3 weeks...

Garrett Asher,

What cutie boy you are with your eyes on. Today you turned 3 weeks old! I can't hardly fathom that next week we'll be celebrating one month in the world, together! Unreal! You are a dream baby. I almost feel guilty when people ask me how you're doing, because honestly you're the sweetest thing. 

You eat, you sleep & then you poop. Then we repeat. When you sleep you are so precious, I could just watch you the whole time. Most of the time I choose that over vacuuming/unloading the dishwasher... I just know as soon as I look away you've grown again. So instead, I just watch you and take in these precious memories.

You also started making the sweetest little baby squeaks. Oh my gosh, be still my heart. It is so adorable listening to you find your voice. It makes me so proud to call you ours. My heart nearly bursts. You're also hitting a big growth spurt this week. You are hungry all.the.time! Which let's be honest, is exhausting for both of us, particularly in the middle of the night... but when you have a full belly you are such a sweet sleeper.

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 I love being home with you, but I get antsy around the house- so we've been staying bus and are pretty much always on the go.

We went on our first walk around the neighborhood

We visited Daddy at the station. You were a hit! ;)

But all in all...

THESE moments, make the night shift worth it. We are so thankful for you! Happy three weeks, sweet baby boy!

2 weeks...

My dearest Garrett,

this week you turned 2 weeks old.

You started smiling in your sleep this week. I know they aren't intentional yet, but they melt my heart just the same. We also switched from nursing to pumping/bottle feeding back to nursing. I'm not sure why exactly, but I'm one determined lady & we're figuring this thing out together. No one said this would be easy, but you sure make it worth it. You also let me sleep for 5 straight hours on Tuesday. We were back to our usual 2-4 hour stretch right after, but it was dreamy while it lasted! Thank you for that. We spent our first night away from Daddy. He had to travel for work to the OSU/Baylor game in Waco, Tx. I survived and you did too, but boy were we glad when he returned. While he was gone I ventured out with you on a secret mission to make some Christmas gifts for our family. They are perfect and I can't wait to show them off. 

Here we are on our date Mommy/Son date... 

We also went on our first date with Esly (and Megan) this week! We met up at Target, (duh!) and even went and picked her up from school. You two were adorable and she is so fascinated with you. Not that I want to wish the time away, but I'm so excited to see you two grow up together. It makes my heart so full. :)

You are just such a joy!

Love, Your Mommy

Thanksgiving 2012...

I think this was my favorite Thanksgiving of my life. Here we are as a new family of three. :)

After spending the first part of the day with Dylan's family he was off to work for the first time since we had our son. 

I was super worried how I would manage the rest of the day by myself, but I figured it out and he was great anchoring with some of our favorites. They were so wonderful and kind in his return to work. Dylan even got to thank all the sweet people in Oklahoma who have been wishing us well and praying for a safe and healthy baby and delivery. So that was a sweet surprise. :)

Before Dylan went back to work we convinced him to hang our outside Christmas lights. Garrett and I had a picnic in the front yard, while Dylan hung the lights. Clearly, our job was exhausting. It all looks fantastic & I'm so thankful I have a husband who is helpful.

 After Thanksgiving round 2 with my side of the family, we all decided to keep the tradition alive and head to Target for Black Friday. I bundled up Garrett as cuddly as can be and we were off. My family takes Black Friday so seriously, so I was very thankful to not miss it this year. I sent this picture to Dylan and what do you know-we were on the news again. ;) Garrett and I now have been on TV twice in two weeks. I'm already trying to figure out how we can be on next week. ;) Kidding of course.

Friday morning we went to the Christmas tree farm to continue our black friday tradition. We picked out a pretty good one, if I do say so myself. :) 

Hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday as well! 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

7 days fresh...

Garrett,

You are one week old! This picture is about as good as it gets with our stickers...We'll try again next Wednesday :)

 You watched your first Celtics game with your Daddy when we were still in the hospital.

 I spent my time staring at you and holding you being a sweet cuddly babe. I have absolutely fallen in love with you and your cute self. Especially when you yawn. My goodness. I think it might be my favorite. 

 We went to the Pediatrician's office and I got to brag about how great you are. I also cried when we talked about breastfeeding/pumping. I was a hot mess of hormones, but she assured me it was normal & you got to show off your beautiful blue eyes. 

