It's a BOY!! Brooks' Birthday

 Ryan Brooks Lunsford. 7 lbs 7oz, 21 1/4 inches long, beautiful:)

Well, we finally know the sex of baby #2! It's a BOY! I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of this little bundle of joy and scheduled for Tues (feb. 15th) for an induction, but this little guy decided to make an early appearance! I woke up early Saturday morning (feb 12th) around 1 am with cramps and what I thought was contractions. So, I got out my contraction timer application on my phone and began tracking them. They were coming every 8 to 10 minutes so I started getting my belongings together without waking Trey yet. I wanted to be sure I needed to go to the hospital before I totally woke up the whole house. I sat up and watched TV, my sister came over and we hung out. I started having more regular contractions around 3 am and they were coming at around five to seven minutes apart at this time. I went ahead and woke up Trey and he called his mom to watch Cam. We packed up the car and were on our way. Of course, my contractions began to slow down a bit but I figured I was past my due date and I might as well go in. The hospital triaged me and monitored me for what seemed like forever and then decided that I wasn't really progressing and I should be sent home!! I was devastated! I was hurting and tired and they wanted me to take an Ambien sleeping pill! I was horrified. I hate that drug and refused to take it. I don't even give it to my patients in the hospital, it makes people do crazy things. So I went home and was very emotional. I tried taking a hot bath, tylenol, ate breakfast drank a large glass of water whatever I could to maybe ease the pain, nothing helped. My mom came over and I decided I would go to the hospital again I was hurting really badly. When I got there, Trey and I sat in the parking lot for an hour or so to see if my contractions got closer together. We didn't want them to send us home again! Meanwhile, I fell asleep so Trey thought it best that we go back home. I ate lunch and felt better for an hour or two then the contractions became unbearable. I told Trey I didn't care what we had to do but I was not going to go through this labor all day without something for pain. We went back for the 3rd time at 5pm and I had progressed to 4 cm and my contractions were more regular and stronger. They decided to admit me this time! I was in my room and got my epidural( a Godsend!!) at around 7, they started the pitocin and by 8 I was already 9 cm and they were calling the doctor. By 9pm I was fully dilated and we were waiting on Dr. Lacy to arrive. Once it was time to push I only had to push 4 times and he was out! He was definitely ready to be born. It was miraculous! We were so happy and then my inlaws came in with Camden and he was pretty excited, somewhat confused but excited. He didn't understand the hospital bracelets and all the machines and wanted to know why he couldn't stay! We named the baby Brooks which turns out was my great great grandmother's maiden name :) We didn't know it was a family name until after we had already picked it out. I have been feeling remarkably well, with little pain and the baby is doing wonderful. He is nursing great and sleeping well. He's not fussy and doesn't have to be held constantly like Camden did. I have really been blessed with so many wonderful men in my life now I'm a little outnumbered in the house with all these boys! But we couldn't be happier. We are enjoying all the visitors and everyone has really been great to include Camden and not let him feel like it's all about the baby. He has gotten almost as many presents as he did at Christmas! Brooks is sleeping pretty well at night we had one fussy night the first night we were home but I think it had to do with all the chocolate I ate that day for Valentines! Other than that he will sleep about 3-4.5 hours at a time which I can handle just fine. He doesn't nurse too long so we only are up for about 30 mins each time, eating, burping, changing his diaper and back to bed!

I also included some pictures of a few weeks ago when it snowed once again and Camden's daycare was closed and Trey's work opened late so they enjoyed some fun in the snow! It was a blast for them. I will be posting more pictures from our newborn session with Ramblin Rose Photography and from the Sip n' See that Joan, Leigh Anne, Tracy and Mom are throwing us coming up in a few weeks. For now, thanks for your thoughts prayers, phone calls and emails we really appreciate them as well settle into a family of four!

 Love at first sight!

 Meeting mom

and CeCe

With Aunt Tracy (TT)

and Big Brother Cam!!

Hey JoJo!

Camden got baby Brooks a present!

With the rest of the Lunsford clan

Happy family of four!

So proud!

Some friends came to visit

So cool little snowboarder dude!

Look Mom :)

 Snow dog!

Watching and waiting...

So, my due date came and went yesterday :( I thought for sure that we would have a new baby by now, but nothing has happened yet. We had a false alarm last week when I thought I was having contractions and we packed up and took Cam to stay with my dad but then they went away and we were still pregnant! Two weeks ago I somehow messed up my foot at work transporting a patient across the hospital and was unable to walk on it. I thought it was a sprain but a week later it still hurt and I could barely walk on it. I went to my doctor and he xrayed it and told me I had a stress fracture. It was small, but it sure does hurt. So he took me off work, so I'm just stuck at home and not really able to do anything. I need to be up walking and cleaning to get the house ready for the baby and all the visitors I'm sure we'll have after he/she is born but I am not able! It's very frustrating. I have been catching up on my school. I'm taking 2 online writing classes so sitting on the laptop most of the day is how I roll these days! Our doctor tried to move up our induction date (now scheduled for Feb 15th at 5 am) to yesterday (my due date) but we were expecting a massive snow storm and the hospital said they would most likely be short on nurses so I decided it's probably better to just wait and not push it. We did get about 4 inches of snow yesterday and Cam's daycare closed early and Trey's work closed early. I am glad that I am off work now since it would be a nightmare getting downtown and back through the icy roads! Now we are just watching and waiting for baby # 2. We're still bouncing around the baby's name ideas (horrible right??) We are settled on a girl's name, but the boy's name is still up in the air. I guess we will make the final decision when we see the baby. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as anything happens! Pray for us to have a safe and healthy delivery:)

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!