9 weeks!

Okay, so I had a friend who kept everyone updated on her pregnancy by weeks and it was really neat to read, so I thought that I just might do the same. I am now officially 9 weeks along and these past 2 days have been great! Raun has been so good and he gets up to fix me breakfast before I have to get out of bed. Then I take my vitamin (which helps with nausea) and I put on these sea bands and I'm okay. The sea bands are incredibly awesome! Somehow they apply pressure to your pressure points and it makes the nausea go away. They work not only for morning sickness, but for motions sickness and other things that make you want to run for the bathroom! It has worked wonders. I'm in the awkward stage now where I haven't gained weight, but things are expanding so it's not as comfortable to wear my normal clothes, but I don't have a big enough belly for maternity clothes. As much as I hate to gain weight, I'd rather gain it than loose it so that my clothes would actually fit! We did buy one pair of maternity pants two weekends ago, but I have about an inch to grow into.

I've still been able to exercise. I'm finding that I'm incredibly hungry now. I usually have to stop the tredmill after about 30 minutes and eat some peanut butter and crackers, then I'm good to go for another 30 minutes. My doctor told me that I could still do some minor weights, as long as it didn't risk falling on the baby, so I have been toning up my legs and will hopefully hit some arms tonight. Since labor is technically a marathon, I feel that the better in shape I am before and during, then the better off I am.

Everyone's been asking about food cravings: I haven't craved anything bad, yet. I've been craving fruits, vegetables, and yes, pickles (or anything kind of sour). I do love my mashed potatoes, though. I hope that this stays with me. I worked really hard before I got pregnant to eat healthy and be at a healthy weight so I'm hoping this will benefit me during the pregnancy. I'm okay with gaining a healthy amount of weight as long as I'm eating healthy!

We went to a family reunion/50th anniversary party for Raun's great aunt or cousin (I can't remember which) this weekend, but my keen sense of smell helped out a lot. Papa, I didn't even have to look at the table to know what was on it. I could smell the little weenies and the chips and dip as soon as I entered the door. This sense of smell kills Raun because now when he eats certain foods, he is required to leave me or I leave him or else it could end in a bathroom run!

Work was great today. My boys for the most part behaved. I still have the attitudes and the cussing and the fights, but slowly they are growing to respect me. It's so funny to watch the boys cuss me out and say they're not participating and then they walk right by me, refusing to look me in the eye out of embarrassment and sit in the drum circle. It takes all I have not to laugh!

Well....that's all for now. I've gotta clean before Raun gets home!

Last week's snow day!

We went to church on Wednesday night and while I was teaching my choir kids, it began snowing. Good thing we were having our pizza party because I would have lost them all to the window! By the time orchestra rehearsal let out, this is what we saw. By morning, the roads had all cleared and it was so cold that I wasn't able to get outside for a good picture. Schools were out, which was great!

We missed the ice on Tuesday of this week, but I most certainly hit it in Knoxville. They had over 250 wrecks between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. Many rescue workers had gotten in wrecks, as well. Even the salt truck turned over! I don't think that I went over 20 mph because of the black ice. A lot of the teachers couldn't make it in, so I got paid to read all morning. How awesome is that! Then after lunch, we got the boys. They really didn't want to come to the school floor and let us know. We had so many fights and aggressive behaviors that by the last session, I quit 30 minutes into it and told them to sit down and don't talk. Of course, the other ones got restrained, but a select few felt like following directions that day. Needless to say, those 2 hours felt like an entire day! I'm not so sure I want to go back on Tuesday! I did have one boy almost beat another boy up for being disrespectful to me and cussing at me. In a way it was kinda sweet, but I had to talk with him about showing respect to others and optional ways to handle the situation. Never a dull moment at my facilities, that's for sure!

I've been feeling okay this past week. I still can't cook or anything, but the nausea vitamin that my doctor gave me seems to be working. I'm so glad because there's nothing worse than spending weeks not holding things down! We're working on finishing the basement out and we enlisted the help of Dad to help put up the walls and to build three walls for the bathroom and the laundry room. It'll look really good when it's finished!

We're going to a family reunion on Raun's side of the family on Sunday. It's been a while since I've been to a family reunion, so it'll be fun. I hope the smells don't send me running, though! I'll make sure to take my vitamin that day and possible invest in the sea band before then! It'll be fun to meet all of his family, though.

2008!

Wow! I can't believe we're already into 2008....a whole new chapter in our lives....another year full of unpredicted changes. Things have been good here. I've been battling a sinus issue, which has been lots of fun and then passed it to Raun, and he so graciously passed it back to me. I think that's a little unfair, if you ask me!

Work is going well...getting used to seeing all of my kiddos since I've been off for 2 weeks. It's good to be back in some sort of routine, though.

I wanted to post some pictures of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Enjoy! I'll post Christmas a little bit later.

