A Look Back

Well we are officially into our last day of 2009 and I was immediately reminded of it when I woke up and turned on the television this morning. Every show is buzzing with the biggest news of the year and so I thought what a better post than a look back at what 2009 has brought for our family. 

It started with the early entrance of our niece Katy! Isn't she precious?!

Meeting a Food Network star,

and the marriage of our sweet friends!

Then we welcomed in another baby to the Hatch family!

We took our first vacation with our best friends to Branson, MO!

We ran in our first marathon relay team!

And then found out we were expecting a baby! This was the biggest and probably most exciting part of 2009! And yes I was pregnant and ran a relay and had no idea! I just wondered what I was doing to make myself sick! Little did I know what was really happening!

We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary! I can't believe it's been over a year already!

And we took an awesome vacation to not so sunny Florida! But had a great time with family!

We watched more special people in our life tie the knot! Including Bethany and Eric whose picture didn't make it on here. Sorry guys :/

And I did something crazy and took a job teaching Kindergarten! Where we do more crazy things everyday!

We found out that we were expecting a BOY! And started preparing for his arrival!

We watched my baby sister play her final high school volleyball season and Ryan marched his final season with the OSU band. So proud of both of them for all of their hard work!

My parents celebrated 25 wonderful years of marriage!

We took our annual Baylor trips!

 We wouldn't miss these, only for a baby right Steven and Katie?!

And spent the holidays with our families for the last time as just "Ryan and Amber."

More than trips and things we have done we have most enjoyed being together and with our families and friends. We are so humbled and grateful for their never ending love and support. This year has shown us that we are surrounded by people who really value us and we value them too and we only hope we are as supportive and caring to them as they have been to us.

2009, however, has come with it's challenges of course too and I couldn't be more thankful that we serve a God who was and is bigger than all of them and has always provided what we needed. He helped my mom through a difficult struggle with her heart, he blessed me with a job that I couldn't enjoy more, and he has never failed to provide and show us His love when we needed it most. We are looking forward to a bigger and brighter 2010 as we know that God will only continue to love us and guide us on this journey of life. We are excited about what it's going to bring like our little bundle of joy, Ryan's college graduation and more things that we don't even know about that God already has planned! Isn't that so cool?! We look forward to striving to be better people, Christians, givers, and the best parents we can as we move into a new season of life.

I trust that everyone has had a great 2009 and is ready to see what 2010 holds for them.

Here is to always making ourselves better and more in the image of Christ. I hope that is your goal for 2010! Cheers!

Hudson's Room Tour (final)

Over Christmas we picked up the final pieces to Hudson's room so now I can give a complete tour! So here it is...the grand tour. Enjoy!

This is the view as you open his door. My secret pal at work got me this awesome calendar with stickers to make it easy to mark special days in Hudson's life. And did you notice his Cowboy boots? He already has his first pair so he can wear them with his dad!

This is the view of his room from the door. Don't the circles on the walls look amazing?

His crib and rug on the floor and below are closer views of his bedding and crib.

I call this his reading and cuddling corner. Can't wait to snuggle up with him in this rocker and read him a good book :)

These are the paintings that hang above the rocker. I picked out the verse and my sister painted them for me. She is way more talented than I and they turned out so good! And I just love this verse, it's perfect!

The pictures above and below are his dresser and changing station. I also love the cute sticker saying that hangs above his dresser.

Well that is the grand tour! His room is 100% ready I think! 

In other news...yesterday was an exciting day, we got to tour and do our Pre-Admission for the hospital! We toured the labor and delivery floor and answered lots of questions and completed tons of paperwork! It definitely feels more official now that we have actually been to the hospital and seen where our baby will be born. Now we are just waiting around wondering what day he will decide to make his entrance!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

We had a great time with our family for a few days! And it turned out to be a white Christmas! I can't think of a better way to celebrate the greatest birthday of all than with beautiful snow on the ground!

Here are a few Christmas Day pictures...

Ryan and I at his family's house-me looking huge and pregnant!

