Ringing in the New Year

I know it is so cliche to set a whole bunch of goals at the start of a new year and most people never follow through with New Years's resolutions, but Brent and I had a talk and both felt inspired to set a few goals for our family for the upcoming year. The year of 2012 was an incredible one for our family. We welcomed our first child into our family and have enjoyed discovering the many joys and challenges of parenthood. I had to say goodbye to some great co-workers and friends as I left my job at King Henry to stay home with my son. Brent completed his Bachelor's degree and we moved away from Utah, back to be with our families in Pennsylvania. After 6 months of sending out resumes and applying to every open structural engineer position in the DC area, Brent was finally offered a full-time position with Abel Consulting Engineers in Gaithersburg, MD. He also got accepted to Graduate school at the University of Maryland and will begin his Master's program in January. We moved our little family to Gaithersburg, and are now ready to find out what the year of 2013 has in store for us!

As Brent and I were discussing what kinds of things we wanted for our family in the coming year, we decided there are some specific areas we need to focus on as a family, and as individuals. Here is our list of McCrea Family goals for 2013:

1. Run more miles and work out more often than we did in 2012. We like to stay fit and always feel better when we are healthier. For Brent especially, physical activity is his escape from school and work and he needs that time to clear his head and be a better husband and father. This shouldn't be too hard of a goal for me to reach, considering I spent the majority of last year pregnant or recovering from child birth. And we live at an apartment complex now that has a free gym ( yay!)
2. Put a greater emphasis on couple and personal scripture study. We have never been good about this. From our very first night together as a married couple, we have read scriptures together, but we have always had periods where we get completely off track. No more of that! And personal scripture study - well, we're pretty much terrible when it comes to that. The only time in my life I have ever really had a consistent, intent personal study schedule was when I was in seminary in high school. It's time to get back to that. My problem has always been finding a consistent time to just sit down and focus other than right before bed when I just want to go to sleep. Well, thanks to Talan I now have a very consistent daily routine that I can easily fit that into. My plan is to do my personal scripture study when Talan is taking his morning nap. Simple as that!
3. Take the time to journal and document our life experiences. Surprisingly, this is the one Brent felt we needed to focus on. Ever since we got married 3 years ago, it feels like time is flying by so fast. Before we know it, all our kids will be grown and we'll be empty nesters left with only fading memories. We want to make sure we remember the experiences we have as a family, big or small. We need to take more pictures and write down the little things that happen each and every day. Some day our posterity will really appreciate that we've taken the time to do so.

This is what we've got so far, and I'm sure we will likely think of things later that we want to add to it. If there's only one thing we have learned in our years together so far, it's that putting trust in Heavenly Father and obeying his commandments can only lead to greater happiness and increased blessings. Happy New Year everyone!

Team McCrea All the Way!

Introducing Talan James McCrea

Talan James McCrea

Born June 22, 2012 at 5:11 p.m.

7 lbs. 9 oz., 19 1/2 inches

That face makes me melt!  Our beautiful baby boy has finally arrived and we have already been so blessed to have him be a part of our family.  My due date was June 21st, but the day came and went without me feeling any different.  To be honest, I was actually ok with it because 2 days earlier I caught a cold that made me absolutely miserable, and I really didn't want to go into labor while I was still sick, or have a new baby to take care of while sick.  So, Brent and I spent the evening walking to 7-Eleven to get slurpees and watching the Miami Heat win the Championship (yay!).  I went to bed still feeling no different.

Around 3:00 a.m. that night I woke up to my first contraction - at least the first one I felt.  They probably started earlier and I was still sleeping.  I wasn't quite sure that's what it was at first, until I realized that they were coming pretty consistently every 10 minutes.  Around 4 a.m. was when I admitted to myself that yes, this was it, labor was starting.  I woke Brent up to tell him, because I didn't know what we were going to do - Brent had a test that day that it was the last day to take!  Well, he fell back asleep pretty quickly, but I was awake the rest of the night because as soon as I would start to fall asleep another one would hit. 

By 7 a.m. my contractions were pretty consistently 5 minutes apart, but only lasting about 30 seconds each.  We decided it was time to get ready to go to the hospital!  We left around 8 and were into our room by 8:30.  When we got there I was still only dilated to 2 1/2 cm, so we waited an hour.  Still no change.  So the doctor told me to walk around the Labor and Delivery floor for an hour to see if that would help things progress.  As we were walking, the contractions got closer together and more intense, but were still only lasting about 30 seconds.  When we were done with our walk, there was still no change!  So they decided to give me a percocet for the pain and send me home to rest.  I was pretty discouraged because what my doctors had told me about when to go to the hospital turned out to be false - all along they had said when contractions were 5 minutes apart for at least an hour and were too painful to walk or talk through, go to the hospital.  So much for that!