Love you guys!

Last day in 2007

I can't believe how fast the time has gone by....I feel like we just said goodbye to 2006 and now here we are at the end of 2007. What a year. So much has happened this year that has changed my life. I can honestly say that things will never be the same.

We're having my parents, brother, Molly, my mother-in-law, and the Hancock family over for games tonight and snacks. I'm really excited to spend time with people that love to laugh. I'll be sure to post on that in the next days.

2008 is going to be a brand new year with many more changes. Have a great New Year's Eve!

2007 Family Christmas

I hope that you guys had a great Christmas! We had a wonderful one. We spent the weekend with my parents in Manchester and I got to see Heather and her family, which was great. They cooked a huge breakfast for us and I got to see her baby neice, that looks just like her brother. We had our traditional family Christmas dinner with Ma, Mama, and Mom's side of the family. It's always fun to get together with them...it's never boring, I can honestly say!

We went to our Christmas Eve service at church, which was wonderful. There's just something about taking the Lord's Supper before Christmas...it just reminds you that Christmas isn't all about presents...it's about Jesus and his birth and all that He's done and will continue to do for us. I love our church and all of the wonderful people and mentors that are there.

Mom, Dad, and John came up on Christmas Eve and we invited Raun's parents over to eat dinner. We made a Thai stir-fry, complete with egg rolls. It was really good and filling. To top it off, we had dessert of caramel popcorn, cheesecake, and gingerbread men. We played games well into the night and we learned that Mom would make it well in Vegas.

It was great to wake up with my family still here. It made it more fun to have other people here, instead of just me and Raun. We made a big breakfast and then opened presents. John did the honor of reading the Christmas story this year, which is always enjoyable. And yes, we even watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...a yearly tradition.

Raun and I left to go in the afternoon to go spend Christmas dinner with Raun's family. It was great to see everyone and to play the family games. I realized that I'm not so good at games when I'm tired, though. I have a very small window of opportunity after 7:00 p.m. We got to see all of the nephews and our neice, which was fun because they liked to make fun of their great-grandma's....until we reminded them that they are going to be like that one day! They are so much fun to be with!

I think New Year's will be spent at our house and we're going to have our New Year's Eve party here. Everyon's supposed to be coming back and I think that we're going to meet my parents in Atlanta on Saturday to spend the day shopping and visiting. I also have to see John's new television, since we haven't seen it yet! Happy New Year!

8 days until Christmas!

I can't believe that it's only 8 days left until Christmas. I'm still not ready. Maybe it will be better this week....we'll see! We had our Christmas concert at church yesterday and it was wonderful. My parents and Raun's mom both came with us. It's meant so much to me that they came. Dad even stepped foot in the mall afterwards and we got some Christmas shopping done. It was just like the old days....but we missed John. Dad even treated us to our favorite place...Baskin Robbins. They have a new Heath bar Shake now and it was very good.

Our Christmas destination has been decided. Mom, Dad, and John are having it at our house for Christmas Eve and Christmas and possibly even New Year's Eve and New Year's. I'm very excited about that! I love having my family here with us. I get to cook some new and even healthy recipes....it's gonna be great!

I absolutely love my job. As I mentioned in the post earlier, I am teaching children with special needs, as well as typical kids, through the School of Music at our church. I love it! After our concert, one of my piano boys (with Down Syndrome) came up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss! He's 6 1/2 and had battled a rare form of leukemia. He reminds me so much of Shannon because he is a fighter as well. He had chemo until he was 2 years old. He's now in remission, and they're just hoping it doesn't come back. He's so precious and smart. He loved my bassoon and told me he wanted to learn to play "Jingle Bells!" So we shall learn that for him. His grandpa is a classical pianist and is thrilled that he and his grandson can share this love of music together. I am so thankful that I have a job where I can make a difference in people's lives and where I can help what seems like the impossible become possible!

If you would like to check out my work website, feel free! It's http://www.musictherapynetworkoftn.com/.

Happy Christmas shopping!

Ahhhh!!!!

It was definitely a rough day today. One of my boys punched his therapist in the nose and broke it. I really and honestly hope that he gets transfered to jail because he would be someone that would both reoffend and hurt others. He has absolutely no remorse for what he's done but the system thinks that he is too MR to stand trial. He so knows what he did and he also knows the difference between right and wrong. He also knows that he can get away with it in the system. How are you supposed to work with them if they are constantly endangering myself and others? I love working with my boys and girls, but at times it's so hard to remember why we do what we do and why we constantly keep going back after being disrespected so much.

John called me during my lunch break just to talk and I told him to make sure to pray for me this afternoon because I just knew it was going to be bad. Sure enough, during my last session the principal came in and told me that one of their case managers (who is in her 20's, early 30's and is sweet) died today after a kidney problem. She had had surgery and it was okay and was sent home, but was admitted to ICU today and died around noon. The case managers and therapists were standing outside the school doors to talk with each of them after the news was told to the boys. I just pray that this helps them to change. We actually talked about our dreams during our session and it was neat to show them that many dreams can be attained if they really want it.

