Father's Day 2008

Doug had a great Father's Day this year! He started the weekend celebration early by leaving work early on Friday, after a LONG week at work. (He definitely put his hours in before leaving early Friday...) We went to the pool for a little bit and then went to Red Lobster to spend a giftcard.

Ava enjoying a snack at the pool























Ava and Doug at the pool, eating blueberries
















Ava was so wiped out from the pool that she fell asleep on the way to Red Lobster. She laid her head on Daddy's lap, sleeping through the entire dinner. Doug and I indulged in a calamari appetizer, as I've heard this encourages labor (no luck yet!). After finishing a relaxing dinner and great conversation (we were actually able to finish sentences!), Ava woke up. :-) She quietly ate her dinner out of her "take-out" container and we ventured off to Barnes & Noble, where I spent another giftcard from Christmas! ;-0

On Saturday, we went to the chiropractor for Doug's back to be adjusted. We then went to "Relish", per Doug's request. It is a local restaurant with very yummy Southern food, where we also went for Mother's Day lunch. We later played with Ava's new bubble machine and got some much-needed things done around the house. Ava also helped make a Funfetti cake for Daddy and even frosted it and adorned it with sprinkles! She really seems to enjoy working in the kitchen, and often tells me she is going to wash dishes or cook ("I cook"... is my cooking really that bad? :-)). She will pull a kitchen chair up to the sink / counter, climbs it and starts "washing" dishes. :-)

Fun with a bubble-blowing machine















































Playing with our neighbor Matthew



















Ava and Doug take a bubble break



















Making a Funfetti cake for Daddy before bedtime...
















Her finished creation
















Sunday at church, Ava's Sunday school teacher sent the kids home with a cute bag of goodies for their Daddies. I also had Ava's profile done as a gift to Doug for Father's Day. He opened it, along with cards and a Daddy coupon book. We then visited Barrington Hall (another request of Doug's). Barrington Hall is a historic house on the Roswell Square, built in 1842. The house is gorgeous. It didn't have running water or electricity until 2001. Can you believe that? In Georgia? It was privately-owned until 2001 by members of the King family (no relation to MLKJ). The interior is immaculate. The house was done in Greek Revival temple architecture and has beautiful proportions. Most rooms in the house are 18 X 18 with 11 or 12 foot ceilings. A huge porch. Most sides of this house could be the front facade, which I thought was pretty cool. It's absolutely beautiful. http://www.barrington-hall.org/

I told Doug that if I could ever design and build a house, it would look EXACTLY like Barrington Hall. The staff treated us to ice cream sundaes at the end of our tour. We ventured out to see their formal English gardens and fruit tree orchard. I showed Ava a peach growing on a tree, but unfortunately we also stepped in a pile of fire ants and she was bitten all over her legs... I received a few fire-ant bites on my hands. Ava seemed to take it in stride, as I told her that "ants don't normally bite, but those ants by the peach tree weren't very nice and bit us..." As we were leaving, she told us she wasn't scared of the ants, thankfully! ("I not scared of the ants, Mommy".)

Ava had a late nap, so we didn't get to the pool yesterday as originally planned, which was fine by us. Instead, we took a walk to the nearest church park with Ava in her little red wagon. She enjoyed going down the slides and playing, as you can see in these pictures!

At the park on Father's Day









































































Have you ever seen a happier girl? :-)













































































































































It was too cute... When I told Ava that it was Doug's special day and that we should tell him "Happy Father's Day, Daddy!", she turned to Doug and said: "Happy Father's Day, Dad!" Her newest thing seems to be calling us Mom or Dad. I don't remember if I've said this in other posts, but she now knows our first names and sometimes calls us "Doug" or "Shelly"! I'm trying to steer her back to Mommy and Daddy, though. :-)

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

With love,
Shelly, Doug and Ava

The Park

Ava Loves Her Brother

Ava is already loving on her little brother.  When these pictures were taken, I asked Doug to run and get the camera.  Ava had her hand resting on my belly so naturally.  It  was too sweet to not take a few pictures!  Two more weeks until she finally gets to meet the little guy.

Peace, love and Baby Boy's first sibling snuggles,

Shelly, Doug and Ava

Doug's New Hobby

First Fruits (and Vegetables)

We now have visible fruit or veggies growing on everything I've planted, with exception to the "Big Boy" tomatoes. The Big Boy tomato plants are flowering (although very little), so I'm hoping we can have some success with the plant this year!

