Just Another Day

We are so blessed! So many of our friends and family members came to meet Vera and celebrate with us. And there are still so many people we can’t wait for Vera to meet…

Vera Lorraine Bryson entered our lives on April 13, and our world has changed forever.

Bill and I headed to Virginia on that Saturday afternoon with plans to see a movie. The truth is, I’d been having mild contractions for nearly two days, and I wasn’t sure how close to actual labor I was. We thought that a movie in Virginia was a safe bet since we’d be close to the hospital. It turns out it was a fantastic decision; my water broke about 2 minutes before we got to the theater.

At 11:35 pm I heard our sweet baby’s first sounds, and seconds later I knew we had a little girl. It was absolutely incredible when they placed her on my chest. She just stared up at me with her big eyes… sigh. Even now I can’t describe the wonder of that moment with words. 

I was blessed with a very calm and safe delivery. I have great respect for doctors, but let me tell you about the people who do the real work of delivering babies… the nurses are AMAZING!

We ended up spending three days in the hospital – the last of which Vera had to spend under the billi lights to clear up her jaundice.

Bill was able to take a week and a half off of work, so once home the three of us snuggled down inside during the winter that didn’t want to end! We could literally spend hours mesmerized by this sleepy little baby.

During the month of March I was showered with kindness, generosity, and love by friends, family, co-workers and my students. What an overwhelmingly wonderful feeling it was to have so many people take time from their busy lives to celebrate with me.

Several dear friends gathered at my sister’s house early in the month. It was the perfect chance to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in a long time and some that I get to see regularly. My favorite part of the shower was a video April had made where she interviewed Bill about our upcoming arrival. He answered questions ranging from the number of hours a baby sleeps to what he was most excited about as a dad. We enjoyed delicious food and lots of visiting. I loved it!

The following week my co-workers threw another shower. Again, I could hardly believe the people that were willing to stay after a long day of work to come and share in my joy. Around 30 women (and one guy – my principal) met in the library. It had been decorated with our same jungle theme, and we enjoyed more delicious food before I opened a ton of amazing gifts. I continue to be so grateful to have the chance to work at North Woods with so many amazing people.

At the end of the month I walked my kids down to Spanish class and headed back to my room for my prep. About 5 minutes later, the para that works in my room came in and said, “I don’t know what they did, but it must’ve been bad. They’re getting sent back to your room.” At this point I was close to livid. Never had this class done something so “naughty” that they’d been sent back to me. I was a bit dumbfounded, and my blood pressure was rising when the class walked in and yelled “Surprise!”. They had planned a baby shower for me with the help of two incredible class moms. We enjoyed delicious cupcakes and punch while making predictions of when the baby would arrive, voting on whether they thought it’d be a boy or girl, and giving name suggestions. what fun!

I cannot say enough how amazing and even humbling it was to have so many people show their love for me and for our baby.

This past week marked 14 years as an official couple for Bill and I. Where on Earth has this time gone?

Our years so far together have been incredible. I know that we can’t even begin to imagine how different (and even more wonderful) our lives are about to become. I am so grateful to be able to experience the world with Bill. He keeps finding ways to surprise me. He’s always trying new things and keeping life interesting. He challenges me to step out of my comfort zone. He supports me when I need it the most. Here’s to the first 14 years and ’til the end of time.

Until recently, I would’ve told you that this winter is moving fast. Now, with a forecast of 10-12 inches of snow overnight, I’m feeling as though the snow may stay around forever. I know it’s good. It’ll help the lakes and the land, and we’ve been so short of snow the past years. But, I’m ready for spring!

That said, much of the winter has been quite enjoyable. Bill and I got into a nice routine of getting out to ski on the lake. (That is, until the temperatures dipped well below 0 and then I got bronchitis…) But, with all the snow coming, I’m confident we’ll get back out.

We both ended up with a snow day early in January – though I guess I’d call it more of a rain day. The roads were glare ice, so we were ecstatic to not have to drive anywhere! We took advantage of the extra time to get our crib assembled and to start consolidating “Tikey’s” things into one area of the house.

Cold and snowy days are perfect for meeting up for some coffee or cocoa with friends (and their new babies!)

The sun is coming back earlier and staying with us later. So, despite the cold and snowy mornings, I’m often greeted with this gorgeous view across the play ground at my school.  

When the weather is not conducive to outdoor play, Bill and Kate turn our living room into a gymnastics arena.

The winter festival in Ely makes good use of the snow, so it’s always fun to wander through and see what the artists come up with. The dragon was a hit this year, though I think my favorite sculpture was Santa Claus.

This morning, before we’d even rolled out of bed,  my husband said, “We should make peanut butter twists today.” I think that guy is a genius!

