Instead we saw our lovely little girl! 

I am currently at 21 weeks...so we're half way there! I have been feeling great and Juney is kicking up a storm already! I've really enjoyed getting to feel her move and we're anxious for the day when Wes can feel her as well! It certainly makes me feel closer to her and I want to feel her too! I think it won't be too much longer!  I have been going to physical therapy to help strengthen the muscles around my SI joint that were giving so much trouble in early January.  For those of you who haven't heard about it...I had a muscle (literally in my right butt cheek) that was strained and I was having trouble walking after a while because the pain was so bad.  PT has helped tremendously and I am almost completely back to normal though I think I'll need to keep up with the exercises as my belly grows.  But thank God for physical therapists! Haha, this is the second time they've really helped me!

We also spent some time looking into furniture for the nursery and were slightly overwhelmed by all of the options out there! We're going to be taking a trip to Greenville this coming weekend and hope to get a better idea of what we want.  We're also going to start a registry and in general just do something! Haha, slow and steady wins the race, right?

Ok, time for pictures! I'm trying to not be that girl who sends weekly pictures of myself but y'all should tell me if you want to see more pictures! I know its a bummer that we're so far away and we want everyone to feel like they are in the loop! So please let me know if you want to see more pictures!

Me and "Juney Balloony" at 20 weeks.  That's what we've nicknamed my belly...it seems to change shape every week, looking rounder this week and more pointed the next.  I suppose its due to the baby's position and I certainly don't mind :) 

Check out her eye! I really hope that she has Wes' puppy dog eyes because I think they are so cute! I guess we'll find out in a few months! 

IT'S A GIRL! 

Profile shot.  Wes and Dr. Amaya said they saw her sucking her thumb and despite several efforts at seeing it myself I just couldn't tell what they were talking about...haha, oh well! 

Shortly after finding out that we were having a girl, we attended a "Gender Reveal" Party for our friends Lauren and Gavin Pinkston.  Their baby is due two days after ours so its been fun to go through this with them! We were even more delighted to find out they are also having a girl! 

Us with the Pinkston's at their Gender Reveal Party! 

Wow! Looks like we're all four having girls! 

Our month was wrapped up with a visit from Lynn's parents, Gerry and Myrtle! We really appreciated them wanting to stop by and they took us out the Mill House for pizza! They were on their way up from Florida and it was so great to see familiar Ohio faces! Great way to end the month! 

Well...that's about all folks! Overall, we're doing great! God is already teaching us more and more about His character through this journey into parenthood and we're excited (and humbled) to think of what he will teach us once June is born.  We're thankful for this opportunity and the closeness that it will give us to Him as we experience firsthand the unconditional love that parents have for their children and see that reflected in His love for us! 

We miss you like crazy and think of our family often.  We can't wait to introduce little June to you! Haha, but we'll see you before then in April! Until then, we love you! 

December 2012

Current Weather:  72 degrees and partly cloudy
Current Gas Price: $3.17 per gallon
Total Cockroach Count:  7

Hello Family! We hope you are having a wonderful new year so far! We certainly are! We have been getting back into the swing of things this past week.  Wes began a new block (PEDS) on Thursday so he's having to adjust to a busier schedule and I'm having to get used to walking as much as I usually do at work with a bigger belly!  This past week was very exhausting and it made me slightly nervous about the "physical strain" of just walking up and down the hallways all day...especially in a few months!

*Haha, side note, but this past week most of my students asked if I was pregnant after noticing my belly and one of my groups of second graders wanted to touch my belly.  So after letting them each put a hand on my belly one of them said, "oh wow, I can feel it moving!" and then they all started saying, "me too!" Haha, it made me laugh because as of now I still have NOT felt it move so there is no way that they could have felt it moving...but it was so sweet!

We had a great time with all of you over the Christmas holiday.  As always, we love spending time with all of you and miss seeing you more often! Here is a look at our December:

Us before a friend's Christmas party! We attended several parties this Christmas...they were all very fun! I think its such an exciting time of year that its worth celebrating many times :)

Just grabbing a quick ultrasound before the party!  This is the ultrasound that we used in our  Christmas letter...baby was 13 weeks then! Here's another look at it :) 

We were both surprised to see how long its legs had grown! Only three weeks earlier  they were just little paddle-like things sticking out of its body! Craziness...

