News Flash!!!!

I'm at long last excited about having a baby or becoming a mom!

I know that doesn't sound very good coming from someone who is pretty much six months pregnant but I am finally getting to where every time Tator kicks I find myself smiling...even every trip to the bathroom or when I find that I can't fit through some tight spots like before!

Many of my friends are pregnant with me and they have been so fantastic about posting pictures, writing blogs, or putting sweet comments about their pregnancy. I feel that I'm missing something because I think I should be in that same boat and start to wonder if something is wrong with me. Then those feelings build into the thoughts of "am I really ready, was this a mistake, or am I going to be a good mom" because I'm not as excited as I think I should be.

Well all of that pretty much stopped once Tator begin kicking...well once I figured out that those movements were not "gas" or cramps but actually my baby practicing its kicking skills! Maybe Tator will be a rider or barrel racer w/ that kicking! The best part of the feeling the movement wasn't me feeling it, it was when Zac felt Tator kick. That was a private emotional moment for me when he put his hand on my belly and actually felt the kicks. I'm not sure if he knew that I got emotional but that is when those thoughts I described above went away.

Now I find myself rubbing my belly periodically throughout the day and sometimes I stop my self from paying attention to the TV show or what people are saying to me (sorry!) to spend what I call my quality belly time w/ my baby! The world just stops and Tator and I spend a few moments together. I know we are together since this little turd nugget is attached inside me but this is like a mind-meld! I still feel that I'm not up to par with some of my friends and their excitement but it's coming. Now if I could only stop this expansion of my ass and thighs!

I also wanted to give a big shout out to Laura and little Lainey Ray who entered this world March 12!!!

What are your super powers?

What have you done today? I made a lung.


Halfway there! 20 weeks down on Valentines weekend!

In about one month my belly has stretched around four inches! This pregnancy is so interesting. I can't believe how my body is changing but with every day I find myself getting more and more attached and falling in love w/ Tator!

I don't think I've felt any kicks or hiccups because I can't tell if its gas or Tator but I'm sure feeling the effects of not being able to fit through tight places! It hit me yesterday at the grocery store when I tried to push the cart w/ my stomach while on the cell phone (Don't judge- thats one of the only times I have time to talk to people, however I hang up when I'm checking out!) ...it just wasn't happening anymore! Or it happens on accident as I turn to grab something and my belly pushes the cart into the lady in front of me! Forget attempting to curl up on the couch with jeans on. There's no way in hell that I can put one leg underneath me or sit w/ my knees up in front on me!

Then sadly, at only 20 weeks along, I have trouble trying my shoes. Now granted this was at the end of the day at a basketball game after a nice healthy meal of salsa, rice and bean and cheese burritos. My girls even noticed, "Coach Tully, are you having trouble w/ your shoes?" My only response was a look that said, "If you mention anything like that again, you will be running your heart out." Then being the loving affectionate kids they are, they suggest what type of clothes or shoes I need to invest in. Thanks, I'm sure I'll just pack up advice from high schoolers.

Speaking of clothes...I think the halfway point might be the time when I have to give in and where the maternity clothes. I have held off until now but I think the kids and other teachers are tired of me wearing the same three dress pants every week. However I think there should be a rule or an amendment to the dress code that allows pregnant employees to wear jeans whenever, because those still fit!

20 weeks down and about 20 weeks to go. I simply can't wait to feel this Tot kick and see what the next 20 weeks has in store for me.

5 Weeks Preggers

It is now 16 weeks into my pregnancy! I am definitely getting bigger...not fatter thank you very much! My belly is rounding out and I look like I ate a few too many burgers! Its amazing to see how my body has changed and as a former personal trainer, its kind of scary too! Its weird to find that I lose my breath doing things that was so easy before. After doing a little workout I'm huffing and puffing and would likely blow this house down if it wasn't for Zac reminding me about all the "medical" stuff going on in my body that is helping the baby. I think my dogs are liking our runs now since we have to walk every few miles so they get to sniff around, although I have cut back on the 4am runs since I would most likely drop dead of exhaustion at school right now if I kept those up!

16 Weeks Preggers

I recently took the plunge and went maternity clothes shopping, although I'm going to wait at least one or two more weeks before I pull out the pants! The belly band is going to be my best friend until then!

Even though I'm only 16 weeks into this, I already have advice for new pregnant moms and also for myself...EVERY PERSON is DIFFERENT and will look DIFFERENT and BEAUTIFUL NO MATTER HOW YOUR BODY CHANGES! I have to quit looking at pictures of women throughout their pregnancy and comparing myself to them. I am growing a miracle in my belly and even if I gain 50lbs or 15lbs, I am a flippin' all star for going through this...just like millions of women out there! Just please fitness gods...dont let my arms and ankles get flabby!

So for all you beautiful women and moms out there...take one from John Mayor...your body is a wonderland!

All Because Two People Fell In Love

In 7 months or so I will be a mom.

