Between the Lines: Crabby-Style

So I'm kind of crabby with this blogging business. Here's why: I started this blog because I was losing my vow of keeping a 5-year diary in honor of my sweet Mama Potts with the whole "you have to write every single day" deal. I decided that online blogging is so 2009 and 5 year diaries are simply a thing of the past. Keep the dream alive, modern-style I thought.

The problem with online blogging is that although I suppose the very nature of an online blog is to post your thoughts in a public forum to be read by other people, I don't really know if I embrace the idea of that whole heartedly. I'm really hung up on this and can't seem to shake it. I have all of these crazy fears associated with blogging. For instance: The fear of people reading something and being offended. The fear of mis-typing something. The fear of being too open and honest. The fear of coming across as shallow...on and on it goes...

Regardless, I began my blogging days with a disclaimer. I thought that would clear the air, but no matter what, I write every post thinking "what if someone reads this and thinks I am silly?" or "what if someone reads this and gets upset?" or "what if someone reads this and thinks I am a horrible person?" or "what if someone reads this and finds out that I frequently end sentences in prepositions?". Horror of horrors.

Like tonight, for instance, I learned that in my "All in a Name" baby post, I totally blogged about my sweet, sweet friend's choice of baby names for her 2nd son. SO EMBARRASSED. SOOO sorry Gidge. Not having this conversation in some time and being overcome by the SSA's list of adorable 2008 baby names, I just threw "Parker" on the list. At the time of making my silly list, I was doing just that; making a silly list. I was not thinking and inevitably stepped on a stick of dynamite. What's worse is that I didn't even catch myself. So in my fear of offending someone, I did just that. Sadness.

Anyway, I enjoy blogging, I really do. I am absolutely addicted to reading other people's blogs. I love learning about what people are up to; the latest and greatest. I love how easy it is to document all beautiful, yet simple (and sometimes forgettable) happenings of life. I love that you can upload pictures within seconds and look back on precious memories with the click of a button. I love how you can keep in touch with the people you love by simply hitting "publish post". I love including the nitty gritty details that are waaay too much for the measly 4 lines dictated by the 5 year diary.

What I don't like is how I feel when I call an old friend and realize that we know everything that happened to each other during the week without getting to talk face to face, or how I feel like I have to sensor things so that I don't offend people, or how I feel like I have to write about something "read-worthy" even when I'm just in the mood to ramble about my favorite trashy TV show.

I do love you Mr. Blog, but do your pros outweigh your cons?

Do you see the dilemma I'm in here? Do any of you struggle with these same thoughts or am I out in left field with the whole worrying-about-what-everyone-thinks while blogging complex?

I picked back up my 5 year diary tonight and counted the number of days I have missed since starting this blog. 85. It's almost been a year since Mama Potts passed away and I took on the challenge of carrying on her legacy of journaling. I am at a cross roads. I will either a) get over it and stop being so blogodramatic, b) take this blog offline and keep on keepin' on without the silly pressure I am putting on myself, or c) pick back up the 5 year pen and paper challenge.

I'll keep you posted. (Ha. "Posted" No pun intended).

In other news, Baby D and I have had quite the week. We landed ourselves in the hospital with Virus of Doom 2009. Dreadful. It struck Monday night and got the best of us by Tuesday morning. Thank heavens for IV drugs and fluids. Thank heavens for Zofran. Thank heavens for husbands who take the very best care of you despite your matted down hair, sweat covered pjs, and un-brushed teeth (see there, too much detail for the blogosphere or do I go ahead with it??)

Regardless, we're officially 15 weeks now--yayayaya! No picture this week (didn't I paint a lovely picture with the whole matted hair, fuzzy sweater teeth comment above!?) Settling into the 2nd trimester and LOVING it (minus the whole spontaneous hospital trip ordeal). We are counting down the days until we discover if we are having a Nolan/Cooper/Tyler/Jackson/Carter/Mason or Harper/Kennedy/Riley/Madison...and we couldn't be more excited!

Now, please excuse my crabby bloggy self.

All in a Name

Just lil' ol Baby D dropping in to say "hey ya'll"!

Chris loves this pic because he thinks it looks like Baby D is headbutting the placenta. I love this picture because a) it looks as though Baby D has finally grown into his or her head b) the EDD stamp reminds us that we made it through the 1st trimester (whoooo!), and c) it was taken seconds before Baby D looked up and started clapping his or her hands in jubilation that we were sneaking a peak at him or her.

Speaking of he/she/him/her/his/her/it, our quest to find the perfect baby name has spiraled into hilariousness. We thought we had it all figured out. We had our solid boy name. We had our solid girl name. Then we decided to broaden our horizons and peruse baby names just for kicks. We are now officially dazed and confused. Here's hoping something jumps out at us or else we will be those parents being discharged from the hospital with Baby John or Jane Doe. Thankfully Hubs just reminded me (for the 3rd time this week) that we have 26 weeks to figure these kind of things out :)

What cracks me up is how we women feel the need to "own" baby names 15 years before we carry the very children we will be naming. You know you're guilty of it. I am. We all are. Seriously, step on someones baby name and you might as well step on a stick of dynamite.

My "owned" names have always been Nolan Wyatt (for a boy) and Harper Grace (for a girl). I briefly "owned" Jonah for a boy and Addison for a girl but both have since been taken. I'm recovering. I am also "leasing" the following lists of names just for kicks.

Boys, in no particular order, with accompanying comments from the peanut gallery:

Nolan Wyatt (Nolan has always been Chris' top pick; Wyatt was my sweet Mama Potts' maiden name)
Jackson (Chris loves the idea of having a little "Jack"; I grew up in a city called "Jackson"...both good points...)
Tyler (I like names spelled with 'y's, what can I say?)
Mason (another contribution from Hubs--he's all into history and has researched the Free Masons with passion over the past few years; I like it because I drink my sweet tea from a mason jar, no other way)
Carter (how stinkin' cute is "Carter"?? And like 'y's, I have a thing for 'er's' on the ends on names)
Cooper (LOVE this one, it's another "er" name, and the double 'o's are super fun too...only downside is that he might be nicknamed "Pooper" and that's just bad)
Parker (and again...the 'er' gets me)
Logan (I guess we could potentially mark this one off the list because we don't have a solid reason for liking it between the two of us, but isn't it cute??)

Girls:

Harper Grace (Harper is a family name that I just adore; Grace has always been my girl middle name...there's not another name in my mind that sums up what having a little one is all about...)
Riley (our girl version of "Tyler"--love the 'y'!)
Madison (because I would love, love, love to have a little girl and call her "Maddi Paddi" and it humors Hubs fascination with president names)
Kennedy (goes great with "Grace" and again humors the whole presidential ruckus)
Isabella (lots of cute nickname possibilities...always important)
Ella (rhymes with "Bella" which is short for "Isabella", both of which make me happy)
Madelyn (could totally be a little "Maddi Paddi" as well! That, coupled with the 'y' makes this one twice as much a possibility.)

To be honest, Chris has a TON of other names that didn't quite make it onto the mutual baby name list. His thing for Presidents' names dictates his list of top favs. Included, but not listed above, are: Theodore, Abraham, Woodrow, and Franklin. I ask, why not "Ulysses", "Millard", or "Grover" then? Thankfully we agree on Kennedy, Carter, Madison, Tyler, and Jackson. I picked them because they are adorable. He thought I picked them because they are presidents' names. Riiight. Score!

Votes? Comments? Ideas? As I sign off I can't help but wonder, did I step on any sticks of dynamite by publishing our lists??!

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.