Introducing to the great world...

Carter Kansas Gross!!  Weighing in at 6 pounds, 11.9 ounces, & 20.5 inches, he was born at 3:08pm on 12/11/08.    

I went into the doctors, & they direct admitted me to the hospital, I was 5cm @ noon.  They put me on Patocin, by 2 pn they came in to check on me and I was 8 cm, so they broke my water.  I had my 1st labor pain and my doctor ran back.  @ 3:08 pm we were blessed with an adorable little boy!!  I didn't have time to get an epidural, and he came out face up so he got a bit of a bruise on his head.  But it's starting to go away now.  He is absolutely precious & we are so thrilled he is finally here!  Now, if only we could switch up his days and nights!

Just after he was born!

So sweet

Dr Hunt & Carter

Gamma & Carter

Birthing suites were nice, nurses were great, bed was like concrete

This is where I spent my 4 days in the hospital....  I had some requests for photos

Hey, look!  Its a bathroom!

Where Mike spent his nights, doesn't it look comfy!

Me, my friend-the IV stand, & my contraction monitor

On the phone with my brother Brad

doesn't that look like fun!!

December is the lucky month!

We're just not sure what the lucky day will be.  Will I be able to hold out till my original due date or will he decide to come out early?  So you may be wondering what the plan is.  I had a doctors appointment yesterday and according to Dr Hunt I will be on my meds and bed rest until December 1st.  Then I go see her on the 1st, go off my meds, off bed rest, and we wait to see what the little guy wants to do.  She thinks I'll deliver within the week, I just hope it's not on my birthday!  Currently I am 34 weeks, and by the 1st I'll be 36 weeks which was my target holding week :)  So who is betting on the due date?  I want to hear guesses!!

T is for Tiger

 Just like it says on the door, you wake him, you take him!!  Of course, we won't let you take him far, but it's up to you to put him back to sleep!  Who wants that responsibility?!

This is what you see when you walk in the door, we still have to get fabric for the curtains

The reading nook, with the comfy recliner we got from Mikes Parents & threw a slipcover on to match the room.  Looks new!  Winnie the Pooh lithographs and the painting his daddy made.

Looking back towards the crib & changing table

The dresser won't stay that messy!  Look at all of mommies photos!

The adorable & soft T is for Tiger Bedding

Wild Mobile and crib

All his animals to watch over him.

The changing table & moms photos

So cute!

We cannot wait till we have a cute little man hiding out in there too!!

In the craziness of last week...

I never got around to posting pictures from the Shower my Aunt and mother threw for me!  We decided to have the party at my house which was super fun to show off the house.  We played a few shower games and ate way too much cake!  The little guy got tons of clothes, books, and other fun things.  We didn't take too many pictures, but here are the ones we did.

The edible cake and the diaper cake

Everyone in the living room

Me in the kitchen

Nate, the only man there!

Adorable Lion towel being passed around

The next addition to the Gross family, Allison, & I

The Yummy cookie Favors

Jen & Nate

A Pile of gifts

A close up of the Diaper Cake

I hope everyone had tons of fun!  Because I had a blast!  

Im home!

Mike and I went in for our 32 week ultrasound last Tuesday and ended up in the hospital.  Well I did, he was just there for the fatherly support.  Turns out our little boy decided he'd had just about enough of the inside view and thought it was time for him to make his outside view!  I was having 15+ contractions an hour and not feeling any of them.  So of course I was admitted to the hospital and giving lots of drugs and monitored for the next 3 days.  The contractions finally slowed down and I was allowed to come home on Friday.  I'm confined to bed rest, only able to be on the couch, the bed, or in a recliner.  My mom has come down and moved in to take care of me.  Mikes mom has brought over dinner and we're all set.  I'm stircrazy already but they said if he'd bake till at least thanksgiving he'd be better off coming then.  So me and the little man are taking it easy!  I will say that bed rest really isnt as much fun as it sounds!

More Images for the Zoo Room!

You cannot have a wild animal room without some big cats, elephants, & giraffes!  So I searched my archives and found these to be added to the little guy's room!

29-weeks!

