Our 7th Christmas Tree Lane Together!

We had so much fun with all of our family at Christmas Tree Lane!

It was a big crowd! 

Hales Family

Grandma Tatum

Steven Tatum family

Stoker family

Eastin family

Jennifer Robinson and her cute little Nathan

Kevin and Ashley

Tyson, Chloe, and me

and friends!!!

It was fun to catch-up, take pictures, enjoy treats and Me n' Ed's, and just soak it all in. I forgot my camera but my mom got some cute pictures:) 

We're doing it again on Tuesday, December 13th! 

It's always really nostalgic for Tyson and I because one of the first times we ever hung-out was walking Christmas Tree Lane together and we've done it every year since! Last night was our 7th year walking the lane together! SEVEN years! Crazy. :) We always talked about how fun it would be to bring along our kids someday and this year we had our sweet, tiny, cutie pie Chloe with us! It was perfect!

I went to The Nutcracker ballet with Sarah Lopez Thanksgiving weekend and it really got me into the festive, holiday spirit! I loved it! It got me thinking about taking Chloe to things like that when she's older. 

Christmas will be so different this year having little Chloe to share it with! We're excited to see her reactions to things. We plan to take her to see Santa this weekend. lol. :) 

In other Holiday news...I was called to help do the Dry Creek Ward Christmas party! It's going to be so nice! I'll have to post pictures once it's all said and done!

Lots of Holiday pictures to be posted soon!!! 

I'm anxious to have 2 weeks off for Christmas to celebrate! I'm hoping to relax, go running, make some holiday treats, and catch-up on needed sleep and organizing! After Christmas, I'll have a new assistant, Lara Dill, helping me out with my morning preschool class. She's a Child Development major from BYU and has experience doing in-home preschool!! I'm so excited to have the help!! Plus, I have a Buchanan High school student volunteer helping me out on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in my afternoon class! YES, I said VOLUNTEER!!! Literally a gift from heaven! Out of nowhere after a busy, long day I received a call from Holly Nef, the BHS student, asking if she can do community service for me. I was ecstatic! Of course you can help me out...and for free!?! Sweet!!! Little did I know, she will be in this Community Service Leadership class until the end of the school year!! Wahoo! Such a blessing!

Christmas time is here and I'm already feeling pooped! :/

It's that time of year again. Some days I feel so bah humbug! There are times when I wish I could fast forward over Christmas. I say that...but most days i do still LOVE IT. Christmas really is my favorite time of year. I have always loved Christmas and the Spirit it brings... it's the added anxiety and business that I could do without sometimes. And now, there is always a little bit of sadness because we lost our first baby at Christmas. Tatum would due 2 this year.
I feel like i just need to slow things down.
I like to keep busy...but, the last couple days it hit me that I am overwhelmed!  I think I've hit the point where my schedule can't take on any more and I probably need to cut something out.

Too much to do and too little time! 

I've already decided that I got a bit too ambitious with the preschool this year. I was naive to think that I could juggle 3 classes(and some of them back to back), an infant, a clean house, meals, church callings, my marriage, getting fit, all while having perfect hair(lol. I'm kidding of course), clothes clean and pressed, make-up on, bathrooms clean, cars clean, floors clean, and my fridge and cupboards stocked... um, just the infant part could keep me completely occupied. I was crazy! At the same time though, it was my crazy schedule that kept me from having time or energy left over to be sad about losing our baby the last couple years. My crazy busy schedule was what saved me. So, i think i was still in that frame of mind when I came up with my preschool plans for the year.

I can't believe how big chloe is getting! It kind of makes me sad that my tiny little baby isn't so tiny anymore already. I can't get enough of her. She is such a little doll. Such a happy, smart little baby. Another reason why I was crazy to take on so much! (I'm still on my, "Too much to do and TOO little time!" rant) I miss my baby every second I'm not with her...and sometimes i'm too tired to do what I want to with her once she's finally all mine. On a typical day, I'm done and ready to devote all my attention to Chloe around 4pm...and by then I AM BEAT!
So, maybe i need to take a year off next year?? And start again when Chloe is 2 turning 3 and I could start out with a younger 3 year old class. ??? I know Chloe would LOVE that!
...All just things that i am thinking about...
I feel like i need to hurry-up and make-up my mind all ready, though...I know parents are always anxious to hear how many students I'm accepting and times. The pressure is on. Decisions, decisions...

And it just dawned on me... when will we be ready to have another baby?? And how will i balance THAT when the time comes? scary. How do moms do it all?

