Merry Christmas/Baby Olivia/Holy Baby!!!

Rob and I had our Christmas early this year too. Here's a photo that I'm sure he's going to love that I put up on the blog--he was so excited (and surprised) that he got Rock Band for his new Wii. I figured he already knew-but I guess that guy had no clue! I received some great gifts-some fitness stuff for after Grayson is born-and fabulous Coach diaper bag-which I can't wait to start using-and these awesome slipper socks. What a great guy!

The Sunday before Christmas we all went to Dad and Becky's to do our family Christmas-since Rob and I were supposed to be gone and Michele was going to be way too tired. As always-it was tons of food-way too much food-and lots of goodies.

Lucy and her mom.

Lucy with Aunt Sara and Aunt Jennifer. Doug is in the background watching football.
Lucy was so excited about her big girl make-up that Aunt Sara bought her in New York-she just had to find a place for it in her pocket.
Becky trying to clean-up during the mass chaos.

Cassie loves it when the family gets together and she can get in the middle of it all. Here she is saying Merry Christmas!
We left for Colorado the next day...

On Christmas we spent the day with Mom, Joe, Sara and Nana. One downfall--United had our luggage still in Durango. We received it Christmas night-Rob's was shredded-mine was fine. But after 3 days without it-I was glad to have it back in whatever shape it was in.

Christmas Eve consisted of going to Mom and Joe's and eating tasty Italian as always. This year though-I think I was in bed a little earlier than normal. Next morning Rob and I woke up early and he decided to go and wake Sara up with the video camera and a flashlight-you can imagine how well that went over! After gifts-Rob made his fantastic Belgin waffles for everyone-we watched Mama Mia and just relaxed. Then it was off to another dinner for us.

Here's Joe and Nana opening some gifts.

The infamous video camera that woke Aunt Sara out of her beauty sleep on Christmas morning.

On a side note-I FINALLY got to meet Katie Hoyt's family--so cute! I didn't get any pictures-Carter really didn't want anything to do with me-only Rob. It was great to see you all-and when you come in in April-we're bringing Grayson over to throw in the mix with all the babies!

Baby Olivia is here! She was born on December 30. She is as cute and sweet as can be. Lucy is so excited to be a big sister. When we arrived at the hospital she wanted us to come in right away and wanted to introduce us to her new baby. She didn't want anyone to leave the hospital room because she loved all of us. It was so sweet. Olivia is so little! It made me so excited to have Grayson come! I wasn't able to get too many pictures of her because Olivia was just not wanting the flash in her face. You can't see the t-shirt that well that Lucy has on-but it's from her Uncle Rob-and it says "I'm a BIG Sister" It was way cute.

So now onto the G-Man. You notice in the title it's called Holy Baby!! Well Holy Baby is right! We went this past Monday to have another sonogram of the little guy. Mom, Joe, Sara and Nana all came with us. Nana I think was the most fascinated of all of us because just of all the technology these days. Anyways-everything is looking great with the little guy. He still has 2 of everything and is moving right along. He's almost 6 pounds!!! AAGGHH!!! Already!! Whew! His head was already measuring about 36 weeks--I'm going to give birth to a bobble-head doll! All of his other measurements are a few weeks ahead as well. Dr. Piquard isn't concerned though-she said that we will start talking C-Section around 9-10 lbs. As of now though-she's keeping my due date as Feb. 14--is she crazy?!?! This kid will almost double in size if she does that! I don't think that I can hold him in for that long! We have a $25 buy-in bet to see when he's born. Of course-I have the earliest date-January 22. I give this kid another 3 weeks-max before he comes into the world. I thought that we might be welcoming him yesterday. Rob and I were just getting up when I had this severe pain underneath my belly-so severe that I was in tears. I thought my insides were falling out. After that I was having Braxton Hicks contractions about every other minute. Called the on-call doctor and she told me to just lay down-drink plenty of water and count my contractions and call her back. Well they slowed down-only had 4 in an hour-12 minutes apart-so she said they weren't strong enough to do anything to my cervix. Can you see Grayson't big fat chunky cheeks in these pictures? He's facing you so you can see his eyes, etc.

Dr. Piquard is letting us skip a week of seeing her because my blood levels looked so good-so we have a week off. Rob and I are attending our 'How to Have a Baby' class this Sunday-which should be some what interesting-if not terrifying.

Next week should fly by-we have 3 baby showers at the end of the week! On Friday my work is having one-Saturday-my girls are having one-and then Sunday Mom's friends are having one. Whew! Baby Grayson sure is loved!

