Baby Oliver!

Oliver is here! He was born on August 23rd at 8:55 a.m. via c-section. Oliver came into the world weighting 6lbs 11ounces and 18 inches long. He's absolutely beautiful and we're so in love with him. So far he's been an amazing sleeper, he gets up between 1-2 times through the night. More details to follow on the birth story of baby Oliver but until then here are some pictures to hold you over.

Getting ready for the c-section

Brandon modeling his attire.

Holding Oliver for the first time after being in the recovery room.

Nana and Oliver

Oliver's cousin Jersey

Mimi and Oliver together

Daddy and Oliver in the middle of the first night together

Colin and Oliver

Gabe and Oliver

Lily and Oliver

Papa and Oliver

Our room

Hours before we go home

Ready to leave the hospital

Daddy and Oliver first day home

Our little burrito

Bonnie and Oliver

First Bath

Note to self- next time make sure the socks are off the hands when taking a picture.

The most kissable lips!

DIY's for our Laundry Room

We started with a laundry room with nothing on the walls. So I decided to make a stylish cork board for notes and our family calendar. I bought fabric at Wal-Mart and thumb tacks to attach the fabric. I was going to paint the frame but decided not to. It was an easy project, but it was tedious framing with the tacks. But I'm happy with the outcome.

Second quick project was taking an extra round mirror I had and painting it with black chalkboard paint.

I really like this room it nice and large and it's off the kitchen. So the kids can wash their hands when they come in from outside, plus before and after meals. I love that I can write corny messages to the kids while there washing there hands too. Like- I'm watching you or Mirror, mirror on the wall who's the cutest of them all or You missed a spot.

Busy Summer

It been such a busy summer with a move to a new town, kids making new friends and getting ready for baby Oliver. I'm happy to report the kids love it here and have met so many new kids. We all miss Fontana beach but we have found a couple of beaches near us that seem to satisfy our beach fever. Colin's getting excited for trying out for the fall basketball team. He's been practicing everyday his lay ups and starting to use my weights to bulk up his arms, don't worry they're not to heavy. Brandon has been busy painting the family room and soon painting the boys bedroom. Brandon's plate has been pretty full with working a lot of hours with his job and getting things done around the house before baby arrives. But to be honest I think he's loving the chaos of life, he's really enjoying his job and thrives on the pressure of learning new machines, plus the more things off his list at home the closer to meeting Oliver. I'm having a great summer with the kids and trying to enjoy every minute with them. Last month I found out I have gestational diabetes with this pregnancy which totally stinks. For now I don't have to use insulin but I'm controlling it with a low carb diet. Good news I'm not gaining any weight. As of now I have a schedule c-section for Sept. 2nd that's if he decides to wait. I'm looking forward to a glass of wine on our patio once our little man arrives.

Europe

Since my job of 7 years closed to move overseas I have been on a tour of jobs including shift supervisor positions in the plastic and rubber injection business and a coating manager helping improve a growing company. In February 2011 I was very fortunate to get a employment offer to become a shift supervisor for a global company. I would be involved in starting back up the plant that shutdown will all new equipment and products. I spent one week of orientation in Menasha and would arrive home on Friday afternoon to prepare for a two week training in Heerlen, The Netherlands. Four of us supervisors left on Saturday to fly from Milwaukee to Chicago and then onto Dusseldorf, Germany. I would spend over 8 hours enjoying free German beer and listening to Lady Gaga and Black Eye Peas over and over again. When we arrived in Dusseldorf I had the pleasure to drive to Kerkrade, The Netherlands where are hotel was located. The trip should take about 1 hour but you guessed it we got lost. That's what happens when the GPS is in German. Because it was close to lunch we stopped in a small town. As we walked into a restaurant of course everyone looked at us. After trying to ask for a menu in English and getting nowhere we left. Luckily we were able to figure out how to switch the GPS to English and put in our proper route. We found out we were over an hour away. I personally think we were driving around in circles when we left the airport. On the way to the hotel we found a KFC. It was a little bit of home at a German price, (my lunch was $15.00). We arrived safely at the Golden Tulip in Kerkrade. The Golden Tulip is located around a futbol, (soccer) stadium. The home team Roda JC was on the road so we didn't get to see any games. We checked into the hotel to find our beds were queen size but two mattresses next to each other. Trust me I fell in the crack between them plenty of times while sleeping there for 2 weeks. We took a short nap and then went to locate the plant we would be training at for two weeks. It was located about 5 minutes from the hotel. After driving by we went into Heerlen to find somewhere to eat dinner. We found a small restaurant run by a family. The kids waited tables, the husband did the cooking and the wife ran the bar and cash register. The spoke some English and made us a steak dinner, salad, fresh bread and different types of vegetable dishes. Mike ordered a great wine for all of us to enjoy. The food was excellent and only $23. The next 5 days we spent training and observing at the plant. I was on 2nd shift the first week and 1st shift the second week we where there. Most of the operators spoke English at the plant. On Saturday 3 shift supervisors from the plant took us to Maastricht, (link to city).(http://www.holland.com/meetings/en/dutch-cities/maastricht/conference-city/ We went on a boat tour and then to lunch. The weather was sunny and about 80 degrees. Great times, great people and a memory I will also remember. On Sunday we drove to Amsterdam and met three of our colleagues at the airport. We then took the train into town. Amsterdam has alot of history, old buildings and no laws. Back to work on Monday to finish the training in Heerlen. On Friday we all worked 1st shift and left around 1pm to head to Dusseldorf Airport. We checked into the Lindner Hotel and decided to take a train ride to downtown for dinner. We went to get a cab ride back to the hotel and found the driver didn't speak English. So as we climbed into one side of the cab we were already climbing out the opposite side. You had to be there to see it. Trust me it was funny. On Saturday I flew home to see my beautiful family. Since I would only be home for 2 days I wanted to enjoy every minute of it. Nicole and I took the kids to Fontana beach on Sunday. Unfortunately Monday came real quick and Nicole and Lily were taking me back to the airport to leave for Germany for 12 days. We would take a flight to Chicago and then onto to Munich, Germany. At 4:30 pm they started to board the plane to Chicago and then stopped. They announced they were having computer problems. We needed to be in Chicago to catch our next plane at 6:00 pm. Dave ran to rent a car while I went to get our luggage. We arrived in Chicago at 5:55 pm as the plane was getting ready to take off. They switched our flight to Lufthansa which was leaving at 8:15 pm. Although we missed our flight we only landed 1 hour late. Average speed on this flight was 625 but we also experienced alot of turbulence. We drove from Munich to Brannenburg to Hotel Gasthof Schlosswirt. It was an older hotel run by a very nice couple. Our training would take place in Raubling, Germany about 15 minutes from the hotel. I spent 8 total days training in this plant where only 3 operators spoke English. On Saturday we drove to Salzburg, Austria to tour the Salzburg Castle, (link to castle). http://www.hohensalzburg.com/ On Sunday we drove up into the mountains located behind our hotel. It took a few days to begin breathing normal again after being that high. On Friday as we were all excited we drove back to Munich to check into the Novotel Hotel. I drove the BMW we had rented on the Autobahn. I got to follow a Porshue for a few miles at 150 mph until he pulled away. Trust me I had the pedal to the floor. That night I took a walk to the observation deck located by the airport to view planes taking off and landing. We left the next morning to arrive in Chicago. Nicole and the kids picked me up as it was nice to be home. Training - 4 weeks Flight Miles - 18000 Flight Hours - 35 hours Experience - Priceless Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible. Special thanks to my loving and supportive wife, without you being on my side this would not be possible. Remember this: Brick walls are obstacles in life that we don't need to climb but instead knock down.

