Forgot...M at 4 weeks!

I had to take M to the doc last Wedesday (the 25th) because he had been SO grumpy and crying all the time. He had pretty much 3 moods: eating, sleeping, and screaming, that was it. He also snorted a lot like his sinuses were always stuffed, especially when he was sleeping. So, we went to the doctor. Doc said that it sounds like Colic...duh duh duh...and gave me some suggestions to help. Well, while we were there, they weighed him to make sure he was getting enough to eat. WOW...our little man weighed in at 12 pounds 3 ounces! That means he gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks. So, Yeah, I would say he is getting enough! They had me change how I am nursing him too. How it works know is that he can eat when he wants, but in a 3 hour time period, he can ONLY eat on one side. Then after that 3 hours, I can put him on the other side for a 3 hour time period. Apparently it is supposed to help...Not sure yet.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we headed to Aunt Rebecca's and Uncle Jeff's house for the Crowell Thankgiving dinner. We had a really nice time even though Richard, Tiffiny, and Josh weren't there. THey were all sick. Grandma and Grandpa brought Sarah, so we were happy to see her!

Then on Thanksgiving day, we headed down to New Castle! I haven't been to New Castle in about 6 months! It was so great to go! We first were at Aunt Nancy's and then went to Aunt Sheri and Uncle Scott's house. We ate WAY too much! But, it was great to see everyone. I have missed my family so much. Eric left the kiddos and me there and drove Mom's Intrepid back and we stayed until Sunday. We didn't do much exciting, but it was a great visit. Then on Sunday Mom came back with me so she could get her car. All in all it was a wonderful Thankgiving. Now, onto Christmas!! :)

Love,
Theresa

Marshall's 2 Week Appointment!

I took Marshall to the Doctor yesterday for his 2 week check up! Boy, this little kid is GROWING! He is weighing in at 10 pounds 3.21 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long! That is a gain of about 1 1/2 pounds and a 1/2 inch!! You can tell that he is getting big. Not that I am surprised given that he eats ALL THE TIME! He is not sleeping very well and I am struggling with that, but we will get there. The doctor clipped his frenulum (the connector piece of his tongue) so hopefully we won't have the nursing issues I had with Jillian. Doc said that he looks great. His cord looked good and she cleaned it all out and said his Boy parts look good too!

Good news too...both girls got their H1N1 vaccines and Jillian was able to get her seasonal flu vaccine. The office didn't have Layla's but they said they would be getting more, so I will just keep checking. They both seem a little "sniffly" and grouchy today, but I was expecting that. Now, if I was in a better mood, I would probably handle it all better. Oh well. Such is being a mom!

Jennifer took some pictures of Marshall and the girls last week. The first couple can be checked out at her blog. The girls did great. Marshall wasn't happy about it at all, but we got a couple great ones! Thanks Jen!!

It's A Boy!!!

OMG, we have a boy! That is so hard to believe! Marshall George made his appearance on October 26th at 1:54pm. He was 8 pounds, 15 ounces, and 21 inches long. He is beautiful and perfect! Eric will never admit to it, but he just kept staring at him as if he couldn't believe he had a son! He was so sure that the baby would be a girl, I'm not sure he ever even entertained the idea that it could be a boy! He is so happy! The girls are adjusting to him too. They have both been sick so they haven't been able to hold him, but seem to like him regardless. If you want to know more details about that actual birth, check out my journal blog (link on the right) for all the gory details. :) Below are some pictures of the beautiful little boy. He has most definetly completed our family. I've also included a picture of Halloween...we had kind of a generic one as the girls and Eric were sick, but my mom and I took them a couple of places! Layla was so excited to be Scooby Doo and Jillian really loved the dragonfly costume, She didn't like it when we took her out of it. Thanks so much to Terresa for sharing!

Almost There!

