Family Photos

It's been a while, and I have several things I need to write about, but while time is short I'll first post our new family photos! These were taken by Brinn Willis, the same photographer that took our family photos when Tommy was 6 months old.  We took them on Tuesday morning, when it was very pretty but very cold outside.  I'm glad we have some good pictures of the kids!

And many, many more!

Tag: Ten Honest Things

Here are ten honest things about me.  Theoretically, I'm supposed to "tag" ten more people to write their own lists, but I don't know if there are ten people that read my blog, so if you'd like to post your own list please do so :-)

1. I eat salad with my fingers whenever possible.  I always put the dressing on the side, and dip the leaves in it, instead of pouring it on the salad and getting the leaves soggy.  That is, when I actually eat salad.

2. After midnight I am easily provoked and often threaten violence against my cats. Generally I decree that I will shoot them. (This "truth" was submitted by Logan.  I am easily angered by the cats running around or creating noise late at night. I love my cats, but late at night I often wish they'd run away and leave me alone).

3. I don't like to sweep. I'm okay with vacuuming, but sweeping seems pointless to me. Too much dust and dirt always seems to escape!

4. I'm really bad at grammar. I don't really know what an "adverb" is (if you gave me an example I could rattle off others like it, but if you said "name an adverb" I'd be lost). In middle school my teachers always thought my writing was "advanced", so they tended to excuse me from grammar exercises, assuming that I already knew the material. Consequently, I never learned the ins and outs of English. I didn't know the proper use of "than" until Professor Cluff's freshman English class.

5. I didn't think I was very smart for most of my elementary school years.

6. I easily get "addicted" to TV shows. In middle school, I "had" to see "The Scarecrow and Mrs. King", "Remington Steele", and "Moonlighting" every day until I'd seen each show all the way through (they were 80s shows, so they were in syndication), and I was pretty obsessive about watching "The West Wing" every Wednesday night during high school. Now that shows are on DVD, my obsessions go a lot quicker, since I can wipe a show out in a few days. I realized I needed to take a heavier course load in college when I watched seasons 1-3 of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in a two week period shortly before finals my freshman year and still did fine in my classes.  I avoid watching "24" because I don't want to get addicted to it. I avoided "Lost" for a long time, too, but Logan recently started watching it. So far I'm not addicted, but I don't want to push my luck.

7. I don't like to be barefoot. I'm always afraid I'll stub my toe (and I usually do).

8. I love fireplaces, especially if I have hot chocolate and a blanket!

9. I love looking at the stars at night. Love, love, love it. My favorite "hang out" in high school was on my roof so I could look at the sky.

10. I find painting very soothing (painting walls, that is. I've never really tried artistic painting).  I often want to repaint my kitchen, but I'm not sure if it's because I really want to change the colors, or if I just want a "project" to work on.

I'm a survivor!

I feel very accomplished today, because I survived a trip to Wal-Mart--alone--with two children!  It was the first of many trips I'm sure, but I feel very proud of myself. I had the big kid in the cart and the little one was in a Baby Bjorn (which I now love).  I managed to get everything on my list, and I only had a few moments where both kids were crying.  Oh, and I love my mini van. It made the transition from car to cart and back again much easier.

Yay for me!

Cabin Fever

Saturday will mark the 2nd week that Jack has been in our lives, and in some ways that's hard to believe! We waited so long for him to show up it seemed to make time stand still, and now everything is moving super speed. Fall seems to be upon us already (that came out of left field!), and my maternity leave is swiftly drying up. Of course, I also have a major case of cabin fever, so I don't imagine that having more leave would have increased my time out of the office.  The hard thing is that right now I don't have much to do--at work or at home. That drives me kinda nuts. Sitting on the couch watching TV is nice and all, but I really want to be productive. I even had a dream last night that someone brought me a knitting kit so I'd have something to do. Oy. Maybe something's wrong with me. But, like I said, even if I was at work I'd be bored right now, because it's the "down time" for my position. I don't have anyone to place in housing, and it's too early to plan for next semester. This time last year I offered assitance to the business office to keep my hands busy.

I guess I just need a hobby.

I've been thinking lately of presenting a portfolio of graphic design work to a company here in town to see what they think. It could possibly lead to some side work...but I'm nervous all the same. I've never had a real critique of my work. Mostly people just tell me if they like it or not, and if they don't I change the design until they do.   But I guess that's what professionals do, too.

Anyway, this post isn't really about anything. I just felt like posting. So....yeah.

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...