Highlight of My Summer

I follow a blog that asked it's followers to post about the highlight of their summer. It got me thinking about this summer and what I'll remember. This summer probably wouldn't look too exciting to an outsider. This is the first summer since I've met Tyson that we haven't traveled or gone to concerts or on road trips, we haven't shopped til' we dropped, or done anything very extravagant. Somehow though, this has been one of the best summers of my life. This summer I was a mommy. Our sweet little Chloe is 5 months old. I waited, what felt to me like, a long time to finally get to have a sweet baby. I have loved every minute being home with her. We've kept it local this summer with trips to the pool, play dates, 4th of July fireworks, strolls through the park, we fed the ducks, went to the movies, attended Clovis Farmer's Market on Friday nights, and just had a nice lazy family summer. It's hard to pick a highlight but I think I just loved being out on strolls with Tyson and Chloe. It didn't matter where we were. It was the company that was the highlight this summer.  ;)

Am I really FINALLY Full-Term?!

Tyson and I are SO anxious and SO excited! We can hardly wait to bring Chloe home!
I've got one last finishing touch(the curtains) to put up in the baby's room and then it's DONE! I'm excited to blog that! I've done a little bit of decorating around our new place as well and will post a couple pictures soon. :)
I'm SO thankful to have 2 preschool subs taking over for me for 6 weeks. My friend Nicole Jensen will be covering Wednesdays and Fridays and my friend Mercy Shekklanian will be doing Tuesdays and Thursdays!
Now that I'm 37 weeks I'm a bit nervous but mostly just happy that the end is here!!

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

It really is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!
Tyson and I are thrilled! We'll be moving in a couple days after Christmas! What a great way to spend this holiday.... I was really hoping and praying that we find the right house, at the right place, within our budget before the end of the year and it's actually happening! We really needed this and we just feel SO blessed! I know that Heavenly Father and my little angel have been watching out for me and wanting me to be filled with joy this Christmas! I'm feeling so grateful!
It's amazing to me how much we've been blessed. We've been patiently saving and waiting for the right time to buy and it seems as if it's all paid off!
We'll be saying goodbye to our cute little 2 bedroom apartment. I have honestly really loved living here. We have out grown it at this point but we really made it into a cute little home the past couple years. I'm thinking our new place might look a bit empty for a while until we can upgrade a few things. For example, our current kitchen table, while we love it, is a little bar height 4-seater. We're thinking we'll just stick our bar stools up to the bar in our new kitchen and eventually invest in a new large kitchen table. I'm excited to scout out furniture I love now that I have a place to furnish!
Harland Ranch was having a CLOSEOUT special going on for the end of the year. We got our upgrades, stainless steel appliances and Washer/Dryer for free! Plus, they are covering all closing costs! They also gave us a 3.75 fixed interest rate for 30 years. This home is just right for us. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, 2 car garage, and 1, 450 sq.ft. My favorite part is the KITCHEN! And I LOVE the master bathroom and closet!! Our little nursery will be absolutely adorable and we are already planning getting the garage outfitted to be a play/project area for my little class. We plan to put down carpet, heating, air conditioning, and lighting. It will be just perfect! I only plan to do one class next year with 6 students 3 or 4 days per week and just 3 hours per day. I found out today that one of my students for next year is building a house across the street from me! I think almost all of my students next year live really close by. We checked out the Club House, the trails, the Olympic size pool, the parks, and all of the amenities today and we think it will be a really fun year for us and our new baby in 2011! They even do a movie night in the amphitheater during the warmer months and they have a Saturday morning Farmer's Market! How cute is that! We are just beaming about how the Lord's hand in our life has led us to this point and blessed us so much!

House Hunting

We're still house hunting! It's pretty exciting! I'm really hoping we find something soon. I'd love to be moved into a new house before we have our new baby. It would be SO fun to just start fresh and get the new nursery ready and design my little preschool. :D! We're checking out Harland Ranch tomorrow.

Other news:
My brother Mark comes home from his mission on Tuesday!!! We are thrilled! I can't wait to see him! He's a doll!!! He's been serving in Guadalajara, Mexico. What a wonderful Christmas present!! Only one Hales will be missing this Christmas, my youngest brother John, he recently left on his mission to Canada.

