God Bless Us, Everyone!

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We have so much to be grateful for. Love you!

Atticus Todd

Hello loved ones! I guess it is time you get some details of the birth of our baby. If your not into details, skip ahead. (Don't worry, I won't get too detailed ;) The labor and delivery went perfect in some ways, and not so perfect in others. It all started just as I wished it would, but totally did not think it would happen. My water broke at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday the sixth. I woke up Todd and we headed to St. Marks Hospital in a snow storm, of course. We got to the hospital and I held off on getting an epidural until close to 11:00 a.m. because the nurses said it would slow contractions. Which it did. (* I have to make a disclaimer before you read this, specially if you have never had a baby. My experience with an epidural was not typical, so don't think that it is! I still think an epidural can make labor a much more enjoyable experience for most who choose that route. Ok, moving on.) Once I got my epidural, my contractions started spacing out so they put me on petocin. It didn't take too long for me to realize the epidural had some issues. My legs were getting very warm, tingly and finally completely numb, but unfortunately it was just my legs, which I became very aware of when the nurse my put catheter in. For about 4 hours, things were very miserable. The epidural was numbing my legs to the point where they literally could have chopped them off and I wouldn't have know it, but I could still feel most of the labor pains and the catheter, which they finally just removed because it was hurting so badly. I was starting to wish I didn't have the epidural because I couldn't even move positions or anything to try and relieve pain from the contractions. The nurse was mad at the anesthesiologist, and wanted him to re-do my epidural, but at this point I was feeling very ready to push. Only problem was, I couldn't even wiggle my toes. But we decided to go ahead and start pushing, the nurse holding one leg up and Todd the other. After two hours of pushing, and really not getting too far, the doctor (who ended up being a male on call doctor) decided to do an episiotomy. I was not happy about that, but he talked me into it when he gave me the other option of pushing for another 2 hours and most likely tearing anyway! So I agreed. Only problem was, I could feel it, of course! So he gave me some topical shots and did the episiodomy and our baby came within minutes. I can admit now the it was a good call on the doctor's part. Atticus was born at 6:15 p.m. Sunday night.


The entire experience is so unreal. The minute that baby is handed to you an unexplainable feeling takes over. I think it would be impossible not to cry!

Daddy gave him his first bath, I love how Todd is just staring at him adoringly.




Going Home

Sleeping with Daddy. I could not have done this without Todd, which is how every wife probably feels about her husband after delivering a baby. I can not imagine not having his support. He did as much as the nurses did, and renewed my energy when I needed it most. I love you Todd, and baby Atticus!

Now He's Really Here!!!

Annie will definitely post more pictures of this guy but I had to put this one up. This is right after his first sponge bath at the hospital, about 1 hour after delivery. I have no idea who he looks like, and I don't know where he got the light brown hair. He is 7 lbs 5 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. His name is Atticus Todd Crowther, and he already makes us laugh. We actually just got home an hour ago and Atticus and Annie are doing great. There will be more to come shortly. All I can say is that the creation of a baby is a true miracle. Little Annie is a trooper!

He is here!

Just kidding! Ok, I know that really isn't funny, but I have to keep a sense of humor right now. The doctor says she won't induce me until the 11th, and it may easily take that long. Not what I wanted to hear, so I had to have a little fun with you. BUT....I had lunch today at my favorite Chinese restaurant and this is what my fortune cookie said. Drum role please....

"Your efforts are budding - results will appear soon."

How appropriate? I think those things really do work.

The Change

Well, we are in the thick of the waiting game now, and I don't think I could be feeling more emotions at one time! I am guessing that having a second baby is very different. You kind of know what to expect by then, and you at least somewhat know what you are doing. And on top of that, "THE CHANGE" has already taken place. Incase you are wondering what that is, it is the thing everyone says to you before your first baby. "Oh, life is about to change, you have no idea!" I have to admit that statement is kind of funny to me! Mainly because, I do know my life is about to change. Isn't that why people decide to have children? And maybe there are only good things meant when people say that, which is what I hope they mean. But I have to admit I don't like it when people make "the change" sound like a negative one. I hate hearing people say things like, "You think you want him here right now, just wait two months. You will be wishing you could put him back!" Really? I think like everything else in life, it is what you make it. There is always a choice.

