A Merry Little Mess

Our little family is pitiful!! It started Christmas Eve when we noticed little Winn’s cough…didn’t sound so hot. Christmas morning we woke up and it had fully developed into a rhythmic, horrible, hack that was choking him. So…off to the emergency room we went. After some blood work, x-rays, and nasal swabs we found out that he has RSV. THANKFULLY we were able to take him home though and enjoy the rest of the Christmas day with the family, considering my grandmother, Winn’s GREAT Grandmother, traveled from Arkansas to meet her first grandchild!! It was a very special time that we will treasure forever!

This was actually before my poor boy was sick, the previous weekend celebrating Christmas with the Rollings. Aunt Keesha had him going, I loved it!!!

This little outfit was Chap's first Christmas outfit when he was born. How sweet that Marilyn saved it??! Even though he's sick, he's still pretty darn cute!
Meeting his great grandmother for the first time, I'll cherish it always :)

Playing the Wii with Gramps.

Doing breathing treatments with Gramps.

Four generations of Gourley's

Winn seems to be doing better. He’s been to the doctor twice since his ER visit. They are confident that his RSV is on the mend, however, our biggest concern now is that he can’t seem to keep his food down. The mucus buildup (sorry if you were eating…) is gagging him, creating LOTS of projectile parties throughout the day. On top of that, his mommy has strep throat…making it difficult to take care of him the way I need to. Luckily, dad is home this week from work and working hard to keep up with us both! :)

We are very grateful to have our little Christmas miracle with us this year for the holidays. While having a sick child in the ER isn’t the ideal way to spend the day, it sure was amazing having him here to celebrate with. He makes everything bigger and better than before and we couldn’t be more grateful to have him in our lives.

One Month Already?!

So, I can’t believe our little boy has been here for a month already??? My heart has grown so much in just 4 weeks, I can’t imagine how it could get any bigger. It’s been so much fun, and such a learning experience at the same time. Some things I’ve learned this month:

1. Changing diapers in the dark = bad idea

2. When your child is making gurgling noises, getting as close as you can to investigate only leads to projectile vomit in the face.

3. The makers of Lasinoh cream are my heroes.

4. Wal-Mart trips with a newborn is like being on ‘The Amazing Race’.

Little Winn,
We are so happy that you are in our lives. You are such an amazing little boy that is loved more than you could ever imagine! Thank you for this month of happiness, laughs, and love!

This is the 'ooh la la' face, one of our favorites. When this face appears, the french accent is on!
We love our happy boy!!
He loves his Cookie!
Growing with Grover: 1 month

My Heart

My heart has totally been captured by this little boy. I look at him and still can’t believe he’s mine??!! How did I get so lucky to be Winn’s mommy?

Winston Bruce Rollings was born November 12, 2009 at 7:47 a.m. (like the airplane!) He weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz.

We came home from the hospital on Sunday and are sooo happy to be here! Things have been great…BUSY but great! I’m enjoying every single moment with my new family and am doing my best not to blink so I don’t miss something. Here are a few pictures of Winn's first few days here with us :)

Our new family just a few hours after he was born.

He's such a tiny little guy, not a lot of his clothes fit yet...but we're working hard on changing that! Most of his hats fall over his eyes like this...but I think it's pretty stinkin' cute!


Our little sleeping boy.

Chap put great effort into having us out of the hospital on Saturday...unfortuneatley, that didn't work out and Winn had to watch his first Carolina game on t.v. As you can see, he cheered very hard!

Home sweet home! Gramps and Chap put their hazzard lights on for the drive home. Then they procceeded to bonk on the car horns the entire way through the neighborhood. Bringing Winn home was just like your everyday parade :)

My most favorite picture thus far, and one of my most favorite parts of being Winn's mom is watching Chap be a father to our little boy. I have completely fallen in love with my husband all over again.

Thank you, Chap, for this gift. I love our little family and am enjoying every moment of being a parent with you.

This time next week...

I'll be a MOMMY!!

