Wii love the Wii!!!

I almost forgot some of our most exciting news ...

We bought a Wii!!! Actually, we traded in Michael's xbox and our neighbor's playstation 2 and all of the associated games. But who cares how it happened ... it happened! We've been wanting one since Christmas. This is our last big guilty pleasure (supposedly) before Sarah comes. We have had SO MUCH FUN playing this since Saturday night. By the way, I am a star at bowling and not so bad at tennis! If you're interested in challenging us to a match ... let us know! :)

Big Trouble

I know that we are in big trouble with some of you for our lack of posting over the past week, and also because we never posted pictures. Oh well ... you'll have to forgive and forget. Life goes on! :)

In all actuality, it has been a busy week!! Last Monday (6/30), Gus had another episode. This time, he had two "seizures" back to back. It was very scary. We did better, we didn't rush immediately to the vet. Instead, we called a friend of ours who owns her own vet clinic in Gardendale (about 30 minutes from our house). We described everything that was happening and she decided that she wanted to see Gus the next morning. Lucky for me, it was my Gardendale day -- so I was already going to be up there. So, Michael and I decided that we would go and I would meet them there. Well, Miranda is a genius apparently because she did the most novel thing ever -- she took Gus' temperature and blood work! He had a fever of 104 and a high white blood count. My little buddy was very sick!!! Here's the scary part ... she kept him the rest of the day on IV fluids and IV antibiotics!!! Can you imagine little gus like that?! At the end of the day, I went back and got him. She sent us home with some medicine, and now, almost a week later -- he's acting like his old self again! He's eating more, going potty more, everything. He's healed! Thanks Miranda!!!

In other news, baby Sarah continues to grow. We ordered her furniture this weekend, and her bedding is supposed to be delivered today. Michael and his dad are planning on painting her bedroom next week. My next appointment is in about 2 weeks.

We hope that you had a nice 4th of July with family/friends. Happy Summer!!!

It's a ....???

I'm sorry that all of you have been checking and wondering when we were finally going to post ... we have gotten your emails and phone calls! It's been a busy weekend! Our parents and family were here on Friday night and the yard sale was Saturday.


However, we would now like to announce that Sarah Mae Crawley will be making her arrival in November. She is looking forward to meeting all of you and hearing fun and crazy stories about her amazing parents!! :)

Michael will try to post pictures on Monday.

Healthy Baby!!

Well, we are pleased to report that we have a very healthy baby! The doctor stated that our baby was developing according to schedule and was actually measuring 2 days ahead of where it is supposed to be! The baby weighs 9 ounces and was very active during the ultrasound!!!

Everything looks great and we are very excited, pleased, nervous, etc. We can't wait to share with all of you what we are having! Just a little bit longer and we will reveal the news! :)

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers this morning. I was a nervous wreck, but just knowing that our baby is healthy is worth everything!

misc. musings

Well ... we haven't really written in the past week because nothing has really been going on. I've been obsessed with thinking about the baby and wondering if it was truly growing or not. i've been worried about it. we had some friends in our sunday school class who went to their ultrasound last year and found out that their baby had no heartbeat. they have since gone on to have a beautiful little girl who is now 6 months old. however, i think all of that is still in the back of my mind. i think it is more so because up to this point, i really haven't gained any weight. granted, i had a little extra to begin with -- but still! you can imagine how my mind works overtime!!

our neighbors are also having a baby. they are due the week before us. they just found out that they are having a boy. she told me last week that she had felt the baby move. that also made me a little sad because i had not felt our baby move. once again, here comes my overactive mind at work. is our baby growing? why isn't it moving? is it developing okay? well ... lucky for me ... i think that i finally felt the baby move this week. michael and i were watching tv and i felt like something pushed my stomach. normally, i would blame gus (because he's usually sleeping on me), but it wasn't him this time! i think it might have actually been our little jellybean. :) i felt it several more times that night, and a few times since. so yea!!!

well ... all of these random thoughts leading up to one really big thought ... are you ready?

tomorrow we have our ultrasound to check the baby. we are 18 weeks at this point, so hopefully we will be able to determine what we are having. in reality, the more important part of the ultrasound is to check development. we will hopefully be able to check brain development, major organ development and function, etc. i can't wait!! i'm also pretty nervous -- remember how my mind works?! :)

for all of you who are reading this wanting an immediate posting of what we are having -- you will have to wait! we are having both sets of parents over to the house tomorrow night to tell everyone at the same time-in person. therefore ... you won't be reading it on here until after we have told the family!! you'll most likely read about it sometime over the weekend. however, you can call us if you are dying to know before we post!

wish us luck -- our appointment is set for 8:00. i will try to at least post online and let you know if everything development-wise is okay. have a great day -- sorry for the super long random thought process! :)

First of Many Worried Parent Moments

Well, we had a moment last night where we played the part of the overprotective and worried parents. For the baby? Well, of course -- however, it was towards our first born child, Gus.