My belly was already big enough that my belly button ring was showing under my shirt so it was time to say goodbye to it! I've had that thing for over 10 years and it honestly felt really weird to not have it there! Haha, even though I didn't even notice it anymore, or pay any attention to it, it was kind of sad to get rid of it! 

Adam Walters was visiting the south for vacation and he stayed with Brandt Weininger in Greenville for a while.   They both drove to Greenwood to visit Wesley! It was so nice to see them and we appreciated them coming down our way :)

Early Christmas present from Wesley...a pregnancy pillow! This is called a  "Snoogle" and although it's pretty crazy looking it really has helped me sleep better and also to stay on my side! Thanks Wes! 

Wesley had to work all day (and all night) on Christmas day so I was so happy that Mom and Libby came to spend Christmas with me again this year! It was great to see them and get a little"girl time" between Wesley's shifts!  Here are some pictures from their visit:

Making Christmas cookies! I was rather intimidated with making the cookies from scratch as I had had a bad experience with sugar cookie dough a few years prior (and because I can't seem to get the hang of rolling dough) but this recipe was really easy and they turned out delicious! 

Our lovely cookies! We brought a plate of them over to the hospital for Wesley and the other residents working  on Christmas day!

Wes and I decided to tackle our first Christmas ham this year and it turned out awesome! Wesley was the real hero of the day because I (of course) bought the wrong type of ham AND didn't read the directions on the recipe all the way through so we had to improvise but Wesley handled it like a champ and it was delicious! We used the left over ham to bring ham sandwiches to the residents and make bean soup later that week! 

I am SOOOO behind on my scrapbook for 2012 so Mom and Libby  each made several pages for me! Thanks so much gals! I owe you big time :) 

I bought Wes "Ticket to Ride - Europe" for Christmas so we played  it one night! It was a lot of fun!   Mom bought me that pink bathrobe for Christmas and I wore it most of the week! Haha, while all of them were dressed in normal clothes I was rocking the sweatpants and bathrobe all week! Luckily, I received some maternity pants from Dana, Dad & Lynn, so I'm more comfortable now :) 

I bought a box of 10 holiday puzzles several months ago and Wes and I have been slowly putting them together.   We still had a few that we had not done so we spent an evening putting a couple together!  

After a great week with Mom and Libs we headed up to Ohio for Christmas with the Haldermans, Dad & Lynn, and John & Kim! Mom was a beast on the drive up and ended up driving the entire way! She made the drive very easy on us which was really nice! Thanks Mom! 

Here are some pictures from the Christmas/New Year holiday:

Halderman clan in front of the tree! 

We spent some time taking family photos in the snow as this was the first time that everyone was able to be together  in a while! Haha, it was rather chilly but we got some great pictures! 

After talking about it for several months we finally loaded Dana's piano into the truck  and took it to Toledo (well, everyone besides Wes and I took it to Toledo).  It was quite an adventure but they handled it like master movers!

*Don't worry, I didn't help with the loading of the piano! 

Sporting our "growing bellies'" at 16 weeks! 

Brannon Christmas/New Years celebration! 

Again, it was so great seeing all of you! We've had an exciting beginning to our new year but we'll have to tell you all about that in the January post! Our next doctor's appointment is on January 21st so we should know our baby's gender then! We'll give y'all a call and let you know! We can't wait...then I'll feel like we can finally get moving on the nursery and basically everything...because we haven't done very much :) 

Love you! 

November 2012

Current Weather: 58 and cloudy
Current Gas Price:  $3.07 per gallon
Total Cockroach Count:  7

Hello Family! It was SO WONDERFUL to see all of you over the Thanksgiving break! It brings us a lot of you to be with our fam during the holidays!

Seeing as how there was only week left in November after we saw you, we really don't have very much else to say because we pretty much told you everything!

