ADVENTURE 20 - Molly Arrives!

Sunday night I started feeling a little strange. Crampy and not too comfortable, but I figured I was just what 39 weeks pregnant - you can't expect to be too comfortable. Then - the crampy feeling continued through the night and got worse and more regular in the morning. I didn't want to risk driving up to work, but it didn't hurt bad enough to be real labor so I stuck around the house. Josh went off to work and as soon as the doctor's office opened I drove over to see where I was at. Ended up being 2 cm dilated but having pretty strong contractions. They said I could stay at the hospital or go on home. Since I'm not a huge fan of hospitals, I headed home and waited out the day until Josh got home. The contractions got continually worse but I didn't want to go to the hospital too early b/c I knew I'd just have to sit around. Josh got home and we waited a while longer then went to the hospital around 7ish where they admitted me. A few more hours of contractions and about 35 minutes of pushing later Molly arrived! She was 7 lbs 14 oz and about 19 inches long. She had tons of hair and was just too cute.

Mom, Tonia, John and Dennie were all waiting for her in the waiting room and about an hour after she was born they were able to see their new little grandbaby. Dad had just driven back from Kansas and had been at his house about an hour before Josh called and told him to head our way to Maryville. He was tired, but he made it to see Molly the night she was born. Lucky dad was the first visitor to hold her b/c she was too fresh out the oven for anyone else to mess with her when she first came out.

We spent the rest of Tuesday in the hospital, and I think they let us come home Wednesday, but now I can't remember which day it was. She was born at mid-night thirty on the 3rd so our days/nights were all screwed up. Perfect little anniversary present if I do say so myself. :o)

Adventure 19 - Tremont Baby Shower and Agnew Visit

Okay. I'm counting the Tremont baby shower and Patti & Steve's visit as 19 so I can make 20 Molly's birthday. :o)

The ladies at Tremont were very sweet, and even though there's only a few of them, they wanted to throw a shower. Molly has everything she needs so I just told them to pick us up one of those little small folding strollers. The ladies (and guys) at Tremont came strong though. They bought Molly a sweet Jeep stroller, some clothes and tons of other cute stuff. A few nature type books - of course - what did you expect from the naturalist folks? It was very nice.

Patti and Steve came to Knoxville for a concert Friday night so they came over to hang out with us Saturday. We got to show them our new house, had an afternoon at the lake, a Davis cookout and a spent the evening playing fun Wii games. Steve's mom had bought him this dance game as a joke, but we tried it out and it's really fun. Might have to pick it up. So 8 months and 2 weeks pregnant me and Patti were breakin it down. We basically stomped the guys except for a few songs where Steve was allowed to smack his booty which he's surprisingly good at at, and Josh (a 70s child born too late) was getting his funk on. Had a great time. Didn't take any pictures but enjoyed the visit and look forward to more once Molly's here.

Adventure Number 18 - The Breastfeeding Class

Hahahaa...Okay details of this one not to be released on the internet, but I'll write a little something for my book later. Too too funny. hahahahahaha - Proof that Josh does indeed love both me and Molly.

Adventure 17 - Last Trip

So this past weekend I took my last travel trip "far" away to Memphis. I plan on sticking around the East side of the state for the last 6 weeks just in case Molly decides to come on out pre-August 10th. I had an appointment the Tuesday before I left for the trip, and I asked my doctor if he "thought it would be safe for me to go to Memphis this weekend". His response was - "what part of Memphis??". hehe..I assured him I would be safe and he let me go with no worries.

Drove down with mom as fast as I could Friday night in hopes that I could catch the tail end of the VBS program. Sheryl was the director this year! (a job I'm sure I would have shared with her unwillingly if I would have been in town. That's the craziness she'll drag you into you know.) Sounds like they did great though. Missed the program but everyone was still hanging around the church so I got to see a few folks. Spent the rest of the night catching up with Sheryl and them and crashed on the futon in Brandon's old room.

Headed to Memphis the next morning with Leita. Promptly got stuck in traffic in Nashville, then at exit 101, then again b/c of some bulldozer or something in road. So a 3-4 hour trip turned in to 5-6. Met Leita's momma and took a quick shower. Then the festivities began.

I love weddings!!! What girl doesn't I suppose, but they're always so nice. Makes you think of yours and gives everyone a little refresher on love. Becca looked amazing, Aaron's dad managed to get through the service without tearing up (go dad!), and I even think Aaron got a little teary-eyed. hehe..so sweet. Reception  was really fun. Tons of people dancing and seemed like everyone had a great time. Stayed up till 1:30 chatting with Aaron afterwards.