So a few things I have really come to realize during my pregnancy:
* My husband is even more amazing than I thought he was. Yes, it will be a change, but there is no one else I would rather go through it with.
*Next time around, I am going to enjoy the second trimester a little bit more.
* Babies are THE GREATEST BLESSING God gives us. It is seriously a miracle.

We'll see what the doctor says tomorrow. Please come on time baby, we are so anxious to hold you! You are so close, but so far away right now!!!!!!

Wedding Bells

My bossom friend tied the knot!

And wasn't she a beautiful bride? Congrats Mandy. I love you!!!

Baby Bump

Here we are at 32 weeks and feeling great. As expected, there are many sleepless nights, moments of discomfort, backaches, fatigue and even some new nausea setting in, but overall I am feeling healthy and happy. I love to feel a little elbow or heel in my side and his hiccups are becoming a regular thing. Down to about a month and a half left, yay!

Autumn Thoughts

This is my favorite time of year. I love feeling the chill in the air, which means I can wear sweaters and boots. (Or maybe just boots since my sweaters won't be fitting me!) I love the fall colors. They are the warmest, homiest (that word is for you Kate) colors. I love the produce, namely, peaches. And guess what I did...I bottled my own peaches last week. Eight jars to be exact, and next year I plan on atleat doubling that. I love the excitement in the air, because fall means Halloween, pumpkins, Thanksgiving, snow and then Christmas! Oh, and one more thing this year for us, a baby! I can't believe how fast it is going. I am 30 weeks now. I will try to post another picture soon, if I ever remember to charge my camera and actually take a picture. There is still so much to do, and so much going on. I have been so busy and stressed I have to remind myself to stop and enjoy my pregnancy and the little body inside of me moving around. Between working full time, remodeling our house, being 7 months pregnant and keeping up with all the other pressures of life, time just seems to be flying. It is all becoming very real now. Watching Autumn sneak in and change the fall leaves is like a small reminder to me daily of the major changes that are headed my way in life. Most days are a mix of excitement and anxiety but overall I can't wait for us to hold our baby and kiss him and bring him home. It will be the most memorable December of my life, I am sure. For now, I am grateful for the fall time and the calming feel it gives me. There is certainly a lot to stress about in life. Every one of us has our lot to carry, so stop and take a deep breath today and soak in fall. I promise it will make you feel better!

Call Me Cook

So about once a day, I get an expression on my face that looks like this:


And I am asking myself this.....
"What am I going to make for dinner?"

Sound familiar? Well if so, it is time for you to visit my brother Jake and sister-in-law Amanda's website: www.callmecook.com. It is full of tried and tested wonderful recipes. It actually gets me (a pregnant, tired, usually cranky by dinner time girl) excited about cooking again. Who isn't in need of some inspiration now and then?

Beautiful Bride

July 31, 2009 was a good day. Congrats Whit and Tyler!

Girlfriends. Kenzie, Whitney, Whitney and Annie.

Adam, Todd and Jordan.

Baby Update and More

So I guess it is time to post some pictures of pregnant me. We realized a few weeks back we hadn't even taken a single picture of me pregnant yet so we took my first one at about 18 weeks, which is the one below.



So here we are at nearly 24 weeks and counting. (Please excuse the messy, undone hair!) I can't believe how much he has grown in the last few weeks, which means I also can't believe how much I have grown in the last few weeks.



