Grant Nicholas Cicero= 8 lbs. 8 oz. 20.5 in. of preciousness! ;)

Wow! I can't believe I survived childbirth! For those of you who truly know me, I am sure you never thought this day would come... I didn't either! Well, I didn't actually DO much, I just cried, laid there and got cut open. But regardless, it was quite an experience. I never imagined the rush of emotions that I would feel. Leaving for the hospital I kept trying to imagine what it would be like driving home with a baby. After you have been with someone for almost nine years you kinda get stuck in your ways. We got to the hospital and checked in. I had the most fabulous nurse ever! Nick's friend from high school, Jessica, babied me through my IV (which I was freaking out about), and all of the other pre-op things they do. I really don't know what I would have done without her. I was completely terrified of the epidural but after all of the tears and anxiety, (and drugs that made me feel drunk) they managed to get my baby out. When I first saw Grant all I could do was cry. Nick and I were instantly in love. I remember them handing me our baby and the first thought that I had was "where are his eyebrows?". I expected him to come out with caterpillar eyebrows like his parents... I am still waiting. I had to keep reminding myself that he was actually our child. He grew inside of me. It was really an amazing moment for our little family. I have never been happier or felt more complete in my life as I do now.

The hospital stay was short and not so sweet. :) You can probably tell from the pictures...which by the way will never happen again. My face will be banned from all forms of photography for the next babys birth!!! I passed out, had a terrible time trying to pee, and had to beg the nurse to let me shower. We had lots of family come to visit. We loved getting to show off our precious baby. One great thing was that the baby wasn't born with any problems and my diabetes went away instantly. I ate as much candy and dessert as they would let me order. I want to especially thank my sister Jennifer for taking so many beautiful pictures and helping me get through all of the medical things and answering my questions. Also, Nick.... poor Nick. He saw parts of me that no man should ever have to see. Poor baby had to carry me, while I was naked and passed out) and watch them give me a catheter (that hurt like hell) und he held my hand every step of the way. I am reminded of how lucky I am to have sich a supportive and amazing husband.

So, after only two days they actually let us leave with a baby! The nurses and doctors at Woman's are wonderful and I must say they made me as comfortable as possible. I wish I could send them all thank-you notes. Except for the lactation consultant (she was kindof a weird, hyper hippy that made me nervous. Nick was scared to drive on the interstate which I thought was cute. When we got home we just kept saying "wow, we have a kid!" The past week-and-a-half home have been really nice. We have had lots of visitors and everything has fallen into place. So far baby has been on a good schedule and he lets me sleep a few hours at a time in the night. I weighed him today and he was 8 lbs. 15.5 oz.!! He is such a precious sweet potato! He pees on me daily. I always heard that boys do this but I definitely underestimated how often this would happen! I love all of his long hair and his cute little nose and those fat cheeks. I can just hold him and kiss those cheeks all day. Breastfeeding has been going surprisingly well. I was really nervous at first that he wasn't eating enough. Now I have more confidence and I really enjoy it. I always thought I would be kindof wierded out by the whole nursing thing but I have found the exact opposite to be true. I think it makes me bond with him even more. And there are times when I think , man it would be nice for someone else to wake up at night and give him a bottle so I can sleep, but I wouldnt have it any other way. For those of you out there that are pregnant and not sure if they are going to giving breastfeeding a try, go for it! You will be surprised how rewarding it is. It's hard work, but so worth it.

I look forward to the future and our new life with Grant. I am the luckiest person in the world! Here is a quote that I love and says exactly what I feel.

