S to the R, I am a big SLACKER!

After reading and catching up on some other blogs I follow, I decided to gander at ours and see how long it has been since I had updated. Over a year! Whoops!

After I read our last post I began to think about all that has happened in our lives, and crap! I should have stayed on top of our blog.
So for a small but I am sure lengthy recap, here we go! ( I will cover a month or two in each post.)

Our last post left us off at me having to schedule my own surgery for my gall bladder removal.
Well shortly after on June 26th I was admitted to the ER AGAIN! It was about 1pm when I started having pains again and Shelly was on her way to pick me up. We were going to go see our dad, who was currently taking his turn in the hospital, and Shelly had just texted me and said I will be there in 5 min. I had to call her almost immediately after and say between forced breaths "I need to go to the hospital" I had been throwing up and then dry heaving badly. My vomit noise was so loud it was scaring Cru. :( Shelly shows up and calls our bishop. He was able to rush over, give me a blessing and send us on our way.
I remember Shelly dropping me off at the ER doors but I could hardly walk. I was checked in and waited for what seemed like FOREVER. It usually does when you are in pain, trying to throw up, and they won't let you have water! I did convince them to give me some if I promised not to swallow it.
Needless to say, a gall stone had lodged its lovely self in a duct and was causing a gnarly traffic jam and therefore creating acute pancreatitis! Yay for me! After being admitted to the hospital I spent a lovely 12 days in there. I knew which nurses were nice and which were slow and I learned that I should have had a shower about 4 days before I did. I spent July 4th alone in my room while Eric played with fire with Cru.
Here is something I am not proud of but will share any way. If you stay that long in the hospital and are constantly on pain meds, you WILL become addicted. It wasn't an addiction I had experienced before, like shoes, but it was I'm gonna die/counting down seconds with the nurse call in your hand until your next dose of meds kind of addiction. It was terrible. Always sleeping, constant fevers and no food or drink. I had 5 different room mates while I was waiting for my pancreas levels to come down. One room mate, the "Jersey Shore brat" with the loud jersey shore family complained about her food and she would name off things like steak, boston cream pie and other delicious foods that she wanted. Someone in her group did go fetch the poor thing some pie too. Meanwhile I laid in my bed and starved.
I finally had my surgery at the beginning of August after battling that rad drug addiction (huge shout out to Shelly for regulating my meds before and after my surgery) I found some gall bladder drops that were homeopathic and those helped a great deal with the addiction and pain. Taste like poo, but worth it. After surgery I spent a week at the Short Recovery Center, aka Shelly's house. I was able to "help" with Cru who was then a formula baby because I dried up after the hospital and lack of food.
Plus I was waited on hand and foot! It was great! I think Shelly enjoyed picking me up from the hospital after surgery mostly because I was loopy.
When I woke up I was in a little room with a cute lady (who I later found out was our ward chorister) she gave me cheese and crackers (the kind with the RED stick, like old school)
and some ice chips. Shortly after Shelly walked in and my excitement from the old school cheese and crackers had busted out as I exclaimed "Dude! check this out! It's old school with the RED STICK!" I still don't live that down.  We drove to drop off my prescriptions and she was kind enough to film me. If I can get that video from her I will. It's a gem.
It was a long rough two months but we made it through! It's been a challenge to learn which foods don't make me "rush" anywhere. I missed, what I feel is a lot, of Cru's 1st year and I constantly felt like the world's worst mother while in the hospital. But I know he loves me so I can get over it.

Cru got to come see me in the hospital, but only for a moment. 

It was a great moment to hold him again. 

After the 12 days in the Hospital. I had lost near 22lbs and I bet 5 of that was hair!

This is to show the weight difference.

When he would eat, in between bites we chewed on his socks! mmmm

We managed to sneak in a camping trip before the surgery.

No camping trip is complete without a hat!

Let's Catch Up!

