It's a BOY!!!

Ty Brannon Crager

6 lbs 12 ounces

19 1/2 inches long

July 3, 2012

8:00 a.m. 

We are home and doing well! We have lots and lots of  excited "helpers" for every cry and whimper ;) Thanks for the continued prayers! God is so very good!

Here we go!

Well we are about 24 hours away from meeting our baby! We have one FINAL appointment today to confirm the baby's position (it hasn't changed) before tomorrow morning. To say we are (all) anxious would be a tremendous understatement but we had a wonderful weekend regardless. Mainly we have just been getting ready ... catching up on laundry, mowing the grass, cleaning out the car, etc. Friday night we went out to eat with Lolly & Poppy. Saturday we went out for lunch at Chuck E. Cheese (of course) and stocked up on groceries. While we were getting dressed, here is how I found Brantlee...

Bless her little heart. 

Late Saturday evening it was finally bearable enough to be outside. Kyle smoked chicken wings & cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers (fresh from the garden). Delish! Chalk on the trampoline is a new thing around here. Not sure why this is so much fun but it apparently is. 

The highlight of the night was the Miss Mississippi Pageant! Well, for me anyway :) Everyone else tried to be a good sport about watching it. 

Sunday morning we had a patriotic service at church, and of course we had to dress accordingly ;) Since we'll be out of commission on the 4th, we decided to celebrate a little early.

Happy Independence Day!!

After church we headed to the only place to be... the swimming pool!! Check out everyone's new tricks!

B is bound and determined to learn to dive this year. She's almost got it. 

Collin refers to this move as his "jack knife". 

Collin shed his floaties back in May. He and B have been swimming independently all summer, and I have to say that it is so nice!

Daddy and his moves. Mercy. 

Watermelon is sort of a big deal in this family. We are huge fans :) :) 

I suppose in my next post life will be very, very different. If I think about it too much then it kind of makes me crazy. So I think I'll just go sweep for the 100th time this week :)

From my devotion this morning:
"You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 118:28-29

A little change

We went for our weekly appointment Friday afternoon. The baby's position has still not changed, but delivery day did! The first plan was to have a c-section on Thursday, June 28th. BUT my doctor started discussing things at the appointment, and we could tell before he even finished that he wasn't crazy about delivering the baby before at least 39 weeks. SOoooo, he moved the date back to Tuesday, July 3rd which is just a few days before my actual due date. That gives the baby a little more time to ripen up AND the benefit of the doubt on turning head down. Fair enough.

At 38 weeks (with ankles on this particular day)

Our weekend has been plenty busy but very nice. On Friday, we let the kids choose the whereabouts of the entire night. We planned to do this when we thought this was our last weekend as a family of four. We let them jump at Kid's Rule, ate at Rocket City Diner, did a little shopping, and let them pick out a small "prize." There is nothing wrong with a little spoiling before you get a new sibling ;) 

On Saturday, Brantlee and I attended my cousin Samantha's wedding shower while Kyle and Collin did boy stuff.  Then we played outside for the rest of the afternoon. Well, I didn't. We let Daddy handle that one. It was sweltering!! Today we swam for a few hours at Lolly and Poppy's house in between going to church.

We bought some patriotic swimsuits from Old Navy Friday night. This was the pose I got when I told them to smile. 

Change is certainly on the horizon around here and I think everyone is feeling the effects of it. We've experienced a few moments of anxiety, a little increase in defiance, some separation anxiety, and the out of the blue urge to write on the wall with crayons (not naming anyone's name ;) But we are nine days or less away from meeting a new baby! Yay!

Officially Summer

I noticed on the calendar that tomorrow is the first day of summer. HA! More like the 3rd month of it! We have been trying to stay cool and entertained with school being out. Aside from swimming a ton, here is what we've been up to according to my cell phone.

We are all about some arts and crafts in this household. The messier the better.

At Shipley's on National Donut Day. Total coincidence, we had no idea :) 

We have been enjoying our fair share of summer birthday parties here lately.

For whatever reason, a short afternoon trip to Chuckie Cheese ranks almost as highly as a trip to Disney. They LOVE it.

B informed me the other day that she learned how to fix her own hair. Perfect!

Homemade ice cream has become a hit around here. Between this and the donuts, I am going to have to make some serious lifestyle changes after baby arrives :/

A glitter project at 8 a.m. What can I say? I had a weak parenting moment, ha

Collin is still obsessed with the garden. If you drive by our house usually around 8 a.m. everyday you will likely see a very pregnant mommy in her night gown, coffee in hand, and a little boy in his underwear checking his garden. I know the neighbors get a kick out of it!

Cruising in the evenings because it is entirely too hot any other time of the day. 

Father's Day Weekend

We have spent the entire weekend celebrating our wonderful Dads! It has been a very busy, but somehow relaxing weekend. Friday evening Kyle cooked ribs for Poppa and the kids played in the sprinkler and swimming pool/slide for hours.

Here is Collin telling Poppa how the sprinkler works and how to assemble it, I'm sure ;)

Saturday morning we got up bright and early because Kyle and Poppy ran in a 5K and we of course had to be there to cheer them on. Shame on me for not taking a picture :/ Then we went and cooled off at Lolly & Poppy's pool before B had to attend a birthday party for one of her church friends. We gave Kyle his gifts a little early, because the kids waited as long as they could stand it.

