22 Weeks and Baby Names

As my belly grows bigger and more and more people are noticing that I am pregnant I often get asked if we have a name picked out. Garrett and I have decided that we don't want to choose a name until we meet him and make sure the name we pick is just right for our little one. When discussing names in the past we haven't always seen eye to eye so I thought picking a name would be difficult but the other day we sat down and looked at baby boy names and I was pleasantly surprised by how many names we both agreed on.  So we have started a list of possible names, I am sure that in the next 18 weeks names will be added and dropped but by the time this little bundle of joy is born we'll have the perfect name picked out.

So here is the list as of today: Elias, Mark, Marcus, Kelson, Hyrum, Oliver, and Carter

Which one is your favorite?

It's a..............Baby!

It's not a Winged Golden Stallion......

It's not a little princess......

It's a little Hero.....

Now this is not to say that girls can't be Hero's too, because I definitely feel like I've got some super power/ hero qualities.  This is just saying our little one is going to be a boy, an adventurer, and a little super hero! 

Anyone who has talked to Garrett and I about what we were hoping for know that we were thinking girl so you may ask if we are disappointed. I'm here to tell you that we are not!  We thought it would be fun to be the first ones on his side of the family to have a girl, that somehow it would feel more special.  But I don't care because we are having a boy and it is Our little boy and that makes him more special than anything!

Boy or Girl?

Tomorrow we go in for an ultrasound where we get to see this baby and hopefully find out the gender.  So I thought it would be fun to see what you think.  Here are some facts to help you make your guess: The baby is very active, always on the move. The heart rate is always above 140.  The nausea and exhaustion have never gone away.  I don't crave anything in particular, I just always want to eat.  My skin is more dry than usual except for my face which doesn't seem like there has been much change at all.  The Chinese gender chart says we are having a girl, what do you think?

What is your guess: a boy, a girl, or a winged golden stallion?
	Boy
	Girl
	Winged golden stallion
pollcode.com free polls

18 Weeks

I'm now at 18 weeks and I am still feeling pretty sick, lots of heartburn, and lots of growing pains.  But I decided that my last post focused too much on those things and not enough on the things that I am so thankful for.  So here are just ten of the reasons I feel thankful today and with this pregnancy thus far!

1. Heavenly Father has entrusted me to take care of one of His children and even though this baby is still just about 1/2 a pound I know it has a divine lineage and I feel proud to be the one carrying this little pumpkin.

2. I have a job that has health insurance. I had to give up teaching preschool but I am so thankful that I had an job that I could turn to that has health insurance for me. Because having a baby costs lots of money.

3. I have such a supportive husband.  I have been crazy tired and way more emotional than usual and Garrett is there helping me every step of the way.

4. I have such an encouraging family.  I have so many sisters to turn to for advice and amazing parents and in laws that are all so supportive and excited for this baby to come.  This baby is truly going to be loved!

5. So far I have no restrictions on exercise except to be careful and listen to my body.  This means I can still Zumba and for this I am grateful! 

6. Fuzzy socks.  I really am so thankful that I have comfy, cozy, fuzzy socks to warm my cold feet as we haven't turned the heater on in our house yet to try and save money.

7. I know I already mentioned my husband but I'm grateful not only that he is supportive but also that he can almost always make me laugh.  I'm so thankful for the laughter in our home....... yeah,  he just came in here and did it again.  I don't think a day goes by that he doesn't make me laugh.

8. Comfy clothing.  Who knew how comfortable maternity pants were, if I had known I would have started wearing them years ago.  Oh and a special thanks to a mother who bought me my maternity clothes.  

9. Soft toilet paper.  I've always had a small bladder but this pregnancy takes that to a whole new level.  I am so thankful for soft toilet paper because I sure do have to go potty often.

10. A scheduled ultra sound.  I am so excited to see my darling little baby and hopefully find out the gender!  We have the 20 week ultrasound scheduled for November 4th, that's only a week from Monday!

16 Weeks

If you haven't watched the video in the last post, go watch it, watch it now!  And then proceed reading.

I've reached 16 weeks and I'm ready to let people know.  I am going to have a baby!  Garrett and I are so excited to become parents although this whole pregnancy thing is tougher than I thought.  People keep telling me that I should be getting my energy back any day now and the nausea will soon be a thing of the past but I am still waiting.

The other day I had someone ask me if I was excited to be pregnant and my initial reaction was an emphatic "Yes!" then I thought about it and I have to change my answer to "No, but I am soooo excited to be a mom!"  I didn't realize just how much energy growing a baby could take but I know every second will be worth it!

