Ready for a New Year!

This has been by far the craziest month of Raun and mine's lives together. Things actually started off really slow. Raun was done with classes and clinicals and only had an NCLEX review course, so we had lots of family time. I kept telling myself that having the baby around the 8th would be ideal for me b/c it would give me plenty of time to heal and feel better for the holidays. The morning of the 9th was so nice outside so I got up early to meet Haley's best friend, Dylan and his mom over at the playground. We were there a little over 2 hours and came to spend some time with Raun. We had lunch and a nap as usual and around 2:30 I started having contractions about 10 minutes apart. They weren't too bad, but they were consistent so we decided to start walking. We took Haley over to the Yankee Candle Outlet to play in the Christmas area and we got them about 8 minutes. Then off to Wal-Mart where were walked for 2hours and they got to 4-6 minutes apart and they were pretty intense. We had called my mom around 4:30 to come down b/c we felt like it was better to be safe then calling people in the middle of the night. When we got home from Walmart my mom was there to meet us. We kiseed Haley goodbye and headed to the hospital. The dr. felt that I was in active labor so she left to do a c-section and see how I did in an hour. Not much happened so she broke my water and contractions picked instantly. I screamed for an epidural and it took what felt like forever to get one. It was about 1am when things settled down and we tried to fall asleep, but no such luck. The baby descended really quickly and her heartrate dropped dangerously low so in rushed 5 nurses and the more or les flipped my upside down the get her to move back up a little. We finally got her stablized and everyone left again. I suddenly started to feel my contractions and they progressively got more intense. They tried to give me 3 different locals and none worked. i progressed from a 5 to an 8 in 20 minutes. I would like to say that I remained calm thru the pain but I was miserable and I have a whole new respect for people who can do that without drugs. What a nightmare!!!! I have a new meaning for a 10 on the pain scale. I pushed for about 45 minutes and it felt great to push, but no so great feeling her come out! She was out at 4:24am weighing in at 7lbs 3 oz and 20 in long. She has dark hair and tons of it which is a complete 180 from Haley. Haley is doing wonderfuly with the new addition; well as long as Raun isn't holding her! She is still very protective of daddy but she loves having Gracie around.

Raun graduated a week later from nursing school! We are no longer students: YAYAY!!! With the help of my mom, the two girls and I were all able to attend to ceremony. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. He is very happy to be done and moving on with life.

We went to Stafford for Christmas where I had a severe case of mastitis that put me inthe hospital on the 22nd. I had a 105 temp and extreme chills... no fun. We actually weren't sure I was going to be home for christmas but I ended up getting released mid afternoon on christmas eve!

Christmas was awesome! Haley and Grace were of course spoiled by my parents, but it was so much fun watching Haley tear into her presents. We were able to get one really adorable pic of the girls in front of my parents tree.

We feel very blessed for the year we have had and look forward to a wonderful and exciting 2009!!! Happy New Year to you all!!

An End in Sight!

This has been a crazier than ever month for us. Raun has been at the hospital constantly which was to be expected of this last semester, but the long 12 hour shifts have definitely taken there toll on him. He celebrated (or avoided completely) his 29 birthday on the 23rd. He hates to believe he is in his last year of his twenties, but we love our old man! He regististered with the state to take his NCLEX and we will know shortly exactly when the big day is, but it won't be until early January. Raun had a job interview earlier this week and we are happy to say he has accepted a position working on the Med/Surg floor of the brand new Stafford hospital. His first day of work is Jan 5th. Though we are hesitant about moving near the rest of my family b/c we all seem to be getting along right now, I will be able to start school again next fall.

Haley has had a wierd month. I think she is sensing the end of her riegn as only child so she has been acting out a little more than usual and starting a bit of regression. We have taken it in stride and reminder everyday that we love her and the new baby is not going to change that. She was a ladybug for halloween and I learned a valuable lesson in why I will never hand-make a costume again! It turned out really cute and actually didn't take too much time, but my sewing machine broke in the middle which left me with a whirlwind of problems and frustations. She had a blast trick-or-treating with her best friend Dylan and surpisingly didn't have to take too much candy away. She pretty much took candy that she can eat.

I am more than ready to have this baby. I had a pinched nerve in my back earlier in the month which kept me up most nights and about 1 1/2 weeks ago I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes so lucky me. It's not too bad i guess and i'm noticing that milk is my biggest downfall. It is however a huge pain to take the meter everywhere and poke myself 4X a day. 5 weeks!!!!! We also got our last 3-d ultrasound done and she has really fattened up and is really starting to looking like Haley.

