3 Months Old...

WOW!!! The past three months have absolutely flown by to say the least! I don't know what I did to deserve this wonderful little angel and all of the blessings that come along with the life I have today but I thank God each and every day. I can't put into words how very special I feel to be Greyson's mother. Hope you enjoy the pictures from Greyson's first little photo shoot. Who ever would like one (or more) just let me know which ones and what size. I'll take care of the rest! Love you all!

3 Weeks Old......

Napping

Just home from the hospital. (Man I looked rough!)

HELLO WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

36 weeks 6 days........

Yes, I am counting the days now! How could I not? I've posted some of the maternity pictures that we had taken over the weekend. I love them all and have no idea on how I wil decide. I guess I should just buy them all. We're going to have her come to the hospital and do some photos there to capture the things that I will miss or not really care about at the time and then some newborn pictures after he gets here. From all of that I will create a story book of sorts which I think will be a great memory to have. If any of you would like to use my fabulous photographer let me know. She's a wonderful friend of ours and a wonderful photographer.

We had our second baby shower here in South Carolina over the weekend and it turned out pretty good. We had some great friends to share with and some wonderful memories created. Lance and I were able to spend a couple of days at the lake this past week. We know it was our last trip as "just the three of us" (that includes our dog Pheobe) so we really enjoyed it.

I go back to see Dr. Blessit on Thursday and she'll give me the final answer on when they will induce me or if we're just going to wait for things to happen. I had an ultrasound at 36 weeks and he weighed 6lbs 5oz. already so I'm pretty sure I'll be getting induced early but I'm not counting on that.....I'll wait to see what the doctor says!

That's all for now.....hope you enjoy the pictures!

More Maternity Pictures......

Some Maternity Pictures......

34 down......six to go!

Sorry that I'm starting to get slack about my posts. I'll try to make them more frequent for the time that I have remaining. I'm now going to the doctor twice a week. That's loads of fun! I'm having a fetal stress test done twice a week now due to the gestational diabetes. I just go in and they hook me up for about 20 minutes every visit just to monitor his heart rate and movement. Most of the time he cooperates, sometimes he insists on sleeping through the whole thing. Should I be freaking out at this point? I hope so, because its starting. It just seems that the weekends are disappearing and the list of things to get done are getting longer and longer!

Funny story: we went to Babies R Us Monday night to get the carseat and stroller combo...wow, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Who ever knew those things were so complicated and difficult to operate. I could only watch as Lance tried to get the carseat off the stroller, then try to close the stroller which meant he had to open it back up. I'm sure the people watching the tape from the security cameras got a good laugh because it was absolutely hilarious! It was even funnier when we got the thing home and tried to put it together. There's still one piece we can't seem to get to go on.....surely we'll figure it out before he gets here......atleast I hope.

30 weeks......

30 down.......10 to go! I'm going to the doctor every two weeks now. I'm actually scheduled for an appointment this afternoon. Two weeks ago I had a regular check up that put the fear of God in me because Dr. Blessit said that I was measuring 31 weeks instead of the 28 that I was. They don't tend to worry about you measuring larger or smaller than normal unless there is a difference of three weeks.....of course with me there was a difference of three weeks. Thankfully they had me scheduled for an ultrasound the very next day so it only left me to worry that I would be forced to give birth to a giant for 24 hours. I did ask once again for them to make sure that there was only one in there and they assure me that there is just one he's just a healthy little boy. Two weeks ago he was at 2 lbs. 11 oz. and when they did the ultrasound they said that he was measuring at 29 weeks. It can all be quite confusing but the gist of the matter is that he's bigger than he should be but not so big yet that they insist on a c-section at this point. The lady that did the ultrasound was not so friendly this time so I didn't get one of those cd's to share photos with you. I can tell you.....he's cute and he has hair! He's very photogenic because for all the ultrasounds he's been in a great position for her to get exactly what she needs and get me a good profile shot. He must know that I'm talking about him right now because he's playing kick with my ribs and turning cart wheels.