Here are some things I love about being pregnant:

* I love to feel him kicking and moving. It makes it all real. Todd thinks it is fun to shine a flash light on my belly because baby pushes back on the light. It is their little game.
* I love it when he gets the hiccups. So cute!
* I love seeing other peoples sweet babies and knowing soon enough we will have our own.
* I love hearing his heart beating.
* I love to see peoples smiles when they see a pregnant belly. There is something about it that people are drawn to (obviously more women than men!). It is even fun to have strangers ask how far along I am, except for Todd's coworker who asked him if I was having the baby really soon. Hmmm....NOPE.
* I love just thinking about the fact that I have a little person living inside of me, depending on me. I think it is the neatest thing I will ever experience in my life and I feel blessed I get the opportunity.

Now allow me to make one or two little complaints about being pregnant:

* Insane muscle cramps in my calves. I had heard some people say they experienced these when they were pregnant, and I have now joined the club. Altering my diet a little has helped lately, but I wake up afraid to stretch out my legs at all!
* Maternity clothes. Enough said.

But overall, I feel like I have had a great pregnancy so far and time is flying. December 5th will be here before we know it and there is still a lot to do before he comes.

Some other things have been growing around our house besides me and baby. Todd picked this entire bowl of cherries off of our very own cherry tree in our backyard! I am so happy it actually grew cherries because my favorite dessert in the world is homemade cherry pie with vanilla ice cream. And the great thing is you can freeze these cherries and have cherry pie all year long. Yeah!




This lovely flower randomly grew on the side of our driveway. I liked it until we found the huge, bright yellow spider living on it! Have you ever seen a spider like this in your life?

Our Home Makeover

So I finally gave in and took some pictures of our house. We are getting closer to finishing the projects we have begun, and then have millions of projects waiting, but we have made some progress. This entire process is fun, stressful and very tiring. I don't know if I could do it all over again because now I know just how much work it is! That being said, I have to say there is something very fulfilling in creating your own little nest! Todd and I (and really mostly Todd) have done all the work by ourselves, except for the granite countertops. Those were magically there one day when we got home from work, which felt so nice to just have something done by someone else when we got home, even though we paid the price! So here is a sneak peak of the Crowther house hold.....

BATHROOM BEFORE... (lovely!)


BATHROOM AFTER... (still not totally finished)


KITCHEN BEFORE... (thanks brother Rob, who came and steam cleaned our tile)


KITCHEN AFTER... (also not totally finished yet)

This picture doesn't do the kitchen justice, first because you can't tell from this picture that those cabinets took 3 months to refinish but second, because you can hardly see the cute backsplash Todd put in for me. It is a tan stone in a brick pattern and it turned out so cute! He did such a good job tiling the backsplash and bathroom shower, considering it was his first time ever tiling.

And there you have it! The kitchen still needs painted walls, crown and base board and a few other touch up things and then it will truly be finished. The bathroom also just has a few finishing jobs to do, but for the most part they are done and it feels so good! Our next projects will be our yard and a nursery for baby. Oh boy, there is so much to do still! And by the way, this doesn't excuse you from coming to visit us in Oakley!!!

AND IT'S A......

I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. YAY for a baby BOY! Bring on the snakes and snails and puppy dog tails! And can I just say that ultrasounds are the most amazing thing on the earth?

Happy Holiday!

Happy 4th of July everyone! This is one of my favorite holidays. I love my country. I love what America stands for and still stands for, FREEDOM! We are all so blessed to live in America, so enjoy whatever you are doing and whoever you are celebrating with!



OH AND P.S..... We find out what baby is on Tuesday, so check back soon. My bet is a boy, what do you think?!

Happy Birthday Todd!

So I am a few days early but I won't have time to do this on his real birthday, which is Saturday June 20. He is turning 26, seriously? So old! I just wanted to list 10 reasons why I love Todd.