Since my last post, Cru has turned 1, 2, and 3 months old!
He is a HUGE kid! But I wouldnt have him any other way.
Shortly after he was born, about mid March, we moved into my sisters old house. She took her tribe and upgraded to a larger home as well. It has been so nice to be on our own again, but I really do miss my mom and dad.

Before we moved into this house, we had to do some painting. Thanks to Eric and my good friend Ben, I didn't have to do any painting. They knocked it out pretty quickly and we were able to install some new fans too.This is the bathroom before we painted it!

Now it is lime green on top and brown on the bottom.
It's pretty dang cute if you ask me!

I have had a lot of fun living down the street from Shelly, we are about 2 minutes driving, and I am always over there. We have traded off babysitting a lot and it is so nice to be able to run errands whatever without lugging Cru around.

At the end of April we took our first road trip to Arizona with Cru. We went down there for a late baby shower. We would have had it before be the doctor put the stop to that. He didn't want me traveling so huge. We borrowed Shelly's van and DANG that was nice. We weren't cramped in there, I was able to ride in the back with Cru if I needed to. Right before we left, we had the van and EVERYTHING packed, so I bathed Cru, and fed him then off we went and he slept just about the whole way! We made to to Wickenburg before we stopped to feed him. It was nice.
The shower was on Saturday and on Sunday was Eric's brothers confirmation. Two birds with one stone! Cru was a good boy the whole time, I really lucked out with how mellow he is.

May has been crazy! I signed up as a Heritage Makers Publishing Consultant, and I have been having a BLAST with it! I've made canvases for Cru's room, our living room, I've made Cru a little Gospel ABC book, and now I am working on finally putting our wedding pictures into a book!! I will touch on that a little later.
My mom went in for a 5way by pass, she had the whole family worrying over her. It's sad to think of her in the hospital. Shelly and I were able to go out to the hospital quite a bit and because there was a 2 person rule, we switched off watching Cru in the lobby.
The surgery went well and she had a speedy recovery! It's hard to keep her resting. She has always been a busy body and she doesnt want to stop.
We were also able to get Cru's crib! I started painting his tree on his wall and now I need to find my leaf stencil and finish it! I am excited to get it done. My mom is making some cute curtains for his room with little owls on them, and if we have enough fabric we will make a bumper pad out of the same fabric.
It has been fun planning out his room. I have covered some of his shelves with Contact paper that has blue and brown dots on it. I need to finish those too.

June-
On June 5th we blessed Cru!
I have waited patiently for our turn... April was my nieces baby blessing, and May we were in Arizona, so June was out turn. Two other babies were blessed the same day, but Cru towered over them in size for sure!! After his blessing he crapped himself, ruining his outfit and mine! I had poo all down my skirt and shirt! :( I even had on a new outfit!
I kept the top part on and wrapped him in a blanket for the remainder of church.
After we went to my parents for lunch, we had pot roast, potatoes, carrots, onions and some salad. It was soooo good. Eric's family was able to come for the blessing and I'm glad they were able to see Cru blessed.
My dad gave Cru his blessing and it was such a good one, no two blessings are the same and that makes it so much more special. I know Cru will be such an example to his friends and family. He is already an amazing kid, I just love him!

The next night we went to bed, and I woke up at 3am to feed Cru, we were back in bed by 4. I dozed off then woke up with a really bad stomach ache. I tossed and turned a little and finally got up and ate some crackers. Maybe I was hungry? After a bit I had trouble breathing and started to get pains in my back and under my sternum. After praying on what to do, I finally woke up Eric and told him I couldnt breathe! I told him it could be my gallbladder, and told him to call Shelly. He told her what was going on, and she was right over to get Cru, and we left for the hospital. We now live 2-3 minutes from the hospital too, which is fabulous! We went into the ER and got checked in, and back to a bed. Those pains were by far the worst things I have ever had! I'd rather be in labor every day. Once we saw the doctor, he gave me some pain meds, I remember him saying it was stronger than morphine. I believe him, once they put that in there, WEW! I was feeling GOOD! At one point they did an ultrasound on me, and I guess I was telling jokes to the lady, poor thing. They said I was passing stones. They gave me the number for a surgeon and said I can have it removed. Bleh... I have had two more attacks but they gave me pills for them until I have the surgery done. It is very hard to schedule your own surgery ya know! I keep pushing it off, but after last nights attack, I will be calling tomorrow.

