Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree Part II

Rolling Stone

I call this video clip "rolling stone" because this kid is like a rock! he is 100% breastfed and just keeps getting bigger! I love that he is rolling from his back to his plump tummy now, so fun to watch!

Nap Time

Craig has been off this whole week and it has been great! His company just shuts down for the holidays and that is a definite pro to working with the government. After a busy morning, Irina and Craig were ready for a nap. I often nap with Irina and always tell Craig how much I enjoy it, he just smiles and says "I'm sure its nice". He has been spending lots of one on one time with Irina ever since I was pregnant and as a result she has fallen head over heels for her Daddy. They do everything together! Watching them together makes my heart melt, yes I know that is my favorite phrase when it comes to my family. So this particular day, she asked to nap with her daddy and thought it would be nice to "try" and nap. He really thought she would be bouncing and jumping all over the place, but she didn't. They lay down and in 8mins, they were both asleep. I was watching them on the baby monitor :) I snuck in for a picture.

Mother & Daughter

It was probably the billionth time Irina watched me sit down to nurse Crew when she ran to get Fred because he was hungry. She quickly sat down, lifted her shirt and lactated away. Craig was laughing so hard and had to get a picture of it. Me, well I always enjoy the company of another nursing momma ;)

Baby Monitor

we ordered this monitor and LOVE it! the first night we used it we caught irina picking her nose and licking her finger..ugh! i dont know how we handled naps and room time before this!

Family Photos 2010

The boys in my life

with my mini-me

The Odom Family

At one of my MOPS meeting this semester we had a personal business showcase, basically you had a table set up with you "at-home business". I won a free mini-session with an awesome photographer which was great news since I'm super frugal. I actually wanted to get newborn pics of Crew but was too cheap and had my brother do them with his nice camera. Anyway, our family wore some personalized shirt that one of my best friends http://www.anniemancusodesigns.webs.com/ designed and made for us.

Crew 3mth photo

Here are Crew's 3mth photos, it was quite the adventure getting these photos taken and I dont have the energy to blog about it now; Im still exhausted from the whole thing. Only good thing was that the pics were free and I made a new friend. Check back later to read the story.

Crew at 3mths

crew at 3mths

munching on his doll :)

Here is my handsome baby boy at 3mths! The time is really going by faster than I ever thought, even faster than with Irina. At his last appointment he weighed 14lbs 13oz and has outgrown most of his 6mths clothes. He is still easy going and giggles all the time at me, however he has started to not like his car seat so much. About 2 weeks ago or so he started getting fussy while in the car, mostly only in the evenings when he is tired. Last Sunday, Dec 5th he spent the night in his room for the first time, it was really hard for me to leave him in there all night. I didn't think it would be an issue at all but when it came down to it, I was sad to not have him in our room. He has been sleeping great (10ish pm-6ish am) since he was teeny tiny and we only put it off this long because we were afraid of not hearing him cry at night. We still worry about not hearing him so we have the monitor turned all the way up and I have my alarm set to wake me up at 6am. He has been doing awesome in his crib and doesn't mind it at all. He is still a very happy baby and has started rolling over, he rolls to his sides often and once rolled from his tummy to his back. He loves his hands and is a faucet with drooling, I hope it doesn't mean teeth are coming soon. We are pretty much over all the nursing obstacles and can truly enjoy it. I love nursing him and look forward to his smiles as he looks up at me. He has started to play with my necklace and shirt and gets a little distracted at times, but that's OK with me. I know how soon this stage will be over and I'm enjoying every minute with him.

irina sings her ABC's

High School Friends

myself, mary & stephanie

Last week our friend Steph came into town to see her family for the the Thanksgiving holiday. She made some time to visit with us, it was a fun night with yummy food and great company!

Ft Worth parade of Lights

We took the kids to see the parade last week and had a great time, it was pretty cold but I made sure we all had on 3layers of warm clothes. When I say "kids", I obviously just mean Irina, since Crew doesn't care about anything except food right now. We also took her to Barnes & Noble to read some books in the kids corner. Even though it was a cold night we had fun.

Irina & Crew

Irina has been a great helper lately and wants to be a mini-mommy to Crew. She wants to hold him, burp him and so many other things! It can be very helpful at times but she has slowly turned into bossy-mommy. She tells him to not spit up, not to kick his blanket off and to go to sleep right now. This is something that Im working on with her, I tell her she cant be demanding and to settle down when she goes on a rant. For the most part she obeys and it has made me wonder if I too am a bossy-mommy.

Crew Smiles

Crew smiling and squealing for mommy!

