Just a little over a month after our wedding we found out we were expecting Baby #2! And no, no, no that is not why I was sick at our wedding..I was not pregnant at our wedding..in fact...we got pregnant that night! :) This pregnancy was not near as easy as Drew's was. I was miserable the whole time! I was fat, felt ugly, swollen, you name it! I gained over 50 pounds with Dylan!! I had a pretty healthy pregnancy with Dylan as well, again, until I was close to the end. I went into pre-term labor 3 times before I actually went into the "real thing" labor. Just a couple shots to stop the labor and I was good to go. I took some time off of work a couple months before Dylan was born to spend some last special moments with Drew by myself. It was worth it because moving from having one child to two...wow...lots of work and they need lots of attention! The night before I went into labor for the real deal, I knew I was going to be having the baby that weekend. I woke up that morning, went to a wedding shower, let everyone feel my belly when I was having a contractions! Then, after the shower I went to the hospital to visit my cousin's newborn he had that day! I told the nurses I would be back to the hospital later ready to deliver my baby! Haha! Sure enough, I went home to clean, walk, pack, walk. Then about 10pm we took Drew to Justin's parents, went home to go on another walk/run and headed to the hospital. By that time I was dilated to a 5! I was admitted the hospital and was ready to have the baby! Then my contractions stopped! I couldn't believe it! Dr said I had two choices, go home or break my water. Of course, I chose to break my water. I wasn't leaving that hospital without a baby this time! Sure enough a 6 lb 15 oz baby came Septemeber 6, 2009 at 2:42pm!! Again, I pushed for like 4 minutes and was laughing the whole time. If I recall, Dr Gates was rushing to get a nurse in the room because he was coming whether she was there or not!

 Here is our precious baby.....

 Looks like he is waving hello!


Big brother Drew was just as in love as Mommy and Daddy!

Dylan was just perfect, of course!




One of my favorite pictures from the birth of Dylan..Really captures how happy I was!


And now our family of 4 begins!


Drew was 2 1/2 when Dylan was born and he was an amazing big brother! He loved him so much! He was such a big help!


We adjusted well with two kids...now it was time for Halloween! This year, my boys, my nephew, and my niece were all T-Birds and a Pink Lady for Halloween. It was the cutest thing!



Dylan at 2 months...he was beginning to be such a chunker! And Mommy LOVED his hair...


And of course this chunker enjoyed his first Thanksgiving feast! He was only 2 months old and he was already eating the mashed potatos!!!


Christmas 2009!! He had no idea what was going on...but he seemed to enjoy it! :)



Easter was one of Dylan's favorite first holidays. He was about 6 months old. Our Aunt Donna decided to bring a real bunny to Easter that year. After the bunny met Dylan I am almost positive he wanted to be somewhere else! :)




Of course that summer we needed to take Dylan to his first Cardinal Game! He actually had a blast! It was soooo hot, but he really enjoyed it!


At only 9 months old this boy was ready for his first haircut! He did such a great job! His hair was wild crazy and Mommy kept some for his baby book!


At the end of his first summer, just a little under a year old, he went to Disney World for the first time! Luckily, for Mommy he could not walk yet. This made it easier as we were chasing his big brother Drew around. Dylan's favorite was Mommy's favorite, the Tea Cups! What a lucky boy to already be going to Disney World and not even a year old yet!!!







After we got home from Disney, it was time to plan his FIRST birthday! Once again, as Drew's, this year flew by! He was such an awesome baby! We called him little monkey, so we, well I guess I should say I, decided on a monkey theme! The party turned out more than great! We were at our new home now, so the party was held in our backyard. He too, like his big brother, started walking around his first birthday!






Now, Dylan is 22 months! Just a few months away from his 2nd birthday! He is such a happy little boy! He wants to do everything like his brother. He runs around the house copying absolutely everything Drew does. They are best buddies. Drew still likes to take care of him. I can not believe he is about to be 2! He is such a great blessing and we love him very much!!

Oh, boy! Drew was definetly a suprise, but he was the BEST suprise that you could ask for! I had a pretty easy pregnancy, so I thought.....I had lots of "morning/all day sickness" at the beginning, but that went away! Towards the end of the pregnancy, I think I was about 7 1/2-8 months pregnant, I spent some time in the hospital with high blood pressure. I blame my mother for this! She actually called the hospital and had a nurse call me to tell me to come into the hospital to get checked out. So I did, and they kept me! I ended up having preclampsia, which is high blood pressure in pregnancy. Boy was that NO FUN!!!! They released me, then I was back a week later..this time they didn't let me leave! And to make it even more fun, it was in the middle of my finals for school! Ahhh!!! But of course, my teachers understood and I took them a month later. But anywho...I had been doing pretty good on weight gain, only gaining a little over 20 pounds...but boy did that change once I stayed in the hospital! I gained 10 pounds OVERNIGHT!! This sickness I had was no joke! They ended up inducing me 3 weeks early because my blood pressure was so bad. I remember in labor the top number being around 225! No joke! I was so sick during labor because of my blood pressure. I was all drugged up with nausea meds, blood pressure meds, etc... About 2:45 am on May 10, 2007 it was time to start pushing! I pushed for less than 10 minutes and he was here! The doctor kind of helped by pulling him out. My mother was about to pass out because my blood pressure was sky rocketing, so she left the room to get a drink thinking she had enough time to get back before he was born..nope, she walked in right after he was out! But thank god for my mother! Gosh, I definetly needed her during this! So after all the scariness of the labor Andrew Paul Barrington was finally here!!! Born at 3:09 am...May 10, 2007 weighing 5 lbs 11 oz!!

