Home Again, Belly & Diapers!!!

If you are wondering what the catastrophe pictured above is, that's our den. We moved back in last night but obviously we still have a lot of work to do :) Our bedroom and guest room are back to normal and I worked on the kitchen most of today. Now we just have to tackle the baby's room and the den. We are SO happy to be back in our house with OUR stuff! I slept GREAT last night in my own bed (only waking up every 2 or so hours to "turn" like a rotisserie chicken....oh the joys of the 3rd trimester :) Again, you might have noticed in the above picture that there is very little furniture. That is because it was extremely water-logged and we are awaiting the insurance company to give us the "go ahead" to buy new furniture. Hopefully we will have furniture for all of you to sit on when you come visit us and hold our sweet baby in 2 months or less!

So to change topics completely, here is the newest picture of my 31 week belly. If I had taken it 5 minutes later, it would have looked much larger. In those 5 minutes I ate about 6 powdered donuts. What can I say, the baby LOVES sweets :)

And to stay a little bit on topic, Allen and I have been learning LOTS in our childbirth classes that we have been attending on Thursday nights. Hope this is not too much info, but during our first class (labor and delivery), Allen looked at me with a disgusted look on his face and said "If I have to hear the words 'mucous plug' one more time, I am really going to throw up." He has done a really great job "getting through" all the rough stuff. We learned how to meditate during one of the first classes and the husbands were instructed to sit on the floor beside the mom to be and keep her comfortable while she goes to her "special place" during the meditation. Allen made me come out of my "special place" so he could steal a pillow from me because his booty was falling asleep, then he made me change positions because it was uncomfortable for him. Needless to say, I didn't get much out of "meditation". Allen also learned how to change a diaper last week. He was a PRO!!!


He really took one look at the baby (which was a boy...he was excited) and put the diaper on perfectly with no instructions whatsoever! He even practiced with cloth diapers when he found out how much money it would save him. I told him "NO, we won't be doing that". As you can see/read, we have been busy and are getting VERY excited about Baby Cravens being here soon. Last week Baby's heartbeat sounded great (along with his/her hiccups) at the docter and we are measuring right on time for a end of March baby!

For No Special Reason...

Look at arrived at work yesterday with MY name on the card!!!

I know I have the best husband in the world!!!

Our Sweet, Beautiful Baby!

Isn't that the sweetest little face you have ever seen!!! Baby Cravens looks perfect so the doctor says. He/She is 28 weeks/2 days and measuring at about 27 weeks/5 days. Heartbeat was 147 and Baby weighs a whopping 2 pounds, 7 ounces. The nurse turned off the big screen so I wouldn't be tempted to sneak a peek to determine if he/she is a he or she :) I did get to see all 4 chambers of the heart beating away and the bladder...she wouldn't let me peek at anything beneath that. Once we switched to 4D to get a better look at the face, the baby stretched and moved all around for us, then curled back up in his/her little ball and went back to sleep. He/She even practiced opening his/her eyes for us (a new skill)! Baby is head down and has been for quite some time, so hopefully he/she will stay that way. My blood pressure and weight were right on track, so we are having a GREAT, healthy pregnancy so far. Can't wait to meet this sweet baby in 12 weeks!

Displaced, but definitely not Homeless

Most of you probably have heard about our little "excitement" yesterday. I left for work at 9:30 in the morning and everything was fine. I moved Cuba's kennel from the laundry room into the den because our laundry room stays so cold. When Allen came home for lunch at 11:30 (which he rarely does and we are SO thankful he did), water was pouring from the den ceiling and just about everything in the den and kitchen was soaking wet. Poor Cuba was wet and FREAKING out! Allen cut the electricity and water off and made phone calls to landlord/insurance agent and so on. When I got home that afternoon, things didn't look so bad....that is until the entire ceiling in the den fell in! By this time, we realized it was somewhat urgent to get our necessities out and leave. My sweet husband who is somewhat overprotective :)would not let me walk back into the house once the ceiling fell in, so he packed me a bag...please imagine what your husband would pack for you in this case...ha. With that said, he had to go back this morning and get me a few more things. The insurance people were at the house bright and early this morning moving every bit of our belongings out of the house. Our sweet nursery is now just a pretty, painted, empty room. The bedrooms are dry...no damage to anything in the bedrooms. We aren't sure yet about the den furniture and kitchen table. After everything dries out and the house is "rebuilt" we will survey the damage done to our belongings and deal with it then. Now for the good news: We have the best landlord in the world!!! His parents have a BRAND NEW home about a mile from our house that they use as a weekend home. We have been told we can stay here as long as it takes to get the house ready for us. Please look at this "Vacation Home" which is now our home away from home!
The inside is just as beautiful as the outside! Huge master bathroom...beautiful kitchen...I couldn't have asked for a better place to stay. We are hoping to be back in our house in about a month. We thankfully have renters insurance, so other than this being a big headache, we are OK and we realize things could have been a lot worse. Cuba is on vacation with CC and Big Daddy Cravens in Grenada :)