My little boy with autism regressed a little today. Hopefully he will have a wonderful week next week. He did say 4 colors for the first time, so it wasn't a bad session!

It's been almost two weeks since Shannon passed away and let me just say that it has been the longest 2 weeks ever. I am not really feeling in the Christmas spirit. I thought that if our Christmas tree was up then I would feel in the spirit....but it only serves to remind me why I'm celebrating (which is good) and that Shannon should be here to enjoy this holiday and to make a Christmas list. I think I'm slowly coming out of the denial stage and am waking up to reality. I don't like reality, so I may choose to stay in denial a little while longer! I see her in all my kids....I'm now working with special needs children and teaching them piano and guitar lessons at church and there's a girl who always looks like Shannon from the back....so I like to look at her!

Anyway, that's life in a nutshell over the past week.....

This is Shannon's favorite team of all time! Raun and I got to take her to the Vandy vs. Florida game (she made fun of Raun the entire time!) for her birthday. Isn't she so beautiful? I miss her....

Thanks for the support

Our family greatly appreciates the support that has been offered to us through this time of Shannon leaving us. It was definitely a Thanksgiving that I will never forget. I miss her so incredibly much and it's hard to talk about her without crying. The night time is worse because I am able to think. I like the daylight because I can stay so busy that I can pretend everything is normal, even though it is not.

Here's the newspaper clipping about Shannon:
O'CONNOR, Shannon Lee, age 17, of Manchester, Tennessee, entered into Eternal Rest on Wednes-day, November 21, 2007 at the Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. She was born on February 27, 1990 in Nashville, Tennessee and was a student at the Coffee County Central High School in Manchester. Shannon was a loving daughter, granddaughter and special friend to so many people. She enjoyed horses, all kinds of pets, but her family, friends and Vanderbilt foot-ball were especially impor-tant to her. She was a member of the New Union Baptist Church in Manches-ter. Shannon is survived by her parents, Ray and Patricia O'Connor of Manchester; maternal grandpar-ents, Bob and Betty Nettles of Manchester; paternal grandparents, John and Ruby O'Connor of Titusville, Florida; sisters, Bethany and Anna O'Connor of Man-chester; brother, David O'Connor of Manchester; aunts and uncles, John and Debbie O'Connor of Manchester; Janet and Doug Baker of LaPlace, Louisiana; Lee and Laura Nettles of Manchester; cousins, John O'Connor of Atlanta, Georgia; Megan and Raun Taylor of Ooltewah, Tennessee; Ashley and Josh Brumfeld of New Orleans, Louisiana; Amber Baker of Shreveport. Louisiana; Jakes Nettles, Ashley Nettles, Emily Nettles, Clint Pica and Holly Fowler, all of Manchester; and a host of friends and loved ones. The Family received friends at the Visitation on Friday evening, November 23, 2007 from 5 - 8:00 P.M. at the Central Funeral Home in Manchester, Tennessee. The Funeral service was conducted on Saturday afternoon, November 24, 2007 at 1:00 P.M. from the Chapel of Central Funeral Home with her grandfather, Bob Nettles Pastor Mike Owen and Brother Randy Robertson officiating. Burial followed at the Welker Cemetery in the New Union Community. CENTRAL FUNERAL HOME of Manchester in Charge of Arrangements. http://www.centralfuneralhome.com/

On a positive note, I was not able to see my little boy with autism the week I went to conference or last week because I felt I needed to go get the kids from Manchester. When I saw him yesterday, his mom told me that he wouldn't let her sing the entire time I was gone because he missed me. He hadn't been responding to many people while I was away and when I came back he had started to respond. She was so amazed at how music therapy works when nothing else seems to do so.

We're thinking about going to visit John this weekend in Atlanta. I am really wanting some good food and to see his new television! Our kids choir is singing this Sunday for the Hanging of the Green which begins Advent. We have a rehearsal Saturday, as well as the one tonight. It will be wonderful and I'm very excited!

Prayer Requests: Please pray for our entire family through this holiday season. It's definitely going to be tough because I just don't feel in the mood to celebrate this year. Pray for Aunt Patricia and Uncle Ray as they are constantly reminded of what is no longer there. Pray for us to remember she's in safe hands and pray for us to be able to use Shannon's story and legacy to make a difference in so many people's lives.

She's in heaven.....

My dearest cousin entered heaven the day before Thanksgiving. It was an extremely hard thing to see, but I am very glad that I was able to be there to tell her that I love her so very much. For anyone needing arrangement information, the visitation is tomorrow from 5-8, and the funeral is Saturday at 1 at Central Funeral Home. Thanks for the prayers and all.