Riddle Me This!

1 Pregnant Woman

Plus 1 Ceiling fan

Plus 1 Floor Fan

Plus 1 Thermostat Set on 67

EQUALS WHAT??

1 COLD HUSBAND!!

24 Week Belly

Ugh. I can't even comment. Oh yeah, I've lost sight of my toes...completely.

V-Day & 24 Weeks!

Well, here we are. Twenty-four weeks down...sixteen to go. The great thing about today, is that 24 weeks marks V-Day for my sweet baby. What is V-Day? Viability Day! With medical advances, if Caroline were born today, she'd have a good chance of survival. That eases my morbid mind! Happy V-Day to my Caroline!

This has not been the best week...to put it mildly. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say this week cannot end soon enough. I'm glad it's Wednesday!

24 Weeks

• Caroline's ears are fully functioning. Not just hearing, but her sense of balance! She can now tell when I roll over and stuff! (That was very scientific, wasn't it? And stuff?)


• Caroline will gain 1/2 a pound JUST THIS WEEK. This might explain why my appetite is so voracious.
  
• Caroline weighs about 1 1/3 pound.


• She is 12 inches long from head to foot. I think in honor of her footlong status, I should eat a footlong sub to celebrate! What do you think?


• Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and her lungs begin making surfactant this week.


• Her home (my uterus) is the size of a soccer ball....and she's supposedly starting to get cramped in there. She doesn't seem cramped at all. The many jabs to my organs make me think she's got plenty of room to roll around!

Those are the high points of what's happening with her this week. My back is starting to feel better. To be honest, I think I may have pulled a muscle. I just automatically attributed the back pain to pregnancy - but the more I think about it, the more it feels like a muscle problem. Ah well, either way - it feels a little better! I'll have to take a belly picture later when Judd gets home. :) Until then, here's a picture from this past weekend of the hubs, me, and baby.

23 1/2 weeks

Jon & Kate Gosselin

officially make me sick. If you don't know who I'm talking about, you must live under a rock! Just head on over to tlc.com and you'll find them. If you truly don't know who they are, then this post will be of no importance to you and you can probably just go ahead and quit reading.

I just wish that I could sit them both down and have a long talk. Maybe even tape Kate's mouth shut so she couldn't interrupt me. How can she possibly think that those 8 children would rather money and material posessions than two loving parents? When ONE person became unhappy with that reality show, the whole thing should have stopped. I know, that is probably much harder than it seems - but where are those priorities that they always talked about?!

I was watching an episode today. The one where they went to the pumpkin patch and then apple picking. "10 Little Pumpkins" was filmed in 2007. During one of the famous interview scenes, the two of them have this very conversation:

Jon: Kate provides for the kids in many different ways. Cooking and playing with them. When I think about everything that she's (Kate) doing at home, I know exactly what she's doing at home and there is NO WAY that I would want to be at home. I'm so...

Kate: All day every day.

Jon: All day every day. I am thankful for my job.

Now, two years later - Jon is at home all day long with the kids while Kate is out promoting their show and her books. She quit her job as a nurse to stay at home with the kids because that's what SHE wanted to do. Jon said in many different episodes how he liked his job because it gave him an opportunity to get out of the house. Now, Jon is unhappy. How did she not see this coming? Kate claims that she has given him many opportunities to be happy and "nothing" is going to make him happy. That is why she won't quit doing the show. Even though Jon said last season that he was tired of all of the fame and publicity and didn't want to return for another season. Kate quickly interrupted and said that they were "ready" for season 5 to start.

Putting the two of them aside - TLC should be ashamed of themselves. This show should be cancelled so this family can work on their problems. But nooo, it's a very profitable show and obviously that trumps 8 children having two parents instead of one.

They claim to be Christian people. They claim to always put their family first. That is a bunch of hogwash. Cheating? Being greedy? Selfishness? And the kicker - NOT COMMUNICATING with each other. In last night's premiere which I only watched because I wanted to see what they acted like (which was not good) the two of them said maybe 3 words to each other the whole time. Kate had just gotten back from her book tour where she was gone for 3/4 weeks in the month. She swooped in to plan the sextuplets 5th birthday party by herself because Jon needed some time alone. She repeatedly made the comment how upset she was that she was doing this by herself. How does she think he felt for the last 3 weeks? Once again, she tried to make herself look like Supermom and Jon look like a terrible father.