Baby is doing well and we're enjoying seeing my belly come out a little more! We're only 6 weeks away from finding out our baby's gender.  Haha, although I originally felt like it is a boy I'm realizing that I have absolutely no idea! So, we're really excited to find out!  *FYI, there were 7 babies born to resident's wives last year in Greenwood and 6 were girls (only one boy who was named Wesley coincidentally).  There are currently five resident's wives that are pregnant.  3 of the 5 are having girls and the other two (that's me!) don't know yet! Haha, so I think there may be something in the water down here :)

Baby Halderman at 10 weeks

Baby Halderman at 13 weeks
(This is the new picture that we put in our Christmas letter which you should be receiving any day now! ) 

I had my first student at work tell me that "my belly is getting big."  Haha, I have not told any of them that I'm pregnant so its funny that she just openly told me that but the longer I work with kids the less those sort of comments surprise me! I am hoping to head into Christmas Break without telling anyone at work but I have noticed a few people steal a glance at my belly.  Haha, I think I'm in that stage where people aren't sure yet so they don't want to be rude just in case I'm not pregnant! Its fine with me though...I just don't feel very sentimental about telling people at work so I'm just kind of not saying anything! 

My little belly at 12 weeks! This is first "belly" picture that I took.  I feel rather ashamed of myself for waiting so long because I'm usually super sentimental about these sorts of thing but I didn't take ANY pictures before 12 weeks.  Haha, I should say that I felt bad about it until several of my friends told me that they hardly took any too! 

Ok, so here are some pictures from Thanksgiving with y'all! Dad and Lynn, we have got to be better about taking pictures because I don't have any from our holiday with you two!  It was great to see all of you but we did notice that coming back to Ohio this time didn't have the same "coming home" feeling that it did last Thanksgiving! I guess we're getting more used to living away from home.  It was still great to be home but rather it felt different from last year...maybe I can't explain it well.  Anyway, spending holidays with family is the only way to do it! 

Wes melting beeswax from his Dad's bees!  This was our second go at making beeswax  candles! Last year it didn't go so well! I guess there was too much honey still left in the wax...

Dan pouring the beeswax into our candle jars! 

Family photo (minus Brent) 

At Old Bag of Nails watching the OSU vs. Michigan game with Debs! 

John has decided he wants his nickname to be "Uncle John-Candy-Money" because he thinks that if our baby associates him with candy and money then it will like him best. Haha, here he is living up to that name! 

Yay! Twin!  I just love spending time with her! 

Ok, so honestly that's about it! I can't really think of anything else to add except for that we miss you all and can't wait to see you over the holidays! Really, we'll see you in like two-three weeks...can't wait!

October 2012

Current Weather:  73 degrees and cloudy
Current Gas Price: $3.09 per gallon
Total Cockroach Count:  Holding steady at 7...


WHEW! Well October was certainly a month to remember! The best thing that happened to us this month is of course the news of our precious little Baby Halderman! We are so excited and blessed to be moving into this new stage of parenthood.  This month has been filled with roller coaster feelings from being elated at the thought of our sweet baby to wondering what kind of crazy child the two of us may make together!  Haha, we've thought about kissing it's cute little face to hearing it cry loudly in our ears to sleepless nights! And above all those things we have thought a lot about how it will change our relationship.  We have so enjoyed being married and have grown closer and closer each year...its hard to imagine having someone else around the house.  So as much as we feel excited about this new phase of life we feel sad to be leaving a phase of life that has been so joyful!  But we know that these are normal thought patterns (or so we've been reading!) and we are sure that God will prepare us (as much as we can be) for the arrival of our son/daughter!

One of the best parts of living in a small town (and being married to a doctor) is that we've had VIP treatment so far! Usually your first ultrasound is around 8 weeks but I had two ultrasounds by 6 weeks! Awesome! We are so surprised at how fast Baby Halderman is growing (and so proud!) Check out the ultrasound pics! My OB probably won't do another ultrasound until 20 weeks but Wesley will do more in between then! He's going to do one before we come home for Thanksgiving so we'll have an updated picture to show you!