Painting away

Irina LOVES to paint, reading and painting are her favorite things to do right now. I like to make her pudding paints so they're safe in case she gets hungry while creating her work of art. We usually paint outside but we really wanted to use our new Learning Tower! I found it for a STEAL on craigslist and the whole family already loves it. I can see it being very handy when Irina helps me bake and cook. They also sell different kits that attach to the learning tower, making it an easel, chalkboard and play house. It is by far one of the best deals I've come across. You'll never guess what I paid for it! Jeanine- You can't guess since you already know ;)


http://www.thetoyhunt.com/children-furniture-learning-tower.html

Crew at 1mth and 2mths

Crew is growing SO fast! It makes me feel good as an exclusively breast feeding mommy but SO SAD that hes not a newborn anymore. It seems to go by faster with the second baby, I cant imagine how a third or fourth fly by! He found his hands sometime last month and is coo-ing and squealing when we talk to him. He is such a sweet baby, he is so laid back; we think he gets that from his Daddy. He is in a size 2 disposable dipe and mainly wears 6mth clothes, some of his 3-6mth clothes still fit. Im not sure how much he weighs at this point, at 8weeks he weighed 13lbs 3oz. He is sleeping great also, since he was newborn he would sleep 3 to 4hrs at time at night and by 10weeks he was sleeping 7hrs at night.


1mth old

2mths old

Mr. Crew

Crew is 2mths now and has been ALL SMILES during his wake times. He is such an easy and laid back baby, he has his own personality and I love it. He is my favorite baby boy :)

Halloween 2010

Halloween this year was very low key for us, not than we go all out any year- not a big halloween person. Irina was Barney this year thanks to a good friend that loaned us the costume, she was glad to get her moneys worth by not just using it for one year. Irina has been big into Barney for about a year now and was THRILLED when i showed her the costume. We went to 2 houses and back home, she had a blast and collected two handfuls of loot. She was allowed one piece and enjoyed her snickers for the night. I think she is the cutest purple dinosaur from my imagination!

Baby lizard

The other day Irina and I were out in the front yard pulling some weeds together when we spotted a tiny baby lizard on our driveway. He/she was so small we kept losing sight of where it scurried off to, at some point it got stuck in a crack under our garage door. I grabbed a stick and tried to get it out but I accidentally ended its life :( I was being gentle but soon noticed it wasnt moving anymore. I started to say in sort of loud and semi-crying "oh no, oh no" and Irina freaked out watching me. She was terrified and starting bawling, which made me cry and the whole thing ended when I saw ants attacking the baby lizards limp body. I quickly grabbed it with a napkin and set it aside for a proper burial that was set to commence once Irina took a potty break. I explained to Irina that the lizard wasnt going to wake up and that it was with Jesus. She accepted my story and we went to work on the burial ceremony. We dug a grave and laid him/her to rest. Irina picked some flowers and put them over the lizards final resting place. The tiny baby lizard will be missed by Craig, Irina, Crew and myself.

My two kids

irina playing with crew as much as she can

i love going to my midwife appointments, she always involves irina in everything. below is irina checking her daddys heart and then mommys heart while nursing crew.

i have been enjoying being a mommy of 2 kids so much more than i ever thought. my favorite thing to do is watch irina interact with crew, it just melts my heart. she is such a big helper, even though she is 2 1/2 she does so much for her baby brother. she brings me clothes for him every morning, helps with diaper changes and with translating his cries. some examples of her translations are:
me: crew, are you hungry?
irina: he says YES!
me: whats going on crew?
irina: he says he wants lechita (milk in spanish) now

but my favorite thing she is doing right now is this: crew starts stirring and fussing in his crib or bouncy seat and she will say to him "its ok baby "cwew", rina's here". its SO sweet to hear her say that! she also says "ill be "reee" (right) back baby "cwew" dont be scared". i am enjoying these kids so much, they make me so happy! im tired come 9pm but im smiling through out the day with them.

BUSY, BUSY!!

mommy & the kidS! ahh! i love it! i have 2 kids now! :)

crew in his room, testing the crib he will one day sleep in

shout out thanks to laura m for the awesome crib and glider :)

crew being treated for thrush :(
poor baby, i could help but LOL when i first saw him!

irina praying for her dinner

Birth Story for Crew

We have finally welcomed our baby boy into our home! We are thrilled to have him as part of the Odom family. Mommy, baby Crew, Daddy and new big sis Irina are all doing well.
I wanted to share what my birth story looked like, I know having a home birth is a strange concept to some. If you have any questions just ask, I love talking about natural childbirth. I have to mention that I did not hate my experience with Irina at the hospital. It was a good experience, I had an epidural and delivered her vaginally with no problems at all. So, I am not the type of person who bashes MD's, pain medications or hospitals; I am just PRO a natural life style.

