Sawyer Nash Stover

Parenthood is in full swing at the Stover household. Sawyer Nash was born on August 12, 2010. Labor started at 11:15 the night before and mom labored in Sawyer's room for two hours before waking dad up. After we took showers and packed up we headed to the hospital around 3 am. With a quick stop for mom to unload her dinner on the side of the road - yikes! We made it safely to the ER to be admitted to Labor and Delivery. We called the grandparents at 6 am and five hours later Sawyer arrived just in time for both sets of grandparents to be present.


The past 6 weeks have been amazing, difficult, interesting, fun, relaxing, intense, hilarious, rewarding, new, and most of all wonderful. We have learned to breastfeed, use cloth diapers, enjoy bath time, etc. We have met new people, received TONS of wonderful gifts, and transformed our house into a baby machine. Here is a video of Mr. Sawyer waking up at 3:00 am for a feeding. Somehow he makes my 3:00 am the best time of the day. Sorry its so long (4 minutes) but its worth it! ;)



We have braved a wedding, travels to Colby, KS and travels to Iowa. So far so good!

Here are some favorite snapshots taken over the past few weeks...


Grandma Stover made this blankets


3 days old (photos via Megan Peters)




Jana came all the way from Germany to spend three weeks with us!


Daddy brought us home flowers :)


Sticking his tongue out at Grandpa Stover!


Napping in Iowa with mom :)

The countdown to sleep deprivation bliss

Baby Stover is on his way! We are three days from D-Day with minimal signs of meeting him anytime soon. While have been waiting, our local photographer friend Ms. Megan Peters took some wonderful belly pictures for some quality memories. Here are a few:





This one is Mommy's favorite



This one is Daddy's favorite



We have also been melting away here in the Midwest so I'm curious what day this little guy is going to come. On a hot day or....a hot day? Those are basically our choices.



A few weeks ago my son managed to master the virtual world from the womb and sent me these beautiful flowers signed "Love Sawyer Nash"...


...or maybe I just married a super-sweet clever man ;)

Showered with generosity

A few weeks ago was the baby shower for our little guy. It was a ton of fun and I owe a big thanks to Megan, Theresa, and Holly for putting it together. The amount of gifts and fun was overwhelming. We had tons of kids and tons of balloons for them to play with :) The biggest hit as far as gifts go was the Wee Blocker - thanks Sara!
Here are some snapshots of the lovely event:


I feel so fortunate to have had my mother and grandmother at the shower with me :)


Megan decorated with vintage baby clothes from our parents. Check out the picture Tawny brought of Heath and Shiloah in the cute baseball shirt!




Hooper checking out the ducky decorations


THANKS LADIES!! (Megan, me, Theresa.....Holly refused to get photographed)

We are really starting to feel like we are ready to bring this kid home, not so sure about knowing what to do with him but everything is as ready as its going to be! The nesting has hit full force for both mom and dad (and grandparents too!). His 0-3 month wardrobe is clean and put away, the baby monitor is up and running, the pacifiers are out of their packaging and put away, etc. Here is a picture of my Nesting Team from last weekend :)


Big thanks to Daddy and Grandpa for helping make the baby's room perfect :)

A little pregnancy humor for you all....this is my cankle after 5 hours of driving to Iowa. Holly thought I broke my ankle - nope, just got knocked up and swollen!


And to end - here is a recent belly picture - 37 weeks/9 months along.

Star struck

A few weeks ago a dear friend invited me to a wedding reception here in Kansas City. Since he didn't know anyone except for the couple he asked me to tag along. I wasn't expecting much, the location was in a rough part of town but the suggested hotels were all the best of the best on the Country Club Plaza. So I was a bit confused as to what sort of reception this would be.

After driving through the ghetto we pulled up to this gorgeous, super old, country club tucked away. We were greeted by a valet to park our car and proceeded back behind the country club. When we rounded the corner my jaw dropped and I started slowing down so I could take it all in. On the golf course were beautiful cabanas with flowing sheer cloth in a canopy over white couches and chairs scattered all over. The main tent was massive made completely from this sheer white material with amazing, trendy, chandeliers hanging from the top of the tent. And that was just the beginning. I could go on and on about the gourmet food, music, table settings, etc.



But that is not why I am dedicating a post to this wedding reception.