Christmas picture at my parent's house. Our dogs really hate when we force them to sit in pictures with us!

This is Ryan's family! There are seven kids in his family so getting everyone together is pretty rare, but almost the whole family was there for this picture. We were only missing one family-Jean and her husband and daughter. Not too bad for such a large family!

My family!  All four kids and 2 spouses!

I'm so thankful that we got to go home and spend a few days with the family. We rarely get to go home for more than 2 days in a row so it was nice getting to be there for 4 whole days! It is the last time we will be home for a while so we really enjoyed it, but are excited that next time we see everyone we will hopefully have a baby boy in our arms!

"You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High."

Luke 1:31-32

This is the bible verse for the room I have been serving in at Lifekids. I'm so thankful that thousands of years ago that God sent his Son for us! I hope you have remembered that this holiday season and had a safe and happy Christmas!

A Look At My Pregnancy So Far

So today has been a somewhat exciting day! I went to the doctor this morning and it made me realize that pregnancy is really almost over and I'm about to move onto being a real mom! That is still somewhat of an overwhelming thought, but I could not be more excited about taking on this new journey.  So I thought I would make a collage of how much things have changed over the past 36 weeks. I can't believe that we are nearing the end and sometime within the next 3 1/2 weeks or so we will have a baby! This morning I had my weekly doctor's visit. The doctor said I am about 50% effaced and just dilated. So I'm progressing and that's the good and exciting news! It doesn't necessarily mean he will be here tomorrow but he could be and that would be alright :). It really is all up to Mr. Hudson, when he decides he will make his big appearance. Hopefully sooner than later, because his mommy and daddy and several others are getting anxious to meet him! Most of all I'm just praying and preparing for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy. Pregnancy you have been so good to me, but I am ready to meet my baby.

Whenever you're ready Hudson!

School's Out and Hudson's First....

So it is now official, school is over for 2009! I love my sweet little ones, but definitely was ready for a break! We have been doing lots of Christmas activities, singing songs, watching movies, making presents, and of course we had a party and it has worn me out! Yesterday was an early dismissal day at school and by the end of it my feet were just plain tired! Thankfully I was able to come home and relax. Anyway, the Pre-K classes got a special visit from Santa yesterday. The teachers came down to my room to get me because they thought Hudson needed his "first" Santa Christmas picture!

 So here it is, Hudson's first Santa picture, in the womb of course!

Here is to wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas break if you get one!

36 Weeks!

We are officially less than a month away! Can you believe it? I am now 9 months or 36 weeks pregnant! Hudson should now weigh somewhere around 6 pounds and is gaining weight everyday. He should weigh about as much as this melon! I can definitely tell he is growing by how much my belly is growing and how hungry I am! Ha! As of last week my belly measured 35cm which is 9cm more than the first time I was measured 10 weeks ago. He is definitely sitting in some pretty crazy ways in my stomach and it often is pretty obvious where he is. Most of the time my belly looks lopsided and you can usually feel his feet pushing on my belly.

Anyway, we are now about to begin our weekly appointments at the doctor's office and will be watching to see how things progress. We are definitely getting so excited and ready! His nursery is ready, stocked with diapers and all, his bags are packed and his carseat is put together and waiting! I know we still have a while, but I want to be prepared for whatever may happen!

Friends

Yesterday was a great day of just hanging out with friends! Our friends Cody and Colleen came up to visit with their baby boy Julian. Another friend, Tadd, also came over!

Ryan got to practice holding and feeding Julian, which is good experience for him! Isn't he just adorable by the way? I mean the baby, not my husband!

Ryan and I made our first pot roast, I mean it's not difficult I just don't think we have ever cooked one before. It cooked in the crockpot overnight and it was delicious! It was tender and fell into pieces! What a success! Thanks for the recipe Katie!

The boys found a new iPhone game so they spent most of their time doing this! You get them together and what do they do? Play on their phones of course! We had a great time just spending time together and I'm so glad they were able to come visit! Hopefully we will be doing it again soon!