Yesterday, we went swimming at my parents house. Some of my family was there, and it was nice. Cru got to put his feet in for a little bit, but I decided it was way too cold for him. Then seconds after wrapping him in his towel, he was asleep. Getting his feet wet was enough to wear him out I guess.

Later that night I went to Shelly's house(told you I am there a lot) and played some games with her, two cousins and Shelly's friend Tina. We played Quelf, and goodness! That game is hilarious! Lot's of fun!

So there is our little recap, we have been busy but it's mostly play! That is never a bad thing!

Absolutely Amazing

Pregnancy has been the most amazing journey i have ever been on. also it gave me the most rewarding outcome anyone could ask for.

This post is just my point of view. perhaps i could get Eric to write his own.

At 35 weeks we found out Cru was a big boy. from that point on i wished for an early delivery. I will say each appointment was just sad. Being dilated to the same thing each time was so hard. I knew deep down we would hit the due date, and we did. In fact we even went 3 days over!
Hard to swallow, but it was ok in the end.
At my last appointment, Feb 28th, I went in and I was still dilated to only a 1. Dr. Juarez called the hospital and scheduled my induction for 7:30pm Tuesday.
On Tuesday I woke up and my sister Shelly was here with her kids and was taking my brother John's boy to play. It was also FREE pancake day at IHOP so the 5 of us ventured over there. After pancakes my sister was rad enough to drop me off at the DMV to register my car. Its funny to sit back and see what goes through your mind for last minute items.
With Eric going to school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and having finals that week too, the plan was for my mom to take me to the hospital, have Eric take my car to school then head to the hospital afterward. Well, the hospital called and postponed my appointment to 10pm. Uggg it's only a couple more hours right?
It worked out, Eric was able to finish his test, come home and relax for a minute and then we headed for our destination!
We checked in, everything was good, I was hooked up to an IV, I was given cervidal and two monitors, one for the baby's heart and one for contractions. Hearing your little mans heart beat all night was amazing to me. If I shifted and couldn't hear it I would ask Eric if he could still see the numbers.
Most of the time he could. Our first nurse, Charity, who is very brutal when checking you... forgot to tell me that laying on my side was an option, and that I could have juice and jello still. So I laid there from about 11pm to 8am on my back... boy did that suck! After shift change we met Krystal, our day nurse. That lady was and is awesome! So let me roll around, she fed me juice and jellos... and she was hilarious.
At noon I was able to take the Cervidal out and walk around for an hour. I showered, well I sat in the warm water and tried to relax. My doctor also let them send lunch into me. Thank goodness, I was starving. After my hour of freedom, it was back into bed for me. They loaded me up with pitocin to start my contractions. It worked and it worked well, then came the epidural. That stuff is good! At one point one of the nurses checked me and Cru was very low. About two hours later I was checked again and Cru was very high. Not good. :( I was having contractions that could have shot a smaller weighing baby across the room.
A little later Dr. Juarez came in and broke my water hoping to help the little guy come back down and out!
No such luck, as time passed by I thought and thought "Man I don't want a c section" I don't have anything against them, I just have a fear of being cut open. I knew it was coming though.
When we first found out we were expecting little Cru, Eric and I talked about what we were comfortable with and what we would do if certain things happened. We decided that baby came absolutely first. AS long as he was ok and healthy we didn't care how he came out. I prayed as I laid in that bed and a calming feeling came over me and I knew it was what was needed and it was right to do. As the nurses and Dr came in, you could see the word "Cesarean" on their concerned faces. Once Juarez said We may have to do c-section, I quickly responded "lets do it!" No point in fighting if the doctor thinks it is best, then so do I.
The look on the nurses faces was priceless, they were surprised I didn't put up a fight at all.