1. He is so in love with me. I realize that sounds conceited, but I love that Todd loves me. I love that he wanted to date me bad enough to hang in there through multiple break ups. I love that he wanted to marry me so much that he proved he would do anything for me. And now I love that he loves me enough to look past my flaws and still want to make me as happy as possible. It is the best feeling to feel so loved!
2. Another reason I love Todd, he makes me laugh and usually he isn't even trying to. He has a great sense of humor but he also has a cute personality. One of my favorite recent smiles he put on my face was when we were shopping and he revealed to me in all seriousness that one day when he retires, he wants to work at a sample stand in Costco!
3. Todd has a humility about him. He has nothing to prove. He isn't above anyone or anything.
4. Todd is always the first to apologize.
5. He is a hard worker. He comes home from work and starts to work on our house. He enjoys accomplishing things.
6. He is a handy man. In the last few months he has shown me some skills I didn't know he had like cooking, plumbing, tiling and much more. (If you ask him he will tell you everything he knows he learned from working at Lee's Deli ;)
7. He is patient, specially with a pregnant wife. The other day I started making cinnamon rolls and I got so angry with my sticky dough I nearly lost it! He came into the kitchen, calmed me down and saved the day! Who knew he knew how to make cinnamon rolls?
8. He is an optimist. He keeps a smile even when he has a right to be put out or sad. He finds a way to laugh in situations I am usually more tempted to cry about.
9. He will be a wonderful dad. I love that he asks me to read to him about what is going on with our baby each week.
10. He is my best friend. Everything he does he does with me in mind. He has provided with me more than I could have dreamed of at this point in life. I love being with him. Everything is more fun with Todd.

Happy Birthday Todd!

Guess what...

We heard the heart beat today.

I don't think I've ever heard a better sound, I couldn't stop smiling.

As Promised...

So here are some pictures from our trip to Europe. It has taken a while to go through and cut down from 700 to 350 (still too many but how do you delete them!) This makes me want to go back. Hopefully it will make you want to go, everyone should visit Switzerland in their life!

Starting off with my favorite part of the trip, skiing the Aqui Di Midi in Chamonix, France. UNREAL! You extreme skiers would be in heaven. You take two trams to get to the top, the second being the steepest tram in the world!

Most people use a guide to do ski this resort because there is no ski patrol. There is only 1 run and it is 14 miles long. Along the way, you are skiing on a glacier, so there are deep cracks all over that people can fall into if they aren't careful. 

You get off the tram and then hike with your skis down this trail you can see behind us. There is a small rope to hold on to and below is well over a 1,000 foot drop! Yikes.

Then the day begins, skiing down this one run with views you can't even believe. This picture is a glacier waterfall that you ski down. Check out those peaks up behind our heads. The Alps are insane mountains. And you should have seen where some of the skiers there were coming down. 

Since it was spring the glacier was melting (not that it ever really totally melts). We could hear it crackling. Kind of an eerie sound. This is my mom and I by a glacier pool. If you haven't ever seen my mom ski you are missing out. She is amazing on skis!

There are castles everywhere, in every valley on every mountain side. 

Beautiful buildings in Lousanne, Switzerland

Skiing Verbier, Switzerland

Lauderbrunen, Switzerland, one of my favorite towns. You have to take a tram to get to it, there are no cars here. 

This is a typical swiss chalet. They are so neat and detailed. 

I ran into the Hunchback on top of one of the Cathedrals. He is uglier than they say!

Smart cars, everywhere!

The Castle Chillon

And ahhhhh.... the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland. 

Anecy, France. This town was like Italy with water canals. 

And there is a small taste of our Europe adventure. There may be more to come so stay tuned!

Coming soon...

Pictures! So we have been home for about 2 weeks now and I still haven't posted pictures of Europe. Sorry, those who have asked! I promise I took pictures. Infact, that is the problem. We took over 700, so I am in the process of going through them all and narrowing that down some. I will get some posted soon, but for now I will let you know that our trip was absolutely amazing! Some of my highlights were:

* Seeing the real Swiss Alps (the Matterhorn, Mt. Blanc, etc...) They are stunning.
* Exploring castles (aging back to 1100, unreal!)
* Skiing in Chamonix, France (True extreme skiing! Pics coming!)
* Beautiful swiss chalets
* Swiss chocolate and yogurt
* Roman Ruins in Italy
* Cobblestone streets and incredible cathedrals
* Gourmet food
* Markets
* Staying in Torgon (an adventure, that is for sure!)
* Swiss culture...they are very neat and orderly. Every wood pile is a work of art! They build cities on mountains you wouldn't even believe and tunnels through anything. They are amazing.
* And last but not least... Spending time with mom and dad. They were a blast to travel with!

