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!

Today...

was spent working on Hudson's laundry! He now has a closet and dresser full of clean clothes and blankets to come home to! And I got these cute little closet organizers (as seen below) to help keep his clothes organized. Now there is no guessing where a new section of clothes start or what size goes where. It is right there, easy to see!

His diaper bag is also packed and ready to go! I thought since I was sorting through laundry and all of those things anyway it might as well get done! Yes I still have 4 1/2 weeks, but I am prepared in case he surprises us!

On another note, my awesome best friend came over to help me work in Hudson's room and we watched "Julie and Julia." I really enjoyed the entire movie and was excited for the big ending, but very disappointed when it didn't turn out as expected. I'm still not sure how I feel about it now. It was so great until the ending I wanted to happen didn't. Has anyone else seen this movie? What did you think?!

83

That's how old my grandpa would be today if he was still here with us. Unfortunately for us he isn't and we miss him lots. He always kept us entertained and busy! I realized today as I was going through old pictures that I don't have one single photo of him anywhere in my house so I won't be sharing a photo. But I do have to say that my brother is a spitting image of him, more in personality than in looks. He often does things then gets called "Earl." Anyway I just wanted to say a special Happy Birthday Grandpa! We loved you much, even when you seemed to drive us crazy! I pray that you're in heaven singing with the angels and hanging out with Jesus!

Work Shower

Ok, I promise this will be my last post to say thanks for a baby shower. But I have to take a minute and share how wonderful and kind all of the people that I work with are. They are so caring and threw me a cute shower to celebrate Hudson on his way! I'm truely blessed to have my job and even more blessed to be surrounded by the people that I am. They are wonderful!

The food table-Candace's mom made cute little cheesecakes and they were delicous! It was a nice change from cake!

A few of the ladies that helped put my shower together Elisha and Candace and of course Ayden!  You can't see him well in this picture but he is precious! Hudson already has a sweet baby friend waiting to meet him!

All of the babies were there! There have been two babies born so far this school year and Hudson will be the third of which the mom's are elementary teachers. Both of them came and they are both adorable and precious!

Anyway, I am so thankful for awesome coworkers who are such a blessing! They have been so sweet and caring my entire pregnancy and I'm so grateful for that.  And Hudson got some much needed things that I couldn't be more thankful for either like this swing to match his carseat and stroller! What a wonderful group of people, I'm so thankful for each of them!

Stillwater Friends Baby Shower

So yesterday I was blessed with a shower thrown by 2 great friends!

It was so great to get some great people from Stillwater together, many of which I haven't seen in way too long! I am so thankful for everyone who was able to make it. It was such a nice time to catch up and of course get to see me lugging around this big belly-most of the people that made it I hadn't seen since they found out I was pregnant!

A huge thanks to Sarah and Stacia for hosting, they are wonderful friends!

Isn't this diaper wreath cute?! Sarah had seen the diaper cake I got at a previous shower and so she wanted to do something different. She, with the help of Camryn, put this together for Hudson and I. It's filled with lots of fun goodies that Hudson will need too!

Isn't this Boppy adorable?! I love the elephant pattern!

And look at this? Would you believe that I have such great friends who got this for me and have been keeping it a secret for 3 months?! I'm so incredibly grateful and can't say thank you enough. Actually I don't really think I said anything at all because I was pretty overwhelmed by it. They are just too good to me and I hope I'm just as good of friend as they are!

Anyway, more than all of the gifts that we so needed for Hudson I was just so thankful to see such wonderful people that I have worked with, gotten to know through OSU or were old friends that I haven't seen in too long. It was nice just to be in their company and chat and hang out with them. A huge thank you to all of my sweet friends who made it! I'm so incredibly blessed to have each of you in my life! Thanks again for being so wonderful!

Trees!

The Christmas trees have been up for about a week now at our house and they are definitely putting us into the spirit! I think we have watched parts of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation almost every night this week and of course Elf has been played several times too!

I love this holiday and most importantly the reason we celebrate it, JESUS! So our house is all decorated and ready to celebrate the greatest birthday of all!

Here are a few pictures of our decor.

A few of details of our tree.

We usually rearrange the furniture to put the tree in our front window, but this year we have new furniture and with my big belly it's just too much work. So we settled with moving out an end table and putting it in this corner.

This is the tree in the office/guest room. It's a sports theme with orange and black to go with the theme of the room. It has basketballs and golf ball ornaments and I would like to find some football ones to but Hobby Lobby hasn't had any that I liked.

Our stockings-the two little ones are for Marley and Rylee. We usually get them a bone or something around the holidays, but we can't put them in their stockings because Marley can reach these and would have them out in only a few short minutes. They will just have to wait until Christmas.

 May be always remember the most important reason we celebrate and not get caught up in the wordly traditions of this holiday. Hope you are enjoying this wondeful season of the year!