Lately..

A few weeks ago I had a day off and so me and Cam went downtown to the Fire Museum. I've been wanting to take him forever and of course the day I take him it started raining :( We decided to go anyway and it was ok. I have to say I was expecting it to be more on a little kids level, but it was more advanced and "museum like". It was still fun for him to see the big red fire engine and the toy room full of tons of fire engines big and small, old and new. We have been to see mom at work (same as mine) downtown and to see a few of my coworkers. Cam loves going to meet CeCe for lunch!

 Cam dressed as Woody

 At the Fire Museum in front of all the toy fire engines

Cam wore his Fireman coat from CeCe and the new fire hat from the museum

The girls of my Sunday school class threw me and another pregnant friend, Stephanie a baby shower recently. It was so sweet and I could not believe how generous these women were! This was especially surprising since we haven't even been able to go very often since I started weekends at work. But we racked up! I also finished the nursery so all we need is a sweet new baby to fill it :)

The New Members Sunday School Ladies

Two weeks ago, Camden starting having what I thought was an allergic eye with redness, swelling and drainage. When it didn't go away after several days I started him on his antibiotic eye drops we were on last time he had conjunctivitis. After 3 days of this an no improvement and then a inflammed tissue hanging down into his actual iris/pupil I decided to make a trip to the pediatrician. Our MD is very nonchalant and never gets very excited about things, but one or two looks at his terrible eye and an immediate referral to the opthamologist we went! Luckily it was 2 doors down and they worked us in right then. The eye doctor did a dilated eye exam and informed me that it was a granuloma. It's a benign inflammation of the eyelid and it was caused by the eye infection going untreated for too long. I felt terrible!! But we were started on 4 times a day steroid eye drops and after a week the granuloma is almost gone. We have another full week of drops then tapering down over the next week. Cam really has been a trooper and didn't put up too much of a fuss over the drops which I thought was going to be a nightmare.

You can sort of see Cam's little lazy eye here on the left this is at the beginning of his eye drop treatment

 Aunt TT joined in on the snowman building fun with a mini me snowman :)

Also we have been getting a couple of snow days here lately. Two weeks ago we got 7 inches then another inch or two this past week. I'm praying that we don't get any around the delivery date!! Camden and Trey were able to build an almost indestructible snowman which lasted for 3 days! It started leaning on day 2 and on day 3 it leaned almost parallel to the ground. It was unbelieveable!


On another note, my pregnancy is almost through! At my last Dr's visit my OB thought that the heart rate was too high in my abdomen and that the baby could possibly be breech, so she scheduled us for another ultrasound. I was so nervous for a week imagining the worst only to have a great ultrasound. The baby was perfectly upside down like he/she is supposed to be and the amount of amniotic fluid level was good, the heart rate was great at 150 bpm and the weight was estimated at 7 lbs even (give or take 6 ounces). The doctor told me I was 2-3 cm dilated already so I anticipate that labor could happen at any moment! Keep us in your prayers over the next couple of weeks!

Southaven Christmas & Children's Museum

We had a busy Christmas once we got home from Texas. I actually had 10 days off in a row which was a Godsend! I haven't had that many days off since our summer vacation last May! I worked alot on Christmas gift shopping, the nursery and just little to do's that had been put on the back burner. We bought an old dresser and have been working to refinish it for the nursery. Camden helped me put the glaze on it. I still have another coat to go, but I already love it! On Thursday day we met the Dukes (our friends from college who were in town from Florida) at the Children's Museum in Memphis. It was too fun. Camden loved playing with Bryce and Ce Ce and was worn out after it was all said and done.

Cam helping me paint the baby's dresser :)

 CeCe Duke at the Children's Museum! Dont you love those pigtails??

 Camden scurried around the little grocery store loading his basket like he was on "Supermarket Sweep!"

 The boys rocking out on the green screen (they were in a music video on a big TV not pictured)

 CeCe in the little Escalade at the Museum

Cam fishing in the scaled down version of the Mississippi River

We did Christmas with Trey's family on Thursday night and Cam got spoiled as usual. He got a new John Deere bike, a Titan tackling dummy, Tonka trucks and much more! We all gave each other gifts $10 or less (minus Cam's gifts) which was nice for the budget!

