Catching Up

Wow its been a long time since I've blogged. So I'm going to ease back into it and do a catch up post complete with monthly pictures of the little nugget. Life certainly changes when you have a baby. No one could have ever prepared me for how life changes. Sure, people tell you you will feel differently about life or your priorities change. You just can't appreciate how much your outlook of life will change until you have a child. For me it didn't change immediately. It wasn't like he popped out and my entire theory of life changed. It was more gradual. The longer I spent being a mother and looking at this special blessing, the more things began shifting inside me. I can't explain it, I just know that life will never be the same and I don't want it to be. Everything is just...more now. I haven't figure out how to put it into words to explain, but everything is just more. I know I don't make any sense. I'll keep working on putting it into words that do make sense. For now, here are the pictures for each month until now, six months. 

Gosh its amazing how time flies when you're having fun. I still cannot believe its been six months already. I'm really afraid I'll blink and he'll be six years old. Where does time go??

Our Early Thanksgiving Turkey

This was from so long ago, but here is the post of Cullum's birth and the aftermath.

So our little turkey decided to make an early entrance into this world. Sorry its taken me so long to get to the  details of his arrival, but as I've realized over the last almost two weeks, there isn't much time when there's a new baby around...here goes...

Cullum was born on November 14th at 12:14 and weighed in at 5 pounds and 13 ounces. It all started early that Wednesday morning. I woke up around 2 am because I had a dream that my water broke. Once I woke up enough to realize that my water hadn't broken I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. (Here's my warning: there could be some gory details or TMI moments in this story, but I'm a bit of an oversharer-er. If you don't want to know my in depth personal story, you should stop reading now.) When I was climbing back in bed I realized my pajama bottoms were a little damp so I went back in the bathroom and checked it all out and there was a pink tinge to my pjs. WHAT?! After freaking out a bit to myself I woke up Ryan and asked him what he thought, to which he replied, 'I have no clue, call the doctor's help line or something' and went and climbed back in bed. I called and they were SUPER helpful (insert sarcastic font here). Maybe it was because it was 2 am and I was waking them up, maybe it was because I was the 43rd slightly hysterical pregnant lady they talked to that night, or maybe they just didn't care that my water may or may not have broken, but she basically said if I wasn't having contractions to just wait until the office opened at 8 that morning. 8:00 in the morning? Did she realize it was just 2:00 and that was a long way away? Apparently not.

So I went back to lay down and wait for some contractions or more water leakage. For the next three hours I waited for something, anything to happen. I tried to go back to sleep, but who could sleep at a time like this?! I finally broke down and called my mom around 5:00, because who else does a girl call when she doesn't know what to do with girly stuff? After a pep talk from mom and deciding not to let them come to Athens until we knew something more definite, I got up to go to the bathroom once again at which point there was blood evidence that something was going on in the nether regions. I decided I couldn't wait until the office opened up and got ready to go to the hospital. Apparently if you just think you might be in labor you can just waltz up to Labor and Delivery and ask to be admitted. (After you've checked in at registration like you're checking into a hospital). I went to wake up Ryan and got ready to head to the hospital. I, of course, showered, shaved my legs, dried and straightened my hair, put on just the right amount of make up, emailed everyone at work, and even repacked my hospital bag because hey, I could, and my fashion sense had changed since the last time I packed the bag. I even convinced Ryan to let me eat breakfast because I knew once I got to the hospital there was no telling when I would get to eat again. This turned out to be a mistake, but more on that later.

After getting settled in and checked by the nurses, they didn't even know for sure if my water had broken. At this point its about 7:00 am and I'm still not feeling any contractions what so ever. However, the nurse said she thought I was 3 cm dilated  WHAT?! How did that happen? She then reassures me I could have been 3 cm dialated for the past two weeks or even the next three weeks, and to not get excited. Thanks Debbie Downer. So then I began the waiting game. Ryan looked at me about two hours later to say he didn't think we would be having a baby that day. I knew I wasn't "feeling" contractions, but felt pressure and so wasn't so sure we would be heading home empty handed. The doctor came in to check me and this is where all the fun begins. TMI warning...

After my fantastic doctor (who I'm so glad was there that day) checked me because even she wasn't so sure my water broke, whatever she did 'down there' made the rest of my water break. When people say its like peeing yourself, it really really is like that. The funny part is there were two med students standing at her shoulder watching the whole thing and their faces were priceless. At one point one of the med students commented, "I've never seen that happen before". Well I'm glad I could be that person for you...and I'm pretty sure I said those words to her. Stay tuned because that med student has more comical comments in this story...Oh and I was now officially 5 cm dilated.  I don't know who was more shocked, the doctor or myself. How did I get to 5 cm and not be screaming for pain meds? I'm the biggest pansy when it comes to pain, I was so impressed with myself. I called mom and told her to book it to Athens at which point the doctor says she's not so sure mom will make it before the baby gets here. I was so shocked it was all happening so fast! It was all so surreal!

After my water "officially" broke I definitely felt those contractions they kept talking about. So when they came in and asked if I would be planning on an epidural I said yes and how early could they start that process. There was an hour in there I didn't think was very fun, and I'm pretty sure Ryan had fingernail indentations on his hands, but we made it through and when the doctor came back in I was around 8 cm dilated and the anesthesiologist came in to give me the epidural. I had the best nurse on the planet. Somehow she got me through the labor pains while getting the epidural and explained every step of the way so I wouldn't be hysterical. Loved her. Everything went really fast from this point on. So many people were having babies that week that there literally was no room in the Inn. We were basically in the triage room that was the size of my closet at home. They even moved most of the furniture into the bathroom to make room for the delivery team. Yes that's right, the bathroom. I didn't care as long as I could deliver a healthy baby boy.

