Alysa's Birthday

Baby Alysa and 7 yr old Alysa with matching teeth!  :)

Today was also Alysa's 7th birthday!  She had a great time all day long at the NRH2O Water Park with her cousins and after our child birth class we made our way over to Zaza's house to meet up with everybody and celebrate! 
Bryan catered in El Chico's enchiladas which were great!  And Alysa picked out a cookie cake (Cory's favorite) for her cake this year. 
Alysa got lots of birthday presents and it was so cute to watch her open all of them.  I think we all had a Hello Kitty theme when we bought her presents because she got lots of Hello Kitty stuff!  Sno even got her a Hello Kitty pillow and blanket from Avon that she just loved!  haha!
We have a few framed pictures up in our house from when Cory had his first apartment in San Marcos.  There are some old framed photos from around 2006 that we haven't changed out.  One of them is of Alysa when she was a baby.  I took it down and showed her while we were talking about her birthday and she pointed out that her teeth are the same now since she is missing her front teeth!  I thought that was funny so I took a picture of her now to compare!  Pretty cute!  I can't believe I took that picture six years ago!  Time really flys!
 Happy Birthday, Alysa!

More Baby Class!

Cory and me practicing CPR and giving Baby a bath! 

Today was our second Childbirth class with Irving Baylor.  Last week we focused on labor and delivery but today we focused on CPR, car seat safety, and infant care.  I learned SO much more today!  I can't imagine what people do without these classes.  I didn't think I was one of those dumb moms before, but after today I was like... how did I not know this stuff!  All is good... now I feel like I'm ready to be a super mom! 
Cory and I are now CPR certified for adults, children and infants and so is Grandma Carla!  Now we can all teach our other family members so that no matter where Charlie is someone will always be there to save her.  We also learned alot more about car seat safety.  I'm so glad we haven't bought our car seat yet because there is SO much that we learned about different car seats today.  Safety standards change every year so I'm glad we are updated on what is safe for baby Charlize.  One couple who's baby is due next week has to go back and get another car seat because something was wrong with theirs.  Now we know what we need so Cory can't wait to go shopping for Charlie's car seat. 
We went to Chili's for lunch with my mom and dad and discussed what we learned and how much things have changed since they've had their babies.  Chili's is Cory's favorite and Charlie liked it too!
The second part of class was all about infant care.  There are so many things that I did not know about tiny little babies.  I have been around my baby cousins and Cory's nieces and watched them grow from birth to preteens, but I've never really babysat them when they were infants so I really don't know this stuff!  We went through all the things that could go wrong in the first six weeks, what's normal and what's not, how to change tiny diapers, and how to give babies a sponge bath and get them dressed.  We had to hold our little baby dolls for the entire time.  Charlize got jealous when I was holding the baby doll and kicked her a few times!  And I was kinda sad to say goodbye to my baby doll at the end of class.  I can't wait to hold my real baby doll in my arms when she's born!
After all of this I feel ready to be the best mommy I can be to Charlie!  Only one more class left... breastfeeding!

Charlie's Cousin... Baby "D"

Baby "D" at 12 weeks

Today we got to see Charlie's cousin Baby "D" at a sonogram visit!  Bryan and Michelle's 4th baby is due next February and we are so happy to have another cousin for Charlize to play with!  They are going to wait this time on finding out weather it's a boy or a girl, but they know that the baby's name will start with a "D" since their other kids follow the ABC pattern.  So Baby "D" is what we'll call this baby until its birthday in February!  Since Bryan has his new dentist job he had to work today, so I went with Michelle to get her first sono of the baby.  We went to see my friend Patrick at El Centro so she could get the sono for free and we could make sure that Baby "D" and Michelle are healthy and ok.  Baby "D" waved as us and practiced its gymnastic skills in the womb!  We were both happy to know that everything is looking good!  I also got a chance to see Charlize one more time!  She looks so big compared to her cousin! 
Today is a big day for both Countryman families!  :)  The Countryman's are staying with us for the month and they move in tonight!  We are so exited to welcome them into our house!  They close on their old house today, but their new house isn't ready until the end of August, so in the mean time they are rooming with Cory and me!  We are happy to have kids around so we can know what to baby proof for Charlize and we are happy to have Bryan and Michelle around to hang out with at night.  It will be sad when they leave, but that means we'll be one month closer to Charlie being here!  It's all happening so fast!  Here's to an exciting month of August!  :)