Brantlee (a few days before Father's Day): "Hey Dad, do you want me to tell you what your presents are????"

Kyle: "Oh no Brantlee. I want to be surprised when I open them."

Brantlee: "OK! (with her sassy finger pointed at him) Then I'm not gonna tell you about the shirt we got you!"

Saturday evening, Lolly made us an offer we couldn't turn down. She & dad offered to take the kids for the night so we could have a date... the last one for quite some time I would imagine. Of course we took her up on the offer. We had a very quiet (non rushed, peaceful, only one trip to the restroom) dinner, took a stroll through Wal Mart for a few things (what couple doesn't), rented a Red Box movie and hit the sack early. It was so nice!! Here we are before church this morning.

My little world :) :) :) 

Me and my wonderful Daddy! Not everyone wanted in the picture ;) 

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside. Stella got a bath and Daddy got a tan :) 

A big bouncy ball on the trampoline with a sprinkler going. Now that's some fun stuff!

Poppy opening his gifts. We were bummed that the Reids didn't make it. They were traveling back from the beach and Fischer has pink eye :( :( 

We have so much to be thankful for, and the men in our lives certainly top the list as to why. Thank you God for the blessing of amazing earthly fathers! 

------------------- Baby Update--------------------

I suppose now is as good a time as any to update on Baby Crager. I am 37 weeks, and the little stinker is still head up. As of Wednesday, I had not made anymore progress (thank goodness!). However, I have approximately 1,000 Braxton Hicks contractions a day and a few real ones here and there... nothing alarming, just really uncomfortable. I have tried to be as pleasant as I can be up until now and not pester anyone with complaints.  And truth be known, I haven't really had many. I have felt great this whole pregnancy except for the sickness in the beginning. But this weekend, I broke out the "m" word ... MISERABLE, ha! I get up to pee seriously 5 to 7 times a night. Kyle has been so kind about the power bill. He knows he really has no choice at this point ;) Sciatic nerve issues can be literally paralyzing at times. I am a SIGHT attempting to get out of the bed after laying down with the kids at night and not wake them up as I attempt to roll out of the bed. Oh to be a fly on the wall!! My feet and ankles are so swollen it's pitiful. This sweet angel's head is rammed so far into my ribs that when it stretches, I literally think it might break something. And there are multiple moments during the day that I think TyAnsley is going to kick right through my cervix. I am honestly trying to enjoy these last weeks as just Collin and Brantlee's mommy and have as much fun as we can, but goodness gracious I am cranky... and hot!! 

Not for one moment do I take pregnancy or motherhood for granted. It is a blessing! It is worth every single unpleasant thing, and I would do it all over again 10 times to get our babies here. But at some point, you just have to have a sense of humor about it all and keep it real :) I think it is very clear that Baby Crager and I are BOTH looking forward to having our own space sometime soon! 

Yes to VBS!

Last week was vacation bible school, Amazing Wonders Aviation! Collin was in the Pilots class and loved every minute of the week, especially the singing and dancing. Brantlee was sort of a drama queen for the first two days, but once we switched her to a new class, she had a great time. Whatever works!

After commencement Sunday night. They both did so great singing and doing all the motions. We are still listening to the music and doing the dances, which I am sure will continue for weeks and probably months to come! So grateful for this past week and all they learned about our AMAZING GOD!

We are ready.

After months of being completely indecisive, it looks like Baby Crager's nursery is finally complete! Now we just need a baby in it. Well, not yet. We want he/she to hold off just a few more weeks :) My  vision for this nursery was for it to be a calming, peaceful room. I figured with 3 children age 5 and under, calmness and peace might be hard to come by ;) So we went with an all gray and white theme with some subtle splashes of color here and there. We used a damask and striped fabric for the bedding that we had quite a time finding ... then attempted to match the gray and white. Who knew that would be so hard?! Mom got the idea for the alphabet wall from Pinterest. We just made it our own with baby colors, which may have to be adjusted once TyAnsley arrives. Can't have pink in a boy's room for heaven's sake!

This room is also sort of a guest room. You know, for anyone who would like to volunteer 

for the night shift ;) The lower shelf will display "Ty" or "Ansley" with letters similar to the ones on the wall. 

Mom made the bedding. Bless her! She did an amazing job and I couldn't be more thankful for her 

(and her talents!) For now the crib sheet is white, but I have a pink and blue one that will add some color once the baby is here. The other will go back to the store.

Same with the changing table - we have a pink and blue changing pad cover just waiting to be used. Mom lined the diaper basket with leftover fabric from the bedding.

IF it's a girl.

IF it's a boy.

We have "coming home" outfits for either one. I painted the frames. They were cheap and can easily be used in either Collin or Brantlee's room, or just repainted all together. Same with the baskets...

This is the only way I could prepare for a baby and not know the sex. I begged and borrowed from friends and Aunt Casey and went through all of C & B's clothes. I couldn't bare the thought of only having yellow, green and white. It was actually pretty fun going through all our old baby clothes and wondering what it will be like either way :) :) 

For the hospital... a yellow Boppy pillow, nursing cover, bag with white/yellow baby clothes, and extra boy or girl clothes to leave in the car until we know. Again, I HAVE to be fully prepared!

In all seriousness, not knowing the gender has not been that difficult at all. (Unless I try to shop. That's not so fun.) We STILL can't decide what we think it is. I go back and forth nearly twice a day. And we honestly could not care less either way. Healthy is our only request :)