We waited about 20 more minutes and then started pushing. The doctor couldn't believe how low the baby was or how rapid my labor was progressing. Neither could I sister. Neither could I. So I pushed for around 15 minutes and Cullum made his appearance soon after that. The first thing I thought when he came out was how small he was! Quickly followed by the thought, "Holy crap I can't believe I just did that and it really wasn't that bad!"

It all happened so fast my poor mother didn't even have time to make it from Birmingham  She was on her way, but thought surely there would be enough time to get there before the baby came, but she arrived about 45 minutes after he was born. So to sum it up, we arrived at the hospital around 7 am and Cullum was born at 12:14. I'll never forget the nurse yelling that when Cullum came out, it was all very Grey's Anatomy. I loved the nurses at the hospital. They were so great and personal. I really felt like they took an extra special interest in us and were so kind during the whole stay. Couldn't say nicer things about our hospital. :)

Everything after that was a blur. The day flew by. Mom finally got there, my precious Aunt Jane drove to Athens because she knew mom wouldn't make it there in time and she wanted Ryan and I to have family. My cousin Sadie and her two kiddos came by to see us and my girls from work popped in to say hey. And best of all, the most perfect thing I've ever done in my life, the most precious gift I was ever given, and my greatest accomplishment so far, all this happened on that day. So far, my favorite day.

Okay, now for some pictures.

Last belly picture before heading to the hospital. 

Mommy ready to go. 

Daddy ready to go. 

First moments with the little man. 

Daddy's first moments with little man. 

Cute father son moment. 

Ryan's parents seeing Cullum for the first time. 

My dad meeting Cullum for the first time, which is making me realize I don't have any pictures with my mom and Cullum for the first time. Best daughter ever. :(

Ryan changing the first diaper. For him and for Cullum. 

Week 34 and 35

Weebles Wobble, But They Do Fall Down

So Ryan and I had a very scary week this past week. It all started out innocently enough. I was at work and was walking back to my classroom, which happens to be a trailer and has a small, rickety porch attached to the front. On the way up the stairs, I lost my balance, but my hands were full and I couldn't catch myself. I ended up hitting my knees, scrapping my arm up pretty good, and face planting into the banister. Nice. After I recovered from what happened I picked myself up, walked into my classroom and lost it. I think I was so shocked and scared at that point I didn't know what else to do. After scaring the crap out both of my administrators, filing out my very first accident report for work, and getting in touch with Ryan, we were off to the hospital for observation due to the possibility of trauma to the baby. And so begins the freaking out. 

After several hours at the hospital where we sat in a room at the end of the hall, with little or no information from our fantastic nurse (insert sarcastic font) the doctor finally comes in late that evening to say she would like to keep us overnight because Cullum's heart rate has these "episodes" of at least five minutes where his heart rate drops too low or off the "baseline" and this is concerning to them. You think?!  Insert another break down. They tell us they would like to keep me overnight to watch his heart rate a little more closely. We finally got a half way decent nurse who brought me ice, juice, information, blankets, pillows, a little ray of sunshine...seriously, she was fantastic compared to what we were dealing with earlier. After calling and alerting the masses, sending Ryan home for the necessities, calling my mother and crying hysterically, we settled down for a fitful night's sleep in the worst uncomfortable bed ever. 

Here's Ryan freezing to death with my blue jean jacket draped over him in the very uncomfortable chair he spent some quality time with later that night. Seriously could not have made it through last week without this man. A girl couldn't ask for a better husband. 

The next morning we had to wait on the new doctor to come on call and look at the heart rate tracker from the previous night to make a decision. Apparently Cullum had two more episodes during the night where his heart rate was concerning, and then again at 9 am that morning. After meeting with the doctor she requested we go and see the fetal medicine specialist to try and determine why Cullum was having these episodes. At this point I was just numb, I didn't know what to think and they couldn't really give us any definite answers. Ryan and I were exhausted and ready to head to the next doctor to see if we could get some definite answers. 

After looking at an in depth ultrasound, check and rechecking the cord, the placenta, the heart flow for both baby and cord, and every structure they could on the ultrasound, the doctor said everything looked great. Such great news! He was just about to send us home when he suggested taking a look at the heart rate tracker from the previous night. Once he did this, he became very concerned and thought it was unclear why the ultrasound didn't show a reason for Cullum's heart rate to be so low during periods of time over five minutes. Ryan and I are just staring blankly at him, wondering what the next steps are. His suggestion was a contractions stress test to be done in the hospital by administering Pitocin. Yes that Pitocin, that monster that gives you monster contractions?! 

Off to the hospital we go again. This time we had fabulous nurses, and a much shorter visit. Since Cullum is still in there baking, it all turned out fine, but it was not cool there for a little while. We went through the contractions test, and Cullum was a rock star. His heart rate never dipped down during the contractions which showed that he could with stand stress and didn't need to be delivered. Yay! Praise God! All I could think was I'm not ready for Cullum to come out and only be five pounds and in the NICU! Luckily no one had to experience that, but most importantly, the test showed that Cullum for now is better inside Mommy, then out in this world a full month early. Whew! Talk about the fright of your life! It takes one little incident to set everything else in perspective. This was the first time in my life I didn't care about anything else than what was happening with this little tiny baby I have yet to meet. 