69 DAYS!!!!

I'm super excited so announce that we are under 70 mark. I am thrilled this is almost over for two reasons: 1. I'm gonna get to hold Grace and 2. Raun will be completely done with school!!!!!! I have not been having a great first trimester. I'm carrying so low that it is causing lots and lots of back pain! The problem is that it's mostly when I'm lying down so I am not sleeping. My OB told me to tough it out for a few weeks and if it doesn't get better then we will look at some other options. Last night I got a whopping 3 hours of sleep and I'm so thankful that my next appointment is friday so hopefully we will figure something out and I will being to function again!

I'm am loving feeling the baby move. It's the best part of pregnancy to me and she's really fun to play with and loves to move to music like Haley did! I just can't wait to have another baby around and for Haley to have a friend... we can tell she's getting bored and it's only going to get worse when she is stuck inside for winter.

Haley turned 3 on Sept. 25th and it was a great party. We had it at the indoor moonbounce center, Jumping Joeys, here in Williamsburg. They did a great job setting everthing up for us and the kids all had a blast playing. It was such a bittersweet moment because I hate to think my baby is 3 already, but she has truly grown up into sucha beautiful little girl. She loves going to nursery on Sundays and has excelled in the popcorn song, and the wise man song. I love to stand outside of the nursery for singing time to hear her belting out those songs. She is getting braver at the playground and now plays onthe zip line and actually rides it from one end to the other without putting her feet down... talk about amazing upper body strength.

I guess I'm done singing my kids praises, but it's been a fun few months and we have a lot to look forward.

AHHHHH!!!!!

So, I'm nesting extremely early this time. I only have Raun on break through the end of August so all the big stuff I need help with needs to get done pretty quick. We decided to make the sunroom/haley's toyroom into the baby's room which means all of the toys have to go as well as the foosball table. This all means that the queen bed in Haley's room needs to be moved up into the loft area to make room for the abundance of toys. We had to reorganize the attic and the garage so I could get the the crib and all the clothes. Everything is half done!!! Such a mess and my house truly looks it at this point which really drives me crazy b/c members of our ward stop by randomly all the time. However, My brother-in-law- Dan is paying us a visit this weekend so he will be helping Raun with all of the impossible furniture moving; plus he has an SUV so he can help us go pick-up the toy box for Haley. Super excited about this weekend! I have been meaning to get a picture of the bump up but i'm so anal about pictures being taken while i'm huge. There are maybe 5 pics total from my pregnancy with Haley. It's a cute bump now and I'm no longer looking fat. Haley is really starting to understand and be more aware of the belly. We have decided to name the baby Grace Elizabeth Craven. Raun really wanted a Gracie and Haley is already calling my tummy baby Gracie.

And the winner is!

It's a baby girl! We are so excited, but I'm definitely shocked. We are still playing with the name but we will have it set very soon. We want Haley to be able to call the baby by name nice and early. The place we went for the ultrasound was incredible. They would have let us bring up to 18 people in with us and there was plenty for Haley to do and see. They gave us 2, 3, 4-D images that procasted onto a huge flat screen for a really clear, big image. It was just a really great bonding experience for us, Haley and the baby. Here are a few of the pictures we were given:

Her big yawn! She is so sweet!

Look at that button nose.

Her left hand is over her eye

I love her already!!!!!!!!

Jumping the Gun!!!

So Raun and I can barely contain ourselves so we made an appointment at a 3-d ultrasound place and are going tomorrow to find out the sex of the baby. They said that they give us a DVD with the heartbeat and movement and a cd with tons of pics for us to post up so hopefully I can get on that quickly! Stay tuned tomorrow tho for at least the results!

Slacking!!!!

I'm such a slacker, but this pregnancy is really killing me! So I guess I'm more of a whiner! I not over my morning sickness, but I'm not puking as long as I'm always eating. I have been losing weight still though, which seems impossible b/c I'm always putting food in my mouth. I guess I just have myself more disciplined with this one in eating better and healthier. I just reached my 2nd trimester on Monday so hopefully things will start getting better soon. I'm not showing yet which i feel is weird b/c everyone said I would show earlier this time around. I have felt very faint movement recently so it has eased my worries a little. We should be able to find out what this one is end of July- early August! I've been trying to get better with getting out of bed and showered right away so I can get Haley outside before it gets too hot. Water Country has been the best place for us to go so thank heavens we have season passes! Haley is still not potty trained! Well she does great when we are at home but we have had a few accidents around town lately. Kinda embarassing!!!! Raun's semester is flying by as it usually does. He only have 5 weeks left before his 6 week break. He's really starting to burn out so this break is much needed and Haley wants to be able to spend more time with him. She's such a daddy's girl... I guess that's why he wants another girl!

Not again!!!