Here's a super quick pregnancy update:

I've been diagnosed with Thrombophilia, a blood clotting disorder and another blood disorder that prevents me from absorbing folic acid and other vitamins. Not the best news in the world to hear but still glad that between my midwife, OBGYN, perinatal specialist, and regular practitioner I've been tested for everything under the sun and that they found this. So I was prescribed blood thinners and a couple of prescription strength folic acid vitamins and other vitamins along with my regular prenatal vitamins.
Also, my midwife and perinatal specialist both feel that this blood disorder had nothing to do with Tatum's death. They still feel that it was the knot and not a blood clot or a vitamin deficiency. Which was good news for me. I never want to have to hear that there was something I could have done to prevent losing her. It was an accident, it was sudden, and there's nothing that could have changed that. She was a big, healthy, beautiful baby and just happened to have an umbilical cord knot and just happened to pull it tight the day before I delivered.

I can't believe that it's been a year, Christmas Eve marks the day that I delivered her. I tried so hard to prepare for Christmas this year....anticipating a melt down....it's hard because I correlate all things Christmas with the traumatic experience of finding out she was gone and then being induced and prepped for delivery and then delivering our sweet baby stillborn. Holding her. Saying goodbye to her. Being wheeled out of the hospital without a baby. And then Christmas day. And then the day after Christmas we started preparation for burial, the graveside, picking out a coffin, picking out flowers, coming up with a program, letting people know, etc, etc, etc. Christmas. It just all reminds me of all of the preparation that went into preparing for her and preparing to bring her home. All the shopping, the nursery, the Christmas tree, the lights, and it doesn't help that I'm pregnant again and again and this year feels a lot like last year only now I have more anxiety. Then there was New Year's and then FINALLY the graveside on January 3. Tyson and I learned the hard way that if you have a loved one pass during the holidays all of your burial plans end-up postponed. No one has funerals around Christmas, therefore they all wait until after Christmas and the county offices are closed during the holidays and it became an ordeal trying to get a death certificate as well. Having the burial behind us was such a relief! We needed that day to come so desperately to allow us to begin to move on. This is turning into a really sad post.

On lighter note, I just want to say that I'm really excited about our new baby coming in March. I just really need to get over this first holiday hump without Tatum, while trying to remember her and how she has impacted our lives.
Tyson and I are house hunting and actually put an offer on a house last week and we're waiting to hear back from the bank. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be moving into our very own house!!! We're hoping for the best but we're prepared to keep looking if someone else had a better offer than us.
It really is a happy and exciting time for us and I know that with this holiday season will come much joy and peace!

Wishing all of you peace, hope, joy, and faith in Christ! Merry Christmas! xoxoxo

Ultrasound!

We met with our perinatal specialist again today.
We had a special Ultrasound that looked at EVERYTHING! Our little baby girl is doing really well! Everything is normal and healthy! She is cute as a button in her 2D pictures! We can't wait to met her and see how much she looks like Tatum.
I'm 20 weeks and she weighs 11 ounces. We're just SO happy!

Here are our name ideas:

Emmerson Ivy
Ivy Grace
Chloe Emmerson
Tayley Jade

Which is your favorite? Tyson and I are having a hard time with names.

Elder Hales x 2

I just posted about Mark and realized I couldn't post about Mark without recognizing my youngest brother Elder John Taylor Hales! John is also serving a mission! John just left for his mission a few months back. He's serving in the Toronto West, Canada mission! He's LOVING it so far! John is one of the most enthusiastic kids I know when it comes to doing what's right. All of his letters are really upbeat and filled with stories! Mark and John's missions overlapped so unfortunately for the boys they haven't seen each other in quite some time and won't be seeing each other for another couple years. They're just about 18 months apart in age. It's been a really neat experience for us having both my younger brothers out at once! Here are a few pictures of Johnboy.

Before John even left on his mission he baptized our friends, Mercy and Michelle. He also baptized another friend named Chloe.

Off he went to the MTC

His Address

With Bishop and Sister Haar at his Farewell Party!

Saying goodbyes

Mercy and Michelle's baptism back in February!

Elder Mark Cameron Hales

Mark is COMING HOME!
Well, not for a couple months but I can hardly wait!
Mark has been serving faithfully in the Guadalajara, Mexico mission for the past two years! We love him so much and are so proud of him! He's lost himself in the Lord's work! He can hardly speak or spell in English anymore! Lol! And he has the darkest Farmer's tan I've ever seen!! Lol! We might as well call him Marcos. ;)
His letters are always fun to read every week and they put a smile on my face!

The wheels on the Bus...

All in White for Baptism

Night Rider!

Country Livin'

His only follower that day:(

Middle of Nowhere!