The crazy part about the whole experience is the doctors don't think the heart rate issues were due to the fall. In fact they don't think we would have discovered that these episodes occur if I had never fallen in the first place. God works in mysterious and powerful ways and I fully believe I was meant to take that little fall at work so we could discover all of this. In fact, truth be told, I think God gave me a little nudge going up those stairs that afternoon. Doesn't he usually do that to us when we need to follow his plans instead of our own? He gives us a little nudge in the right direction. Who would have know that the right direction was a fall up a flight of stairs and a trip to the hospital. Thank you Lord for being infinitely more wise than I, and ultimately in control of everything. It was a  good lesson to learn this week, albeit a hard one. Thank you to all those who were aware of what was going on with Crowe's and sending up prayers for us, they were definitely felt and appreciated. 

So here's the rest of the stats for the week 34 and 35 post. 

Maternity Clothes: I'm getting to the point where my clothing options are being limited to what things I can still squeeze into and not feel like a stuff sausage. I'm hoping that means I'm getting closer to the end of this ride. 

Sleep: Sleep is still good. I still frequent the bathroom, but its usually only once during the night and I fall right back to sleep. Couldn't ask for an easier time of it really. 

Cravings: I told my family just his weekend that I hope things are as good when I'm not pregnant as they have been while I've been pregnant. Let me explain. Apple juice....it's just so good. Literally could drink an entire gallon of it in a day if I let myself. Water...never been a huge fan, but since being pregnant, big fan. I just hope I enjoy things like apple juice and water and food in general as much as I do now. 

Baby Size: At the last in depth ultrasound he was measuring around 5 lbs. 1 oz, which apparently is a little on the small size, but I've always measured a little on the small size. In fact when they do my measurements each week I'm usually at least a week behind, belly size wise. However, I've been reassured that that is perfectly okay and normal and to not worry overly much about the numbers. 

Movement: Holy Toledo at the movement. And the hiccups. Lots and lots of hiccups. Now at any moment you can put your hand on my stomach and feel Cullum move. He also was not a fan of all the monitors strapped to his home this past week. He would literally push his foot (or some other body part) at the monitor as if to say, 'move it! this is my space!'. Stinker.

Looking Forward To: Meeting the little guy. And not being pregnant anymore. I will probably do a post soon about the pros and cons of being preggers. I've been thinking about that quite a bit. 

34 Weeks Preggo at Mom and Dad's in Birmingham. 

Week 32 and 33

Maternity Clothes: You know what. This section is a little unnecessary. Obviously this big ole' belly is in only maternity clothes and will be for quite some time. If anything we're getting to the point of which maternity clothes will I be fitting into in the next few weeks...can anyone say tent? 

Sleep: Sleep has been pretty normal except for the middle of the night bathroom visits. Ryan has gotten used to the extra pillows in the bed and I've adjusted to switching sides every couple of hours. Getting ready for the end result I gues...

Baby Size: Big. At least that's what it feels like. He's getting to the point where I can feel each part as it moves and at times it feels like I can even feel his pinky toe move. 

Movement: Like I said earlier, he's moving. Its strange that I can feel his movements more now than I could earlier in this pregnancy and usually that's the opposite from what I've read. I will say, I will not ever complain about feeling him move because it took so long for me to actually feel ANYTHING move. His favorite game is to jam his foot up under my rib cage, and then we have to have a little talk about being nice and not abusing Mommy. 

Looking Forward To: You know I spent the first almost five months convincing myself I was actually pregnant and that there was an actual baby in there. Once the belly popped up, that was pretty indisputable. Now I've spent the last few months convincing myself I can be a good mommy to Cullum. In some ways I have never felt my age, so therefore don't feel old enought to be a mommy to someone, and in others I think, what in the world am I doing? I'm going good to get out of the door on time with my lunch, keys, and purse, much less care for a small beings every need. I mean I'm responsible for raising this child.  

Disclaimer: In taking these lovely weekly photos I have realized something. I apparently wear the same shirts all the time. I have now decided to at least switch it up before I let Ryan take pictures of me for the blog. Good grief! 

The Burp Clothe Challenge

Before I explain the new challenge in our household, let me give you a tidbit of background. Before Ryan came along I didn't realize how inept of a person I am. Let me explain. I can struggle with any given object or task for a good ten minutes, give up, and walk away. Ryan can come over and within 10 seconds either fix what I've broken, or perform said task with no struggles. The worst part, this happens ALL the time, and it is maddening to me! 

Let me just give you examples from just the last three days: I couldn't get the bathroom door open for some reason, I assumed it was jammed, Ryan simple turned the knob and it worked. I could not get trashcans at IKEA unstuck and picked several stacks up trying to find two that weren't stuck together. Literally tried four different stacks and couldn't pick up just one, instead all 17 of them would come out. Ryan leaned over and gently picked up one and miraculously it came "unstuck" perfect and without trouble. 

One last example comes from cutting the fabric for these said burp clothes. I can work and work and work to get the fabric wheel cutter thingy to cut through fabric in one try and it never works; I generally have to go back over it multiple times and lets be honest I usually have to use scissors as well. Ryan used it once to make his burp clothe and it worked perfectly. That's just a peek into the last week, much last the three years with this man. One would think I would become accustomed to this and just accept it, but not as of yet, it still makes me angry. 

