1 month...

Oh my goodness where does the time go? Make it slow down!
I know I promised a post weeks ago but the days fly by around here!
Our little guy is 1 month old today! How can it be!

We are getting the hang of things, diaper changes take us less time, feedings are so easy, and I think I could swaddle with my eyes closed. We've gotten out of the house several times now and managed to remember all the necessities.
In the last month we've celebrated Preston's first Easter, been to Mason's 7 on 7 games, went to Abilene to visit Nana, Boss, Mennie and The Morris fam, we even made it to dinner with Kristen and Bayat!
For the most part our days are spent at home snuggling, napping and nursing.
We call him the milk man because the boy loves to eat!
At night he wakes up every 3-4 hours to nurse and honestly I don't mind waking up to feed him... There's just something so sweet about those night time feedings... All is quiet, its just me and him... He needs me and I like that.
Another night time favorite of mine is waking up to both my boys...

Now if you were to ask me in the afternoon I wouldn't speak so highly of the night time haha by the time afternoon comes I'm exhausted and grouchy! Afternoon naps are a must for this mommy!
Jeff and I are soaking up every detail we can... Crazy how quickly he changes!
Oh how I wish we could remember it all!
That sweet breath, his tiny little features, all the sweet noises and expressions he makes...
Ahhhh I could go on and on!

Here's a look at our last month...
Get ready for picture overload!

Not all days are easy though... We have days like these too...

We have been lucky enough to have Jeff home with us this last month... I don't know what I would have done without all of his help. From changing diapers, changing litter boxes, doing laundry and dishes, to holding Preston so I could get some rest or squeeze in a shower that isn't extremely rushed... He's done it all!

We've also had lots of help from Nana {my mom} and Auntie {Tate} ... They've spent hours of their time bouncing our sweet boy, helped bathe him, kept him so we could go out for a little adult time and they have loved on him to no end!
MawMaw has also been by to love on our sweet boy!
We are so blessed to have such loving families!

HAPPY 1 MONTH PRESTON TATE! We adore you and are so proud to be your parents!

Preston Tate Stevens

At 28 weeks when I found out that PT was measuring about 2 weeks ahead I started saying how I hoped he would be born by Easter! I would be 37 weeks by then and considered full term...Well somebody was listening! March 27th I was 37 weeks exactly and at 6:30am my water broke!!!
Rewind to Tuesday for just a minute... Tuesday was my sister's 20th birthday, I had my weekly doctors visit and the doctor informed me that I was dilated to a 1 and 70% effaced, she said if I went into labor over the weekend her partner would do the delivery and that he was wonderful. Ummm no no no I didn't want anyone but her delivering my baby! We've gone through this whole pregnancy together and this first time mommy didn't like the thought of having someone else at the last minute. I tried not to think about that because in the end our lil guy was going to come whenever he was ready. That night my mom came in town and we went to dinner for Tate's birthday! She joked and said my water was going to break in the middle of The Republic Steakhouse... I would have been mortified but very glad to be in labor haha.
I was awake most of the night with heartburn and just couldn't get comfortable...I probably got a full 3 hours of sleep.
Wednesday morning...
Jeff was doing his anesthesia rotation and needed to leave for the hospital around 6:30. They were showing our house at 9 and since I was wide awake anyhow I got up when he did and we finished cleaning the house... It was spotless, which turned out to be perfect because little did we know the next time we would be home we would be bringing the baby home with us!
Anyhow after finishing the downstairs I walked back into our bedroom to chat with the pups like always and as I was standing there my water broke! I went into Jeff's office and told him what had happened. After I took a shower and slapped a little color on my face we left for the hospital. We got there around 8 and were admitted and given a room in labor and delivery. Kind of scary but very exciting... Being hooked up to these monitors, seeing the contractions on the screen, listening to that sweet heartbeat, and seeing the bed and warmer where our sweet lil baby would soon be laying. My mom and Tate came up to the hospital at this point to join Jeff in being my support team!
For those of you who know me you know I have no pain tolerance... Like none, so I needed all the encouragement I could get! Around 10am I was dilated to a 2 and really wanted that epidural haha. They came in to check my progress around noon... Dilated to a 3 and fully effaced. At this point I was going to take a nap, after very little sleep the night before I figured I would need to rest up before it was time to push. Well not long after I closed my eyes the nurse came in and rolled me on my side... Preston's heart rate was dropping on and off... First she put me on my right side... No change... Then my left side... Heart rate back up! Thank goodness! At that point there was no way I was going to take a nap!
Ten minutes until 2 the nurse checked me again... " 9cm" she said "almost time to start pushing". She turned the epidural off so I could feel the contractions, we did some practice pushes and then it was go time! Jeff was amazing and I couldn't have done it without him... He was so encouraging. I just couldn't wait to get this baby out and see the two of them together... And let me tell you the sight of the two of them together was even more magical than I could have ever dreamed of!
At 2:43pm we welcomed a 7lb 6oz baby boy! He was 20 3/4" long and absolutely perfect! He had the most quiet cry and the sweetest face you've ever seen!
My mom and Tate got to be in the room for his arrival and took some great pictures we will cherish forever!

