The Nursery Revealed!

Here is the tour of Graysen Elizabeth's nursery! The video had to be made really small so it just doesn't do it justice!! There are pictures below that help! No need to turn music off at the bottom because there is no sound to the video tour! I tried but it made the video too big!!

Hope you enjoy! The room is very special to us as so much of it was made by those we love or were family additions! The gorgeous sign was done by my friend Betsy . . . all the bedding and curtains were handmade and monogrammed by Grandmother Mary and they even have thread from Graysen's Great Grandmother Earline who unfortunately passed away while I was pregnant. The chair and Charleston accents were given by GG (my mother). The furniture was Graysen's Great Grandmother Kitty's and was hand painted by us. The bassinet was Jeff's when he was a baby! I hand painted all the frames!




Below are also some before and afters . . . don't judge the before too much . . . we had just moved in and this was a 2nd guest room that we hardly used!! YOU CAN CLICK ON PICTURES TO SEE LARGER!

No . . . not today . . . yes I will call you . . . and I thought terd patrol started after the baby!

So . . . I am waiting . . . waiting waiting waiting!!!! Jeff announced today that Gracie will be late because just like "her mommy, she will be late to her own birthday party". Which . . . is true. I am always late . . .late to work, late to parties, late to make dinner . . . always late. So for all my dear friends who have had to wait for me it seems payback will be hell. I have to come to terms with the fact that this whole early dilation and effaced business was just a cruel trick from the labor gods for payback for every time I said to someone "I will be there in 5 minutes" knowing darn well I was at least 20 minutes away!!

Things not to ask a pregnant woman . . . Jeff: "So is today the day?". Well, OK Jeff actually it is . . . I have just been keeping my legs crossed. She was actually ready like 2 weeks ago I just enjoy being tortured from the inside out. I guess today will be the day I let her come out . . .

My mom: "Don't forget to call me . . ." Mom I promise as this child is slowly clawing me open from the inside out you are always on my mind. I will forever be grateful that you endured 8 hours of labor (without pain meds). . . not to mention sitting in the car while my father stopped for scotch and cigars while you were in labor(perhaps should have been an early sign), not to mention the blood transfusions you needed after I was born. It would be pretty hard to "forget to call you"! Also my mom's favorite question "are you feeling anything??" Well that depends . . . do you mean constipation, sciatic pain, elbows and heels protruding from my belly, exhaustion, heat stroke, anxiety that a human being is about to come out of me in one way or another . . . oh you mean contractions. why no thank you for reminding me . . . no contractions. :-)

On a rather exciting note . . . in an effort to get my into spring training for poopy diapers my loving pets have decided to throw me curve balls to prepare me!! Funny it always happens when Jeff is at work too . . . example 1 . . . Cooper drinking too much bay water. I will let you imagine what happens to a 90lb golden when he drinks too much salt water. The other good thing about owning a beautiful golden . . . his long luxurious fur including that on his tail. you put those two things together . . . lets just say I had to throw away some scissors because he had just had a bath and thought of a 2nd one was too daunting for me. Example #2 . . . my charming 12 year old cat who bless his heart got so excited upon seeing his food a couple of hours ago let a couple little things spill out the other end. I guess he needed the room. No please let ME clean that up. . . is it totally disgusting that I actually contemplated letting Cooper "take care of that problem" since that is a delicacy for him?? I think I have lost my mind.

More Happy Birthdays, a Big Birthday Surprise For Me, and Get Better Soon Wishes!

Happy 30th Elena!!!!!!!!!!! The big 30!! Don't worry Caroline already passed you up and I am right behind ya!! I hope you had the best birthday ever!!

A Big Happy birthday goes out to Brie as well!! Although she has left the sweet age of 25 for the bitter "late 20's"!! HA! Just kidding! It was so fun to celebrate with you and here is to many many more!!

I also got a big birthday surprise planned by Jeff and Kathryn! I was talking to her on the phone for about an hour and she said she was "driving" I thought to myself wow she has been driving for a while but didn't think anymore about it since she has a long commute to work! Then her cell cut out and I called her back a couple of times with no luck. Low and behold . . . my doorbell rings and who is at the door but Kathryn! She drove all the way into celebrate my birthday which meant the world to me! So we got to spend 2 days together just relaxing, watching Army Wives and eating (ha that was mostly me doing that!) It was one of the best surprises ever! Most importantly is that I finally got her to start a blog which is my new mission in life!! That is like my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one!! We forgot to take picture together for the blog!!

We also want to send out lots of get better soon wishes for Kathryn's dad who is having surgery tomorrow!! Get better soon George!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Honey

28 years ago at 8:01 am Kristen was born. I have been so blessed to have her as my wife and the mother of my daughter. I cannot wait to see her with Graysen and I am pretty sure she is ready to see herself with her as well instead of waddling everywhere she goes while she plays a human punching bag. You are such an amazing friend, daughter, and wife and your magnetic personality touches everyone you're around bringing a smile to our faces. Thank you for being you and happy birthday! I would have written more but you left Family Guy on and I am distracted.