I know I'm harping on Kate more than Jon - but it's mostly because I feel that she's the one causing the problems by not submitting to what her husband needs. "Everything that I do, I do for my kids." What about your husband? The one you just renewed your vows with? Remember him?

Greedy, greedy, greedy. I can't hardly stand it anymore. They (including Jon!) disgust me. He shouldn't have been out partying instead of being home with his children. Drinking? Really? You have 8 kids at home! What on earth are you thinking?! You are a celebrity - like it or not. How did he really think Kate would not find out? This list could go on and on for both of them.

This is Jon & Kate in their "interview chair" in 2007.

This is Jon & Kate in their "interview chair" at the end of last season. (When Jon wanted to quit and Kate didn't.)

And here they are now. This was last night's episode. They interview separately. They did a SHORT segment where they interviewed together but neither said a word to the other. They spoke directly to the person asking the questions. Sad. Their body language says it all. Let's not even mention Kate was talking divorce statistics and how she thought they "were going to beat it...but now" she just doesn't know. Quit talking like that on the stupid show. Sit down and talk to each other! Go to counseling! Do something other than talk bad each other to magazines, talk shows, and your own show.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. Just had to get that off my chest.

Oh My Achin' Back!

I think all the weight out front is finally taking its toll on my back. Yes, all pregnant women complain about their backs - blah blah blah. TAKE PITY ON THEM. I never knew. I apologize to all women who have been pregnant because I honestly did not think your back hurt THIS badly. I owe you a HUGE apology.

I'm trying to decide if I have actually hurt my back somehow or if this is sciatica in a new form. When I was in my early 2nd trimester, I had sciatic pain that was sharp, shooting pain. It went as quickly as it came and definitely went away when I got off my feet. The pain I'm feeling right now is a dull, CONSTANT pain. It's not even an ache. It's a PAIN. I cried most of the day today because everything hurt. Sneezing, walking, turning over, everything! It all hurt. I was basically one big gigantic tear today. I think I'm out of tears. I am SO thankful that I did not have a job to go to today...I would not have made it! My back is still hurting now, but not NEARLY as bad as it was hurting earlier. I spent the day on a heating pad and taking Tylenol. :( I've been very hesitant about taking medications while pregnant and only took 1 Tylenol at a time. Today called for 2 extra strength. I probably would have taken a heavy narcotic if a doctor told me it was on a safe list.

ANYWAY, to anyone dealing with back pain (pregnant or not) I am SO sorry. My heart breaks for us.



I think it's safe to say that this is me right now. My hormones are sending me for a spin this month. Really, in the last week I've been able to tell a huge difference. I'm crying SO easily now. Little things are making me shed crocodile tears. Judd has been so sweet. Even when I'm crying, I know it's nothing that needs tears. But he keeps saying, "It's okay to cry. You can cry if you need to," which of course makes me bawl even harder because gosh darnit...that was sweet. I was really, really craving a Lenny's Deli cookie tonight. Judd offered to get me one on his way home from work and I got so excited because I had thought it about it all day. Ugh...closed for Memorial Day. I cried. Since I couldn't get out of bed, Judd was able to be very sneaky. My WONDERFUL husband told me he was cooking something for dinner, but a few minutes later came into the room with a giant cookie. He had stopped at the grocery store and gotten cookie dough and baked me a giant cookie. I cried. Ha! I enjoyed every delicious bite.

I am so blessed to have my sweet husband. I went to visit family this week and left on Thursday morning. I missed Judd so much while I was gone. I was so thrilled when he showed up on Saturday! It really made my weekend. I don't know why I missed him so much this time, but I really did. I was so happy to see him.

Well, I'm off to bed! Goodnight!