So as most of you know, Raun and I found out we are having another Craven. This pregnancy has been nothing like Haley's. I am constantly sick; throwing up at least once a day at this point. I had lost of hope in thinking that I was actually 11 weeks along like the doctors office said. Well I went in for my first OB appointment on Monday and we didn't hear a heart beat. I wasn't worried, I just slowly started realizing that I am not 11 weeks. After my exam the doctor said 8, but she wanted me to have an ultrasound to get an exact due date. We went back on Tuesday and had the ultrasound. It was so fun because we didn't get one until 20 weeks with Haley. BAD NEWS: My due date went from Nov. 25th to Dec. 16th. What a bummer. I'm not really worried about when they baby is coming, it's just I thought I was rounding the end of this misery. I could still have another month of this nightmare. BLAH! Oh well; I guess there is really nothing I can do but grin and bear it for now. We are alittle stressed realizing that Raun's graduation in Dec 15th but his parents will be in town hopefully and if anything they can go with him to it.

For now this is our little one! Hopefully I will get better about posting.

Just dealing with it!

It's been over a week now and I'm not gonna lie.... It's been rough! However, Haley is really being a trooper. To all those parents who will soon be potty training I would like to share some maybe helpful hints: 1. Let them pick the underwear; they will be less likely to mess on a pair they like and chose 2. Be presistant atleast for the first few days. I stayed on Haley for the first 2 days straight and by the third day she seemed to be getting annoyed so I backed off and that's when she would go by herself. 3. Training directly on the potty has been really nice. I haven't tried to use a training seat; however it has bee nice just being able to flush it down with minimal clean up. 4. Teach them to do it themselves. I tried not to coddle Haley with helping her pull the pants down, get on the toilet, wipe (I do however wipe her a little when she is done), and wash her hands. It makes it easier for the times you are unable to drop everything and run to the bathroom with them... like being in the shower. 5. Make it fun! Books, stuffed animals, special cleaning and wipes items are all wonderful tools. It makes them feel special.


I am no expert and by no means is Haley potty trained after one week. She about 75% for number one and still have yet to tackle the number two. I just thought I would makes some suggestions for those who are thinking about doing this in the near future. Oh yeah one more... many of our kids favorite characters have potty movies (elmo, little bear, etc) and read along movies with books. Haley loved Elmo's potty time!

I know I have talked non-stop about potty training but it has consumed my time. Sorry!!!!

Something so amazing has happened since this morning that I had to write about! I was really feeling like a failure today after giving up... it didn't help that Haley wasn't asking to use the potty either. Well at about 6:00 she came in to the kitchen and asked if she could put on underoos. I hesitated and then said ok. We went in once again and had her pick out the pair and then had the talk about not pee-peeing in them. I also told her that I was not going to ask her; that she had to remember all by herself. It happened. She went into the bathroom, turned on the light, pulled her clothes down, sat on the toilet and went #1!!!! Then she got up and wiped herself and her seat off. So amazed. I dont' remember being so proud as a parent. It's still going to be a long road of going #2 but I can deal with one diaper a day for awhile. YAY!!!! I'm probably a little too excited, but I wanted to share the news.

The ice cream to celebrate!

AHHHHHH!!!!

Okay so I have to admit it! I QUIT!!! She is not quite ready to potty train! I have been beating my head into walls trying to get her to not mess her pants and my attempts have been up successful. I woke up sick yesterday morning and I am not in the mood to fight with her from dawn until dusk again! We will try again probably at the beginning of the summer. This is much harder than I expected and I need to work on having a little more patience before our next attempt. Don't mind the picture! I am still learning this blogging thing out so this was my first try at putting a pic on and now I can't figure out how to move it! Anyways, this is a picture of us at Myrlte beach playing around the outlet mall! Haley was completely uninterested in the shops she just wanted to play on the rides! We had fun regardless.

The Potty diaries: Day One

Today is the beginning of a long road for me! I officially began potty training. I could have never imagined what I was in for, neither did Haley. I guess I shouldn't be so negative; Haley was about 50/50 today, which from what I read is great. We went through 6 pairs of underoos. It seems like a lot but really with having to put her on the potty every 15 minutes, only 6 was outstanding. Bribing her with jelly beans worked pretty well. Going number 2 will be our biggest challenge. This just takes so much patients, time, and energy. I have to commit myself to staying home for the next few days, possibly weeks, to make sure she has it down. I don't want any accidents in Wal-Mart or Ukrops. Haley seemed to stay in pretty good spirits. I think she was pretty sick of sitting on the potty. I had to come up with ideas to keep her on the potty for a few minutes so we read some of her favorite books. Needless to say I hope day two goes a little better but I will be sure to keep you updated!

Let's try this one!

Well since I have facebook and myspace, I thought what the heck! Let try blogger out too! You don't really get the opportunity with the other two to post blogs. Actually you do, but I think this way seems better. Hopefully, I can keep this page up as well as my other two.