I'm Baaack

After three years and lots of changes I'm back. I've been thinking of making this more of a school blog because I have recently discovered lots of blogs that have helped me in a brand new teaching style.

I teach 7th grade science, and encourage the encorparation of literacy into my curriculum. I will start with how my classroom is set up. I use stations and students rotate through these in the last twenty minutes of class each day. Class starts with a bell ringer which I progress monitor each student and then we discuss it whole group. The next 15 to 20 minutes are spent with a mini-lesson. We add words to the word wall and then we disperse to stations. Some weeks I teach a small group and some weeks I don't. It all depends on topics at hand. Students have choice during some of their stations. I'll be posting more about specifics I do.

Gracen is here!

Gracen made her debut on February 25 at 6:04 a.m. She made it all the way to 37 weeks and one day. We are proud of her for staying in that long. She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. She is very skinny! I forgot how little they are when they start out and her brother was even smaller. Things are going well. We have had a crazy whirlwind of a week. My grandfather passed away on the 24th at 9:30 p.m. I wasn't even in labor yet. So Gracen has been to Texas and back in her first week of life. I'm still trying to recover from the car ride 24 hours after the birth. Here's what you really came for though. Pictures!

The Countdown Begins

Gabe will shortly have life changed majorly! Our baby girl will be arriving in a short amount of time. As of right now, her name is going to be Gracen Lee Gentry. We can't decide if we are going to call her Grace, Gracen, or Gracie. I guess we'll decide that when we see her. In preparation for her arrival our guest bedroom is undergoing major changes. The lady who we bought our house from had a beauty shop in the back bedroom, so our house came with a hair washing sink. We have lived with this there for the whole time we have lived there, but I asked my father-in-law who is a licensed plumber to remove that for my Christmas present. We are currently painting the room a light brown and the trim a chocolate brown. Gabe and Gracen will be sharing a room. His stuff is blue and brown and hers is pink and brown. Gabe will soon be moved to a toddler bed. I hope this transition goes well, but I'm slightly concerned about this. Gabe's bedroom will become a playroom, so all the toys and books will be removed from the living room. I am looking forward for this day to arrive soon. Other than that, I'm trying to hold her in until I am 35 weeks pregnant which could be a major feat with a hoss of a child and working full time still. I am also getting prepared at school for my long-term sub. I leave everyday with everything ready, just in case something happens. That is a weird feeling to have.

Oh my goodness!!

It has been way too long since I have posted. We still don't have internet at our house. We have experienced lots of new things since I posted last. Gabe is now a year old. He loved the cake and presents. He is signing lots of words and saying a few. His words: Dada (for Ty and his paci); Mama; three (after someone says one, two); Night, Night; yeah; bye, bye; thank you

His signs: more; eat; cat; daddy; mama; school occasionally; bye; all done; dog occasionally

He claps whenever he sees a football game in real life or on tv. He also dances anytime he hears music. He sleeps from 6:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. It is wonderful! He got his first haircut this week. Last week he also got so sick with an ear infection that he had a seizure. We go back to the doctor tomorrow to double check that everything is okay.

I know that his life is about to change drastically because we are expecting a girl due in March. They will be somewhere between 18 and 19 months apart. Hopefully I will be able to update sooner, but for now I leave you with this.

No title

So many things have changed since my last post. Ty quit his dad's company and is now working for the gas companies in Searcy. This is such a huge blessing! Doubling his salary, and not having to drive an hour to work everyday is great! I'm out of school and work for the summer. It's been really nice so far. I've gone to New York with college girl friends, had a family reunion, taken care of my brother's kids while he is in Italy, and had lunch with my sister's family from Texas. Not to mention tons of fun playing with Gabe. Gabe turned 10 months old on Monday and I fully expect him to take off running anyday. He's getting very brave about standing without holding onto anything. We should be getting the internet soon (because of Ty's raise), so I should be back to blogging soon.

Blogging Silence

I know that I have had a long blogging silence. Life has just been crazy. We don't have internet at our house, I had been picking up on a neighbor's signal, but they moved. My school internet won't allow me to post or comment on blogs. However, I can read blogs. I have stayed up with what is going on with all of y'all.

