Erin Condren Life Planner--- I love it!

I recently got a new paper planner. I am usually a real techie but decided to move to a paper one this year.

Here are a few things that I have found that have helped me.

1. Use Erasable Pens!
                       I use Pilot Frixion pens because the write smoothly and I like all the colors.

2. Print on Post-Its!!
                      Such a cool idea! And So EASY! Click here for a how-to.

                                                       I printed important meeting...

 And inspirational quotes to keep me on track. 

3. Print pictures of important events on labels and place them in your planner to remember and look back. 

The New Love of My Life

Ok... So I'm in LOVE!

It is absolutely amazing how much you can love something so quickly! I knew that I loved him while he was still in my belly, but now that he is out... WOW!

My labor was not that bad.

Contractions started at 4:30 AM. At around 12:00 Clint and I decided to go to the hospital. Once we got there they started to monitor my progress. My contractions were coupling at 3 mins, then 1 min.... then 3 mins then 1 min. I was not making much progress so they had us walk up and down the hallway... Over and over again. Well-- They could only keep us in Triage for 4 hours. When that mark came, I had only changed by 1 cm... Not enough to be admitted. So we called our parents to tell them that we were coming home. As we were leaving, we got about 20 yards from the parking garage and my water broke. Clint asked me if I was sure... when I stated to walk away a gush came down and I was VERY sure that it was my water breaking. We made it up to Labor and Delivery and the nurses said that they could tell that my labor had progressed because I was walking very differently. By the time I was admitted the Wonderful Drug Mad came in to give me the epidural. From my water breaking to the epidural was 30 minutes (not to shabby). When the checked me again, I was 5 cm. Then an hour later, I was 10 cm. Then 30 mins later they told me that they were going to get the room ready for labor. Clint's mom arrived just in time to walk back and say hi before everyone was kicked out of the room so that I could start pushing. 30 mins of pushing, less than 4 hours after my water broke, Blake Patrick Lowe was born at 8:21 PM. It was the most amazing thing to experience.

The 2 weeks since have been the best 2 weeks ever! Here are some of my favorite memories!

1. Holding him in my arms after he came out.
2. Watching Clint be so protective of him in the hospital after he was born. He wanted to be there for every little thing. He followed him to the nursery when he went and was constantly watching the clock until Blake was back in our room again.
3. Introducing my son to his grandparents!
4. Just Holding Him!
5. The feeling of success when we were finally able to have a successful breastfeeding session after 2 days of trying.
6. Clint watching, ready to swoop in as friends held him in the hospital.
7. Going home.
8. Clint making his brothers sit down before they could hold him.
9. Watching my sisters hold him for the first time. ( and Laura becoming an Aunt for the first time!)
10. Sharing him with family and friends.
11. Just hanging out, watching TV with Blake and Clint.
12. His first bath.
.... And I could go on and on but I wont. Here are about a million pictures of Blake.. I couldn't narrow it down! :)

3 hours old

Nana and Blake

Papa and Blake

Grandpa and Blake

Cousins Carter and Ryleigh

Aunt Laura and Aunt Shrlby

1 hour old

Very Proud Daddy

Super Happy Mommy

Great Grandma Slattery

Keep Calm and Sew On!

SO.... I have been impatiently waiting for Blake to arrive. I have wanted to start a new sewing project for a while now (ever since I finished the other 2 quilts). I didn't want to start something because I just knew as soon as I made a big mess by getting out all the fabric and laying it out, and got started he would make his appearance.

Well on Saturday, I could not just sit around. Reading wasn't a distraction. Cleaning wasn't a distraction. Pinteresting quilt ideas was not a distraction. So instead I decided, What the Heck... I'm going for it. I went to my pinterest board and looked for ideas that would be relatively easy to make. Here is my inspiration from the Moda Bake Shop.

I decided to use the Sew Stitchy fabric line from Moda.

So instead of making a mess at my house... I decided to bring everything over to my mom's house to work Her sewing area is much bigger than mine and it has nice windows to look out. (and if I went into labor... the mess would be at her house... Sorry Mom! :) )

I made the quilt as the pattern said up until the end. I do not like short, "squareish" quilts. They need to be functional. I like a quilt that I can put my entire body under and curl up. I added an extra row of squares to the top and bottom of the quilt to add 10 inches. Here is the finished quilt top!

I can not wait to drop it off at the quilter's and see what amazing things she can do with it. 