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.
It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
-Elizabeth Stone

Ready or not

Wow, so many thoughts running through my head. Today Jordin, Jude and I went to DeAngelos. I came home and tried to get all of the clothes washed, dishes done, and bags packed for tomorrow. It has been hard to get going because I have not slept AT ALL in the last two days. This is very unlike me. I don't know if it is my body preparing me for what is about to happen or just nerves. Either way, I have been up all hours of the night wide awake! Nick came home and we decided that we should definitely go out to dinner one last time before the baby comes. We had a great time at Zeas and then drove around everywhere looking for "It's A Boy" cigars. Mission not accomplished! He will just have to buy some from the hospital. I can't decide if I am more anxious/nervous or excited. The thought of my stomach being cut open totally freaks me out. But the thought of seeing our baby for the first time makes me want to burst with excitement. I feel like a little kid on Christmas Eve. It is hard to believe how much our lives will change tomorrow. I can't wait to see Nick hold our little boy for the first time. It makes my heart happy to see and hear his excitement. He said he is really nervous about taking pictures :) This is because my sister was not able to get off of work in time to come and be our "photographer". I better give him a little lesson tomorrow. I hope everything turns out ok tomorrow and that Grant is a healthy boy. It is funny to me that everyone asks if we are ready. Does anyone really have any clue what it will be like? I feel like I have done everything I can to be ready but I am still unsure as to how we are going to care for a whole little life. Hopefully, we will be half the parents that our parents were to us. We have had great examples. Will update soon after baby arrives. Until then, wish me luck that I don't have a nervous breakdown tomorrow. :)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

What an awesome day and week it has been! Nick and I went to the doctor yesterday. Grant will be arriving on Jan. 6th. We are so excited to meet our sweet boy. I was glad Nick was with me to ask all the questions I forget to ask. The maternal fetal specialist also told me that I will most likely have GD with every pregnancy.... so Grant might be an only child! :) The shots are almost done for now. I can't wait to eat my first paradise pie from Chilis after he is here. Oh, what a happy day that will be!

Today Nick and I went with Jamie and the kids to go get a picture with Santa. Bass Pro Shop is amazing! I hate hunting, fishing, etc. but this place was cool! The kids looked precious. Then we ate at the resterunt inside the store which was delicious! After, Nick and I took the kids to the movies to see tangled so Jamie could wrap presents. That is how I know I have a good man.... He was a trooper through that movie. The kids had a great time. In the middle of the movie Sara thought she was out of her frozen coke. I told her I would put water in her cup. I ended up shaking the cup because I noticed she still had frozen coke in there and gave it back to her. Her eyes lit up in amazement and she asked me "Jessie, how did you make the water turn in to coke?" lol So cute. Nick and I also got a kick out of listening to the girls singing Christmas songs. They make me so happy.I am lucky to have my babies so close.

I can't wait to see what Nick got me for Christmas. I already bought myself an amazing camera so I didnt think he was getting anything. Then, I saw the credit card bill. I can't wait to see the kids' faces tomorrow too. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. It is so exciting to think this is our last Christmas as a family of two ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been really slacking on my blogging. I am now 32 weeks pregnant. I am ready to meet little man. I am now becoming a pro at giving myself shots and checking my blood sugar. It is funny how sometimes you feel so sorry for yourself and start asking "why me?" and then things turn out fine. And you look at the big picture and realize that things can be so much worse. I was devastated when I found out about the diabetes and I was in the hospital for three days. I cried constantly thinking about the fact that I would have to live with this until Jan. and face my fears of needles head on. Now I am thankful that there have not been any other issues and that I can now stick myself with no anxiety. It has been pretty hard staying away from my favorite foods and snacks. I give in sometimes but overall I am doing pretty well. I go back to the maternal-fetal specialist next week and I get another 3D sonogram. I am looking forward to it.

The past few days have been pretty great! I love being off of work for the holidays. I am so lucky to have a job that gives me weeks off at a time. Last weekend we went to Georgia for a wedding. My friend Jodi, who I met in Florida, was getting married. We stayed in the BEST hotel! They had a welcome party at a little cabin. The weather was cool, we had smores, and they had a cute little slide show she made. I really enjoyed getting to hang out with another friend, Theresa. It is amazing to me how after not seeing each other in so long we can pick right up where we left off. The next day Nick and I scheduled last minute massages at this great salon in town. It was so relaxing. I only wish they had a table with a big hole in it because I really wanted to lay on my stomach for a change. That night we went to the reception. I got to see a lot of people that I used to work with. They will all hold a special place in my heart. I miss St. Augustine sometimes and they brought me back there in my mind. On Sunday morning we went for breakfast at Jodi's mom's house. It was so good and I am glad we got to say good-bye. The drive home was long... we had to keep stopping every two hours for me to use the bathroom but we made it home.