Gabe is now 6 months old. He can roll over both ways, and sit up if I set him that way. He's really trying hard to crawl, but mostly he just pushes himself backward or faceplants. He's right at 20 lbs and 27 inches long putting him in the 80 percentile for height and weight. His head size is following suit with the Diles side and is in the 98 percentile.

Life is going well for Ty and I. I am almost finished with my master's in school counseling. After this semester, I will only have my internship left. I know it has been forever, but I really don't have a lot to catch you up on.

Much love.

Who does Gabe look like?

For Melissa

One week before Gabe was born, my college roommate's sister gave birth to a baby girl. Janey was born with a condition called anencephaly. She only lived for an hour but it was a precious life. Melissa has shown me so much about faith and strength throughout this ordeal. I have prayed for her continually since April since she found out about sweet Janey. I cannot begin to imagine the pain she is feeling. Melissa, you will never know the impact you have made on me and Ty. We wish you the best of holiday seasons and pray for continued peace as you remember your beautiful Janey. I found this video recently and the song brought me to tears as I listened to the lyrics. Melissa, I know this is not Janey, but the words to this song led me to share this with you.

FYI: The video is about Copeland Farley who was born with Trisomy-18.

Thumb sucker

Gabe sucks his thumb. I'm not exactly happy about that because I can't throw his thumb away when he is two. I've tried to give him a paci, but he has now learned to spit that out and get his thumb in there. The worst part is, he is so cute. See for yourself.

Fun Weekend

This weekend G got to meet several important people in his Momma's life.

My brother, Ben, and his family came into town from Tennessee. He brought some students to visit Harding during Homecoming weekend. Heather, Ben's wife, also had a cousin in the Homecoming musical. It was so good to see him. My brother is a great source of encouragement for me. He is such a role model and good man. I am blessed that he is a part of my life and family. I just wish he didn't live so far away. Somehow, I failed to get a picture of Gabe and his cousins.

G also got to meet Lindsey. She is a wonderful college friend that I still keep in contact with. We directed Spring Sing and were in charge of pledge week together. Lindsey was also a bridesmaid in my wedding. She always knows how to make me smile. Lindsey is the type of friend that can challenge your spirituality and encourage you to be a better Christian without even trying. I am constantly encouraged to be a better person and take care of others because of her. I love her dearly and wish she didn't live in the DFW area.

I cut my hair last week in preparation for going back to work. It ended up being about 12 inches that I cut off. I intend to mail my hair into Locks of Love. I haven't done that yet because my hair was wet when it got cut, and since my hair is so thick it just dried this morning.

Pictures

The many faces of Gabe and random fun in the last month
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Back at Work

I know it has been forever since I updated. I just wanted to quickly say that I have successfully completed two days of work. It was one of the hardest things I have had to do. Little Man is doing fine with the change. It is his mom that is struggling. I hope to post some pictures and stories tomorrow. We finally are getting the internet at our house again. Sorry this is so short.

The Spit-Up King

I'm sorry that it has been so long since my last update. I have been so busy with Gabe lately. He is awake more, so I spend a lot of my day playing with him. Gabe has a problem. He spits up. I'm not talking the spit up that all babies do after they eat. He spits up a lot and often. It can be two hours after he ate and here it comes. He wakes himself up in the night with spit up that lands on his sheet and gets cold on his face. This does not make for a happy camper. He has projectile spit up. This is so bad that if we are leaving the house, I wait til it is time to walk out the door to dress us both. I carry extra clothes for him and me in the diaper bag. At his one month check-up I asked the doctor about this. We were given a prescription for a dissolvable pill that I give him once a day. The only difference I can see is that we only have projectile spit-up once a day instead of all day. However, he still spits up about an once for every 3 taken in. The doctor also suggested for me to pump and add some cereal to the bottle to thicken it up. This is what has helped the most. Does anyone have any other suggestions to help with preventing frequent spit up?

Duck, Duck Goose

Gabe's one month picture in the crib getting ready for church.

Gabe's gangsta picture while trying to get a good one month picture.

