OCTOBER

October is finally here! Baby is officially going to be an October guy, which is just fine with me. So what do I do while I wait for his arrival?

Decorate for Halloween, of course! I was scared that I wouldn't have the time/energy to do it this year. Luckily that was not the case. With more than enough free time these first two days of October, I think I can officially say that our apartment is in the Halloween spirit. Stephen says we are going to scare the baby... Silly! Now to just figure out our costumes....

Enjoy the tour of our Halloween decked-out apartment!

Of course stuffed animals are major part of my decorations 

Inside of our door

Outside of our door

We happen to live at the end of a creepy hallway...
Perfect for Halloween

Our window as seen from the parking lot

Thoughts of a Now Ex-Teacher

I will be finishing up my last few days of class soon, which will officially mark the end of my days as an elementary school teacher. It is a very bitter-sweet thing for me and I don't really know how to feel about this ending. So I figured I'd write about some things that I learned the past 2 years as a teacher for you all to enjoy!

• Teaching is far from being a typical 9-5 job. It is almost impossible for your work not to come home with you. You are constantly grading, planning, creating, or just worrying about things for your class. 
• Teaching is hard. Not everyone can do it. Those people that think it is an easy job, or just babysitting need to volunteer to take a class for a day or even an hour. I bet you wont think it is all that easy by the end!
• Teaching is getting to be more and more of a thankless job. I remember my mom having me write a thank you note to my teachers three times a year, teacher appreciation week, Christmas, and the end of the year. That is a very uncommon thing today. It is sad!
• Standardized testing is the worst! No one likes dealing with them. I hate trying to prep my students for them. Unfortunately they are a necessary evil to try and keep everyone accountable for actually teaching/learning what you are supposed to each year. Until someone can come up with a better idea, just smile and take the stupid tests!
• The best part of my job was when I could just shut my door and teach my students. We had a lot of fun together. There was a lot of laughing happening throughout the school year. It was great! We knew how to work together to learn without being too boring.
• The worst part of my job was everything that invaded my classroom and distracted from the learning and fun that we were doing together. Most people don't understand everything a teacher is required to do besides teaching lessons. It is ridiculous. 
• Bill Nye and Magic School Bus are still awesome! 
• Homework is so important! Parents need to support their kids and make sure they are doing it. There is a reason teachers take the time to find it, print it, and send it home.
• Another huge thing that all parents need to be doing is reading with their kid! How can you expect them to be a great reader if they only ever read at school? Turn off their video games for 30 minutes and read a great book together!!
• This I hesitate to write, but.... I don't think the Common Core is the devil. I totally understand what they were trying to do and the standards are not that different from the old Utah standards. It is not perfect, but it is not pure evil. Sorry!
• All the hard times and extra crap teachers have to do is all worth it because of the students. Getting to be a part of helping a child, even for less than a year, is so amazing. Whether it be the student who started the year saying they were going to burn down the school or break a leg so they didn't have to come back, but ended the year by calling me his best friend everyday and always smiling, or the student who was a nightmare for other teachers that I was able to figure out and make a big difference with academically, eventually teaching is worth it!

Yes, the public school system is not perfect, but there are so many great teachers that try so hard everyday to make a flawed system work! I am not giving up on it yet. I plan on sending my kids to public school. (Sorry sisters!)

I am sure there are many more things that I could write. Teaching has helped show me things that I want to do as a parent (and a few things that I don't!). Hopefully I'll be able to remember these things when my son starts school! 

BLUE or PINK

**DO NOT let Bethany know the answer until she gets home from China, or I will be in big trouble!

Ok, so maybe I've known the gender of my baby since I was 14 weeks, but part of me wanted to wait until the next ultrasound at 24 weeks just to be sure that they didn't get it wrong. I didn't even know it was possible to know that early!

Now that I've been back to the doctor for another ultrasound and nothing has changed on the gender, I can proudly announce that I was right!

BABY KOFORD IS A BOY!!!!

I am very glad that nothing disappeared in those 10 weeks since I had been slowly telling people and already have several baby clothes that would have looked silly on a girl. I am thrilled! Stephen is happy as well, though he was hoping for a while that it would be a girl since he had helped with Ashlyn as a baby. Now he will eventually have someone that will happily watch hours of sports with him!

Telling the World...

Toward the end of March we decided that it was time to tell our siblings, extended family and close friends before they found out a different way. I made a picture and sent it to my sisters, family, and friends.

Megan had to clarify that this was going to be a human baby and not a puppy. (Everyone knows that I am a billion times more puppy hungry than baby hungry.) Bethany was offended that I did not tell her before she left for China while she was staying with us. 

Since Ashlyn already knew, Stephen just had to tell Courtney and Alex. He was pretty boring and just called Courtney and told her. Alex was a totally different story! We set up a Skype session with us, Alex, and the rest of the family in Texas. Ashlyn started asking Alex about how he had rented a puppy a few times because he was lonely. She told him that Stephen and I were going to do the same thing, except instead of renting a puppy we were going to have a baby. It took a few seconds for things to click before the reaction came. It was hilarious. I have it on video, but can't upload it... It's great.