Jenn, Michael, and Eli came down on Wednesday night. Thanksgiving was amazing this year. By far the best two meals I think I have had (with Nicks family and mine). Thursday night Jenn suckered me in to going "black Friday" shopping with her. I knew this was a bad idea all along but I agreed to go with her just to shut her up. :) First we attempted to go to Toys R Us. Oh my gosh!!!! Never in my life have I ever seen such madness. There was a line of people a half mile long and there were about three parking lots full of people. PEOPLE ARE CRAZY! I would rather spend hundreds of dollars more just to not deal with that crap. We decided that we would be insane to wait in that line and decided to move on. So here I am, 32 weeks pregnant, exhausted and at the place I hate the most in the world... Walmart. This was also insanity but not on the same level. Jenn was so excited. We walked around and scoped out what we wanted. I could not believe that people would go so out of their way to save a few dollars and here I am. These women mean business! The rule was that you were not supposed to put any items in the buggies until 12:00. They had people telling other people to take stuff out of their buggies. They had women flocking around towels with their hands on them so that they could get first dibs. Then all hell broke loose. People stopped following the rules and started throwing things in their baskets. Jenn said "oh, no.... if they are doing it so am I". Jamie and I wanted new towels but these women were grabbing them by the by the tens. Jenn pushed her way to the box and practically dove in to grab towels. It was the funniest thing I have ever witnessed Jenn doing. She meant business! There was a poor little older man standing there. He worked for the store and was supposed to be enforcing the rules. He just sat there and looked scared. So we proceed to throw stuff in our basket. Then, I got yelled at by a lady that worked there. "put it back on the pallet." "But, everyone else has stuff in their basket." "PUT IT BACK ON THE PALLET" "but thats not really fair, look around lady!" "PUT IT ON THE PALLET" um, ok. Psycho! ANyways, I was supposed to be tagging along with Jenn so she could get her shopping done. I ended up buying about 5 times the amount of things she bought. I am Steve Crosbie's daughter and when I see a sale sign I can't resist. I DID get a lot of Christmas shopping done which was great. I must say it was somewhat fun when it was all said and done but I will NEVER do this again.

Today I went and bought myself a fabulous camera. It is one of the big professional kinds. I played with it all day. It is almost too fancy. I feel like I need to take a photography class to learn how to use it properly. I can't wait to take pictures of Grant with it!

I am so glad Jenn will be home for a few more days. Today we all went to Chuck E Cheese. I actually had a great time and so did the kids. It was good spending so much time with some of my favorite babies! Tomorrow dad comes back home from Florida and I think we will be going shopping for Christmas trees. I am excited! And... Grant will be here before we know it. So much to look forward to and so much to be thankful for this year. Sitting here with my hubby watching tv, the fire going and the dogs sleeping....I am loving life. I honestly could not ask for anything more.

My top 10 things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving:

10. My job because I know I am lucky to have one these days.
9. My Volvo that I LOVE... I never thought I would buy a brand new car.
8. My house that is filled with memories and precious things to me.
7. My friends who are there for me.
6. My nieces and nephews whom I love dearly and couldn't live without.
5. My sisters who are constantly there to listen and support me. They love me even though I am the troublemaker!
4. My parents who are always so giving and who taught me to be who I am.
3. My loving husband. Giong on nine years together and he is still my best friend.
2. Grant... I can't wait to meet him. I am already in love with this little person we made.
1. My health because you don't appreciate it until you think something could be really wrong.


Hope everyone had a great one this year!