Wednesday I went to this huge consignment sale in Little Rock. I got some great deals! This consignment sale happens twice a year and rents out the Arkansas State Fairgrounds. http://www.duckduckgoosesale.com I was amazed at all the stuff that was there. I plan to go every year. The same person who does this sale has one coming up in Conway. I hope to go because I still need a pack-n-play with a bassinet peice. Now onto the deals.

Hiking backpack:

Retail value: $99 ddg: $ 22

Bumbo

Retail value: $39.99 ddg: $25

Car Seat Base

Retail value: $34.99 ddg: $15

High chair

Retail value: $119.00 ddg: $45.00

Leap Frog Activitiy Table

Retail value: $34.99 ddg $10

I also got lots of clothes for cheap!!! Consignment sales are the way to go.

One Month Old

Blogger isn't cooperating, so there are no new pictures. I'll have those up as soon as possible.

Last Sunday, Gabe turned one month old. When he was born he was in the 10th percentile for weight, length, and head circumference. That means, he was super small!!! In one month he has jumped up to the 50th percentile in weight and head circumference. He is still way down at 10% in the length. Anyone who knows Ty and I would not be surprised by that. We are short and stocky people. Gabe weighed in at 9 lbs. 13 oz. A whole 3 1/2 lbs bigger than his birth weight. He is now 20.5 inches long. My long and lanky child now has fat rolls. They are so cute. I just want to eat them up.

More to come on my amazing buys for Gabe. You shall be most impressed.

Gabe

I have discovered something wonderful! The art of swaddling! I got five hours of sleep last night. I read the book The Happiest Baby on the Block. It has all this research and ways to calm your baby and get them to sleep longer. It is such a blessing. I wish I had read it all the way through before Gabe arrived and was able to enjoy it working from day one. It is a must read for all moms.

Life as a Mom

Tomorrow my son will be one month old. My life with a newborn has changed dramatically. I have learned so many things (like how to update a blog while only being able to type with one hand).

I have so much to love about being a mom:

1. I have someone to snuggle with 24/7.


2. The smell of a baby.


3. Showing off my baby.


4. Compliments on how pretty my baby is.


5. Watching a newborn sleep and all the facial expressions that change.


6. Not having to go to work


7. Listening to all the coos, sighs, and grunts


8. learning that i could have lived my entire life with just one arm, because there are so many things i can do with one arm that i always used two arms for before.

Things I dislike about being a mom:

1. getting up every two hours in the night


2. engorged boobs (wow they hurt)


3. not having social interaction with adults until my husband gets off work and back from the gym.


4. the pain and soreness in my woman areas that does not seem to want to go away even four weeks later.

now for pictures of the sweet baby boy!

Birth Announcement Proof

Here is the proof for our birth announcement. I found this through a friend of a friend. www.mykindacard.com It's a great website, and she works super fast.

Gabe's arrival

WARNING: Males and some females may not want to read. A birth story is never pretty.

A lot has happened since my last post. I gave birth to a sweet little baby boy named Gabriel William Gentry. He entered this world in a very creative way, so we know already our hands are going to be full with him. He is a bit of a dare devil and stunt man.

On Wednesday, August 15th I went to the doctor at 3:30. I was 3 cm dialated and fully effaced. I really didn't want to have to go to work on Monday, so my doctor went ahead and stripped my membranes because that can sometimes start contractions. Let me tell you, stripping of membranes is not pleasant at all. I had already been having strong contractions for 2 days but nothing regular. I went home hoping that something would occur and feeling extremely uncomfortable. Ty was on call and didn't get home until about 7:30. We went to eat at Western Sizzlin because I wanted their salad bar. I was having several contractions, but still nothing regular. We arrive home, and I have this sudden urge to finish hanging the lanterns in Gabe's room. I'm vacuuming, mopping, and doing laundry. I pack Ty's bag for the hospital. The whole time I'm having pretty strong contractions, but I wasn't paying attention to length or time in between. Ty notices that I'm having to stop often because the contractions are so intense. At 11:15, we sit down to watch Tommy Boy, and he starts timing contractions. At 11:30 we've decided it's time to leave for the hospital because the contractions are less than 4 minutes apart and are lasting for about a 1 1/2 minutes.