Good last travel weekend. Guess it's hunker down time in Maryville where I'll attempt to get stuff ready for Molly to get here.

Adventure 16 - A Sad Day

I guess that you should probably get the bad with the good so I'm counting Linda's funeral as adventure number 16 even though it's an adventure I would have rather not had.

Josh's stepmom Linda Davis passed away last week after some complications she had during surgery. She had been in pain for a while. In and out of the hospital. She made it through the surgery but had lost a lot of blood in her liver. It just wouldn't start again so they pulled her off the respirator Thursday night. Turns out she had cancer as well, but they didn't know that going in.

So this past weekend Josh and I (and Molly) spent time with Josh's family and doing funeral stuff. I've never been that close to a funeral and all that's involved. Lots to do and lots of family time. Found out that Josh is exactly like his dad. Down to the being ridiculous positive and rational in times when you're just allowed to be sad (dang it).

Anyways - so Molly you won't get to meet your Mamaw Davis. She was definitely a character. Short lady who loved to give presents. We didn't see her very often since we have just now moved back to East TN, but when we did you always knew something big would be going on. She loved garage sales (which they mentioned in her obituary and she even had "underground" yard sales in her garage b/c they aren't allowed in her neighborhood. Now that's determination!). She was surprisingly good at Wii bowling. It was always fun to watch Dennie tease her and get her all riled up over nothing. Her fussing at him and then him off grinning on the side. He loved her a lot, and I'm sure he'll tell you all about her when y'all hang out. She asked about you all the time and bought you tons of stuff even before you were born and before your first Christmas so she loved you too.

So...if you ever read this and care to know more about Adventure 16 ask Papaw Davis. He'll fill you in.

Adventure 15 - Fireflies at Elkmont with Kyoo

So we had our high school reunion last week (AH HA! Maybe that was adventure 14). Anyways I ran into Kyoo Jackson (BFF from Kindergarten), and as we were talking we found out that we were both interested in seeing the synchronized fireflies at Elkmont up in the Smoky Mountains National Park.

After a few days of rain and not catching each other at the right time, we ended up meeting up for dinner at Panera (yumm illegal deli meat) and a late night run up to the mountains. It was a great time to catch up as we drove the hour up to Elkmont from Maryville. The distance isn't so far, but those curvy roads at night can be a beast.

Found parking not too far from the trailhead and stumbled our way up the trail in the dark. We were a few days late of seeing the mass of fireflies, but I still have never seen so many in my life. And they don't all flash at the same exact time, but they do cut off and on at about the same time. So it looks like a million tiny photographers out in the woods flashing their cameras. Paparazzi! Or magic! Like little fairies. There were tons of people so it kind of runs the magic mood, but I can only imagine the first people that got to see these fireflies before the crowds discovered how cool it is.

Guess you can't really see the lights from my belly Molly - but I will tell you that it was beautiful and a great opportunity to catch up with an old friend. :o)

Adventure 14

Josh's sister threw us a baby shower in Knoxville and mom hosted it at her house. Everything looked really cute and despite my lack of church and tons of friends in East TN we had a good group at the shower.

Adventure Number 13 - Isaac Time!

I never manage to get a picture when me and Isaac hang out, but I'm counting our kayak adventure as number 13. Before Josh left on his trip, I made him leave me the truck just in case there were any nice weekends, and I could convince Isaac to load up the boats for me so we could go kayaking. Lucky for us - this past Saturday the weather looked like it was going to cooperate.

Once we figured out how to open the garage door, we loaded up the boats and headed to a spot close by our new house in Maryville. It was perfect! Just floating around on a great day without too many boats. We tried to be brave and float down a small creek area, but we decided to turn back when the spiders started jumping off the tree limbs onto my boat and I freaked out. Like I said, we tried to be brave. hehe...

After the creek incident, we stopped along one of the edges to do a little swimming where I learned that big beefy Isaac has "tender" feet. hahaha...So we were quite a pair attempting to swim. Me trying to get out of my boat and on to the rocks without falling and knocking Molly senseless, and Isaac tenderfooting his way around the rocks before he jumped in. :o)

Finish off the weekend with a movie night to see Robin Hood, and I call Adventure 13 quite a success.

