Introducing Jack Davis

John Clawson ("Jack") Davis was born on Saturday, August 29th 2009 at 11:14 a.m. He weighed 8lbs, 8oz., was 21 inches long and had a head circumferance of 13.5 inches. He's healthy and strong, and both Mommy and baby are doing great!

Labor started around midnight, with the contractions about 5 minutes apart. They started coming about 3 minutes apart at 3:30, and were pretty darn close together by 7. My midwives were wonderful, and both Mom and Logan did a great job in assisting me throughout the process (I felt bad that they had no sleep that night, though!). And a big thanks to the Caspersons, who took Tommy in the morning so we could focus on the birth!

A photo shortly after birth. Believe me, I felt much better than I looked!

Tommy and Jack. Tommy has been very good and gentle with his brother (although he pretty much ignores him most of the time!)

Jack is a side sleeper

and loves to suck his thumb!

We're glad he decided to come this weekend, and that he's so healthy! I still can't believe I had an 8lb baby, though...

Tommy's Too Tall

Logan and I have decided that Tommy is too tall.

At one point this morning I was making cupcakes, and left the room to talk to Logan. I came back into the kitchen, and found this:

Evidently, I left the batter too close to the edge of the counter, and Tommy was able to get what he wanted with very little effort. Later, after the cupcakes were done, I set them out to cool. Five minutes later, Tommy comes walking into our bedroom saying "cookie?" In his hands was a fresh cupcake.

Later, to liven things up a bit, I heard the sound of silverware being pushed around...and then Tommy ran into the bedroom with a fist full of forks and a fistfull of knives (dull ones) and threw them in the laundry basket. Why, I don't know, but suffice it to say that our silverware has been moved a bit higher while Logan installs child-proofing materials on our cabinets. At least it keeps life interesting!

Just for fun, here are some recent photos of me as I (hopefully) reach the end of my pregnancy.

Let's go, Jack!

Update

I didn't think it was possible, but I made it through orientation...still pregnant! I prepared everything so that I wouldn't have to be on campus today, so I actually gave myself relatively little to do while I was on campus. I had to place a handful of people in rooms, and went to the parent's meeting. I answered questions, walked around a bit. But it was very calm. That's a nice feeling during orientation! I think it went rather well.

I also had a "bio physical" today, where I had a 30 minute ultrasound to check the status of my baby. They looked at heartrate, development, the placenta, amniotic fluid level, breathing motions...just lots of stuff to make sure that Jack is still thriving (we had them double check the gender, and they're still sure it's a boy). Everything checked out just fine, which means I have at least another 7 days when, statistically speaking, Jack should be fine (should he choose not to be born in the near future). I'm hoping he decides to come out anyway, though. Now that orientation is over, I could use the distraction! (Just kidding--I'm actually super impatient to see him, as I'm sure you've all deduced :-) )

At one point during the ultrasound you could distinguish a nose and part of his face. It looked kinda weird (as ultrasounds do), but at the same time so very cute! I can't wait to see it in person.

Here's hoping for a sleepless night...

Someday we'll look back at this and laugh....

This is actually a story from a few days ago, but Logan prompted me to go ahead and put it online. Theoretically, someday we're going to look back on this and laugh...I admit, I'm already chuckling a bit...

So, on Thursday afternoon we were having a quiet time at home. I was doing some work on the computer, Logan was taking a nap, and Tommy was watching Happy Feet. Or so we thought.

Suddenly, Logan (who had been pretty much dead to the world) sat straight up in bed and bolted into the kitchen. He says he still doesn't know what made him wake up, but he knew he needed to go see what Tommy was doing right away.

You'll see in the video below what he found.

Tommy drew over everything....the cabinets, the dishwasher, the floor, the refrigerator. And he did it in record time! I had just checked on him about five minutes before. He's evidently reached a height where he can get into even our tallest cabinets, so suffice it to say that all writing implements have been moved to "higher" ground until further notice.

The story does have a happy ending, in that Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser saved the day! After about 45 minutes of scrubbing we were able to get most traces of it off. Surprisingly the stain has been the most stubborn on the dishwasher.