Within minutes, Eric was dressed, I had a sweet hair net on, and our nurse has some rad "UGG" medical booties on. I wish we had a picture of those.(Sorry for my sexiness!)

I was given a ton more drugs to help with numbing me and we were off to Operation room #1.
On the way there, I started shaking uncontrollably from the epidural, it was like I was freezing cold. Once in the Op. room I was transferred from my bed to the table and given a warm blanket on my arms. It helped only a little though. Once the blue curtain was up, that baby was out in less than 5 minutes. Of course I felt a LOT of pushing on my stomach and that was about it. Once he was out we found out why Cru had gone back up. Little man decided to play bungee jump with the umbilical cord around his neck twice.
The moment you hear that first cry, there really aren't words for it. but it is just amazing. They carried Cru over to the warming table where he was cleaned off and where Eric was able to film and cut the cord. All I could to was try to keep my eyes open and sneak a peak of him.
Cru made it known that he had arrived by peeing on the nurses!
It was one of the most amazing moments, and it was all happening so quickly. Eric and Cru left with the nurses to the nursery to clean him up and make sure everything was good. I heard a phone ring and all I heard the nurse say was 9lbs 6ounces... 21 inches. HOLY COW! He's a toddler!
After they stitched me up I was wheeled back to our room where I finally got to meet the little guy who was beating me up for so long. He was born at 7:42pm March 2nd, 2011. I believe we met at about 8:45-9:00. It was fun to see Eric interact with him and just see the change in him.
We stayed in the hospital until Friday when they released us and home we went. It felt good to be home, to shower, and to relax without beeping noises.

Im am so blessed to have this little man in my life, I have waited for him for a long long while and I finally got my boy!

I stare at him all day and just day dream of what he will be and what his personality will be like.

He sure is a cute little guy!(First time with his eyes open)

"I'll decide!"

The little saying, "I'll decide" has been one I grew up with. I am not 100% where it came from but I remember my mom saying it to my dad, and him saying it to her. Along with everyone in the family mimicking it. Well, Cru has picked up on this saying and it abusing it.
We tell him all the time to come out, he'll kick or squirm and you can just hear this voice with a little attitude look saying "I'll decide!"

So here we are, February 27, 2011, D-Day.
Nothing.... is happening....
Yay for me!

The past two weeks have felt like months! Painful long months.
I've been dialated to a 1 for a month, and still at last Wednesdays appointment, I got a "Maybe a 2" after talking to my sister, I guess that is out Doctors way of being nice and saying "You arent doing anything". Sad face. I was also told that if I make it to Mondays appointment we will schedule a room at the hospital and get this kid out! I still have 20 hours before my appointment... COME ON CRU!
Yesterday I had a really good day. By good, I mean I was able to run errands without as much pain. It's like the calm before the storm I'm guessing.

The other night Eric and I were laying in bed, and Cru decided to give us a show. I've only seen this on tv, but he had his feet going and you could see the outline to them. He was pushing hard!! Of course it was very painful to me but I was trying not to laugh. The next morning I felt the damage from his kicking. I could hardly walk.

We have his bed all ready, every gadget and gismo we could think of, we FINALLY picked a FULL name for this boy, my mom finished his warm blanket, and now we just wait. After we have all of this, which we thought he was waiting for, we still sit here waiting for him to "decide" when it is his time.

On to other news... after a year and a half... almost two years, of living in a one bedroom "apartment" with my parents for room-mates, Eric and I are moving out!
The goal was to buy once we got out, but the fact that we can't find a house to our liking, and also we aren't 100% on staying in Las Vegas, it is almost too hard to buy and be stuck.
With some luck, we found a house to rent!
In about two weeks we will be painting and moving into this new place. We are excited to have more than one room, not pay for storage, and not have to say, "Oh I have such item... but it is in storage."
Cru will get his own room too!
We have enjoyed the luxuries of living with my parents (see Eric's waistline), but it is way past time to head back out on our own.