Oliver

Naming a child can be very difficult. My cousin asked me before we found out the gender of the baby what were some of the names we were thinking of naming the baby. I was having a difficult time coming up with a girl name but I had my name set for a boy. So as I was telling her my boy name she started cutting in and out with her cell phone. So here's the conversation from my side of the story.

Me: If it's a boy his name will be Oliver!

Carie: I...the ...Oliver

Me: Carie....Carie your breaking up.

Carie: Don't...name.

Me: Carie...Carie!

Carie: Hey can you hear me? Before we break in and out again....I really dislike the name Oliver. Even more I can't stand Ollie.

Me: I don't like Ollie, but I love the name Oliver.

Carie: People will call him Ollie for short!

Me: We will correct them. You may learn to love the name Oliver over time!

After we found out it was a boy, I started second guessing our name. I began looking at baby boy names but I would see Oliver in a list of names and I would full in love with the name over again.

Yesterday the kids had off of school because this week their on Easter break. So I took them to Fontana Park and later we walked on the beach and kids enjoyed playing in the hills of sand. After our fun afternoon I took them to Cold Stone for a little treat. My ultimate favorite ice cream is banana. It's a specialty flavor and it's rarely there when we go. Before we headed in I got a call from my boyfriend/Brandon and we talked briefly about our day. Once I got everyone their ice cream I sat down, took a couple of bits and wrote Brandon a text. As I wrote the text I had a huge grin on my face thinking of my cousin. I may learn to love the name Ollie after all, maybe!

20 weeks

I had received a request by my lovely cousin a few weeks ago if, I would start taking pictures of my progress of my pregnancy. I told her I would at 16 weeks and then every 4 weeks after. Well I didn't get around to a 16 week but here's my 20 week. Colin took pictures of my stomach and then without asking he took a picture of my face as I was sitting on the bed. While he took my picture he said your so beautiful mom and dad is so lucky to have you as his wife as he said this he started to get teary eyed. It was such a sweet and tender moment he captured. He's such a thoughtful boy and I'm such a lucky mom!

Now that we know it's a boy, I've had so much fun buying a few things for him. I found a lot of things on the clearance racks at Target, Old Navy and Kids Gap. The stores are getting rid of their fall/winter items which will be perfect for our September baby. I love sales!

I found Oliver a 49er's shirt for $2 at Old Navy that will be perfect for watching the football games with his daddy! A sight I'm excited to see! I love my boys....plus our little cheerleader!

Happy Birthday Brandon

Since Brandon was going to be in Germany over his birthday, we decided to celebrate his birthday a little bit earlier. He was leaving Monday afternoon so, we had Brandon's favorite kind of cake for breakfast that morning...vanilla/vanilla! Everyone to there own, I guess!

Happy Birthday to my handsome husband!

Hope you have a wonderful year!

We love you so much and couldn't be prouder of you! xoxo

It's a Boy!

Nope it's not an April Fools joke. We indeed are blessed with a baby boy. Within 15 seconds into the ultrasound I saw something in between the legs. I myself was excited until I looked over at Lily who was almost in tears. She had her heart set on a sister. So the first 5 minutes my mom had to consoled her. My mom also was a tiny bit bummed as well. She loves her granddaughter's and was hoping for one more. We left and went out for lunch and did some shopping. My mom and I bought a few outfits for Oliver. With a little shopping therapy I was hoping my mom and Lily would cheer up. I think it helped. I, myself fell in love with him the moment I saw him. Boys are excited and so is Brandon. He did ask me if it was an April Fool's joke, my reply "nope". When we got home I told Lily how lucky she is to be the only princess in the family. She will have 4 brother who will protect her. She then asked to watch the video of her baby brother and right now she's in his room playing with a couple of his stuffed animals. I think he's starting to grow on her!