Well I know that I am like the worst blogger of all time. But, hopefully if you have had any clue about what has been going on in our lives, you will understand! Catching up from where I left off before in like July, much has happened. Turns out that all the contractions I had ended up thinning out my cervix by 50%. So, the doc put my on bedrest. We ended up having to hire someone to help me with the girls during the day as I was not allowed to lift anything over 10 lbs. It sucked. Luckily we were able to find someone that we really like and trust and the girls adore. Her name is Claire Sheets and there have been days that we would have been lost without her! Thank the good Lord for bringing her into our lives (and my good friend Amy C.)! After being put on bedrest, I ended up passing at least a total of 12 kidney stones, 3 of which I had to do in the hospital. They get caught in my bladder and get stuck and are almost impossible to get out on my own. I would have to go and get an IV and get flushed full of fluids and pain killers since that is all they could do with me being preggo. The other 9 (at least) I passed at home, thankfully! :) I met with a Urologist and he put me on a strict diet of NO spinach, caffeine, dark sodas, nuts (including peanut butter), chocolate (yeah, that one has sucked!), and very limited dairy. As much as the diet sucks, it does work as I have not had any stones in about 2 months. Apparently I have some genetic condition that makes me pre-disposed to getting kidney stones (thanks Dad and Grandpa!), but when I am pregnant, makes me like 4 times as likely as the normal person. It sucks. But, I have never had a stone when I haven't been preggo (knock on wood), so I am planning on saying screw the diet after kiddo here is born and we will see what happens. I have been without ice cream, chocolate or peanut butter for too long! Someone better be bringing me a Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard from Dairy Queen when this is over!

So, since all of this we have had a couple of false alarms of labor, but nothing has panned out. Last Wednesday, I was having contractions about 4-5 minutes apart and went to the Doc.'s office. The nurse practitioner checked me out and my cervix is COMPLETELY thinned out even though it wasn't dilating any. She sent me to the hospital. They watched me for a couple of hours and NOTHING. So, I am still stuck at 1 cm as I have been for about a month. They sent me home and I have now decided not to stress about it. I am to be induced on Monday, October 26th and if kiddo decides to come in the next couple of days, great. If not, well, we will see him or her on Monday! It is really exciting, made even more so with all that has gone on. The only part that is a bummer is that due to the outbreak of Swine Flu (H1N1), the hospital has introduced a bunch of restrictions, mainly that no one under 18 may visit and only 2 visitors at a time. So, the girls are not going to be able to go to the hospital. Layla is going to be angry, but what can we do? We don't want her or Jilly getting sick, you know?

Layla is getting VERY excited. At first she told us we had better be having a girl and she would be mad if we brought home a boy, but has come around in the past 2 weeks and wants a brother. I guess we will see. We do have names picked out, but you will have to wait! :)

In other news, Layla turned 4! We had a great Cinderella Princess Party for her. Lots of family and some friends came and we all had a great time. She received a lot of wonderful gifts (which I am WAY behind on getting Thank You notes out...SORRY!). We got her a Princess Bike which she wants to ride all the time and is getting mad that it is getting dark earlier and cold and that she can't go out whenever she wants. But, such is fall. :)

So, I guess that is all for now, I hope that catches you up! :) I will leave you with a couple of pics of the girls and say I will be back next week with pics of a new baby and 2 proud big sisters!

Long Time No Type!!

OK, OK, so I know that it has been months and months since I have been on here, but life just gets crazier and crazier.

The girls are doing really well. Sometimes I can't get over just how big they are getting. Layla is 3 1/2 going on about 20, but is so darn cute. She is so smart. Sometimes I just can't believe how intelligent she is. She is very into puzzles right now. She has 2 large ones that she does on the floor. She insists that she needs help, but almost always ends up doing them on her own. And she is obviously so proud once she completes them. She has a map puzzle too and knows where we live and where Florida and usually California are (Disney World/Land). It is really funny. She loves books and can often be found chillin' on the couch reading her story books. I am going to have to figure out how to start teaching her phonics so that she can start to read by herself. She has several books memorized like "Go Dog Go", "Goodnight Moon", and "A Woset in the Closet". As you read them to her, she says them along with you. It is very cute. She is such a beauty too. As she gets older, we are really in trouble. But, that is probably going to be the case with both of the girls. Oh, Layla loves jokes too, her favorite is "Knock knock", "who's there?", "Olive", Olive who?", "Olive you!" It is so very cute.

Then there is Jillian. I swear that girl just LOVES to laugh. She is really ticklish and loves to laugh at her daddy and sissy. She is loving riding around on the play tractor and she really likes books too. It is so funny to sit and watch her "read" them. Well, and then she tears them up, but oh well, that is what a little girl is supposed to do. :) She is getting big, sometimes it is difficult to believe how big she is getting. She runs all over the place, says "Dada" and "Mama" and sometimes we swear she says "Layla", "sissy", and "I Love you". She is such a loving little girl and is always ready with a hug or kiss (although, we are still working on kisses, she usually just gives you her forehead).