I never update this thing! :/

Things are going really well! We feel really blessed!
I'm 5 months pregnant and we're expecting another baby girl in March. My actual due date is March 20 but I have a feeling that I may deliver a couple weeks early if I get the final OK from my Doctors.
Life has definitely had its ups and downs for the last 10 months. I'm just so happy to have the knowledge I do about life after death, forever families, and our Savior! My testimony and Tyson have been my rocks this past year! I've always been blessed with a soft heart and faith just seems to come easily for me. I think that's one of the only reasons I've been surviving the trial of losing Tatum so well. I had plenty of moments where I had that "ugly cry", the kind of cry you just can't control or stop. But I've mostly had peace and understanding about it all.
For some people it might have been a hard decision to decide to get pregnant again right after a loss but for us it was an easy decision. We wanted to start our family when we had Tatum and now we want to continue our family. Getting pregnant right away, sort of helped me keep my sanity, too. I'm sure for some couples they might feel the opposite about this but I didn't want to postpone trying again.
We were able to get pregnant at 5 months post-partum. This pregnancy has been a little bit easier as far as the morning sickness goes but I've had to take it easy a lot more. My body just isn't as strong as it was the first time around and it just seems to be a bit worn down. I just didn't really have time to get back into shape or tone anything up after having Tatum.
I'm anxious to have this baby and get back into shape, though! I want to run and have a normal exercise routine! Unfortuneatly, for now, I've been put on limited activity "bed rest". I can still work, which is nice because my job isn't physically strenuous and it's only 3 hours per day and 4 days per week. I just can't exercise, lift things, or doing any sort of physical activity, at least until the end of the month. My Doctors think I have a low-lying placenta right now and we're hoping for it to rise as the pregnancy progresses. Until then, I'm advised to have limited activity. It's pretty boring, to say the least but I'm following all of my Doctor's orders. :)
I'm just hoping and praying for the best and I'm confident that there's next to no chance that I would have another full-term stillbirth due to an umbilical cord knot. The chances are slim to nothing that it could happen again. Plus, I'm being monitored much more closely this time.
In fact, just today I was at Quest Diagnostics having my blood drawn and tested for multiple preventative things. They took approximately 10 viles of blood from me today. 10! I stopped counting after 7 because it was making me light headed but, it was a lot! All I know is that I feel I'm getting the very best care and things seem to be going well so far.

Tyson and I are still having the hardest time coming up with a name that we love for this baby girl!

??????

Any suggestions? I've already had a million suggestions and lots are cute. Nothing has stuck yet, though. We'll see.

Monterey Bay, 3-Year Anniversary!

So many Sea Lions!! We loved this trip! The weather was perfect and it wasn't too crowded. It was such a relaxing trip!









Tyson took this pic of me watching the Sea Lions.
They were everywhere!



The Aquarium was so cool! I hadn't been there since I was a kid. I loved it.








We got some great pictures at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! These jellyfish were beautiful!

I need to get back into blogging!

I'm terrible about updating this thing! Lately, I upload all of my pictures onto facebook because it's so darn easy! I really want to have my photos tell a story though. I think that blogging is such a neat way to share experiences with people. I just need to designate time for it, I suppose. Is it just me or are there TOO many things that require a designated time? Exercise, grocery shopping, household chores, lesson plans, callings, blogging, etc. Some day I'll figure it all out! ;)

Tyson and I just celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary on July 27. We spent a few days in Monterey to celebrate. It was so nice, the weather was beautiful and we were walking distance from everything. We stayed at the Portola Hotel and Spa. It was the perfect location. We were able to walk to Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row, the Aquarium, and Down Town. It was so relaxing.

This summer we decided to take a few trips around California instead of one BIG trip like we usually do. That way we can spread out our vacation time and vacation money!
So far, we've traveled to San Diego, Holly Wood, and Monterey and next on our list is a RUSH concert in San Francisco. It's been such a fun summer!

Just briefly...