With this big change coming in March I've had to make some changes in my employment.  Yesterday was officially my last day at the preschool, for now, as I am going back to work for Myler Disability so that I can have better health insurance and afford to have this baby.  It is bittersweet as I absolutely love teaching and I will miss my students with all my heart but I know I'm doing what I need to do for my family.

I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and who has trusted me with the precious responsibility to care for one of His children.  I'm absolutely in love with this little one already and we haven't even met yet.

16 weeks down and 24 weeks to go!

The Video

The following link will take you to a video that Garrett made for a family reunion this summer and now for the first time ever it is available to the public!  Watch all the way to the end, that's where it really gets good!

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=5491F28EA8E2E8CD!179&authkey=!AAlor79-80JVGcs 

This summer we tried our hands at gardening and our pumpkins took over so Garrett was inspired to draw this piece...... well our pumpkins weren't the only inspiration, but you'll see after you watch it!

For Love or for Money?

So the title of the post may be a little misleading.  This post is about deciding where to work and not about deciding who to marry.  I have two jobs, both of which I absolutely love, neither of which pay all that much.  This summer I have been looking for a part time summer position to help with the bills while the preschool is out.  In my search I had an interview for a position that I thought was part time, flexible, and probably pretty crappy (but I didn't care because I was only planning on working there for 3 months anyway.) 

When I went to the interview it was nothing like I was expecting.  First of all it was a commissions only kind of job selling life insurance.  Not the type of job I would ever think of applying for.  But I stayed and I listened to the details and it sounded like something that I wouldn't really enjoy but something that I would be good at and that I could potentially make a lot of money doing. 

The interview process was quite intense, a phone interview, a one on one interview, group interview, 4th interview, and a hiring interview.  I went through each stage of the process and all along the way I was feeling more and more like.... woah, this job could really change everything, I would be making more than enough to buy the car we've been wanting to buy for a while, we could go on trips more often... Everything that we could use that money for was rolling through my mind and I was going to take it and hope that I could still teach during the school year. 

The farther I got in the interview process the more I felt that in order to really make any money with this company I would have to give up my other two jobs and put all my focus into the one.  Then I found out my schedule would be noon to 9 pm and some work on Saturdays and I thought, ok if I'm going to do this Garrett and I are never going to see each other, but we would have lots of money to spend when we do see each other! 

The decision was really stressing me out I love teaching and I love working for brainworks and I make enough to pay the bills and put a little away each month into savings but the extra cash was very appealing.  They gave me sometime between the 4th interview and the hiring interview to think it over, the job was mine if I was willing to commit to it.  So it came down to love or money, in more ways than one. Did I go with the jobs that didn't pay well but that I was passionate about; The jobs that allowed me to spend a lot of quality time with my husband.  Or did I go with the job that would have financially made life easier? 

To those reading this it probably seems like a no brainer, but for me this decision was hard.  Ultimately love won out.  My love for teaching and my love for Garrett is worth way more than that company could have paid me, no matter how cheesy that sounds!

Summer time is here!

Preschool is out for the summer and I am so excited! We have plans of camping, hiking, swimming, gardening, and just general adventuring..... hopefully this year we actually do these things.  We are however off to a good start! 

To start our summer off right we went with some of our very best friends, Zach and Suzzie Vehrs, to Zions National Park over Memorial Day Weekend.  The beauty that God created for us never ceases to amaze me!

We started a garden and we are growing onions, zucchini, squash, pumpkins, potatoes, and sugar snap peas!  Neither of us have ever gardened before so this does qualify as an adventure.  Hopefully we get some good veggies to grow, we've already got some good sprouts, take a look:

All the Excitement

It's been a good April so far.  The first week of this month was Spring Break followed by a weekend with Waffles, visiting family, and an amazing and inspired 4 sessions of General Conference. I had so much fun spending this time and my birthday with Garrett, my mother in law Karalee, and my brother in law Grant. See pictures below!

A couple other really exciting things have been happening around these parts: 

1. Garrett finished this semester and applied to the BFA program and BYU.  Out of the 60 applicants only 20 got into the program, out of those 20 only 10 got into the concept art route and he was one of those ten!  I knew he would make it no problem but it sure is exciting to get the letter confirming it! 

