Crew's Surgery

When Crew was born, they did not circumcise him because he had a chordae, which means that his little wiener was crooked. We knew after that that when he was 6 months old they would have to put him out and fix the chordae and circumcise him. Time seemed to fly by and it was here before we knew it. Daniel, my mom and I took Crew to Children's Mercy to get it fixed by a specialist on December 27. I was a nervous wreck because they were going to take my baby and put him out. They explained everything in detail before the surgery, & they were going to do these things:
      - use gas to put him out.
      - put tube down his throat just in case.
      - fix chordae using extra skin and then circumcise.
      - give him a shot like an epidural to help with the pain for 6-12 hours after surgery.

We got there at 11:30 and had to go through many people explaining exactly what they were going to do. As you can see, Crew was happy as he could be even though he hadn't had a bottle in 4 hours.

 The nurse had us put on this sweet little gown for Crew and he loves to not have clothes on so he enjoyed the gown. Sweet little thing just kept grinning for her.

 They had to listen to his heart, get his blood pressure and also do height and weight. This big boy weighed 16 lbs. He had a hard time sitting still, though and we even had to move to another machine because he kept wanting to kick his legs and move around. :)

 By now it was close to 1:00 and Crew was hungry for a bottle. But, Daddy loved on him and even gave him a paper towel to keep him entertained until they took him back.

 Grammy came along too. She sure loves you, Crew!

 This is where we had to give Crew to the nurses. Mom & Dad were pretty strong, but I think we each had a few tears. This is also where we picked him up when the surgery was over. We were so glad to see him & just wanted to hold him when he was done, so we forgot to take pictures afterwards.

 This was Crew right before we put him in the carseat to go home around 4:30. He did such a good job and was such a good baby. He slept most of that night, but wasn't very fussy. The next day we gave him his strong medicine but the next day he was so happy we didn't give him any medicine & he was totally back to normal. He is such a trooper & we are so glad it is over!!! We love you Crew!

5 Months

How does time seem to fly by so fast? Crew is now 5 months old & seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the day. This has been a busy month for us especially with Crew's first Christmas! It was such a fun time for all of us. Crew had lots of Christmas gatherings that he attended, and he had his surgery on the 27th of December, so we have been busy! Crew is so happy almost all of the time. He is really starting to laugh and talk & we love how vocal he has become. He chews on everything and slobbers a lot, but still no teeth. He is so close to being able to sit up on his own. Not much longer! He also started waving 'bye bye' to Daddy when he leaves for work. He is so much fun & we love him so much.

4 Months

Crew man turned 4 months on October 29. He is such a happy baby. Everyone always says that they can't believe he doesn't ever cry. Rest assured...he does cry, just not very often. :) He really is a good baby and for that we are truly blessed. Little man is still sleeping all night and he started cereal this month. I feed it to him from a spoon & he is pretty good at eating from the spoon. He also hit another milestone that was rolling over! I was in the shower and he was playing on his activity mat. I laid him on his back and hopped in the shower real fast. When I came out he was on his belly & mommy missed the whole thing! I was a tad sad that I missed it...but he did it! :) Crew also got his first rash this month. Breastmilk is becoming a sacred thing & I tried to mix the cereal with formula so I didn't have to try and make more milk. Well, this is what the formula did....

Needless to say...one of my friends recommended just using water & that's what we did. He seems to be loving it now! We also got our 4 month shots....

 

 

Here are just a few pictures of what we've been up to:

 

Crew's first day of deer season:

 

Crew was the deer for Halloween:

 

Crew's first Thanksgiving: 

 

 

We're Back!

Hello everyone! It has been quite a while since I have last posted. Let me explain....come to find out I have 5 gmail emails! Ha! I got so busy with Crew that I hadn't signed into the blog in several weeks and forgot my email. (With 5 emails, I was bound to forget!) So, with 5 emails I couldn't remember my log in information. It kept wanting me to sign into an email I knew wasn't my blog email. 4 months later....I FINALLY figured out my email (and saved it to a Word document) so we are back to blogging, friends! :)

So...lets catch up!

Crew was 2 months on August 29. He was holding his head up by himself really well & even smiling on purpose! We bumped up his bottles to 4 oz and he also loved bath time. Sweet little thing!

