The Truth In My Curls

Posted on February 8, 2015 by feinmemmy

For most of my adult life, my hair has been straight.

Technically, my hair is “wavy,” but as I’ve always liked to say, my hair “can be encouraged either way.” For one reason or another, I’ve tended to “encourage” it to be straight, usually with a flat-iron, and have really only “encouraged” it otherwise during the summer, when the humidity makes straight hair less of an option for me. However, lately I’ve decided it might be time to let my curls…well, curl.

I’m fascinated with how the human brain works, and have always loved trying to figure out what makes other people tick (because it’s obvious that we don’t all think the same way–people can have the same information presented to them and come up with dramatically different conclusions). While I’m not a big fan of Buzz Feed personality tests (they’re way too subjective and easy to “rig”) I do enjoy other personality assessment tools, such as the Color Code, the 5 Love Languages, and the Briggs Myers test. My mom is likewise an assessment-enthusiast, so I was not surprised when she came to me about two weeks ago with a new one: Dressing Your Truth.

The premise behind “Dressing Your Truth” is that people can be broken down into four basic energy types, and while every person has each of the four energies inside them, they lead with one. Type 1 people are bright and animated, Type 2 are soft and subtle, Type 3 are rich and dynamic, and Type 4 are bold and striking. The developer of the program, Carol Tuttle, frequently emphasizes that it is NOT a personality quiz, because personalities are deeply influenced by childhood events, teachings from our parents, and the environment we live in, but deep down inside we have a basic way that we just ARE, and that is our energy type. When we dress in a way that is in conflict with our energy type, we are not showing our true beauty, and can feel depressed or discouraged about how we look.

I’m not going to go into too much depth about the system, because Carol Tuttle has literally written a book about it and when I start trying to explain it I’m basically re-writing the book. If you’re interested in the program, though, there’s a free web series that you can sign up for and it goes into way more detail.

Anyway, when Mom first told me about it, I was a bit skeptical. I wasn’t sure there was much use in “knowing my type” because I’m pretty confident in who I am, and have never really been depressed about my looks. But as my mom kept trying to identify who she was, I became more and more curious, and wanted to see who I “really” was.

What a trip! Reading the book, watching the videos, and talking it over with my Mom (and my husband, who had no idea what I was talking about most of the time but attempted to be supportive) really made me examine who I am at my core. Not that this will mean much to any of you, but I finally identified as a 1 with a subdominant 4–an unlikely combination that made it hard to quickly identify my dominant energy.

So, why does it matter? What I realized while going through the materials and analyzing myself, is that when I was a child I exhibited all the traits of a Type 1 person–very animated, optimistic, high-energy, bouncy, drawn to light–but after some events in my childhood I really pushed that part of my personality down in favor of my Type 4 subdominant personality–highly organized, efficient, analytical, perfectionist, etc. I don’t begrudge my Type 4-ness–after all, it’s what helped me achieve most of my academic success–but since recognizing that the bouncy, fun part of my personality is really the leader, not the afterthought, I’ve just felt so much lighter! It feels okay to be upbeat, okay to be animated, and okay to dress in lighter, more whimsical clothing. I’ve used my clothes for years as a way of looking more “mature” and “grown up”, but the truth is that I feel more like me when I’m in a brighter, lighter style.

What does this mean? Shopping trip!!! Well, eventually. I’m not ready to throw my closet out into the street quite yet. You may ask, what does any of this have to do with curly hair? Turns out that Type 1s tend to enjoy having their hair wavy/curly/wispy. So, as I embrace my “1-ness”, I’m embracing my curls, too!

It’s all been very fascinating! What’s even more fascinating to me now is wondering who the people around me really are. I know what they show me, but as I’ve learned through analyzing myself, what we show to the world and who we really are can be completely different things.

So, if any of you ever decide to “Dress Your Truth,” will you please tell me who you really are?