 And this is how we spend our nights: you sleep peacefully in between feedings/diaper changes and I just stare at you. I can't even begin to believe that you were in my belly just 7 days ago. You are an absolute miracle. I should probably sleep when you do, but how could I? You're already changing so fast. You are adorable and are so sweet natured I just want to soak up every second. 

Love, 

Your Mommy.

(that sure feels good to say!)

Introducing...

Garrett Asher Buckingham

 Click here to see a little more : KFOR Family Welcomes Garrett Asher :)

Still No Baby...

Do you know how many times people have asked me that this week? Along with: "Where's that baby?" "Is he ever going to show up??" As if I'm not ready OR I was somehow instilled with this knowledge of the time and day he will make his grand arrival? So confusing. I mean, hello. I'm waiting too. And I can promise you, I am more ready than you are. I know their intentions are sweet and I'm sure thankful people care enough to check on me. But good grief, don't ask a 9 month pregnant girl when that babies going to come? Just don't do it. It should be along the same lines as telling them: "WOW! You are HUGE!" Never appropriate. Never.

Anywhoo...my due date came and went...For fear of not having "my last pregnant picture" I have been crazy about getting at least one picture each day. So here's what I did this week...

Tuesday: I voted (at 39 wks & 6 days pregnant). After an hour of standing in line- I got escorted to the front. So nice of them to let me pass an enormous crowd of people. I was sure thankful. I then headed to my Dr.'s appt. where I took this:

Then Wednesday rolled around... I did some laundry and had Dylan take my picture (hopeful it would be the last day...) I was wrong and clearly, very tired. Story of my life. :)

Then Thursday arrived. My due date. Dylan was off. We sat around and contemplated life. I wished my water to break. It did not. And I went to bed having some strange pains, but just decided I should rest and try again tomorrow. (So no picture on my actual due date.)

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And here we are today: so tired, sun in my eyes, ready to meet our son and anxious to get this show on the road. 

In other news I feel the need to say: I am SO thankful for such a healthy/relatively easy pregnancy and I would do it again a million times over to meet our son, but I need to keep it real: I legit miss my wedding ring, my ankles and shaving my legs without it feeling like I just had a hard work out. ;)

Here's hoping I have him sooner rather than later. It's seriously exhausting keeping my hair clean every day just in case I might need to head to the hospital.

Boo Y'all...

Yesterday was our annual family pumpkin carving party at my parent's house. I love this day every year, but this year was really special. It was the last time that Dylan and I got to carve our pumpkins as a family of two. Pretty surreal. Especially seeing as how when these pictures were taken I'm 9 months pregnant.

We started out the day pumpkin shopping. While we were looking for the perfect pumpkins I couldn't help but notice my stomach was darn huge in comparison to the pumpkins that were for sale. So naturally we stopped to take a picture :)

So here I am with our little pumpkin- 38.5 weeks. 

I don't so much love the act of carving pumpkins, it doesn't really fit the instant gratification bill that I so much love these days...but I do love pumpkin seeds. While everyone spent their time poking holes and carving, I went around collecting everyones gunk and separated seeds. When everyone was nearly done, Dylan and I went rogue and just started carving our own little works of art. Therefore, my pumpkin art is hardly worthy of a picture- this year I went simple. Free handing. My specialty. And not to brag, but I did win a prize from the judges. "Most unique." Haha! :)

And Dylan's- GO PACK GO! 

I mean, is he not the cutest thing you ever did see? He gave up the Packer's game to carve his heart out. So a Packers pumpkin was so fitting.  

I'd say they turned out pretty great! 

Nursery Tour...

I've been on Fall break/disability leave the last two and a half weeks and even with a broken tail bone- I have been a crazy nesting white tornado. OH, I didn't document I had a broken tail bone? Well, I do. It's by far the most miserable thing I've dealt with in my life. Two and half weeks in and I'm finally starting to feel some relief, but good grief. It is the worst thing ever and absolutely horrible timing. Being 36 weeks pregnant is pretty legit as is, so adding a broken butt is not exactly welcome, BUT- broken or not- I am getting stuff done and crossing things off my ginormous "things to do before baby comes" list.

 So without further ado, here are the pictures of 

Garrett Asher Buckingham's 

sweet nursery...

Now that his room is ready, I (really) can't wait to meet him! :) 

Brain Dump...

1. Happy 3rd anniversary to my handsome husband. I love you more than words and can't wait for a million more days to laugh with you.