As far as the gestational diabetes everything has been fine so far. No high blood sugar numbers to worry about.

Today will be my last "every two weeks" appointment. In two more weeks I will start to go twice a week to be hooked up to the monitors which I'm not looking forward to. I am however looking forward to next week when I will officially be in the single digits.......

28 weeks......

A few new updates for you all......two weeks ago I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. It's not a real big deal but I do have to watch what I eat and check my blood sugar FOUR times a day. I'm starting to feel a bit like a pin cushion. Apparently the doctor would like for the blood sugar to number to stay under 140 and the day that I was tested mine was 202! They typically do a one hour test and if you fail it they make you come back for a three hour test. Since mine was over 200 they skipped the three hour test and sent me straight to a Diabetes Counselor. Since this happened two weeks ago I've been monitoring my blood sugar as directed and haven't had a high number yet. Was it a fluke? I have no idea. It sure seems that way though. I have had to cut out sweet tea (very hard for a southern girl) and watch my carb intake. So far so good! One benefit of this situation is that I will have to have atleast two more ultrasounds. One of those ultrasounds are scheduled for tomorrow so I'll be sure to update the blog with some new pictures.
We have a possible name.......Avery Lance. Boys names are so tough and typically so boring. This is the only name thus far that Lance and I feel we can live with happily. It's certainly not written in stone but with time running out it's the only one we're seriously considering. I've officially entered the third and final trimester and look forward to the joys (and sorrows) of the last three months of this pregnancy.

A Few Ultrasound Shots........

24 Down 16 to Go!!!!!

I guess its time for an update. Honestly, everything's been pretty uneventful recently. I'm getting fatter, baby's getting more active and I'm starting to freak out slightly in anticipation of childbirth. Billions of other women have made it through so I will too, right? My last doctor's appointment showed that everything was good. I only gained a pound since the last time (hoo rah!). That's 13 total. I think I can mentally handle about seven more before I start to freak out about that too. I planted flowers in our back yard Sunday and realized that everything requires more breaks, fluids and time to heal afterwards. (I'm still sore).
I'm thinking that once the baby is here he's gonna be a piece of cake. Lance on the other hand, he's gonna be a handful. The two of us went to watch the Swingin' Medallions last Saturday night. They were playing at a festival on the courthouse lawn in Springfield. Do you know that I wasn't even allowed to dance? It was no big deal, I had to just laugh it off when he said "No! You can't dance!" with serious concern in his voice. I mean what can go wrong? I know absolutely nothing but we'll let him be overly protective......for now. I can see that when the baby gets here there's going to be a "freak-out session" over every sneeze, cough or hiccup. It really makes me very thankful for having been raised around tons of babies. Could you imagine what it would be like if we were both like Lance is right now? Surely he'll lighten up when he gets used to a newborn. (Let's hope so anyway)
We're STILL stuck with the name. I even tried last week to get Lance to name the boy and I'd name the girl......later down the road. His response was, "No, you're not getting outta this one!" That should tell you how tough it's been for us. I just hope and pray that we can come up with one before he gets here!
This hasn't been a very interesting post, but I tell ya, we're just kinda passing the time right now. Maybe it'll get more exciting soon. If so, I'll be sure to post. Love you all!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

Yep, there's no denying it. That's definitely a baby boy. I should have made this post already but between all the excitement and looking for nursery fabric I've been pretty busy. The lady that performed the ultrasound said that everything looks good though. She checked his heart and brain, all the internal organs, spine, bones, etc. and it all looks normal! He weighs 11 oz. right now and I can feel him wiggling around in there. It feels like there's a little butterfly in my tummy! Lance had a priceless reaction to the news! Oh, if I could just post it. I guess that'll be reserved for him and me to remember. I'll post again later. Gotta get back to that fabric issue.

7 days to the big reveal....