Eric is rounding up the second semester at school and preparing for yet another.
For now his bike is "semi-finished" We were able to get new tires for it and all that is left is just cosmetic things. He has enjoyed it a lot, and I will say it has been fun watching him enjoy riding.

As for me, I've been nesting.... spinning my wheels and trying to find things to do without really going out or hurting myself. I've been uneasy about going out without Eric, I don't want something to happen and not have him there. Also part of the time I am worse than a cripple! Getting out of the car, stepping up things... sometimes I just want to get a scooter and join the old people.

All in all things are good, some things are happening and others we are waiting for them to happen.
I'm sure (and hoping) this will be the last post until after Cru has made his debut!

Let it Shower!

On January 29th, the day after my birthday ;) my Sister Shelly threw me a pretty rad shower.
As she said "It was easy to put it together, it was the pulling it together that was tricky"
Thank you to my other sisters, Megan for helping with cupcakes, and my rad cousin Sherri for helping out a lot!

I had picked out Brown, Blue, Green, and Orange for the colors, and Owls to go with!

The invitations were provided by my sister Patti as her gift and I LOVE them!



The idea was to open gifts as they came so the guests weren't sitting and watching gift after gift.... We tried that but none of us had an idea as to how spoiled Cru is! So I opened gifts right from the start and it was so bad. Guests played guess how many diapers are in the box, a baby word scramble game and ate while I continued with the gifts.
It wasn't so bad, After I was able to say hi to most but not all that came. It is fun to see how many people you have in your life that love and support you. Or they just love your baby... haha who knows.
Thankfully we got all the essentials we needed and then some. There were only one or two items I had to pick up, like extra onsies, and night gowns for easy midnight changes.

Shelly was a really good sport about my "ideas" for the shower. I showered her a couple pictures of owl cupcakes and Her and Megan made it happen.

They were chocolate and strawberry swirl with cream cheese frosting! mmmm

We had Chicken Salad Sandwiches, a must for a shower and my favorite too, fruit and blue fruit dip, veggies, ham and pickle pinwheels, grape salad, and Im sure some other stuff.
For the "treat" table we had a mini buffet of my cravings!

Cotton Candy, Soft pretzels with cheese and jalapenos, and oreos.
That was heaven to this little boy!

It was a fun shower and I will even show you some pictures, but not many. And yes, the DREADED belly pictures are here too. Bleh!

Looking through all of the goods again.
Some cute little shoes!

Thank you to Char for being my scribe and to Suzy for being my trash lady/gift hander-over

*I really don't understand the fascination of belly pics... maybe one day I will. Maybe not.

Let the count down begin!

Ladies and Gents, we are now in the Month of the due date!
I really can't believe how fast this has gone by. I am having more and more dreams of actually having Cru out, and when I wake up, he's still tucked away in my belly.

January was a busy month.
I had an appointment and was "grounded" to Las Vegas as you have read.
I missed my nieces shower in St. George, and I had to cancel the Arizona shower too.
but I did get a lot done here. The baby shelf arrived and is installed and filled with all of Cru's belongings. It did sit semi empty until the shower here.

Eric and I went to our last ultrasound on Jan. 25th. It was mainly to check on my placenta, which was sitting very low last time and is now sitting at the top where it should be, but we like to see our little guy too!
The ultrasound lady is the sweetest thing ever. I don't know how to describe it, but she is sweet and gets hilarious too.
After she took all of her measurements, she let us see Cru, we saw him making kissy faces and sticking his tongue out, saw his hands going and of course I was being kicked for all the poking and prodding ;)
Can't blame him!

Turn your head to the right and you have two dark spots for eyes, the nose and mouth

I will warn you, this may be offensive to some so turn back now...

you have been warned.