I realize I am totally remiss on including pictures of Ava on the blog. When I actually did take pictures of her the other day, they turned-out completely fuzzy. :( I will try to take more soon, and include on the blog.

Interesting that there is an issue with tomatoes being the "new spinach" these days, with the contamination scare and all... It makes me glad we were able to plant our own tomatoes. I'm hoping we'll have some we can actually eat soon! I thought it was funny that, when I did the math, all of the tomatoes and most things I planted would be ready for "harvest" around the time the baby will be born... I didn't intentionally plan it that way... We're now within 3 weeks of our due date!

Grape clusters growing (not sure of which variety I took this picture)
















More clusters of grapes. I will be anxious to see if we have any grapes this year.
























Blueberries! We had four big blueberries last Sunday. These are what I was able to pick this morning. They're very sweet and big, although I know you can't really tell in this picture... Not quite enough to make a pie or anything fancy. :-) We like them plain, anyway. I love that Ava knows which ones she can pick off the bush, and eat. She looks for the "blue ones", plucks them off and quickly gobbles them up. She LOVES her blueberries. I may have to invest in a few more of these bushes next year, to keep up with the demand. :-)
















Roma tomatoes - growing like wildfire
















The cutest little cucumber...
















Grape tomatoes. This plant has SO MANY tomatoes and flowers on it.
















A picture of a strawberry I took the other day. The strawberries (although I think they probably number under 20 at this point...) are getting pretty big, but are not yet red.
















Peace, love and peat moss,
Shelly

Hurdles

The hyperlink is a documentary regarding the birthing process in America. Lengthy at 1 ½ hours long, but extremely interesting. Warning, it IS graphic… http://bestdocumentaries.blogspot.com/2008/04/business-of-being-born.html

I am proud to say that my doctors are “VBAC-friendly” (Vaginal Birth After C-section), and that I see a group of doctors which includes two midwives.

I will be 37 weeks along tomorrow. I am PRAYING for a VBAC, if possible, as it seems they would be much easier from which to recover. I’ve been listening to a five-week course on cd, called Hypnobirthing. I pray that it will help with the success of a natural (in-hospital) childbirth. VBAC will mean a shorter hospital stay (hopefully) and more quick recovery of my abdominal muscles after birth. (I’m already envisioning how I will pick Ava up after this kiddo is born).

The cards have been stacked against me, as far as birthing naturally, due to my previous c-section. These are a list of the hurdles along the way, and the outcome of each, so far…

Hurdle #1 – SUCCESS!
Baby is head-down! The doctors advised if the baby was breech, they wouldn’t be able to perform a “version”, where they manually attempt to manipulate the baby by using their hands on the outside of my belly. If the baby was breech, it would basically mean an “automatic c-section”, although there are things I could do at home to help the baby switch positions and move head-down (www.spinningbabies.com).

Hurdle #2 – SUCCESS!
Baby is a normal size, so far. There isn’t a magic # as far as what point a baby is “too big” for a vaginal / natural delivery, per my doctors. The doctors all seem to concur that this baby will probably be around 7 – 7 ½ lbs, which is right on-par for attempting a natural delivery.

Hurdle #3 – SUCCESS!
I found out today that I am Group Beta Strep negative, which means that I won’t require an IV antibiotic during labor. Great news! If a mother is Group B Strep positive, the mother requires an IV during labor, so the baby doesn’t come into contact with this “virus”. Mothers who have Group B Strep would never know it, unless tested. The virus is harmless to adults, but very volatile to newborn infants (and could potentially cause death in an infant, if exposed). Requiring an IV be hooked-up to my arm would definitely limit my mobility during the birthing process. I feel like this would hinder my ability to birth naturally. The docs advised that I can have a Heploc placed in my arm and “capped-off”, which would allow them access to my veins if absolutely necessary, to give me necessary drugs. I'm not against an epidural, but do want things to progress as naturally (and quickly) as possible, increasing the chance of the VBAC. My epidural with Ava did make me a happy girl, but I do wonder how much it inhibited my ability to give birth naturally to Ava...(see video)

Hurdle #4 - Still in waiting
A woman’s cervix should thin out and dilate on it’s own, if possible. I am taking Evening Primrose Oil and drinking red raspberry leaf tea to help this along. They will check me for the first time this Wednesday, to see if I’ve made any progress yet.