In 7 months, give or take a few days or weeks I will be a mom.

Around July 9th, 2011 I will be a mom.

I'M GONNA BE A MOM!!!!!

If you didn't get the point, Zac and I are expecting our first child July 9th. We are so excited, scared, overwhelmed (the trip to Babies 'R Us helped w/ that), anxious, and blessed.

On the weekend of October 24, we took a pregnancy test and it came out with that nice easy to read "-" sign. Well, I guess my ladies were getting bigger because I was getting fat, not pregnant. Not quite sure why I bought another test (or two) but on the morning of the 27th I decided to take the test again. This time it came out positive...so all day of coaching and teaching I couldn't wait to go home and double check. Well three tests later it was still positive so I went on a frenzy trying to figure out a cool way to inform Zac that he knocked me up.

When he got home late and tired from football practice I didn't let him walk three steps in the door w/out yelling at him to come help me sort out the laundry. If you know Zac, you know that he has a very practiced routine of dropping his stuff (which drives me crazy) and getting on his computer to wind down...for about 45 minutes. So you can imagine his delight of having to do laundry when he walks in the door at 7:30pm.

He walks into the bedroom and starts sorting out the clothes with me while talking about our day. (I had rushed the laundry so it would be done when he got home but it was still a little bit damp so you could tell he was wondering why I was in such a hurry to do laundry.) One of the last things to hang up was this super small baby hoodie...Zac picks it up, analyzes it, inspects it, then his eyes get wide and he looks at me, "Really?" After I nodded yes, for the just the 3rd time I've known him, his eyes fill w/ tears, and he now knows that his swimmers are resemble Michael Phelps.

So now we are 9 weeks along and just watching the changes that my body and mood is going through. I can not wait to try and be half the mom that my Mum is to me. We'll keep you posted for the next 7 months!

Catching up...

I feel like I could write pages and pages of what has been going on the past 3-4 months. However it would probably take me half that time to do so. Therefore here is a quick glimpse of what my life has been like.

Oh how fast the days go by. It seems like yesterday when I walked away from coaching at Texas Lutheran University to coach and teach at a small town in the hill country. Coming from a family of teachers I knew that teaching was anything but easy but I was prepared for getting there around 7:30 every morning and leaving right after practice to home in time to fix my loving husband dinner and then take my dogs for a walk and perhaps clean my house. (Please hold the laughter out of respect for me.) Instead I get up around 4am to get a quick run in before I get to the school at 6:15ish for morning practice and hopefully get home between 6 and 8pm after having vball or bball practice and possibly catching up on special education paperwork. In my next life I'm teaching kindergarten and not coaching. Anyways the past few months have been a whirlwind of tears, laughter, yelling, and a few thrown clipboards.

I have coached and taught next to a great person who has taught me what loyalty and caring is all about. Keri is the type of person that will never do anything half way. She will put forth 110% at whatever is put in front of her. Its actually quite draining to watch how hard she works. We had met three years ago when we both had moved to San Antonio (following our husbands of course) and I became her assistant coach for a club vball team, and since then we have kept in touch and now became close friends. Its pretty scary to see how alike we are...I'm sure the students love that too! I had the honor of being beside her as she coached the varsity vball team to the 3rd round in playoffs, broke the school win record, and all as the 4th head coach in four years! Oh and along w/ that she has turned around the special education department at the high school. Like I said I'm tired just writing a very brief paragraph about her.

Now its basketball season and I'm realizing that my temper didnt go away...it has just been in hibernation for a few years. Its great to coach a game that has always had a very big chunk of my heart. Now if only I could teach a few of the girls the difference between offense and defense. Then maybe I could move on to what traveling is. (I'm not kidding about the last two sentences.) In just four games I have been told by the refs to calm down. Well if you know me, you know that they might have a problem on their hands! But bball has just started to theres plenty of time for me to learn to relax and take it easy on the refs. You can start praying for me now.

As for Zac, he helped coach his football team to the first round of playoffs and a winning season. I believe that this was just the 3rd year that they had made the playoffs in school history. He seems to be liking it so far but I know he still yearns for the caliber of athletes that college has to offer.

It has been a surprise for both of us teaching special education. I'll just say that its amazing what they do not tell you during your masters program. We both come home scratching our heads and wondering just how some of these kids have reached this level of high school. Not to say that students w/ disabilities cant achieve what "typical" students can...its just mind blowing that some programs just pass them on just to get the students out of their hair. Its a huge mess and we need to change it but thats another blog another time.

So in closing I'm saying thanks to all the teachers and coaches out there. I do not think that you are given enough credit for what you do. I can not find the words to honor you the way you deserve.

Home...on the range...

Over the 4th of July I got to share my wonderful home w/ Zac's younger half-brother Sam. It was quite an education for Sam as well as for me.