23 Weeks!

AH! Time seems to be speeding by like a bullet! I'm totally fine with that, though! We've got so much going on right now. May has been a busy month for sure. In June I'll be helping with VBS here and I'll be moving up to my doctor's appointments being every 2 weeks instead of every 3 weeks. I honestly feel like that shouldn't be me yet! I feel like that's too close together for someone as far along as I am...but wait...I'm SUPER close to my 3rd trimester. That my friends, is insane. So Caroline isn't up to a whole lot this week...a lot of maturing going on...but I'll fill you in some stuff that I find fascinating!

23 Weeks

• Baby can hear all sounds from outside the womb now.


• She also has the ability (or misfortune) to be startled! I try to startle her so she'll kick. Ha! I'm a mean Mommy.
  
• She's practicing breathing with the amniotic fluid. :)


• Her skin is becoming less see-through due to capillaries forming which give her a pink color.


• Her head is still kinda big compared to her body, but it's starting to look a little more proportionate now.


• She's about 11.5 inches now and according to the books, she should weigh about 1lb. We're 2oz ahead of the game! Ha!


• She has blood vessels developing in her lungs. (Any kind of improvement in her lungs is EXCELLENT news as it increases her chances for survival if she were to be born early.)


• Her pancreas begins functioning this week!
  

That's about the most interesting stuff going on this week. I thought I'd share some things going on with ME this week...Ahem.

23 Weeks

• I am feeling extremely crabby lately.
  
• My hormones feel more out of control now than they have so far.


• When I get really mad, my face turns red and gets super hot....STAND BACK!


• By the way, I go from being fine to raging mad in about 1.3 seconds.


• I'm back to feeling super tired.


• I must be REALLY out of shape because simply walking to the fridge makes me out of breath.


• I wake up everytime I roll over at night for 1 of 2 reasons. A.) My grunting wakes me up. B.) I have to move my 2nd pillow back under my stomach.


• I feel like I'm carrying a small microwave in my stomach. It's seriously HEAVY.


• My tears come easily nowadays.


• All of this STILL seems totally worth it. :) I love her so much.
  

23 week belly (You love my 1990-something SLCC shirt)

The table we're painting pink for her nursery!

The pink table next to the ottoman...the chair is in our living room being enjoyed!

The knob I'm putting on the table!

The letters to her name that will hang on the wall when I eventually decorate them!

An awesome handmade hat with a huge daisy clip on! I LOVE IT!

Her already full closet. We need another rod on the bottom!

Sign from hobby lobby!

I'm so sad to write this...

We've been putting off telling people on the blog (really, telling people in general) because we had high hopes. Susie, our black lab, ran away about a month ago. We tried EVERYTHING to get her back. We called the radio station and had them announce a $300 reward, put ads in 3 newspapers, put out flyers, stopped and asked random people in neighborhoods, and looked for countless hours. Susie was GENEROUSLY given to us after Reese died. She was already trained, and Judd was so excited. My heart breaks for him because he really is having a hard time with dogs. We seem to have bad luck. We still have hope that whoever has Susie will decide to give her back. We're thinking she got out, someone started playing with her and realized, "Hey! This is a trained dog! I'm keeping it!" We pray that she's in a good home, wherever she is...but we continue to pray that she comes home and ask you to do the same! I know, I ask for you to pray for us a lot. But if you've ever had a pet, you know how we feel. We have had a handful of calls of people thinking they may have seen her or people who have the wrong dog, but we're confident that word is out there so hopefully we'll get her back soon.

This is a picture of Susie the week we got her. We took her riding through town with us. :)

Letter to My Daughter

Caroline Elise,

As I sit here writing this, I can feel your little hands and feet punching and kicking away at my belly. I love that feeling. It's so strange to think how close you really are to me...but how far away you are at the same time. You're getting so much stronger these days. Sometimes, I can feel you on both sides of my belly at the same time - as if you're stretching out for a nice nap. You're 1lb, 2oz - and getting bigger every day! I can tell you're going to hit a growth spurt because of my insatiable appetite the last few days. I crave chocolate chip cookies with a cold drink. You must have a sweet tooth!