 

Baby Charlize in 4D

This morning was our third visit to the doctor to get our 4D video of Charlie!  The other two times she was shy for the camera.  She had for hands and FEET in her face!  She really likes that happy baby yoga pose!  This time she was ready to show her face for mommy and daddy!  I ate a good breakfast with lots of sugar to make sure she was a little jumping bean for the sono. 
Since I am almost 32 weeks, this is our last chance to get a 4D video of Charlie because after that she will be too big and not have much room to move around as much. This time the sono technician said that he is the "master" and he would make sure that we got to take home a DVD today. He was right! The third time is a charm! Charlize showed her face and we got to see every little part of her body in 4D. We have a great shot of her fat little feet! 

The good news is she is perfectly healthy and as cute as can be. The whole time you could see her big lips through all of the blury images and all I wanted to do was kiss them already! I can't wait for her to show her face outside the womb!  Afterwards I watched the DVD at least three times as soon as we got home. I couldn't get enought of her! I took the DVD to Zaza's house to show her and all the Waggoner girls and also to my mom's to show them their newest little family member in 4D. It was amazing to see how technology has changed over the years where we are now able to see our baby's face before she is born. So amazing!

Childbirth Class with Cory!

Cory and Me practicing our breathing!

Today Cory and I went to Childbirth class provided by Irving Baylor.  We learned SO much today about what to expect on the day that Charlize decides to bless us with her presence!  From the beginning stages of labor, to breathing exercises, to natural births, inductions and c-sections,  to drugs and medications, to postpartum stuff we had NO clue about, we really did learn ALOT! 
I've read alot about the stages of labor and preparing for every time of labor that could possibly occur, but today I really got to go through the biological process of giving birth and actually practice having a contraction!  That's right!  And Cory did too!  We had to put a handful of ice into our hands for a total of 90 seconds which is the average duration of a contraction.  I had to coach Cory though the breathing exercises that we had learned to do.  It was nice to be on the other side and watch Cory have to go though the pain!  haha!  But really... it was hard to see him sitting there trying to get though the pain when I could do nothing but try my best to help him get through it.  At times I felt helpless, but we made it though the 2 minutes he had to sit there with ice in his hand!  My turn was even better!  I actually felt better going through it myself than to watch my love have to go though pain.  At first I couldn't stand it, but after I focused and went though the breathing techniques I managed to forget about the pain in my hand.  I actually felt confident that I could make it though real contractions.  At least til I get the drugs!  haha! 
It was also nice to meet other couples that are going through all the same things we are and see all the differences there are between our pregnancies and relationships.  We will meet up with them again next week to go over the second part of the class.  I hope to learn even more so I can really feel ready for baby Charlize! 

Alex and Lucky's Wedding

Alex & Lucky's Wedding

Today was also Alex & Lucky's wedding!  Alex Griffin & Lucky Delay are our good friends from high school who have also been dating since then.  They took the long road to marriage just like Cory and I did!  I was so excited when I heard they were finally getting married and I also heard that she's ready for babies right away too since they've been together for so long so I can't wait to hear about their next stage in life too!  Hopefully another friend for Charlize! :)
The Wedding was at a ranch in Whitney, Texas near lake Whitney.  We drove for about an hour and a half to get there with my good friend Amber "Smith" Bell and her younger sister McKenzie.  It was fun to catch up with Amber in the car since I haven't seen her since before my wedding.  When we got there we saw the rustic ranch style reception hall and waited for our hay ride up to the ceremony site!  That's right... hay ride!  We took a 15 minute hay ride to get to the breath taking view of the sunset over the river.  It was gorgeous!  I got a little teary eyed when Alex and Lucky said their vows because I remembered how it felt to finally be married to my best friend from high school after waiting for so long!
We got VIP seats for the ride back to the reception site.  It pays to be pregnant!  :)  We ate BBQ, took a picture with a real Longhorn, caught up with old high school friends, and danced a couple of times too!  (It's hard to dance with a big belly in the way!)  Cory made sure to take me and Charlize to the dance floor when "My Girl" came on!  He wanted to dance with his girls!  We love him!  :)  He was a great sport for hanging out with all my old high school girlfriends all night and letting us gab all night long.  I think he dated like half of them back then, so he wasn't too uncomfortable!  ;)  haha!
Over all we had a great time and we are so happy for our friends Lucky and Alex!  May all their wedding wishes come true!