Deborah Lane Quilting is Awesome! 

Here is a link of the quilts that she has quilted for me.

DLQ- Shannon Lowe's Quilts

Classroom Jobs

At a school training this week, I was asked to challenge my students and to help them make goals for their future. One way that was mentioned to do this was to rename my Classroom Jobs to jobs found in the real world. This will expose them to multiple options for their future. I have to admit that I did not come up with all of the names for the jobs. 2 other teachers at my school, Anne Stovall and Amy Gibbons came up with most of them, I tweaked a few for my own preferences. Here are the jobs we came up with.

Classroom Jobs and Descriptions

1.  Navigator-line leader

2.  Cheerleader-leads the classroom cheers

3.  Private Investigator-writes down positive things they see others doing and shares at the end of the day

4.  DJ-chooses songs to sing or listen to

5.  Doctor-who you talk to if you need a band aid

6.  Note Writer-writes well wisher notes and notes to students who are absent

7.  Neuroscientist-leads brain breaks or chooses them

8.  Landscaper-waters the plant

9.  Mechanical Engineer-sharpens pencils

10.  Electrician-turns off the lights

11.  Secretary-like teachers assistant

12.  Custodian-dusts the classroom, wipes down tables and shelves

13.  Sanitation Team (2)-picks up trash off the floor

14.  Technology Specialist (2)- one for computers and one for ipads, shuts down each day, ask them for help

15.  Hospitality Team (2)-Greeter, greets visitors or students as they come in each day

16.  Office Manager (2)-passes out papers

17.  Librarian (2)-straightens books and makes sure books are in correct bins

18. Zookeeper-takes care of class pet

19. Meteorologist=- Checks and Records the weather everyday

20. Clerk- Takes attendance

21. Messenger- Takes messages to others

From here, I created images for my kindergartners to relate back to since these are big words for them to read. 

Brain Smart Start

Last year my Kindergarten team wanted to make a change in the way they disciplined out students. We came across a book called Creating the School Family by Becky Bailey. It is a fantastic resource.

Since I will be out for a long time on maternity leave very soon, I wanted to create a resource for my sub on our Brain Smart Start routine. Here is what I came up with! I know that I will tweak it throughout the year but I think this is a great start.

Click Here to download a pdf copy. 

Pregnancy Pictures

Clint and I were so blessed to have one of our good friends, Joe Smith, come all the way from North Carolina to take some pregnancy pictures of us.

I really wanted some couple pictures of us when I was showing enough for the pictures to be cute.... but I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg to do it. It just so happened that I saw some pictures that Joe took of his family vacation and commented that I wish he were closer so that he could come take some pictures of us. Thanks to his fantastic parents who had frequent flier miles, Joe was able to fly down for the (very hot) weekend and snap about 1000 pics of us. From there, we weeded out the bad ones and he edited them and Joe recently told us that we have about 600 great pictures of us. (I am still trying to think of a great thank you gift for him..... Still thinking)

Here are just a few that I have received from him.

Our first stop was to my parent's house. My Niece, Ryleigh, was in town for the week and I really wanted to get some pictures with her. She is just too cute!

Here is a great picture of me and my dad.... a "Fly By" picture. For most of the pictures, we took multiple ones to make sure we captured a great shot. Well, my dad was in fly by mode and we took only one picture of the two of us. I think that it turned out great!

Joe and I returned to the house on Monday morning to take a few more pictures. I really love my parent's back yard. It was such a great place to take pictures.

I am so excited that I live so close to my parents. I know they are already Nana and Papa, but I am excited to see them be grandparents to MY children!

(In reality, this bow is really red. The power of digital photography!)

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE children's books. In fact, Blake's nursery is decorated with children's books and I had a fantastic Book Themed shower. I love this picture because the book I am holding is my dad's original Cat in the Hat book published in 1957. His name is written in the front in his handwriting from back then. Such a cool book to add to our collection! 

From my parents house we headed to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. It looks wonderful in the pictures on the website. But remember, we are in a drought here in Texas, that didn't stop us!

He is so tall... This was a hard picture to get. My body doesn't turn the way it used to!

Classic Shannon Look! 

On Sunday, we went up to Ellis Elementary (where I teach) and took some great pictures on the playground!

Here are a few "Belly" Pictures--

I think this one makes me look really pregnant! 

I know that it is a long post... But I am really proud of these pictures! I had to share as many as I could!