For Jennifer :)

It has been so long since I have posted anything! My sister asked me to put up links to all of the baby stuff I have been getting for the nursery so that is what this blog will be dedicated to. If you have any suggestions of things that would go with what I already have I would appreciate it. I have been second-guessing myself every step of the way through this. Nick says obsessing. I just want it to be perfect. I know I am crazy. I will be happy when his room is DONE!

I found a few things from The Land of Nod:

This is a link to the nightstand I got to go next to the glider.
http://www.landofnod.com/family.aspx?c=10063&f=5285

2 long honey colored shelves:
http://www.landofnod.com/family.aspx?c=10508&f=3569

And a honey colored book bin for the wall:
http://www.landofnod.com/family.aspx?c=89&f=236

Here is a link to the bedding: http://polkatotdesigns.com/images/Adam.JPG

I bought a navy rug to match the top part of the curtains.

I can't wait to post pictures when it is finally finished!

wonderful weekend minus the ant attack

What a fantabulous weekend! Nick was away for the weekend playing golf and I stayed home. Friday night I went with my friend Micah to Carraba's and we went to the funny bone. We had a really good time! Saturday I took Kali and Sara with me to school to help with my classroom. The kids played "school" and it was hilarious. Kali was the teacher and Sara was "Katelyn". Sara kept "backtalking" the mean teacher and Kali kept moving her clip. Then, I heard Kali say "well, Katelyn now I am moving your clip for walking sassy!" Sara was prancing around. It was hilarious!

Saturday night Kali was sleeping over. Jamie brought the Sara and Alissa over to see Kali because she was missing her little sisters. When they were leaving poor Sara got eaten by fire ants. She had about 50 bites on her back. :(

Sunday Kali and I went to Mellow mushroom, got pedicures, and went shopping all day. Later we went to New Orleans to pick up mom and dad from the airport. On the way home dad flipped out and screamed at some idiot while I was driving and the look on Kali's face was priceless. Poor baby. I told her never to have her paw paws road rage.

Today was my first day back at school. It was a great day. We did a little too much sitting but it feels pretty good to be back and I am looking forward to starting the new year with a new group of kids. I feel energized and ready to do my best. I am very thankful for the group of teachers I get to work with this year.

I should dye my hair blonde after today!

As I was driving to my boring workshop this morning my head was in the clouds. I was listening to Kid Kraddic in the morning and they were talking about attitude. Basically saying that your attitude can shape the way you see your life. They gave the example of a flat tire. One can either say "woe is me" or "thank goodness it didn't happen on the interstate". "It was bound to happen sooner or later". Attitude is a very pwerful thing. And the best part is that we have all control over the way we react to the things that happen in our lives. You can choose to look for the positive in things. I was thinking about all of the people who always talk about how miserable thier lives are and put it all over Facebook. Every status says something about their bad day or how they have no luck. We are all guilty of this sometimes.
So this was all floating through my brain and as I was pulling down the street towards my SCHOOL I realized that I had training today. My mind immediately went into the oh crap mode. I'm going to be late! Then I reminded myself that it was ok, I need to just get there safely. Kunch time rolls around. As I am pulling onto the side of the street to park I run into a street sign in my brand new car. I made a consious effort to say to tell myself it could have been a lot worse. It sucks I scratched my car and broke my side mirror but at least I didn't dent my car right? :) Then, as I was leaving the mall I was walking around the parking lot in the rain for about ten minutes wondering who stole my car. I realized I was in the wrong parking lot on the opposite end of the mall. Instead of thinking what I typically would think "crap, my feet hurt and now I have to walk to the other end of the mall" I thought "at least my car WASN'T stollen." I just had to laugh. What a good day this has turned out to be. I am going to continue o work on this~
I called my wonderful mother to ask her to come help me learn how to cook. She came to my house and taught me how to cook steak with rice and gravy. It was really good! I am starting to think I may be able to cook! Thanks again, mom!
I also had a great time at the mall. I bought school shirts and new school shoes. I feel like a little kid. I also got to get a new purse that I LOVE. Nick said he wouldn't be mad if I get it as long as I cook for a week. :) It made me laugh out loud to myself in the mall. I am really loving life.