April's Wedding Shower



April's Bridal Shower

This morning my sister-in-laws and I hosted a Bridal Shower for Cory's cousin April!  She's getting married on September 15th.  Shannon has been working so hard for a few weeks now to put this Spa Bridal Shower together.  Katie, Michelle, and I each helped with our different Spa stations and creating our own dish for the brunch.  I was SO proud of my dish!  Originally I was supposed to bring some kind of fruit tray, but I found this awesome idea on Facebook for a mini waffles dish!  Just take mini waffles and surround them with toppings like fresh fruit, powdered sugar, and syrup and you have a shower fave! I was so happy watching everyone get their waffles and say how cute they were.  I've never made anything this cute before! ;)  Katie made my favorite grape salad, Michelle brought a veggie tray, Shannon and Denise brought mini quiches, and the rest of April's cousins brought all the other pieces to make an excellent selection for brunch! 

The Spa was set up around Aunt Tammi's beautiful pool.  The perfect place for an outdoor spa!  Shannon and Michelle worked the hands station, Katie worked her body scrubs station and I got to work my foot spa station, with the help of Jennifer.  It was hard for me to bend over!  ;)  I brought all my Avon products to set up my foot spa table and made sure to put out Avon books and business cards to promote the biz!  Katie and I did end up getting a few sales from that day, so it worked! 

Overall we all had a great time and the best part was being with family and seeing how grateful April was for everything!  She was so excited about every little detail of the shower.  I can't wait to see how happy she is on her Wedding day!  I hope I can make it there!  The wedding is only one week before my due date so we will see if I'll be physically able to get there!  Crossing fingers!  :)



Gregory's Birthday Party

"Happy Birthday, Moose!"

Tomorrow, July 14th, is Gregory's 25th birthday! Since we have so much going on tomorrow, we decided to throw his Surprise birthday party today!
We invited family and our softball team over to our house for hot dogs and bday cake.  Then we went over to Northwest park down the street to play sand volleyball! 
Katie made a two cute brownie cakes for him and they were delicious!  :)
We had all the Countryman, Waggoner, and Krause families over at our house along with my brother and sister and her boyfriend, plus Corby and Katie Hodgkiss and their cute little girl, Jade.  We all had so much fun.  The kids played at the splash pad while the adults had a blast playing sand volleyball.  I  got to watch on the sidelines with Sno and Charlize, but it was fun to watch!  :)  Plus the ball did come our way a couple of times and Charlie got to kick or "volley" the ball herself!  She's going to be a little sports star when she grows up! 
Happy Birthday, Uncle Greggy!

Chick Fil A Cow Appreciation Day!

A hurd of cows!

It's Chick Fil A Cow Appreciation Day!  And guess what that means?  It means that if you dress up like a Cow, you get FREE Chick Fil A! 
I was at the doctor's office this morning with my sister.  As we were waiting in the waiting area we were checking our iPhones for the latest updates as usual.  Andie stumbled upon an email from my Dad informing us of Cow Appreciation Day.  We laughed and said maybe we could find some kind of cow accessory and go get some free Chick Fil A after this!
After the doc appoinment we went to my parents house and started our search for something "Cow."  We found nothing at all.  Maybe some zebra stuff, but no cow.  So Andie decided to make a shirt for me!  She had an old white tank top that she had just ruined to use as a towel for Bevo.  She got as many black sharpies as she could find and started drawing cow spots!  It worked!  It took so long for her to finish so she decided NOT to make a second one and just gave that shirt to me.  She knew I wouldn't be emarrassed to dress like a cow all by myself.  And she's right!  Especially with Charlie in my bellie... I'll do anything for FREE Chick-Fil-A! 
So we went to Chick-Fil-A and got our free meal and a picture with the cow!  I was the ONLY one dressed as a cow at the MacArthur location.  And I didn't care!  Like I said I'll do anything for FREE Chick-Fil-A and I don't care who's watching.

