Introducing Elijah Jesse Davis

Elijah Jesse Davis

Grand entrance into the world on February 11, 2012

10:17am

7 lbs 3oz   20 1/2 inches. 

Birth Story to come...

Catching Up a Bit

Whew! It has been a busy Christmas season for us this year! Here's a little picture recap of the last few weeks.

 We broke tradition this year and set up our tree before Thanksgiving. In the past, we have always done it the day after, but now that we live closer to family, we tend to do a little more traveling that weekend. I love having Christmas decor up, so setting it up early seemed like a better option than waiting until later. This was Ben's first year to help put the ornaments on the tree. Needles to say, all of them were pretty much in one place. :-) He had a great time though.

 We spent the weekend after Thanksgiving with Matt's family and got to see not only his parents, grandma and aunt, but also his brother and sister-in-law as well as his sister, brother-in-law and two nieces. This was really the first time the three kiddos actually played together. I don't know if I would go so far as to say they always played well, but it was still fun to see. I think they will keep having more fun together as they get older.

 While we were at Matt's family's house, we were blessed to have a baby shower thrown for us by my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. It was a beautiful shower with fun decor and super yummy food. We enjoyed getting to see more of Matt's family and they showered us with some great gifts!

 Last year, I had this great idea for starting a Christmas countdown calendar complete with fun activities and treats to count down the 25 days until Christmas. I also wanted to start a Jesse Tree. I think one big idea is enough for one year, so last year, we just did the Jesse Tree. We use a tiny tree that I purchased at Hobby Lobby and little ornaments that I cut from stiff felt. We start the Sunday after Thanksgiving and go all the way up until Christmas. The devotions are simple and it's a great way to see how God had a plan for our salvation from before He even created the world. You can find these free devotions, as well as templates for the ornaments here. This year, we are continuing the tradition of the Jesse Tree, but I added a Christmas countdown calendar in as well. It's kept me pretty busy, but it's been really fun and I'm hoping to keep up the tradition. The above picture is one of the things that was on our calendar. We made these as teacher gifts - dipped marshmallows on sticks, hot chocolate packets, and candy cane kisses. Super fun and super easy. Other things we've done for our calendar are homemade ornaments (total fail of a project, but fun to do), reading books while cuddled under blankets, making cookies, making paper snowflakes, making a paper chain in Christmas colors, and attending a few fun things around town.

 One of the events we attended last weekend was called Clabber Girl Country Christmas. My sister works are this awesome bakery and coffee shop downtown and they had all kinds of fun things for kids. Each of them cost a little money, so we let Ben choose two. He went for getting a gingerbread cookie with his name on it and making a paper elf.

 And lastly, my belly has most definitely popped in the last few weeks! I cannot believe it, but we are into the third trimester now. I feel like time is going to fly over the next 10 1/2 or so weeks. I'm still feeling pretty good overall. The belly is starting to make me change the way I do a few things, but I've been so blessed so far with a great pregnancy. I had my glucose tolerance test last week and since we are in the middle of Christmas goodie season, I was super nervous that I wouldn't pass and would miss out on lots of yummy stuff. Then when I went into the lab, the lady asked me if I was fasting. My doctor hadn't told me to fast, so not only was I not fasting, but I had been extra hungry that morning and had already eaten twice. She told me she'd probably see me back for the three hour test. I drank that grossly sweet drink and praise the Lord I passed the test! Pretty sure I've gained 5 pounds since then from all the Christmas goodies I've consumed since then. Yikes! :-) We started our childbirth classes last week. I'm not super thrilled about them, but hopefully they will get better and more informative over the next few weeks. I have a friend who loaned me a great book that Matt and I have been reading together that has been super informative (it's also been freaking me out as we get closer to delivery time), so I'm not too worried about the childbirth classes being as basic as they seem to be. I've also been attending a weekly prenatal yoga class and I love it! Last week my balance had definitely changed a bit and I kept falling out of poses, but the strengthening and stretching we do during the class is great as I continue to gain weight and prepare for labor.

Benjamin Funnies

Yesterday I was in line at the grocery store with Ben and he started talking to the baby. Then he looked up and asked me if the baby could hear him. I told him he could hear his voice, but probably couldn't understand the words he was saying. I told Ben it was kind of like having your head under water in the bathtub and trying to hear someone talking. Ben got a funny look on his face and asked me if there was water in my belly. I told him there was and that it helped to protect the baby. He paused for a minute and then asked "Are there sharks in there too?"

October Travels

I think after a week of being home, we are finally recovered and caught up on sleep from all of our October travels. We were so blessed to be able to be gone for just over two weeks and enjoyed the refreshment of time away as a family. We got to see some great friends in Kansas and Texas and also got to see some of Ben's birth family. It was a great trip. We were definitely ready to be home in our own beds by the end of two weeks, but even the time in the car was mostly enjoyable. We listened to lots of books on tape, played travel Bingo, colored with Ben in the back seat, and got annoyed with each other a few times. :-) Ben watched a few movies and was in heaven getting to watch way more than he normally does. And while we were gone, my belly finally really popped out! It's so much fun to be big enough now that people who don't know I'm pregnant can tell. I felt pretty good through most of the trip. My back was not appreciative of all the car time and I had a few times of travel food not sitting well with me, but other than that, I think it all went great. Little man is kicking stronger and even making my belly move sometimes. It's amazing!

