The Second Trimester

So Monday marks the end of the second trimester! I can't believe my due date is in exactly 3 months! I reallyyyyy can't believe that in 3 weeks or less I will have a niece! I can't wait to spoil her! Pregnancy has been weird for me, and I think it's different than a lot of people expect it to be!

Highlights of weeks 12-26:

• Obviously finding out we were having a little boy at week 15! Storkvision in Nashville is awesome, seriously.
• Finally naming said little boy about 2 weeks later
• Seeing him again at week 20 and since he was so uncooperative getting to see him again at week 25!
• Around week 23 really feeling him kick and around week 24-25 actually seeing him move! Super weird
• Highlights also include being tired and having acid reflux so bad I randomly throw up on myself in my sleep. Pregnancy isn't as glamorous as stupid Kristin Cavallari makes it out to be kids. ;)

I won't lie, I've felt a little disconnected from pregnancy up until a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't until about week 23 that I really started to feel him kick (like I'm positive that wasn't my digestive system it was a kick, kick). We also weren't able to start putting everything into his room until yesterday, which lead to the "is this really for real feeling". I never felt the 2nd trimester "burst of energy" and started feeling great like most people say. Either they are liars, or I am weird. Either way, I have still felt like a nap at any moment and cranky as an old man. All that being said, now that we've been able to start actually preparing, it all feels real! I've been so excited the last few days putting things together! Jacob has been gone basically the entire month of May, so it was really special to get to paint and put together furniture yesterday.

Also, pregnancy does weird things to your mind. I'm just speaking for myself, but you do not feel cute (note- getting a spray tan did help significantly, no my baby shower pics aren't just the "pregnancy glow"). No matter how many people tell you how good you look, it's still very hard to look in the mirror and embrace what you see! It also doesn't help that other people feel the need to make down right rude comments. I've been saying this basically since day 1, but please think before you speak! Pregnant women feel all kinds of emotions, and most of the time your comments aren't necessary. For example:

• "wow you're showing so soon"- thanks a ton, that makes me super excited to gain the 25 more pounds I need to gain for my baby to be healthy
• "you must be having a girl, you're carrying wide"= nope it's a boy but I appreciate your non medical opinion on my body
• "I don't know how you're going to get any bigger!"- see #1...who wants to hear this when then KNOW they have to get a lot bigger?!
• "You have to be about to pop!"- nope, 3 months left but thanks for making me feel huge.

I've had close friends and my sister tell me even worse stories! A jerk of a man told one of my friends she didn't need the icee she was buying because her baby was about to fall right out. Are we serious right now, sir? Also, NEVER and I mean NEVER under any circumstances refer to a pregnant woman as fat, even in a joking way! This followed up with "oh you know what I mean" in no way makes it better. Guess what, that's exactly how it feels sometimes. Basically everyone has some story of some rude, thoughtless person who hurt their feelings when they were pregnant. I go back to my very first pregnancy post rule of thumb. If it's a compliment (you're so cute), fantastic! If it's a comment (I just don't know how your belly is going to get any bigger), keep it to yourself.

I will say, I recently got over my phobia of people touching my belly. Someone asked (good etiquette) to touch my belly. She told me she couldn't get pregnant and loved to feel other people's bellies. This really hit me hard. It's truly amazing what your body can do, I mean I'm growing a freaking human being! Sometimes that significance gets lost on me. I get so carried away in everything else that I don't stop and realize what a miracle all of this really is. Don't get me wrong, I don't love people rubbing me, but this dude is pretty cool already and I'm good with sharing him every now and then. :)

On a positive note, some amazing friends also threw us a perfect baby shower! It was precious and we can't thank everyone enough for their love and support!

Thank you Nancy Whittenburg for an amazing cake!!!

Pregnancy glow brought to you by a spray tan by a dude named Steve (seriously)

Root beer and bow ties, because obviously.

The most amazing shower hostesses ever

Jacob's Mummy (his great- grandmother) Sutton's middle name is after her husband Davis.