So after that adventure, we are back at it working on the house and going to work each day. I can't believe we have been there for 2 months now. Things are starting to feel more like home and we have made some progress. I really want summer, but at the same time I still want snow on the ground because we have a lot of work to do in our yard, which we just don't have a lot of time for at the moment. But the kitchen is getting very close to being done and it looks great. Todd is amazing. After a full day of work he comes home and starts working again. He has really done a lot of it all on his own and I love how it has turned out. I am tempted not to post pictures of the house, because we would love some visitors! It was great to have Seth, Lindsey and their sweet baby Rae on Saturday. Thanks for coming by, it was so good to see you! If you are ever around Oakley, make sure to call!

Bon Voyage!

Daddy Daughter Dates

Every dad should take his daughters on dates. Nothing can make a girl feel more special than a night out with her dad. A few days ago Todd and I went out to dinner (something that has been happening more frequently due to our kitchen makeover, pics coming soon!!), and there was a little girl sitting behind us with her dad. The conversation went like this:
Daddy asks: I hope you are nice to everyone at school.
Daughter says: Oh, I am daddy. I am SO nice to everyone.
Daddy asks: What did mom pack in your lunch today?
Daughter says: Strawberries and a croissant. Oh yummy. Daddy, if you were a croissant I would eat you up in two bites!!!
Daddy: (chuckle chuckle and a big kiss on her cheek.)
That is why daddy-daughter dates are so important.

First Time

So far, the year 2009 has been a year of firsts.
For the first time in my life I...

• Turned 22 years old (and celebrated it with my parents in a bar, probably a last, ha ha)
• Went to a Vienna Boys Choir concert (incredible and inspiring)
• Bought a house (and payed a mortgage, scary!)
• Had water back up in the basement of my new house :(
• Dug up our sewer line and half the front yard to fix the house (a tree root was growing in our pipe, no wonder it was backing up!)
• Remodeled (still in the process) my own kitchen (which meant learning how to use a nail gun, etc...)
• Actually ASKED Todd to take me to HomeDepot for Valentines Day (his dream come true)
• Will be going to Europe in 2 weeks,

(Switzerland to be percise)

ALL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE!!! And it has only been 2 months. I wonder what else 2009 will bring?!?!?!?!

• But even more importantly, for the first time in my life I have really realized how blessed I am . Neighbors, family, and friends have showered us with service and love. Thank you Rob, for steam cleaning my floors for 2 days. You are such a sweet brother. Thank you Adam, Kenzie, Brandon, Josh, Bud, Linda and Wade for helping us in the move. Thank you, Bud (my father-in-law), for spending hours in your wood shop helping me refinish my cabinets and teaching me so much. Thank you mom and dad for feeding us, letting us use your running water and keeping our spirits up. Thank you neighbors for the cookies, visits and notes. Thank you Mike, Dave and Ron for taking an entire day to figure out our water issue. Thank you Dallas for sneaking over and plowing our driveway every time it snows, we know it is you! And thank you to everyone for your kind, small acts of love and service, they have not gone unnoticed!

That is the reason I LOVE Oakley.

There is a reason...

THEY CALL ME ANNIE OAKLEY!

We bought a house in..............Oakley! Yeah! It finally closed yesterday and we are moving this weekend. If you know me very well, you know that I am a big home body, so I don't know if it is just that Oakley is where I grew up so it feels like home, or if it is the fact that being named ANNIE, I am naturally drawn to OAKLEY?! Either way, I can't wait to live there again!