Adventure Number 12 - Murfreesboro Visit

Again a delayed posting, but still an excellent adventure. Josh was gone to some place for guard so I headed up to Murfreesboro with mom.

Saturday the crew headed up to Long...Hunter I think it was State Park for a day at the lake and a fabulous picnic. Rode up in the Jeep, and it ended up being the perfect day. Brandon and I played a little soccer. Gotta get Molly used to the idea. Hopefully she'll enjoy playing as much as I do b/c I'd love to watch! Anyways - so some folks floated around in the kayaks and some just swam and some sat in the sun talking. Relaxing and fun at the same time.
Later that evening we had a cookout at Aaron's house (of course! what's a Murfreesboro weekend without a cookout at Aaron's). Then headed over to Sheryl's house for a few games. A standard evening, but so fun.

Sunday was a big day at church. Steve and Aaron joined Trinity. Confirmation Sunday. And my shower! I was overwhelmed by the gifts from so many folks at Trinity. Even after 6 months of being away, they are still as supportive as if we had been living in the Boro. So nice. Got lots of great presents and played some fun shower games. Then headed back to Knoxville with mom.

Got stuck in traffic for about an hour and half extra and got home super late so the week started off SLEEPY.

Adventure #11 Slightly Delayed Reporting

Adventure number 11 happened forever ago, but I've been busy and lazy so I never posted.

Me and Josh headed out to Norris Dam to do some fishing. We, of course, didn't catch a dang thing, but we had a great time.

Brought a picnic lunch and ate next to a mill or something. I don't remember now, but it was a typical lazy Saturday kind of day we haven't had in a while (and haven't had since come to think of it.)

Picture is me sitting on a rock while he's fishing b/c I'm too lazy to actually fish. hehe...what who says adventures can't be restful?

#10 BON JOVI CONCERT

Oh Molly you lucky girl!! You got to go see Bon Jovi before you were even born. Technically I don't think it was your first concert. The first was The Script with Aaron, Leita and Ryan in Nashville, but we'll count this one as your first big concert.

Aaron bought me Bon Jovi tickets as a going away present when I left Murfreesboro so I headed up yesterday to enjoy some classic music. hehe... For some strange reason no one wanted to volunteer to attend the show with me so I wrangled my old boss Becky into going. She was the perfect choice b/c I think out of all the people I know she is the only one who appreciates Bon Jovi's music.

We ate dinner in Franklin with Aaron and caught up (we haven't seen Becky since she left her old job). Then we drove on up to Nashville. The seats were great, and Jon Bon Jovi is SO cute! It was funny b/c all his old songs were way better than his newer ones. People went crazy for Livin' on a Prayer and Bad Medicine, but the more recent songs left the crowd a little quieter. I liked them all though. They played everything I hoped except for "Have a Nice Day" so I was definitely satisfied with the show. Yeah for Bon Jovi and yeah for a good time.

After the concert Sheryl helped me register for the baby stuff at Target and Babies 'R' Us. Me and Josh tried to register, but there's just TOO much stuff. Slightly intimidating. So it was fun to have someone give me their pointers that worked for them. Everything won't work out the same for Molly I'm sure, but at least I have a really good starting point now.

And for anyone paying attention - here's the latest belly pic. Yucko!

#9 - Hiking at Old Stone Fort

The same weekend we stopped for Talan's soccer game we did a little hiking before we headed out to dinner theater that night. We went to Old Stone Fort in Manchester, TN. I had spent time here when I was little with my grandparents, but I had forgotten what it was like.

Hiking-wise it was a pretty easy stroll. I was glad though b/c I'm getting slow now. Not sure if it's b/c I'm out of shape or if it's harder to walk with belly, but I'm definitely not a fast hiker at the current time. The group I was with didn't mind though. They waited up for me if necessary, and Patti even managed to fall and bust open her knee (just in case I busted it - you know..to make me feel better. hehe)

We saw lots of cute spring flowers, and after seeing the cute combination of yellow, purple and green I have decided that's the colors I'm going to do Molly's nursery. It'll be happy and girly, but not too crazy. Don't you think?

#8 - Talan's Soccer Game

Talan, my little cousin, is playing soccer and t-ball this year. Since I'm a huge kids playing soccer fan, adventure number 8 was a Saturday morning trip to watch him play. He's four and the smallest on his team. He's super cute to watch b/c his little jersey is about 2 sizes too big.

