Pictures

I can't believe we have had Austin for a month already! He is so cute!! Austin hit 4 weeks yesterday and it seems that immediately we have seen some changes in Austin. First of all he has started drooling, second he is starting to spit up and last he is not sleeping nearly as well as he used to. Last night was the worst night we have had so far with Austin! I think Matthew and I each got about 3 hours of sleep. Well, Matthew's sister, Aubrey, has a sister-in-law who takes amazing pictures and offered to take some pictures of Austin. He was a week old at the time. They turned out so cute and I wanted to share! Thanks Jeannie!

Dental School

In the same week that Austin was born, Matthew also took the Dental Admissions Test. That was quite a stressful week for him. But he did well on the DAT and we are both very excited about that. Yes, he has decided to go to dental school. He has been debating for a long time on what he would like to do after he finishes his Masters degree and he has settled on dentistry. Actually he would like to specialize in orthodontics but dental school is the first step. So he has put in his applications to a variety of schools ranging from Boston to Washington State. We won't hear back from the schools for a couple of months, but we are just praying that we will be accepted into the school that will be right for us!
Since I have no fun pictures of dental school things, I guess I have to put up some picture of our cute little Austin!

1 Week Old

I can't believe how time flies! Austin was 1 week old yesterday. He loves to eat and sleep and does not like bath time or having his diaper changed. My mom has been here and we have loved everything she has been able to do for us. Austin has had a bad case of jaundice and has had to be put under some special lights for treatment. He had to lay in this mini "tanning bed" for 2 solid days and nights. We all took shifts in watching over him during the night in his little bed. It was so sad not to be able to hold him or play with him. He had to be under the lights 24/7 except to eat and be changed. But he is slowly getting better and looking less yellow. Other than that he is so fun to cuddle and hold. I love this little guy so much!

Baby Austin is Here!

Austin David Graff was born on Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 7:14 am. (Also my mom's birthday!) He is so precious and we love him so much! I was suppose to be induced on the following Sunday, but Austin had plans of his own. I finished teaching summer school on Friday, and that night around midnight as Matthew and I were watching a movie at home, my water broke! So we went to the hospital and I labored all night. I will say that I loved my epidural and even dozed a couple of times in the night through contractions! By around 6:45 in the morning I had dialated completely and the doctor was called in. I pushed for 30 minutes and out he came! Matthew was so good through it all and really helped me during the whole process. Overall I had a very positive labor and delivery and am very grateful for that!
Austin came out with a head full of blonde hair (though it did look red at first). He weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and is 20 1/2 inches long. We just love him so much!

12 Days Left!

Wow, our baby is really almost here! My doctor has said that I really could deliver anytime! I am dilated to a 3 1/2 and effaced 80%! I still have 5 days of teaching summer school left and I am just hoping that no action happens while working! We hopefully have everything ready and organized. I'll be honest, I am a little nervous but also very excited and anxious to see our son!

Fun-Filled Week

Last week was like a vacation for me even though I didn't really go anywhere. I have been teaching summer school but I took the whole week off because we had company in town. Alexi, my best friend from Texas came into town, (Matthew flew her up for a Mother's Day/birthday present)since I won't be able to travel to Texas this week and be a bridesmaid in her wedding! (She gets married in 2 days!) Also, Jenna, Cole and Cade came into town mostly to visit with Cole's family but we snuck in lots of time to visit with them. I don't know the last time that Alexi, Jenna and I were all able to spend time together for more than about an hour! It was so fun to catch up and hang out. We really could just talk and laugh for hours on end. Jenna and I also got to celebrate our 24th birthdays together!

To add to this great week, Aubrey, my sister-in-law, threw me a baby shower! It was very fun and we got such cute baby stuff! Thanks to Granny and Aubrey for planning and putting on a fabulous baby shower! Here are some pictures of my fun-filled week! Now its back to summer school up until the baby comes!
Hanging out with Cade!

Cade really like the German pancakes I made!

Matthew loved playing with his nephew!

Taking Alexi to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House


Me, Alexi and Jenna at the baby shower

opening gifts!


Our little boy got shoes to match with Daddy!

Thanks Aubrey and Granny

Gotta Love Jamba

Now that it is warm out, I am constantly craving fruit smoothies, especially Jamba! (It may also have something to do with pregnancy!) Anyway, I found this coupon online for a buy 1 smoothie get one free and thought I would share! I love Jamba Juice! Here is the link:
Jamba Coupon

Grandparents' Party

Matthew and I moved to a bigger apartment in Provo about 3 months ago and have been wanting to plan this party for awhile. We are so blessed to have so many grandparents living near us and we really wanted to have them all over for dinner and games. We finally had our party last night. It was so fun! We had my grandparents the Allens, my Grandma Black and Matthew's grandparents the Nelsons. I loved listening to all the grandparents chatting and getting to know each other more. We had such a good time! Grandparents are so fun to hang out with! Thanks to them all for making it a great party.

My Husband won me a Handbag!

That's right! Matthew told me the other day, "Oh by the way, I entered a contest to win a handbag." He did it all on his own! I guess the company Handbag Planet put up a contest on Facebook asking men to write in and tell why their girl should win this bag. So Matthew put in a post and turns out he won!! Thanks sweetie! The handbag came in today and it's a $60 bag and way cute! So I had to take a picture of it (and I got a belly shot in while I was at it. Only 7 weeks left to go!) I just have the best husband ever!