As soon as Alexandrea saw me, she ran off to make her own cow costume!

After I dropped Andie off at our parents house, I went over to Cory's parents house to drop some stuff off.  I forgot that I was still wearing my cow shirt, so when Shannon looked at me funny I was kind of confused!  I explained that if you dress like a cow you get free Chick-Fil-A today.  As soon as I said that Alexandrea dissapeared.  Shannon and I talked for a while and a few minutes later Alexandrea shows up in her own cow costume!  Soon after, her sisters and her cousins followed!  I helped them cut out black and white  cow spots.  Shannon and Michelle also joined us!  We all walked up to the Chick-Fil-A on beltline thinking we would look like a hurd of cows invading, but when we go there, there were several other sets of cows so we all fit right in!  :)  We had fun eating our FREE Chick-Fil-A meals!  It was a great outing for the whole family!



Jessica's Baby Shower

Me and Jessica with our little baby girls! 

Today was Jessica Soto's Baby shower for her little girl Sophia April Marie!
It was a couples shower so we got to bring our hubbys and bfs along!  My dad, Cory, and Jose came along to be our dates!  I don't think any of them have been to a baby shower before.  Cory was a little confused as to what we women do at these things!  ;)
Jessica had THE cutest couples shower in Las Colinas at the Villas.  From the cake to the decorations to the cute little party favors... I got lots of ideas for Charlie's baby shower!  It was so funny because as soon as we showed up Jessica and I saw that we were both wearing the same color pink dresses!  And we even had matching bellies!  We had to get pictures together!  She had a photographer there and as soon as he saw us together he had to get a picture of our bellies in our pink dresses! 

Jessica's Couples Baby Shower!

It was fun to watch Jessica and Donald open all the presents for Sophia and see all the tiny cute little clothes that she will be wearing in a few more weeks!  She's due August 19th and she already looks like she is about to PoP!  She's such a tiny little Eva Longoria looking chica and Sophia is looking like she's going to be a big baby girl!  I'm sure she'll have her mommy's tiny figure when she gets older. 
It was so nice to see Jessica's family and friends and to see her happy again.  As always we were reminded of the loss of her wonderful sister and mother, but she celebrated their presence at the shower with pictures of them with her and Donald on the slide show that played in the background. I really wish Erica was here to watch her sister and I have baby girls together, but I know she is always watching and excited for both of us.

Charlie's Room

Cory working on Charlie's Nursery

Today was our big day to put the finishing touches on Charlie's room!  The extra roll of wall paper came in on Monday, we bought crown molding yesterday, and today is the day that Cory is putting it all together!  He is working so hard for his baby girl!
We got her crib last week and Cory put it together last Wednesday so that was exciting!  He put it together with no problem and in a little less than an hour.  It was so neat to walk by her room and see her crib waiting their for her!  She's really coming!

On Monday we picked up the bedding set for her crib at Babies "R" Us!  Grandma Carla ordered it online for us and all we had to do was pick it up!  It matches the wall paper perfectly!  LOVE it!  That also helped Charlie's room feel like home.  It is slowly but surely coming together and it is looking good!
And today it REALLY is coming together!  Cory has worked hard all day finishing the wall paper, putting up the crown molding, and painting any touch up spots so we are pretty much done working on it after a long day today!  All we have to do now is just buy things to decorate!  The fun part!  (for me!)

Here is our final picture of her Nursery so far...

Sno's New Cousin: Melody!

Melody and Bevo = Best Friends

... After the Fire Works Katie brought her NEW little bundle of Joy, Melody to my parents house to play with Andie's puppy, Bevo!  They were the cutest little things!  And since Melody is not even 2 pounds yet, she made Bevo look really big even though she is a tiny toy poodle!