The Perfect Campground

Posted on June 15, 2014 by feinmemmy

Logan’s parents have been in town for almost two weeks, and before they came out we had big plans: Let’s go camping! Let’s go to DC! Let’s go to the zoo! Let’s go north!

But first…let’s get some work done.

Every time they come to visit we do a “project.” The first year they helped us gut and re-sheetrock a room that had water damage; the next we built a new interior wall. Seven years later and the project of the trip is (drum roll please): WALLPAPER!! Seriously, this stuff is evil. Logan’s mom, Connie, has already helped to strip the wallpaper from Anna’s room, the master bath, and our foyer, but the main hallway still remained. No more! As of this week, it has been de-wallpapered. We are forever grateful that they took the time to help us out–otherwise there is a fair chance that the striped wallpaper from the seventies would have stuck around for another forty years.

By Friday everyone was pretty tuckered out from all the scraping and sanding, but we wanted to at least attempt something special this weekend. So we decided to go halfway–we’d go camping, but in our backyard!

For our anniversary last summer we received a large 10-person tent (the grey one) and it is awesome! There was enough room to put Ricky’s pac-n-play and still have room for the rest of us and some game-playing space. Logan’s parents opted to sleep in the smaller orange tent that Logan purchased when he worked at REI a decade ago.

It actually worked out perfectly to camp in our backyard, because it had all the amenities you could want: ample space for the tent, nearby to an awesome playground, clean(ish) restroom facilities, and a kitchen area for preparing food when it inevitably rains at dinner time (we just cooked hotdogs in the kitchen, though–the s’mores were authentic fire-roasted treats).

Logan’s father’s day present was a fire pit, and Logan and Grandpa Tad took special care to teach the kids about fire safety and, more importantly, how to properly roast marshmallows.

(The missionaries got home while we were making s’mores, so we asked if they’d like to make some. They told us our family is awesome, and I have to agree!)

Once it was dark we headed into the tent, where we played Spot-It, and then I read a few chapters from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The kids went to bed easier than I thought, and then Logan and I took advantage of the wi-fi streaming from the house to watch some classic “21 Jump Street” on hulu (the Johnny Depp tv show, not the movie).

The kids had a blast, and I think the rest of us had fun, too 🙂

Confession: Around 2 am I did end up taking Ricky and Anna inside, but it’s only because Anna had a cough, and I worried it was too damp/cold outside and didn’t want her developing bronchitis. Plus, I sleep better in my own bed 😉

A fun father’s-day retreat!

Preschool Graduation!

Posted on May 25, 2014 by feinmemmy

Friday night was Jack’s graduation from Preschool! I can’t believe he’s going to kindergarten in the fall. Jack keeps asking if it’s his birthday yet, because I told him he would go to kindergarten after his birthday.

They had a cute little musical program, and did a dance to the song “Happy” on their way into the room.

Anna’s 2-yr old class sang songs with them, too (you can see her on the bottom row. She was one of the tiniest people there, but she sang with gusto!)

Nanna and Papa were able to come, and Tommy enjoyed sitting in the audience this year 🙂

Jack even got a diploma!

After the program they had cookies and punch, and I was able to snap a quick picture of Jack and his teacher, Mrs. Margoth. He loved being in her class, and she got a good kick out of him! She was Tommy’s teacher, too, but I think she had a special connection to Jack.

I didn’t really get any good photos of Anna, because she refused to take one with her teachers, but I did get a candid shot with her and one of her teachers, Ms. Mona.

Her other teacher, Ms. Michelle, was serving punch the whole time we were there, but she really loved having Anna in her class. She told us many times that she thought Anna had the cutest little voice (which is pretty true).

Two of these little crazies are now out of school…only 3 more weeks of Kindergarten for Tommy!

Sibs day?

Posted on April 11, 2014 by feinmemmy

So..according to Facebook it was “siblings day” yesterday (who knew?). Anyone got any fun sibling photos to share?

