Crew's Nursery...FINALLY!

Crew's nursery has probably been the most stressful, indecisive, and now almost my favorite part of preparing for his arrival! This used to be our office / storage / coat closet / Xmas decoration storage / "OH HELL" (according to Aunt Sharon) room. So it was so hard to get rid of everything in here! Weeks went by where just walking past the open room gave me anxiety. Then we started tackling the "clean-out", which caused a few major breakdowns on my part. In order to consolidate that room, I wanted to clean out like 3 other areas to make room for all the stuff. So I was constantly putting off the entire process. But once we got it cleaned out, and also decided that we were leaving the room red, I started getting excited about the theme.

We had the bedding made by Leah Ashley, and I love it. My Mom made the curtains, and I have to say she did such a great job! She has a knack for these DIY projects, and I would be lost without her help. 

Eric and Gavin went to work on putting together his shelving unit, and I have to say it was nice to have another set of eyes keeping Daddy in line with putting things together. Gav checked and rechecked his work throughout the assembly! 

These could line up a LITTLE straighter Daddy

And here's the finished product! 

 10 days til my Crew Bear is here!

36 Weeks - Oh the Adventures of Pregnancy

This past week has been ANYTHING but uneventful for us. Ive finally reached 36 weeks of this pregnancy and all of a sudden, Ive started realizing that this is almost IT for me being pregnant. Eric and I are pretty sure that we'll be more than blessed with 2 little boys, and so I may not ever experience being pregnant again. Although there are so many parts of pregnancy that are "hard" and it's easy to lose sight of the amazingness that is going on in your tummy, it's also one of the coolest and most awesome experiences EVER. I still can't get over the fact that in just a few short weeks, Crew will be here, as a living, breathing, PERSON. Now, don't think Im all weird for saying that. Obviously he's not coming out as a dolphin or anything. But its crazy to think about the fact that not that long ago, he couldn't survive on his own. And now he can be born and be a healthy little boy, ANY DAY!

Speaking of any day...I think he's a little bit excited about that possibility of joining the "real world" because Ive had major contractions over the last several days. Sunday and Monday night I had some pretty steady, but not painful contractions. They kept me from sleeping very well that night. Tuesday night the contractions kept me from sleeping at all, as I timed them at 7 minutes apart for almost 3 hours!! So Wednesday morning, I called my Dr, and they told me that more than 4 contractions in an hour if Im less than 36 weeks is too many. Since I passed that number about 10x over, I thought that I should probably pay attention all day Wednesday and see how often they were coming back. By Wednesday afternoon, the contractions were back in full force, about every 10 minutes. Eric and I decided that we needed to go to Labor & Delivery and have them stopped. We were at Baptist for about 3 hours, and I was given a shot of Brethine (sp?) to slow down the contractions. If anyone remembers, I had to do this same thing with Gavin, about 5 days shy of 36 weeks. The problem was, the contractions came back as soon as we left the hospital. We got home, and I spent another sleepless night trying to breathe through ridiculous contractions. Thursday I headed BACK to the dr to figure out the next plan of action to keep Crew calm. Dr K prescribed me Nifedical to stop the contractions again. This time I take it every day and see how it goes. Im not on bed rest or anything, but Im ordered by several family members to rest and drink lots of water. If someone could please explain this to Gavin, that would be great! In the mean time, Im realizing how lucky I am to have such wonderful family and friends who have been checking on me and offering to do just about anything and everything they can to help me make it a few more weeks.

At my regular Drs appt this week, we scheduled Crew's birthday for February 22nd! Im so excited and ready to meet this sweet boy. He said im measuring great, baby is head down, and weight gain is holding at 18 pounds. So all around I couldn't be more ready!

Holes in our Ears

I never thought that we would be putting holes in Gavin's ears so early. I mean, if he wants to rebel and wear some crazy earrings or something, he could at least wait til he's a teenager and do it without me there. Then he would come home and show me and I would ground him and DEMAND he take them out!! But I guess the holes he had to have put in serve a bigger purpose, so I can live with them! 

After several months of ear infections, and constant fluid in both ears, our ENT Dr decided that the best thing for Gavin would be to put in tubes and let the fluid drain easier. So Monday morning, we got up and put Gavin in the car to head to his surgery. Since he was going to be under general anesthesia, we couldn't give him anything to eat or drink. My child is a creature of habit, and we were so worried about how he would deal with "no milk" for over 2 hours after he woke up. We tried to throw him off as best as possible, and when we arrived at the surgery center, we played our little hearts out to keep him occupied. Several times he walked over to my bag and tried to get in there because he just KNEW that I had something in there for him. I had to say 'No' and surprisingly we didn't have any breakdowns. 

Playing 

Waiting to be taken back for surgery...at this point I think he wanted to make a break for it!

Our matching braceletes. Eric was jealous he didn't get one

The anesthesiologist took him back, and he was gone for less than 15 minutes before they came to get us and take us to recovery. Talk about pulling at a parent's heart strings. He was crying so hard and so confused from the anesthesia. Eric and I both did everything we could to calm him down, and just when we thought we had it under control, someone would walk by, or he would look around, and freak out all over again! It was a roller coaster of emotions for about 30 minutes until we could finally leave.  