Just briefly, here's what's been going on with Tyson and me...Tyson and I are doing really well but just to recap a little bit...
On Mother's Day, 2009 I found out I was pregnant! I can honestly say it was one of the happiest days of my life. Tyson and I were thrilled. My due date was January 10. For some reason though, I always knew I would probably deliver a little bit early. Anyway, we were ecstatic when we found out we were having a girl! We both wanted a girl and I just KNEW it would be a girl.
On December 23, 2009 I went to the hospital to check on the baby because I noticed that she wasn't moving.
I was admitted right away and sent upstairs to have an ultrasound and search for the baby's heartbeat. I could tell right away that the nurses were stalling and searching. They kept asking me if I'd called my husband and if he was on his way. I assured them he was coming.
In fact, that day when I woke up I knew instantly that something wasn't right with the baby. Most mornings I was awakened by kicks but on December 23 there was nothing. I immediately said a prayer and asked my Heavenly Father to put my mind at ease and have her kick if she was alright so that I could go on with my day without worry. Only, she didn't kick right away. Instead, the phone rang and it was Tyson, calling because he had a feeling that he should call and "Check up on me". I knew right then that something was very wrong and I told him to meet me at the hospital. Tyson works out of town in Visalia, so he met me there within an hour or so.
The nurses and Doctors searched for her heartbeat but she was gone. We were terrified. We couldn't believe it.
I was induced right away. I was so scared. While in labor the Doctors warned me that the baby could be scary to look at, discolored or malformed. I was terrified of what might be wrong with her and so confused. How could this happen? I'd had a textbook healthy pregnancy. Everything had gone as planned. I was just waiting for labor to start. We were so close. I'd just been at my Doctor's office a couple days before and the baby was perfectly healthy. I was only days from my due date! Everything was prepared. I'd read all the books, been to all of my appointments, done everything right. I'd carried her for nine months. The clothes, the car seat, the adorable nursery, the cupboards were stocked, everything was perfect and waiting for her. I was horrified at what could have gone wrong.
I labored for over eighteen hours and delivered our precious daughter on Christmas Eve. She was perfect. It turned out that there was a very tight true cord knot in her umbilical cord. Other than that, she was just beautiful. She looked like a sweet little sleeping baby.
The Dr. Thinks that somehow, probably during her last active wake cycle she must of somehow pulled the knot tight and it cut off her oxygen. Plus, when I fell asleep and my heart rate dropped, my baby's heart rate also naturally dropped. Therefore, the combination of the knot, dropped heart rate and possibly some Braxton Hicks contractions were just too much for her and she died.
It's just devastating. So sad. We were so close. Already full term. She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and she was 19.75 inches long. We wanted to bring her home so bad. This type of umbilical cord knot is rare. My Doctor's compare it to being "struck by lightning". So, it wasn't something hereditary or something that could likely happen again and that brought a lot of peace.
Tyson and I arranged a small graveside service for her...we were so happy to be surrounded by so many friends and family. It was a beautiful service with singing, a beautiful poem, and a dove release.
We just finalized the design for her headstone. It says, "Our Precious Daughter Tatum Jane DeWitt December 24, 2009. I am a Child of God."
I just created a blog to record her story and our experience in more detail...but i haven't completed it yet. tatumjane.blogspot.com

We're BaaAack!

We haven't blogged in forever!! To start out I am about 4 1/2 months pregnant!!! We will find out the gender on August 20th! I'm betting it's a girl. I'm due on January 10, 2010. We are thrilled! As far as the pregnancy goes... It's been tough. I never thought a person could throw-up that much! But 18 pounds lost later, I realized that it's possible to lose everything you eat for weeks. Gross, I know, but true. I'm recently doing much better though! Tyson and I just got back from our " babymoon" to Maui, Hawaii! It was wonderful! We both needed a relaxing beautiful vacation! Tyson is still working for Target:D and I will be teaching preschool again in the Fall... Only this year I'll be teaching five days a week vs. Only three days last year. So, we are busy with work and preparing for our baby to come. :)

Go DOGS!!!

We finally made it to a football game this year! We've been so busy that we almost never made it. It was our last home game vs. Louisiana Tech and WE WON!!! Tyson and I met up with our friends, Ryan and Michelle Carter and we went to cheer on the Bulldogs together. We were just happy to win a game :)

Halloween!

Tyson and I had a pretty fun Halloween! I decided to make my own costume. I was a BYU Cheerleader for Halloween and Tyson was BYU Intramural basketball player. In college Tyson was on a basketball team called the Swampcoolas...if you ever want to see some hilarious guys play basketball in a funny way you should look them up on youtube.com (Revenge of the Swampcoolas). On Halloween my niece Hannah had a big Halloween party and invited all of her friends and classmates. My sister-in-law Melanie had me create a big, black-light mural for the kids. Melanie had this great idea to make a "spook alley" for all of the kids to go through, using the mural to create a tunnel. It was fun and creative. Mel had Karaoke, a costume contest, and all sorts of games. After Hannah's party we headed over to our good friend's the Carter's house. Ryan and Michelle Carter always deck their house out with scary Halloween decorations! Their front yard has tomb stones, coffins with bodies jumping out, and all sorts of lights and fun things! Tyson and I brought a horror movie from the early 1930's to watch. It was a fun night! We love Halloween. In year's past we've been Clark Kent and Lois Lane, and last year we were E.R. Doctors(Steamy and Grey from Grey's Anatomy). Clark Kent and Lois Lane I am "awaking from the dead" on the Carter's lawn last year :)