Here’s an oldie but a goody:

A little more recent:

Sisters:

My Little Ray of Sunshine

Posted on February 5, 2014 by feinmemmy

Ricky is 3 months old! Crazy how time flies. Right now he’s lying on the floor “singing.” It’s one of my favorite past times–if you put music on that’s easy to sing along with (and especially if you do sing along with it), he starts making all sorts of noises like he’s singing along, too! He seems to especially enjoy music from the 60s, like the Monkees.

He’s grown up so much! I recently had to buy him some new clothes, because he doesn’t fit 3-6 month anymore. He’s firmly in the 6-9, or even 12 month clothes. I call him Rick the Brick sometimes, because, as Logan says, “He’s a big-un!”

He loves being around his siblings. The louder and crazier they are, the calmer he usually is. I guess he likes the distraction.

Jack is particularly adoring. He spends lots of time singing to Ricky, or telling him stories. We’re trying to emphasize “personal space” (especially for Ricky’s safety) but Jack just loves giving him kisses and hugs.

All the kids are really good with him, though. If I need to run out of the room for a minute, I can ask any of them to “watch” Ricky (aka entertain him) and they’ll sit by him and try to make him smile. They especially like to sing “You’re so Cute”, which we’ve sung to each kid as a baby:

(to the tune of “Bingo”)

You are the Ricky, you’re so cute
And everybody loves you!
R-I-C-K-Y
R-I-C-K-Y
R-I-C-K-Y
And everybody loves you!

I call Ricky my “ray of sunshine,” because he’s usually an incredibly cheerful baby. When the rest of the house was sick and decidedly not in a good mood, I’d look into his bed after a nap and he’d be smiling up at me like everything was great. Made it a little easier to drag myself out of bed 🙂

He’s also a thumb sucker, which is new for our family. It’s adorable, though. Really helps him at night. If he goes to bed around 8, he’ll usually sleep until about 4 or 5 before needing a feeding. If I didn’t have to wake him up to take the kids to school, he’d probably sleep in until 8:30 or 9. It’s amazing!

He does have one big quirk: He pukes. A LOT. More than any of my other kids. The weird thing is that he doesn’t mind. It’s not acid reflux or anything where he’s in discomfort–he just gets the nutrition he needs and gets rid of what he doesn’t (I guess). He’s growing like crazy–85th percentile for weight!–so the Dr. isn’t worried at all. And like I said, Ricky doesn’t care. It just makes laundry a pain.

This week he’s started rolling on to his side, which I thought would take a lot longer considering his girth. He’s starting to grab his toys and shake them around. And if you stare at him from six feet away, he makes eye contact with you and smiles.

It’s pretty nice 🙂

Blessings

Posted on January 6, 2014 by feinmemmy

On Sunday, January 5th, 2014, Richard Spencer Davis was blessed in our home by his father and a small group of other wonderful priesthood holders. It was beautiful, and I was so grateful that Logan’s dad and brother were able to fly into town to participate!

Typically, babies are blessed during Sacrament meeting, but Ricky’s blessing took an unexpected turn when church was cancelled! A small ice storm made the roads sketchy out in the county, and since our ward has a lot of members that live outside of the city limits the leaders decided it was better safe than sorry. At first I was a little panicked, since Logan’s dad and brother had flown in and needed to fly right back out, but the Bishop quickly offered to come to the house to oversee the ordinance himself. I think I actually liked it better at home–surrounded by family and some of our closest friends, and the blessing didn’t start until I had Ricky asleep (which is never guaranteed at church!)

From left–>right back: friend Nate Casperson, Logan’s father Tad Davis, his brother Luke Davis, my dad John Feinauer; Front: Bishop Jared Hunstman and Logan (with Ricky).