But, as Logan said when he grabbed the camera, we needed to document this, because it's kinda funny...when the moment's over.

Patience is a virtue...that I evidently need to acquire.

I'm sure you've all guessed by now that I still don't have a baby. I'm doing fine, he's doing fine...but I'm so IMPATIENT!

I saw my midwife today and Jack's still only about 7lbs. There's a possibility that our dates are slightly off, so I may only be at 40wks instead of 41...which basically means we wait.

Some more.

Mom told me today that her doctor thought Christy was due in September (but she was born in late October) so I guess I should count my blessings that I won't have to wait that long.

Crossing my fingers for tonight. Or tomorrow. But hopefully tonight.

Patience is a virtue...

Nothing to report.

Yesterday we thought things were starting...but then they stopped. Sad :-(

But hopefully soon!

Due Date!

C'mon kid! Be punctual!

Any time now. Seriously.

I think I'm ready.

Bed WHAT???

Last night in the middle of the night I got up to go to the bathroom, and when I stood up the whole world seemed to go topsy turvey! It was the strangest feeling of vertigo I've ever had. When I got up this morning it was still there, so I called my midwife to make sure it wasn't a pregnancy "red flag". She had me come in and do some blood work, and she listened to the baby's heart beat for a while to make sure he was okay (he's fine). Then she said, "And I would strongly suggest that you go home and lie down for the rest of today."

I was like, "BEDREST?!"

And then she said, "You may want to consider stopping work altogether."

I think my head almost exploded. Stop work? And stay in bed? What kind of craziness is THAT?

Luckily, with the wonderful advent of technology, I've been able to be in contact with work today, but it feels so bizarre. There's so much that needs to be done before school starts! And we have football players showing up on Friday, the rest of the fall athletes showing up on Monday, I have furniture that needs to be inventoried and moved, students that need to be assigned housing, deposits that need to be processed, meal plan quirks that need to be sorted out....

In other words, there is so much that needs to be done!

I think I'm going to have to compromise a little on this. Maybe just partial days, or just "take it easy" days. I don't have enough sick time to stop completely right now, so I'll have to think of something.

Oy vey. But the good news is we figured out what's wrong (I'm anemic) and we're working on fixing that. But still--oy vey.

Domesticity

This morning Logan and I drove down to Raleigh, North Carolina, traded in our green Subaru, and bought ourselves a sweet mini van! We're very excited about it. And yes, I know you can technically fit two car seats in a sedan/wagon, but we know that we're most likely going to have more kids, we often travel with other people (Nanna and Papa primarily), and we like SPACE, so a mini van is our car of choice. Plus the green Subaru was starting to get a bit finicky...if we waited too long, the trade-in value would be too low to make it a bargaining piece. We found a really good deal on a Dodge Caravan SXT--it's got all sorts of bells 'n whistles, but was still in our price range.

Sadly, we did not take the "Dave Ramsey" approach on this purchase....but we're still excited! Our mini van is super cool. No joke.

All the seats can be stored in the floor! (Stow 'n Go)

It has a DVD player, GPS, and automatic doors
(they're fun to play with)

It's color is called "Champaign". It's sparkly...

Papa's Birthday (a belated post)

So...Papa's birthday was over a week ago, and I still haven't posted the pictures from his "party"! The Thursday before his actual birthday we surprised him with a cake and his present, the reason being that Logan really wanted him to use his present on Friday. You see, Papa recently took up racquetball (which is a really big thing on this campus among the staff/faculty), and he'd been hinting strongly that he wanted a new racquet. Logan did a ton of research, and found a really good racquet for a good price, and (with Nanna's help, of course) was able to get Papa all sorts of nifty accessories, like a racquet bag, racquetballs, a glove, athletic shirts, shorts, and a sweatband (see image below). He seemed to really enjoy his present, and claimed that his game was much improved the next morning!

Papa and his new racquet

All the "loot"

On his actual birthday we took a drive to Lewisburg, WV, and stopped by the Greenbriar, the Homestead, and the actual town of Lewisburg (where we ate dinner). Below is an image of a nifty old building we saw there (along with two handsome fellas!)

And, for those who are interested, Papa's birthday serenade!