Love,

Jeff

Arrival Updates, Break My Window Please, and Helpers in the Nursery!

So yesterday started out on a good note! I can't sleep anymore out of anticipation and anyone who knows me well knows that you could leave me be and I could sleep for 12-15 hours straight. I loooooooove me some sleep! Well not anymore . . . I wake up every hour thinking perhaps there really is a stork and that it will land on the roof at anytime! I can dream . . . so I woke up at about 6am and started more nesting. Gracie's drawers are not only organized but labeled. Yes, even the drawer with only socks and tights in it is labeled "socks and tights" just in case Jeff fails to see what that drawer is for. However I have gone to extremes since my closet is also labeled "during pregnancy and after pregnancy (hopefully) since i have successfully gotten through this whole pregnancy without purchasing one maternity item! Except the dress for my mom's wedding. I have just stretched the hell out of all my clothes and also found that Forever 21 is key with the great knit empire waist dresses. I know I have a problem and will probably be 60 shopping there and I don't care.

I go to my weekly doctors appt and low and behold I am 2-3 cent. dilated and effaced! The doctor said it "could" be any day now. I am just on top of the world! I am driving home talking to my mom when boom a little pebble hits my window . . . most people wouldn't even think twice but I knew better . . . spot the chip and spot the crack, enter obscenities. I don't know if you guys remember the news reports from the late 90's when people were going around breaking BMW windows saying that BMW stood for "Break My Window", well apparently it does. This is the 3rd time I have had to fully replace this windshield since I got the car a year and 1/2 ago! 3rd time. In the lovely state of FL it is covered by your insurance, however in VA just like how everything costs more here you have to pay your deductible. That's right . . . so there was one very upset 9 month pregnant woman screaming in her driveway at a car yesterday. I called Jeff crying so hard I think he thought I was delivering the baby myself.

So when Jeff finally came home last night (after stopping at the Officer's club for beers because that is what I guess most normal men would do while there wife is at home clearly upset, not a good move whether pregnant hormones are involved or not) I forced him to spend helpful time with me in the nursery as his punishment. Below are the pictures of the final hours of nursery construction last night. Between a cat who thinks the bassinet and chenille is a great place to nap, a dog who must lick, sniff, and investigate every single item in the room (especially those items that might end up in Grace's mouth) and Jeff, I may be better off finishing the job by myself! Jeff has discovered a new use for the Boppy pillow. Now if I can just teach one of these 3 helpers to breastfeed for me . . .

Happy Birthday Aunt Sandra!

I hope you have a great one and get to do lots of painting, gardening, eating of Uncle Louis's food, visiting with Skippy or whatever makes you smile today!! You are such a great Aunt to Jeff and I and can't wait for Graysen to get to know you and love you! Happy Birthday!! Lots of love, Kristen and Jeff

Happy Birthday Patsy Vanderhurst Whittington the First!!!

or P-Doggie as you are known on the streets!! Happy Birthday to one fine member of the Jax Fab Five. You are officially old but I will be there with you next week. I can't believe we will be 28 . . . we should get AARP cards so we can get discounts on things! I love this picture because this was right on the brink of Patsy rolling over to P-Doggie because the wine was flowing. You weren't inappropriate at all though . . . most people scream at the best man to "lock it up" at weddings and mimic every ones dance moves!! HA!! I love ya Pats! Even though you won't let me go to Target or the gym with you. Happy Birthday . . . can't wait to celebrate with you this weekend!

Announcing the arrival of Delaney Lynne Gallagher!

And for the record . . . I said it would be a girl as stated in one of the posts before! I finally got a guess right, hey I had a 50/50 chance! My new niece Delaney Lynne arrived yesterday AM weighing 8lbs even and 21 inches long!! Mom, Dad, and Delaney are doing great!! Congrats to my brother Jim and sister in law Beth!!! I can't wait to met her! How fun to have cousins so close in age and both girls too!

Happy Birthday Emily, Erin, Shannon and Jaybird!!

It is July . . . and that means . . . just like April a whole lot of birthdays! Including mine and maybe my amazing Graysen's (just please not in the next few days . . . hang in there Gracie!) so you know it is a good month!! Just so far this month we need to wish a huge Happy Birthday to the following:

Shannon 6/28: OK so you are a June girl . . .not a July girl, so I am very late! You are the very reason I am having this baby! HA! For those of you who don't know Shannon and her husband Stewart set Jeff and I up back in 2000 at CofC! We love you guys very much . . . I can't wait for Baby Stewart and Baby Gracie to fall in love!!