I can't tell you how much I love you already. Daddy and I talk about you all the time. We daydream about the day we'll meet you. Daddy thinks it will be in the afternoon, but I think it will be early morning. We'll see who is right! Today I went into your unfinished nursery and just stared at the brightly colored walls. I hope you enjoy your room. Your Uncle Austin even came over to help paint it! You couldn't be coming into a more loving family, little girl. You have great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and of course Mommy and Daddy who are anxiously awaiting your arrival. From the moment I found out you were coming into the world, I wondered about you. Who will you look like? Daddy? Me? A good mixture of us? Who knows, you may not look like either of us! What will you grow up to become? Maybe a doctor. Maybe you'll save lives with medicine. Maybe you'll grow up to be a mom. I hope so. I hope you get to experience this feeling one day. I think to myself constantly how amazed I am that I can love someone so much who I've never even met. Then I think about the day you'll be born and try to imagine how much more I'll love you then...but no imagination can tell. It will be infinite and unconditional. I feel like it already is, but I know most mothers tell me that nothing will compare to the love I'll have for you after you get here. I hope I'm as great of a mother to you as my mother is to me. You'll be one lucky little girl if I can live up to your Granna's standards!

Daddy has been so wonderful to us the past six months. He likes to fall asleep with his hand on my belly just in case you decide to kick. His eyes light up everytime he feels you move. He loves you so much already. He is going to be such a good daddy to you. Speaking from experience, a good Daddy is one of God's most precious gifts. I'm so glad you'll get to experience that, too.

You'll be here in just 16 short weeks. In a way that seems like ages away. To think that it's all the way in September makes it seem so long. Since May is halfway over, I've only got June, July, & August left. I can't believe time has flown so quickly...but I'm glad it has. As much as I want to see your face right this instant, I want you to stay in there and keep growing for as long as you possibly can!

We love you, little girl. I think about you every minute of every day.

Love,
Mommy

I love my MIL!

For those of you who don't know, MIL stands for Mother-in-law. Check out the AWESOME Kalencom diaper bag she snagged me at an auction. :) The second picture has the bottle carrier/insulator, diaper changing pad, and zip up baggie that goes inside! I LOVE it! Polka dots are becoming a new favorite of mine!









This is a picture of me and the belly at 22 1/2 weeks (last Friday). Please excuse my unruly hair. Pregnancy has not been kind to it, sadly.

Praise God!

Caroline is healthy! I cannot begin to tell you the relief I felt when he said, "You've got a good lookin' baby here!" He didn't have to tell me that...I knew that already! ;) She's doing very well and is weighing in a 1lb, 2oz. My little porker. We're scheduling our 3D ultrasound which will be really exciting! My next visit will be my gestational diabetes test (glucose tolerance test) and needless to say, I'm not excited. I didn't get to bring the drink home so I really hope it's refrigerated up there! I don't drink sugar in my drinks so I'm really hoping I can keep this sugary mess down. Either way, Caroline is doing great and YES, she's still a 'she.' :) I got a couple of pictures but honestly, they aren't very good and you'd probably need me there to explain what you were looking at. I might go through them later and post a couple but don't be surprised if you can't tell what you're looking at! Thank you all for the prayers! They have been answered and she's healthy and safe! Please continue to pray for us!

Would your husband do this?

This is the look I got when he realized I was photographing this wonderful experience.

Because mine did! He was so impressed with how clean the carpet shampooer was getting our rug, he volunteered to do the 2nd cleaning!! I gladly accepted! Isn't he wonderful?

It's a good thing

that I ordered our crib early! When I was ordering it, my sole thought was "just in case" something happens and it takes longer than expected. Well, looks like my "just in case" attitude actually did me some good this time! I finally called BabyTime to ask them about my crib. I was put on hold so he could check the order. Several minutes later, the man comes back and says, "Mrs. Davis, can I call you right back?" Ah oh... "Sure. That'd be fine." I knew something was going to be wrong.

The phone rang about 20 minutes later. "Unfortunately, I don't have good news for you." Oh good gracious. Turns out, the crib was never completely ordered. My end went through, but theirs didn't. He ordered my chair, ottoman, and changing table..but the crib order never went all the way through. He said it was a good thing I called, because he realized a few other orders had done the same thing. He offered to loan me a crib while I waited 5 more weeks for mine to arrive but I told him that I had ordered my crib early in just case of a situation like this! I'll be 27 weeks or so when it comes in! Had I ordered my crib around 20 weeks - I would've been 35 weeks waiting on my crib to get here! Thank goodness!