2.  I love music and have been missing singing and dancing and I just haven't known what to do to get that back into my life.  Zumba has been my dancing fix but ward choir just hasn't been doing it for my craving to sing so I started looking into other options and tonight I sent in a sample recording of my voice to a local band that is looking for a female singer to join them.  I don't know if anything will come of it but it sure was exciting having an excuse to practice the songs and record my voice. If this doesn't turn out I'll have to find another way to use my voice but one way or another I'm going to start singing again, and I couldn't be happier about it!

The best gift is always a new outfit! My husband is the best.... oh and notice how well the socks complete the look, that's thanks to my amazing mother!

Photo Shoot

Big Face, Small Body

Grantikins hopping in on the shot

Art Show and Parent Teacher Conference

This week was so crazy at the Hamon house.  Garrett stayed up till 2 or 3 am every night working on pieces to submit into an art show and I had Parent Teacher Conference on Friday.  With all of this there were a lot of stressful feelings but through it all we worked together and stayed positive and it turned into a great week!

Art Show-
BYU is having a student art show this April and Garrett wanted to be a part of it so he worked all week to finish a couple more pieces so that he would have 4 pictures to enter into the competition.  After hours and hours of work and the money it took to print, mat, and frame the pieces we were able to submit all 4 pieces to be judged for the show.  Hopefully all 4 get into the show and hopefully we can win something from all of the hard work!  The student art show will be April 4th through the 26th in the HFAC at BYU.  Check out the digital version of his pieces on his blog http://ghamon.blogspot.com/ and we'll let you know if they are chosen to be displayed in the show.

Parent Teacher Conference-
PTC always makes me a little nervous, I have no problem working with the kids but I always feel just a little awkward in front of the parents.  I feel like maybe they will think that I'm a joke and don't know what I'm talking about.  So I just prepared myself the best I could and felt ready for whatever came my way.  I was ready to address even the most intimidating of parents which was a great feeling but only 6 parents showed up!  I have 17 children in my class and only 6 of them had parents who came!  All 6 of those meetings went very well and they were each important but that means that I have 11 students with parents who don't know what I need them to be doing at home to prepare their children for Kindergarten, 11 students with parents that don't know where their children are really at, and 11 students with parents that don't know what is going on in our classroom. But oh well, it'll all be fine.

Called to Teach

I love children, I love working with children, and I really love teaching children!  Being a preschool teacher has to be the best job in the world!  There is no other job where you get told 4 or 5 times a day how beautiful you are or how cool your dance moves are.  This week was a hectic week at the preschool, there was hitting, chasing, tears, and tantrums but in between the moments of crazy I got compliments and hugs and a good feeling knowing that I was making a difference, that I was having an impact for good on the lives of these precious children of God. 

I get to work with children on Sundays as well as one of the nursery coordinators (Our nursery is so big that we have to have three of us out in the hall making sure everything is running smoothly in all the different classes.) This week I was asked to teach the nursery teachers at our teacher development meeting, preparing for this helped me to slow down and remember how special each child is and what I can be doing as a teacher to help each child learn and grow.  Now I know that I can't use all the same principles in my public school preschool that I would have the nursery teachers use but I do believe that they all still apply.  This is a handout I prepared for the workshop, I feel that most of the principles are applicable for all teachers, parents, and anyone who is working with children in anyway.

“Encircle them with Love and the Fire of Faith”

“Clearly, those of us who have been entrusted with precious children have been given a sacred, noble stewardship, for we are the ones God has appointed to encircle today’s children with love and the fire of faith and an understanding of who they are.” (M. Russell Ballard, Great Shall Be the Peace of thy Children, Ensign, April. 1994, 60)

You have not been called to babysit for 2 hours at church each week you have been called as teachers.  The difference between it feeling like babysitting and it feeling like teaching is up to you.  You are in charge of making this calling a spiritually uplifting experience for yourselves and for each child in your class, here are some ways to do that.

1.       Come Prepared- Prayerfully read through the lesson before you come, think of songs and activities that you could use to help reemphasize the message.  If you aren’t prepared with a lesson the children will know and most likely the lesson won’t happen.

2.      Pray in class- Don’t forget to have an opening and closing prayer!  This will invite the spirit into your class and help the children learn the importance of prayer.

3.      Observe the children- find what is important to them and what they respond to so that you can meet them at their level.

“What we learn about specific children helps us teach and care for each child as an individual. By continually observing children’s play and interaction with the physical environment and others, we learn about each child’s interests, abilities, and developmental progress” (naeyc.org)

4.      Play with them- The toy room is not a time for the kids all to go wild and for you to take a break. Get down on the floor with them and talk to them while they play.  See what they are doing and join in and find ways to emphasize the lesson while you are talking with them.  Take a little time with each child if possible. 