We’re keeping busy soaking in life – enjoying sleeping in on Saturday mornings and dreaming of all that’s ahead.

With lots of changes coming in our lives, one aspect Bill and I want to take more control over is our spending. If you know either of us well, you probably know that we actually do live a pretty modest lifestyle already. We love our house, but it is not fancy. We both drive used cars. I’m happy to wear maternity clothes that I have so generously been borrowed – while Bill would still be wearing his high school wrestling t-shirts if they hadn’t been packed away years ago! Still, we like to indulge in movies, and it’s always easier to just eat out when dinner isn’t planned, and above all else we love to travel. So, these were the things we decided to tackle during what we named “Frugal January”. (Yes, we could’ve worked a bit harder on the name – but it just stuck.)

Anyway – we committed to eating our dinners at home, watching movies from the collection we own, and buying only the necessities throughout the month. We did really well, and it helped clean out our cupboards a bit! It was fun to try to be creative with our meals and to think about how very little we actually needed to buy to get through 31 days. We even packed a dinner every Tuesday night to eat at Bill’s office before heading to our pre-natal classes… full bellies and no tipping required!

Granted, we’re now 10 days into February, and we’ve been out to eat and even ordered a couple of non-essentials. But for the most part, I have to call our little experiment a success. If nothing else, we were reminded of how lucky we are for all that we already have. And I think we’ve even created some better habits.

Bill and I have talked about kids for a long time… a really long time. We are coming up on our 14th year together, and kids were part of the discussion way back in the beginning. I think as a young couple we just assumed that dating, marriage, and kids were all part of everyone’s plan. As the years kept moving forward, though, we did a pretty decent job of following our own time frame. After all, it took us 6 years to get married – it seems appropriate that we waited another 7 for a baby.

Over these past years we’ve had incredible adventures together – moving around the globe, creating a home, new jobs, traveling, and establishing our own traditions. It’s been a wonderful, wild ride, and I can’t deny that we were nervous to alter it all with the biggest life changer of all. But once we made the decision, I felt a great sense of relief. We have been so lucky to experience the love of being part of family – and truly, time with my nieces and nephews has been more fun and rewarding than I would have ever thought. I can’t imagine a life where we would’ve denied ourselves the second part of the family experience.

We’ll definitely start out like every other new parent in the world… sleepless, confused, lost, and 100% in love with our baby. We already are! We’ll find ourselves doing the things we swore we’d never do… We’ll be more strict that we’d imagined… We’ll let a lot of things go that we used to be appalled by. I know that we will never, ever be the same once this baby arrives. This is the very thought that scared me to death before I started walking around with this little human inside of me. Now it’s the thought that makes me happiest in life.

So, as long as this is a rather sappy post, I might as well mention that I am married to the most  wonderful man. I can’t wait to see him as a daddy. He’s been incredible these past months (and always). I can’t believe he’s mine!

Click below for the recipe I use to make the peanut butter twists I grew up on. Enjoy!

aune family peanut butter twists

PS. For my “glaze” I just mix together a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter, about a cup of powdered sugar, and some milk or half and half to make it runny. Drizzle that over the cooled PB twists and just TRY to not eat the whole pan! 🙂

On Thursday, MEA weekend began. It’s hard to believe that our first long weekend of the school year has already found us! The year has been fast and furious but overall really great. I wasn’t even feeling like I needed the break as I most often have in the past! That said, once Bill and I hopped in the car and headed to Duluth Wednesday night, I was ready for a few days to just get away and relax!

Wednesday evening found us out for dinner and then off to watch Argo. It was back to our hotel for a good night’s sleep and a morning spent watching Homeland before heading to Caribou to enjoy hot chocolate and some reading time. We also enjoyed lunch out and a walk around the mall before heading up to Lutsen Thursday afternoon.

We met up with the Glass family at Caribou Highlands – having found a great deal on this lovely resort! We enjoyed some pool time and a little ping pong before Jesse and April headed out for dinner, and Bill & I snuggled up with Sawyer and Laurin for the evening.

The next morning we headed out on a hike before driving up to Grand Marais.  It was a gorgeous day, and there were people out taking advantage of it! We even ran into this friendly moose wandering through town (and handing out suckers) before we walked down to the lake to do a bit of rock throwing. (Bill, by the way was a rock star when it came to skipping rocks. He even had his own fan club finding perfect skippers – I’m not kidding… a lady we didn’t know!)

We headed back through Tower on Saturday morning in order to get a visit in with Grandpa Poderzay and my mom. It was the perfect end to our little getaway. Then it was time to get home and do a little housework before crashing for a movie.

There’s nothing like a long weekend!