I Survived

I wouldn't call yesterday a piece of cake but I made it through the 3hr test. It was NO fun, especially after I found out it wasn't going to be 3 blood draws, but 4. Ugh. I was so hungry when I went in and of cos knowing that I wouldn't be eating until mid day did not makes things any easier. The stuff that I had drink was WAY sweeter than the 1hr drink and therefore a lot harder to stomach and get down in 5mins. It almost instantly made me dizzy. At least I got to sit in a recliner and watch tv but I mostly napped the 4.5hrs I was there. After the 2nd blood draw (1hr after the drink) I got really nauseas, more dizzy and wanted to throw up so I spent the rest of the time with an ice pack on my neck trying really hard not to throw up. The nurse said if I did throw up then I would have to do the test all over again and I definitely didn't want to start over.

And, that nurse....not my fave person. I really didn't care for her. Like J said she might be good, but she's too 'rough' and I really didn't need someone calling me a wimp and telling me to just suck it up, especially when you're bruising my arms (she used both arms) and I'm already not feeling good. I also didn't appreciate her telling me that she could see that I wasn't gonna make it through the test. How would you like being 7mths pregnant, having to drink some yucky stuff, told not to eat or drink for 12hrs and then having your blood drawn and at the last blood draw being told you're too dehydrated and I'm not sure if I can get enough blood ... well hello, I haven't been able to drink anything, what do you expect? I wonder if she's gone through this before?

I haven't heard back from the doctor's office and I don't know when I am supposed to. I spent all of yesterday afternoon on the couch sleeping cos I had zero energy to do anything. I am just so glad that this is past me ... I am just praying for a good result now.

~ Veryll

And An Old Fave!

Javan's New Fave Song

Fishy Fun

Our original plan for Valentines Day was a Family Fun Day but plans changed so we did a raincheck on that and yesterday was raincheck day! We headed downtown Chattanooga and took Javan to the aquarium for the very first time (neither J nor I had been to the Tenn. Aquarium). I personally think the aquarium is over priced (we got a discount on the tix -thats the only reason we went!) and really does not have much to offer in terms of variety and the exhibits are kinda small. The highlight was definitely the penguins. Javan could have stayed there the entire time. He also enjoyed the butterfly garden and the sting rays.

The aquarium is divided into the two parts - ocean journey and river journey

about to explore the ocean journey
watching the sting rays
a little hands on interaction
and we had a potty accident - we haven't talked much about it since its still kinda premature but Javan has been doing pretty good at going to the potty (at home and when we're out and about) but somehow I knew he would be too stimulated with all the activity going on to let us know he needed to potty - I think its different when he's home. But, J didn't listen to me on this issue which resulted in two accidents:(

The butterfly garden

penguin watching!

somebody had a birdseye view:)







Javan was not into the River Journey part of the aquarium (I guess to him a fish is a fish so you see a big one and a small one and they are all the same!) so we cut our trip short and headed over to Coldstone Creamery - no better way to top some fabulous family time! Javan and I normally share an ice cream but this time I couldn't resist getting him his own (even though I knew he wouldn't eat it all). When I was placing our order Javan says to the guy 'I want the blue one please in just a wittle cup!' How could I not get him his own ice cream after that?

We ended our family day with watching Madagascar! Definitely a fun movie indeed - Javan loved it and kept inquiring about 'where the zebra go?'

~Veryll

Failed

That's the outcome of my 1hr glucose test that I took yesterday morning:( I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry about it cos I did most this morning and thinking about doing the 3hr one and having my blood drawn not once, but three times is really making me panicky - I just don't do well with needles. But, thats not the only thing - I am pretty anemic so I need to start on iron pills asap. Oh joy. I go in on Tuesday for the 3hr test. Please say a prayer for me. I know it seems like no big deal but I really get very nervous and panicky about these things.

~Veryll

Pregnancy Update: 28w 3d Appt.

I had my last monthly appt. with Dr. Childs today. It kind of freaked me out when he said 'I'll see you in TWO weeks' and then reminded me that 'its flying by' Yea no kidding.