The Bishop asked that we start with an opening song, and I quickly picked “Families Can Be Together Forever” because it seemed the most fitting for the occasion. What I didn’t realize was how much the song would impact me! I almost started crying while I was playing the piano, because the message of the song is so sweet and simple, and very important! Ricky is named after my brother Richard and Logan’s brother Spencer, both of which died at young ages. Additionally, the whole Casperson family was there with us, and Nate was diagnosed with cancer last summer. His kids were singing the song so loudly, and it was all I could do to keep playing without balling my eyes out.

After the blessing (which was very sweet) the Bishop asked each grandfather to say a few words, and then he directed a few words himself towards the children about the importance of making promises with our heavenly father. Jack was rapt with attention, so I think he got through to at least one kid!

It was a wonderful weekend, despite the cold weather. So many blessings!

Getting back into the “swing” of things

Posted on November 21, 2013 by feinmemmy

With Logan preparing to head back to work tomorrow, we’ve been spending the week easing me back into the “normal” schedule–packing everyone into the car, taking kids to school, picking them up from school, etc. So far, so good. As long as Ricky doesn’t suddenly change personalities on me, I think we’ll be good! Up to now he’s been a good sleeper/eater, and at his Dr. appointment today we found out that he’s gained exactly 1 pound since birth–a pretty impressive step for a two week old! My almost-ten pound baby is still adorable and little and loves to snuggle, so I’m happy 🙂 I told Logan that I actually think I enjoy the newborn stage more with each baby, no doubt because I spend a lot less time stressing over things that don’t matter and more time enjoying the little things (like the previously mentioned snuggling).

I’ve also found that with four kids, I can be a little lazier sometimes. I know this seems counter-intuitive, but hear me out: If I’m sitting in my bed nursing or snuggling, and my phone rings (usually in another room, like the kitchen), I have 3 three kids who are all thrilled when I ask them to go get my phone for me. Sure, they sometimes bring back the wrong item (they’re not the most reliable listeners), but they’re eager to help, and like to be asked to bring me a diaper, or a baby shirt, or my slippers, or move something…

Last night I took all four kids down to BV for Logan’s first home wrestling match. The kids loved it! They’re often told that dad is “at work”, and I then usually need to specify whether he is “at work at the police station,” “at work running” or “at work wrestling.” It’s good for them to see what he actually does while “at work,” and they loved cheering for SVU!

Coach Davis!

(sorry for the poor quality!)

Ricky was awake the entire match, but he was great! He just sat there and listened to his siblings cheer, and seemed very interested in the chaos that surrounded him.

The kids also got to see their good friends the Caspersons, who were there to cheer, too. This is also proof that I do, in fact, show up on digital film.

Jack’s “Stone Soup” presentation was held yesterday at his preschool. His class read the Stone Soup book, then they actually made a delicious soup and invited their families to come and eat it. Jack’s teacher told me that when they were cutting the onions she warned everyone that they might cry, and a few minutes in she looked and saw that Jack’s eyes were almost completely shut and he had tears rolling down his face–but he kept working and didn’t complain! I explained that he gets his intolerance of onions from me. I cry like my favorite pet died, which is why Logan got me onion goggles.

(Papa and Ricky were there, too!)

I’m optimistic that next week will go well with pick-up/drop off from school. With cute, helpful kiddos like this, how could it not? 🙂

Every Birth is Different

Posted on November 10, 2013 by feinmemmy

It’s been almost a week, and I’m still kind of in shock about Ricky’s birth. In a good way, though. It was awesome, but completely different from my previous experiences in childbirth. So, if you’re game, read on for the official birth story!

As you are probably all aware, Ricky, like two of his older siblings before him, had extended his stay in my womb past the 41 week mark and was rounding week 42. We had an ultrasound to make sure he was okay, and he passed with flying colors. They checked his amniotic fluid, and while they like to see between 5cm and 20cm of fluid, Ricky had 21cm. Logan asked if there was a downside to having more fluid.