My wonderful mother in law and sister in law! Just missing Aunt Shelley!

Lily Cate at 35 weeks, I can't waitttttt to spoil her! She's named after our great grandmother on my dad's side and the best aunt she could ever ask for ;)

My mom and grandmother 

My besticle and Sutton's future wife, Sally Jean Avinger. No, they do not have a choice. They just need to embrace it from early on. 

I'm going to be someone's mom soon....

Sutton Davis

I haven't updated our blog since we found out we were having a little boy! I finally looked at a snapshot of the last 23 weeks, and it's so cool to be able to see the belly grow! Notice I said cool, even though it hurt me a little because watching yourself get big is the least fun thing I've ever done! It will all be worth it when a healthy little boy is here though!

About 6 weeks pregnant when we were in St. Croix New Years Day... shhh it was still a secret!! (Sighhh, hi skinny self. I didn't appreciate you like I should have!)

Normally you wait 12 weeks to announce, but after we saw the little wiggle worm at 8 weeks it was hard to keep it a secret much longer!

Valentine's Day 2014! 

14 weeks was when I really started to feel like I was showing! (Now I think I was insane) but people definitely started with the comments at this point!!

We went to a great place called StorkVision in Brentwood, TN to find out the gender of our little bambino! I can't say enough nice things about them, they were fantastic! After lotssss of back and forth, Sutton Davis Simmons was set! Davis was Jacob's great grandfather's name, and his wife is still with us!

Sutton flexing his muscles when we found out he was a boy!

Aunt Michelle and Uncle Jacob came to visit, and Sutton and Lily Cate got their first picture together! This is the first of about 10 million I am sure!!!

April 7th Sutton was 1/2 way there! I get plenty of comments at this point about my size :) plentyyyy...no really, I get it! I'm showing a lot!

Chaperoning Prom at 22 weeks... what is wrong with me?! It was super fun to remind all of the teenagers as they were leaving the consequences of certain after prom activities though ;)

The last week of April makes 23 weeks!! I definitely feel large and in charge and strangers comment constantly! I can feel him move and kick on a regular basis now though, which is really fun! I'm sure in another 5-10 weeks I will look back and call myself crazy for thinking this is huge! At this point I'm getting some hip and back pain, but overall feeling good and sleeping well! Sleep is actually my #1 favorite hobby. To everyone who had the "magical 2nd trimester" where they felt so energized, I'm jealous! 

May 26th- 27 weeks, the last week of the 2nd trimester! Loving that I am out of school for summer and real pants are not required for daily life! Click here for week 27 update

Every week I think I'm hugeeeee.... it's not until I look back at these that I realize I was not, in fact, huge...and now am! See above and below comparison haha

June 30th- It was really weird to me at this point that Sutton would have weighed more than I did at birth! (I was 3.5 pounds). I felt like I had sooo much longer to go, I couldn't imagine him being this early like I was! 

July 21st- It has been awesome being home all summer! I'm sort of dreading working the last 4 weeks, but I really can't complain! I've had 8 weeks to rest and take my sweet (read lazy) time getting everything ready for Sutton!! Sleep is like a unicorn at this point. I want to believe it exists, but at this point I have my doubts. Big guy is getting extremely heavy and my feet, lets and hips feel it constantly! He also continues to hang out in my ribs, which used to just be uncomfortable but now is making breathing pretty difficult. I'm definitely to the point where I feel like I'm about 35 years pregnant, instead of 35 weeks!

Jacob started a radio tour last week, so he will be gone for around 2 months and only home for about 24 hours on the weekends. He's been away basically every week for a few days since around April, but this is the longest stretch for sure! It's definitely been challenging having him gone so much, but I'm so proud of him and even more excited that he gets to live his dream. :) When I tell people this, they look at me like I'm crazy! I'd be lying if I said it's easy and I'm 100% fine with it, but I would much rather miss him and know he gets to do what he loves as a career, than have him here working a job he hates! That's what I signed on for from day 1, and that's what marriage is! It's not easy, but it's definitely worth it!