The baby is doing well. This kid is as strong as a horse. And, it is a good thing because we have had a lot of complications over the past couple of weeks. On Father's Day, I ended up having to come into the ER at the hospital with big time abdominal pain. They sent me home that morning, but after throwing up stomach acid for 5 hours, I knew I was dehydrated and wasn't getting better, so back to the ER I went. Turned out that my appendix needed to come out! Can you believe it? I mean weren't the kidney stones with Jillian enough? Apparently not. So, I had the surgery that Sunday night. It turned out that the appendix burst as the surgeon was taking it out, so I had the further complications of a drainage tube and such. I went home that Wednesday, but never felt better. I felt like I would take 3 steps forward and 10 back! The last straw was about Thursday or Friday and I started having what I thought were stomach cramps, but as I started paying more attention to them, I realized that they were about 1 to 3 minutes apart. Eric and I headed back to the ER about 1am Monday morning and have been here ever since. The doctors FINALLY were able to get the contractions to stop completely last night, but the medicine really made me feel awful. But, it did stop the contractions and that is what matters. Luckily the contractions were NOT productive and I wasn't actually in labor, just in a lot of pain. I am feeling better now, but am REALLY sore. I feel like I went to the gym for the first time in like 5 years and worked myself to death. The doctor should be here soon so hopefully I will know what is going on. I am just praying that I won' t have to be on bedrest as I am not sure how that works with 2 little girls at home. I guess we will see though.

I think Eric is doing ok, I know he is stressing about all that is going on. Especially since things at work are FINALLY picking up, he is trying ot balance everything. Please keep him in your prayers as I know he is working really hard to keep the family going and I love him more for it every day. He is such a wonderful man and I think GOD for bringing him into my life.

Thank you for all of the well wishes, the support, and the prayers. They are all greatly appreciated. I am a very lucky women to have such great friends and family.

So Much Going On...

...I have not time to write. We had a great time for Jillian's birthday. I will try and post pictures tomorrow. Thanks everyone for coming to her party. Things here are good, just feel like snot, but that is normal for my pregnancies. Oh well. More later!
Love,
Theresa

So Many Things...

Where to even begin? I really don't know. OK, let's catch up. First off, pics of the new baby in the family, Joshua Warren Neal Crowell. Isn't he so cute?!? I've only seen him the day he was born, I am looking forward to seeing him again.




Eric and I's 5th wedding anniversary was on March 6th. We took off for the weekend, took the girls to my parents' house. We had a great weekend. You will be able to read more about it on my Journal Blog. On Sunday we had cake and ice cream to celebrate Jillian's First Birthday with my dad's side of the family. It was fun. She is SO CUTE. She really seemed to enjoy the cupcake. I don't know if the pics show it, but she had pink icing all over the place and loved every second of it. Check out the pics:








Jillian is growing so much. I can't believe that she is going to be one. She is doing pretty well walking, but is't quite there. She walks pushing her dog or the tractor all around the house, but she will only take a few steps here and there by herself. She'll get there though. She is also FINALLY starting to sleep through the night. I am so glad. I really needed the sleep. Layla is doing well, still growing. She has become such a great big sister. She really seems to love Jillian, which makes me so glad. She and Jillian are going to be great big sisters to the new baby....

That's right, you read it correctly, we are expecting! We are due November 9th. It is a little bit of a shock, but we are happy about it. What a blessing this baby will be to our family. Our parents are thrilled! :)

God Bless, I hope you are all doing well. I promise to do better about writing, but life has been a little chaotic lately!
Theresa

Sorry It Has Been Awhile

Hi all. Just wanted to let you know that we are all doing OK. Sorry it has been a while, but we have been pretty busy. I will try and get a longer post later hopefully with some pictures so you can see how the girls are doing. Hope everyone is doing well!

Oh...In other family news...we have a new nephew/cousin! Eric's brother and his wife welcomed a new baby boy, Joshua on Tuesday, Feb. 24th. He is SO cute. Hopefully Tiffiny will let me post some pictures soon!
Love,
Theresa

Peek A Boo

Jilly is playing Peek A Boo, it is SO cute!

Just a Couple of Pics of the Girls

Just a couple of pictures I took of the girls yesterday. They are so cute!

More Teeth!

Jillian has 2 more teeth!! I am SO glad that they finally came in. I have been going a little insane. She went for about a week without sleeping very much. I was a little scattered. I think Saturday was my breaking point. I called mom really freaking out. She got me calmed down and I ended up having a better day. Jilly finally slept a LITTLE better on Saturday night. On Sunday we went to my friend Casey's house to watch the Super Bowl. The girls had a lot of fun. They both slept pretty well. The teeth cut through yesterday then. Last night she slept GREAT! It was wonderful to get a good night's sleep. I really really needed it! Layla is doing OK on the potty. She has still had some accidents, but is slowly but surely getting there.
Love,
Theresa

Big Day In The Crowell Household!