To keep everyone updated, at our doctor's appointment last week our doctor shared his concerns about how narrow my pelvic bone is. He said we'd watch it over the next week and see how things progress. So, at yesterday's appointment there didn't seem to be any progression, and after a second doctor's opinion it was decided that a C-Section would be the best and safest route for baby and mommy.

While this was NOT what we had envisioned, I've come to peace with it over this past week (for the most part) and am getting really excited to meet our little boy! It's amazing how 9 months can seem like an eternity until a week before show time, and now I'm wondering where in the heck all the time went?? Lesson plans, grad. school assignments, nursery, cleaning...this is just a little of what's running through my mind. Poor Chap.

Please say a prayer for baby Winn, that he will have a safe and healthy arrival next Thursday morning. We are so excited to meet this little man that we already love so much!

And now I'm off...to get ready for my biggest and most exciting job yet!!

Pregnancy: The Laughable Moments

As I near the end of this pregnancy, I thought I’d take a minute to reflect on some of the funnier moments of this amazing journey. While they might not have been humerous at the time, I can’t help but look back now on these and laugh…

- Having one of the first graders high five me in the library and congratulate me for having ‘two at the same time’ (his way of telling me it looked like I was having twins.) Thanks Mathew!

- Having another first grader ask me if I was having a baby, I said “Nope…I’m having a basketball” to which he asked, “Can I have it??”

- Chap asking if we could ‘Crate Train’ our child.

- Sitting in the kitchen floor crying because I just wanted to get to Target, I didn’t want to make myself ANOTHER peanut butter and jelly sandwich that day.

- Complaining about my ankles and feet hurting and having my caring, supportive husband respond with, “Well honey, now you know how the elephants feel.”

- Deciding to wear spanx to church when I was 8 months pregnant. NOT one of my finer ideas. My legs went numb about midway through service. I could hardly stand up when it was time to sing.

- Tricking Chap into coming to ‘breastfeeding class’ with me by telling him it was a ‘Nutritional Development’ class.

- Having Chap get me back for tricking him in the middle of breastfeeding class by shouting out “I told you Heather!” as the lady was demonstrating how NOT to smoke cigarettes and breastfeed your baby at the same time. I was mortified.

With all these laughable moments did come some amazing moments that I'll treasure…

- Watching Chap as he found out he was having a ‘little dude’
- Telling Norm and Roxanne they are going to be grandparents
- Going on my first baby shopping trip with my mom
- Painting the nursery with Krissee, Daniel, and Chap
- Seeing our boy during the 4D ultrasound and feeling like I was getting a small peak into Heaven
- Sitting at our baby showers asking myself, “Is this really for us??”
- Having Krissee and Amber come help me get the everything organized and ready for Winn
- Feeling every kick/movement/hiccup/ that my boy makes (I really am going to miss feeling him so close to me).

With the good and the bad it’s been an amazing ride that I’m grateful for!

36 Weeks

When I Grow Up...

I want to be just like my Dad!!

This weekend, my dad will be participating in a 105 mile bike ride from Rock Hill to Greenville to raise money for MS. Yes, the man is almost 60 years old and knows no limit!

A picture of him on last year's ride...classic Dad :)

Dad, I admire you more than you know! Good luck this weekend, we'll be cheering for you!!!

To learn more about how you can contribute:

National MS Society

Our Baby Shower

Our AMAZING friends had an AMAZING baby shower for us a few weekends ago, and I still get happy just thinking about it! It’s funny, I’ve always looked forward to the day I’d get a baby shower…even when I was having my wedding showers (which were awesome) I still was imagining what my baby shower would be like (yes, I’ve always been slightly obsessed with babies). This shower was more than I dreamed of! The theme was 'Come Fly With Us', and it was perfect!

One of the wonderful hosts, Amber :)

This was the guest sign in book, a story about a little boy who dreams to be a pilot and flies in WWII (just like my grandfather) the guests got to sign a page of the story, one even left some additional dialogue to accompany the main idea...loved it!

One of the hosts, Justin, painted this awesome airplane banner...which now hangs in Winn's room above his closet. Thanks Justin!

The food was awesome (as it always when prepared by those Goodner's!)

Beverage Table

Little 'W' deserts...yummy!