He also offered me a $50 refund for my troubles or said if I'd rather use it to buy something in the store that was fine! I'm thinking I might put it towards a rug to go in her room! Anyway - no crib for about 5 more weeks. Sadness. I was excited to put her room together. Oh well, the bright side is that I won't be without a crib when I need one! :)

22 Weeks!

Another week has passed. It's hard to imagine that in just a few short months my little girl will be here. Crazy! We're still working on the nursery - but it sure would be nice if Baby Time would call me about her crib! I ordered that crib when I was a little over 14 weeks. It's PAST time for it to be here! Ugh. Either way, when it gets here and we get her nursery finished I'll be sure to post pictures.

I go for my big anatomy scan u/s on Monday (5/18) and I'm so excited to see her again! I haven't seen her since my 16 week u/s when we found out she was a girl! Please pray that everything goes well and that it's a very uneventful u/s!

She is definitely moving a LOT now. I love it. Everyone keeps telling me that I'll grow to hate those kicks because they'll be in my ribs, etc...but for right now - I love them. Every once in a while she does a little dancing jig on my bladder which makes for a difficult time, but even then, I love those movements. They remind me that my little girl is safe and sound. I can't wait to see her and smell that new baby smell. I wonder if she'll be bald like me? I wonder if she'll have Judd's mouth or mine? In just 126 days, I'll find out. (Assuming she doesn't come late!! Please, oh please don't come late!)

22 Weeks

• Caroline now weighs 1 pound! Ah!! We're out of the ounces stage! Yay!
• She's 11 inches from head to foot. That's just 1 inch shorter than a standard ruler. She's getting big!
• Has defined facial features. In a 3D/4D ultrasound, she would look very similar to how she'll look at birth - minus all the chubby cheeks and thighs.
• Is putting on a lot more white and brown fat!
• She begins making antibodies this week.
• She is sucking her thumb a lot now (supposedly!)
• Her senses are developing more now. She can now feel things with her fingertips. She'll start touching her face, the umbilical cord, and anything around her to feel the new sensation!
• Her iris is formed (although her eyelids are still fused shut for 5 more weeks) but they have no color.
• Her tastebuds have developed and she can taste my food through the amniotic fluid! How cool!

All in all, she's just getting bigger and stronger. Her organs are all beginning to do what they're supposed to do and she's growing strong!

Now - let me surprise you with my belly picture. Like I said before - my bloat is gone! You'll be surprised what a difference it has made. My belly has also changed shapes. It looks kinda like an egg shape. My uterus is now 2cm past my bellybutton. I hear people talk about "popping" overnight and I always thought that was crazy! But sure enough...one night I went to bed with a complete inny bellybutton. The next morning...half of my bellybutton was flat! The bottom half of my bellybutton is non-existent. Judd thought this was hilarious. So without further ado...

I told you it was smaller. But GOODNESS GRACIOUS is it tight! Judd poked the lower half of my belly and said, "Wow...it's so hard!" Ha! You definitely have to excuse the junk in the back. I've been cleaning a lot and we bought some of those bags that you suck the air out to make more space and they're stacked up ready to be stored! Also, please excuse the fact that I don't match. But truly, I don't care. Ha!

Weekend Recap

Wedding

Wow! It's safe to say that this was the busiest weekend EVER! Leah's wedding was beautiful! Friday morning Judd and I got up and finished our packing, showered, grabbed the dogs and took off out the door! We then took the dogs to the vet where they both got shots and were boarded. It was 9:30am when we got out. We then filled up with gas and headed out for Birmingham, AL. We only made 2 stops on the entire 5-hour trip so I was really proud of myself (although I've never been so happy to finally get out of a car in my life!) We got checked into our hotel which I didn't take a single picture of...whoops. It was so nice! We stayed at The Tutwiler in downtown Birmingham. It was beautiful...and by far the most comfy hotel bed I've ever slept in. As soon as we got there we got settled in our room and began getting ready for the rehearsal dinner. We had DELICIOUS steaks and heard some great speeches about Ian & Leah. My mouth was seriously hurting from smiling so much! We got back to the hotel around 12am and as you can probably guess...we crashed. I was SO tired. Exhausted would probably be a better word!