Hurdle #5 – Still in waiting
If a woman’s cervix is dilated enough, doctors can “strip the membrane”. This basically means the bag of waters is separated from the wall of the uterus. Doctors can do this repeatedly over the last few weeks, to stimulate the release of prostaglandin, which encourages labor. I am REALLY hoping the doctors can do this for the first time at my 38 week appointment (not this week, but next). Not to be too graphic, but think of removing the membrane from the back of ribs, before you cook them. Nice visual, huh? :-0

Hurdle #6 – Still in waiting
It would also help if the “bag of waters” broke on its own, rather than doctors breaking it manually. Anything occurring naturally is better than something requiring intervention.

Hurdle #7 - Still in waiting
Baby’s tolerance for labor. Ava’s heart rate dropped during labor as the cord was wrapped around her neck. The cord is wrapped around 25% of all baby’s necks when born. Unfortunately Ava didn’t tolerate the labor well, so we ended-up with an emergency c-section. I pray this baby has different plans!

Hurdle #8 – Still in waiting
Doctor’s patience for letting me labor naturally, as long as the baby needs… It looks good for now, from what the doctors relay to me. That being said, I think our odds are only as good as the doctor’s level of optimism regarding the likeliness of a successful VBAC. Doing some research, my doctor’s group is around 70% for the rate of success for women who want a VBAC. I will remind them repeatedly during labor that I can HELP THEIR #’S, if they let me. :-)

Please keep us in your prayers, that things continue to go well and work toward our favor in attempting a VBAC delivery! Above all, we want a healthy baby and safe delivery, of course. Pray for this, as well!

We'll see what happens!

Peace, love and babies :-),
Shelly, Doug and Ava

Welcome to the Ghetto Garden!

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." -- Janet Kilburn Phillips

To neighbors I introduce it as my “ghetto garden”. It presents itself unabashedly to onlookers in our DRIVEWAY. Yes, driveway. If you’ve ever been to Atlanta, you know that the majority of older neighborhoods are completely shaded with trees: Georgia Pines, specifically. The only area on our property / yard that receives full-sun exists ON OUR DRIVEWAY.

Please know I didn’t intend on planting and growing a garden ON OUR DRIVEWAY. I merely started this little gardening experiment in a few pots on the side of our house, only to find that this side of the house doesn’t receive full sun, as I originally thought. Originally I just wanted to save a buck or two with our grocery bill by planting some tomato plants. And homegrown tomatoes are ALWAYS better than store-bought!

I began hauling the pots from the side of our house to the driveway in the morning, so they could receive sun during the day. I would then haul them back to the side of the house at night, far from the judgment of our sweet and tolerant (so far!) neighbors. Thank goodness we don’t have an HOA…

The ghetto garden























As my appetite for gardening (and belly) continually grew, containers of “experiments” seemed to multiply like rabbits. After a spill down the hill (while hauling raspberry plants), I gave up and our containers now reside semi-permanently in our driveway. Fortunately our driveway is at least downhill, so the pots aren’t the most obvious thing to neighbors and those that pass by. One neighbor mentioned that another neighbor grows their tomato plants up near their mailbox. I guess at least our plants are a little more inconspicuous...

One day I hope to have a garden in a respectable place, like the GROUND. :-) A place where vegetables and fruit plants will bask in the warm, glorious, Georgia sun. For now, our plants seem to enjoy soaking it up in the driveway. In the ghetto garden. :-)

It's been fun to tinker around in the garden and monitor the progress of the plants, so far. I think we'll have lots of tomatoes and blueberries, and hopefully some strawberries soon.

Blueberries. A few look like they're ready to pick!
















A few ripe blueberries...
















Basil. Next year I'd like to start some from seed. We use enough of it!
















The first signs of a Roma plum tomato
















Grape Tomatoes - They should be ready soon! (The Big Boy tomato plants aren't showing any fruit, yet).
















