New Beginnings

Hello, dear readers. D here again, ready to take you through another post. This post is brought to you today by the letters H, O, and T. We have been stuck in a pattern of heat and humidity. While that is status quo for us here in the South, the last two weeks have been a bit much. I guess this is just my punishment for making fun of Al Gore on Twitter one of those heat waves that comes around every so often. The heat has been especially tough on Ginny, but she has been a trooper and coped well. The lower back and leg pain bothers her more, but with only 4 weeks and a couple of days until splashdown, she's in the home stretch.

As for the title of this post, I am writing this from the love-seat in the den of our house! Although we had been taking about 5 boxes over here each day for the last week, today we moved the majority of our belongings from the apartment. We began at 7 am sharp and ended at 11 am (almost sharp). We hit our goal end time, which was great given that I lost about 10 pounds of water weight in the process and smelled like a high school locker room. We had a tremendous amount of help, for which Ginny and I are so very thankful. Mom, Ma'am, Andrew, Erin, Emily, Seth, Patsy, Mike, and our truck and trailer man Michael all chipped in, which was good, because frankly there's no way Ginny could have moved the washer and dryer down the stairs by herself. (Note to all, she was forbidden from carrying any box.)

Ginny will be along with pictures at some point I'm sure, but right now she's a little preoccupied with boxes, baby, and taking it easy. She'll be 36 weeks Monday and starts her once-a-week appointments, too. Little Giant Baby Nyla is almost here; her room is ready; and I'm ready to live blog from the delivery room welcome her into my arms and family.

Until next time, remember, drink lots of water and stay cool!

-D

On Baby Showers and Houses

Well, dear readers, your friend Daniel is back to captain this post on a Sunday morning. Ginny is still asleep, and I'm awake.

As Ginny's last post explained, we have become homeowners. Work is progressing nicely on the house, and the professional work should be completed this Wednesday, at which point the non-professionals (yours truly and whoever else I can get to work for free), will come in to finish the painting of the hall and master bedroom. Note to all married women, if you don't want to help move, paint, and do a lot of work for the house, get pregnant. Anyway, we plan to move in two weekends from now, which is the weekend of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Not ideal, I know, but the tournament is at Pebble Beach on the left coast, meaning a later start and finish to coverage. Both of us are excited to get into our own place, and Nyla is especially excited to have her own room, at least that what I would imagine.

Speaking of Nyla, Ginny and the Giant Baby Nyla will be 34 weeks Monday. 6 weeks until the due date... wow! At the 32-week appointment, Ginny's belly measured 34 weeks. Our little girl continues to be above average (I never had any doubt of course). At 28 weeks, her weight was estimated at 3 lbs 1 oz. By this point, babies gain about an ounce a day, so if you figure one ounce gained per day for 6 weeks, that's 42 days --> 42 ounces, or 2 lbs 10 oz. So she is already at 5 pounds 11 oz, give or take a few ounces. Of course, with Ginny continuing to measure ahead, she could be larger. Watching Nyla move around in Ginny's belly is pretty cool. It never fails that every night, when we get in bed to read, the wave pool in her belly starts. What she does in there I have no idea. I imagine she's working on her jump shot or backswing.

Anyway, the last two days Nyla has been spoiled rotten, first my co-workers Friday, then my family and friends yesterday. Better for other people to spoil her than me though. I'm sure G will be along later with some pictures of her room and goodies we have received.

While we're on the topic of showers, can I just say that being the one to open the presents is a big responsibility? Both Friday and Saturday, I would open the presents and show the gift off for all to see. The problem? Several times, the clothes were either backwards, upside down, or some other variation. I had better figure out how they go on before I try and put Nyla's head through a pants leg. I'm sure she'll let me know if I'm doing something wrong!

That's all for now. We'll try and keep this updated a little better. We have been busy with doctor visits, house searches, and trying to stop the Gulf oil spill. (Ok, that last one isn't true, but I wouldn't have to work ever again if I could be the one to stop it.)

-D

We're Homeowners!!!

Yes, we're homeowners!

We're very excited!

We closed Friday, May 21st at 3:00 p.m. and were over there cleaning and prepping walls for painting by 3:45! Can you tell we're a little excited?

We're hired some people to renovate some items in the house, they start Monday and should be done within 2-3 weeks. Actually, they have to be done in 3 weeks, that is what we worked out since Nyla could make her appearance soon after they finish their work. We have got to get moved in and her room and our room set-up, just in case she comes 4 weeks early. I am very prepared and organized, so yes I will be ready in case she surprises us by coming early.

We took "before" pictures when we got to the house yesterday, so I'll post them soon so you can see our sweet little house, that we are very excited about.

Another good thing, we had 3 people stop by and tell us "hi" and "welcome." We had been there a matter of hours and all those people came and introduced themselves. That is wonderful and amazing! It makes us want to move in now! They were all very nice and so excited to see the house sold (been on the market about 6 months and empty) and they were excited to see a young couple too. The whole cove seems nice and they've said it's really quiet. There's an older couple that say it's like living in the country because it's so quiet. This is good because we are homebodies and very quiet ourselves, so we'll have no problem fitting in!

Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to homeownership. Also please pray Nyla doesn't come too early because we are not ready for her. I am so used to lifting whatever I want, working for however long I want and doing what I want. It's a difficult adjustment to be pregnant and not be able to do all these things how and when I want. I'm really trying to be good about sitting more than I stand and taking more breaks so she doesn't decide she's had enough and comes early. We don't want that just yet! Please wait 4 more weeks sweet girl!

Pictures to come soon!

28 Weeks!

I'm 28 weeks, I can't believe I'm already in my 3rd trimester! My pregnancy is flying by.

We went to the doctor yesterday and got to see our beautiful baby girl again. They FINALLY were able to get all the pictures they've been needing of her heart. It only took 3 different ultrasounds over the past 8 weeks. I hope she is just shy and not stubborn!

Everything from the ultrasound looked great. She is getting so big! 4 weeks ago she was about 1 pound and 10 ounces, 4 weeks later (yesterday) she was 3 pounds 1 ounce. Wow! She is getting big fast! She is in the 73 percentile of weight and about 9 days ahead of the average. Our Doctor isn't concerned and said some babies are bigger than others. I knew we'd have a big baby though, I've been expecting it. My momma had 2 big babies. I was almost 10 pounds and my sister was just over 9, so I've been expecting an almost 9 pound baby. Looks like I could be right!

Some people have wondered if they've gotten my due date wrong. There's been no talk of that, so I'm honestly not sure. It would seem that they've gotten it wrong. I got my first ultrasound at 20 weeks and she was 5 days ahead of average then and was 5 days ahead 4 weeks ago and now she's 9 days ahead. So is she just big or is my date wrong? I guess only time will tell!

I still feel great and still have a decent amount of energy. I do have to rest a little more once I get busy doing my work, but that's normal, I am in my 3rd trimester. I'm really trying to pay attention and listen to my body. I don't want her to come to early. I do feel tired enough after lunch that I want to take naps. This is so unusual for me because I'm not a big nap person. I usually only want to nap if I'm sick or haven't slept great the night before. For me to think about napping everyday is very unusual.

Daniel and I enjoyed a nice weekend together. I'm really enjoying our last few weeks as a family of 2! It's finally hitting me that soon we'll be a family of 3. It'll be different when she comes, but I know it'll be great. The past 27 weeks I've really only thought about being pregnant and been in awe of being pregnant. I'm so thankful that I'm able to become pregnant. I feel so blessed!

It's starting to hit me that I'm going to be a mom. A mom! WOW! We're going to have a child who depends on us for life's essentials and more. It's a bit overwhelming and we've had a bit of anxiety because of this the past few weeks, it just takes some time to get used to the idea of becoming parents. Another life depends on us. We know it'll be an amazing adventure to add a child to our life!

We ask for your prayers for the next 12 weeks, for an easy and safe delivery with no complications and prayers over the years to come as we take parenting one day at a time. Thanks!

Nyla Updates

Dear readers, it has been too long since we last met. Unfortunately, the day-to-day activities of life have kept me from posting on here like I have wanted.

But today, here I am writing a post and giving the people what they want - thoughts about health care reform, global warming, and NFL football players in trouble with the law parenthood.

We're closing in on three months until little girl is due to make her debut in this world. Will she actually be born on her due date? Only the Good Lord knows. Ginny's belly is poking out with her little baby bump, and, like all husbands, or at least the good ones, I think she looks the most beautiful now! And I'm saying this because I forgot her birthday it's 100% true!

Last Saturday, Ginny's and her family's friends threw the first baby shower of the Nyla Era. While I would have loved to have attended, that was the third round of the Masters. Plus, I wasn't invited anyway. Win-win for all, especially Nyla, who picked up some great stuff. The two most important, to me, were the car seat and sound machine. Without the car seat, we would have had to leave her at the hospital. (Note to Nyla, if you ever stumble upon this blog after many years, I was only kidding. We would have moved in with you at the hosptial if we didn't get a car seat.) The sound machine is great. Rain and the ocean are my favorite two sounds. The other sounds are a babbling brook, which just makes me want to go to the bathroom go trout fishing, the heartbeat, which I imagine reminds little girl of the womb but I find to be creepy on a Tell-Tale Heart level, and a summer night, which I don't like because the chirping of crickets and cicadas only make me want to find them and squash them (assuming the cicada would not scare the crap out of me).

Because little Nyla has not cooperated with the ultrasound technicians, we get another chance to see our stubborn little girl April 26th - which happens to be the date John Wilkes Booth was caught and killed by the Union calvary, or our 2-year wedding anniversary. Hopefully we can get the remaining pictures of her little heart and know for sure that she's 100% healthy.

Look for other possible updates over the next few weeks! As well as trivia for bonus points in the Baby-Palooza contest!

-D