2009 Year End Review

January - I got a student teacher - Jackie. She was awesome. In Zach's words 'It was a match made it heaven.' She did a great job teaching and was such a wonderful friend. Although she didn't get my job like we'd planned she ended up getting a job at the 8-9 center in Cache County where the principal at my school was transferred. in the middle of January we found out that we were going to have a baby boy. As soon as the ultrasound started Zach could tell it was a boy, but I had no idea what I was looking at. We were very excited and decided on the name Toby right away. Towards the end of the month I woke up in the middle of the night with severe back pain. After receiving a blessing we decided to go to the hospital. They said it was a kidney stone and gave me pain meds. After trying to pass the stone for a week it was decided that I didn't actually have a kidney stone I had a baby that thought it was a kidney stone. In other words, my son's large head (now known to be in the 96 percentile) was pressing on the tube going from my kidneys to the bladder and causing the same kind of pain. Luckily, Toby stopped pretending to be a kidney stone and the pain went away.

February - We spent a great weekend in Sun Valley, ID with friends. This was our last President's day trip without kids and one of the last where everybody got together. I told the school district that I would not be coming back the next year. I wanted to stay home with the baby and we figured that we wouldn't be living in the valley anyway. I started panicking that Zach wouldn't be able to find a job and we would have no money, but quitting felt right so we did it anyway. After Sun Valley we went on a trip to Minnesota. This was so exciting because Zach was participating in the Collegiate Handball Championships. It was freezing cold, but Zach did awesome. He ended up placing 2nd in the C Division. The other USU guys did great and we had a ton of fun.

March - I can't actually think of anything that happened this month although I am sure something did. Sorry .

April - I had my first baby shower in April. It was so much fun to get all the presents. At my wedding people told me that I was never going to get that many presents again. But I did. All I had to do was have a baby. By this time Zach was applying to jobs, but not really having any luck until the end of April. Out of the blue Zach received an email from Hill Air Force Base tentatively offering him a position. He had to respond within 48 hours. We quickly jumped at the opportunity and everything just fell into place. It was such a relief to know that Zach was going to have a job after graduation and would be able to provide for our family. My sister Carolyn also had a baby boy - Keyan. We are so excited that our kids will be so close.

May - Zach graduated in May although he still had one more month of classes. I was ready to have a baby and when the doctor told me I was dilated to 3 cm I started writing sub plans. I had arranged to have my student teacher Jackie come back and finish the year if anything came up, so by March 11th I was ready to go. May came and went without a baby. Meanwhile I had two more baby showers. Between those and the shopping I had done, we had everything. It had become a waiting game and I was very impatient.

June - June started with both Zach and I finishing school. On June 8th Zach started work at HAFB. Because the baby hadn't come yet I stayed in Logan while Zach stayed in our new apartment. Despite the 2 mile walks I was going on each day my due date, June 12th, came and went without a baby. On June 18th I was induced and Toby Glen Bateman was born on June 19th at 2:06 am. He was 7 lbs 13 oz. A week later we moved to Kaysville.

July - After Toby was born everything became a blur. I was constantly tired and so was Toby. Zach continued working while I tried to adjust to being a mother. In the middle of July I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible abdominal pain and we packed up Toby and headed to the ER. They thought it was my gall bladder, but when the pain went away on its own a few weeks later we decided not to do anything about it. Although I sometimes feel the pain now it is nowhere near as bad and goes away pretty quickly so we have no idea what it was.

August - By the time August came around we seemed to finally be getting used to being parents. We started to venture out a little more and spend even more time with our family.

September - When September rolled around it felt really weird to be staying at home while it seemed everyone else was headed back to school. I still haven't gotten used to being home and usually have the TV on just so that there is some noise. We went to Cherry Hill a few times with Zach's family and decided that since it is just down the street we would get season passes in 2010. Toby was also blessed and it was great to have our friends and family together. A big milestone for us was our first overnight trip. We went with our friends to Bear Lake and stayed at a cabin. I was a little nervous about taking Toby somewhere for the night, but he did very well.

October - My favorite part of October was Halloween (and finding out that Jeff and Sarah are having a baby). I bought Toby's costume in September. He was a little monkey and was so dang cute.

November - One word describes how great this month was - Disneyland. With my sister's family we drove down to California and went to Disneyland. Toby was a trooper and we had a great time. It was so much fun to see everything decked out for Christmas and I loved seeing the Haunted Mansion decorated with Nightmare Before Christmas. Shortly after our trip Toby started eating solids. Within days he had eating down and does so well now. If I don't give him his formula first when he is really hungry he doesn't even want to eat it. We have tried a bunch of foods so far and there hasn't been one that he doesn't like. Luckily he isn't as picky as him mom. Thanksgiving was wonderful and we enjoyed spending so much time with our families.

December - We started things off with my birthday and I got a sewing machine. I still can't believe that Zach got me one. Then Christmas came and it was so nice to be able to visit with our friends and families. It was also nice to be close enough to go home at night and sleep in our own bed. New Years Eve was great too. Karma offered to watch Toby, so even though we were going to a party where there were lots of kids we decided to let her do it. It was a nice break to be able to play games and not worry about Toby.

Our year was so wonderful. Thank you to everyone who helped us out this year especially with Toby and moving. We love and appreciate all of you.