Doug is an amazing husband. He has definitely pacified me with my pregnancy-induced projects. Fortunate for him, the projects I dream up have been 3 hour projects or so, from start to finish... When I told him I wanted to plant grape plants on the side of our house, and come up with an easy trellis on which they could grow, he appeased me... We were also lucky to find this white plastic trellis material at Home Depot, with everything we needed but the stakes for the ground. We then bought some 2 X 2's (I think that is the size?), painted them white and screwed them to the back of two pieces of trellis. Voila! A place for grapevines to climb. Note: We had to replant the grape plant on the right... It's hanging in there, and should start climbing soon. We just planted these plants 2 1/2 weeks ago and they've already grown this much!

Left to right: Himrod (white seedless), Himrod (white seedless), Reliance (red seedless)
















The other trellis
Left to right: Reliance (red seedless), Concord (seedless), Concord (seedless)
















Many tiny little strawberries are finally visible
















Latham Red Raspberries. These shoots grew off of what looked like a VERY bare twig. There may be hope yet for the other still-bare twig (Fall Gold Raspberries)...























These lillies came back from last year... Originally the plant had three lillies on it, now they've multipled and there are at least six bulbs...























Nikko Blue Hydrangeas. We planted these six years ago, or so. They LOVE our back yard.
















Originally four little hydrangea plants six years ago, you can see the plants are huge now...























Hydrangeas in the sunlight
















More pictures of hydrangeas
















"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders." -- Henry David Thoreau

Hoping your day grows well!
Shelly

The "Uh-Gician" and Other Updates...

Warning: Lengthy post. I've gotta post more often!















Darn that Frosty. After what seems like years of consecutively viewing the 1969 version of Frosty the Snowman (yes, even in 85-degree June weather in Georgia), we're SERIOUSLY regretting it in more ways than one. Ava's new-found freedom to get out of bed in the morning now likes to be exhibited in the wee hours of the morning. Oh, say 4:30 or so.

We think Ava is afraid of the "magician" in Frosty the Snowman. Ava now knows the word "afraid". She says she is "afraid of the man". I think the magician (Professor Hinkle - and yes, we know his name and all characters in this movie) jumps out of a bush near the North Pole a little too quickly for Ava's liking. Professor Hinkle then blows out "Karen's" campfire in a mean-spirited way and goes after Frosty for his hat.

Ava hasn't yet caught on to the fact that Professor Hinkle partakes in the joyous parade around town at the end of the movie, letting Frosty have his magic hat, after all. She is SERIOUSLY scared of the "uh-gician" and tell us so repeatedly. It's so frustrating when you can't do anything about it! For now we're refraining from watching "Frosty" and try to distract her.

Ava is definitely learning boundaries lately. In Ava's immediate class at day care, she is the only girl attending with six boys. They frequently open the partition wall to the older class (which fortunately has girls in it!), so she is around girls some, also. Last week, Ava was bitten by a boy in her class that wanted her toy. When I asked if she did anything prior to "the bite", the teacher said no, that she didn't do anything to warrant a bite (not that anything would, I guess).

Interestingly enough, the day care isn't supposed to tell me which student bit Ava. Now that Ava has become extremely vocal, I seem to get a daily report from her about her activities at day care. After the "bite incident", on the car ride home, Ava said to me: "Will bit me on the arm. I said 'No-no, Will. That's not nice.'" So much for keeping the "biter" a secret? These little conversations with her definitely serve as teaching opportunities with Ava, to help her in dealing with any future situations like ones experienced. :-) She is fending for herself... The teacher in Ava's class at school says she knows when someone isn't being nice to Ava, because she hears Ava telling them off: "No Caleb, that's my toy. No-no, Caleb. That's not nice. That's my car. Caleb took my car." It's AMAZING how vocal she has become in the past few weeks!

She now has days without any potty accidents and is able to vocalize to her teachers when she has to go "potty". For this we are EXTREMELY thankful! At home we continue to put a Pull-Up on her before she goes down for a nap and also at bedtime. At daycare, they put her cloth training pants on and wake her up early from her nap (after 1 to 1 1/2 hours) to use the potty. Interestingly enough, she doesn't have any accidents at day care. (When I have her home, I like for her to catch-up on sleep and am not yet interested in changing-out sheets, etc, everyday. So, I guess when I feel comfortable, she could be 100% potty-trained! :-)

