Teaching and learning

In February I got a job at the Community Day Nursery in Bayonne. I am a teachers assistant in one of the classrooms there. I have now been working there for almost 2 months. The time has gone by so fast already. I have been teaching 19 children between 3 years old and 5. And I have also been learning a lot from these kids. Everyday is a new and different experience. Some days are so much fun and then some days I'm the one crying for my mommy. It has felt really nice to be busy, not that I wasn't busy being a mom and trying to take care of family and home. but I feel more independent and useful. Elizabeth has been adjusting really well to me going to work. Some days she cries when I leave, but most days she is having so much fun with her primo she hardly notices that I'm going. I do have to admit I have some guilt with leaving my baby I feel sometimes like I am abandoning her and that I might not be doing the right thing by going back to work. However I also feel like its good for Elizabeth to get used to being with someone else other than just me and Jason all the time.

Elizabeth is growing so fast it's scary. When I think of how quickly these 16 months have gone by I just can't believe it. My sweet little baby is a busy toddler. I was looking at a picture of her when she was only four months old, and was thinking about how she needed my help for everything: sitting, Eating, burping, rolling over, moving. and Now at just over a year she is so independent. She walks, runs, talks, eats by herself. It is just amazing all the things she does now. Her vocabulary has grown a lot too. I think she is going to speak Spanish though. she says: Te Gusta, no, Si, yes, mami, Rachel, mama, papi, papa, poo poo, pee pee, maybe, baby, booby, bob, Ana, Israel, no Quire, Jugo, Juice and her newest word is "Kayete" which means be Quite in Spanish. She can be pretty bossy too when she is saying some of these words!
  Elizabeth is also almost out of her size 12 month clothes. I remember when we bought that size in November the clothes were so big I thought she would never fit in them. Now 5 months later they barely fit she is getting so tall. She is now big enough that she can reach up and hold my hand when we walk together.
I really have enjoyed my time with my daughter. And I really hope I can remember all the sweet moments I have with her in the years to come.

Losing weight

When I was pregnant I gained a LOT of weight. 50 pounds to be exact. and before I was pregnant I had gained another 10 pounds. So suffice it to say at the end of 2008 I weighed about 150. At the end of 2009 I weighed a whooping 210 pounds. Not something to be proud of considering only twenty of those pounds were baby pounds.

Yeah that was me right before I had the baby. Not a pretty sight. Even for a pregnant woman I was pretty fat. I was so swollen and uncomfortable during my pregnancy and couldn't wait to shed some weight!

So after I had the baby I made a goal that by the end of 2010 I would have lost all the weight I gained during pregnancy. I wanted to get to 160. I started eating healthier and walking and being more active. I knew that if I did a really strict weight loss plan that I wouldn't stick with it, so I did simple things that I knew I could handle, like not eating candies and ice cream everyday and cutting out fast food. I tried to go for a walk everyday even if it was only 3 blocks it was something. and I made it a point to get out of the house and just do something every week that wasn't lazy like playing soccer in the park or walking around the mall.

Well my weight loss plan started working very slowely. I was losing about 2-6 pounds a month, but I was losing it! and the weight was staying off.

I am proud to say that after a long year of feeling chubby and sticking with my plan I was able to meet my goal weight. at the end of 2010 I weighed 158 pounds!

I am still losing weight very slowely, but am glad that I stuck with it and was able to get rid of that extra fat.
I am happy with my weight now but think it would be awsome if I could lose another 5-10.  I am currently at 154 pounds as of yesterday! I am very grateful that I was able to do this. I feel so much better. I did this for myself so I could be healthy and confidant, and while sometimes I do have those thoughts like "I wish I could be skinny" they come and go quickly because I know that I am beautiful and I know that I am at a good weight for me.

April Fools, not fooling around

I found out I was pregnant on March 28th. I thought the perfect April Fools Joke was to tell every one that I was pregnant to see who would believe me. To no suprise Everyone that I called and told that day did not belive me. this is how most conversations that day went.

"I'm pregnant"
   "ha ha. Good joke. No your not."
"Yes I am"
   "No your not. Nice try."
"I'm not fooling around. I really am pregnant."
   "Really? No I don't believe you"
"Yes I am pregnant!"

So Needless to say it took a few weeks for most people to believe that I was pregnant when Finally they saw pictures of the test and of the Ultrasound.

I think I was 9 weeks pregnant in this picture. Not much of a pregnant looking belly mostly I just looked fat until I was about 6 months pregnant.

The very first time I got to see my baby. I new without a doubt from that moment that this was my little creation, my child, that I would have the blessing and honor of being a mother forever more.

Finding out

A few months after Jason and I got married we found out that I had a large breast tumor. It was really scary because The Doctors said that there was pretty much a 50-50 chance that it was cancer. So I called everyone in my family to tell them what was going on. Scheduled a day to have surgery to remove have it removed and sent for a biopsy. and my mom was going to come up and take care of me while I was recovering and waiting for the news.

So I had been trying to research what might have caused the breast tumor and it turns out that the type of birth control I was taking did have cases where patients had devoloped breast and ovarian tumors. So I decided to stop taking the pills for a few weeks while they tried to figure out if I had cancer.

