A Walk in the Park

Here we are, 13 weeks! Woo hoo!

I happen to be running about a week late in posting these things. It seemed like such a good idea when I started documenting each exciting week, but mostly now I just want to spend my free time taking naps. Lots of naps.

This week's big adventure: stroller/car seat combo shopping. What fun! I woke up Saturday morning randomly consumed with the thought of picking out our travel system. Silly, I know. I stared at consumer reports and customer reviews on the computer until my eyes crossed, then I decided I would just go peek around at a few of my favorites. 2 hours later I pulled into the garage, called Chris, and asked him to come help me unload something from the trunk. I'm guessing he was picturing a few bags of groceries because the look on his face when he spotted the ENORMOUS travel system box was priceless.

He unloaded the beauty and within 5 minutes he was sprawled out on the living room floor building that crazy contraption. Here's the finished product:

It's a Graco SnugRide. Really simple and I just love the colors :) Chris was mighty proud of the gender neutral style. I was mighty proud of the 10% off coupon I used on it.

I might have already strapped the car seat into the backseat of the car to "test drive" it for a few days. My excuse was that I needed to see how well it fit, but the reality was that needed to see how well it felt to glance back and see a car seat back there. I might have been made fun of for doing so, but what can I say? I am just THAT excited about this lil' baby.

This Week's News:

Food Cravings: Thankfully the McDonald's Chicken McNugget phase has passed. This week gave way to Cinnamon Toast Crunch cravings, strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing, and Skittles. Lots of Skittles. Only problem is that I can't stand the yellow or orange ones, so those get tossed out the car window. Isn't that ridiculously wasteful? Mostly I am just oober-thankful that my long lasting relationship with food has been re-established! Goodbye nausea and wimpiness!

Emotional Basketcase Moments: saying goodbye to one of my precious kiddos at work. I typically try to save the emotional basketcase moment for after the patient leaves, but this little cutie patootie has absolutely made a difference in my life and I am so sad about the thought of not seeing her each week. Crappy insurance restrictions.

Hormonal Rage Currently Directed At: my closet. Each day we go head to head. There is typically a lot of smoke blowing and gnashing of teeth, followed by piles of reject garments on the floor. Maternity clothes shopping is not as much fun as I previously built it up to be...most maternity tops are, well, frumpy. They tie above your belly, they tie behind your back. They are cut in the shape of a small houseboat. They are itchy. They are scratchy. They are made of patterns last seen in 1983. They cost between $28-40 dollars a pop and are the cheapest things I've ever seen in my life. I refuse to dive into frumpy motherhood clothing. Surely there is some way around it?? Suggestions??

Currently Grateful For: opportunities to house hunt with Hubs, trick-or-treating fun with Buckaroo, Skittles (but only the red, purple, and green ones), gaining an extra hour of sleep this weekend, and my sweet brother's upcoming Thanksgiving trip home.

12 Weeks

12 weeks!

This week has been pretty quiet in the Davis Den. We are settling into our new routine. Chris still loves his new job and we still aren't quite over the shock of feeling so blessed. God is just so good.

We spent most of the week house hunting. We are still on the fence about what to do...Chris' commute is, at best an hour and fifteen minutes, and worse case, two hours. When we look for houses anywhere but in our little corner of the world, we get kind of sad. It doesn't make sense to buy out this way but we aren't super excited about moving closer to Roswell/Alpharetta either. Chris' solution is to buy a helicopter instead of a house. It's starting to sound like a mighty fine idea :)

This Week's News:

Food Cravings: Oh dear. Let me prepare myself for embarrassment. Ok, I'm ready to confess. McDonald's chicken McNuggets. There ya have it. The honest truth. I can't get enough of them. Three months ago you couldn't have paid me to eat Micky D's and now I do the drive thru drive of shame 2-3x per week. They are so good! Please, please let this phase pass quickly!

Emotional Basketcase Moments: Thursday night's migraine of doom that landed me in the fetal position on the bathroom floor, violently vomiting. Isn't this pregnancy thing beautiful?

Hormonal Rage Currently Directed At: People who stay in the right hand lane on the access ramp to 85 (over by Discover Mills) despite multiple "merge left" signs. You know the ones. They know their lane is going to end, yet they zoom past everyone only to cut off rule-following citizens at the last minute. They then beat me home (or to the McDonald's drive thru) and that makes me rageful.

Currently Grateful For: my fabulous MIL's fried pork chops (holy goodness), lazy Saturdays spent sleeping late, shopping, and taking naps, Wednesday playdates at the park with Austin, and possible spontaneous wedding beach trip plans for November.

You Put the Lime in the Coconut

11 weeks!

Our sweet little lime is growing like crazy! We got to sneak a peek at Baby D on Tuesday and WOW what a difference a few weeks makes! Baby was snoozing throughout the entire ultrasound...that is until Dr. Sermons made me cough. Oh boy. That little baby does NOT like to be woken up! Ha! It starting flailing about, kicking his/her legs, and pounding his/her fists. It finished it's tantrum with a few flips and rolls for kicks and giggles sake. Then it promptly fell right back to sleep.