Well, the percocet did absolutely nothing for the pain.  All it did was make me very drowsy so that I could sleep in between contractions.  After sleeping on and off for about an hour, the contractions go really, really intense!  I had Brent start timing them, and they were only 2 minutes apart and were lasting 60 seconds.  After timing for 20 minutes, we decided we needed to get to the hospital right away.  I was in a lot of pain and was feeling super nauseous.  Rather than parking the car like we did the first time, we went to the valet parking and Brent rushed to get me a wheel chair.  We really freaked the valet parking attendant when he saw how much pain I was in.  He thought I was going to have the baby right there!  We checked back in and by this point I was in so much pain that all I could do was keep my eyes closed and focus on breathing.  I couldn't breathe properly though because I was still sick and had a completely stuffed up nose.  The nurse checked my cervix and I almost cried when she said I was at 4 cm - I could get my epidural!  They paged the anesthesiologist right away, but it took an hour before he finally got there and had it in. 



This is me AFTER the epidural, finally able to open my eyes, breathe normally, and even smile!  Epidurals are the greatest creation ever made!

Once I had the epidural and it was in full force, the nurse checked me again and to hers and our astonishment, I was already at 8 1/2 cm!  She called the doctor in to break my water, and when he did, he said "Well that did the trick - you're at 10 cm and ready to start pushing!"  Brent and I looked at each other in shock!  We had only been back at the hospital for an hour and our little baby boy was about to be here soon! 

After only an hour of pushing, our sweet baby Talan was here!  I didn't even realize he was out until I heard him start to cry.  And when I heard him cry, I started to cry!

After they cleaned him off a bit, weighed and measured him, they brought him to me for our skin-to-skin time. 

Best moment of my life!

After about an hour of skin-to-skin and our first attempt at nursing, his Daddy finally got to hold him for the first time.  He did so good through the whole labor!  He was the best support person I could have ever asked for and didn't even seem phased by the amount of pain I was in (he usually starts to feel light headed when he sees me in any kind of pain, so I was really worried).  He also didn't have any interest in seeing anything going on "down there" at first, but the nurse kind of forced him to help with everything and he ended up being a part of the whole process!  I was so proud of him.

Now a family of 3!

His first bath

Such a content baby

Coming home from the hospital!

I could not be more grateful that everything worked out smoothly and almost exactly as I had planned.  It even worked out perfectly that he waited just long enough to let us watch Lebron win the NBA Championship - I went into labor only 5 hours after!  So of course we had to name him after Lebron James in honor of the win (though that was the plan all along!)  Talan is a happy, healthy baby with two parents who love him more than anything in the world.  

One Month to Go!

I seriously cannot believe that I am only a month away from my due date!  In some ways, it seems like I've been pregnant forever, yet the weeks have just been flying by ever since I hit the half way point.  I still feel like there is so much I need to get done and things that need to be bought in order for me to feel prepared for little Talan's arrival.  But I know that even if I have everything I need, I probably won't feel prepared for what is about to happen. 

*Just a side note - I don't mean to complain about anything, this post is more for me to be able to remember my whole experience, the good and the bad.

Honestly, this pregnancy has been really easy for me - at least up until these last few weeks.  I never had any nausea in the beginning and the only real symptoms I experienced up until week 34 were feeling tired and hungry alllll the time.  And since sleeping and eating are two of my favorite things, I didn't really mind.  Now that I've put on about 30+ extra pounds, I'm really starting to feel the aches and pains of being pregnant.  About a week ago I started having a really sharp pain in my left hip everytime I would walk.  The pain gradually progressed to spread across my whole lower abdomen and hips and it is now excruciatingly painful to walk or move in any way.  As long as I am just sitting or even standing still, there's no pain.  But the pain while walking has turned me into a "waddling" pregnant woman - I admit, I'm slightly ashamed.

My other really annoying symptom has been extreme swelling of my calves, ankles, and feet.  They seriously look like they belong to someone who weighs at least 250 pounds, so for me, someone who has never weighed more than 130 pounds, it really freaks me out and is actually quite uncomfortable since my skin is being stretched to its limit.  I've tried drinking tons of water and propping up my feet, and it helps a tiny bit, but they are still soooo swollen.  I'm really looking forward to having my body back in a few weeks!

Other than that, Talan is just kicking away as he gets more and more cramped in there.  My doctor told me at my appointment last week that if I were to go into labor at this point, they wouldn't try to stop it! His daddy and I can't wait to have him here!

This was at 34 weeks, so almost 2 weeks ago.

Decisions, Decisions!

I'm the kind of person who has to have a plan. I need to know exactly what is going to happen within the next few months of my life, otherwise I start to feel anxiety about it it. So we've now reached the point where Brent will be done with his Bachelor's at BYU in less than 5 months and we don't have a plan for where we will be after that - hence, my reason for slightly panicking!

