Exactly one year ago, I posted
this update! My goodness, how things have changed!
My last post was about getting engaged... and we did end up getting married by Christmas! December 17 was our wedding date, and the whirlwind wedding planning went pretty well, in the less-than-3-months we had to plan. The most stressful part for me ended up being a rather last-minute change of reception location, due to some management issues, and concerns about lighting/sound. And I almost walked down the aisle without my bouquet, but thankfully I remembered it after only a couple steps - as I nervously plucked at my dress with the hand that was not in my dad's arm, I realized I should have something else to occupy that hand!
Here's just a few photos:
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| Our rings on my bouquet |
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| My lovely mother and me getting ready! |
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| Me and my sister and maid-of-honor! |
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| Pre-wedding photos! (We did a first-look) |
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| The Stone Chapel in Wake Forest |
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| Thrilled to have my dad perform the ceremony! |
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| My mom and dear friend Mrs. Basden headed up the reception! |
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| Centerpiece created by my mom! |
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| I had fun baking the cheesecakes ahead of time and freezing! |
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| First dance |
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| Dip!! |
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| Daddy and me father/daughter dance. |
Matt planned our honeymoon secretly, and it was amazing! We stayed one night in a fancy hotel suite, and had a delicious dinner at the hotel restaurant, and then finished the drive to Biltmore the next day! I had never been to Biltmore before, and seeing it all decorated and festive for Christmas was thrilling. We stayed several nights at the lovely hotel on the estate, and enjoyed lots of fabulous food, topped off by a 3-course dinner our last evening. He also got us special tickets to see Biltmore by candlelight (which was so beautiful!), a roof-top tour (which was fascinating and had great views!) and a carriage ride (which was so much fun, and gave us an incredible view of the estate!) and it was all so memorable! He planned the perfect honeymoon. We had almost a whole week to ourselves, and then got home in time for Christmas with our families. (We have lots of photos, but it would be too hard to pick favorites, and there's plenty of photos in this post already!)
Our first few months of married life flew by, marriage has been so much more fun than I ever could have imagined! One hard decision though, was to quit teaching. I loved my students, but we really didn't need my income, and I was struggling to keep up with cooking, cleaning and general homemaking the way I desired. My new (much more flexible) additional job, is handling some basic customer support for my husband's business,
Transcript Maker, paying the contractors when invoices come in, and mailing some marketing materials (we offer discounts for homeschool groups! ;) ), all things that I enjoy, and can do whenever I find some free time in my schedule.
A few days before my last studio recital with my students, we were excited to find out that we were expecting our first baby! Due December 29, I'm now almost 19 weeks along (which means almost halfway there already!) and just starting to regularly feel tiny little kicks and punches. Our 18-week ultrasound revealed that I was correct in believing our baby to be a boy!
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The adorable booties were crocheted by my great-grandmother! Mom gave them to me after the ultrasound. They just happened to already have blue ribbons!
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So, with our baby boy on the way, and no students to teach, my goals are to stay on top of the usual house work, while working on our registry and getting the nursery ready, plus all the other things that come along with preparing for baby!
And so, with that in mind, I should probably get off my laptop and get to work!