Adorable airplane cookie parting gifts.

AMAZING diaper cake that Jeni's mom, Kathy, made! I have stared at it lots already and am scared I won't be able to undo the diapers once Winn gets here. Something so beautiful doesn't belong on someone's bottom!

Chap was just a little excited to open this Jordan Jersey with matching hat and booties. He has since lined this, and the Carolina jersey we got, up on the couch to watch football with his imaginary boy.

Such a sweet outfit, I loved it! (Chap did too if you can't tell from his slightly exaggerated expression...)

This was another favorite, a terrific basket with TONS of Carolina stuff in it! Thank you Kathy & Jeni!

The hosts got us our Pack-N-Play...that is still set up in our living room (along with the matching swing that has been there for about 4 months...)

I won't bore you with all the other gift pictures, but just for the record...Chap did recieve several items that he secretly registered for including: golf balls, adult soccer ball, and acoustic guitar (for children 7 +). Though I tried not to laugh, he was pretty hysterical when opening these 'baby gifts' and while we might not need them tomorrow, we will need them one day and it was totally worth it to watch his face light up when opening them! One more thing I have to mention real quick is that Bailey, a student that was in one of my first classes, made the most amazing and sweet DVD for me that we got to watch at the shower! Such a thoughtful and special little girl that I love so much!

Poor dad, everytime Winn starts his little jigs, dad seems to barely miss it! He'll be here soon Gramps...you'll get to feel him wiggle all you want!

These are only two of the hosts, Mimi & Amber. Unfortunately, we weren't smart enough to get a group picture with all the hosts...however, please know KRISSEE, DANIEL, SHELLY, MIKE, ERICA, JUSTIN, MATT, MIMI, AMBER, SCOTT, COLLY, NORM AND ROXANNE that we love you all very much and appreciate all the love and effort you put into making this the baby shower of our dreams! Ya'll are the greatest, and I can't wait for Winn to get here and love you all just as much as we do!

Some Updates

Since I'm still waiting on some pictures from our awesome baby shower last weekend, I figured I could update the blog till then (didn’t realize it had been over a month since my last post…time flies when your pregnant…NOPE!)

Initially, Winn’s room started with no theme in mind…I knew I loved the colors blue and navy and that was about it until Roxanne and I found the fighter pilot picture in Columbia…then the focus changed a bit. My grandfather, Winn’s original namesake, was a fighter pilot in the Marine Corps. Naturally, after that find, his room took on a slightly different direction, with lots of airplane accents…which I love because of it's meaning to me and my family.

After LOTS of searching and no luck, Chap finally had to make the 'W'...which I'm glad he did because it's exactly what I wanted!

Here's the picture we found...to the right you'll find the lovely propeller wall hook I found at the consignment shop for $4!!

Justin, a good friend of ours, painted the airplane banner with Winn's name on it for the shower...thanks Justin! So, now that the nursery is about complete, we just need our little fella!! We're counting down the weeks and can't wait to greet this guy in about 8!!

3D pics...finally

If anything, this little guy is already teaching me about patience. Last week, we went to get his 3D ultrasound but with his feet, legs, hands, and chord around his face we hardly got a glimpse. This week turned out much better and I'm slowly realizing that parenthood doesn't always happen according to my schedule =)

He at least looks happy in there, which makes me happy =)

Peek-a-boo

Who needs skiis when you have these??

Such a fun experience! I swear, I could have looked at him forever... but the 45 minutes we got with him will defintely hold me over for the next 10 weeks!! Thanks to my mom for this fun extra =) And to Marilyn for making the trips, very special having you both there!

Odds & Ends

So sad, today is the last day of summer vacation for me. This has been my very first ‘summer break’ that I haven’t worked Challenger (thank you budget cuts), and besides the fact that I’ve had to limit my spending dramatically, it’s been really nice. Even though I’ve done so much this summer, my ‘to do’ list seems longer now than it did at the beginning of the summer. How does that work?? Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be extremely busy the next few weeks (which I’m hoping makes time fly so I can meet my little guy!) so I wanted to post another update before returning back to my kiddies tomorrow.