Finally eating and drinking in recovery

Im so glad that this day is behind us and everything turned out great. Gavin has been in a great mood, and I really believe he will be able to hear much better. The Dr said he had to suction quite of bit of thick fluid so it was definitely a "needed" surgery. 

Love for Baby Crew

Have I ever mentioned I have wonderful friends? Because I do! They put together a nice dinner at Charlestons for all of us to celebrate Baby Crew last week. We had a great time just sitting around chatting, I opened some really nice gifts for Crew, and then had some dessert! 

I've been so lucky both times Ive been pregnant to get to share it with my friends (and family this time). My good friends Stephanie and Kassie are due within the same week as me. And my friend Kristin, and several others, are due later in March. Of course I can't forget that my sis-in-law will be having my first NEPHEW just about the exact time as Crew gets here! And my sister Amy will have my 3rd niece in May. It's more fun to have someone around whois also pregnant with you. :) 

Elizabeth, Steph (35 weeks), Meg, Liz and Lauren

Tori (9 weeks), Kassie (35 weeks), Suzanne, Cindy

Sister Pic - Cindy, Amy (22 weeks), Me (33 weeks)

Lyndsie, Erin, Tina

Me, Sommer and Liz

Thank you again to all the girls that came. You have no idea how much it means to me that this many of you wanted to make this pregnancy just as special as the first. I am such a lucky girl! 

Goodbye my LOVE!!

Yes that's right....I finally did it!! I took the bink away from Gavin. (cue "mean mommy" comments) But honestly, he did so great with the whole transition besides my meltdown. So actually we could say it was harder on me than it was him! Don't ask me why I cried...it was one of those rough pregnancy hormone days. Good thing Eric has a sense of humor about it all! 

My trick you ask? Well, my lovely mother in law told me to cut a little slit in the pacifier so that when he sucks, it won't work and he won't want it. So for day one, I gave him the "broken" one at naptime and at night. Both times he ended up throwing it out of his crib, and crying for maybe 5 minutes to sleep. The next day I didn't give him any binky at all, and just kept saying "all gone" when he wanted it! Sleeping and the car was the only time he got it anyway, so the car was the big test the next day. But surprisingly he did ok with the "all gone" answer. 

So many binks

My goal of having him "binky free" before Crew gets here was achieved. Its been more than a week and I don't think he's looked back! Such a proud Mommy moment.

What Have We Been Up to Lately?

Our family has been so busy these past few weeks, that I have had no time to blog. What have we been up to you ask? Well...

We've been playing under the kitchen table

Going to dinner with our good friends

Hanging out with our cousins

Playing at the park on these beautiful January days

Wishing we had more toys to play with...YEA RIGHT! 

Reorganizing the pantry every day

Learning to eat without help

Oh and not to mention, Gavin has decided that Lexi needs to eat ALL THE TIME! He feeds her his food from his highchair when Im not looking. And he carries around cereal or crackers to feed her. But most recently, he decided to do her a favor and get her a few bones from her treat box...

We've also still been reading a lot, and Gavin is learning to make the cow sound! I think its hilarious, bc he has adopted this noise for pretty much every animal now. 

A few weekends ago, we went with Grandpa to the OU Men's basketball game when they played Kansas. Gavin had so much fun watching the players and all the fireworks at the beginning of the game. He also LOVED meeting Boomer and Sooner! He would watch and point to them no matter where they were in the stadium. He also perfected the pointed finger during the OU Chants! We were all impressed! 

Cheering with Grandpa

So if you have missed us, this is where we have been! Pretty busy around here!

28th Birthday Fun

Everything just sounds better with BIRTHDAY in front of it...dont you think?


I got up this morning to my BIRTHDAY alarm, and took a BIRTHDAY shower, changed a BIRTHDAY diaper....wait...okay maybe not everything sounds better! But you get the picture! I had a great start to my morning before I ever left my house! Eric surprised with some awesome birthday gifts, and a very sweet card. My favorite has to be the beautiful diamond earrings he picked out for me! Gavin and I played all morning until it was time to go to school. It was his first day back since Christmas so I was interested to see how it would go. He actually went straight back into his teachers' arms without a care in the world! 


I headed to run some errands and then pick up Eric up for lunch. We ate at Coolgreens, one of our favorite restaurants, then I headed to get a mani/pedi. When Gav and I got home that afternoon, it was just too nice outside. 62 degrees on my birthday doesn't happen very often, so we took full advantage and played outside! 

When Daddy got home, we played some more, and then Aunt Sissy (Cindy) came over to watch Gavin for us so Eric and I could sit in the Director's Suite at Warren and watch Sherlock Holmes. Let me just say that the Director's Suite is AWESOME! Full reclining heated seats, and being served while you watch a movie doesn't get much better. The movie was great and we enjoyed the much-needed date night. 


From BIRTHDAY breakfast with my little man, to BIRTHDAY lunch and dinner with my hubby, my day was perfect! I love any reason to celebrate, and the fact that we were celebrating me was just a bonus! At 28, Ive been married to my best friend for 5 1/2 years, have a 1 year old, and we're less than 2 months away from meeting our 2nd baby boy. We have big plans for this upcoming year, and I can't wait to see what 2012 brings for all of us.