Then a few days later... after April Fools so people would actually believe us... we did the necessary Facebook post so all the rest of the world would know. Thanks to Pinterest I was able to find a way to do it without having to take any pictures of us, buy baby shoes, etc. 

Now the whole world knows.... Unless you aren't on Facebook!

Announcing to the Parents

It was always my plan to wait until after the 1st trimester was over before telling anyone that we were expecting. Like most plans I have, this didn't work!

As soon as we got home from the first appointment Stephen was ready to announce the news. He had waited 5 long weeks and couldn't hold it in any longer! He called his mom and set up a Skype time with his family. He quickly rushed to find some cool way to announce it to his parents and Ashlyn. Being more creative than I am, he was able to rush and make a PowerPoint to share the news. After a little bit of technical difficulties, the cat was finally out of the bag.

Last Slide of the PowerPoint

They were definitely not expecting that, but were extremely excited for us. They honestly thought that we were to tell them that we had bought a puppy. (Not too long ago Stephen took me to adoption day a Petsmart. There was the cutest black lab-mix that I feel in love with instantly. I have never wanted to take a puppy home more in my life. I sat on the ground next to his cage for about 30 minutes because I couldn't make myself leave the puppy. Robin had to talk me out of it Never take pregnant Marah to adoption day!)

 

My puppy!

 We figured this announcement was a little more exciting, and more unexpected than a puppy! Ashlyn was excited that she will get to hang out with me this summer when I am nice and fat! Robin was shocked that we were telling them before my parents. I explained that their son could not wait, and plus my parents had just left on a 2 week cruise the day before. Dave was just like Stephen and couldn't believe that he couldn't tell anyone! Like father-like son!

Now we just had to find a way to tell my parents. We decided to let them cruise in peace, and share the news with them when they got home. I decided to make a welcome home card for them from the baby. I mailed it off and we waited patiently for them to get home from their cruise.

Last page of their card

(their ultrasound picture was not red, dang low black ink)

Their call came very soon after they got home. Mom said that their mail was waiting on the front porch and our card looked like something fun, not a bill, so she had my dad open it. She said she was not expecting it, my dad said he was not surprised. What a smart guy! Of course they were thrilled. Another grandbaby to add to our growing family!

Now we just have to wait 2 more weeks before our next ultrasound. If everything looks great there I will finally feel comfortable announcing it to more people. It is nice to have a few more people in the loop though!

Dreaded Doctor

I hate going to doctor's appointments. Long periods of waiting, not much information given, and needles. As a newly pregnant person, I could not avoid the doctor forever. I'd have tried for a long time, but Stephen forced me into it. I swear I was on the phone forever trying to find an appointment time that would actually work with my schedule.... Teachers and doctors keep the same exact hours. But finally the dreaded appointment was scheduled!

I forced Stephen to go with me. Told him that if I had to suffer through it, so did he. Aren't I the best wife ever? Luckily it wasn't as horrible as we both imagined. The doctor's office was beautiful. It was only build about 2 years ago, so it is all nice and clean looking. We didn't have to wait too long considering how many other pregnant women were there too. I filled out a lot of the paperwork at home, so that cut down on the time! The appointment was short and sweet. Obviously the highlight was getting to see our little one for the first time. At only 9 weeks he (because I think it's going to be a boy) was pretty tiny, so there wasn't a whole lot to see. We got to see, but not hear, his little heart beating. We could even make out the little arms and legs. It was pretty awesome.

I also successful had a needle stuck in my arm without crying! I wasn't too worried about it. Having blood taken out of me is no big deal with a needle, it is the whole injecting into me that freaks me out. Illogical, I know!

But we survived our first doctor's appointment. One down, too many more to go!

A New Chapter

I don't know why I thought that having an official blog would make me actually write on it. I have only keep a consistent journal once in my life, and that was only for 4 months. Since being a married woman didn't have quite the motivation I thought it would to write, maybe this new stage in life will. So I will try again....

By mid-January I could start to tell that something was going on with my body. By lunchtime everyday my body was exhausted. My coworker was constantly asking me what was wrong and telling me that I looked like a ghost. I was used to be tired by the end of a long school day, but this was different. I didn't feel nauseous or seen to have any other common pregnancy signs so I ignored the thought and just figured I had finally hit my breaking point half-way through this extremely difficult year of teaching.

Finally curiosity won out and I decided to just take a pregnancy test to rule out that possibility. I was shocked to see that extra line appear after just  a few seconds. Crazily I kept the news to myself for over 2 days. Stephen's mom was in town and I wasn't ready for anyone besides me and Stephen to know. And knowing Stephen so well, I knew that he would not be able to keep the news from her if she was in the same room as him.

I wanted to do something cute to announce the news to him, but I just was not feeling creative. So I bought a little stuffed lion and hung some baby pacifiers around its next and told him that I had a present for him. I took him a good 10 seconds to figure out what I was trying to say (way faster than it took him to figure out his mom was pregnant with Ashlyn 11 years again!). I was slightly scared that he would be mad because this was definitely not the plan, but he was actually pretty calm. He was only mad that he couldn't tell anyone and told me that I should have waited to tell him in April when he could announce it.