Wednesday, June 29, 2011

My! How We've Grown!

22 Weeks


35 Weeks




















It's amazing how fast the time flies! This has been the best pregnancy I could have ever imagined and I love being able to see how big my little girl is getting!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Showered With Love [part two]

My mom threw a shower for Christopher and I so we could celebrate Evey with all of our friends! It was completely overwhelming, but it was wonderful! We received so many wonderful gifts to help us learn how to be parents and I can't wait to use them!


My daughter is so spoiled!




I was so surprised to receive gifts from my family in Ohio! My grandma knitted Evey a beautiful blanket and - the most special part - made "gokys" for her. When I was little, I LOVED the feeling of silk. Most kids have a blankie, but I carrierd around a piece of silk that I called my "goky." Grandma remembered that part of my childhood and now I can pass it on to my daughter!
A note of encouragement from Evey's Great-Grandma!


Evey's "German-Chic" from Aunt Chrissy!




I think Evey's Auntie loves her more!


The cutest onesie ever! "M is for Moo" and there's a cow on the butt! I can't wait for Evey to wear it!



It was so great to celebrate with old friends! We definitely enjoyed our "mock-tails"!


Our beautiful god-daughter, Lucy!

Some love from Auntie Ali.

Showered With Love [part one]

Christopher's mom threw a joint shower for my sister-in-law and I.
We celebrated the coming of our two sweet babies with our families.

Harrison is due July 26, just six days before our Evey!












Cathy's "Grandma" Quilt
 

Our Star Wars Diaper Bag!


Thank you so much for all of the amazing gifts! Everything was so fantastic and our girl is going to be so spoiled!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Our "Little" Girl

We had our 34 week check-up today and we have good-ish, bad news.

For the past few weeks, I've kept telling Christopher that I feel like my tummy is way, way too small for someone who is 8 months pregnant. Finally, Dr. Ashmun confirmed my suspicions and apparently I'm not gaining enough weight and my uterus was measuring a little bit small.

At our last appointment, I had lost another pound and a half and I'm still way under the 189lbs that I weighed at our first "official" prenatal visit on December 18th.

This isn't necessarily something for us to worry about because my daughter, who LOVES the bottom right quadrant of my tummy, was a bit caddy-wompus (as Dr. Ashmun called it) and was semi-difficult to measure. The "good-ish" part of the bad news is that we get to see our girl again! Since Evey measured small - around 5lbs - we're scheduled for another ultrasound at our next appointment.

Other than that, everything looks fantastic and Dr. Ashmun thinks we're on our way to a perfectly healthy delivery! She says we're right on track. Evey's heart beat was around 140bpm, which is strong, and she's still dancing all over my belly!

I can't wait to post new pictures of our daughter in a couple of weeks!! STAY TUNED...

Babies 'R' Us: You're Dead To Me

Let me just start off by saying, I hate Babies “R” Us. I don’t know if Jenni and I have just been spoiled by the selection and quality of service at Buy Buy Baby, or if Babies ‘R’ Us is just that bad. Every time Jenni and I go into Buy Buy Baby we are greeted by a passionate and enthusiastic staff that goes out of their way to make sure we get the service and products we need. Most of the staff there know us by name and due date, even though we have only met some of them once. They have never made any fuss or made us go through any red tape when we have questions, returns or exchanges, and if there is anything they cannot do to help us, they are very apologetic and polite about it.

Babies “R” Us on the other hand has been the polar opposite experience for us. Jenni had a 20% off coupon for a breast pump at Babies ‘R’ Us. When went to buy it, Jenni got an employee’s attention to ask a question about it. The employee first rolled her eyes at being bothered, then quickly answered the question and before Jenni had even finished talking to her about the product, she turned her back to us and walked away. During the same visit, we wanted to look at diaper bags and accessories. We had to walk out of our way twice trying to get the right aisle because employees had left restocking ladders unattended blocking aisles. When we finally got to the aisle we wanted, we found a third ladder right in front of the diaper bags. Frustrated, Jenni went to the furniture desk where an employee was reading and asked him to move the ladder. The employee responded by saying that the ladder didn’t belong to his department and that it wasn’t his responsibility to move it. After facing Jenni’s “Pregnant Woman Wrath”, he decided to move it five feet so we could look at changing pads and bags… granted we still had to walk down a different aisle just to get to them since the ladder was still in the way.