Aug 19th about 8am- I lost my mucous plug while laying down on the couch waiting for Irina to wake up. I texted my midwife Donnellyn and she tells me to rest, eat healthy, and to stay hydrated. She thinks labor could start in 24/48 hrs because I was past my due date. I didn't believe her, I was 8 days over due and thought he was never coming out into the 110 degree Texas weather. I also have enjoyed the fact that my midwife loves to text, any question I had was answered in minutes, no matter the time, weekend or holiday. No leaving a message and waiting for a nurse to call back on the next business day, she was always available to me. The whole day I felt some cramps here and there but nothing painful. I had been feeling mild cramps on and off for the past couple of weeks so this didn't raise any concern to me. We went to dinner at my moms casa about 6pm and I did notice the cramps were a little more frequent and had sort of a pinching feeling also. I thought about saying something to Craig but decided not to, they were only cramps after all. We got home and I was feeling restless so I asked Laura Mancuso if I could come over to work on a sewing project, she was free and I drove to her house just after 8pm. We were working away when I started to feel the cramps getting stronger, just strong enough for me to have to stop walking and hold my tummy. Later on Laura Roskin came over and brought some yummy coke floats for us to enjoy. While taking a chat break, John Mancuso asked to see my baby bump (fun fact: not the first time he asked to see it) so I lifted my shirt to expose "the belly". We all stared at my HUGE tummy and commented on how amazing pregnancy is. As we worked, I was definitely feeling some pain with the cramps and even took a quick breath through a few of them. At this point I start to think that I might be in early labor, but didn't tell the girls. The Lauras would look at each other then look at me as though I could pop any second. At 10:30pm I decided to go home and rest, I wanted to see if the cramps would continue or go away. Craig and I thought that it was the start of what was going to be a long night so we decided to not contact Donnellyn aka "D". Hours go by and I can not sleep, there is no way to get comfortable in bed and the darn coke floats gave me gas and heart burn. All the while my cramps are on and off, some are getting painful and I knew by this point they were contractions and not just cramps.
It was Friday, Aug 20th near 1am when I first text D that I was having mild sporadic contractions. After texting back and forth with contraction details she tells me to take 2 benadryl and soak in a warm bath. If this was false labor, the meds and bath would stall the contractions. I follow her instructions and my contractions were only getting more and more painful. It is 2:34am and Craig sends D information about my contractions, how long they re lasting and how far apart they are. At 2:59am D and the birth team are on their way to my house. The team arrives some time between 3:15-3:20am, I am in my tub breathing through my contractions and trying to stay relaxed so my body will work in the most efficient way. I would get out for bathroom breaks but the contractions felt longer and sharper, so I was quick to get back in the water. I was focused on each contraction, I knew that every single one led me closer to holding my baby in my arms. Each one was stronger and longer than the previous, in between I had short breaks. I was so relaxed that I sort of slept during the quick pauses. I'm my head I repeated several things to myself and sometimes said them aloud, here are a few: "my body is amazing, it can and will do this", "God made my body", "I can do all things through Christ", "thank you Lord for my baby", "come on baby Crew, I wanna see you". It's 4:20am, my contractions are getting more and more powerful and I'm fighting the urge to push. I need to add that this whole time, I have not gotten "checked" to see how dilated or how effaced my cervix is. D can tell what stage a womans body is in by other characteristics such as the tone of her voice during the peak of a contraction. I was waiting for an update like "you're a 6" or "you're a 10, almost there" but I never got one. Looking back, they were letting my body do what it needed to do on its own, there was no point in "checking" or saying anything at all. My body was made to do this and that whole concept amazes me still. Ok, so I'm fighting the urge to push...D says "you're in pain and feelings lots of pressure because your bag is bulging, do you want my to break your water"? I wanted to push and rupture the bag on my own so I got into a squatting position in the tub. A few contractions went by and the bag was not breaking, at 4:32am I ask her to do it for me. The next contraction was so very different than all the others, this was INTENSE and took the pain to a whole new level. I felt tons of pressure and the pain turned into a burning sensation. I knew he was ready to come out, I knew I was a 10 and I knew that he was crowning. I knew what my body was doing, I could feel him coming down into the birth canal! A couple of contractions later I started to push, no one told me what to do; it was my body doing what was necessary. Once his head was was out, I felt some relief from the stinging and burning. In case you're worried, the baby continues to receive oxygen through the umbilical cord. It took 2 more contractions and our baby boy Everett Crew Odom was born. His Daddy delivered him in water, he was the first to hold him and then he lay him on my chest. After he was born, ALL my pain immediately disappeared and I felt fabulous. God blessed us with a wonderful birthing experience, I am so thankful to Him.
This whole time Irina has been sound asleep in her room in her own bed, nice perk to having a home birth :) She went to bed at 8pm and woke up at the next day at 8:30am to a new baby brother. I love that we didn't have to wake her or make late night phone calls to family members to babysit. Gods timing was perfect!
This whole experience is mind blowing to me, I can't believe how well the female body can handle natural child birth. I used to be (still am) in awe of breast feeding and how a mother alone can sustain the life of her newborn baby. This has only increased the level of respect I have for my body but most of all for God who made me and all things. I know it sounds "hippie" and cliche but it's true for me.

here is a link to a couple of pics that my birth photographer: Crew {Fort Worth Birth Photography}

Everett Crew Odom

Everett Crew Odom

8lbs 10oz & 20 1/2in long

Irina meeting Crew for the very first time, I couldn't take my eyes off of her

Donnellyn doing the APGAR exam on Crew

Evelyn Irina & Everett Crew
kissing her baby brothers tiny hand