I went back to the doctor last Monday. Had my first appointment with Dr. Blessit. She's the other partner at my Ob's office. Everything looks good. I've gained (cough) 11 pounds (big cough). Baby's growing fine. I finally got some relief for the headaches! Not a whole lot else going on right now. Just waiting for next Tuesday to get here! What will it be? Boy or girl? I'm trying very hard not to have an opinion but what's yours? You have a 50/50 chance of being right. The way my tummy's growing there might be one of each in there :) Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

17 Weeks and Counting.......

A few new things to share this week: I had to go buy these BEAUTIFUL pants........need I say more? These days they make pants that literally come up to your brassiere! They are not pretty but they sure are more comfortable than those britches I was squeezing into last week. Jania and Riley are getting a kick out of showing everybody what these things look like. I'm just imagining how they're going to be stuck to my belly as soon as it warms up. I will say this though, in no way, shape or form are maternity clothes cute....especially shape. Whew, they're terrible.
Which one of you lied to me and said that the exhaustion would be over with after the first trimester? Yeah, right....don't call me after 9 on a weekend night or before 10 on Saturday morning. That's when I play catch up. Also, its very likely that if you call in the middle of the day on Saturday or Sunday I just might be passed out on the sofa. It's odd that I could never take a nap during the day before I got pregnant. It was just something about the daylight. I guess my body just thought that if the sun was shining that I should be up doing something. But that all changed. Now I can take a nap at any time of the day, daylight or dark......it doesn't matter. During the week I'm so busy that I can't seem to get to bed at a decent hour so come Friday I'm exhausted. I hope that goes away soon.
Isn't the weather nice right now? I can't help but to have mixed emotions because I know that with every warm day we have there is a scorching hot and sticky day looming in the very near future. I already know how pleasant that is going to be. If you know me you know that I never played sports just because I don't like to get hot. My thermostat at home hasn't seen 70 in years. I'm already so hot natured that I'm really dreading the afternoons and Saturdays that will be spent at the baseball field......you know we have those wonderful sand gnats here too. All the better to make me miserable. I definitely didn't time this thing right for the climate that I live in but isn't it true that all wonderful things come when you least expect it? Atleast that held true when I met Lance (brownie point!).
We still don't have names. There are a few (a very small few) that we like so I'm hoping that March 24th will bring some clarification. Surely this will be easier when we know whether we need a boy or girl name. Our appointment is at 11:30 (and yes I already tried to get an earlier one) so if you'd like me to include you in the MASS text message that I'll be sending out when we leave let me know. It would take me the rest of the day to call each one of you. Please, I want to go shopping! :)
Why do I have to have the weirdest pregnancy symptoms ever? Oh, I know why. It's my punishment for not having all the nauesa isn't it? The massive sensitive skin issue that I've had. Oh, I'm so ready for it to go away. I should be wearing turtlenecks and a face mask everyday. Its absolutely ridiculous! Of course anything that happens to you when you're pregnant is just your hormones. The headaches, oh the headaches. That's driving me nuts too! Of course when you're pregnant they can't give you anything but candy for them. If I could just take some aleeve..... Funny cravings? Well, not yet. As long as I get my Japanese food fix once a week and eat Claussen pickles every morning for breakfast, I'm good. I'm not going to lie though, not only do I eat the pickles for breakfast but typically as soon as I get home I grab one and usually once or twice at night when I open the fridge and they just catch my eye.

Until next time.......

20 week Ultrasound

Just a quick little note.....March 24th is the big day!!! The lady only comes every other Tuesday to do the "anatomy ultrasound" so it was either then or April 3rd. You know what I picked. Can't wait another moment! I'll be sure to send out a mass text as soon as we know.


Or WAIT.....should we have the ultrasound that day and just wait until Lance's birthday to get the results like Tracee said? Hmmmm......so many decisions.......so little time!

Boy or Girl?

This seems to be the million dollar question these days and trust me I can't wait to find out myself. Because I will be 20 weeks on March 25th I'm going to BEG Dr. B if I have to.....I really want to find out what we're having on Lance's birthday. I just think that would be the best birthday present in the world!

