2011 brought many blessings!

Wow! What an outstanding year! There have been so many great things about this past year! I am so grateful for God's blessings. The greatest gift of course is my sweet blessing: Raegan Grace!

A year in review

2011

January
-snowed in Columbia

February
-we found out we were pregnant!!!!!

-we got to take a trip to the Dominican Republic with Sonic

March
- we had our first ultrasound at the doctors

- we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on March 8th



-My cousin Ashley had her precious baby boy Wyatt on March 29th

April
-I celebrated by 25th birthday

May
-Blakely Marie was born May 22nd

-we found out the gender of Baby Smallwood: it's a GIRL

June
-I finished my 3rd year teaching kindergarten!
July

-Peyton and Addison Bixler were born July 25th at 28 weeks

August
- started my 4th year teaching and my 1st year teaching First Grade

September
-Christian Kenneth was born September 18th

-Raegan Grace was born September 28th at 6:16pm 7lbs 14 oz 19.5 inches long

-Jack Tyler was born September 30th

October
-Raegan turned 1 month old!

-Raegan celebrated her first Halloween

November
-Drew celebrated his 26th birthday

-Raegan celebrated her First Thanksgiving

-Raegan Grace turned 2 months old on the 28th

December
-Raegan celebrated her first CHRISTMAS

-Raegan turned 3 months old

WOW! What a year to be thankful for! I am soooo thankful to God for all our sweet blessings this year! May 2012 be full of just as much love, excitment, and joy!

And I know I did a horrible job in 2011 with this blog... espcially since RG has been born, but my goal for 2012 is to do at least one a month, and that's not including playing catch up since RG's birth! :)

It's almost Raegan time!!!!!!!!

Oh my dear blogger reader friends, I have done a horrible job keeping up with this blog over the summer and since school started back. I'm so sorry!

But I write today with GREAT and EXCITING news. On Friday, I went to the doctor for my 37 week checkup and I was already 4cm dilated and almost completly effaced. The doctor decided based on my increasing blood pressure at each visit, that she would go ahead and induce me on Wednesday September 28th! So 5 days later! I couldn't believe my ears and honestly couldn't stop smiling ALL day!

So Friday, I spent my last unexpected day with my sweet first graders. They were sad. One little girl even told me she wasn't coming back to school until I came back. And even went on to say I wish you never got pregnant and I wish we were still in kindergarten (I looped with my babies from last year). It was sad and heart breaking all in one. I felt bad for my students, because although I have been preparing them that someone else would take over my class until the New Year I didn't quite expect it to happen so soon. So we said our goodbyes and I promised to visit them and send them pictures of the baby.

Friday, I ended up staying after school until 8pm. Although I had been prepared and had all my sub plans done, I still had some things I needed to do and that included going over my sub plans with my long term sub. Now my sub wasn't in the sub system yet, so I didn't want her to observe my class quite yet incase something fell through...so she never got a chance to see me teach :( . But this week she is going to go watch Angela teach (we basically do the same thing so at least she can see how Angela teaches). But anyway I met with my (hopeful) sub, fingers are crossed that the district gets her in the system so she can start very soon with my babies. I want them to have as much conistency as possible!

So that leads us to now... it's Tuesday...almost Wednesday. Last night Drew and I spent our last date night as just a family of 2 before becoming a family of 3 tomorrow. We had a lovely dinner and just enjoyed time together.

So tomorrow is the BIG D-DAY...delivery day! I am soooooooooo beyond excited and nervous all wrapped up in one. Although it's hit me that she is coming I don't honestly think it's truly hit me... Every night since Friday I wake up wondering if she is going to come before Wednesday. The doctor said that it was very possible she would come early on her own. But so far, no Raegan Grace. I am okay with her coming Wednesday. It gave me time to prepare mentally and gave me two days off work just to relax. I would love for her to come on her own tonight without being induced tomorrow morning, but God has His plan and I honor that.

I know tonight I am going to be a bunch of nerves. I won't be able to sleep. It's going to be soooooo exciting and anxiety is going to take over. We have to be at Lexington Hospital at 5am tomorrow morning...TOMORROW...wow...seems so weird to say that! But 5am TOMORROW morning and they will start the induction process and then at 7am the doctor will get there and break my water...and hopefully after not too long of a labor our little blessing, Miss Raegan Grace will make her apperance!!!!!!! I can't believe TOMORROW I will be holding our little girl!