Hope you all had a fantastic New Year's. Rob and I were in bed by 10:30-but Rock Chalk Jayhawk! We enjoyed watching the game! Have a great weekend and I'll post pictures from next week!

Welcome To...Kansas City?!?!?

Yup. It's true-Rob and I are BACK in KC a few days too early. It has been a pretty interesting last 24 hours. Flew out to Denver on Monday evening-our flight was fine-all on time-rode first class. Arrived in Denver a little early-checked on our flight to Durango-On Time. We went to get a snack-flight delayed an hour. Ok-we can handle that-we were eating our snack when Mom called-telling us our flight was cancelled. Rob went to the monitors-I was still eating my soft serve yogurt-and sure enough-CANCELLED. The planes that you take to Durango are little puddle jumpers-hold probably about 20 people max. Well there was a winter storm over all of the mountains in Colorado-so everyone's flight was delayed. The customer service line was out of control. Rob was on the phone with United-as was Donna-I was talking to LeRoy about other alternatives to get there besides flying straight to Durango.

The lady talking to Rob was saying that all flights were booked and we couldn't get out there until possibly Wednesday night. We tried flying to New Mexico, Phoenix, etc. it just wasn't working. It didn't help that Durango had cancelled all of their flights for the last day and a 1/2 so everyone was still waiting from Sunday. We thought about driving-LeRoy told us it wouldn't be safe-and that some of the roads would probably be closed. We tried everything we could think of-nothing was working. United was telling us we couldn't get back to KC until late Wednesday night-Rob was NOT happy. I was hurting from walking around-and we were both super tired from being up at 5 AM. Finally was able to find a flight home yesterday afternoon-went to a hotel and stayed the night. Of course we didn't have our luggage-they said it would be at least a 3 hour wait to find it.

Flew home yesterday afternoon-went to baggage claim to get our luggage-and guess where it was...in Durango! So the luggage could get on the plane-but we couldn't. Donna said that they had 3 feet of snow already and were supposed to get at least another 12 inches. We were all so very disappointed that we couldn't make it. We had such fun things planned to do. I was looking forward to playing in the snow with Chase and making Christmas cookies-Rob was looking forward to going skiing and both of us of course were looking forward to good food and great family time.

So now we're back-still no luggage-which of course had all my stuff in it-and United is saying they can't locate it. So keep your fingers crossed...have a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Rob and I are busy running around today finishing up all of our last minute things before we head out to Durango. Today we get to pick up the dresser-the last thing we needed for Grayson's room, drop off the pups with the grandparents, finish last minute Christmas shopping, etc. Whew! We have Christmas with Dad and Becky and everyone tomorrow-then we leave for Durango Monday night-will spend the week there playing in the snow with Chase and everyone, and then we get back Saturday afternoon and will do Christmas with Mom, Joe, Nana and Sara.

Went to the dr. this past Wednesday-she said everything looked good-still doing my blood 4 times a day. She said she just wants to keep an eye on them-they aren't crazy out of control-a high one here and there-so we go back on Monday to talk more about them. If she still isn't happy with them-then I might start taking some kind of insulin medication one time a day. But hopefully we won't have to do that. But since I've been eating more protein, etc. I lost 4 lbs this past week-and no-Dr. P. wasn't concerned about it. So we'll see how we do this week in Durango!

Have a great and Merry Christmas everyone-and I'll post TONS of pictures when I get back from all the different fun-filled family activities!

8 Weeks?!?!?

So yup-we are officially on the end of this pregnancy train-and I for one am ready to get off! Went to Dr. P. this past Thursday-everything looked fine. Grayson's heart was a strong 160. She liked my blood sugar levels-but said that I still have to do them 4 times a day--until they level out. So I guess that means she busted me for eating the Mint M & M's. I go back on Wednesday. Last night we had Rob's work Christmas dinner and I decided to get wild and crazy and order a virgin Strawberry Dacquiri. I don't think that the guy heard me say 'virgin'-so when I got it-took a sip-and oh my! Had Rob taste it-he said-'Well there is some rum in it-but not all that much-how could you taste it?' Maybe if he hasn't smelled or tasted alcohol for the last 7 months...but then I got my nice big virgin version--in a beer mug--and just drank it down.

After listening to some of the girls I work with-and some of my other friends-I contacted the local Parents As Teachers to possibly come out when Gray is born to help us with development, etc. I need to call them back because they said they had some questions about my application. But I think that it would be beneficial for them to come and give us tips. So I'm excited about that. Rob doesn't really understand the concept behind it-he said he'll have to research it.