I have always been very proud of where and how I grew up. I might be biased thinking that everybody needs to take a few months and live in the country...either on a ranch, farm, or out in the middle of nowhere where you cant just run into town for whatever you want. However, like I was saying, I think it might have been more of an education for me than for Sam.

We told him that there was not going to be any cell phone service and the internet, if we actually had it, was going to be pretty slow. Also there was no staying up all night playing video games or watching TV since everyone got up at a decent time to work. Well we let took pity on the kid and actually let him sleep in until 8 or 8:30 every day and even let him play video games during the breaks. I know, I know, how cruel can we be?



Oh and we took him to a skatepark so he would trust us and think we are cool before we really let him have it. As the week went on I learned just how naive he was. I kept asking myself if it was because he was from the city or just didnt listen because like most kids these days, they have ipods on and instead of looking at the world they are texting. Here are a few things I learned over the week...
1. Hauling wood causes pimples.
2. Work causes pimples.
3. Rent is only $150-200 a month where he comes from.
4. Making $15,000 a year will put him on the same level of some rich people.
5. Only football players have to meet a certain grade point average in order to play.
6. In college only athletes get scholarships.
7. Speaking of college...athletes get by w/ doing nothing and having bad grades.
8. You can still play sports in HS even if you go to Juvie.
9. Taking 2 showers a day (one at night before bed and another in the morning when you wake up) is NOT a waste of water.
10. Wearing a cap messes up guy's hair.
11. Wearing a cap does not protect you from the sun.
12. Having a bull calf testicles thrown on your leg will induce girly screaming.
13. Using Shampoo for "curly" hair will actually make your hair curly.
14. Dallas is in fact located in the center of Texas.
15. Arizona borders Texas.
16. It only take a couple of hours to drive 500 miles.
17. Lubbock...well its somewhere in Texas.
18. Instead of taking care of our cattle...why dont we just go to Costco.
19. Corn is not apart of almost every food.
20. Water is limitless.
21. Why dont we get our water from the tanks like they have in the city? Its limitless...its automatically fills up when low.

Here are few things Sam had to do this week of hell: Took down fence. Added more t-posts to another fence. Put up cedar posts to the panel fence. Picked up wood around the field. Fed and moved cattle. Branded and castrated 30 plus calves. Poor kid...he had to get up around 8:30 and work until 6 or 7pm. Not to worry though, we did feed him three meals and gave him about 2-3 hour lunch break. He commented one time that it was ironic that we had all this work to do on the week he visited. He just didnt understand that it was like that on a ranch EVERY DAY! It blew his mind that the last time my parents took what people define as a vacation was back in 2003 when we went to Cancun for...wait for it...FOUR days (two of which were traveling to and from).

I had thought that maybe, just maybe he actually appreciated this other life style. But once we got back to Texas and he went home to the city, I read his facebook and found that "New Mexico f!@#$%^&* sucked, especially on a ranch." "Working since 10am is so tiring (that must have been the day it rained)." And that "We (my family) were redneck-ish, dumb, and narrow minded." Now can I really get upset that a 14 year old kid said those things? Yes I can, but I shouldn't because he was yelled at by everyone for everything. There are so many "things" that need special attention on a ranch or farm and safety is always an issue so I'm sure Sam got his full of us harping on him and needed to vent.

Now for the big shocker...even bigger than finding out that carrying wood causes pimples...he actually wants to come back. Or at least thats what hes telling his parents. I will let you know if my dumb redneck family allows this city kid back to the ranch. Maybe next year he'll understand more and staying out on a ranch in the middle of nowhere will actually be cool.






He has no idea that we are about to go "old school" on castrating...

Now he does...

Not sure if you can see it but my cousin threw a Rocky Mountain Oyster on Sams leg...this is where you hear a 14 yr old boy screaming like a 4 yr old girl.

Babysitting

We headed to Plano last Thursday for one of our friends wedding. Of course when we are in Plano it usually means late nights, friends, laughter, and hangovers! This time though I had the chance to babysit Emerson Grace, the daughter of one of our friends. I love this lil one probably because our bdays are only one day apart and just 'cause I happen to love her parents!

This was my first time to change a diaper and spend an entire day with a child under three. I'm not like most girls who adore and always want to hold, play, etc... with kids. Now dont think I do not like kids (can you imagine how my teaching/coaching profession would work out if I didn't like those turd nuggets???), I just like letting kids get to know me on their own time.

I have to say though...Emmi got to know me and I fell in love with her!

I told Emmi the morning we babysat her, "You are going to make or break me today."

"When are you having kids?" Zac and I get this question alot, pretty much since we were engaged. Actually some people asked my mom if I was pregnant since I was getting married. Thanks for the faith people! Well since Zac thinks that his lil clock is ticking we have been talking about it more and more. BUT since we are both coaches and planned our wedding around football I'm 99% sure we will have to plan having kids around vball, bball, and fball! I bet those of you who have kids are laughing because you can never plan kids but you know how I am w/ a challenge!