As we were making our way towards the endless buffet of food (complete with carnival food served at Midnight - score for the pregnant chick!) I squeezed by a woman that caught my eye. I knew her....from a movie! I was totally convinced and immediately told my friend. Of course, he is pop-culture illiterate and told me I was crazy.

So later on I saw her sitting in front of me and I was so convinced that I immediately got on IMDB to find out who she was but I couldn't place her to know what to search for! Then a man sitting with his back to me leaned over and kissed her - that man resembled Pacey Witter from Dawson's Creek way too much. But he seemed thinner and my friend didn't recognize him either so now I was starting to second guess my baby brain. Maybe I was crazy and just looking for some drama/entertainment.


So after awhile they got up and moved past us to the photo booth the reception provided as wedding favors to capture some fun shots. Now was my chance! When they signed the guest book next to their snapshots I would go over and read what they wrote. So I waddled over there (my friend super embarrassed) and looked for it. Darn! The photo booth girls were hogging the guest book, obviously doing exactly what I was about to do - confirmed celebrity material.

So I went back to my chair and sulked for a bit. And sure enough, a woman walked up to me to talk about my pregnancy, I have never been so excited to talk about my pregnancy with a random stranger than right then because I saw her talking to the gotta-be-a-celebrity lady earlier. So after letting this woman try to talk me into having a home birth (suuuure...) I casually asked her about the couple.

And we have a winner! Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson were guests at the same reception I was at. I gloated to my friend that I was, in fact, correct. Then proceeded to dedicate the rest of the evening to stalking them. I even peed within 10 feet of Pacey.

Diane Kruger - seen in Troy - Helen of Troy, and National Treasure as Nicolas Cage's love interest

Joshua Jackson - Pacey Witter in Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in Fringe

So three weeks later my pop-culture savvy friend Megan let me in on the inside scoop that Diane Kruger had posted the photo booth pictures on Twitter from that evening. I got on Twitter right away and sent Diane (first name basis) a response that I was at that same wedding and she and Josh were adorable...blah blah blah. Sure enough, she responded! Nothing exciting but she still responded :) Here is the photo booth picture she posted:


Now you all know two celebrities by two degrees a separation through me. You're welcome.

In other news...

Here are a few snap shots of what has been going on with us the past few months:


Dancing Lucy - Her mom takes such great pictures of her that I couldn't choose so here is one from dance class that just makes my heart smile. And the other is from her dance recital which I was able to attend and I just can't believe how grown up she looks in the photo!!

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Heath got a pipe for Christmas and has almost mastered the art of appearing 20 years older than his true age. A personal goal of his!

Brennen turned one year old! We were able to be there for his first birthday as well as his baptism. I can't believe how fast he has grown and how beautiful he is!

Don't worry, we haven't totally neglected our dogs, not yet anyhow ;)We were able to take them to the lake a couple of times so far this year and of course they loved it! We are so fortunate to be near such a nice big lake (only ten minutes!)

Lightning hit our one and only tree. We hope it survives since we can't plant any trees in the back yard due to the dog destruction.

Heath and I celebrated our first year of marriage on May 23rd. He got me this beautiful rose bush. I love it! I'm trying my best to keep it alive...the neighbors have wagered their predictions as to when it dies and what that means for our marriage. I don't know why they don't have faith in our green thumbs...hum....

Umbrella Medical Systems had a few events in their office and they decided a fooseball table was needed, along with a pop-shot basketball. Priorities.

In photo: Kurk (tech), Trent (business partner), Andrew (business development), and Heath (stud).

The stork has nested

As many of you know in November we decided to try start a family. So on December 4th I decided to take a test in the wee hours of the morning to make sure I was not pregnant and could indeed drink freely at my company Christmas party that evening. And low and behold - the letters Y-E-S appeared! Of course I freaked a little as it was unexpected to be successful so quickly that I then understood the reason for the second test. Except I didn't 'plan ahead' and had a bit of a problem completing the second test. Wow - I hope I'm ready for this!

I went back to bed and slowly woke Heath up, checked his mood to be sure the timing was right, and then let him in on the news and that I would need a lot of help 'faking it' at the Christmas party that evening. He was very sleepy-excited. Being newly pregnant during the holidays is a tricky task. We had three weekends in a row of parties and the lack of drinking on my end would be a dead give-away. Plus seeing family was tempting to share our news, even if a little early.