God,

I just pray that you will be with me and Drew as we prepare for delivery and just give us strength as we enter into this next journey. God PLEASE oh PLEASE let Raegan be healthy and breathing on her own. Please just let everything go smoothly and safely for Baby girl and myself. Be with the doctors and the nurses as they take care of us both. God wrap Yourself around Raegan and just help her enter this world ready to do Your work.

God, help Drew and I as we bring Raegan into this world. Help us to be Godly parents. Help us surround her with Your love and presence. God be with her. Let her know You God, let her accept You into her life and let her be the Child of God You want her to be.

God, I am so thankful. SOOOOOOOOO thankful for this opportunity to have a family. A true family. God, I know in my life especially growing up I had so many hard times, so many times that I just wanted to give up, so many bad memories. I felt so unloved by my parents and God although I never felt love in my home, I felt LOVE by You God. You were always there for me when I needed You. You have let me grow into this woman that I am today. And I cannot thank you enough for Your many blessings. For allowing me to marry my sweet wonderful husband, for giving us our careers, our home..... and now for giving us a child. A child to raise in Your ways God. Thank you God. Thank you so much for blessing us. For even letting me have those hard times growing up, to all the moments leading to this special moment. You are God, You are AMAZING, You are so MARVELOUS and I cannot express my grattitude for what You have done for me in my life and by giving me this opportunity to create a family centered around You and Your love!!!
AMEN

Raegan Grace,

Mommy and daddy are so ready for you! We can't wait to hold you in our arms and surround you with love. You are already so dear to us in our hearts and our love for you can only grow from this point on. You are our everything and we are soooooo excited to meet you and introduce you to this life that God has given us. May God bless you always our sweet sweet little blessing from God!

Love always and forever, 
Mommy!

our 5th drs visit (25 weeks)

This past Thursday Drew and I had our 5th  doctor's visit (25 week checkup). We didn't get an ultrasound or anything just a regular check up. We did get to hear the heartbeat which was cool. I love hearing our little baby girl! It's so exciting! I am going to plan to get a 3D/4D ultrasound here in the next few weeks. Just got to pick my date I want to go!

In 3 weeks I will have my glucose test which I am not looking forward to, but as long as i pass I am good! :) She said that after that she would be starting my two week appointments. I can't believe this pregnancy is going by so fast!

Last time I had went to the doctor at 20 weeks I still hadn't even felt Raegan move yet. And it the last 5 weeks I've felt her move inside, and got to feel her move on the outside, and even Drew got to feel her kick him! It's amazing how much she's been doing in my tummy these past few weeks!

Cant' believe in less than 15 weeks she will be here! It's crazy!

I've been feeling great. No complaints. One day last week while at the beach my feet did swell but it evenutally went down. And it's been harder to sleep at night. I keep waking up for my bathroom breaks, weird dreams, or I just can't get comfortable. Glad it's summer, because I know I would be irritable if I had to go to work the next day. But summer is half way over, sad it's coming to an end soon. :( I've enjoyed not doing anything! :)

But anway, just wanted to give a mini update on the Smallwoods! Hope you all are well!

1st Shopping Spree for Raegan Grace

Yay! Now that we knew we were having a little girl I couldn't wait to go shopping for her! Laura and I decided to get lunch this past Saturday and see what we could find for my little blessing!

Before we left I made two rules for myself!
1. I could not buy anything for Raegan Grace unless it was on sale and a good deal

2. Unless it was for her nursery!

I made these rules because I didn't want to buy unnecessary stuff that I know I could get at a baby shower. And well the nursery is my domain so it was okay if I spent money on that!

My main goal was to look for crib bedding!

We met for lunch at the mall and went shopping at two children's stores at the mall, but left each place empty handed.

We then went to Babies-r-us and looked at several cute clothes there! We also looked at bedding, but I wanted something without a theme on it! I had a picture on my cell phone of what I was looking for or something similar but no luck! We honestly spent the majority of the time sitting (yes sitting) on the floor looking at Baby Books! And again we left Babies-r-us empty handed.