Now onto where the challenge originated from...Thanks to Pinterest I wanted to make Cullum some original burp clothes using fabric from Hancock, ribbon, clothe diapers, and his mother's loving touch. Keep in mind I'm not that crafty, just enough to be dangerous. I spent four hours Sunday after church to create two burp clothes I was quite proud of. Four hours is not too extreme of a time limit on a sewing project by your truly. I was so impressed with myself I showed Ryan who wanted to make his own burp clothe for Cullum using the fabric he picked out. While Ryan is a better sewer than I am, I didn't think (and still don't think) he could make a better burp clothe than the two I already finished. 

In no time at all Ryan had constructed his own design out of blue tie dye and orange ribbon (FL colors of course) and was so very proud of himself. He was most proud of himself of the actual sewing technique used on the burp clothe. And what do ya know, of course his lines are sewn on straight, with no ratty edges, or missed hems, but you know what, my burp clothes were made out of the spirit of just simply wanting Cullum to use something his mother created while Ryan's was created out of a desire to show up his wife. With that being said, I do think aesthetically mine are more pleasing. I'll let you be the judge and let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy! 

Okay, here are the two burp clothes that I created yesterday. 

And here's Ryan's burp clothe that he created in none other than FL colors and in his own design. I told him it would be perfect for his own diaper bag, not mine. :) 

Here's a close up of Ryan's seweing abilities. He's pretty good at the seweing machine these days. He calls it thread injection, you know, sounds more manly that way. 

Here's a cloes up of the edging of one of the burp clothes I created. Not as good as Ryan's, but I think its much much cuter. 

Here's the edging of the dinosaur burp clothe that was my first attempt so its a pretty rough mock up. Check out that fantastic hemming on the edge. (Can you hear the sarcasm?) 

Here's the whole picture of the dino burp clothe. From far away it looks pretty great I think. 

Weeks 30 and 31

Hello Heartburn, Frequent Bathroom Breaks, and Cankles

Symptoms: It seems that every typical pregnancy symptom that I haven't experienced yet has come on in full force in the last two weeks. I have always had problems with acid reflux and stomach issues, but now I have straight up heartburn most times after I eat. Its now started waking me up in the middle of the night so I have a special bottle of Tums right by the bed. Also, just in the last two weeks the amount of visits to the bathroom should be measured in minutes just I know how long I am spending in there. The swelling feet that I have avoided has blessed me in full force these last two weeks. Typically those little sausages are at least one size larger by mid day. This swelling is also affecting my hands as well. I'm still wearing my wedding rings, but there was a situation that was a little touch and go last week with getting those bad boys off.

Maternity Clothes: Yes of course only maternity clothes, but a better question is when am I going to have to stop wearing my wedding rings, and what shoes am I going to fit my fat feet in when they get so swollen only the purple fuzzy slippers will be fitting these sausages....

Sleep: Besides the frequent bathroom breaks and leg cramps, I sleep...oh and the heartburn, and the hips that start hurting when I lay on one side too long...yes sleep is still great and I've started to adjust to these new sleep time activities. Not too much longer to deal with them and I really have gotten off easy in this department so I don't have much to complain about.

Cravings: I haven't lost my appetite altogether, I just get full a heck of a lot faster than I did before. Ryan and I visited his parents in Florida this past weekend and all we did was eat delish food while we were there. I was just upset I couldn't gorge myself quite like I was used to. How's that for a fat girl moment for you? We both gained two pounds while we were there. Did I mention we were only there for two days? But, because Ryan's mom loves us so, she always sends us home with a goody bag and we usually fight over who gets to eat most of the leftovers. I swear she's the real deal Betty Crocker, or maybe she's Betty Crocker's mother or mentor or something. She's an amazing cook and I can only try to live up to her yumminess!

Baby Size: This week Cullum is a little over three pounds, and measuring between 16 and 18 inches.

Movement: We had a doctor's visit this week which I was looking forward to because of scheduling conflicts and unforeseen circumstances we haven't seen the doctor in almost two months. The first thing I spoke to the doctor about was movement and my concerns that he just doesn't move as much as I originally thought he would. Of course I followed this comment up with the fact that I've never been pregnant before and have no clue how much or how little movement is considered normal. I did express that we were a little concerned and because my doctor is fantastic we immediately went into the ultrasound room to check everything out. Turns out he is of course perfect, developing totally normal and the way he should and kicking up a storm in there. Now here's the interesting part. The way my placenta is placed in my uterus, it sits directly on top of my stomach which in turn means directly on top of Cullum. This is the main reason I don't feel movement all day every day and even little flutters still. I feel big movements or when he drags his foot across my stomach, but I feel MUCH better after this last doctor's visit!

Looking Forward To: Don't get me wrong, I love living in Athens, but I miss my family in Birmingham so much, especially since getting pregnant. We were home in September and hopefully will be home in October if Cullum doesn't have any other plans. Plus, I can't wait to see sweet baby Cora. It'll be a really long time since I've gotten to give her a squeeze!