The anxiety is reallyyyy setting in about delivery at this point, so please pray that he will be here and everything will be stress free! I do not need a dramatic birth story, I'm great with a boring one! I'm dramatic enough for all of us :)

Love,

Caty and Sutton

Simmons, Party of 3!

It's true! In about 6 months, these two people will be parents! Weird! (Trigger already looks less than thrilled).

Since we're so far away from everyone who probably cares about the progress of this little nugget, I'll keep you updated here!  We've seen him or her once already... I was in complete denial. I was positive there would be nothing to see and the doctor would call me insane! Nope! I'm not just getting really fat...there is, in fact, a baby growing in there! You can see the big head and little arm right there!

So far I've been lucky, I haven't really been sick! At least not pregnancy sick. I've just had a sinus infection for around 6 weeks and counting. Now that I'm passed my first trimester, I wouldn't say I have tonnnns of energy like people say, but I at least don't feel like a walking zombie.

So far I just feel like I look like I've eaten 7 pizzas, not pregnant. Ahhh the joys of being only 5 feet tall. I'm looking forward to when I actually look pregnant and not just fat! Serious comment, not looking for compliments here!

On that note, in the last 13 weeks, I've noticed a dramatic change in the things people say to you. It's like a switch flips and people think they can say whateverrrr they want to you in terms of what you look like. Call me dramatic, or hormonal, or whatever you'd like, but there are certain things you should just keep to yourself! A good rule of thumb:

• compliment (you look so cute) great! 
• comment (you're showing early, I can't believe you're already wearing maternity pants, I think your having a girl because you're carrying wide already) pleaseeee keep to yourself!

I'm just speaking for myself, but I think a lot of pregnant ladies would agree... You don't feel very cute, you don't feel very well, and your hormones are all over the place. It's not a great time for ANYONE to be commenting on your appearance!

On a lighter note, my students are hilarious and want to be the ones to name the baby. I might be zombie-like tired, but don't worry...I'm not that crazy! They ask me about the baby basically every day, which I think is funny. I really didn't think they would care one bit! They also ask me about "Mr. Simmons" all the time, which is reallyyyyy funny to me. If you know Jacob at all, the fact that anyone refers to him as Mr. Simmons is just really funny!

Oh and also, we got a new car! A car seat wouldn't exactly fit well in a 2 door car! I'm prettyyyy excited about it!

Why Do People Teach?

So, I really never blog. I hear myself talk all day and I feel like the world is probably over it. However, something happened today that really made me stop and reflect on this semester. Disclaimer: I did not intend to write all of this! I started out just wanting to share a sweet story, and I got carried away (shocking, I know...if my sister has clicked on this link she is rolling her eyes already- Michelle stop reading now).

I am currently down to the last day and a half of my first full semester teaching full time. Let me just say, it was everything I hoped, nothing I expected, and more exhausting than anyone who isn't a teacher could possibly fathom. Let this statistic sink in for a second, 40-50% of teachers quit in their first 5 years. That's insane...and I totally get it.

 Some people probably couldn't care less about what teachers deal with, and frankly they are probably sick of hearing the griping and endless moaning about things like common core, TEAM evaluation, etc. Trust me, I get it!! I was the poster child for someone who thought teachers just whined wayyyy too much and never stopped to realize how great they've got it (I mean hey- summers off, school over at 3 pm, 2 weeks at Christmas...teachers are laughing reading this by the way). I'd like to state for the record, there ARE too many teachers who whine too much. That's right, I said it. Sometimes teachers are our own worst enemy. Many teachers have never worked outside of this profession, and don't fully appreciate the additional time you get to spend with your family. HOWEVER, there is a reason why you constantly hear teachers shouting their dissatisfaction.