5.      Greet them when they first come in- Each child needs to feel welcome, safe, and loved when they come to nursery, the best way to accomplish this is to greet them cheerfully by name as they come into the classroom letting them know how excited you are to have them there.

6.      Call the children by their names- it’s simple but your children will feel more loved and welcome if you do. They are all special and unique, help them feel like they are more than just another nursery kid.

7.      Pray for the children in your class by name- pray for guidance on how to meet their needs, pray for patience and understanding because there will be weeks where you will need a lot of it! Pray to know how to teach each child and bring them closer to their Savior. 

“With my own children, I prayed for revelation to know how I could help each of them individually prepare for specific opportunities to serve God…..God knows our gifts. My challenge to you and to me is to pray to know the gifts we have been given, to know how to develop them, and to recognize the opportunities to serve others that God provides us. But most of all, I pray that you will be inspired to help others discover their special gifts from God to serve. I promise you that if you ask, you will be blessed to help and lift others to their full potential in the service of those they lead and love.” (Henry B. Eyring, October 2012, Help Them Aim High)

8.      Give them comfort- when a child is upset go to them and comfort them, don’t be afraid to give them hugs or hold them if needed. 

9.      Be excited about what you are doing- have enthusiasm when you teach the lessons and sing the songs, make them feel excited to learn about the gospel.  They will be excited if you are.

10.   Set rules and talk about them with your children- Let them know that you are in charge and there are times that they need to be quite.  “Toddlers (16 to 36 months) are working on their identity; they want to know who they are and who’s in charge.” (naeyc.org)

11.    Recognize their potential- Each child in your class has the potential to be something great, help them feel of their importance when they come to your class.

“… I prayed to know what contributions my children might make in the Lord’s kingdom. For the boys, I knew they could have priesthood opportunities. For the girls, I knew they would give service representing the Lord. All would be doing His work. I knew each was an individual, and therefore the Lord would have given them specific gifts for each to use in His service.” (Henry B. Eyring, October 2012, Help Them Aim High) 

12.   Let us know what you need- We are here to help!  I know it looks like we just sit out in the hall chatting and eating snacks but we are out there to help you in any way that you need, please don’t be afraid to ask!  We love you and appreciate everything that you do, this is not an easy calling but you’ve been called for a reason.  These children need you and the spirit that you can bring into their lives.

Corned Beef

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day I made Corned beef.  It's not very nice to look at but it sure does taste good!

Corned Beef, Potatoes, Carrots, and Sparkling Grape Juice

Happy St. Patty's Day!

The First Bite

Mmmmmmm

Answer to Prayer

Back in seventh grade I had a friend that had many struggles with drugs and alcohol, he cleaned himself up for a couple of months but then got back into them, when I asked him why he replied that maybe this was what he was supposed to be, maybe he was supposed to fail, that it was already in God's plan for him.  As a 13 year old I had no idea what to say except that the God that I believed in didn't work like that.  Ever since then I have prayed to know what I should have said to him or what I could say if faced with a similar question in the future and I've gotten lots of advice from friends and family but none of the answers seemed satisfactory to me.  But today after almost 10 years of pondering my prayer was answered as I sat in church today.

Christ payed for me (and my friend) through the atonement, he suffered and bled so that my best would be good enough.  That means that as long as we never give up we cannot fail.  If Christ is our rock then we will succeed. I wish I could have told him that even if he struggled with this his whole life that as long as he didn't give up and he kept trying that it would be enough.  God did not put any one of His children here to fail, He gave us the gift of the atonement so that each one of His children would have a way back to Him.

 It's not a new concept, it is something that I've been taught my whole life I just felt it so strongly today.  As much as I wish I would have had this answer 10 years ago it's nice to know that God is listening.  He listens and He does answer prayers.  Keep praying and keep believing He is there and He hears you!

