Twenty-Three Weeks!

Baby Davis is growing and moving around lots. I am currently 23 weeks pregnant and the baby should be about 1 lbs at this point and 10 to 12 inches in length. Goober should also be sleeping about 12 to 14 hours a day, there is no way this baby sleeps that much. Goober seems to be in constant motion which makes me laugh. I was not showing for a long time but I seem to have popped all the sudden and feel much bigger every morning. I am beginning to feel specific body parts which is pretty cool. I'll feel pressure and when I push on my stomach I can feel a hard section rather then a squishy section. I don't know what part exactly I am feeling but I know its a body part. We visit our OB next week and Lindsay (who is also seeing the same OB) said he will tell us how to tell specific parts. That is pretty exciting.

As we get closer we are starting to talk about what our baby will look like. Matt keeps asking me what my gut is as to whether its a boy or girl. I really have no idea it changes everyday. I have been experiencing lots of heartburn and the wives tale says that means our baby will be born with hair. If you look at the pictures below we are guaranteed to have a baby with dark hair based on what Matt and I both looked like when we were born. It also looks like if our baby takes after their parents it will be super tiny. Matt and I were both tiny, especially Matt. I am getting so excited to see our little Goober!

Baby Matt

Baby Chelsey

Crib OR Crate?

My husband is a Saint! He has taken me to almost every baby boutique within an hour radius of our home looking for the perfect crib for Baby Davis. Although I am sure he would love to spend the day on the couch watching football, he would probably admit that he has enjoyed spending time with his "whole family" (as he calls me and Goober) shopping. I unfortunately have very expensive taste so we have travelled around looking for a crib that matches my vision while staying in our price range. We have narrowed it down to the two cribs shown below. My idea is to do the nursery in gray and white and then depending on the gender add blue or pink accents once the baby is born. What we have found though, is white is way harder to come by then you'd think. I really like the new cribs that have lower sides, I think they look more modern plus since I am short it makes it way easier for me to get a baby out of. I also like the modern look of the straight lines. I feel like some of the cribs get too big and ornate looking and I don't want that to be the only thing people look at in the nursery. So take a look at the pictures and make your pick, and I'll explain the dilemma below.

Element Crib by AP Industries, in cottage white

Kendall Crib by Pottery Barn Kids , in white

So...what we have found is that the Element crib comes in what they call "cottage white" and is a nice white colour, exactly what you would expect when you hear white. The problem is, Paige (here's your shout out as requested) thinks it looks like a dog crate. I think it's trendy but??? The Pottery Barn crib looks white in all the pictures online and in their catalogue however, when you see it in person it is an antique white colour and when you put a white quilt with it the crib looks yellow. They do this so you have to purchase all the matching pieces but when operating on a budget we can't afford to do your whole nursery in PB Kids. So we went to visit this crib since we were told the spring white colour was more white. When we saw it it was still super yellow looking. The sales associate helping us was trying to sell it regardless of the fact that I didn't like it. I was holding up paint samples I had collected to see if I could make it work but still wasn't sold. She finally asked me what my colours were and when I told her she said "Well, that's not exactly in style right now"....I was like Oh no you didn't. Can you believe the nerve of this lady to tell a pregnant woman that her vision for the perfect nursery was not in style? She was a little bit older so I am writing her rude comment off as a hormonal imbalance of her own.

So what to do...crate or yellow crib? Pretty sure we are settled on the crate. It seemed to work well for Urban. :)

Working Nine to Five What a Way to Make a Living

I am pleased to announce that I will be starting a new job on Monday working for Muskoka Woods Youth Foundation. Some of you knew I was interviewing for this job and had even received an offer for them however, we were waiting for final conformation from a meeting with the board of directors. Since it is a non-profit organization the board had to approve the budget which happened on Thursday of this week. I will be taking care of the fund raising letters as well as working on grants and doing donor research for them. I will be working primarily from home and visiting their Toronto office when needed. Once the baby comes I will take a shortened maternity leave and likely return part-time, but again from home. Muskoka Woods is a Christian sports camp where I will be helping raise money for new facilities, scholarships for counselors, and raising funds to send under privileged kids to camp. Here is the website for the camp http://www.muskokawoods.com/. Matt is super excited as one of the components of my job includes spending some time at the camp this summer. The plan right now would be for Matt to come with me and help with the baby while I'm there. He is excited because the camp has the same boat as the Davis Family. I keep reminding him that he will be the babysitter not a camper when we are there :). It should be pretty interesting!

We are super excited to go back to a somewhat normal schedule. Matt keeps saying "I get my wife back!" While God has continued to provide for our family, working in the factory on the afternoon shift was less than ideal for our life as a young couple. This job not only provides us with flexibility for when the baby comes but it is also exactly what I have been looking for since I started my job search. While trying at times, God has had a clear hand in providing this opportunity at the perfect time and we are so excited!!!

Half Way There!!!