I fell in love instantly!


I had never loved someone so much! It was such a wonderful feeling! He was my life! And he was perfect!


To me, he was just the most awesome little baby! Just at only a few weeks old he attended his first Cardinal Game! This was very important to Daddy! And we even went to Fredbirds locker thanks to my dad to meet Fredbird!


Of course, we had to make it to a few more Cardinal Games that summer!




The more he grew, I think the more I feel in love with him!


Along came fall for Mommy's 2nd favorite time of the year! HALLOWEEN! Mommy decided he would be Mickey Mouse and Mommy would be Minnie! :) His outfit turned out perfect! He was the cutest little Mickey!



Time went on to to his first Thanksgiving! We celebrated with family!


Now, Mommys FAVORITE time of the year! CHRISTMAS! Of course this baby boy was soooo spoiled at Christmas! Who wouldn't want to spoil his precious sweet little face?!?! He had a wonderful first Christmas!!!



Leigh Bedokis was wonderful to do his 6 month pictures! We did it Christmas style of  course! :)

I hang this picture up year round because I love it so much!!

Then comes Spring! Drew enjoyed his first Easter!




One year has went by and it was the most fabulous year EVER! I couldn't have asked for anything better than being a Mommy! I found the reason I was put on this earth and that was to be a Mother. Then it was time to celebrate Baby Drew's 1st Birthday! That year went by quickly! We celebrated out at Cannon Park in Carterville. We stuck with the baby elephant theme to honor Grandma Louese who passed away just a few weeks after Drew was born.

 This big boy starting walked just days before his first birthday!! He thought it was hilarous!!




MMMM..Cake!!


Now, Drew is 4 years old with a personality all his own! He is into sports, Cars, WWE wrestling, trains...He started Pre-K last fall and he has grown up so much. It makes me both sad and happy to look back at the first year of his life. Sad because he's no longer a baby, but happy because I enjoy watching him grow and learn new things each and every day! He is an amazing child! I couldn't imagine my life without him! 

December 20, 2008 was such an amazing day! We got married at the Methodist Church in Marion followed by a reception at the SIU Ballrooms in Carbondale. The day was completly calm and non-stressful thanks to my wedding coordinator, Christine Kruse! She did an amazing job! AND she had to try to take care of a SICK bride!! I don't know what was wrong with me! I woke up feeling great that morning, then it kicked in! My NERVES! I couldn't eat and was getting sick all day, literally up until the point when I walked down the aisle! But then it all went away. As I was up on the alter with Justin, everyone disappeared! It felt like no one else was in the room! My favorite part about our wedding day was the ceremony! I thought it turned out so beautiful! Our wedding party was quite huge with each of us having 7 bridesmaids/groomsmen, 6 ushers, and we wanted each of our nieces and nephews plus Drew in our wedding...so they were all included as well! Drew was only 1 1/2 when we got married. I wanted him to carry my train down the aisle, but he was too young, so he got his own little special entrace in a sleigh. :) Here are some of my favorites from my wedding....

So, as I was so nervous and sick..the boys were all having a GREAT time in the choir room....
 We did have such an amazing, fun wedding party! :)

Even though I was under the weather, you could not tell in any of our pictures!

the KISS.....

Christmas is my favorite time of the year! So we got married only 5 days before Christmas! I didn't want the whole wedding to be Christmas themed, but we did incorporate a few little Christmas details into the wedding. Each table was named a Christmas song, the favors were red Christmas ornaments that had brown ribbon that said "Justin and Brista December 20, 2008", and one of my favorites....instead of bubbles..roses..etc...we had everyone throw snow as we walked out of the church!

We walked out to a huge party limo! My dad rented us a 28 passenger stretch Hummer! It was awesome! Complete with Dom Perignon champagne in the limo with red strobe lights. It was great! I think the wedding party LOVED it!

I loved our decorations! Our wedding decorator was Jodi Duncan, from my hometown of Harrisburg. She did an amazing job! My colors were red, brown, and gold...the flowers were just PERFECT!
And I loved programs as well!

We had our Aunt Linda make our cake! It turned out awesome! And to make it even better, she made a side cheesecake for the bride since I don't eat cake! She has since made more wedding cakes because everyone just loved the one she made for me!

I chose "When I said I Do" by Clint Black for Justin and I's first dance and "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw for the Father of the Bride Dance.

Our reception was at the SIU Ballrooms...so inside the ballrooms I wanted everything to be warm with reds and browns. Outside of the ballrooms is a lounge that was all white and silver. I wanted it to feel snowy and cold..One of my favorite parts of the lounge was our wish tree.

Something fun for our guest to do was the Photo Booth! We rented a Photo Booth and had our guests take pictures and put a copy in a scrapbook and leave us a message! I have to say we got some interesting pictures and it was quite funny to read the comments the next day!

All in all, past the sickness, it was a GREAT day! I love looking back at our wedding pictures and thinking back to great wedding memories! This year will make 3 years for Justin and I! And many more to come......