Bump Pictures 

Here's 30 weeks pregnant while we were at Ryan's parent house. We had so much fun and I think because we ate so much while we were there that is surely the reason I look bigger at 31 weeks. What do you think?? :) 

Week 28 and 29

Symptoms: Leg Cramps. Oh and the leg cramps. This is how it all goes down around 3 o'clock in the morning. I am a stretcher, always have been. Love me a good stretch. Apparently I love a good stretch in the middle of the night. So when I stretch my legs I point my toes down and get this horrible cramp in my calf and it wakes me up, so I hurriedly flip my foot back before I have a full blown leg cramp. Not all the time do I make it in time. This past week Ryan and I had to rub a cramp out in the middle of the night twice. I now have eaten my weight in bananas trying to avoid this nightly ritual. And drinking water. A lot of water.

Maternity Clothes: Oh my yes. Straight up maternity clothes. I always said I wouldn't like the full panel pants because it was a lot on my belly and I was right. However, it is very difficult to find pants/bottoms without a full belly panel. At the end of the day I find myself dying to peel off layer after layer like a banana to get to my bare belly and let it breathe for a little bit.

Sleep: This week has not been a good week for sleeping. I've been having some tummy trouble this week as well as some gas build up which I think is what is leading to the sleepless nights. Well this and the leg cramps. I'm not to the frequent bathroom visits stage of pregnancy yet so I have that to be thankful for. As long as I don't drink anything right before bed I can usually make it to the bathroom in the morning. Here's a funny for you though. In talking to my best friend this week who's a pro in the baby department she gave me some sage advice. You know that feeling you get after you're finally able to go to the potty after holding it for so long...yea, its going to be a while before you have that feeling again. Are you kidding?!?! What's funny though, is I knew exactly what she was talking about and have been missing that feeling. I chalk it up to the fact that I pee so often during the day and constantly feel like I have to pee that I've lost that lovely feeling until after Cullum debuts. And I'm a little sad about this. Too much information? Forgive me, I'm a bit of an overshare-er. Just wait until I get to the really uncomfortable part of pregnancy.

Cravings: Hello Ice Cream! I've never been a huge fan of ice cream. I mean its good, but I didn't HAVE to have ice cream. Until now. Its like how peanut butter has always been for me. I have to have at least one container open in the pantry and one waiting to be opened. I must say even with this new sweet tooth, I've still only gained 15 lbs so far, but this could change if I keep this habit up for very much longer.

Baby Size: As of week 29 weeks, Cullum is around 15 inches long and weighing in around 2 1/2 pounds. By the size of this belly I would say he's grown a good bit in the last two weeks. 

Movement: Ryan and I had one of those first time parent scare/moments. Cullum is not a big mover and shaker. He was at first right when I would lay down at night, but since he's gotten bigger and his moves have become more purposeful, I don't constantly feel Cullum kick. I obviously have nothing to compare this to and constantly worried about this, but got good reports from the doctor and reassurances from family and friends. One day Ryan came home and said he too was concerned. I of course freaked out, called my mother and tried not to be hysterical on the phone with her. Of course she was the voice of reason and suggested drinking a real live Coca-Cola. If I didn't feel at least 10 kicks, then it was time to call the doctor. Sure enough about 15 minutes after drinking the coke, it was like the macarena going on in my stomach. I then had to go in later for blood work that week and nothing was abnormal so we have calmed down a bit, but it is still nerve racking to be in charge of this special gift and making sure nothing goes wrong. 

On a lighter note, last week I dubbed Cullum Slug because he will slowly move from one side of my stomach to the other, but not kick or bump me very much. Really the only way I can tell he's moving is I can feel my belly getting hard in a little ball from one side of my stomach to the other. What was funny about the slug moves was that Ryan can feel him moving around in there if I'm laying down. Ryan of course loves to feel these movements, any movements really. 

Today, though I began noticing that if I'm really still while Cullum performs his slug moves I can actually see my stomach move with his movements. Talk about strange. I get tickled when I feel him moving around in there, but it is strange when you see your actual body change shape as your baby moves from one position to the other. Weird! 

Looking Forward To: Seeing my little man! I'm dying to see him! I have a doctor's appointment in a little over a week and I'm racking my brain for a reason to make the doctor do an ultrasound. Is that bad? After playing with my baby niece Cora and working in his nursery all this weekend organizing his clothes I'm so ready to have him here and get to love on him. Of course I want him to cook a little longer, but I cannot wait for December, it'll be here before I know it! 

I leave you with the belly pictures for the past two weeks. 

28 Weeks and 2 days at the Baby Tea in Birmingham. Here is my wonderful mother and I from the shower. 

And 29 weeks pregnant. This was after date night to the local yummy Italian place close to our house. Yay for date night and yummy food! 

And here are some more pictures from the Birminham shower. I loved my cake and it was yumm-o as well. Ryan just loved that Cullum now had four extra truck toys to play with...yes that's right...that Ryan played with. Hopefully Cullum will be okay with sharing his toys with his daddy. 

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Or should I say busiest weekend ever? I’m always amazed what we can fit into the weekends when we are home in Birmingham. So much happened this past weekend that I just had to post about it. Here goes...

Here goes the shortened version so I can get to the best part.

1. Arrived at Mom and Dad's for our Friday night catch-ups. I love going home to Mom and Dad's and we always sit in their breakfast area/nook and talk to them, catching up on everything, telling stories, munching on homemade goodies. Settling in if you will. This is my favorite time of the weekend probably. There's something about going home. Something about being in your parents house, or at least that's how I feel...