Just thought I'd post the most recent picture!  Taken 10.14 while working!  Nothing new to say other than I'd LOVE to be able to lay down and breathe at the same time!  I'd also love it if there weren't feet in my ribs.. But other than that everything is peachy!

I like Sugar...

But that's a lot of sugar!  I had my glucose tolerance test to test for Gestational diabetes the other day.  So after drinking my Oh so yummy high glucose solution, & reading my book for an hour, they drew my blood.  I got the call today that everything is A-okay and I passed.  Which is great!

I've also started seeing the doctor every 2 weeks now until December when it drops to every week.  I'm starting to wonder where the time has escaped!  I have exactly 84 days, thats 12 weeks left!!  

We start out Childbirth classes November 3rd & our next ultrasound is November 5th & I cannot wait!  December is crawling in fast!

These ain’t your grandma’s cloth diapers!

We've decided to take the crazy plunge and try Cloth Diapering!  I know what most of you are thinking... We're Crazy!  But Cloth diapering has come a long way since giant safety pins.  So what made us decide that was the road we were going to take?  Lots of research and asking around, sure our water bill will be a bit higher, but we're going to be doing more laundry anyway & in the long run, cloth diapering saves you more pennies than the others.  Cloth diapers are expensive initially, but in the long run run save you a lot of money.  Studies show that the average child goes through 8,000 diaper changes before being potty-trained; at 25 cents a diaper, that adds up to $2,000!  So the money you invest in cloth saves you quite a bit, particularly if you plan on using cloth for more children (& yes, someday we'll have two).  Also, cloth diapers have great resale & a high quality diaper will resell on ebay for as much as 50% of the purchase price, trust me, I've looked around!  

Plus, using cloth diapers is the best thing you can do for your babies skin & the environment.  Do you know how many diapers end up in landfills?  Billions!!  Did you also know the little gel beads inside disposable diapers are made with the same stuff tampons used to be made of?  The same tampons that were recalled because they caused Toxic Shock Syndrome?  I'm not sure I want that touching my babies bum!  

Convenience is key!  The new cloth diapers secure with soft velcro closures or snaps - no more diaper pins!  Multiple inner layers of absorbent, natural materials in the center soaker panels replace those gels I was just talking about.  The variety is mind-boggling, with choices ranging from fabrics, prints, color, number of layers, type of closure and style of cover.  You can choose from prefolds, fitted, pocket, all-in-ones, or one-size diapers.  

While they say to buy a few different types and choose what you and your baby like, after looking at ALL the choices, I have decided to go ahead and give the BumGenius brand a try.  

You can check them out at www.bumgenius.com There are so many choices and we may find that we don't like those, but from what I've heard from other moms, those are amazing diapers!  

It's never too early to baby proof

Last week I started "baby proofing" the house.  I rearranged our hallway closet, so that all the medicines, shampoos, and razors are on the top 3 shelves & it's actually a lot easier to find things now!  It's so organized, it's almost scary!

Then I also bought a pack of outlet covers, which has been pretty funny because Mike has no finger nails and can't get them off when he needs to plug something in.  Sure, they are a PITA when you need a plug, but I'd rather have it done now than scramble & try to get it done when the little man decides to start crawling.  I do need to go buy some velcro dots and stick them to the outlets & covers (I learned that trick on a photoshoot @ a school), so you don't lose the covers.  We still have to baby proof the doors and cabinets, but I'm sure we'll get to that soon.  I think we should do the cabinets soon, so I can learn to get them open!  We'll see!

Visited the Zoo Today

To photograph some "wild" animals for the nursery since our theme is "T is for Tiger".  Instead of buying cutsie paintings of animals, I decided to personalize it by using my own photographs.  These are just my favorites from today, I'm going back through my archives to pull other animals photographs.  So, what do you think?

My Favorite!!

He's already spoiled

& he's not even born yet!  Yesterday I picked up a Maclaren for a great price.  No, no, no, not this Mclaren.....

This one!  The Techno XLR, which will be great for both Mike & I because of its extending handles, so no bending down to push the stroller.  It looks awesome in Charcoal and Burnt Orange!  I cannot wait to use it!  Told Mike, we're going to have to take Dakota on a walk around the neighborhood with an empty stroller so she can get used to it.  Sure, our neighbors might think we're crazy, but....