I am so happy to announce that we are halfway through our pregnancy! As much as I love getting chubby and not being able to sleep through the night due to bathroom breaks and achy legs, I am also super excited to have this baby out and feel like there is a better reason for me not sleeping through the night :). We are 20 weeks pregnant and our baby is the size of a cantaloupe. I had my last appointment with my family doctor, Dr. Hendrie yesterday. At my appointment they checked my weight, blood pressure, baby heartbeat and went through all our ultrasound results with me. I have gained 4.5 lbs to date which is on the low side but they said based on the ultrasound the baby is the perfect size and in the perfect position so there is nothing to worry about. Based on all their measurements and math our due date is still set for May 28th, however he did tell me it's completely normal to go 2 weeks early or 2 weeks late...that's a large window if you ask me. We (more so me then Matt but he complied) decided to not find out the gender of our baby so we are still in the dark. If you will remember from an earlier post there is a wives tale about the baby heartbeat, faster means a girl and slower is a boy. Our first appointment the beat was a girl, the second the beat was a boy and this time the beat was on the line...Goober is keeping us guessing. Either way it is a healthy beat and that's all we are concerned with at this point. Dr. Hendrie is now passing my file to Dr. Mayer a local OB here in Guelph. We will have our first appointment with him February 8th and then visit him regularly until he delivers for us at the end.

How Big Is Mommy's Tummy?

It has taken me a little while to put on some baby weight but it is starting to come now. I'm not sure what my weight gain to date is, but I will find on Monday at my doctors appointment. In the meantime I have a number of friends who are also pregnant right now and every few weeks they post pictures of their growth. I felt so left out because I would look silly posting pictures of my 12, 14, 16, and 18 week pictures. However...I do have growth and hence some pictures. When Matt was taking the first he told me to turn to the side, when I told him I was he told me to stick my stomach out a little...so the first picture is at about 19 weeks pregnant wearing a maternity long sleeve-t. It makes me laugh because it looks like some of my weight has settled in my face, but not much in my belly. The second picture is at 20 weeks, which I took myself (hence the super concentrated look on my face) because I felt like I looked more pregnant than normal. I thought I was going to make it through my entire pregnancy in my regular jeans but this week I have started to notice them getting a little bit tight. it won't be too much longer before I'll need to give in and by maternity pants. Matt and I think it's funny when we go into Baby stores and people as us who we are shopping for, they are always shocked to find out its us and that I am 41/2 months pregnant. We look silly shopping for baby things, but we are legitimate baby shoppers!

Lots of exciting things are going on so stay tuned, we are getting closer to moving into a new place, buying new furniture for the nursery, and all the other accessories we will need for the nursery. We will post about all of them as we get them. Love you all!

Meet, Unborn Baby No Name!

Today we got a sneak peak at our little baby Goober. The ultrasound, as most things in our life was very eventful. Were do I even begin...the day started with me drinking as much water as I possibly could. I didn't finish the required amount, but was still bursting at the seams by the end. They took me back to get started and made Matt wait in the waiting room. Since this was unlike the movies Matt was not very impressed that he was left out while they did their measurements. Even though they promised to come get him before it was done Matt was still upset. If you know Matt you know he gets his heart set on something and is devastated when it doesn't pan out, SO....he had words with the receptionist! To make a long story short, the receptionist didn't care that Matt wanted to see his first child and the ladies in the waiting room were totally on this handsome southern man's side. I guess there are two technicians at this imaging place and the female technician allows husbands and the male doesn't (creepy right?) so, just Matt's luck I got the male technician and they didn't let him in. I guess the receptionist was trying to tell Matt it was policy and the other lady patients (clearly more experienced then us) said it wasn't policy it was just that technicians preference. I believe one woman went so far as to call the receptionist a liar. Needless to say Matt was in a weird mood when I finally saw him and didn't know why until we made it back to the car and heard about Matt's shenanigans.

As for the Ultrasound...everything seemed to go really well. We won't know any official results until we see the doctor next week but they did say that I still have the same due date and that Goober was very cooperative. They take all kinds of pictures from all different angles and the baby was very photogenic for all but one. The final photo they needed was blocked by the umbilical cord so they were trying to move the cord or the baby by pushing down on my stomach and shaking with the wand and Goober was kicking like crazy on the other side of my stomach. It was funny because I feel Goober moving all the time but never as strong or as consistent as today. I felt like my baby was saying enough Mommy tell them to leave me alone. I felt the same way by this point...it was super sweet.

All in all it was really precious to see our baby. The head (which resembles Matt's small head...thank goodness) is currently on my left side above my hip with the body across my stomach and feet up by my ribs. While they were showing us our baby it stretched it's arms above it's head. They also showed us the heart beat and an angle that showed the ribs and spine. Even as tiny as our baby is, Goober is almost fully developed. It was so special for us to experience this and makes us all the more excited to see our baby in a few more months.