Next we explored to the Netherlands and BING!!! Two giant orbs just hanging out.
We got an "Oh my" from the tech and Eric asked "are those his balls?" Yep, baby Cru has some big balls apparently. It was then confirmed with a stamp of guarantee that he is in fact a boy... with balls. :)

We weren't able to get a picture of them, I think I was a little shy to ask for it but we got a cute face one. From what we saw he has squishy little cheeks! Aunt Myrinda will need a restraining order so she doesn't squish them off!
The tech then said she had bad news, ok not good. She said he is measuring a "teensy bit big"
WHEW! I can handle that, we already knew he was a week ahead, we then asked how big, and she said by two weeks.
NOTE* I have not been eating fertilizer!
She then offered the weight and she said she could sugar coat it if we'd like, but we took it without sugar, est. 6lb 9oz. I was only 35 weeks at the time and he was measuring 37 weeks... so by 38 weeks he can come out yes??? We will see.
On the first day of the 36th week I received an email from Babycenter.com. I get weekly updates about the growth of the baby and what not and it said "by now your baby is ALMOST 6lbs..." I laughed and said wow you're about a pound late!
I have a feeling I will have to hit my mom up for some "Cooking for an Army" lessons so I can feed these two!

Eric and I are READY to have this kid join us, I think the bed is ready too, it's working extra hard on my side for sure!

New year already?

I can't believe how the holidays just zipped by. I have to stop and think ok... did we have Christmas already? and what did I do for Thanksgiving?
Well the New Year means "No Traveling" for this lady.
BIG SUCK!
Last Monday (the 3rd) I had a Doctors appointment(I know it's all I do anymore, right?)
During that appt. There was blood in my urine, and I was told my cervix is thinning and that can be the cause of bleeding. Now Im not like hemorrhaging or anything so calm down. Its like as much as a good prick to the finger... ok a little more.
Needless to say while going over questions and my progress, he said something along the lines of No more traveling!
I get a lot of "feedback" from family and others saying "Pshh I have had x amount of kids and I traveled the day before" Of course I find out shortly it wasn't their first baby and after your first you know what to somewhat expect.
I like to think I won't be and I am not a crazy first time pregnant lady, but here is my reasoning for listening to my doctor...
First, I just paid this man some good money to gander at my nethers every other week and to get this kid out when the time has come.
Second, I don't want to be in a hospital in AZ, CA, or UT! I like the hospital we have here and I didn't just go stand in an hour long line to register for it.
and Third, if I was to travel one of the trips wouldn't have included Eric, so if I go into labor, I text him and say "hey baby is coming hope you can drive faster than he can slide"?
I Think not!
So forgive me for staying home and having to cancel parties and trips. But this baby has a mind of his own and until he is here, I will be in Las Vegas.
Besides, who wants my water to break in their car?

On a side note, but one that isnt too far off, Cru is still measuring a week ahead.
I can feel him getting crammed in there. One because he is all up in my business, and my business being my ribs. Two, when he moves I don't feel it in one spot anymore. He will kick or do an elbow drop on something and I will feel that movement in at least 2-3 different spots. He's filling up the space!

My nesting stage has continued... I'm either getting crazy hand-making 55 thank you notes, putting the stroller and car seat together or trying to re-organize something else.
Eric and I ordered a shelf for baby stuff and to free up room for the crib. Until that shelf gets here, I will be going crazy!

A little about the Mr.
Eric has been busting his butt with work, school and play. Mostly the first two.
He has started the 2nd semester at ITT Tech. and now goes Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday. So glad to have those Fridays back. I know next semester it will change, but Im enjoying this for now.
Work is work, I know they are moving into a new big warehouse making it be the ONLY warehouse in the valley. From what I hear this will lighten the load for the drivers and make things easier for all. I hope so.
Eric's motorcycle is ever changing. Just the other night he wrapped his exhaust pipes and re-painted a few things, I will say it looks a lot nicer with the changes. He has a few more ideas and things he wants to change and he is being awesome in the waiting department. They will happen just not all at once.

Things are good for the 3 of us. One of us has a free ride so of course he is doing great!
When he is older I will demand piggy back rides til his hips hurt! ;)