Cam entertained us by talking smack to the Titan tackling dummy and knocking him down as well as placing him in "time out" for a short while! He was hilarious with that thing.

Santa's loot

 The Cresswell gifts under our new tree

 the notorious "big truck with all the cars in it" as Cam called it all December

Stuffing his face with yummy lunch that CeCe made!

 Opening presents with Walker and Gallegah

Fell asleep on my big belly after a big day :)

Friday morning (Christmas Eve) Santa made an early appearance to our house (mostly b/c I had to work Christmas morning and leave the house by 6 am). Cam got his big truck with all the cars in it that he had been asking for ever since the word Christmas was mentioned. He was excited about that and the Mater truck he got and had a blast playing with everything until my mom, dad, brother sister and Great Uncle came over for a huge lunch. We opened even more presents and needless to say by 5pm we were all tuckered out, Camden woke up from his nap grumpy and so I held him for a minute and before I knew it he had fallen back asleep on my belly. I couldn't help thinking how sweet it was that I had both of my babies in my lap and Christmas couldn't be more perfect! We are so blessed and are thankful for the birthday of our Jesus to make hope and everlasting life possible.



Thanksgiving and Texas Christmas

 One of the table settings

 Homemade floral arrangement

 My parents/Trey's parents table

 Dining room

 Closeup of a place setting, I had everyone's names on little leaves with Thanksgiving Bible verses on the underside!

Food table (minus the food) We used almost all of mom's Peter's/McCarty's pottery to serve on

We hosted our very first Thanksgiving in the new house and as a married couple actually this past November! We had my parents, sister and brother, Trey's mom, dad and sister and the Milcic's Trey's sister's boyfriend's family from Illinois. It was a ton of people, ton of food and alot of fun! We did a dinner instead of lunch (much to Trey's dismay) b/c leigh anne had to work. I had three tables of place settings and enough food to feed a small army. I was exhausted by the end of the day but was so happy we did it, although I may opt for Cracker Barrel next year!! Luckily I only had to cook a few items, we all chipped in and cooked pieces of the meal so no one was stuck with a large amount to cook! Mom, Tracy and I did the big Black Friday shopping trip and got up around 5:30 to get some deals. I did get myself a canon SLR camera that I have been waiting and saving to buy for months and a few christmas gifts. I finally finished up my semester last week and couldn't be happier!! My life has been consumed with school lately and have been feeling guilty that I haven't spent more time with Trey and Camden nor have I gotten very prepared for the new baby. I did end up with a B in my class and hopefully an A in my clinical making my overall gpa 3.6! I am very proud of that. I still have another year and a half to go though, so it will be a much longer road but the next few years but well worth the work I think!

 My beautiful cousin Melissa on her wedding day

 My family

My family

 Trey and I at the reception

 The majority of the Cresswells at the reception (minus the bride's mother and father and my mom) See how pregnant I looked?? I felt like I took up half the picture!!

Dad, Walker and Cam at Cheesecake Factory enjoying my dad's ice cream!

Trey and I celebrated (briefly) our 5th wedding anniversary December 3rd. It's hard to believe where we are now compared to where we started. In 2005 I was a graphic designer in a dead end job and Trey was a professional baseball player on the disabled list. We had gone through career changes, lay offs, continued education, new jobs, financial strain, the birth of our first child, buying our second home, returning to graduate school and now preparing for yet another child! Whew, that makes me tired! I couldn't be happier with my family and all the things we have built together. Also, I celebrated my 31st birthday which seemed like a blip on the screen with all the things I had going on that week! I had clinical or work every single day plus shopping for christmas and studying for my final exam. The next weekend we traveled to B'ham, AL for my cousin Melissa's wedding. My sister and I were both bridesmaids. I wasn't extremely pumped about being a bridesmaid at 7.5 months pregnant, but I think that it ended up being fine. I hated that I was so big, but hopefully everyone understood! It was a sweet ceremony and fun weekend with bridesmaids luncheons, rehearsals, dinners and of course the wedding and reception! Camden and Walker had to stay with a babysitter in the hotel, and they must have scared her off b/c she backed out for night #2 and Mom and Trey had to take turns missing the wedding/reception so they both could come. All in all it was a great weekend and my family treated me to cheesecake factory on Sunday on the way out of town for my birthday. It was great!!