Let me take this moment to discuss how awkward it is to call a sweet little baby "it". It seems so impersonal. You end up writing and re-writing sentences and phrasing and re-phrasing comments. For example do you go with the excessive "he/she-his/her" or simplify and say "it"? Strange, I tell you.

Here is the top view ultrasound pic. Please excuse the crookedness. I love how his/her little legs are criss-cross applesauce in this picture. Makes me laugh because I tell little ones to "sit criss-cross applesauce" ALL DAY LONG. Finally, someone listened!

The head is little alien-like, Chris says. I have to agree, but it's nothing short of a miracle to see everything coming together. For instance, Baby's palate is completely formed now (super fascinating in my profession), his/her fingers and toes have soft nails covering them, taste buds have developed, and Baby has just started to, well, pee-pee.

Speaking of "miracles", look at this adorable hand-made frame Abby J made me. Absolutely precious.

That girl is the queen of craftiness. And thoughtfulness. Love her to pieces.

This Week's News:
Food Cravings: Doritos. Dipped in ketchup.
Emotional Basketcase Moments: I cried during Jim and Pam's wedding on this week's episode of the Office. R-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s.
Hormonal Rage Currently Directed At: The 82 pound lady who works at Destination Maternity at Discover Mills. Please forgive me if she has some how made her way to my blog. For the love of pete, she needs to know how stinkin' inappropriate she is. I have to complete 3 "drive-bys" before I will even step foot in there because of multiple bad experiences with this woman.
Currently Grateful For: Hub's first week of work--yayay!, fabulous friends who I love dearly and couldn't imagine not having by my side, and pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting from Einsteins.

It's a Jungle Out There (and in here!)

Time for a few confessions. Disclaimer: If you are the type of person who doesn't buy into gimmicks and does not appreciate impulse shopping, you may be offended by continuing to read this post.

The day started with a 5am trip to the bathroom where I happened to take:

Yes. You can believe your eyes. Only a few select people know that Chris and I purchased this beauty several weeks ago and counted the days until we could take it. We are those parents.

Silly? Maybe. Accurate? Most likely NOT. Fun? Absolutely.

So. Hubs got woken up this morning by me whispering (and attempting to break up his bullhorn-like snore) by saying "Honey! We are going to have a baby BOY!" He didn't wake up until 7am . That was a lot of whispering. Aaaaand a lot of silent dance partying out of absolute joy and excitement!!

The lovely folks at Intilligender claim that their (non patented) Gender Prediction Test is 90% accurate. They follow this claim by cautioning: "Although our GPT is highly accurate, we do not advise you to make any financial or emotional decisions based on the results of this test".

Riiiiight. Enter hours of baby bedding searching online, fabric swatch selection, order form completion (and thank heavens NOT submission), and spontaneous trip to MOG for baby accessories.

While in TJ Maxx Home Goods, I spotted this ADORABLE Wendy Bellissimo bedding set on the bottom shelf of a non-baby related display.

It looks a thousand times cuter in person and I plan on accenting with lime green (or pink if our Intelligender kit ends up failing us). The custom made bedding set I had created online had a chocolate brown zebra pattern, a brown polka dotted pattern, and a solid chocolate pattern. How in the world did I run into an almost identical set in TJ Maxx? Fate? I think so! How did the online set cost $395 and the Wendy Bellissimo set cost $70?! Whoa. Talk about shopping euphoria.

Now to locate this adorable coordinating snuggle blanket:

And perhaps this cute quilt...

And approximately 1729 other Safari accessories.

What a fun, fun day!

Puppy Dogs, Rainbows, and Sugar Plums

10 weeks! Whoa Nelly. Had to pull out the ridiculous pregnant lady hands for this pic because the first 7 shots we took made me look like a whale.

A busy 10th week it has been! We are still flying high from the news of Chris' new job. It is absolutely amazing to see God's provision for us and to know that He is the giver of all gifts. I have alternated between shouting for joy and sitting in complete silence and awe over the past few days.

In my excitement in my last post, I failed to mention any details about the job, so here goes: He starts Monday. It's with a marketing firm in Roswell (Leader Enterprises). Although it is a big corporation, it's also a Christian-based company, run by Christian folks (who have told Chris that they are most excited about his upcoming transition to fatherhood). The salary is more than we could have asked for and they also offer a great benefit package. (See, this is why we are in awe of God's goodness...)

There will be some travel involved but NOTHING like the old days of Ogden Design. He will fly instead of driving across country (resulting in shorter trips AND frequent flyer miles) and will build back up his Marriott Rewards Points (yay beach trips!). His hours will be 8:30-5:30 and the commute is a little hairy, but if that's all we have to worry about, we're doing mighty fine!

We've toyed around with the idea of looking for a house somewhere in between Suwanee and Roswell to help ease the commute, but are taking things slow and livin' in the now, for now :)

I tried to buy Hubs some new pens, a new shirt, and a new alarm clock to celebrate Monday morning, but he insists that he doesn't need any of those silly things. I will make him a cookie cake instead. Boys love food.

Now for a random question/thought to ponder...at our small group last night we got into a discussion about private schools vs. public schools.