The bridesmaids luncheon was the next morning at a botanical garden place in Birmingham and it was beautiful! The food was delish and dessert was even better! Then we started getting ready for the wedding. We spent the next few hours doing hair and makeup and getting dressed and helping Leah get dressed. It was so fun! Then came the wedding itself - which due to rain had to be moved indoors - but was beautiful regardless! The wedding/reception was held at Vulcan Park in Birmingham...perfect location! After the beautiful wedding came the AWESOME reception with the best band ever, slideshow, FOOD, desserts, and dancing! It was so fun! Leah was absolutely stunning. Such a beautiful bride! Ian was also very handsome in his suit!

Leah and Ian, your wedding was beautiful and I thank you so much for letting me be a part of it! We had a great weekend! I love you, both!

The next morning was a brunch that Judd and I didn't make it to because we were trying to do our best and get home before church started for night service. It poured down rain the entire way home! Luckily, Judd is an amazing driver (when it's daylight) so we got home safely with 2 hours before church! The trip home seemed so much shorter...but maybe that's because I slept for about 2 hours of it! ;)

All in all, we had a fabulous weekend! I am T-Totally exhausted though. Would you believe that I made it all weekend without ONE picture of me and Judd on my camera? Leah's photographer took some for me of us, but somehow, I never asked anyone to take one on my camera! I'm sad because we looked good! :) I'll put up her photog's picture when I see it!

Mother's Day

First of all, let me say that I have such a wonderful Mother. Mom, I'm sorry that I couldn't be there this weekend but you know how much I love you!! I couldn't ask for a better Mom and I hope you know that. You've always been there for me and I know that we'll have many more wonderful years together!

I had so many people at church last night tell me Happy Mother's Day. It felt so special. I know I haven't changed a diaper, calmed her crying, or been sleep deprived for her sake - but I have thrown up numerous times, exhausted my body, peed more times than I can count in an hour, and worried about her every single second for the last 21 weeks. That counts for something, right? (Let's not even mention that I've GROWN her!) Judd was so sweet. When we woke up on Sunday, I was still groggy because I was so tired. Judd said, "You can sleep for a few more minutes if you want to." GLADLY! So I dozed back off to sleep. A few minutes later I woke up and Judd was not in our room. I sent him a text message and asked where he was - got nothing in return! So of course I called him. Guess what my sweet husband was doing? He was walking down the streets of Birmingham trying to get my flowers from a flower shop. He had seen it the day before (but his hands were full of MY food) and the door said something about flowers "Everyday" so Judd naturally assumed that their slogan meant that they were open 7 days a week. So he went back the next morning to get me flowers. I beamed from ear to ear. Even though they were closed, it was truly the thought that counted. He tried. He remembered. It was as if I had the flowers in my hand! I was so happy! Oh how far we've come since the day I met him! (I actually got a stapler for our first Valentine's Day together...yeah.)

Baby Time

Last night after church, I stretched out on the bed and assumed the position with my hands on my belly. I felt her moving a lot so I called Judd (since he has only felt a tap here and there) and made him put his hand on my belly. After about 10 seconds of no movement, he got impatient. I told him, "You just have to be patient. Please. I want you to feel this!" So he obliged and sat next to me with his hand on my belly. We talked for a few minutes, then all of a sudden, she started doing gymnastics or kung fu fighting in there! Judd's eyes got wide and he said, "Is that her?!" I smiled! He looked like a kid at Christmas. She continually kicked and moved. I was SO excited that Judd got to feel all of it. At one point, Judd said, "She's kicking the mess out of you!" I KNOW! Ha!

I've F-I-N-A-L-L-Y lost my bloat. This made my belly considerably smaller, but I can actually tell what's baby now! I try to suck in my belly as far as I can and whatever doesn't suck in is my uterus and not just bloat! I feel like I've ruined all of my belly pictures with my horrible bloat but oh well. You'll see it on Wednesday!

This has possibly been the longest post, EVER so I'm going to end it. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a very happy Mother's Day!