We went to Buy Buy Baby and looked around the entire store. It was Laura's first time there and we checked out some crib bedding (but still no luck, I loved the one I had found online too much to compromise on anything else) and talked baby the entire time! Eventually we made it to the glider section and literally ended up sitting in the gliders for 30 minutes or so just talking and relaxing! :) Wish we would have gotten a picture of that! Two pregnant women relaxing in the baby store! On our way out of the store I finally found some things I wanted to buy! I found a cute bib and pacifier to give to Drew for Father's Day coming up next month! They were so cute! I also found some closet organizers to seperate clothes by baby's age.

Baby Bib I will give Drew for Father's Day coming up! A father to be gift rather! :)

Pacifiers I got for Drew for a Daddy to be gift: they say I love Daddy and Daddy's Little Girl!

Now noone tell Drew what I got him! It's a suprise! I can post it on here because I know he never gets on here! :) Hehe!

the closet organizers I got for Raegan's closet

After we left Buy Buy Baby we went to Kohls because we knew they had some cute dresses there! I found her one dress and Laura bought Miss Raegan two little outfits! So sweet of her!

1 of the outifts Laura bought Miss Raegan (thanks Laura)

the 2nd outfit Laura bought Miss Raegan (thanks Laura)

the 1st dress I bought Raegan Grace!

I dropped Laura off and then I had forgotten I had wanted to go to Michaels to get Raegan letters to put above her crib. So I went back and go the letters to spell her name. I still need to go get the paint and supplies to decorate them with but at least I have the letters!

the letters I am going to decorate and hang above Raegan's crib!

Later that night (after a boat ride and dinner with my brother and husband) I came home and researched more crib bedding. I still LOVED the set I had found previously that was saved on my phone! So I ordered it! So Raegan Grace got some pretty pink, green, and white bedding! I can't wait for it to get here so I can finish decorating her room! :)

the crib bedding I fell in love with and ordered for Raegan Grace!

I had so much fun shopping with Laura for Raegan Grace! I can't wait to finish decorating the nursery and the baby shower's to come, etc! It's going to be so much fun!

Our 4th doctor's appointment!

Okay, so I know I just posted in my previous blog about our last doctor's appointment but I wanted to add some more details about the actually doctor's visit and what the doctor said and everything!

Because it was our 20 week appoinment we were so excited to find out if Baby Smallwood was a boy or girl! The anticipation was so exciting!

The ultrasound tech took lots of pictures and measurements of the baby and kept saying "Awww, look at him sucking his thumb" "awww, look at how his feet are cross!" etc. So the whole time I am laying there I am thinking to myself this baby must be a boy if she keeps saying that. So towards the end she was trying to determine the gender and the baby just would not turn so she could see. But I am still thinking she must know it's a boy because she wouldn't stop saying "HE!". After about 20 minutes or so she had me turn on my side and about 5 minutes later she asked us if we wanted to know the gender and we both said "YES!!!" She said "Its a...... GIRL!" Drew and I both looked at each other and smiled from ear to ear! And then I turned back to the tech and said "are you sure?" She was like "YES, 99% sure!" I was like "okay, I wasn't sure because during the whole ultrasound you kept saying "he"!" She apologized and said she never knows what to call the baby before the gender is revealed! I just had to laugh! Oh and to add to this Drew was tearing up. It was so cute and sweet! Baby Girl already has daddy wrapped around her finger!

She gave us a bunch of printouts of pictures of the baby and a DVD! It was so fun watching the DVD later at home! The DVD showed the baby moving and you could hear the heartbeat and everything! Basically everything we saw at the ultrasound!

We then had to wait to go see our dr. When she saw us and looked at all the photos the tech took she said "the baby looks perfect and everything is going well. Just like a texbook case!" That made me happy! She even said my placenta looked beautiful. Which honestly creeped me out a little bit, but that's the best thing a gyno dr can tell you right? LOL!