Soon after he was born they let my dad in the room and then we were joined by my Grammie and Papa and my Aunt Sharon! I was so thrilled they could be there to share in such a special time with us!!!

I ended up getting really sick after delivery and don't remember much about the next couple of hours but Jeffrey went to the nursery and took pictures of PT's first bath for this mommy to see once I woke up.

I don't know what we did without him! We are still getting into the swing of things but I'll post soon about our sweet visitors and our first 2 weeks at home! Thanks for following our blog and praying for our little family!

Match Week...

After lots of studying, hours upon hours in the hospital and clinic, tons of travel for interviews, and a million discussions on where to rank things on Jeff's match rank list...
The time has finally come for us to find out where Jeff will be doing his residency!
Monday was the start of Match Week, the students would receive an email letting them know if they had matched or not. Jeff and Andrew drove to Temple for meetings and to be with other classmates when the emails came.
11:00 was the magic hour... I was confident that Jeff had matched but waiting for him to text me to confirm that made me nauseous! I checked the clock more times than I care to admit between 10:12 and 11... time was crawling by at a painfully slow speed! I can't even imagine being in his position.
11:00 came... I said a prayer and waited...just staring at my phone... Anxious for that text... 11:01 Jeff sent me this screen shot...

I cried! Id like to blame it all on the pregnancy hormones but truth is I was just so overwhelmed with joy! I am so proud of Jeff and all of his hard work throughout the last 4 years in Med School!
Tuesday and Wednesday were just normal days for us, work, stuff around the house, dinner and TV shows. Thursday though Thursday was special!
It was my last day of working full time! We left after I got off work and drove to Austin where we met up with Kate and Crazy Dub (aka Walter). These two just moved to Austin from DC and I am beyond excited to have them back in Texas! We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Trulucks and loved getting to catch up.

After dinner Jeff and I returned to the hotel to reflect on the past few years of his Med School, talk about Preston's upcoming arrival, and all the what ifs and unknowns that Friday morning would hold! We would finally know where we will be spending the next several years of our lives!
Well it finally came... Friday!
Officially Match Day!
We woke up early and I finally got to give Jeff the briefcase I had been dying to give him for weeks now! Okay okay that's a lie, that was my original plan but I gave it to him on Monday bc I just couldn't wait until Friday as planned! I love giving gifts and just can't hold on to them long haha.
The match ceremony was from 10-12. Each student was called up in random order to receive their envelope, once you got it however you couldn't open it until the last person received theirs... Pure TORTURE! Jeff was called 4th so we had a while to wait and just hold that envelope... it was burning a hole in my hand!

They announced 5 people left so we began to countdown, just waiting for that last person!
FINALLY Jeff tore into the envelope!!!
Scott&White in Temple!!!
We are so thrilled for him to be attending such a great program and for us to be staying close to family and friends!
After all this time of waiting and wondering we finally knew! It was so surreal and I'm not certain it has really sank in that we will be leaving CS so soon.
Here are a few pictures from the ceremony and the after party at Abel's on the lake!

So excited to start on this journey... Residency here we come!

Getting organized...

Don't you all just love the feeling of being organized?!
I know I do but it's hell getting there!
I seriously think I clean out our garage every 3-4 months... You'd think we would just work to keep it clean for longer but for one reason or another we always mess it up pretty quickly.
FAIL!
I am just the queen of starting things and never finishing them. Jeff left August 5th and I knew he would be gone for 10 weeks, I thought oh great I'll use all my free time and really get stuff done around here! I started with the fridge and pantry and actually finished them both. Then I decided to clean out all of Jeff drawers and really organize them, I got as far as unloading them all and separating all the clothes into piles all over his office where they remained for a solid month!
My other projects were to clean out from under my bathroom sink and AGAIN clean out the garage! All of the stuff from under my sink ended up on top of my bathroom counter instead for longer than I care to admit... I then took over Jeff's bathroom sink instead of cleaning mine off and finishing what I started. Oops!
Well with morning sickness all fall, tons of holiday travel and little time to clean on weekends because we were never home... it just became one disaster on top of another! Now that our travel has drastically slowed down, my belly is getting bigger by the minute, my energy is slowly decreasing and we really needed to list our house to sell ...I realized its GO TIME!
Now or never!
No more putting these projects off, time to finish what I've started and get these things checked off my to do list! Jeff has been a huge help and I am so grateful for that!
We managed to get all of our suitcases unpacked, laundry caught up, about 12 loads later it was done, cleaned off my bathroom sink so I could finally get out of Jeff's bathroom area, and with help from Tate I even got the guest room and my closet organized!
I wont even show you all of the before photos because its far too embarrassing that I let it get so bad ha...