1. The amount of time outside of class you spend on lesson plans and preparing for just ONE class far exceeds any time you think teachers get off. Yes, it's fantastic to be able to be off work during the holidays, but don't think for 1 second that I don't have a million things to do preparing for new classes to start in January. Just because I'm not at school doesn't mean I'm not working.
2. Imagine you are a nurse. You are evaluated by a supervisor frequently and the criteria you have to meet partially has to do with the quality of care you give, but it also judges you on the way the patient responds to you, with no thought to any outside circumstances (because all patients, read students, are the same right?). Then, your job requires a certain percentage of your patients to not only recover from their illness, but to improve by a certain percent that you did not decide in relation to other patients (with no consideration to the individual needs or difficulties of that patient compared to another). Numbers and statistics, not quality, are what seems to matter. Last, all of these things are also weighed without consideration of whether or not your patient WANTS or TRIES to get better. You're a miracle worker, right? If they eat 10 cheeseburgers a day and refuse to stop, you still need to cure their high cholesterol! If you have time, you really need to watch a student explain this- its simply phenomenal
3. The people making decisions that affect #1 and #2 (and basically everything else you do) most of the time have never set foot into a classroom. Sureeee, "in theory" you should be able to do all of these 50 things on this evaluation in every single lesson. In theory.

All this being said, the purpose of this post is not to whine or preach about how under appreciated teachers are. You just have to have an understanding of the struggles teachers face in order to fully appreciate what I'm going to say next, which is that there are 3 main things I've learned this year:

First, having amazing co-workers makes ALL the difference! My very wise student teaching cooperating teacher told me "Good teachers will share everything they've got with you. They know how awesome their work is, and they don't want to see you struggle." This is 100% true. The other teachers at my school made me feel SO welcome from day 1. They are a fantastic support system. In the first few weeks when I was in tears at the end of several days, they were right there to give me some great advice, some tough love, and a hug when I needed it. 

Second, parents can be the worst part of this job. I know, this is a risky thing to type and put out on the big world wide internet, but it's true and you need to hear it. Any teacher could explain to you for days on how to effectively speak to your child's teacher. Take the time if you have kids of any age to understand this concept. Please, parents reading this, NEVER begin a conversation with a teacher with the phrase "Can you explain why you gave my child an F..." This entire sentence says to the teacher, "my child is right and you are wrong. They did not earn a bad grade, you gave it to them. I am not in the class, but I'm going to take my 15 year old's word over yours." Have you thought about the bigger life lesson/message that undermining a teacher sends to your child? We're all working toward the same thing, we all want your child to succeed! We're not the bad guy. No teacher is working for their massive paycheck to destroy kids' lives. Work with us, back us up, and the result will always be better. If a teacher does not want to work with you and refuses to listen, they are the problem. Feel free to throw rotten bananas at them.

 

Last, the entire purpose for writing this incredibly long post that I had no idea would turn into what is has: Teenagers can be terrible people, but it's a teacher's responsibility to give them everything you've got and more, even when all you want to give them is a knuckle sandwich. I won't lie to you, there have been times in the past 6 months when I thought "Yep, I could walk out of this classroom right now, maybe say some choice words on my way, and not feel the least bit remorseful". Everyone told me in the first few weeks that you can't take things that your students say personally, but it is SO hard! It just feels terrible when you overhear them call you a very rude name, or when they tell you how much they hate your class (which you've spent hours trying to make sure is fun and engaging). It doesn't feel great when they constantly complain and refuse to work. People will tell you to learn to leave it at school and not take what happened that day home with you- THIS is the single hardest thing to learn as a new teacher. It's hard to accept that some kids just are not going to like you, period. It's hard to accept that they are going to make up mean names for you and tell all of their friends to never take your class. It's hard to accept that no matter how awesome, energetic, funny, smart, or dedicated you are, there are kids who are going to count the minutes until they never have to see you again...