If its a girl, I'll start preparing myself immediately. You know, for all the drama! I think that begins the moment they enter the world, right? I know thats the way it was with all my sisters, for sure. They're still a dramatic bunch (myself included). I'd like to think that I hate drama. But I'll have to admit that it follows me. I'm a drama magnet. The drama in my life usually has nothing to do with me but it's there so I deal with it rather than ignore it. I know all of this to be true so Lord, help us if we have a little girl. On the other side of that.....doesn't every man need a little girl to humble him?

Boys seem to be so much easier.....less drama, less pampering, less tears. Boys are rough and tough and can take the trash out too! We've said that if we could just order something from God we'd order a boy for a number of reasons. There is not one boy decendent of Lance's Grandpa Garvin. Every Garvin family function Uncle Ray asks, "When are you gonna have us a Garvin boy?" Lance is a little late getting started on having children so most of the other cousins are done with having babies. I think they should ALL try again and again until they have a boy to carry on that Garvin name. I'd like to go ahead and get that Garvin boy out of the way. The next reason is that we've always thought that we'd like to have one boy and one girl. Thinking about things later in life I'd like to have a big brother to protect his little sister from the other stinking boys when Dad can't be around.

Lance is CONVINCED that whether its a boy or a girl he's gonna have a new fishing partner, a hunting buddy and a sports fanatic. He seems to think that they'll be able to hold a fishing pole by six months and be able to shoot a gun by 3. Of course, you know my response to that is YEAH RIGHT! Don't you even think about letting my child get close to a gun at 3! No matter what we both hope that this child is born with Lance's athletic ability because if "it" gets mine, oh, you can forget sports. I definitely hope for Lance's pretty blue eyes. I'm not sure yet what I hope this child gets from me. I guess that still depends on the answer to the million dollar question.

Until next time.......

Does Pregancy Kill Brain Cells?

I went over to a rental unit of Mr. Hiller's yesterday and it proved that I'm a complete idiot. I'm gonna blame that on the pregnancy. I lifted up the garage door and since the handle was up too high for me to reach I decided for some stupid stupid reason to put my fingers in the fold of the door to pull it down just enough to grab the handle. Yeah, that worked well. After I completely smashed four fingers out of the ten I have I had to figure out how to get that door back up to release my poor little fingers. Sure I could have just lifted the door the same way I let it down, right? (Yeah, if my brain was functioning properly!) I jumped and kicked until I got my knee up high enough to lift that door. I'm now sporting four bruises in my nail beds.....so that leaves me with one question......Does pregnancy kill brain cells or am I just stupid?

Fun Fun Fun and Extremely Hard

FUN FUN FUN: Well, after Sunday I determined that the part of this pregnancy that is the most fun (so far) is shopping for baby. It was tough to take Lance into Babies-R-Us......I had to explain EVERYTHING!!!! I was glad that we were able to tackle this task together. I must admit though, just like most men, he didn't last long. I could have stayed in there all day with that little clicker but he lasted about an hour. I guess it'll take us a couple of trips to get completely registered. And of course I can't complete this thing until we find out if its a boy or girl!!! Thank God for online shopping because I can add to the registry on my own time too.

EXTREMELY HARD: Still, the hardest part is coming up with a NAME!!!!

The Name Game

I'll tell you I think this must be the most difficult part of this pregnancy......coming up with a NAME!!!! I've now bought two books that together contain 160,000 baby names. I just can't find one I'm in love with that someone I know doesn't already have. I mean sure there are going to be other people out there with the same name as my child but I'm trying to be original yet not freakishly weird. Thank God I won't even consider going with any of Uncle Bradley's suggestions......Gunner? Darvin? I mean can you imagine the torment my child would get if his name was Darvin Garvin. I told Bradley I really appreciated his interest but not no but heck no. I've recruited everyone I know to help me out on this one. Every suggestion I get just doesn't stick though. Certainly we always have "IT" to fall back on though, right? Lance and me have a hard time agreeing. He loves my middle name; LeAnn. Mama, no offense, its cool but its just not what I want to name my child. Lance has always said that if he has a son he'll want to name it after his Dad. I understand that and that's cool. However, Lance's dad's name was Steve Adrian Garvin. I just can't do Steve. Sorry to all the Steve's out there but I can't do it. And Adrian.....well one of my best good friends just had a little boy on December 1, 2008....yep, you guessed it.....his name is Adrian. Can you see us having cook outs together and one of us yelling for our son and they both come running? That's not gonna work either. It's a family name. Lance's Dad and Grandpa both had the middle name Adrian. I'll definitely take Adrian over Steve any day. But, it looks like that will have to be a middle name in the event that we have a boy. So its looking like "It Adrian Garvin" is what we have for a boy. Girls? There's only one that I've found that I think I can live with that Lance is okay with too.....Olivia. It's classy but not overused.....I think. (There's one other one that Lance will never let me do; Eliana. Pronounced Ellie Auna.) So its looking like Olivia It Garvin for a girl. You people need to get involved here. We need baby names!