Yesterday was such a huge day! First off, we went to MOPS which Layla loves because she gets to play with a bunch of other kids. Then we came home, had lunch, and just spent some time together. Then, it was naptime. So, I put Layla down, then Jillian. I did some things around the house. I knew that Layla didn't go down right away and was playing. Well, Jillian woke up and we played. Then at 5 I went to get Layla, she was still asleep and didn't want to get up. So, I gave her about 20 more minutes. So, I went in and woke her up again, she was awake and said that she had went poopy. I told her that it was OK, and that we would clean her up. She smiled REALLY big and said, "No Mommy, I went poopy in the potty!" I was shocked! We ran into the bathroom and sure enough, she had went into the potty. I was SO proud of her! And she was so proud of her self. She wanted to call Grandma Mary, so we did and then she wanted to call Pappy George. They were all so proud of her. Then about 20 minutes later, Jillian was crawling around. She stood up and looked at me. I scooted away from her and held out some bears and she took 3 steps!!! It was so great! Then we had to call everyone again! She did do one more step for Eric after he got home so he did get to see a little bit. You could tell that Jilly was very proud of herself too!

I am just so excited for my 2 big girls! They are growing so fast and are doing so much. Good Job by Darlings!
Love,
Mommy!

Ketchup On Her Ketchup?!?!

Last nght we had omelets for dinner. Layla doesn't usually want eggs, but for whatever reason said she wanted a cheese omelet. So, I made everyone's dinner and we all sat down. Layla proceeded to throw a HUGE fit saying she didn't like eggs. This went on for a while. If she asks for something to eat and then doesn't eat it, it really pretty much makes me mad. Trying to keep my calm, I tried to make a deal with her. I told her that if she took ONE "thank you" bite of the eggs then I would make her the mac and cheese that she so desperately wanted. Well, this caused another fit as she didn't even want to take a thank you bite. Finally I just jokingly said, "what if we put ketchup on the eggs?" Her eyes got huge and she said, "yes, yes!" So, we got the ketchup out, put some on the eggs and she ate them all! Crazy girl. She is just like her aunt Tiffiny. Ketchup on the ketchup!

Happy 35th Birthday Daddy Eric. We love you so much. We hope that your day is relaxed and filled with smiles.

God Bless,
Theresa

Jilly's First Word?!?!?

Maybe! Over the past couple of days, Jillian has been saying "Mamamamamama" over and over. I really didn't think anything about it. Until today that is! This morning, she looked right at me, smiled, stuck her hands out towards me and yelled, "Mamamama!" My heart just smiled so much! She is 10 months old today, which is SO difficult to believe! She will be 1 in 2 months! Is that possible?

I think the first word was really just to make up for the massive diaper explosion that she had last night. For the first time ever, we literally had to cut off the onesie because I just did NOT want to pull that over her head...poor kid. It was gross!

Layla is doing well, she has pooped in the potty a couple more time. At least lately, she has waited till "quiet" time when she is in a pullup to go if she has too. Other than that, she is doing great with things. She is really finally warming up to Jillian and is such a cute big sister. Unless of course Jilly is into something that Layla wants or vice versa!

That is all for now!
Love,
Theresa

Yuck! Gross!

Layla is somewhat sick. I am SO tired of cleaning up poop. It is so gross. Please get better soon little girl!
Love,
Theresa

Jilly's First Claps!

Jillian has learned to clap! Yesterday I was reading the pamphlet I got from the doctor on Monday and it said that 9 month olds should be clapping by now. Well, Jilly wasn't so I tried showing her how to do it. One hour later, she looked at me, smiled and started clapping! It was so dang cute! Then tonight, I was feeding her puffs for dinner and she would clap after she ate each one. Such a darling little girl!

I did want to post just a short comment about my cousin Greg. Four years ago he passed away and we still miss him so much. Greg was such a wonderful guy. I loved him like a brother and will always miss him. God Bless you Greg.

Love,
Theresa

Jilly's 9 Month Appt.

We just got back from Jillian's 9 month doctor appointment. The doctor said she looks great. She is up to 28 3/4 inches long and weighs 19 pounds and 7.8 ounces! She said that her 6 teeth look good and that she most likely has more coming in right now since she is chewing on everything and drooling everywhere. I am supposed to start trying to wean her from the night feedings, but other than that, she is perfect! Yeah! Layla went to her friend Aubrey's house to play and had a lot of fun. Just wanted to let you know!
Love,
THeresa