“Just a greater risk of your water breaking,” the midwife replied, “which is totally fine at this point.”

My water had never broken outside of labor before, so I was intrigued. That would make for a different kind of birth story!

I had no idea.

Around 4 am on Monday morning I got up to go to the bathroom. As I laid back down in bed I felt the strangest sensation…and then immediately began smacking Logan on the shoulder saying, “Get up! Get up! Get me a towel!” Disoriented, Logan staggered over to the closet and got me the requested towel, saying, “What’s the matter? What’s going on?” I quickly told him that my water had broken, and we needed to let mom know.

“Should she come over now?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “I haven’t felt any contractions yet, and your water breaking doesn’t automatically mean you’re in hard labor. It could be another 18 to 24 hours before things get serious.”

By the time I got out of the bathroom, Logan was back asleep. I guess he figured I’d wake him if things got serious.

My mom and dad decided to come over right away, in case things began to progress quickly. For weeks I’d been prepping my dad for school drop-off and pick-up duty, and the plan was for Mom to go up to the hospital with Logan and me for the delivery. Mom and I were too amped up to try and sleep, so we sat in the kitchen chatting and measuring the distance between contractions. By the time the kids got up at 7am my contractions were about 12 minutes apart, and barely more than 35 seconds in length. Not exactly hard labor material.

I was thankful, though, because it allowed me to tell the kids myself that I was going to the hospital, and that baby Ricky would be arriving soon. Logan and my dad dropped the kids off at school, and then Logan and I headed to our previously scheduled baby appointment. They checked the baby’s heart rate and tested the amniotic fluid, and everything looked good.

“Just be sure to head up to Augusta by the time your contractions are 5 minutes apart,” they said. (Our hospital is about 45 minutes away, so they didn’t want us waiting too long.)

Since my contractions were still over 10 minutes apart, we decided to try walking around to stimulate labor. We tried a few places in Lexington, and then decided that Waynesboro (the town next to the hospital) had more interesting stores, and would be a better place for walking, so we headed up there.

While it was fun wandering around some of our favorite stores, I was getting a little perplexed–instead of the contractions getting closer, they were getting further and further apart. When they hit intervals of 20 minutes, I started getting worried. Since I was group B strep positive and a VBAC, I knew they wouldn’t let me go 24 hours with my water broken. I was scared to call and ask for a deadline, though. What if they said “Come on in and we’ll give you a shot of pitocin?” Definitely not the scenario I was hoping for.

By 3 o’clock, I knew I had to call. They did tell me to come on in, but the midwife was hopeful that things would get going on their own soon enough. Plus, they could start me on the antibiotics for the group B strep before hard labor began, which would allow me to move about more freely during delivery.

Checking into the hospital felt funny, because I was showing hardly any signs of labor at all. They put me in a wheelchair anyway, and we headed up to the birthing suite.

This picture should give you some idea of how goofy we felt.

We met our nurse Diane, who was hilarious! She told us entertaining stories of other deliveries, and made us feel very comfortable and at home in the suite. We also played 20,000 questions with the attendant (which wasn’t nearly as annoying when I wasn’t having to breathe through contractions). I completed a round of penicillin (which took over an hour), and my mom arrived with some contraband chocolate shakes for me to occasionally sip. After unhooking the IV, the nurse did a round of fetal monitoring…and my contractions were still over 7 minutes apart. The baby was fine, but my contractions weren’t. The midwife told us that the doctor on duty was starting to get antsy, so if things didn’t pick up soon we’d need to start giving the baby a “push.”

Alright, it’s time to get down to business! I thought. I had them dim the lights, and I laid down with my headphones on to begin my relaxation routine that I’d used with both Anna and Jack’s labors.

After only a few minutes, I knew it was wrong. I don’t know why or how, but I knew that this baby didn’t feel like relaxing at the moment, and if I kept lying there the contractions weren’t going to get any closer. So I asked Logan to start a bath. I’d never had one during labor before, and since things were already different with this kid, why not try for something completely different?