Jaybird 7/4: Happy Birthday to the miracle boy!! Anyone who knows Jay knows that I mean . . . the moment we met you in Kingsville I knew we would be forever friends, esp after you survived a weekend with the Husteads! Even though you call Cooper dumb I still love you! Yes, the picture below is from his movie! Speed and Angels . . . I couldn't resist!
Emily 7/5: My dear friend Em, what would I do without having you to check out every bump and bruise on my body!! HA! You may regret going to Med school just for having to deal with me! Thank you for being you . . . there aren't many people who insist on throwing a shower and renovating their entire home for it, in like 2 months. You are amazing!
Erin 7/10: Who can forget the first day we ever met in 1998 on a tour of CofC and I was the "dork in the suit"! HA!!! Little did I know that we would be roommates a year later and that some of the craziest moments would occur! In fact, upon searching my album for pictures this one of of the few pictures I found that was appropriate to post! I have about 30 squirril pictures! Ha!! I can't believe we now both are going to have little girls just like us! Lord help us if they go to college together! Happy Birthday BEAST!

BTW . . . IF I EVER FORGET SOMEONE'S BIRTHDAY IT IS BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE IT SAVED! PLEASE CLICK HERE TO ADD YOUR BIRTHDAY TO MY LIST :-) http://www.birthdayalarm.com/dob/8158008a3868515b363

Things I Never Thought I Would Hear . . .

It takes a lot to shock me since I have spent 90% of my life with people saying to me "I can't believe you just said that!" Ha!! However, there are many things I never thought I would hear in my life . . .

One of the first being "isn't she a little old and pregnant to be shopping in the juniors department" while I was shopping for my shower dress!! First, how dare him. 2nd, this was coming from a 14 year old boy in the females juniors section so maybe he should worry about himself! I mean that would be like Forever 21 checking my ID and saying 27 is too old to shop there! Ha!

The 2nd being at my doctors appt the other day when she announced "oh you are about 2 centimeters dilated . . . and yup there is the baby's head, I can feel it"! Being a first time mom I wanted to scream "what?? Well stop feeling it and close up shop . . . she has 4 more weeks of cooking to do!!" I guess I never thought I would be in that position (literally).

Speaking of things amazing me . . . when we got in the car and I called my mom I told her I was 2 inches dilated and Jeff interrupted and said "honey, centimeters", which I responded by saying, "thanks Jeff, but I think I know". luckily he had his copy of What To Expect to prove me wrong. He then started joking that he has "done more in this pregnancy, all I have done was carry the baby!" I told him that he is lucky that no women heard him say that because if they didn't know he was joking they would attack first and then ask questions later!

So my number one lesson learned by pregnancy . . . every day I experience things that shock, gross me out but most importantly amaze even me! I think I might even be a little sad for it to end . . . a little tiny tiny small bit sad. Below I m attaching a picture that Jeff probably never thoought he would see . . . I had to laugh when I was doing Graysen's laundry yesterday . . . all pink!! A whole load of pink! Poor Jeff!! At least she got a Barbie fishing rod at the shower so Jeff can hope she won't be a total girlie girl.

The Best Baby Shower and Girls Weekend I Could Ask For!

click on slideshow to view LARGER if you like!



What an amazing weekend!!!! I had the best baby shower a girl could dream of thanks to my good friends who planned and hosted it! A special thank you goes out to them: Allison, Caroline, Eden, Emily (and Chris whose manual labor was insane), Janine, Kathryn, Katie, Lauren, Mo, and Patsy!!! Emily even spent weeks renovating her new home to host the event!! I am such a lucky girl to have such good friends as so many drove in or flew in to be here! A couple of people weren't able to make it thanks to the airlines but they were here in spirit!!

We had a co-ed shower and the fun finally ended with people going to bed around 4am here!! Many of the guys in Jeff's squadron said that if that is what baby showers are like they want to go to one every weekend!! Ha! It really was one of the best weekends I have ever had and can't wait for Graysen to meet all the wonderful family and friends we have! Thank you again guys!!

Bourbon Baboon by Night . . . Devoted Daddy By Day

After Jeff turning our Saturday night from a co-ed shower to Girls Gone Wild to a scene from the show Jackass, I seriously wondered how I would handle having 2 children. Seems Jeff has 2 sides like a superhero. . . the drunken fly boy party machine who shoots bourbon from the bottle at baby showers and the devoted daddy that spends his days reading "What to Expect" (he has already finished What to Expect when you are Expecting and has moved onto the 1st year. I, on the other hand am on month 3 of the pregnancy section. i figure I will get to the 2nd trimester when she is 2!)

I had to snap this before and after shots! The first pictures are from the shower, yes he is hiding a beer behind a stuffed animal. if you can't read the shirt it is the best thing ever! It says "that's how my daddy rolls" with a picture of a super hornet. The 3rd picture is at the end of the night when I was so annoyed I was begging him to get away from me. The 2nd set is are from today when we did all of our hospital registrations, birth plan, and he took notes from his book. Yes that is a binder with dividers . . . that he has made. He has also taken over packing my bag . . . so there you have my Superhero . . . lets just hope we keep the bourbon out of the delivery room and the binder in!