My parents, bought Jenni and I our travel system, which was only available at Babies ‘R’ Us. When I was assembling the jogger, I noticed that the front wheel lock was broken and stuck in the lock position. So I called Babies ‘R’ Us. The person on the phone was very helpful and, after talking with her manager, agreed to let me bring it in for a new one. Later that afternoon when I went in to exchange it, the girl behind the desk had just gotten there and wasn’t sure who I talked to about the jogger. She went to get a manager and came back with the same lady who walked away from Jenni while we were looking at breast pumps. When she asked what I needed, I explained the situation to her. She began arguing with me, saying that she wasn’t the person I talked to earlier. I told her that I didn’t know the name of the manager who approved the exchange and that I’d called at 9:00 that morning. Her only response was that she wasn’t there at that time and that she wasn’t sure what I really want her to do about the jogger. I explained again that I had received a broken product and wanted it replaced with a new one.

The employee asked her if they couldn’t just go get a new box, and the manager responded by saying – in a pissed off tone – that the box also has a car seat and base in it and if they were to do that then she would have to open the box and assemble the jogger and that she really didn’t want to do that. I looked at her and bluntly told her that I had the other two pieces in the car – if that would inconvenience her less. I ran out to the car to get the other pieces and when I returned to the desk the manager was pushing a cart with the 50 pound travel system box in it. Without a word, she dumped the travel system out of the cart, and pushed the cart along with all others that had been left at the exit back to a stock room leaving me to haul the heavy, cumbersome box out to my car by hand.

As if that wasn’t enough, Jenni and I ventured back to Babies “R” Us to make a couple of exchanges. This time, we went to a different location. We had a couple of items that we just wanted to trade out for a different color and two bottles of soap that had burst and we needed to exchange. This manager returned them without a word and gave us a gift card and we went through the store picking up the replacement Items. Now, in most stores, all of these returns would have been treated as even exchanges, however when we went back to purchase the replacements, they charged us twice as much as the amount that we’d been given back at the beginning. When we asked why it wasn’t an even exchange she told us that since we had no gift receipts the items were returned for the lowest price they had been in the past 90 days. That even though the items are no longer that price she refused to let us do an even exchange. We decided that we wanted to void the return and only return the items we weren’t getting screwed on. The manager turned us over to a new employee and walked off leaving the employee to fumble her way through the system. She returned a moment later and the employee asked her how to fix something she’d voided incorrectly and the manager responded by chastising the employee because the employee wasn’t authorized to make voids, yet never offered to help. After several curt comments by the manager, the employee figured out what to do and was able to do what we had asked. So after 45 infuriating minutes we left carrying the same items we had entered the store with, still needing to return them.

I don’t know if any of you out there believe as I do, but this is no way to treat the people you depend on to make a living. Babies ‘R’ Us should really take some notes from Buy Buy Baby on how to treat their clientele. I can tell you, though, that, whether they step up their game or not, that is one store I will not revisit willingly.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Beginning of the End

So much has been happening and now - in the blink of an eye - we're less than two months from the eminent arrival of Evey Emaline Davis and I am getting more and more excited as each day passes.

Our nursery is so close to being done and Christopher is doing an amazing job putting it together. We'll post pictures as soon as it's completed.

We had a great check-up last week. Evey's heartrate was 132 bpm (which I thought was a little low, but the nurse says that it's perfect and strong) and she's between 4 - 4.5 lbs. Even though Evey is gaining weight like crazy, I'm still managing to lose it! I still weigh 9 lbs less than where I started on December 18th. I've never felt better - and even when I feel "bad" Evey starts dancing and it makes everything worthwhile... speaking of which, I think she knows I'm talking about her!


We just had our first birthing class tonight - and that made everything feel so real! I was expecting the class to be cheesy, especially because of the way these classes are portrayed by Hollywood. But, I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot. Since the beginning of the pregnancy, I really wanted to go through labor naturally but I wasn't sure if I could handle it. Christopher has pretty much been my only supporter in this decision. People wonder why I want to put myself through the pain when the meds can make everything easier. After tonight, I no longer feel alone in the decision to go natural and my reasoning was validated over and over again.

Now, I feel like I'm much more educated about the entire labor process, whether I use anesthesia or not. I feel like natural labor is much more attainable than I did before, and I've got two more classes to teach me positions and breathing techniques to make it more endurable.

Our instructor went over the side effects of the usual drugs given during labor and the pros and cons of natural birth. I'm happy to say that as long as Evey and I are both healthy, she will enter this world 100% drug-free!