We had been outside playing in the yard with Gus' best friend, Lady. Lady lives next door and they love to play together. We came in from playing and Gus was acting fine. A few minutes later, he came into the kitchen and threw up. Then, he sort of staggered around and fell over. It was like a seizure! My baby dog!!!

Well, of course we went into full panic mode! We called the vet, but they were non-commital on whether we should bring him in or not. We decided to go ahead and take him in. As soon as we got there, they took him from us and took him into the back to be evaluated. (Mental note, don't let strangers take your baby from you at the doctor again!) After a long time (15 minutes), someone came and got us and took us into a room. Still, no Gus! After about 10 more minutes, the doctor came in (without Gus!) to talk with us. WHERE IS MY DOG?!?!

Well, bottom line -- the doctor thinks he may have gotten too hot and fainted. We were supposed to just give him a quiet night at home with his loving parents and watch him closely for a few weeks. This is the age where some dogs start to show signs of epilepsy, so we would want to catch that immediately! But for now, it's most likely an isolated incident.

He was acting fine this morning, but he was super needy last night. "Just like his momma", according to Michael. He thinks that Gus and I act just alike when something is wrong with either of us. Anyway, crisis averted! Michael and I were talking on the way home last night from the vet that basically this episode is the equivalent of our child falls and bumps his/her head. Of course, they act fine, they are playing, not crying, no swelling ... yet, we decide to go to the doctor or ER. Hopefully, we won't be overprotective parents -- but you never know!

Doctor Appointment Update

Well, we went to the doctor yesterday afternoon. Relatively uneventful! We were able to hear the heartbeat. It was at 157 beats per minute. However, we have a sneaky little child! On multiple occasions now, the baby has moved when the nurse tries to get the heartbeat. Yesterday, we actually heard the baby when it did its little acrobatic maneuveurs to get away from the doppler machine. That was pretty funny. However, it does not set a very good precedent for our next appointment. The next appointment will be the ultrasound when we are hopefully able to see if it is a boy or girl. However, if our little one likes to be evasive -- there may be some problems! We are going to start talking to it now about the proper way to behave at the doctor's office and start getting it used to acting correctly in public! :)

Next appointment is set for June 27. Not much longer and we'll know what this little m&m is all about! :)

Pictures from our weekend.

Well, today we return to the doctor. We are looking ahead for the next appointment so we can find out what we are having. It seems to be a good time for us to have a baby. We now have four couples in our Sunday School Class including us that are having babies. We had a wonderful weekend together. We went to Pepper Place then to Aldridge Gardens in Hoover. They were having their yearly art show which is fun to look at but most of it would not be our style. We finished the day swimming and planting some flowers at the house

Next Doctor's Appointment

I forgot to mention that we go back to the doctor on Monday afternoon. We will get to hear the heartbeat again. That's always exciting! The next appointment will be the big one ... boy or girl?! Start placing bets now! Be sure to let us know what you think we're having -- please leave a comment!!!

Week 15 Update

Well ... this has been a super long week for me at work. Michael has been enjoying his summer at home. He's been cleaning and getting some much needed stuff done around the house!



I guess one thing that is note-worthy is that I'm finally starting to show a little bit. One of my friends from work told me the other day that she is starting to be able to see that I'm pregnant. So that is exciting! Another big deal lately are emotions. Currently this morning, I'm suffering from a sad movie hangover. We watched P.S. I Love You last night. I'm not going to spoil the movie for you, but let's just say that it definitely has its sad moments. Well, I of course escalated that sadness by about 50 times and had a complete meltdown -- not once, but twice! Michael said that we could no longer watch sad movies during this pregnancy because I get completely uncontrollable. So this morning, my eyes are swollen and I have a headache from crying. Oh well!

Back to baby ... this week, the baby is about 4 to 4-1/2 inches long and weighs about 1-3/4 ounces. It is about the size of a softball. This week, the baby may be starting to suck his/her thumb. Eyes and ears continue to develop and move to their more permanent positions on the face. Bones are continuing to grow, and if an x-ray were performed, you may even be able to see the baby!