We are all young couples on the brink of entering parenthood (with the exception of a few who have already taken the plunge). The overall decision was that private schools waaaay outweigh public schools. I was the only one who sat quietly picking at my plateful of "Cereal Mountain" (more to come on that yummy goodness later). For some reason, I don't necessarily think that public schools are evil. I understand the caution with which people regard a public school education, but I honestly don't think that private schools are immune to the "crazy shenanigans" that go on in public schools.

One point that was made is that parents of kids in public school just don't care about the well being of their children. Another point was that public schools are full of hood looms and weirdos. Ok, true, but do you really want your child to be sheltered from the very variety of people that live in this world? It makes me a little sad to think that, as a parent, you might want your child to be surrounded only by like-minded people.

I don't know. It just kind of bothered me. I feel like if you take an active role in raising your children and strive to instill a firm foundation in them, that they can thrive in any situation (not only when placed in ideal situations). Am I loony tunes? Is it because I went to public school myself? Will my feelings change upon meeting our own child/children? Why am I still thinking about this conversation 12 hours later?

Thoughts?

This Week's News:

Food Cravings: Ok. Fingers crossed that we are over the yacky feeling stretch. My yack-o-meter tells me this because I have eaten 5 mayonnaise, ketchup, and salt and vinegar Pringle sandwiches in the past 3 days. I'm sure this has nothing to do with my new beached whale image. Seriously. I can't get enough of these sweet, salty, crunchy beauties. Mmm. The most psychotic part is the smiley face I draw using the ketchup. I tried just squeezing it out but you have to be careful because too much ketchup on a mayo, ketchup, and chip sandwich is just gross. The smiley face measures out just the right amount of ketchup.

Emotional Basketcase Moment: Coming home on Tuesday night to learn that Chris landed his new job. Talk about complete emotional basketcase--months of emotion all came tumbling out (in a good way, of course...not the sobbing uncontrollably kind of way).

I did however, sob uncontrollably on the way home from Mexican night this week at Monterrey. I witnessed the MOST heartbreaking scene I have ever, ever seen in a public place and I just can't stop thinking about it...a young woman sitting near us with her 2-3 year old little girl sat drinking a pitcher of Margaritas by herself. About 30 minutes into our cheese-dip and salsa, a man comes storming in and started screaming at the lady. She quietly told him that she would be filing for a divorce (why they chose to have this conversation in a public place AND in front of their child both saddens me and terrifies me--if the man treated her this way in public, I can't imagine what goes on behind closed doors.) He called her all sorts of horrible names, told her she was a complete failure, and left her at the table.

Chris had walked outside to meet our family members who were meeting us and I honestly didn't know what to do. The woman scooped up her daughter and I leaned over and asked what I could do to help. She burst into tears and said that she would be ok. Apparently the man took off in the car only to come screeching back up to get her moments later. It made me feel so bad. I've never experienced such sudden compassion for a complete stranger in all my life. I noticed that they had left their check (unpaid) on the table and decided the least I could do was pay their bill. The waiter (who I've known since I was 15) wouldn't let me pay it for them. He witnessed the whole thing too and was just beside himself. I cried the whole way home for that family. I still wish there was something I could do...

Hormonal Rage Currently Directed At: No rage. Only puppy dogs, rainbows, and sugar plums :)

Currently Grateful For: being brought to (and through) the last 14 months so that we could learn what it means to be still and wait. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

Skiddleedoo Yippee Yay!

It's 7:02 am and I am posting a blog. Why, you ask?

BECAUSE HUBBY SIGNED HIS OFFICIAL JOB OFFER YESTERDAY (and we stayed up and out waaay too late for me to blog sooner!)

To say we are beside ourselves with excitement, relief, gratefulness, praise, shock, and awe is simply not enough .

The best part: we don't have to pack up all of our belongings, rent a u-haul and move to boon-dock North Carolina! Wooooohoooooo!

This has been an incredible 14 month and 1 day journey. We have learned more than we ever imagined and have become stronger than we ever thought we needed to be. God is good and we are standing in awe of his grace.


God is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. Eph 3:20

Big Night Out!

Big night out tonight! Mark and Lori and Chris and I loaded up 10 super fun 16-17 year olds and trucked it down to Atlantic Station for Chel-Chel's 17th Birthday Bash. What fun times!! (This was my first attempt at creating a photo collage using Picasa--super fun! Does anyone happen to know how to change the positions of the photos? I tried to click and drag and gave up waaay to quickly. I want that teeny tiny group picture to be the biggest one on the collage but can't figure it out).

We had dinner at Fox Sports Bar and Grill where we were, holy goodness, introduced to their incredibly delish blue cheese-n-bacon chips. I know-blue cheese is a no-no for preggo girls, but I have decided that if I can actually eat it, I will.

We endured much car dancing and singing on the way home (and secretly joined in and had a fabulous time doing so).

It was our first true chaperone experience where we sat at the big-kid table and had to keep a safe distance while cruising around Atlantic Station.

Old or not old, we had a total blast :) Happy birthday Chelsea girl!