 23 weeks

 We stopped in Omaha first for Matt's conference. It was freezing cold, but Ben and I got out and found these awesome slides a few blocks from our hotel. Matt joined us later and that's him at the top of the slide.

 We had such a great time with our friends Brian and Katie and their son. Ben and Cale played hard just about every minute we were with them.

 Yay for great friends!

 Dinner out with Bert, Tina, Eric and Jamie

 We spent an afternoon in downtown San Antonio and had to splurge on freshly made guacamole from Boudros. Mmmmm. I sure do miss good avocados!!

 Ben did super well with all the hours of driving. We had a fun little surprise for him for each long day and I think it made it a little more fun for him. I picked up some animals at the dollar store and they were a huge hit.

 Ben was so excited to get to help daddy wash the windows!

Our last stop before beginning the drive home was El Paso. We had a great time visiting Ben's birth grandma and great grandma.

Emotions of Pregnancy after Infertility

I've had some pretty emotional weeks lately. A week ago I finished out a journal I started just over three years ago. I'm not very good at consistency with journaling and it was only a 70 page notebook, but when I get to the end of one, I always like to look back through to see where God has taken me. Three years ago we found out about a possible adoption opportunity. The journal started with prayer over that situation. Three years ago today that little boy was born and we thought God meant him to be part of our family. God had other plans and if I had known that it would be three and a half more years before we would add to our family, it would have felt like too much. I'm always amazed at how I want to know what's coming, but when I look back, I'm so glad God showed me only what I needed to know for each season. So my journal ended with the wonder and amazement of finding out I was pregnant. Only God could take something so silly like a journal and start it and end it in such a way.

Pregnancy after years of infertility is so filled with emotion. Some days I feel guilty and almost hesitant to share excitement because I know the pain of so many women who have not yet carried a child in their womb. Other days I feel like it can't be real and I wait for the reality check to let me know that this too is just another pain filled experience along the way. Sometimes fear takes me over and I spend the whole day trying to place myself back at the feet of Jesus in full surrender to whatever His plan is. And some days the joy fills me so full to the top that I cry just thinking about the precious baby boy growing and kicking inside my womb. Overall, I'm in awe. I don't know God's plans for this child. But I'm amazed that He is allowing this child to grow inside of me. Each day is such a blessing and I don't want to take any of them for granted.

Guess Who's Getting a Little Brother!!

Whew! This pregnancy is flying by! I'm 19 weeks and I think now I almost want it to slow down just a tiny bit. I love this stage! I'm finally starting to show a tiny bit more and in the last few weeks I've felt little flutters and kicks and it's just amazing!! I think I can finally say that I am over having sick days for the most part, unless I do way too much one day. I have so much more energy now and I'm loving being able to work out more consistently and get a few more things done around the house. I am also finally able to eat just about anything now, which is awesome, but now I need to be careful because I went from wanting nothing to do with sugar, to craving chocolate ALL THE TIME!! But I'm also enjoying all kinds of healthy stuff again too. I'm officially not fitting into my jeans anymore and I was so excited to find some maternity jeans that look and feel great, but are also long enough. I've decided that they may have to remain in my closet even after pregnancy because I think they fit better than my non maternity jeans. :-)  I'm still so in awe that I am getting to experience this. I feel like I just want to soak up every minute. Last week was a super exciting doctor's appointment. We got to see this little life that is growing inside me. It felt surreal. Of course based on tests and the way I was feeling, I knew I was pregnant, but to have the image of this precious baby come up on the screen was amazing! And, we found out that God is blessing us with another boy! Benjamin was so excited when he found out. He was pretty set on having a boy because he thought he and the baby should match.

OK, so still not showing a ton, but definitely growing!

14 Weeks

Seems like the first trimester went by super slow, but I have a feeling things are about to speed up now that I'm mostly feeling better. I'm still waiting for the energy boost that all the books mention, but at least I can eat normal food again! I still can't believe this is for real! We had our second doctor's appointment yesterday and I am pretty sure hearing this little one's heartbeat will never get old. Apparently we have a little mover because when the nurse placed the doppler on my stomach, she got the heartbeat right away, but then it was gone and she had to search quite a bit to find it again. In the midst of her searching though, we got to hear a kick. It was amazing! Can't wait for our next appointment when we will get to see this little person on an ultrasound!!!

I never took any belly pictures before now, and I kind of wish I had just for the fun of comparison, but I'm finally starting to get a little bit of a belly, so I thought it was time to start taking belly pictures!