2. I said goodbye to my car. I had it for almost 8 years. That's a pretty huge chunk of my life. It took me to Indiana to college, to my first date with my husband, to Texas to start our newlywed life and to our first baby appointments. It's been around a long time. 

3. We said hello to my new mommy mobile. Perfectly acceptable to bring home our sweet boy from the hospital and start a new string of memories. :)

4. 36 weeks pregnant. 

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall...

Well apparently I've been in a pregnancy brain fog, because my last post was in July. Awesome. Life's been moving pretty fast around here. I've got three more weeks left of work until Fall break, which is basically the start of my maternity leave. Can you say crazy? I have got to get to work on lesson plans...

Hmmm...

What else is new around here? Let's see...

I've had my first baby shower, thanks to my sweet mom and I still have two more to go. I celebrated with some of my favorite people and was so thankful for my sweet friends that were there. 

 And because I can't help but want to document the ginormousness of my midsection... here we are at 

32 weeks and 5 days. I'm so short that my midsection is just not all that long and roomy. So although baby b is measuring perfectly in size, my belly is measuring ahead because it's sticking so far out since that's the only other option.

We had our last ultrasound and everything continues to look great. I am honestly feeling really great these days, definitely tired at the end of the day- but I'm still going strong. My biggest complaints are that my swollen ankles are horrendous and my heart burn makes me want to die. ;) But then I feel baby b moving all around- "baby beluga in the deep blue sea" style and I'm completely thankful for this whole experience. I know these moments are the moments I will miss the most and I never want to take it for granted. The best part so far has been just sitting still and watching him move my stomach all around. It's completely amazing (& maybe somewhat creepy? Ha!) 

So with the goodbye of Summer, comes the hello of Fall- when we will become parents. Wow. 

Less than 50 days until we get to meet our son. Incredible!

Back to Life, Back to Reality...

Ha! But seriously, that's how I feel. We were gone to the Caribbean for 5 days and now we're back to home sweet 'homa. ;) 

We got back last Friday and after not even being back for 24 hours I headed to Tulsa to an Affair of the Heart with my cutie Mom and her sisters. We even ran into the QT guy. Hilarious!

An Affair of the Heart is an incredible Oklahoma craft/trade show that I haven't been to in a year or so. They come here to the city twice a year (Spring/Fall) and they head to Tulsa in July. Since I haven't been able to make the OKC one, we decided to make a girls trip to check it out. It was great and I came home with lots of fun goodies. Saturday night I came back and by Sunday afternoon Dylan left for Tulsa for a guys weekend golf trip with some of his friends. 

He came back yesterday and is headed back to work today and I go back Monday. Ack! I feel like this Summer has flown by, but more than that - I'm happy that I've accomplished quite a bit. The nursery is coming together more and more everyday and I've really gotten to take some time to myself to rest and reenergize. It's been nice and I'm looking forward to the new school year. Which also means we have approximately 15 weeks til we meet our little boy :) I can't even believe we'll be parents. 

Speaking of our little boy, he is also pretty darn close to having a name. :) Here's a sneak peak into his sweet nursery. I got that frame at Affair of the Heart. So sweet! 

Happy Thursday, friends!

Weekend Wrap...

Friday I had Recipe Club with some of my favorite girls. I made Wonton Taco Cups from pinterest. They were really great. I forgot to take an after picture, but here they are before going into the oven. 

They were pretty great, and SO easy! I made them for the appetizer/side dish category this month. We ate and then stayed and talked for a long time and I got to hang out with my baby bff, Esly. 

My goodness I love this girl.

She was playing with my phone and she flipped the camera to see us. Too funny! 

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Saturday I took a painting class with my friend Joselyn, from work. She teaches 4th grade and we've been talking about signing up for one of those classes for a while. So saturday we did just that and it was so fun. From the awkward teacher who had to be gay, but was incessantly hitting on every woman there, to the woman who was so mad about her painting (which was beautiful by the way) .. it was a great time. We did the field of poppies class.

I was really worried how I would do with a class like this, since I love to paint...but it was so fun. I had to turn off my creative side and just follow directions. Which was good for me. My favorite was that each person had a completely unique painting to them, but they were all so similar. I want to go again with a big group of girls. 

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Today I'm spending my day packing and laundering all of our clothes. We're off to our vacation tomorrow. CanNOT wait!