Then, Crew turned 3 months on Sept 29. This sweet baby was sleeping all night & we put him in his own crib at exactly 3 months when daddy got home from his hunting trip to Colorado & he slept great in his crib. Mommy was sad & didn't sleep well, but he was ready. This big boy is also wearing 6 month pants! He is growing so fast...I just cant believe how quickly it is going by.

Here are a few pictures my aunt, Nancy, took for Crew when he turned 3 months:

 

 

 

Crew- 1 Month

Crew is now one month old! How in the world does time fly by so quickly, yet nights go by so slowly?! Crew seems to be changing everyday & it seems that everyday I think to myself I don't want to lose my sweet little cuddly, squishy baby. I don't want him to start walking, or talking just quite yet. But, I do want him to start sleeping all night. :) 

Height/Weight:
Mom & I took him and weighed him & he weighed 7 lbs 11 oz! He is growing. You can tell in his cheeks! Not sure on his height, we see the pediatrician again at 2 mo checkup.

Bedtime:
I have started giving him a pumped bottle at 9. He will usually sleep until 1 where he gets another pumped bottle. Then I will either give him a bottle or breastfeed (depending on if I have a bottle) at around 4. He seems to sleep better when I give him a pumped bottle, so I am trying to do that at night & breastfeed during the day.

He is a good baby. He seems to have gas that really upsets his stomach. I have been trying to give him either gas drops or gripe water every feeding to help with the gas. Poor baby makes me sad when I can tell he is in pain.

He has really started to hold his head up on his own & his eyes are finally starting to find certain things. I had no idea that babies eye were so sporadic when they are infants! He loves to be put on his tummy & loves to listen to baby music. I am currently trying to find a glider for his room so that we can listen to music at night time in his room during feedings. :)

We are beyond blessed with this little man. Its amazing how happy one tiny little human can make you. His little smiles just melt our hearts & we are just so in love. Happy one month, Crew!

On a side note:
 -Daniel changed his first diaper! :) I was just sad there was no poop in the diaper when he opened it!

Crew's Birth Story

      On June 28, 2013 we were planning on going to Olde Glory Days with my sister and her boyfriend for a fun night out of the house. I was ready to get out and walk around, and eat all the yummy fair food! Daniel had been hard at work in the fields and he really needed a night off, as well. I started getting ready and kept felt like I needed to be sitting on the toilet! Little did I know, but my water had broke at about 5. I was 37 weeks, 2 days. I didn't really know what was happening, but at about 6 I called Daniel and told him I was pretty sure my water had broke. I called the doctor & they said I had to come in and get checked out. I told him not to hurry & that I was going to take a shower and get ready. By about 6:30 I was soaking pads and we were on our way to Bolivar...I knew we were coming home with a baby!
     We got there and the nurse checked me (which was probably the most painful part of the whole thing!) & told me I was at a 3 & that I was definitely in labor. I was having contractions, but I couldn't feel them. They got me all hooked up and she said to let me know if the contractions started to hurt. She did inform me that since it was about 9:00pm the anesthesiologist was going to have to be called in so I needed to give him about an hour to get there. I was feeling pretty good still.

  The nurse came back an hour later and checked me & told me I was now dilated to a 4. The contractions were starting to feel like bad cramps, but nothing that was killing me. But, we called the anesthesiologist anyway! Give me the drugs! He came soon after & was a really funny guy! The epidural was wonderful & I would recommend it over and over again! All I could feel was a tiny sting when he put the numbing needle in & then I couldn't feel anything. I was amazed though that I could still feel my feet the whole time. The epidural made the whole process so enjoyable. The nurse checked me again and said I was a 6 an that she would be back at 1:30 am to check again. She said to get some sleep (YEAH RIGHT!). Mom & Shelby slept on the couch and Daniel tried to sleep with me.

 

   She came back in at 1:30 & I was dilated to a 10! She said it was time! I still couldn't feel the contractions so they had to watch the monitor & tell me when to push! I just kept telling the nurse, "I can't believe I can't feel it!" It really was wonderful! So, we started pushing! At first it was difficult because I couldn't feel a darn thing, so I couldn't tell if I was pushing 'right'. But, the nurse (Angel) was so great & kept assuring me I was doing it right. Daniel was a great 'coach' and helped me the whole time. We still hadn't seen the doctor this whole time, and they kept saying they would call him when I was close. So, we started pushing!