Things are still going well. I had an appointment last week and the doctor said that we definitely did LOTS of growing this past month which is good and that Baby Winn sounds healthy and very happy. My iron is a little low, but we’re hoping with some modifications in my diet things will be back on track in no time! I’ve only had to call the ‘advice nurse’ two times so far…which I’m very proud of myself about (I tend to freak out at the smallest things, but both times they said it was smart that I called and to come in for a visit…making me feel a little less crazy).

25 Weeks

I have to share this also, it’s probably one of the most special gifts we’ve received for Baby Winn. One of my great friends, Colly, had her mom make this special sweater for him. When we got it in the mail we immediately looked for the tag to see where the heck it came from because it was freakin’ cute! Can you believe someone can make something so beautiful?? We are very excited for Winn to wear this. Thank you so much Colly and Janet! His sweater hangs on display over his crib for everyone to see!


I hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as we have! Going back to school is such an exciting time. My classroom is all set up, and has been for a few weeks now (huge dork, I know). Is it weird that I still get anxious, nervous, and thrilled about the first day of school??? Anyway, I’ll keep the updates coming as much as I can! Keep your fingers crossed for a sweet class that is very nice to their pregnant teacher! :)

Last Hoorah!

Obviously, since it’s been since our honeymoon which was three years ago that Chap and I were able to take an ‘alone’ trip, it’s safe to say we don’t have a lot of time to do things like take a 'vacation'...so, you can imagine my delight when Chap not only suggested, but actually planned a little getaway for us to take a trip to the beach last week! (I think he said he read about this in one of his little man 'prep for baby' books…great investment!) We had so much fun hanging out together, it made me really wish we had taken more time for these things in the past. But that’s what grandparents are for, right??

Thank you, Chap, for all the love and effort that you put into making this a special trip. It’s such a great reminder that I am so lucky to be married to my best friend! I can’t wait to take our next trip as a family…even though I’ll be the one that has to teach our son how to play in the ocean =) I love you!

The Oops & An Update

I’m sorry if you are tired of hearing about baby news…can’t honestly say it’s going to change anytime soon. It has sort of taken over our lives at this moment, and I kind of like it.

I did made a small ‘oops’ last night, and it involved giving Chap the register gun to hold while we finished registering at Targe. While I was searching the baby section for the grocery cart covers, Chap was off to the sporting good section…with the gun. I could tell he was getting a little antsy looking at bottles and wipe warmers so I didn’t mind him taking off for a few minutes, but when I went to find him these are just a FEW of the items I found added to Winn’s registry…

Registering for the family tent that Winston needs

The blue fishing rod that all babies need
Not pictured: a football, soccer ball, tools, and a guitar. I had to laugh, and am still smiling thinking about how excited Chap his for his little boy to get here (though I’m a little nervous he thinks Winn is coming out in toddler form, rather than an infant). He is going to be such a fun daddy and I am SOOO looking forward to watching them together. Sidenote: Question of the day by Chap - Why don't they make cloth diapers brown??

Update:
Baby Winn seems to be a very busy boy! I think he’s taken up some very unique ab workouts in his little home because I swear I can feel simultaneous punches on either side of my stomach quite often. Chap FINALLY got to feel him kick the other night so he can officially stop calling me, and anyone else that has felt the kicks, a liar =)

I am still feeling good so far though I could do without some of this heat, but I think that’s normal. Still growing in all directions and the bump is definitely more noticeable. I had a guy hold his breath and congratulate me Friday night…you could tell he was taking a big leap of faith in assuming I was expecting, pretty funny considering I have felt like I’ve looked pregnant since the day I took the test =)

22 Weeks

This picture I love, it was taken right after Chap and Normie both felt little Winn kick. Uncle Normie wanted to show off his baby bump too...I could never deprive him of his glory, so here it is.

A big THANK YOU to Uncle Normie for his help with the nursery this weekend!! He and Chap had a nice surprise for me Saturday morning and I love them both very much!! We can’t wait for you to come back, Uncle Normie, we can always use your laughs and of course an extra set of ‘big hands’ =) Love!!