12 week checkup & catch up

We went to see Dr. B on Monday. She says everything is good. I've gained (cough) 5 pounds so far. My dear husband on the other hand, he's gained about 10......and headed to 15 if he doesn't stop using me being pregnant for an excuse to eat weird things. Late Monday night, just before bed we were sitting on the sofa and I looked over at him and he laughed. Well, you guys know me. My response to that was "What the hell are you laughing at?" He said, "You're never gonna believe what I'm eating." I should have never asked him to explain. That nuckle head had mixed the REST of the orange sherbert with strawberry cake icing and covered it in caramel ice cream shell. EWWWWWW!!!!!! I thought I was the one that is supposed to have weird cravings. As long as I get my once a week Japanese food fix, I'm good. Oh, there was that one time that Lance came home to find me eating pickles with ketchup and drinking the pickle juice. Now you may think the weirdest part of that is the pickles and ketchup.....not for me. That's something I used to do as a child but haven't done in years. But I've never been a pickle juice drinker. Man was it good that night.

You're Pregnant, Not Dead

I'm sure my opinion will change come June when its 100 degrees out but it sure seems like time is flying by at this point. I've been extremely blessed to have had no morning sickness..........yet. There's one feeling that has yet to leave me and I'll be glad to see it go........tired and sleepy. I can't possibly get enough sleep. I have a newfound respect for mothers that juggle a full time job, caring for their home and children while being pregnant. This is where the mood swings come from. This is why no one messes with a pregnant lady. This is why when women have babies they quit their job and stay home. I think all pregnant ladies should be allowed a two hour nap everyday, all expenses paid of course. I'd be so much more productive:) My boss for one isn't having that though. And while it does seem he's helped out a little more around the house dear husband has told me already that I'm pregnant, not dead:( So while they just don't understand this unbelievable feeling of "I could curl up on the roof and sleep right now" surely they won't mind if that load of laundry waits until later or that check doesn't get written until tomorrow. If not, here's your fair warning to let me get a little snooze before you complain. In this state of mind I'm more likely to respond with a "If you want it done now, do it yourself" than a "I'll get right on it." You got complaints about my response? Switch places with me and then we'll talk.....sounds like I could use a little snooze right now!

How We Told Our Folks...

Well, for me I just couldn't hold this secret. I had to tell them all.....immediately. Mama and Granny B I told over the phone because I couldn't wait any longer. For Daddy & Janet and Mae Mae & Doug I sent them congratulations cards in the mail with some little baby shower favors stapled inside which included minature babies. My note to them was just to call me when they "got" the card....those phone calls came in quickly! Once they knew phone calls resumed for Grandma & Daddy K, various aunts, uncles, cousins and other family and friends. Lance's Mama is the one that tickles me though. We waited until Christmas Day to "give" her this as a surprise. I wrapped up a Grandma's Brag Book for her which she had to open before we went to Grandma Garvin's. Now you know if we would have went to Grandma Garvin's first she would have found out some way, some how. Riley was with us and I got him to act as if he was playing with the video camera and he got it all on tape! That one was priceless. That lady's been trying to get me pregnant for as long as we've been married!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008 The Day Our Life Changed Forever