Fun-End-of- the-Year Projects

I have 4 days of school left! We have been doing some fun, but still educational activities at school this past week. I had the kids bring in some cardboard and fabric to make books. They all wrote stories along with a dedication page, copyright page and an "About the Author" page. Then we sewed the pages together and used the cardboard covered by fabric to make a front and back cover. It was so fun to watch my kids sew! I have to say many of my boys were better than the girls! I haven't gotten pictures yet but they are coming out really cute! We also have been reviewing symmetry and patterns in math by creating tessellations. Here are some pictures of my favorites. Also, we made class shirts where every student could draw a picture of themselves so that the whole class is represented on everyone's shirt!

Anniversary!

Today Matthew and I celebrate our 3rd anniversary! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband. He is always so thoughtful and caring. He is always taking such good care of me and there are just so many reasons why I love him!

SWAP

The time has come again. Some friends and I do this swap thing where we each get assigned a person and we send them a little something and then blog about it to show what we got. I got my gift from Alisa. It was so perfect. It's a gift certificate to get a pedicure! I am so excited to use it. I love having pedicured toes in the summertime! Since I have been pregnant my feet have just really hurt and feel ugly. I now can't even reach them and breathe at the same time! So this was an awesome idea. Thanks Alisa!

Things to Look Forward to...

1. Well first of all there are only 3 weeks of school left! We have finished end of year testing so I am trying to be creative in the things I teach so my students will still be attentive. I can feel that they are really antsy for summer! But I have some fun things planned for the end of the year so I am excited to get to them all.
2. Its finally getting warm and staying warm. I have had spring fever so bad this year! I usually never have complaints whether its summer or winter but this season I have been waiting and waiting for the sun to stay out! So yay for the summer season!
3. For Mother's Day, since I am officially a mother for the first time, Matthew had a surprise for me. But here is a little background: My best friend, Alexi, is getting married this July and I am suppose to be a bridesmaid at it but will be having a baby around the same time and therefore will not be able to travel to Texas. So Matthew is flying her to Utah!! She will be in town the week of my baby shower and birthday! I am so excited! And to make things better, Jenna will also be in Utah that week. I don't know the last time the three of us have been able to hang out together! The last time Alexi came to Utah she came the day Cade was born. It was pretty great timing to say the least. I will definitely be looking forward to the end of June. (Thanks Alexi for agreeing to come amidst all of your wedding planning and thanks to Matthew for such a creative, awesome idea!)
4. Baby in July! Our baby is so active. He just loves to kick and poke me all during the night! We are now planning the baby's rooms and trying to get everything ready. I am just so curious to see what he looks like!! And no, we have not picked out a name yet. We have some picked out we like but are still very open to ideas!

Excited for our Little Boy

I am now in my third trimester! I have really started to notice all the cute little boy things there are and am very excited to put together his room. Matthew and I are very pumped for our little boy to come! Not really the best picture, but I know I am overdue for posting a belly shot.

At school the other day, my class was very, very noisy and just not focusing on what we were doing in class. They had wasted so much of my time during the day that I kept them in for recess to finish an assignment that we had run out of time for. Now you have to know that I never take recess away. I feel it is very important for kids to get time to go out and be outside to take a break from the classroom. But I was so frustrated from having to stop teaching all day long to discipline that I decided to still get through my lesson plans even if it took recess time.
So during recess while my class is all inside working, the principal comes in my class and says, "You are not having recess today?" I explained the situation and then she said, "Ok, well I need to talk to you in the office." So I had another teacher watch my class as I walked down to the office (longest walk of my life!). I thought I was in trouble or something. So we talked about how end of level testing was going and such but nothing really super important.
Then the bell rings for recess to be over and as I am walking back to my class, I notice my classroom door is closed and the lights are off. I'm thinking, Oh no,my class is running rambunctiously around in the classroom. I opened the door to hear, "SURPRISE!!" My class threw me a surprise baby shower!! Three girls in my class had planned it all and their moms were there to help. They planned baby games, had treats prepared, and had gifts for me!! I was totally shocked!! That totally explained their behavior all day!! They were just excited and couldn't focus on school work. The whole class knew about it for weeks and no one spilled the beans at all. So I guess one of the moms saw me in the classroom during recess and told the principal to come get me out so they could prepare. Anyway, I have a great class and they totally surprised me. Needless to say we were done learning for the day.

Spring Break in Kansas

Last week was spring break for me! Since Matthew had finals at BYU that week I decided to fly out and visit Jenna in Kansas for the week. It was so nice to hang out with Jenna, Cole and Cade. We have never really lived apart before so even though they moved away less than a year ago, it definitely feels much longer. Even Matthew noticed a change in me when Jenna moved. He said, "You don't laugh anymore now that Jenna is gone." Well, not to worry, we did our fair share of catching up on laughing last week!
We spent the week just playing with Cade, scrapbooking, talking, making desserts :), and catching up. At first Cade wasn't so sure about me. He just kept staring at me with this serious face. It was actually quite funny. But then he warmed up to me as soon as he saw that I brought him a prize! He is growing up so fast! He was so entertaining to just watch! I found out he loves animals, milk, and taking baths! Here are some of the pictures we took during the week. Thanks Jenna and Cole for letting me come hang out with you!

The Haircut

I tried something new over the weekend. I cut hair! My little sister has been wanting a hair cut forever and has been asking anyone and everyone if they cut hair. So when she asked me, I said I would try! I really actually love doing hair and would someday like to learn how to really cut hair, but with Ciera I really didn't have any idea what I was doing. I just kind of guessed! But it was sure fun!! Thanks Ciera for letting me experiment with your hair! She said she liked how it looked so I guess that means it turned out ok! Here are before, during and after shots.

It's a Whatasarus?

I had my class make these dinosaurs and they turned out really cute. We have been studying Greek and Latin roots and how many of our words come from Greek roots. Their assignment was to pick out any roots they wanted to come up with a name of a dinosaur. Here were some of my favorites.