Sno and her new cousin Melody

Gregory got Katie the Yorkie she's always wanted on her birthday!  They kept it a secret from most of the family until this week!  Katie just had to tell some one when Gregory gave her the photo of Melody on her Birthday so she told Cory, since he is the only one in the family who has a dog.  Cory told me!  And since then we've been secretly waiting to meet Melody and it seemed like forever!  I'm sure it seemed even longer for Katie and Greg!

They picked her up from Plano on Monday and they brought her over to meet her cousin Sno on Tuesday!  Sno loves her new cousin, but she's too big to play with Melody for now.  We are afraid Sno might step on her or knock her out.  But they got along well and even slept next to each other like good little doggy cousins!

Now Melody has already come to visit 3 times and Sno just loves her! She does get a little jealous sometimes because she's not allowed to play with her and Bevo is, but we just show Sno some love and she seems ok!

Katie is so happy to finally have her little baby puppy and Sno is excited to have her first doggy cousin on the Countryman side!  With all these puppies, it looks like Sno's birthday party in October is going to have some extra puppy friends added to the guest list including Melody, Bevo, Chewy, and Ola!  The more the merrier!

Tonight Melody and Bevo get to play together at our softball game!  Go Runs!

4th of July!

Victoria painted my toes!

4th of July is always a day of Family Fun!  Unfortunately our little family wasn't complete without Cory, but Charlize, Sno, and I had enough family fun for the four of us!  Cory worked 6am-6pm the night before followed by another 6am-6pm shift the night of, so he was sleeping for the majority of the day.  But that is okay, because sometimes daddy's have to do what daddy's have to do!  And Charlie's daddy had to keep the bad guys in jail just like he did last year and the year before that.  Maybe next year he will get to spend the day with us and it will be even better when Charlie's here!

We started the day off bright and early at the Irving 4th of July Parade.  Sno, Charlize, and I made our way to down town Irving at 9 in the morning to watch the parade with my cousins Allie and Ava.  It was so much fun!  Ava shared her candy with Charlie and Great Grandpa bought us Chicken biscuits from McDonalds!  We also saw Corby and Katie Hodgkiss at the parade with their little girl, Jade.  She is so cute!

4th of July Strawberries!

After the parade we helped Aunt Andie make 4th of July strawberries!  So good!  Then we went home to see Charlie's daddy for a little while.  Cory woke up just in time to get ready for work, but at least we got to see him for a couple of hours.

Me and Ava watching Fireworks!

Then we went to Grandma Carla's house for the 4th of July party!  We ate hot dogs and hamburgers and then made our way down to the Irving Convention Center for the fire works!  The fire works were awesome!  I've never seen them so close before in Irving.  The Countryman side of the family was there too watching them from not too much further away!  It was a great way to end the night!

After that we went back to "3 Tweezie" and Katie brought over a friend to play with Andie's dog Bevo...

To Be Continued in the next post....

Katie's Bday Party!

Kiki is 23!

Today was Katie's party at their place in Keller!  It was supposed to be a "4th of July Party" according to Katie, but Gregory surprised her and made it her birthday party too!  She was really confused when she saw her mom bring in multi-color "Happy Birthday" balloons instead of red, white, and blue!  And Gregory even made her favorite cake without her knowing!  (Red velvet with cream cheese icing)
Katie rented out the club house at their apartment so we got to hang out and eat in there and also swim in the pool!  We all brought a different kind of shish-kabob!  And ALL of them were SO good.  Cory was in charge of making pork and shrimp kabobs so we gave them our special teriyaki twist. This time it was Hawaiian Style!  (We learned alot in Hawaii!)  Bryan brought beef kabobs, Katie brought chicken kabobs, and Shannon brought veggie kabobs since she's vegetarian.  Katie also made these cute red white and blue fruit kabobs with strawberries, raspberries, marshmallows, and blueberries.  Those were my favorite!  She must have gotten the idea from Pintrest because they were super cute and delicious!  We had good family fun in the sun at the pool and I just loved sitting in the water on a hot day!