While the water was running the midwife (Becky from England, by the way) came in to discuss options. She suggested that one of the mildest pushes we could give would be to see if there was another pouch of water that hadn’t broken and rupture it. Ricky’s position suggested that this was probably true, and we knew that he had lots of fluid to begin with. She could also stretch the membranes and see if that was all the push we’d need. I agreed, and before the tub had even finished filling up the extra sac was broken and Ricky’s head moved down a wee bit. This was around 7:35 pm.

Our nurse Diane then came in to introduce us to the new nurse coming on duty. I was sad that she wouldn’t be around for the delivery (especially since the new nurse smelled like smoke), but as Diane walked out of the room she said, “Don’t worry, though. This kids going to be out by 8:30, 9 o’clock at the latest. Slow start, fast finish!” I just laughed, because it seemed a bit ridiculous…but I guess she knew what she was talking about!

My contractions came slightly faster, but they were still only lasting about 35 seconds. As I got into the tub, I turned to Logan and said, “Just keep telling me I can do this, okay? Because for some reason I’m really nervous that I’ll be a total wuss during this labor!” Logan immediately began telling me I was awesome, and I just laughed (since I hadn’t actually done anything yet). I felt like I should turn over in the tub, and since my #1 rule in labor is “Do whatever your body tells you, no matter how ridiculous!” I quickly asked for Logan to assist me. I immediately had a stronger contraction. Short, but efficient.

As I felt another one coming on, it occurred to me that my breathing had changed as well. In Hypnobirthing there are two kinds of breath–one to work through a contraction, and another (called “J breathing”) to breathe the baby down (essentially the early stages of “pushing”). When this contraction hit, my immediate response was to begin the J-breathing, and I felt a lot of pressure on my tailbone. As the contraction (which was really long) subsided, I looked up at Logan in disbelief and said, “I’m feeling really warm, and kinda shaky.” This was significant, because they were all signs that I was in transition–which was insane.

I asked him to tell my mom I’d had a contraction, and while he was away I felt another one coming, it wasn’t particularly long, but to work through it I began making the low-moaning sounds that I typically use towards the end of labor. This is nuts! I thought. Am I really this far into labor?? Mom heard me make the sound, and immediately ran to get the midwife. The nurse was already setting up the delivery room. I had another contraction as the midwife was coming back in, and she immediately said that I would have to get out of the tub, because the hospital “isn’t ready for water-births yet.”

As all signs pointed to imminent delivery, I was in shock. I was still having breaks between contractions. I even had time to get from the tub to the foot of my bed before a new contraction hit. With all my previous labors the contractions were incredibly strong, one on top of the other, before I began to feel the baby’s head crowning–but that’s what was happening. Only two or three contractions more, and out little Ricky’s head came. He had so much hair! But I had to wait to get the rest of him out. Unlike with the other births, I had no “overwhelming urge to push,” and I had to wait for a contraction to come to help me out. I actually said out loud, “Ricky, there is no way your labor was this fast!” At 8:14pm the rest of baby Ricky came out, and the midwife told me to pick my baby up. I couldn’t believe it! He was adorable and perfect and alert, and he was out!

It was two hours before they took him to weigh and measure him, and I was surprised at his stats– 8lbs, 13 oz., 21″ long. A good 5oz bigger than his brother Jack!

So while the birth definitely didn’t go as planned, it was amazing. Just like my baby boy!

Still here…and that’s okay

Posted on October 31, 2013 by feinmemmy

It’s true–I’m one week past due. And I’m okay.

I’ve been pretty amused with people’s responses to my being “past due.” They range from total surprise (“Wow! You don’t look nine months along!”) to complete sympathy (“Oh, you poor dear! You must feel awful!”) Since this is my third trip on the “late” train, I’m not really surprised by my kid’s tardiness, and I quickly tell people that I expect he’ll be a November baby.