I was really surprised b/c they have the little kids follow the "real" rules as close as they can. As far as I've seen, the little ones usually just run in clumps on the soccer field (which they did), but this league tries to teach them offense and defense so they keep half on one side of the field and half on the other. Talan was cute b/c you can tell that at one point they told him NOT to cross the white line (must have been a defense day) so now he kind of stops and thinks before he crosses it. Or he runs right up to it after the ball and just stops. :o) Just following directions; right?

Charity says he's better at t-ball b/c it's more of a focused sport without so much going on, but I think his soccer was just great. So glad I was able to stop in and see him play and hopefully I'll see many more games in the future!

#7 Without The Pics...

Number 7 Adventure involved me, Isaac, a beautiful Saturday and a couple of kayaks. Isaac had said that he'd never been kayaking before so I said next time Josh had guard and it was nice we would go. So this past Saturday we loaded up the kayaks (well Josh loaded up the kayaks) and headed out to Stony Point for some fun. Despite his fears of paddling like a dork and falling in the water, he did amazing, and we had the best time. Managed to dodge the ridiculously fast boats that come barreling around the corners and neither of us fell in. Nice enough day that you could almost imagine swimming, but by the screams of the kids jumping off the rocks the water was still a little chilly. We'll save swimming for next time.

I guess I could say the real adventure started when we were leaving b/c neither of us knew how to use the tie downs Josh used to secure the boats. I had even had a lesson the night before and couldn't get it. So we probably spent thirty minutes trying to get the boats back in the back of my truck and tied down as best we could. Oops. Still good though. Finished off the day with some chicken salad sandwiches and hash brown casserole from Cracker Barrel. Lovely. :o)

Baby notes: Molly is FLIPPING out in my belly. Her kicks are getting so strong I can see them outside. I looked down the other day at lunch just to see, and every time she kicks my belly jumps like a hundred feet. lol..strange. I can't even imagine how it will be later. Nice to know she's in there though.

Adventure #6 - Kayaking The Stones River

Spent Easter weekend in the Boro. Papa's in the hospital so it wasn't the same kind of Easter we're used to. But it turned out nice. Josh, Aaron and I kayaked the Stones River from Walter Hill Dam to Mona Boat Ramp. Nice float - about 5 miles with a pretty good current in some points. It was awesome to be back outside before it gets too hot and after such a yucky cold winter.

I was so excited to get out in the kayaks! I think Molly will be game for kayaking while she's in my belly for a pretty long time since all I have to do is sit there and move my arms. It's a little harder to do b/c it feels weird using your abs, but besides that, smooth sailing! May be difficult getting in and out of the boat later on, but I'm usually out and about with some helpful guys so I think we've got it covered.

Unkie Aaron let us all bombard his house for the weekend. Boys and all so it was a full Davis crowd. Always a good time when a Mulroy is around though so it worked out well. Thanks!

Adventure #5 Weekend

I'm counting this past weekend as one big adventure #5 because I did a bunch of small cool stuff, but nothing huge. So we'll do it day by day.

Friday - We had our potential new house inspected right after work Friday. It took about two hours, but it ended up pretty good. It's an older house so we expected some stuff to be wrong with it, and there was nothing that was super shocking. We've put in a request for some of these things to be fixed before closing, and we're waiting again for their offer on what they will do. There's a lot of waiting involved in house buying. Takes too long! Not good for impatient people.

Saturday - Josh had to help Gary move this work bench so instead of going hiking we stuck around Knoxville for the day. We helped Gary, then swung by Josh's dad's house to show him the ultrasound pictures. He's so cute! I just want to squeeze him. Him and Linda were both excited to see pictures. Since we were in that neck of the woods, we ran to Litton's for lunch. YUM! Best burgers in Knoxville. Five Guys and Fuddruckers are pretty good, but Litton's is local and tasty so it wins. We got our dessert to go and headed across the street to the duck pond to eat our cheesecake outside in the beautiful weather. Me and  Josh went to the duck pond for picnics when we were dating so we have good memories there. More Saturday - whew...busy day. Gary and Tina bought us tickets to the hockey game that night. It was the craziest Ice Bears game I've seen in a while. They were playing the FireAnts. By the end of the 2nd period they were fighting so much that both benches cleared and the whole team was beatin' up the other team. Awesome hockey fight. So many of the players had penalties that they had to end the game early. After the game, we ran over to Isaac's friend's house and watched some MMA fight that Josh wanted to see. A violent Saturday, but a good one.