I actually had to do my glucose test (Lord pls help me pass!) so I drank the orange stuff which I don't think is that bad at all. Its just having to drink it in such a short amount of time that makes it not so good. I got my blood pressure taken (normal and healthy) and my weight checked. I gained 1lb this past month. I was really surprised to learn that according to their scales I've gained 8lbs total at this point of the pregnancy (I thought it was 11). Baby's heartbeat was 156 and baby is head down. I had to wait an hour to have my blood drawn and yes, I cried. I just really cannot stand needles and don't do well with this stuff. I was so dizzy at this point and wasn't sure if I was going to pass out but, I survived.

Dr. Childs was so funny cos he asked me if we have names picked out for HER as yet! He's convinced its a girl and so is Javan! Last night Javan saw my belly and we had a conversation that went like this:

Javan: there's sister
Me: where's sister?
Javan: sister in the belly. is baby sister.
Me: Javan for your sake I really do hope its a girl.
Javan: why thank you mummy!

He's made it a point to tell me that he wants a baby sister. I still think its a boy!

Latest belly shot (taken monday - 28wks)



As far as the great name debate goes, we've put it on hold cos it was getting a little too stressful. My friend lent me this book of 50,000 baby names so we'll be going through that over time!

And lastly thanks to a very generous gift from a really dear friend, our baby will have new bedding! We're so excited and so very thankful. We got the package today adn Javan helped open it. He says 'ah so cute!' We can't wait to start getting things set up for baby. We have a lot to do but really it seems more like rearranging so hopefully it wont be too bad and take too much time.

~Veryll

In The Mood for a Melody

Sing us a song, youre the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, were all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feelin alright

That's our little piano man!

~Veryll

A Shared Blessing

One of the best things about pregnancy is getting to share it with friends who are pregnant at the same time as you are. With Javan I had so many pregnant friends, it was ridiculous. This time there's not as many but I'm glad there's some - guess we all drank that water at different times! One particular friend I am thrilled to share this journey with is Norma. She and Kelvin are such dear friends to us and we've been through so much together and their strenght through it all just completely amazes us.

I'll never forget that day I called to congratulate Norma on the birth of her first born only to hear her say 'Veryll I just lost my son' Its the last thing I EVER expected to hear. The road to healing has been long but she is just remarkable. A year and half after his death, Norma gave birth to a beautiful baby girl - Karen - I can't express how happy I was for her. She finally got to bring her baby home.

And now that happiness is doubled! Norma is pregnant again! Her excitement is contagious and has definitely spilled over to me. She has been a great encourager to me this pregnancy and talking with her really uplifts me. J took a few pics of us together on Saturday and I wanted to share them just cos they are fun and really show thrilled we are to be pregnant together!!!

I'm 27w 5d and Norma is 16wks



~Veryll

Valentines

Our Valentines celebrations are usually very low key and we typically celebrate on the 15th since thats the day we started dating (this year marks the 11yr anniversary of us being together). This year our plans changed so we just kinda left everything to unfold as the weekend ticked away.

I guess our fun started Thursday night cos SURVIVOR is back on! yay!!! and OMG what a great episode. This is definitely going to be a great season.

Friday Javan had his Valentines party at school. They did a PJ Party and he was so excited about it. I didn't get around to making Valentines for all his friends so we ended up just making them for his friends at school.

Here he is helping his teacher make peanut butter sandwiches



Friday night Jermaine and I actually got to go out to a movie. WOW! It has literally been a year (maybe more since we have gone out to one). Sadly we rarely get to go on dates cos we just cant justify the expense of a sitter and whatever activity we might want to do so it's always just the three of us. Since we watched Noah last week, Serge was kind enough to keep Javan for a couple of hours so we decided to watch Slumdog Millionaire. If you have not seen it, you HAVE to. Seriously it is probably one THE best movies we have ever seen. Its amazing. You just have to watch it to know why. J pointed out that it didn't even need sex to sell it! Btw its not a Hollywood made movie and definitely has no famous actors in it. It was fantastic - hope you get to watch it.