Thank goodness it is finally done!
We actually got this house on the market and I can enjoy my time with family and hopefully just maintain and relax!
Please pray our sweet lil house sells soon and brings the next owners as much happiness as it has brought to us!

8 weeks or less until we meet our little boy!
How sweet it is!

Life lately...

Lately I have been quite the complainer... Always finding something new to add to my list of woes. It's awful but I just couldn't shake it!
"My back is killing me... This heartburn is horrid... Leg cramps are terrible... I can't get comfortable... I'm exhausted...I'm so ready to not be pregnant and to just have this sweet baby to love on"
Gripe, gripe, gripe!
Poor Jeff, Mom and Tate having to listen to my complaints daily!

I am 28 weeks pregnant, officially in my third trimester!
Here's a lil about Preston:
He is a big lil guy... Measuring at 29 weeks and 5 days (I was 28 weeks and 1 day along) ... And weighing 3.0 pounds!
We were not surprised that he is measuring ahead of schedule, actually we've wondered about his size the whole pregnancy bc Jeff weighed almost 12 pounds when he was born haha!
Here's a little about me:
I have gained 11 pounds so far... My belly button is still in but not for much longer I'm afraid... Feeling a little more tired in the afternoons these days...however Im still dragging my butt to the gym twice a week (thanks to Tate).
I had an ultrasound at my appointment yesterday to check in on PT.
Seeing that lil guy made me have an attitude adjustment!
Seeing him was magical and made all my aches and pains seem so worth it and all my gripes seem so silly!
Last night I laid in bed and thought about how fast this pregnancy is really going by... Most days I don't see it that way but I remembered my first doctors appointment and her telling me that my last scheduled ultrasound would be at 28 weeks... 28 weeks I thought to myself dang that is forever away! But here we are well into the 28th week!
Before I went to bed I decided I will make the most of the rest of my pregnancy! I will take longer showers, enjoy fixing my hair and make up, go to sleep a little earlier, sleep in a little later, cherish my quiet times, walk my pups a little more often, love on those cats of ours just a lil longer each day, and make the most of each moment alone with Jeff...
Because soon the dynamic of our little circus is going to change... we look so forward to adding another member!
How sweet it is!

Growing...

Lately it seems like my belly is growing bigger by the hour.
So many more people now noticing it, now touching it (which I could go without but they never ask), asking me when I'm due and so on.
This last week I had a customer, who I see twice a week, say "Nat are you expecting?" I said "yes"... He continues with "well last week I couldn't even tell you were pregnant and this week you look really big!" Hummm not sure how to respond to that... I just said "yah and I'll only be getting bigger!"
Even Tate and Jeff can tell how much it is changing from day to day... We can now see his sweet kicks and jabs as they move my shirt. He's a little party guy! He loves to move around, especially at night when I'm laying down watching TV, it's like he has a party each night in there!
I'm definitely feeling very pregnant these days! My pregnancy app says my uterus is now the size of a soccer ball... I believe it!
Here's a little comparison so you can see just how much this belly changes in a matter of 4 weeks!

Here I am a few weeks ago...
And here I am now...

Yes I had my trainer, Julie, take my photo at the gym after we worked out... It's hard to find time to take a picture when I actually have make up on haha.
Even though I'm feeling veryyy big most days, I am really liking this stage in my pregnancy!
Here are a few answers to things I am often asked these days...I am feeling rested most of the time, my wedding ring is still on, my belly button is still in (not popped out yet), I do wear maternity jeans but not maternity tops, I have gained 8 pounds so far, and a baby shower is in the works.

Stay tuned because I'll be back soon and bigger than ever ;D

Holidays...

The older I get the more chaos that comes with the holiday season... Splitting time between in-laws, moms family, dads family, and immediate family... Juggling who gets Thanksgiving, who gets Christmas, and who falls on the weekends in between... It's a balancing act I tell ya!
We made it work and all is going as planned!
We recently went to Abilene and attended the McCarty Equipment Christmas party. This night is a big night for our family, my dad especially! It's so great being there and seeing him in his element with all his ducks in a row! All employees from every location all under one roof! Here are a few pictures from our night...

The following weekend it was back to Abilene to celebrate my Mennies 70th birthday!! It was a surprise party and boy was she surprised!

This past weekend we loaded up our suitcases yet again and went to Lake Jackson to do Christmas with my moms side of the family! This weekend is always so much fun and this year was no different! We decided on pajamas this year instead of crazy Christmas sweaters...

This Friday I'm off to Houston to take Landrie on our annual trip to The Nutcracker! It's one of my most favorite things to do this time of year! I'm like a little kid who just can't contain their excitement... It's all about making fun memories with her and that I can do!
Happy Monday friends!