I do find it funny, though, how much faith we as a society put in due dates. They’re calculated based on estimated date of conception, estimated size of the baby, and my estimated monthly cycle (actually, they pretty much ignore that part, even though it varies greatly from woman to woman). Doesn’t that seem like a lot of guessing? And yet, when that magical day rolls around it’s as if I’ve missed a gigantic deadline–or rather, my little baby has. He should have set up a reminder on his calendar, I guess. As I’ve been saying since Jack, I think I’m just a slow cooker. I know he’ll show up eventually, so I may as well enjoy these last few days with just the 5 of us!

And it’s actually been pretty fun. If I’d had the baby last week I would have missed most of the Halloween festivities with my kids. They’ve had class parties and ward parties, and tonight we have the downtown trick-or-treating event. As Logan said, maybe all the walking will get my labor started 🙂

(The kids with their Nanna and Papa before the ward Halloween party)

Also, I got to help Tommy complete his first project for school! He is going to be the “star student” next Tuesday, and he needed to make a poster all about him. As a graphic designer, this was one of the hardest assignments ever–letting my kid take control was HARD. And Tommy had definite ideas about what he wanted it to look like.

(The finished product. The bottom right says “Ricky”. Maybe we’ll have a picture before he takes it to school on Monday!)

Even though the poster is supposed to be about him, he insisted on having pictures of his brother and sister on there, too. He likes writing their names, and frequently puts them on his homework assignments. It’s super sweet what a caring older brother he is 🙂

Logan refers to Ricky as “the happy bomb.” We don’t know when he’s coming, and he could go at any minute. But let’s be happy in the meantime!

T minus 12-ish days…

Posted on October 13, 2013 by feinmemmy

When I open my baby iPad app, it now informs me that my baby is at week 38 (and yes, I kinda need the app to tell me things like that). With my first baby I knew exactly how far along I was all the time–28 weeks and 5 days, 36 weeks 2 days, etc.–but with this one…not so much. Time just kind of slipped by me. Mostly because there were a lot of other schedules to keep track of (the older kids starting Kindergarten and preschool, for example).

I joke with people that I get lazier with each kid. I finally packed a hospital bag tonight, but to tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure what to put in it. Everything I went to grab I was like, “No, I can just have Logan bring that later if I need it,” or “I didn’t use that last time.” I think I’m also over confident that I’ll remember things as we’re walking out the door (like my iPad and charger–MUST HAVES!!!)

I can count on staying at least 48 hours in the hospital because I have group B strep, so they want me to hang around for observation (it’s not dangerous for me at all, and it’s very unlikely the baby will get sick from it, but they like to observe for a while just to make sure). Part of me wishes I could go right home and sleep in my own bed, since hospital beds are not the best for restful sleep, but part of me is okay with it. Kind of like a mini-vacation for just me and the baby. Lots of cuddles, and some quality Netflix time 🙂

I’m super curious about what the baby will look like. I’m the biggest I’ve ever been before (which I know some people don’t believe, but it’s TRUE PEOPLE! I do gain weight when I have a baby!!) and I feel the baby’s foot in my rib constantly, which is a bit new for me. I’m not sure if he’s bigger, longer, or just floating higher than my previous kids at this stage, but I’m sure interested in finding out! He also started a new trick today–he pushed on some nerves attached to my legs, which resulted in my right leg collapsing. Logan says if it starts happening regularly he won’t let me drive anymore, so I’m hoping it’s just a short-term thing.

Since Jack was two weeks late, and Anna was 8 days late, I’m really not sure what to expect. He could be right on time (just to follow the trend), or he could be early to totally mess with me. Or, he could decide he really wants to be a November baby…guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

(and p.s.–I’m now “sticking out” more than I was in the photo above. I’d take a picture to prove it…but I’m too lazy!)

The Davis Family

Our Journey to Create