Saturday we intended to have a family day and J had wanted to take me out in the evening but our plans changed when we heard that our best friends, Shelly and Ishi, were coming in to town from North Carolina and of cos we had to see them. This was actually a farewell type of visit since Ishi is leaving for Iraq in about 2.5wks and will be gone for a year. Sad indeed, but he is very excited about the opportunity he has to minister to soldiers. He is a chaplain in the army. So we met at Jessica's house (Shelly's sis) and spent the majority of our day there. Javan had so much fun playing with all the kids. Between Shelly and Jess they have 6 kids and Jess is pregnant with her 3rd. This is the first time Shelly is not pregnant with either one of us!

Ishi, Ramon and Eli

Shel and I

J and Ish

our friendship goes WAY back and we are seriously more like family than just friends

J and Eli (our Godson)

We spent most of Saturday with them and then decided to visit with Norma and Kelvin for a little bit. Javan was thrilled to see so many of his friends in one day! He had a great time hanging out with Karen.


Sunday we started the 'Fireproofing Your Marriage' class at church and we really enjoyed it. So even though the weekend didn't pan out the way we originally thought, I couldn't think of any better way we could have spent it.

~V

Multitasking

While Javan was painting the other night, Jermaine got a phone call and so Javan had to grab his phone and had basically the exact same conversation his daddy did!




~V

93 days ....

... and counting down til the arrival of Baby2. Yikes. I'm SO not ready and this is definitely going by way to fast right now. I have to admit that I am kinda nervous about going through labour and delivery this time - I'm sure I'll be fine as I get closer to my due date but for some reason I feel so nervous ... maybe its cos I know what's going happen??? I think what I am most nervous about is the whole 2 kid thing and how the dynamic of our family is going to change.

Anyways here's a little pregnancy update
- I'm 26wks (26w 5d to be exact!)
- I feel like am the queen of aches right now (back aches, head aches and toe aches!hahaha! made that up but my little toe that I broke hasnt healed yet)
- still having lots of contractions
- I have pink toothbrush (aka bleeding gums)
- My back itches a lot and sometimes my belly
- Takes a while to get comfy at night, but at least I don't wake up (as yet) to pee a million times through the night
- Baby is moving more and I definitely feel baby's hiccups more distinctly
- Baby has changed positions which is obvious to me since the shape of my belly has changed, I'm definitely much bigger and I feel movement in different places. I absolutely love feeling the baby move (this is my fave part of pregnancy for sure)
- Baby's awake/most active time seems to be from 10pm onward

and the latest belly progression



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and for something different:

The Great Name Debate ... wanna help!

I know we have PLENTY of time to name this baby. But, we can't seem to find any names that have made us go 'wow I love that'. Not sure why its so hard the second time around. I do wish we had kept a running list of names we liked when we were deciding on Javan's name so we could refer to it now, but sadly we didn't.

So if you have any baby names to share, we'd love to hear them (maybe 3 girl and 3 boys names) ...

Just 3 things:
- no 'J' names
- no names ending in the 'en' 'an' 'in' sound (ie nothing that rhymes with Javan (I LOVE Evan and Gavin but I don't like how it goes with Javan)
- name has to be more than one syllable

*Btw we found Javan's name in the Bible and Christopher is after my dad.

~V

Happy Birthday Jude!

Jude turns one next week and today we got to celebrate a little early with him at his party. Javan loved singing happy birthday but of cos he has just one thing on his mind ... CAKE!

Javan is always thrilled to see Donna

enjoying the sunshine outside

Jude didn't like everyone watching him with his cake!

when no one was paying attention he grabbed the cake and dove right in!



~Veryll

Two's Company

Since Wednesday night J and I have kept Noah (our friends Nicole and Serge are out of town) and its been a very interesting experience. I know you're thinking 'well at least you guys get some practice for when the baby comes' but I think its much different. They are the same age so there's a lot of 'play nice' 'you need to share' 'no fighting and so on. They have actually done pretty good together and we've had the normal bickering and fighting over toys and space ... guess that's par for the course since they are both only children and basically everything is theirs and reasoning with a two year old doesn't always go the way you'd like it! We've definitely had a good time keeping Noah and I know Javan has enjoyed the company.

Our survival motto has been to just wear them out and put them bed! We've tried to get out the house and do little activities with them and since today was really beautiful we took them to the park and let them run like crazy!

Here's a few pics from the past few days:









When Javan wakes up Monday morning to see that his friend is no longer here, he is NOT going to be happy.
~V