It truly is a miracle -- that something can grow into a complete human while inside of you! I had a long talk with one of my kid's moms this week about genetic testing. Her child has Down's Syndrome. They didn't find out before she was born and she said that she wouldn't change a thing. Michael and I are not having genetic testing either. We already love our baby -- no matter what disabilities he/she may or may not have. Besides, I work in early intervention, so I'll probably have our baby evaluated within the first month anyway! :) Just as a side note, did you know that 90% of mothers who find out that their child may have Down's abort the pregnancy?! That is an astounding statistic. Granted, I haven't looked it up to know if it is accurate, but that's what the mom said.

Oh well, so much for the rambling this morning. I'm about to go and wake up my husband. It's Saturday after all ... we can't sleep late today! There's too much fun for us to do before the day is over!!! :)

Week 14 and other thoughts

So far week 14 has gone smooth. Jennifer has been feeling pretty good this week. No major problems just the usually struggles that pregnant women go through, (pain, headaches, heartburn, etc.) We are two weeks away from our next doctor visit.

Last weekend we went on our first trip looking at the world of baby furniture. It was kind of overwhelming to see so many styles and features. The most shocking of course is how much it all cost. I bet that the money that we will spend on one baby room could have bought my entire street baby stuff in 1973. Who knows maybe even the city? :) Most baby stores tend to tell you more than you need to know or that you would care to know. Lets also not forget the scary words that they all say for the most part: Your furniture will take 10-12 weeks to come in so buy as soon as possible. Ah !!!! Panic !!!!! Stress !!!! There was one place that we looked at that tries to keep what they sell in stock so we will wait and see what happens in the weeks to come.

In the end it looks like we pick a style that we like no matter if it is a boy or a girl.

As Jennifer mentioned in her last post, I am now out of school. Yeah me! Being out for the summer is not exactly like it use to be. As a teacher we only have about ten weeks out not the old three months like it use to be when I was in school. That statement made me sound pretty old. It is nice to be away from teaching for a few weeks. The only problem is by the time you get recovered you have to go back. Just like last summer, I have alot of plans for what I want to do with my free time. This year most of it centers around getting things ready for the baby. Hopefully, I will be able to have a little time for me as well.

Week 13

Well, week 13 (last week) was pretty uneventful. According to books, the baby was the size of a peach last week. Pretty funny to me, because we bought some peaches recently. Just think ... that's the size of my baby!

I did learn one important tidbit that I'll pass on to you ... not a good idea to rapidly drink an entire glass of OJ first thing in the morning. I'll leave it at that ... not a pretty picture!

According to Michael, he is starting to be able to see more of where the baby is inside of me. Hmmm ... should I take that as a compliment? :) haha Just kidding -- we are both excited to be able to notice more changes happening to me.

On a negative note ... I'm the only one having to get up each day now, because Michael is out of school. So not fair!!! However, to his credit, he is being the super perfect husband and woke me up this morning and had my breakfast ready for me.

Week 12 Update

Well, we went yesterday to the doctor. After filling out tons of paperwork and basically signing our lives away ... we heard the heartbeat! Pretty exciting, huh?


At first, the nurse had some difficulty in finding it (I think the baby was playing Hide and Seek!), but then she was able to locate it. Of course, as soon as we heard it, the baby moved again ... such a playful little crawley bug! She found it again, I started crying -- all in all a good day!


The heartbeat was measured at 164. According to internet and old wives tales, this means that we are likely having a girl. (Above 140 -- girl; Under 140 -- boy) Is this accurate? Who knows?! If you remember the heart rate of your child, let us know if it ended up being accurate or not!

In other related news ... Michael is almost finished with school for this year and I think I'm mostly done with my morning (um, all day) sickness. Yeah!!!! Gus is looking forward to having his daddy all to himself for these long summer days. I guess he better enjoy it this year, next year will be completely different for the little child dog!

Have a great day!

Exciting Week Ahead

Well, this Wednesday we will (hopefully) get to hear the heartbeat! I must confess, I'm a bit nervous. What if we don't hear it? What if something's wrong? I know that I shouldn't worry about those things, but of course I do! That's what a momma is supposed to do, right? :)

This past weekend was Mother's Day. It was a little strange, because I am a mother, but not really -- you know? Anyway, Michael did his part and got me pretty earrings and my parents bought me a book about pregnancy.

Hope all of you had a nice Mother's Day as well.

New Beginnings

Well, as you come to our blog for the first you will see that it actually started the year that we got married. Needless to say our attempt to chronologically talk about the first year of married and our new jobs at the time last only a few weeks. Now we will attempt to share with all of you the joy of our first child. It should be interesting as we count down the months til November. For all of you that do not know our baby is due November 26th. That's right the day before Thanksgiving! Turkey Day needless to say will be forever changed :)

I know its been a while ...