" Hey, Santa I want the big truck with all the cars in it"

 The "North Pole" at Bass Pro shops

Hey, Mom can Santa bring me this for Christmas??

This past weekend we made the annual trek (10 hours) to Dallas then on to Brownwood, TX to visit with Trey's grandparents and spend a few days with them. We made it to Dallas on Thursday night and stayed in a hotel rather than with Trey's uncle Gene who was out of town which was interesting (we went for the cheap route, rather than luxury). We stopped in Dallas at the huge Bass Pro shop by the interstate to let Cam meet Santa. I was nervous he would chicken out like last year and cry, but he was so brave and sat in Santa's lap and even told him what he wanted! I couldn't have been a prouder mom! He was so sweet up there innocently asking Santa for " the big truck with all the cars in it" (that is all he keeps asking for) and smiling for a few pics. We then traveled to see great g'ma maylene and spent the day and night with them even taking Cam to his first movie Yogi Bear in 3-D! I was so amazed how well he did and when he finally was convinced him to put the 3-D glasses on he really got into and laughed and clapped and sat still in his Jo Jo's lap watching the movie intently! We then went to the other grandma's house the next day to open even more presents and ate, ate ate. While there we celebrated Trey's uncle Craige's 50th birthday (late) with a big party! Then we played Dirty Santa which was a fun change and twist to our usual Christmas gift exchange. We got up this morning at 6:00 am and drove straight back and did pretty well on time. We had a great time on our short trip and enjoyed visiting with this side of the family whom we usually only see once a year.

 Such a little poser!!

 Opening one of his many stuffed animal gifts!

 Happy 50th birthday Uncle Craige!!

 Enjoying some of Uncle Craige's birthday cupcakes

 Camden watching the guys shoot guns intently through the den window. Not quite old enough yet to participate.

 Showing off his new rain boots

With uncle uncle Gene with some of the gifts he got Cam!

Halloween and other fall fun

Long overdue, but here is our halloween photos. We went to the Ole Miss vs Auburn tailgate then to a friends party where Cam was Napoleon Dynamite, I was Flo the Progressive Insurance lady and Trey was teen wolf. Camden also had a Frankenstein costume he wore around the neighborhood trick or treating and to his school party.

Random bubble bath shot!

He is doing awesome potty training. I would venture to say that he is 85% potty trained. He tells us when he needs to go (#1 & #2!!) and wants privacy as he does his business :) pretty funny he's so grown up acting! He and one other little boy at school are the only ones on the "Master's" potty training list. They rank everyone according to their level of potty training (ie. Beginners are diapers, no pull ups, High School is wearing pull ups, Bachelor's is pull ups using the potty sometimes, Master's is big kid underwear and pottying on the potty, etc). So needless to say out of 15 kids he's doing pretty good! He has been telling us repeatedly what he wants for Christmas from Santa and he actually understands this year about who he is and we have made a few "phone calls" to Santa if he started getting out of line! He falls for it everytime:) Other than that we are gearing up for the big Thanksgiving meal and getting the house ready for our guests. I haven't put up my Christmas tree yet, but will probably do it the day after Thanksgiving (the way it's always been done). I don't know when Christmas started in November, but it seems like it moves up every year!

Trey and I got to go to game 5 of the World Series which was super exciting. So when I was pregnant with Cam we went to the Master's, with this baby we went to the world series, if there is a #3, then I guess we'll be off to the Super Bowl!! Pregnancy is going ok, I had a scare this week with some severe cramping, but after a trip to the Dr. everything turned out fine and I just had a stomach bug. I am now 28 weeks meaning I'm in the 3rd trimester, which is hard to believe. I have so much to do to get ready for this baby. I feel behind by this time with Camden I already had the nursery almost completely done, but I know over Christmas I should be able to do alot. Pray for my sanity the next 3 weeks of school. It is pretty taxing with being at work or clinical all but one day a week. I'm pretty exhausted. Hopefully after this semester I will enjoy a nice break getting together with family and friends. We have a wedding that I'm in December and then the next weekend we are going to Texas for trey's side Christmas then Christmas! It's coming up fast! Hopefully I will post after Thanksgiving some pictures.