Hooray! We're pregnant!

Baby Halderman at 4 1/2 weeks!

Baby Halderman at 6 1/2 weeks!

Please continue to keep us and Baby Halderman in your prayers! We are praying for a happy, healthy baby!

Ok, well the other exciting that happened to us this month is that we got to see Libby, John, and Kim! We met them in North Carolina for a few days of camping/hiking in Pisgah National Forest.  The weather turned out to be pretty gorgeous even though it was cold at night! Wes kept a hot fire going and John kept hot beverages coming so the ladies stayed plenty warm! (Thanks guys!)  Check out our pics!

We kind of kept stopping to shed or add layers of clothing.    It was hot in the sun , cold in the shade, and really cold when the wind was hitting us directly!  Overall, a great day for hiking!

Yay Twins!  Libs and I were rocking the flannel on this hiking trip.   I was actually wearing one of Wes' flannel shirts because I can't seem to find a thick flannel shirt for women that isn't super fitted.  Any help, anyone? 

John stuck a fallen rhododendron branch in his hat so that he could move among them without being undetected.  Very stealth-like.  

It was somewhat bittersweet for us to be here because we realized that we probably won't get to do any camping/hiking trips next summer as we'll be busy with a newborn at home! We had some great times together at Pisgah this past summer! 

The colors were really pretty this time of year! We weren't sure  what it would look like because Greenwood has still not started turning very much....we're getting there though! 

Heading back! 

I was pretty surprised by how tiring hiking was, especially since we go hiking so often!   I was only 6 weeks at the time but boy I could just not keep up! (Haha, notice how far away we are from the others!)  I was super out of breath, kept getting cramps, and my hips were aching terribly!  Haha, if that happens in only six weeks then I have lots to look forward to over the next 7 months!  Worth it...

The best part about the camping trip was simply spending time with Libby, John & Kim! What a great bunch they are!  Thanks for coming down! We feel so blessed to have them in our lives!

Only other thing of note that happened during the month of October was Wesley's debut as the "Strongest Man Alive" for the Montgomery Center's Employee Appreciation Day.    Each year, the doctor's have a themed luncheon for the staff who work at the Montgomery Center.   This year's luncheon had a circus theme and all the doctors were supposed to dress up in some sort of circus costume.  Haha, Wes had mentioned this several times but it ended up that we still didn't have a costume as of 6:00 the morning of.  Luckily, I found this costume on the internet and had it ready for Wes by the time he got out of bed! Not too shabby for a last minute costume, right?

 So that's it for October but I actually realized that I forgot to mention a couple of things from September in last month's blog so I am going to share them now! First thing is that we went to our first "Low Country Boil" ("boil" is pronounced "bowl" in true Southern dialect).  This is a Southern tradition and we were excited to experience it with our authentic Southern friends, Payton & Clory Foust.  Here are the pictures:

Wes and Josh helping Payton scoop out the food!  I guess you just boil  everything in a large pot  of water with plenty of salt and some Old Bay Seasoning. 

A low country boil consists of boiled corn, potatoes, sausage, and shrimp.   It looks like it  would be pretty bland but it was delicious! We definitely enjoyed our first low country boil! 

The second thing that happened in September that I forgot to mention last month is that I got in a car wreck at the beginning of the month.  It was a Friday afternoon and I was in a terrible mood because of this disrespectful middle schooler that I work with and I was almost home when a car pulled out in front of me.  I slammed on my brakes but was unable to stop in time! I can tell you more of the story in person sometime but for now I'll just sum it up! It was an elderly lady who pulled out in front of me and she was faulted with the accident.  Allstate was absolutely fabulous and they took care of everything for me! There was almost $3000 damage done to my car and the only thing I paid was $10 to refill the rental car's gas tank! Overall, the best case scenario for a car wreck.  Here are some pictures of the Fit:

Ok, that's about all fam! We CAN'T WAIT to see y'all so soon! Just a few weeks and we'll be hanging out together! Woo hoo! Love you!