So once the morning sickness began (all day, every day) at six weeks along there was definitely no hiding it. We slowly told friends and family starting on Christmas Eve. It was really fun and exciting, even though I felt icky. We told Heath's family by hints through their Christmas gifts and it took Heath's mom and sister-in-law longer than Heath's dad and brother to figure it out! We had a good laugh over that :) And we told my family in the car on the way to grandma's funeral - ah, the circle of life... (5.5 months along in photo)






















All check-ups have gone smoothly, morning sickness is long gone, we have a healthy baby boy (go team BLUE!)growing rapidly and he loves to kick and punch. It took Heath six months and two rum and cokes to finally get enough nerve up to feel him and boy was it worth the wait! His reaction was priceless. We are in the middle of labor and delivery classes right now (2 beer requirement for Heath before each class begins) and we are learning a lot! (YIKES)





















Heath and his parents surprised me Mother's Day weekend by getting the nursery going. I left for Iowa on Friday to a lavender guest bedroom and returned Sunday to a slate blue fully decorated baby's room! It was such a wonderful surprise and fun to know Heath painted, shopped, decorated, and cleaned for me :) I'm a lucky girl! My dad made the cradle and my grandfather made the piece of furniture being used for the changing table (previously a TV stand).
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As you can see, I love to lay out all of his clothes that we have acquired as gifts or hand-me-downs and imagine him in them. So far we have 19 newborn-3 months outfits, 15 3-6 months, 6 6-9 months, and 2 9-12 months. I have no idea if this is enough or not! Its just fun to get them :) Also - the 'vintage' outfits that belonged to Heath and me as babies are fun too, here are a few examples.




Now we are entering our 7th month, third trimester. ALREADY!

Mastering Bricktown

Every time Shiloah and Holly have a child Heath and I get to go to Bricktown Oklahoma City's version of The Plaza and Westport combined. We didn't really plan it that way but they keep having children around the same time as our 'dating' anniversary so we like to break up the long trip to see the new baby by stopping in Oklahoma City for a night and spending a nice evening together.

Our first trip to Bricktown was almost 4 years ago when Hooper J was born. We didn't have much of a budget. So I got on the Bricktown website and called the 4 hotels they had listed for their rates. The first three were $100+ and the last one was $85. Done. We budgeted for two nights including one fancy dinner. Turns out the hotel we booked was less than acceptable, our first indication were the 'just married' vehicles in the parking lot. These weren't cars from fancy or classy weddings. The hotel was thick of stale smoke and we knew immediately we couldn't stay there, except for the cancellation policy. Looked like we were stuck for the night. So I told Heath we had to stay out as late as possible and avoid the hotel except for a few hours of sleep. So feeling frustrated we went to a brewery and I drank a lot, I couldn't face the hotel sober. It worked, except for my 3 am bathroom visit to find a cockroach crawling across my makeup. EEEKKK!!! I couldn't wait to get out of there. So the second night we decided to just take the financial hit and enjoy ourselves. (needless to say, that hotel is no longer listed on the Bricktown website)

So we got a room at the Sheraton and proceeded to jump for joy on the massive, clean, soft, quality bed as soon as we got the room. Then we dressed up and went to find a fancy restaurant. Sure enough, we found Mickey Mantel's Steakhouse. Super fancy, super expensive, and the service was amazing.

Then we went for a stroll on the boardwalk and found a little cigar/piano bar tucked away. It was amazing, perfect for us. A woman playing Norah Jones on the harp, big, warn, leather couches, a fireplace. We stayed there for hours. Then we headed back to the hotel, and Heath declared that wanted a brownie. Of course. So I decided I wanted ice cream, and wine. Of course. We figured, why not and ordered room service :) Although it probably took us months to pay it off we had a wonderful time :)

Celebrating 3 years together

The second trip to Bricktown was this past August when Boston was born, we decided on only one night and thank goodness our budget was a little more flexible than it was 3 years ago. So now being veterans we knew where to stay, and where to go. We ate at an amazing restaurant that somehow managed to get Heath's steak undercooked so badly we had to send it back three times! And we never do things like that! But the final time the chef came out to ensure it was correct, they were incredibly nice. And the food was AMAZING! Then of course, we went to the cigar/piano bar.

Celebrating 6 years together

Thanks Hooper J and Boston Ren! (PPPssstt! Shiloah and Holly - time for another kid - we need a trip to Bricktown!) ;)