She asked me if I had felt the baby move yet. I said no! :( She said she was not concerned that some don't feel the first movement till 22 weeks! So I am waiting. She also said my placenta was in the front which is thickening that area and making it harder for me to feel. Not that I know where a placenta is normally located, but okay! :)

Hehe! But she said everything looked great and she was very pleased with our pregnancy and sent us on our way to go enjoy the news of being pregnant with a Baby GIRL! :)

Here are a couple pictures that I had posted on Facebook. I don't want to post any that "show" my baby girl! After all she did have her legs crossed most of the time! She is already so proper and I love her being modest! :)

RAEGAN GRACE at 20 weeks sucking her thumb (May 26th 2011)





20 weeks pregnant May 26th

Raegan Grace 20 weeks!

Baby Gender Reveal Party

The day we had been anticipating was finally here (Thursday May 26th: Our 20 week Doctor's appointment)! We were so excited to go the doctor's office to find out if Baby Smallwood was a Baby Girl or Baby Boy. When we finally got to go back for our ultrasound we were so excited!


Here's a picture of Drew and I before we got to go back and see the tech.

Drew and I waiting to get called at for our ultrasound at the drs office!

The tech took lots of pictures and measurements of the Baby. She kept pushing on my tummy to get the Baby to move so she could see if it was a boy or girl, but the Baby just would not move. I was about to start crying because I was scared we were going to leave the doctor's office without knowing if it was a boy or girl. Finally, the tech had me turn on my side. After about 5 minutues the tech asked us if we wanted to know if it was a boy or girl and we said "YES!!!" She said "It's a _____" We were so excited!


After we left the doctor's office we went to Build a Bear to make a bear for our little one. And we went to Party City to get balloons!


We then came home and finished decorating our house for our reveal party!


Here are some pictures of the decorations!

The banner I made! :)

All the goodies! And my decor of paper laterns! :)

the favor bags I made (pic below of what's inside them)

more paper laterns decor

Soon everyone started arriving and we had our special get together!


I had a voting station too so everyone could vote BOY or GIRL!
Here is a picture of our voting station...

vote BOY or GIRL

We also took pictures for TEAM BLUE and TEAM PINK of everyone's guesses!

TEAM BLUE!

TEAM PINK!

We also took many other pics of all the lovely people who came to share in this precious memory with us.

Katie Beth and Tracy!~

Cindy and me!

Hot Pot! :) Katie, me, Lisa (aka "Mom"), Brittany, and Emily ("aka "lil sis")

Tracy, me, and Katie Beth!

The boys! Ian, Patrick, Brendon, and Drew

Windsor Family (my kindergarten team) Cindy, Angela, Fran, and me!

Angela and Kayla

Angela, me, and Kayla!

all the girls!

all my pregnant friends! Kayla, me, Laura, and ReNee!

After we ate dinner we investigated some Old Wives Tales...


Here are the results!!!

The key test!

Carrying high or low test!

Ring Test!



Leg Test



It was a tie! 6 boy checks and 6 girl checks!

After we investigated the Wives Tales it was time for the reveal.


While everyone was at the party, my friend ReNee took everyone in the baby's nursery to video tape if they thought boy or girl. She then video taped the actually reveal too. And she put it all together to get...this spectaular video. I posted it on Facebook for all my friends to see if Baby Smallwood was a BOY or GIRL! YAY!!! 

Watch video below!

If you watched the video all the way through you would know that IT'S A GIRL! We had a giant box full of balloons, so when we opened the box out popped PINK Balloons! In the bottom of the box was the Build a Bear bear we had made for her. We named her bear Carolina Grace and on the birth certificate it says belongs to Raegan Grace!

About to open the reveal box!

and out popped...

PINK balloons!!!

It's a GIRL!!!





Proud parents!

This bear belongs to Raegan Grace!!!

isn't it adorable?

So if you didn't catch it in our video, we named our baby girl
RAEGAN GRACE!!!

Here is a picture of what was inside the favor boxes you saw earlier too! :)

From Baby Girl: Raegan Grace!

We are so excited!

It was also ReNee's birthday...sooo....

A birthday is not complete without blowing out candles on at least a cupcake! :)

yay! Happy Birthday ReNee! And thanks for making our AWESOME gender reveal video!

Thanks to all who came out to share in this Baby Gender Reveal with us! We had such an AMAZING time! The Smallwood's are so loved and Baby Girl Raegan Grace is so blessed! Thank you God for these special memories with the ones so dear in our hearts! :)