Rob and I are getting geared up for Colorado-and are SUPER excited to get out there and see everyone. Lots of stuff going on over the next few weeks-so this is all going to fly by. Yikes! Hold on to your seat Grayson!

Baby Shower and Belly

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. We were able to spend time with family on Friday night-then we had Mom and Joe's pups all weekend-so Tubs and Addy were taken care of. This past Saturday was the first Saturday since about September that Rob and I didn't have anything on the agenda to do. It was great! We were able to run errands, do some Christmas shopping, hang out, etc. On Sunday I had the Summa Family Baby Shower. It was so much fun! Grayson got tons of loot! Here are some pictures


Here's the basket that was on the food table-it has little animals all around it-and was stuffed with some great goodies!



Here's Lucy with Aunt Jennifer-she's helping open some of her cousin's presents-it kept her entertained for quite awhile!





I realized after I downloaded this-it's sideways-sorry. But here's Lucy singing and keeping people entertained while we snacked and ate yummy food.Here's Lucy helping me open some of my gifts. This was the gift from her-that I just HAD to open first. Surprising-there was a KU t-shirt in there-and Doug is totally not a Jayhawk fan at all! Lucy pulled it out and said 'Rock Chalk Jayhawk-Go KU!' Such a smart little girl...Here's just a little bit of the loot that Grayson scored. Not to mention his crib, jump-a-roo and swing. I can't wait to see Rob put those things together!Rob hung up the picture yesterday in the nursery-which I think looks fantastic. I just love it!


And here you go-watch out! Here I am this morning at 31 weeks and 3 days. I'm moving along. I get weekly pregnancy updates-and the task for this week was to think about what I need to bring to the hospital and making sure I have it all. Yikes! This little guy is coming soon! Rob noticed tonight that my belly button is almost popped out-and when he noticed that-I noticed that my stretch marks are now creeping around to the front of my belly. That's about it for us. Rob's fighting with the computer right now on printing labels so we can send out our Christmas cards. We go back to Dr. P. on Thursday afternoon-maybe we'll get another sneek peek at our handsome little guy. We have a pretty busy weekend this weekend-lots of stuff going on. Rob's Christmas Dinner, haircut, massage, baking cookies, spending Sunday with the girls and then Sunday night going to church with Dad and Becky. Then we start thinking about our trip to Durango! Whew! Have a fabulous week!

Message from G-Man's Daddy

For all of you that are wondering, which probably just my Mom, Aunts and a few others, Dad is hanging in there and excited for this little guy to get here. Leah is doing amazing and her attitude like always is wonderful. If it were me with the big leather basketball in my tummy I would be a grumpy jerk, but she is always smiling and being Leah. Well that is all from me, thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. The G-Man will be here in a few short months, can't wait!!

Rob

Sweet Baby Boy

We had our appointment with Dr. Piquard today-and everything went just great. She took a copy of all of my sugar levels for the past week-and said that she was really happy about them. She said that they are so low-that eventually I will only need to take my blood once a day. Sweet! But with gestational diabetes she likes to see her patients once a week--for the time being. So we scheduled 3 more visits for the rest of the month--but there is a major BONUS to all of this--we get sonograms almost every week! Yahoo! So she told Rob and I if we had time today-then we could go and get an ultrasound today-so of course we jumped on it! And for all of you baby Grayson picture lovers--here are a few from today.

The first one his head is facing us-and the sonogram lady said 'Look at his pudgy cheeks!'-wonder where those came from...The second picture is of his feet-they are smushed together--he's got the long Sullivan toes! And then the third one-I thought he was blowing bubbles-but apparently they aren't spit bubbles-it's the umbilical cord.
But the real kicker was-she said that I'm measuring about 31 weeks and 3 days-so that was quite a bit sooner than what we originally thought. On the pictures-the estimated due dates very from January 23-February 8. He's weighing in a little less than 4 pounds. Anyone want to take a guess as to when this little guy is coming?
After she took all of the measurements, etc. she was showing us all of his different parts-we saw his lungs working, his heart working, his kidneys and lots of other things. But then she looked at me and said we were done. I started to get really light headed, started sweating and thought that I was going to get sick. I had been laying flat on my back for about 20 minutes by this time and you aren't supposed to be on your back for long periods of time. Didn't feel all that great.

Other than that-nothing else going on. We go back to the nutritionist tomorrow for our follow-up appointment-she should be proud of me too. Then this weekend I have my first baby shower with the Summa side-I'm really excited about it! Pictures will be posted! Enjoy the rest of your week!