2. Saturday we got up early to hit up the bargain sales at several churches, including ours, to rack up on baby gear. It was very successful! Kudos to the cousins for finding all the sales and helping me rack up while also getting some stuff for themselves as well!

3. Then off to the "fake birthday party" for my uncle at Mom and Dad's. Let me explain...Originally, my cousin Katherine planned a surprise party for her dad, my Uncle Jim, for Saturday night. Obviously since Uncle Jim didn't know about it he was trying to get the rest of us to get on the band wagon for a birthday party during the day Saturday since a good number of out of town relatives would be in town. When no one would agree to hold the party he came to my mother and asked if he could cook his OWN birthday lunch and have it at our house during the day, which of course pulled on Mom's heartstrings and thus the fake birthday party was born.

4. At the fake birthday party I called my sis in law, Leakhena, because it was odd she wasn't at the house yet. Turns out her water had broken that morning and her and Andrew were getting ready to head to the hospital. WHAT?!?! Earlier that week I told Leakhena to have a conversation with my future niece to come on the weekend so I could meet her, and guess what, she listened to her aunt. It's already the beginnings of a beautiful relationship! :) Also, how the heck we had not heard the text message of Leakhena's water breaking is the true mystery and cannot believe it took us so long to respond and get on the band wagon.

I could not have been more excited. I mean, I knew I would be excited. I've always wanted to be an Aunt Ashley, but seriously didn't know I was going to be as excited as I was once I found out they were heading to the hospital. I wanted to do something. I wanted to be her own personal cheerleader, root her on, give a few pushes for her, something! So excited!

5. After exciting news, headed off to get my hair colored (for the first time...ever). It was quite difficult for me to sit still the entire time. I was constantly texting to get updates and such. I am not a huge fan of my hair now. I call it my tiger stripes. I'm not even sure I'll put a picture on the blog of the hair until I'm accustomed to it a little more. Every time I catch a glimpse in the mirror I have a second where I'm like, whoa, what happened. eeh....

6. The best part! Baby Cora finally arrived around 11 o'clock that night and of course we were there to see her when everyone was settled down. There's not many pictures from that night, but more from the next morning. You should be thankful of this because 7 month pregnant Ashley after she's been asleep for a couple of hours, and then at the hospital until around 2 am is not a cute look. Really. She's beautiful and I can't imagine loving her anymore than I do. It was literally love at first sight. I sure hope she loves her Aunt Ashley as much as her Aunt Ashley loves her. And now I'm super sad I'm not there to hold and squeeze her until my own bundle of joy comes along...

Isn't she a little burrito of cuteness!?! This was the night we all were able to meet her. I think she's pretty excited to meet us too. :)

7. The last big even of the weekend was my baby shower which was the original reason Ryan and I came into town. Luckily is was at 2 in the afternoon on Sunday so we had time to sleep late, go by and see baby Cora one last time, run around doing last minute details and make it to the shower on time. I am so blessed to have so many people want to our lives who want to celebrate in this exciting time with us. I had such a great time catching up with everyone on Sunday. Such a great time that I in fact had no idea what I had received as gifts from the shower. See, I am a fan of the "tea" instead of the "shower". (so I guess technically I should be calling this party a tea this whole time, but oh well) I like the tea model because while someone else is opening your gifts, you're getting to socialize with everyone who came to see you. So since I was a Chatty Cathy and didn't help pack the car back to Athens I had no clue what was given to us. Thank goodness for the gift list. We packed the car literally to the ceiling and headed back to A-town. Whew! I'm tired all over again. 

This was the view of our backseat from the passenger side of the car. Backseat was packed! Sadly, my comfy clothes to change into after the shower were underneath all of these things. It was all worth it though! 

I'll leave you with a few pics of Cora and Aunt Ashley. So proud of her. Congratulations to Andrew and Leakhena! I know y'all are going to be fantastic parents and I can't wait to be part of watching beautiful Cora grow up!

Can you tell how excited Aunt Ashley is?!?!?! 

Week 27 Post

This was a crazy week and thus there is not post for week 26. It's okay, don't be disappointed, you didn't miss much I promise. I'm still just as pregnant as I was a week ago.

Let's start from the beginning. Ryan and I went home for Labor Day because we had the long weekend and it was my birthday, and well I just wanted to go home. So since I have an amazing husband we made a last minute trip to the Ham. We had a great time with family and I was very spoiled while I was there. It was a great birthday weekend. What's that you say? You want to see pictures? Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Ryan and I are those people who never take a camera. Even when we do remember the camera we don't take a single stinking picture. I believe there is a picture somewhere of me blowing out the candles on my cake, but I'm just not sure where that picture may be, not with me, obviously. So just use your imagination! :)

Onto Week 27 Weeks Post

Symptoms: No major issues or symptoms going on except for a growing belly. I still occasionally have swollen feet at the end of a long day. No more leg cramps in the middle of the night although they are pretty tight and sore at night.

Maternity Clothes: Officially in all maternity clothes all the time. I'm almost to the point where my tshirts are no longer comfortable. This is sad for me. I'm a tshirt wearing kinda girl and the day I can no longer fit in my normal sized tshirts to wear around the house or out and about on the weekends is going to be a sad day for me.