We get to the hospital by 11:45. They check me and I'm 5 cm dialated. They ask me if I can walk to the delivery room, I tell them yes, but quickly change my mind. I turn around and run to the restroom to throw up. My salad bar came back up the other way. That was an embarrassing surprise to me. I'm already in the hospital gown at this point, so I'm exposing myself to everyone. I quickly get over this exposure embarrassment. Everyone has to look at you at some point, so you get to the point when you just don't care. The nurse decides I need to be wheeled to my room with a barf bag. I get checked in and they give me Staydol while I wait for the epidural. The Staydol made me extremely loopy. I couldn't make complete sentences, my speech was slurred, and I answered normal questions incorrectly (i.e. my maiden name was Dills instead of Diles). Ty corrected all of my mistakes. By 1 a.m. I had my epidural and was dialated to 7 cm. In case you are wondering, epidurals are wonderful. I didn't even know I was having contractions. I slept off and on until about 5 am. My doctor was on his way to the hospital and I was dialated to 10. However, my water still had not broke. Several nurses attempted to break it but they couldn't. They decided to have me push to try and break my water.

At 5:05 I started pushing. My water broke on the first push and then I see complete fear in my nurses faces. When my water broke, Gabe's heart rate dropped down into the 50s. They started trying to massage his head to raise his heart rate and they turn the monitor away, so I can't see it. The doctor came in not long after this. He's wearing a baseball cap and generally joking around, however when he sees the monitor he is all business. His baseball cap comes flying off, and he's asking all sorts of questions about Gabe's umbilical cord and other questions. I start to cry because I can see the fear on everyone's faces. I'm told that if his heart rate doesn't come up soon, we'll have to do an emergency c-section. I start to push hard core, but because we have to get him out quickly, my epidural is not wearing out fast enough, so I can't feel to push. Well, Gabe's heart completely goes off the moniter. Meaning, there is no heart rate registering at all. The doctor says, I'm going to use forceps and if the baby doesn't come out on this push we're doing a c-section. All of the doctors and nurses are in the room on standby reading to perform the surgery. Of course I'm becoming extremely nervous and scared about my baby boy. At 5:48, I push and see Gabe being pulled out. The next thing I see made me start bawling. I see Gabe's full body in the air, his head in the forceps, and then he slips out of the forceps into the catch pan. I did not know the catch pan was there, so I think Gabe has fallen to the floor. Ty thinks this as well, so he drops to the floor to get him. I think he has passed out. So, I'm lying on the bed not hearing my baby cry thinking he has fallen to the floor, knowing that they couldn't find his heartbeat, and that my husband has passed out. I'm basically hysterical. When Gabe fell, all of the nurses and doctors flinched and gasped. This scared me as well. I have never seen a doctor move so fast. He scooped Gabe up and started slapping him to make him cry. After 1 minute, I hear Gabe cry, so all was well.

So less than 14 hours after my membranes were stripped, I delivered a healthy baby boy. We still have no idea why his heart rate dropped. Now for some pictures:

Waiting Game

WARNING****Complaining and possibly too much information for some in this post.

Currently, I'm playing a waiting game. I hate waiting. I've always been pretty impatient. I was so tired of waiting to graduate high school, then marriage, then college graduation, job searching, etc. Now, I'm tired of waiting for my son to arrive on the outside world. I am so very ready for him to quit "cooking." I'm tired of not being able to breathe or sleep. I constantly have to go the bathroom. My hips hurt and I am uncomfortable about 110% of the time. I am tired of thinking, "Is today the day?" I'm tired of answering when I'm due, if I'm coming back to school when school starts, how long I'm taking off, and if people are on my call list for when I go to the hospital. I'm tired of wondering if this contraction I'm currently feeling is the start to the real thing and when will my next contraction occur. I'm tired of not being able to bend over to paint my toenails. I'm tired of being self conscious about my water breaking in public, intense heat causing embarrassing sweat stains, and all sorts of other weird things that happen to a pregnant body that can cause embarrassing situations (i.e. leaking boobs during class, smells, etc.). I am just very tired of waiting.