Yep, this was the day. The day I finally got up the nerve to take that little test. It had been sitting in my bathroom since Sunday night and I just kept telling myself that I was wrong and just jumping to conclusions. But let me tell you, I've never been so nervous in my entire life. No other moment in my life compared to the fear that I had in those moments. Not fear that it would be but fear that it wouldn't be. I guess that's the way it is when you've wanted something for so long and its completely out of your hands for you to get it. When I'm told I can't do something or that something is out of my reach that's the best motivation for me because you can bet your life I'm gonna do it just to prove you wrong. However this was different; I had no control over whether it happened or didn't happen. It was all out of my hands.
Back to those three minutes.....which seemed like eternity. I did my business and went on into the kitchen just like every other morning to make breakfast for Jania and Riley. By the time I got back to the bathroom to see the results because I knew those three minutes had passed I was a nervous wreck and shaking all over. I tell you there was no denying it though. This is one time I won the argument in the store about whether to buy the cheap version or the expensive one; I didn't want to try to figure out a puzzle of lines or colors. I insisted that it be clear and undeniable and boy was it.....PREGNANT. Yep, I looked at those directions again to make sure I followed them only to find out that I did. Now by this time Lance was sitting on the bed trying his best to reach his feet to put on socks (yeah, that's a funny sight these days) and I guess it was a good thing that he was sitting down. I tried and tried to get the words out of my mouth but I couldn't make a sound. I looked down again just to make sure I could still read since I lost all ability to speak and could figure no other way to let him know other than just plopping that test in front of him. I must say though, he's very talented because when he read that test, he was able to speak and for some reason my voice just came back then. After a few words and well, a few tears all we could think was "Oh my God we're gonna have a baby!" I jumped up and clicked my heals together only to be immediately scolded by Lance. Then I ran to the phone. Who would I call first? How would we tell our parents? Tracee, did you pass this to me in the hospital? Do we have to wait to tell or can we tell everybody, TODAY? So many questions, not enough answers. First things first, call Donna. I knew she was up, probably had been for hours. Surely she thougth I'd lost my mind for calling her at 7 a.m. until I told her the reason for my call. I think she might have lost it a little bit too. I can't even remember the order of the rest of the calls that day but I clearly remember tht Toi thought I was lying and Tracee and Mrs. Susan almost wrecked. I think that throughout the day as Lance continued to let the world know he was a little worried that maybe we'd had a false positive. It seemed that everyone he called asked first, "has she gone to the doctor yet?" When he answered no they all said to call them back after I went to the doctor to confirm. What do you think that resulted in? Yep, you guessed it, I took another test that produced the same result in less than a minute AND drug him to the doctor with me on that first visit so he could see the results of their test. He just had a hard time believing that it was true and really happening after so long! Poor guy was in shock.

Catching Up

Well first things first, this blog is so suitably named...The Journey of Baby Garvin has truly been a journey! As Tracee said, my whole life has been a journey! Lance and I always knew we would want children but we had no idea that it would take so long and so much work after we made the decision for that to happen to actually make that happen. We decided two or three years ago (man how time flies!) that we were ready; maybe not ready in every imaginable way but is anyone ever? I'd love to say that we have a million bucks in the bank and I'll have the choice to be a stay at home mom and we have mapped out every aspect of our unborn child's life but now that just wouldn't be my style. Since this has been such a journey to get to where we are today I've never been more happy and excited to be blessed with this opportunity.

Finally we have a NAME!!!!

Nope, not a name for the baby. Lance and I may never agree on that. A name for this blog!!! I've been trying to come up with something for weeks now with no luck so I enlisted the help of friends and family. Thanks "Aunt Donna!" I have quite a bit of time that has passed (so it seems) so I have some catching up to do. I'll do my best to get this up to speed in the next few days. (Which we all know means the next few weeks for me.) Hopefully this blog will give everyone a chance to be a part of this experience and a way that everyone can keep up with whats going on with us at their own pace. I promise to keep my posts coming on a regular basis.