I know that it has been over a week since our last post ... what can I say, life gets busy sometimes!! Michael was sick all last week. He had a sinus infection and an allergy attack. He is feeling better now.

Also, last week was the Living Truth Conference at church. I think the quote of the week was "I would rather my children watch Desparate Housewives than to watch VeggieTales." As you can see from that quote, it was definitely challenging to us. It really made you think about having a Christian worldview. I know that we are called to be in the world, but not of the world. But one speaker went even further and challenged current thoughts about pop culture and Christianity. It is too much to speak about at this moment, but needless to say, it really made us think about how we would raise our child (whenever we have one) and how we talk and socialize with our friends.

In other exciting news from this past weekend, Michael got a new truck!! It is a 2001 Toyota Tacoma. It is silver and very nice. We bought it from my dad. With Michael's new job in Columbiana, it takes him about 50 minutes to get to work each day. Obviously, his Mazda would have been fine for a while, but it really wasn't in the best of shape to make that trip every day. In addition, before too long, I'll probably need something new because of my job going out to see kids and driving all day long. So, needless to say, we had been thinking of how we would get a new car and thinking about starting to save our money. But, as usual, God has perfect timing. My dad decided that he wanted a new truck and offered to let us buy his old one. We are very thankful and excited about it. The only problem with it is that it is high off the ground. We will be checking into running boards soon, so that we don't have to start carrying around a milk crate so that I can climb into it!

And the most exciting and wonderful news of the day ... today is our 6 month anniversary. In so many ways it seems as though we have been married forever. Yet other times, it seems as though it was yesterday. It was the best day of our lives and I am so blessed to have him in my life. I love him more today than ever before!! Happy Anniversary honey! :)

Weekend Update

Well, the football game was fun on Friday night. Cornerstone was down by 2 touchdowns at the beginning of the 4th quarter when we left, but it was still a fun time. Michael's kids had camped out by the gate, so as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, the care was surrounded by kids!! It was funny to see them all trying to get into the car to be the first one to introduce themselves. Throughout the night, more people kept coming up to meet me. I am very pleased with Michael's school. The people that I met, students, teachers and parents, are all very nice. They seem genuinely excited that Michael is there. I know that this is exactly where God wants him to be, and I am so thankful that we listened and were obedient to God in this matter.

Saturday was devoted to football -- obviously! War Eagle!! Auburn had a great game as usual. They are looking pretty good ... Alabama on the other hand ... while they did manage to pull out a win, they are looking pretty rough. Vanderbilt should have been an easy win, but they had so many mistakes. Anyway, what matters is that in the end they won ... Roll Tide!

This week, Michael and I are attending the Living Truth Conference at our church, Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover. It is about adopting a Biblical Worldview and seeing the truth for what it truly is. It was a great start last night. I'll be writing more about it as the week goes on.

Finally, Friday!!

Well, we finally made it to Friday!! Today has been a very busy day for me and we are now less than 45 minutes away from the official start to the weekend. Speaking of weekend, Michael and I are going to Cornerstone Christian's football game tonight. This is their third game and they are 1-1 going into it. It is our first game to go to. So, today at school, my fun-loving husband came up with a game for his kids and me to play tonight. The kids have been asking about me, so to give them the chance to meet me ... the first kid in each class who comes up and introduces themselves to me will get 25 extra points. A little extreme don't you think?? :)

So, basically we are going to this game for a nice calm end to our week and I'm going to be attacked by 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. So much fun! Go Chargers!

Crazy Week So Far

We had such high hopes for this week. After all, it was/is a four day work-week. On Labor Day, we were with my parents in Oxford. It was a fun day and Gus (our dog) went swimming for the first time. He hated it!! My dad ran around with Gus all day long, so he was a very tired puppy once we got back home. On Tuesday, Michael got to school only to discover that he had left the test he was supposed to give to his students at home on the kitchen table!

Also, we were excited about some of the new shows that were coming back on this week. House was at the top of our list, but we missed all but 15 minutes of it! We really need to get our priorities in order -- tv over work, right? :)

Tonight we got stood up for dinner. We were supposed to have dinner with two friends of ours who have recently gotten engaged. But, at the last minute, they remembered that their softball team (The Average Joes) had the last game of the season tonight. That's ok ... we'll remember this when it comes time to buy your wedding gifts! Also, of great importance tonight -- NFL football has started. So now, not only do we have college, highschool, now there's NFL. Its a conspiracy -- every night of the week. Do they OWN EVERY single tv station?? :)