On March 17th 2009 I went into madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg to have my surgery. I was lucky to have friends that came to the hospital that morning to wish me well and my husband and mom were by my side the whole time. I think that was the most scared I had felt in my whole life. I had never had a surgery before in my life and I was terrified that I would have to lose my breasts or my life to cancer. We went in and the nurse put an IV in and gave me some nasua medicine and something else to help me not be nervous. Then they brought me to the operation room, I heard the DR making some kind of joke and the next thing I know I'm in another room, my throat hurts, my whole body hurts and I see Jason and my mom sleeping on either side of my hospital bed. Wow surgeries go by really fast when your the one under anesthisia!

Later that day I was released. That car ride home was horrible. Every second I thought I was going to throw up or pass out. The following week was a lot more difficult than I thought. The pain medicine made me kind of loopy and dizzy so I had to have help walking around. And poor Jason Had to help me with all my Hygeine needs, and I mean everything! Taking a shower, going to the bathroom, even brushing my hair and helping me put my clothes on. My Mom pretty much took over all the cooking and cleaning. We ate really good that week and we had fresh laundered clothes everyday!

After about a week I was almost back to normal and waiting to hear the results. Finally we got the phone call from the doctor. And it was NOT cancer!!! Hallelujah!!! it was a huge relief. I am so thankful that I only had to deal with surgery and one boob slightly smaller than the other. I am especially thankful that I didn't have cancer because very soon our life would change dramatically again....

So about 2 weeks after the surgery, I was laying in bed reading a book for school, when out of nowhere I had a strange thought. I hadn't had my period in over a month. for a few minutes I thought that it was due to my body going through surgery, but then I started to get this overwhelming feeling that I might be pregnant.

So I grabbed the pregnancy test we had gotten after our wedding and ran to the bathroom.
Of course it showed a negative sign. but then as i was washing my hands a faint little line started to appear making a tiny little + sign. I was totally shocked. I really wasnt expecting to see that. I felt so happy and so terrified. I went to the living room where Jason was and flat out told him, "Jason I'm pregnant"
in which he replied, " no your not"
then I showed him the test, I started crying and jason couldnt stop smiling.

And well you know the rest is history. My pregnancy went fairly well. went through the typical morning sickness and gained a whopping 50 pounds. But my beautiful baby girl came out just fine. So out of a scary situation feeling that 2009 would be a year of tears and painful medical procedure came a wonderful blessing of having a new addition to our family and getting the sweetest girl a mother could dream of.

So that is our story of how we found out that I didn't have cancer, but that I did have a baby growing inside of me.

This was taken a few days after surgery. Before I found out I was pregnant.

Guess what Your pregnant!!! Yes I took two tests because I thought the first might have been a mistake.

I went and took a picture of my belly the day that I found out. My beautiful non stretch marked stomach. It will never look the same again.

From the moment I saw you

I met my husband while I was attending BYU-Idaho.

It was March 13th 2008. I was having one of those days. Nothing seemed to be working out for me. My classes were depressing, and to make myself feel better I decided to go to the Temple and do Baptisms for the dead. When I got there I was told that it would be a 4 hour wait, so I went home, got into my PJs, got some ice cream and sulked.

some time later, my cousin Christopher called and asked how I was doing. I told him I was having a bad day. Then he told me he was on his way to take me to Latin Association. I was not really interested in going, but he insisted. so I was forced to go to the lame event. As a sign of my rebellion I stayed in my PJs.

When we got there there were about 10-15 people there and they were all Latino (no suprise). I was the only white girl. The meeting began. Everyone got in a circle and introduced themselves. Then the last guy turned to me held out his hand and said,  "Hi my name is Brad Pitt". in which I replied, "wow you look different in real life than in the movies".

And that is how I met my husband.

A day later I saw him at the schools Latin Dance night in which I got a personal dance lessen by the dance instructor (Jason). And the next week we went on our first official date to the sadies Hawkins Dance.
And that is how I started dating Jason.

Our first date together.

Beginings

In the past I have seen my friends blogs and always admired the idea of a Blog. You get to keep a journal and share it with the people you love.
So here is my first attempt at keeping a blog. It is the begining of a new year and so the time to try new things.

I would like to start by introducing my family: The Bourdett Family

This is Jason: My Husband and love of my life. He was born and mostly raised in Guatemala. He and his family moved to the United States when he was 15. He has always loved to be a part of everything. He is very outgoing and loves to latin Dance and is an active member in the LDS church. He Graduated in December 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Communications.

This is Rachel (me): I grew up in Northeren California in a little town called Placerville. We lived a country life, goats and chickens were my pets and getting to the mall took an hour to drive to. I always like to participate in all kinds of activities, but I have always been a little bit more on the reserved side. in 2007 I went to BYU-Idaho I Graduated with a bachelor of Science in Psychology in July 2009.

And This is Elizabeth:
Elizabeth was Born on December 2nd 2009 in Rexburg Idaho. The day she was born it was -10 degrees outside. The past year she has enjoyed being the baby and gets spoiled everyday.  Elizabeth is now a busy One year old. She loves to run through out the house and is currently learning to say new words in Spanish and English. She mostly says Mama, Dada, Papa, NoNo, and Mas.
Her best friend is her Cousin Israel and they enjoy getting into trouble together.

And that is our Family! We have our struggles like every family, but we love each other and love to laugh together. Hopefully this year will be filled with more joy than the last.