Hello again!

Well, this blog has suffered over the past several months. Having a new baby and not being in front of the computer every day over the holidays turned me into a blogging slacker and then starting grad school this spring has left little free time in the schedule! I want to get back at it more regularly though!

So to catch you up on our lives....Last summer while I was pregnant with Aubrey, Jake and I started thinking about what our lives would look like with two kiddos and we thought it would be the right time for me to take on more of a part-time working role.  With my previous job being about a 40-45 minute commute each way, that just wasn't making sense to stay there if I cut back to part time.  Just with travel, it would add two more hours to the workday.  Plus, there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity for growth since it was a small business and I felt like I was ready for a change in job and a change in schedule.

Ever since I started college, I have had an interest in teaching. At first, that was more of a desire to be an adjunct professor one day.  But one day it sort of clicked for me that the things I have always wanted to do in a career (1) be creative, (2) not do the same thing over and over each day, and (3) something art related.  Well, hello! Teaching art allows me to make art every day, be creative with my lessons, and introduce new and exciting units constantly! I guess going into college for my undergrad I didn't consider art education because of the money. But, now as a wife and a mother, the salary and schedule fit our lives perfectly. I am really excited that I will be able to have all of the school breaks and holidays off with my girls.  I am excited to teach students new and interesting techniques and lessons.  I am finally feeling like I have found what I was meant to do with my life.  It has also been so enriching for me because as an artist, we tend to find what we love and stick with it.  As a student, I am learning all of these different mediums and techniques that I haven't used in years or haven't ever tried.  I'm loving it! I have a renewed love in watercolors and I am finally getting back to making art on a regular basis.  So, officially I am in the Master of Arts in Teaching program for Art (K-12).  I'm almost finished with my first semester and I have two more years to go.  I was lucky enough to receive a Graduate Associate position doing the marketing, advertising & recruitment for the College of Education Graduate programs, so that has helped with having a flexible, fun part-time job while I'm in school.

If you want to keep up with what I'm doing in the art world, follow my instagram @SMWartwork

Aubrey's Birth Story

Well, it has been quite a while.  Our family has had just a few changes since the beginning of October -- quitting my job, applying to grad school, having a baby, "maternity leave", the holidays, starting grad school, and Aubrey starting daycare! So, more on all of that another day, but I wanted to write Aubrey's birth story on here before I get too far removed from remembering the details!



So, one day shy of my due date I woke up at 6am on Saturday, October 29th to some pains.  I wasn't sure if it was Braxton Hicks, since those had been happening more lately and were getting stronger.  I turned on some TV and slept on and off for another hour and a half until Jake woke up. I told him I wasn't sure if it was anything or not, but I was having pain every 45 minutes or so and felt "off."  I knew this feeling well from when I went into labor with Ryleigh, and being so close to my due date we both figured "well, this will probably be the day!" Once Ryleigh woke up, Jake got her ready and they left the house to go help some other Kappa Sigma alums move everything out of the KS House since they were no longer at Winthrop.  It also gave me some time to rest and see what was going on. I kept monitoring the pain and the contractions started getting closer- about 20-30 minutes apart. Since it was not going away, even when I laid down and drank some water (all the tricks they tell you) I figured I needed to shower and make sure everything was packed and ready.  I texted my parents, who were designated as the ones to watch Ryleigh while we went to the hospital, and let them know what was going on. We decided they would come over to our house around 3pm.  I updated Jake on the timing and he and Ryleigh got back home around 1:15, when my contractions were now getting stronger and about 20 minutes apart.  We had been prepping Ryleigh about how mommy would need to have a sleepover at the hospital once Aubrey comes, and that she would have a sleepover with Pom-Pom and Grandpa, so we put her down for a nap and told her that it was time for that sleepover so we wouldn't be there when she woke up from nap.  I will never forget everything going through my head giving her that last hug before she went to sleep!  My parents came over a little early around 2:30, and Jake & I got on the road at 3pm to head to the hospital.  They took me in to triage to check everything, and told me I was at 4cm. My contractions were now about 4-5 minutes apart so they admitted me to a delivery room.  They started my gbs antibiotics and got all the monitors hooked up.  I had progressed to 6cm and started begging for an epidural.  A little while later,  the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural and then they had me lay down to monitor me and said they would be back to check on me in about an hour.  Jake left the room to go move our car out of the Delivering Mom spot, and just as everyone was clearing out of my room, I felt my water break! I told the only nurse who was still in the room and she came over to check me, to find out that yes my water had indeed broken and I was also at 10cm with Aubrey in view!  (all of this, going from 4cm-10cm happened in about an hour and a half! talk about painful....) I knew that I had progressed past 6cm when they were giving me the epidural but they wouldn't check--they learned their lesson, haha....my body just turns things into overdrive once labor starts.  I texted Jake and he ran back to our room, they did a rush page to get the doctor there and after two pushes she was out! It was different than with Ryleigh when they had me push during a contraction. I guess since Aubrey was already 100% effaced, they had me do a test push and she moved right there so they just told me to push whenever I felt I wanted to.  She was born at 6:12pm during the 3rd quarter of the UGA game (an unfortunate loss for the team..and yes it was on tv in the delivery room!) and we were in awe that the next piece of our puzzle was here!

The entire time the nurses were monitoring me before she was born, they were telling me she felt like a bigger baby and they were sure she would be at least 8lbs. One woman even asked me if I had gestational diabetes because they thought she was such a big baby! Well, I don't know what they were feeling because she came out almost the exact sizes of her big sister:  6lbs 14oz, 20.25" long.