Learning To Share

Garrett and I have been so blessed to have my family so close to us throughout our marriage and they have always been so willing to help us with our needs.  I mean my parents let us live in their basement for the first year and a half of our marriage (and would have let us stay longer if that is what we had chosen.)  The last few weeks we have been spoiled by my parents once again as they let us borrow their truck.  It was so nice to have two cars and not have to worry about who needed the car and when, but now it is Rachel and Brian's turn with the truck we are having to learn how to share all over again.  As hard as it is to have to make extra trips and try and figure out how I'm going to fit in three more Brainworks students and still be back in Provo in time to pick Garrett up from BYU I think it's secretly a blessing.  We had to really communicate this week just to get each other to work/ school on time and that opened channels of communication which, as anyone who's ever been in a relationship knows, is the key to a good relationship.  I knew I loved him before and I knew he loved me but this was just one of those weeks that really reminded me of how amazing we are for each other.  Sharing the car has taught us, and will hopefully continue to teach us: Communication as we work together to figure our who needs rides when, patience as we wait for the other person to pick us up, thoughtfulness as we are reminded that the other person is just as crazy busy as we are, and gratitude for each other and for a car that runs!

I love this man!

New Skills and Realizations

This Wednesday when I was at early morning Zumba, just as I have faithfully done for over a year now, I was looking in the mirror at my spandex covered body as I was shaking it and I thought, 'wow!  I am jiggly!' And I couldn't get over it, it started making me feel all gross and slightly hideous and song after song I was feeling worse and worse about myself until it hit me.... I was at Zumba, getting a great workout, and I was missing out on so much fun because of my bad attitude!  So I stopped worrying about it and started focusing on having a good time and you know what I realized? I realized that it didn't matter if I was jiggly!  I am trying to be healthy and let's face it I'm Gorgeous!.... or at least I'm trying to convince myself of that.  Honestly I have no reason to feel ugly or fat, besides who has time to be worrying about things like that when there is so much work to be done!

Thursday was Valentines Day, as you all know, and it was a great day!  Garrett and I went out for dinner and ate steak and pie, then we went to the movies and saw Warm Bodies, which I really liked, but honestly the best thing about it all was how happy and loved I felt!

This weekend has had it's ups and downs and it's really been quite rough on me but it's given me time to reflect and I've decided that the problem is I'm so worried about not being "good enough" that I don't let the good sink in.  I rarely enjoy my successes but I feel my weaknesses as serious failures.  And honestly I just can't do that anymore.  I resolve here and how to celebrate the good more, to let every success sink in and feel like a win for team April and for team April Garrett.  No more pushing away the joy and holding in the pain, from now on I will focus on holding onto the joy so that there is no room for the pain to stay.  I have a loving husband, family, friends, and most importantly my Savior on my side, so I know that I can do it!

As for the new skills mentioned in the post title I can now curl my hair with my straightener in under 30 minutes!

Front View

Right Side

Left Side

Back to the Real World

Wow, that was a rough week.  The kids at the preschool and the kids I work with at brainworks were so hung over from Christmas break that it was like pulling teeth to get them to listen and participate  but I made it and I'm optimistic for the week to come.

Garrett started school this week, which was stressful. Why was it so stressful you may ask?  Well that's because at the beginning of the week we weren't even sure what classes he would be taking as the classes he needed were full when he had tried to register for them.  Heavenly Father must be looking out for us though because he is in the classes he needs now and with a schedule that works out with us sharing the car.  If that's not a miracle I don't know what is!

Alright so I need a haircut (just a trim) so that my hair can start growing again instead of just breaking off and I'm not sure what to do with my bangs.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think: No bangs, Swoopy bangs, or all the way across bangs?  Because I had to resort to the piggy tail braids yesterday and I can't get away with the Pocahontas look (As seen below) very many more times.

Here's to 2013 and blogging once again!

Alright, I'm going to try blogging again.  Let's see if I can do better than I have been.... That means posting more than once every year and a half!

For Christmas we enjoyed having our friends Zac and Suzzie over.  We had a sleep over and opened presents together in the morning then spent the day lazying around playing pick up sticks and with our other new Christmas toys.  It was nice to share in the fun together! 

New Years Eve we had a few friends over and a whole lot of amazing food including our now practically perfected bbq chicken fingers!  We bought a deep fat fryer (Gross right!) but it makes food taste soooo good!  So far we've made sweet potato fries, empanadas, apple turnovers, and of course the sticky fingers. Yummmmmmm.

We enjoyed playing with friends and we spent most of our time snowed in just enjoying our time together.  But now it's back to the real world where Garrett goes to school full time and works as the Artist for WestPro and I go to work teaching (yes, for those who didn't know at the preschool, Brainworks, and Piano where the time we see each other is spent just trying to recover from the events of the day!  It's a busy life but it is oh so good!

The intense Battle that we call Pick Up Sticks!

Garrett's Christmas Bounty!

Bringing in the New Year with Martinellis!

Check out those Sticky Fingers!