Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken so long. I've just been keeping myself busy with two little ones.
It's been REMARKABLY easy! Brea absolutely loves her little brother and when he settles in for the night he'll sleep 6 hours straight nearly every night. The transition has been so smooth!

There have been some emotional times.. it took a little while for Andy to get adjusted to another baby in the family and not having all the free time together that we generally had, and it's taken a little while for me to get used to my sleep getting cut a little short again.
Sometimes though, I feel like I need to rant a little bit.
I'm 21 years old. I'm pretty sure I'm still what you'd call young.
Just because I might be a little too busy to do something doesn't mean I wouldn't like to at least be invited. Because there could be some days (and there have been my share) that I've been stuck here at home (one vehicle, Andy working evenings..) that I've been in tears just wishing I could have some kind of interaction with humans that know more than 20 words of the english language.
I hate feeling left out. :(
It can't be because it would be too much trouble with the babies... Rand sleeps all the time and Brea is incredibly well behaved.
It's just as though now that I'm a mommy I just wouldn't enjoy company of people my own age or even younger? Even older.. It's hard sometimes hearing all these plans and things going on with people I know and wishing I could have gotten an invitation. I'm not a party crasher, and I'm not about to ask 'hey can I come along..?' when it's obvious that I haven't been considered to invite. That just seems rude and defeats the purpose: I don't want to be somewhere I am not really wanted to be at, you know?
It just really, really stinks to feel left out and ignored.
Just a reminder for any of you baby-less younger people... just because someone has babies doesn't mean they don't appreciate your company or wouldn't like to just enjoy themselves upon occasion. Don't leave them out, please!!
Sorry if this turned out to be rant..

In other news, Rand is now 11 pounds! All the nurses were amazed to see how BIG he is. haha I forget how long he is... I know he's over 21 inches now. He picks his head up so well and looks around, when he's awake he's always trying to look at everything. We love him a lot! ;)

I think I'm going to jump off the computer for now. I don't have my cellphone with me in the evenings, so if you ever wanna talk, send me a message via here or facebook, if you'd like!

Love to all! ♥

One happy momma ♥

Rand Luther Cravens
November 24, 2009
11:56am

8 pounds 13 ounces
20 inches long


We love our little man!!!!!!
♥

It's a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!

I fully expected to update sooner than this.. but I guess it's better late than never!

This past week has been incredibly busy. I think we've been out doing some sort of errand every day this week. Although I really hate Andy lost a whole day of work, it sure was nice to have him off two days in a row and know I get him another day on Saturday! I've so missed spending time with him. This was the first really good time we've spent together since I've gotten home!

I got home from Kentucky about two weeks ago, I think. Already seems like it's been longer! :( Brea keeps looking for memaw and pepaw, gathering toys and asking us to please take her 'bye bye'! Thankfully webcam and phone calls have been keeping us together lately. I sure do miss seeing them all the time, though! :( And Brea and Andy definitely does, too.

Tuesday evening we went to a town hall meeting about Obamacare. Imagine this: there were no pitchfork carrying mobsters! In fact, the one person who kept causing problems was someone in favor of the bill screaming at our representative that he was telling falsehoods, and eventually had to be escorted out by the sheriff until she calmed down. Andy and I think she was a plant from Acorn. ;)
Anyway, it was REALLY good. I really like Paul Broun and want to do some studying into how he has voted in the past. He seems like a really great conservative man to have on our side.

Tonight I went out on a limb and made something new, and it turned out really GOOD! At Sams Club we bought this big strip of uncut tenderloin. Thanks to this site and Andy's help reading off the directions to me from the laptop, we were able to learn how to cut it. We ended up with a meal of small strip steaks, some stew meat, and 5 meals of... filet mignon!
I read up on all the tips online and ended up searing it in a skillet with rosemary, garlic, and butter. I left out the onions and mushrooms since I know Andy wouldn't eat them, and I wouldn't eat the onions, most likely, and stuck with the simple flavors. It was AMAZING. Not bragging. Just, I love steak. And the crusty top, garlic, and rare middle (Andy's was less so since he likes well done steaks, but I always eat them as rare as possible) was sooooo good.
We also had some blue cheese potatoes. But instead of putting them in potato shells as we'll be doing for friends on Saturday, I just made them like mashed potatoes. There wasn't enough time to actually bake them, and I didn't want to make them in the microwave.
Anyway, I'm pretty happy about it. Except for helping momma while in Kentucky it seems like it's been so long since I've cooked! We've been so busy these past few weeks to a month everything was something quick thrown together. We haven't enjoyed a meal like this in a long time. (We also had corn and garlic bread.)
Andy left the apartment saying he was going to be bragging about dinner to everyone at work for the rest of the night. I absolutely love it when he tells me he loves my cooking. I like making his belly (and him!) happy. :D

TOMORROW IS OUR ULTRASOUND!!
So far I've had some voters on facebook, and this is where the tally stands:
(also, any votes on here will be added as I can here. :D)

GIRL: 8
TWIN GIRLS: 1 :P haha

BOY: 11

Does anyone want to join in the fun before the news is announced tomorrow? :D

Also it's my icky GCT test tomorrow... I have to remember not to eat after midnight if I'm still awake. I sure hope I pass okay! *bites nails*

Sorry this isn't much of a post, but I'll try to do better from now on, if I can! ;)

Let us be THANKFUL:
- To God for allowing us freedom in the first place and letting us live in freedom in this amazing country...
- For the founding fathers/leaders who GAVE THEIR LIVES to overthrow the tyranny so many years ago, although I've learned some people consider them to be "overindulged children" who simply were of the mindset 'I want what I want! Give it to me now!' instead of people who KNEW they could be viciously murdered for being a 'traitor' to England, but realized IT WAS WORTH IT ALL to allow their children and children's children to have FREEDOM...
- To our troops who GIVE THEIR LIVES NOW to help us keep it. No matter what you think of any war, these men and women have enlisted to risk THEIR LIVES so we can sit safely home and have the freedom complain. Give them some respect.
It's time that WE do something, too!

A fact I learned this morning from Andy:
Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, five were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes burned to the ground. Two lost sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, and two more had sons captured. Nine fought and died in the Revolutionary War.

WHERE would we be right now if these men had've sat on their hands idly and not fought for our freedom?

Let's not forget what Benjamin Franklin said when a woman asked him as he left the Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation, 'Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?' His responce: "A Republic, if you can keep it."