 

I pushed for about an hour & a half. By the end, I could tell when I needed to push and when not to. At 4:30 am our precious baby boy was born. Crew Russell Gurley came into the world with a sweet little cry & it was one of the best moments of our life. He weighed 5 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. He had big hands and big feet was the first thing Daniel told me. :)  The nurse delivered Crew because the doctor still wasn't there. He showed up about 5 minutes after Crew was born. Thank goodness for great nurses!

    We took about an hour to love on our new baby by ourselves for feeding and skin on skin before we let everyone come in and meet him. We loved on him & enjoyed our time as a new family of 3! We had lots of visitors. Crew's grandparents were very eager to get to see & hold him.

   We had lots of visitors at the hospital. All of our sisters came to visit, Shelby (& Jordan) & Halie and Rosanna & Nicolette. My friend Melissa came and my aunt & cousin, Nancy & Emily & Jett came. My cousins Dusty, Julie & Rafe came by too. Daniels grandma also came. A lot of people then came to meet him at our house after we were home, as well. :)

We had the best nurses during our stay. They were so wonderful and took such great care of us. Angel was our night nurse and Livie was our day nurse. We sure did love them & Crew did, too! We let Crew stay in the nursery the first night & then we kept him the second night. The nurses took his picture, gave him bathes, shots, etc. They truly were wonderful & we loved Bolivar and CMH. We will definitely be going back if we ever have baby #2! Here is Crew with his favorite nurses!

 

 

     On our last night, the hospital gives you a steak dinner with cheesecake! It was yummy! Then, it was time to take our little man home! We had such a wonderful birth experience. I still can't believe how wonderful it was. We were so blessed to have such great nurses who made the experience even better! If I didn't have to be pregnant for 9 months, I would have LOTS of babies! (& if they slept during the night ;) 

 

We are so glad Crew is finally here & we are so in love !

Crew's Nursery

The anticipated nursery is finally finished! We are ready for baby Crew to be in his room!

I found a picture on Pinterest that I loved and used for my inspiration for a lot of the room. When I first saw the deer head I instantly fell in love and knew that it would fit us perfectly. The deer antlers and country theme really helped Daniel get excited, too! I also loved the pop of orange that this room had in it. This is the picture I used for my inspiration:

http://www.ontobaby.com/gallery/eclectic-woodland-nursery/?pid=22447

Crew's room turned out even better than I expected! I absolutely love it & I love it even more because we did so much of everything ourselves. So, lets go on a tour!

This is what you see when you walk into his room. We made many of the things you see ourselves. The deer antlers are from the Gurley Farm...at first Daniel didn't want me to put such small antlers on the wall. I had to remind him that this was for a baby! Daniel made the wood sign that says his name on it with barnwood from an old barn and old wire from the farm. He did the whole thing himself, and I am in love with it just because of that! I made the rug, crib skirt and the mobile! We got the blanket as a shower gift also.

 

This is a close up of the antlers and his name sign. Crew has a really cute quilt coming that will drape over the bed being made by his Grammy...but, its not quite done yet! :)

 

 

We added two shelves for holding books, etc. The teddy bear was one of Daniel's favorites when he was little, and the little red combine matches the combine that Daniel has.

 

Close up of the clay antlers we made for the mobile. I saw this idea on Etsy & knew I could re-create my own! Daniel helped me wire it together and to the ceiling.

 

 

 

As you keep turning to the right you will see his dresser (sorry for some of the clothes still on the ground, I am still sorting). The dresser is one I have had for awhile & its really old but I LOVED the knobs. Daniel sanded it and I painted it to try and match the room.  I made the lamp that has the deer head on it and spray painted an old mirror that my cousin gave me, orange.

 

 

 

As you keep turning around, you will see his changing table. We made the chevron changing pad cover and I bought the orange cubes online. I got the grey containters from Thirty One and they have an orange C monogrammed on them! Crew's closet is the one on the left & the closet on the right is still full of our stuff!

My aunt made us this sign that says, " To go to sleep, I count antlers not sheep." Love it & it fits so well in his room.

Lastly, this is a picture of the curtains we made. Notice that the curtain rod has antlers on the end! Love it! :) My aunt got us some really cute blankets that I wanted to display also.

 

 

I am in love with his room & can't wait for him to be here an be able to actually use the room!