We know a few things - we know that in only 3 months we will have a new little baby in our home (something I've been able to plan for months now), and we know that Brent is applying to Grad programs in a few places that we could end up. We also know what we prefer, but whether or not we will get what we want most will actually happen is all up in the air.

He is applying to University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, University of Pittsburgh, and BYU. Maryland is his first choice, mainly because they have a great Civil Engineering program and we would only be an hour and a half from our families in PA. We want to be back on the East coast close to our families so badly! The thing is, it is super expensive to live just outside D.C., and the only way we would be able to afford it would be if Brent can find a great Structural Engineering position with an actual salary that will hopefully help pay for school. I know, super unlikely that we will actually get all of that. That's why we have a back up plan...

Honestly, BYU is our last choice. It's a great program and we do love BYU, we just really don't want to stay in Utah. However, it's the simplest of all the options. We already have a place to live that we do really like (especially the ward!), and Brent has a great job at LEI Engineering. They want him to stay through grad school so bad that they are buttering him up with gift cards and hints at getting a raise. Staying in Utah is the safe option. But we just don't know if it's really what we want or what is best for our family.

So, I'm left still without a plan for now. Hopefully once we finish up his applications and hear back from some places, he can start contacting engineering firms and networking for potential opportunities. We'll see!

Baby McCrea is a Boy!!

The majority vote was that Baby McCrea was going to be a girl, but I still had my own feelings that it was a boy. I don't know how or why I felt that way, I just felt like the little thing kicking inside me was a little baby boy. Sure enough, our ultrasound showed a clear shot that indeed, our little baby is a BOY!!!And here's our first picture of the little man! I do have a picture from the ultrasound that clearly shows his little boy parts, but Brent said he would be embarrassed if someone posted those pictures of him, so we shouldn't post our baby's either. lolI absolutely LOVE this picture of his foot! It is just so clear, and both Brent and I instantly noticed that our baby has Brent's feet! You probably think we're crazy, but it's true! See, Brent has really strange feet. His big toe is actually shorter than both his second and third toes. And his pinky toe is this short, tiny little stub that barely even comes to the beginning of the toe next to it. Like I said, really strange, but we always laugh about it. And this baby has the same feet! It just makes us feel a bit closer to him and that he is actually our child that we created :)

Oh, and we do have a name picked out already. Actually, we have had all of our childrens' names picked out for a while now, so we knew that as soon as we found out if it was a boy or a girl, we would know what to call our little one. Our first born son will be Talan James McCrea! And yes, in case you were wondering, he is named after Lebron James. We're weird, we know.

Our Crazy Family Tradition

We have a lot of fun, awesome, exciting traditions within my side of the family, but only one that tends to kind of gross people out. Let me explain - you've probably heard about some people who save and freeze the top tier of their wedding cake to eat on their first anniversary. Well, when my parents were married, they did just that. However, my grandma failed to explain to my mom that you were only supposed to keep it until the first anniversary. So, my parents continued to eat their wedding cake every year in celebration of their marriage. One year my mom happened to mention to her mother about eating their cake and she quickly said, "What!?! You're still eating your wedding cake? You were only supposed to save that for the first year!" After sharing a good laugh, my mom decided that it was so funny that she had been torturing my dad for no reason all these years, so they might as well continue the new tradition! Every year, I have watched my parents eat their old, dry, freezer burnt cake on January 3rd as they celebrate their anniversary. Every year my dad adamantly protests and makes the funniest faces as he's forced to eat, and every year I would say "Dad, it can't be that bad!" and try a piece myself. I decided that when I got married, I was going to force my husband to endure this same torture every year! Since Brent and I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary, it meant it was time to get the cake out of the freezer and have a piece.

Here's us enjoying our 2 year old cake! Maybe it's just because it's not that old yet, or maybe it's because we had a fondant cake which has a layer of marshmallow fondant on the outside that is protecting the moisture, but it honestly didn't taste any different from the day we ate it at our wedding. Molly, you're an amazing baker!

And here's Mom and Dad eating their 36 year old cake! Aren't they cute!? Of course Dad complained just as much as he always does, if not even worse. He gags, begs for water, and makes the funniest faces! I can't wait until Brent starts acting that way too (is that bad?)!

I love our crazy family tradition!

Gender Predictions!?

I like hearing what other people think we are having. So far the majority vote seems to be girl. Up until today both Brent and I were thinking boy, but he suddenly changed his mind after our doctor's appointment this morning - I have no idea why. But, we only have 3 more weeks until we will know for sure and I am so excited to finally see our little one! So until then, let's hear some predictions on what you think Baby McCrea will be!16 1/2 weeks!