Sleep: Ryan and I have a queen sized bed. Before the appearance of the bigger better me the queen size was big enough for us. Now, let this be said now before I get too far in this post...I'm a snuggler. Not too terrible, but I tend to snuggle just a wee bit. Ryan has gotten used to this over the past year and has adjusted accordingly. However, now I have to sleep with a pillow to lay all over since I'm not so sure Ryan would really go for that all night. I explained it to him this way. Imagine having this huge pot belly that you're not accustomed to and when you lay on your side (the only comfortable position for you) you pot belly just flops over and hangs there. Doesn't sound too appealing does it? It actually kinda hurts. Thus the need for the body pillow to prop yourself on. Now our queen bed that was big enough for Ryan and myself, isn't quite roomy enough for Ryan, myself, and the body sized pillow. I don't need it all night long or all the time, just when I want to get good sleep. We're working through this. I'll let you all know if we suddenly feel the need for a bigger bed or another bedroom altogether.

Cravings: I have never been a candy bar kind of girl. I have too much guilt for that. However, its amazing how you can justify an entire roll of Rolos to yourself when you're pregnant. It hasn't happened often, because I won't buy them often, but an entire sleeve of Rolos sounds divine at any moment in the day. Luckily I don't go into too many places that have Rolos on display right when you check out.

Baby Size: According to What to Expect When Your Expecting Cullum is around 2 pounds and just about 15 inches long. All this makes for a big belly for Mama. I've had more people rub or pat my belly this week than before so I'm taking that to mean I'm starting to show more and more. I told Ryan its amazing how many people stare at you when you're in public. I was used to this from school because the students tended to stare at my growing belly in amazement or horror I'm not sure which. However, out in public, people tend to stare and I can't call them out on it like I do the students at school. I mean I guess technically I could, but its just not polite. Of course they are the ones staring.

Movement: Cullum is a stinker. He only moves when he really really wants to. He will not kick Ryan unless Ryan gets right up on my belly and talks to him and even then its usually just a one kick to pacify us so we'll leave him alone. However, if my mother sings to Cullum she gets all kinds of kicks. While in town for my birthday she leaned down talked to him. I don't know what she did, but whatever it was he literally felt like he was vibrating in there. Apparently Gam has the special touch. I have noticed that his kicks and punches are harder than they used to be. So maybe he'll start kicking on command, but if he's anything like his mother and father then he isn't going to do anything he's not good and ready to do.

Looking Forward To: Having another ultrasound. I feel like I've seen in forever. I'm wondering when they'll do the 4D pictures. We had them done at 18 weeks when we found out Cullum was a he, but then he looked a little like Skelator and not like the cute chubby baby I had pictured in there. I can't wait to see who's features he has which I guess I won't really know until he's officially here. It all still amazes me.

DIY Weekend

So this is from a few weekends ago. Maybe even before school started back, who knows, but it was still worth sharing... 

This past weekend we crafted it up. It has rained here in Athens for at least a week so it was hard to get projects finished that we had started. We bought a changing table from Craig's List a while ago and have been slowly working on it. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Luckily I started working on sanding it while out for summer. My lovely husband did not offer up the power sander until I was mostly finished with sanding the bad boy. Love him. Either way it turned out awesome. Here are some shots of the changing table.

If you're asking yourself if that is a kindermat as a changing pad, then why yes, you are correct. That is in fact a very dirty, very used, kindermat used as a changing pad for who knows how long. Did I mention that we clean this entire table several times and handled the changing pad with rubber gloves before it went in the trash can. Hurry look at the after pictures, they make it all worth it! 

                                          

Eventually I'll add some wire baskets to the changing table to put tiny baby things in. I just haven't found what I have in my head yet. Any suggestions where to find wire baskets so I don't have to order them online???

Next, we have a school project that my lovely husband also helped build. I love the fact that I can come up with something and not describe it very well at all and he can take it and pretty much figure out what I'm talking about. Love that about him! So this is an idea I found on Pinterest. Originally it was used for a magazine "keeper", but I have no need for that. However, I do have a need for a paper sorter at school; construction paper, computer paper, notebook paper, etc. You get the picture. Hopefully. So these are all the boxes just stacked on top of each other. The hardest part was trying to figure out how large a piece of construction paper is so we knew how big to make each box. I should know the measurements for construction paper, but sadly did not and had to actually find the construction paper to measure to know for sure. Anywho, it turned out the perfect size. 

 Here they all are getting painted in the hot blazing sun. Notice the flip flops turned over in the grass. Soooo stinking hot. I'm sure this did look strange since our neighbor stopped us and inquired what we were building because they couldn't figure it out. It turns out really great though, keep reading. 

And here's the final project. We added (by we I really mean Ryan, just know that for future reference) casters or rollers as I call them, on the bottom of the cabinet so I could roll it around my classroom as I need to. I also really like it so I can turn the whole cabinet to face the wall and no sun shine through the windows on the paper. My classroom is in a trailer and has a good number of windows, which is nice, until it fades my construction paper. And there's nothing I hate worse than faded construction paper. Maybe there's something worse, but its up there in my top five. Did I mention that we found all the scrap wood at Lowe's? For free? Love it! If you check the back of Lowe's where they cut wood for customers, anything that is left over is considered scrap and is free for the taking. Yes please! We also used paint we already had as well so the whole thing cost the price of the coasters/rollers on the bottom of the cabinet. Love me a good deal and a great DIY project that comes together! Enjoy the final product...

