New Year, New Beginnings

Well we had a wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  We spent New Year's Eve with great friends.  We celebrated at Derek Foreman's parents' home.  Derek built a great bonfire and his mother prepared us a delicious dinner of Crawfish Etouffee.  Surprisingly, I stayed awake until midnight.  I think it was because I had the support of Lauren Romero who is pregnant too.  We had a great evening filled with many laughs.  We are so very thankful for our dear friends: the Foremans, the Romeros, and the Michiels.
New Year's day we woke and started off the day with mass at St. Peter & Paul in Scott, LA with my parents.  We then headed back to Baton Rouge.  We ate lunch with my in-laws.  We ate plenty of cabbage and black-eyed-peas.  We enjoyed being able to spend New Year's Day with family.  We also watched the sad loss of the LSU Tigers : (  After lunch and the game at the Brooksher's home, we headed over to see dear friends of ours.  We  enjoyed a great visit with the Franco Family.  The Francos just had their first baby, Gabriel Adam, on December 7th.  Gabriel is beautiful and just precious.  Steven got to hold him for a little bit and then I got to hold him for a while : )  This was good practice for August.
As we began our New Year we feel so thankful for all the memories of 2009: preparing for marriage, our wedding, enjoying being newlyweds & setting up our home, the many great events with St. Aloysius HSYG, our vacations to North Carolina & NYC, and enduring the trials of the year together too.  We are so thankful for the beginning of this year and all that we have to look forward to: ending my school year, preparing to be parents, looking into our child's eyes, our year anniversary, and so much more!
I am continuing to feel alright.  I am now 8 weeks and our baby is the size of a lima bean!  I am able to still run.  I can only run up to 2 miles and then my heart rate reaches its' maximum.   However, the running helps me to feel good.  I return to teaching this Monday and I am praying that I am filled with the energy I need to teach pre-k babies during my first trimester of pregnancy.  I am looking forward to sharing the news with my students.  Much love and Many blessings, Mauree