 HOWEVER

Sometimes teenagers can be just the best thing ever! When they give you a sincere compliment, it makes you feel awesome because you know they don't just give those babies out. It feels fantastic when your worst student doesn't hesitate to defend you when another student makes a rude remark. Nothing is like that moment when you're teaching something difficult and you can physically see a light bulb turn on in their head. Then, you get to see the excitement and pride they feel for powering through and understanding something they thought they couldn't. My dad is my favorite. He's told me a million times about a math teacher he had in school who told him he was stupid and made him feel like he couldn't learn (he's a CPA and basically the smartest person I know). I always have this in my mind. I never want to be that teacher.

 I've read this note at least 20 times since it was handed to me at 3:05 today, and I have cried every time. This note below, THIS is what makes the tears and frustrations earlier this year 100% worth it. This is why teachers deal with all of the things you constantly hear them complain about. The past few months have not been horrible by any means, and it may seem like I'm just being dramatic (let's be real I probably am). I just really wanted to share it and thank everyone who has helped me, anyone who has helped another teacher, and anyone who teaches and doesn't get the thanks they deserve. I wish I could kiss each and every one of you right on the face and tell you how amazing you are. I hope one day I can be the kind of teacher my coworkers are every single day.

This is why people teach. 

Our Wedding!

Am I blogging this basically just so I can Pinterest what I think was the best wedding ever? Yep! I loved every aspect of our wedding!

June 8, 2013
Nottoway Plantation- White Castle, Louisiana

Photographer: The amazing Brandon O'Neal Photography
Wedding Dress: Casablanca Bridal
Reception Dress: Jessica Simpson
Shoes: Badgley Mishka
Flowers: White and coral peonies- The Plantation Florist, Port Allen, La
Cakes: The Ambrosia Bakery- Baton Rouge, La
Bridesmaid Dresses: Love Lane
Groomsmen: JCrew Ties, Squires suits
Flower Girl Dress- JCrew
Programs- Kim Swart, Simply Designed

Badgley Mishka shoes were my something blue

All of our wedding party gifts were "tie the knot" themed! JCrew ties for the guys, bow necklaces for the girls, and kate spade knot earrings for our moms!

My sister's gift to me, garter set from Etsy

I was so nervous that a first look would take the "magic" away from the moment when I walked down the aisle...so wrong! They are 2 completely different and amazing moments!

Flowers by The Plantation Florist... obsessed with peonies!

My amazing grandmother left us the February before our wedding. I had a picture of her and my grandfather in a locket attached to my bouquet. I loved having them with me all day!

Bridesmaid dresses- Love Lane

One table held photographs from our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents weddings!

My wonderful friend Kim Swart designed these programs for me! I knew what I wanted and couldn't find the perfect design anywhere. I found programs similar on Etsy, but they ran around $4/ program for double sided...no thanks!! I just told Kim my idea and she brought it to life! I hand glued each on the sticks and tied ribbon. I don't recommend waiting until the week before the wedding to tackle this!

Look Kim up on facebook or click this link- Simply Designed
Also, she designed most of my shower invitations and save the dates! See them here!

Note: this is Kim...she stood next to me for my wedding (OUTSIDE, in Louisiana, in June) literally 9 months pregnant, with twins!! She had the beautiful Kadence and Kinsley just 6 days later!

I had a hard time finding a cake topper I liked, so I made this! I just took a wooden letter from hobby lobby and hand glued flat sided pearls and rhinestones (which I bought from Amazon for around $3).

Ties- JCrew
We got really lucky with our ties! We bought them on black Friday for 50% off and then they gave me an extra 15% off on top because I'm a teacher! I'm obsessed with JCrew.

We had easily the most precious ring bearer and flower girl ever! Ava's dress was JCrew and Tobey's bowtie was from Etsy.

Both Cakes are from The Ambrosia Bakery in Baton Rouge....simply amazing! The groom's cake topper is actually a Christmas ornament Jacob's Granny gave us at our Christmas shower! I loved this cake! It was classier (in my humble opinion) and MUCH cheaper than a full out drum cake! Disclaimer, those are super cute when done right!

Praline favors!

I HIGHLY recommend changing dresses for the reception! This Jessica Simpson dress was so light and I was so comfortable!