24 and 25 Weeks Pregnant

This weekend was one of those perfect weekends. You know the ones where you don't have anything that HAS to be accomplished, the weather is beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze in the air, and you find things to entertain you all day long. That was this past weekend. It made me realize how much I love our little life here in Athens. I miss all things Alabama and one day I'll probably do a post about that, but I do love our quiet little weekends here, just hanging out and living life. Here are the 24 weeks (6 months pregnant? What?!?! How did that happen?) and 25 weeks pregnant pictures. I'm ashamed to admit that yes I have on basically the same outfit in both pictures, but I am proud to admit those are not maternity shorts and I'm pretty impressed I'm still wearing them comfortably even with a rubber band to help just a bit. :) 

Not much of a difference, but as Ryan says and I tend to agree, I think I grow more and more each day. 

Symptoms: I've officially entered the days of swollen feet and leg cramps. If I drink enough water at school each day then they're not super swollen, but its enough that Ryan calls them little sausages each afternoon. So I've started drinking more water at school and coming home and putting my feet up for at least 20 minutes before I start piddling around the house. This of course is just fine by me, remember, Hi I'm Ashley Crowe and I'm an official couch potato...As far as the leg cramps go I can laugh about it now, but it was not funny at the time. This story goes along with my theory that everything awful happens in the middle of the night. When have you ever heard your fire alarm go off in waking hours? No way it always happens in the middle of the night scaring the bejesus of out you, along with things spontaneously falling off walls, children getting profusely sick, animals to loose their minds and start barking crazy. I could go on, but I digress. 

So the other night around 3 am I wake up with the worst leg cramp I have ever had in my life. This is a good time to mention that I've never in my life had a leg cramp before. I wake Ryan up by repeatedly beating him and demand he rub my leg. Only problem is, Ryan can't find my leg under the covers because I'm shoving it in his face, but its pitch black dark and he can't see this. So then we're trying to communicate to each other how to get my leg to him, but in incoherent sentences and moans and cries from me. This goes on for at least a minute until finally he realizes that is my leg hitting him in the head and finally starts rubbing out the cramp. Needless to say it took both of us quite a while to go back to sleep. This taught us a very valuable lesson. Ryan now sees the importance of rubbing his precious wife's legs before going to bed each night so we can avoid these kinds of misadventures. 

Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good these days. 

Maternity Clothes: Did I tell the story of popping the rubber band at school? No you say? Well let me enlighten you. I had on a pair of my regular-not maternity pants at school one day recently and was really enjoying the fact that I could still use a rubber band and get away with it. Nevermind the fact that either side of my pants was a good 3 inches apart. So I'm sitting at my desk with a couple of my co-workers close by and all of a sudden I feel the rubber band give way and realize I have officially popped the rubber band holding my pants together. After laughing hysterically at my wardrobe malfunction, Amy, one of my wonderful friends who got to experience this with me, tells me in her most gentle voice that perhaps its time for me to hang up the non-maternity clothes for a while and go just to solely maternity clothes. I've taken up that great piece of advice for the most part. There are some dresses and blousey shirts I can still get away with. Ah the joys of getting plumper. 

Sleep: Just last night I had the conversation with myself about the many mid-night visits to the bathroom. I'm not typically a middle of the night visitor to the bathroom, but last night as I laid there debating this issue for at least 30 minutes I realized I could have just gone ahead and gotten up and gone to the bathroom and gone back to sleep by the time I had convinced myself I didn't actually have to go to the bathroom and talking myself into going back to sleep. Does this even make sense? Most of the conversations I have with myself in the middle of the night don't make sense in the morning. Suffice to say, I'm not a fan of getting up for middle of the night bathroom visits, but I'm starting to see the light that maybe this needs to be something I start getting used to experiencing. 

Cravings: Still nothing crazy. I have started to get more and more serious about my food. Like don't get in the way of the pregnant lady and her food type reaction to meal time. But then again, I've always taken my food pretty seriously. I'm still a really big fan of the all fruit popsicles and could eat three in one sitting. There's not a whole lot I'll pass up these days...all food in general. 

Baby Size: I don't know what I was reading last week that said Cullum was 11 1/2 inches long, because everything that I've read this week has him at only 9 inches long. Then I've read other things that have him at 13 inches long. Let's just say he's growing and he's bigger than what he was yesterday. I need to get one of those handy gadgets on here that shows the baby's size and compares them to a fruit or vegetable or something. I just haven't gotten that crafty with this whole blog thing yet. I'm still trying to fix the ticker that says Ryan and I have only been married for a year. 

Movement: Cullum is a mover and a shaker wen he wants to be, and only then. Ryan finally told him the other night that he wasn't playing his games anymore and would try to feel him when he got a little older. In other words, Cullum usually only kicks up a storm at night right when I climb into bed. I feel him throughout the day and every once in a while I'll get a big kick or a punch, but other than that, not a whole lot of movement. I'm trying not to over analyze this and freak out every time I don't feel him move when I think I should, but let him just do his thing. Maybe he'll be a really chill baby who just hangs out, or maybe he's still in a place where I can't feel all his movement...who knows. But just to make a liar out of me, Cullum has kicked me the entire time I've typed this paragraph...stinker.

Looking Forward To: We're going home this weekend for my birthday, to see some old friends, and to of course see family. My sister-in-law is also pregnant and is due any day now. I told Ryan if we wanted to see them one more time before our precious neice is born, we might better go home soon. I am also looking forward to the Birmingham shower in the next couple of weeks too. I can't wait to start filling up his room with all the precious little boy things we'll be getting.