Nursery - Phase I

What do you think? I think we have the sweetest little nursery that is going to calm our sweet baby and help "her" sleep ALL NIGHT LONG!!! The bedding is from Restoration Hardware as is the paint color (Bright Silver Sage). The color looks silvery green at night and silvery blue in the daylight. I absolutely LOVE the color...more than I thought I would! Cuba likes the room too. He thinks the basket of toys are his and he gets his feelings hurt when I tell him "NO". He now just goes in and stares at the toys, but doesn't touch them :) The crib was mine and I LOVE the look. The bookshelf was in Allen's nursery. The dresser/changing table (which I also LOVE) and the night stand came from Woodland Furniture. The extra space beside the bed, next to the closet is where the chair is going. It is also from Woodland, but won't be in until February. I will update nursery pics when we add the chair, pictures on the wall, and a little decorating :). Baby Cravens has a beautiful nursery, but a BARE closet. I guess we will begin working on baby necessities now! Only 2 1/2 months to go!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Love, Cuba

*Note: Sorry about the tiny pictures...I took them from Mom's camera and can't make them big on my computer...Just squint and maybe you can see :)

Yes, we are the dog people who take their pets to have their picture made with Santa :) While we were home last weekend, Ashley Lane called to let me know that the Vet in Grenada was having Santa pictures on Saturday. So Cuba and I headed up to the clinic Saturday morning while Allen was hunting. Cuba was NOT impressed. Most of the pictures look like he is trying to jump out of poor Santa's lap. This will probably be the first and last time we do doggie pictures with Santa :) This is what Allen came home with the same morning...


I thought Robert and Allen were duck hunting, apparently I was wrong. They were duck AND beaver hunting. I told Robert HE was taking the dead game home with him...we would not be needing it. He gladly took it and told me not to tell Natalie about the beavers. So Natalie, I would stay away from any "strange game stew" Robert cooks for you this week!

One last random thing I will leave you with. Look at what my husband cooked Sunday night. I don't even like ribs and I devoured these!!!

24 1/2 weeks BABY BUMP

I was asked by a couple of far away friends for a picture, so here it is...

I actually think I am bigger than I look in the picture...maybe the dress is slimming? Or it could be the panty hose that I squeezed myself into :) Well anyway, that's Baby C at 5 1/2 months utero. In church this morning, there was a tiny little baby a few rows in front of us. We watched him the entire service as he stretched, grunted and squeaked from his little infant carrier. On our way home Allen said "I still can't believe we are going to have one of those". I think it is just now becoming very real to him. I'm sure it will be even more real after our childbirth 101 class starting in January :) Hope all of you have had a GREAT weekend. We did and have pictures to prove it, but they are on my mom's camera so I will share later!

UPDATE ON BABY CRAVENS

I figure it is about time to update you on the "stats" of Baby Cravens. Disclaimer: I will be using the pronouns "she" and "her" throughout this post. This is no way means that I now that "she" is a "she", but simply because everyone(other than me) thinks "she" is a "he" :)
"SHE" will be 24 weeks (fetus age) as of tomorrow. That means we only have about 16 weeks until we get to meet this sweet baby who kicks and dances all day long! "She" weighs about 1 1/4 pound right now and is about 1 foot long (the size of an ear of corn). As for me, I have felt GREAT this past month! No more food aversions for me, but instead I can eat just about ANYTHING you put in front of me! I am hungry ALL day long :) I think I am finally looking pregnant with this growing belly! I began feeling little flutters of movement at about 17 weeks and those flutters are now flips and flops, punches and kicks that make my entire stomach move in all directions. Baby is the most active at about 5-6 am and 8-9 pm, but I feel "her" all throughout the day. "She" loves music and will dance all around during church worship time and American Idol concerts :) The Doc says everything is looking perfect other than the fact that I am not drinking enough water which is causes several Braxton Hicks contractions throughout the day. I have tried to greatly increase my water intake this past week and have noticed a little decrease in the BHC. I have the glucose screening test in 2 weeks and Allen and I start childbirth classes the beginning of January (he is very excited :)! As for the nursery...well, we have a lot of work to do! We did get the crib bedding in about a month ago and I LOVE it! We are going to use my crib (already checked all the safety regulations and after a few "fixes" it will be perfectly safe), but have not moved it up to Oxford yet. We still have to paint and get a couple pieces of furniture so "she" can have "her" diaper changed by "her" daddy and be rocked to sleep by "her" mommy!

It's beginning to look alot like CHRISTMAS!!!

The tree is up, Cuba's stocking is hung, and we are LOVING being so close to home this Christmas season! Since I don't anticipate many visitors this season (but would LOVE them) here is a peak of our little humble abode...




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Guess who also LOVES this time of year?.?.?.

He loves it for a few other reasons than the pictures above. This weekend he is hoping to fill our freezer with several of these...

and maybe even one of these...


Hope you are all enjoying this Christmas season as much as we are!!!

Bad Puppy!!!

Yesterday afternoon, I walked in the house to find the Christmas presents that were under the tree unwrapped.

The Evidence:

The Suspect:


Our sweet puppy has turned into somewhat of a handful these past few days. Today, Allen and I walked in from dinner to find all the magazines in the house in the middle of the den floor and shredded. Maybe he is going through adolescents? Maybe he knows a baby is coming and he is already seeking attention? :)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately...I am hoping the Christmas spirit will inspire me to post more! Also, we are slowly starting the baby's room, so I will definitely keep you updated on the transformation!