She now thoroughly enjoys Dr. Seuss books. Previously, there seemed to be too many words on the page to hold her attention. Her favorites now include "Green Eggs and Ham", "The Foot Book" and "The Cat in the Hat". She also LOVES to read her Bible, and asks that we read the "Storm" story to her over and over (with Jesus calming the sea when with disciples). She also now counts to twenty. She can write a little "a". She continues to be very focused when working on something. Even her day care teacher commented on this, that Ava takes the time to do the craft / project on which they work, whereas some kids don't have that much of an attention span. She LOVES playing with Play-Doh, coloring and stickers. She throws with both her left and right hands (and even at the same time). She bats left-handed, but writes right-handed. It's going to be interesting to see which handedness she finally chooses. (Daddy is still hoping for a "lefty" :-).

I have to mention I find her skill for differentiating cars amazing, at this age. We have neighbors that have a Honda Element. Whenever she sees any gray Element, she says "Olivia's truck!" Another neighbor owns a red Mustang. When out running errands with her recently, she said "Mr. Charlie!" I turned around to see Mr. Charlie passing by in a parking lot with his red Mustang.

We took our first dip in the local pool last week. I am still a bit hesitant to trust "water wings", but she is starting to like the water a little more, now that the water and the weather have warmed up. (This 8.5 month pregnant lady says there is no denying that the weather has warmed up...) She did swim on her own with the wings without me holding her last Friday and seemed very proud. Giggling while kicking in the water, with a big smile on her face.

Sentences Ava has said recently, which I found interesting:

"Uh-oh! What happened? Where did he went?" :-)
"Morning!" (She greets us in the morning saying this, lately).
"I'm scared of the man. The uh-gician."
"The man was walking on the ship on the sea with the dog." (after watching The Little Mermaid)
"I want to go sleepy". (wow, was this surprising)
"I'm gonna go get the mail. Okay?" (she's really into getting mail these days!)

I'm pleased as a peach that Ava is able to vocalize what she wants, her preferences, how she feels and what she thinks. She really has been so good, ESPECIALLY considering we're supposed to be in the midst of the "terrible two's". She seems to roll with whatever comes her way, at this point. I think it has helped to especially explain things to her and be as detailed as possible in doing so. I just pray she takes baby brother's arrival and presence in stride. She seems excited to see him, and we talk about him CONSTANTLY, but we'll see how it goes when he gets here! (Keywords for parenting success at this age seem to be "preparedness" - i.e. bag 'o tricks big enough for a restaurant trip or lengthy stay anywhere- and "explanation").

I do need to take some "belly pics". We're 36 weeks tomorrow. Our due date is still 07/01. I feel like a beached-whale these days, but the scale is telling me I've only gained 21 lbs. I don't feel like an arthritic beached-whale, yet. (That may happen in the next few weeks). What's really funny is that I haven't stepped FOOT on the treadmill with this pregnancy, but will probably gain a little less weight than I did when pregnant with Ava. I guess the treadmill just made me hungrier? I have been staying active (planting grape plants, tending plants and flowers, tiering-off a hill into our backyard with landscape timbers, etc, running around after Ava), just not "exercise cardio" this time around.

The docs seem to think I'm right on target for a healthy 7- 7 1/2 lb baby boy. They say he is around 5 lbs right now. My blood pressure is great, no swelling yet - even with this crazy heat and humidity. PLEASE pray that baby boy Carey decides to make his entrance before the docs mandate a c-section. (I asked the doc if it was "smart" to attempt a VBAC and she wholeheartedly said "yes", which made me feel great). I'd like to avoid a c-section if possible, but am ready to do whatever is best for the health of this little one. And he's definitely an opinionated little guy! I'm running out of room torso-wise, but he just seems to want to move organs (albeit necessary ones like my stomach, which is now up near my clavicle, I think :0)) out of the way by continuously kicking / jabbing. That, or this kid is Pele reincarnated. Some nights I just let him take over and lay entirely flat on the couch, letting him have his way so he can do his acrobatics. :-)

Heartburn has continued to be manageable with the prescription they gave me a few weeks ago, thank goodness! The fatigue has definitely kicked back in, but not in an overwhelming way; I feel like I just require more rest these days. Doug and Ava have both been great and patient with me, thank goodness!

We'll definitely be providing more updates as our due date approaches! Please keep us in your prayers for a safe delivery and a healthy baby!

With love,
Shelly, Doug and Ava