Sunday - Went to church. We had skipped last week to sleep in. Sorry God. But it was nice to be back. Mark had a really good message, and the praise band was on it. Made me miss being in choir. Maybe soon we'll be moving into our new place, and we can find a permanent church.

After church we grabbed some burritos and Josh suggested we check out some furniture stores for inspiration. Heck yeah!! Did my husband just suggest furniture shopping? Yeah he did. :o)

In the afternoon, me and Mom took Christy swimming at the Y since we didn't get to go the other night. Haven't been swimming in forever, and I've decided it's the best pregnant workout ever! It's easy and works out a lot of muscles. Woohoo! Christy was excited to swim with Molly. She kept asking if I thought she liked it. I didn't hear any complaints so we're going to assume Molly loves to swim.

Rounded off the night with dinner and movie at home. Wonderful wonderful weekend. Ready for the next?

3 Day Old Sandwich Worries

When you go to the doctor for the visit where they tell you the horrible list of things you're not supposed to eat when your pregnant, the one I never knew about really was the deli meat one. What the heck? You're supposed to try and eat healthier, but you're not allowed a Subway sandwich unless you heat up the meat first to a certain temperature. Apparently there are bacteria in deli meat that live in refridgerated temperatures and if you eat them they cause miscarriages. My doctor warned me about this several times (along with my beloved Tuna steaks which we won't whine about right now).

Anyways, so yesterday Josh left for work before I did as usual, and when I walked into the kitchen to make my sandwich there was already one sitting there made next to an oatmeal creme pie. Already in a baggie and everything. So I figured he rushed out the door and forgot his sandwich like I've done numerous times. So I packed his sandwich ignoring my deli meat rule for just this once b/c I was too lazy to make me a new sandwich and figured it was better not to waste a freshly made one.

I ate the whole sandwich at lunch mayo, mustard, cheap deli meat, cheese and all and promptly sent Josh a text message. Ha ha..dummy you forgot your sandwich so I ate it. His text back - "Gross".

Found out later that the sandwich had been in his lunchbox in the car since Friday when he decided to go out instead of eat the one he brought. NASTY! So now I'm all freaked out that I have eaten a nasty sandwich and ingested miscarriage inducing bacteria. Lovely. But...I'm not sick so hopefully Molly's just in there fighting off whatever her goofy mom decides to try on her today. Oops.

The Numbers

Oh I forgot! For all you numbers people. Molly is currently 10oz. She's growing perfectly (one day ahead of schedule the ultrasound lady said). She kept listing off all these baby specifications and such that all started to mush together in my brain, but basically, we're good. :o)

I'm at 19 weeks and 3 days today, and I've gained 6 pounds overall for a grand total of 146. WHICH I think sounds quite large, but you know doctor's scales. We're going to say I started way less than that - okay. We'll just focus on the only gaining 6 pounds part from now on. Okay?

That's it for now. Other Davis news. We found a house we really like! Going to try and make an offer if everything looks good after talking to a lender and having the mom's inspect.

Molly Jane

Well, our little girl got us off to an interesting start. Took the ultrasound lady a while to figure out she was a girl b/c she had the cord between her legs and wasn't moving. Way to go Molly. Just be stubborn to start with. :o) The lady kept shaking my belly trying to get her moving. Then she finally figured out Lil D was a girl!

So the idea of a girl is going to take a little getting used to since we had boy stuck in our heads. At least I did. Josh claims he knew it would be a girl the whole time, but I had bought a few things boy-wise and nothing girly.

Oh well..I changed gears quickly and was out shopping with mom today. hehe..Got a cute little sundress, and I'm on the hunt for an orange skirt. Girls really do have super cute clothes! How fun.

Her name is going to be Molly Jane Davis. Molly...just b/c I think it's pretty, and it works for a little girl and a lady. Jane for Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, plain Jane, and surprisingly Effie Jane (my granny's granny..I think). I think it's nice b/c they sound good separate. And they sound good together if you're yelling. Very important criteria. I'm excited b/c I really liked my girl name so now we get to use it. Yeah!

Today's the day!

Here's a little prepost during breakfast before we find out whether Lil D is a boy or a girl. It's split down the middle on who thinks what. Christy thinks boy. Josh's momma thinks boy. My mom won't say, but she's secretly going boy for naming reasons. Dad gets too distracted about taking Little D fishing in his pond and driving him/her around on his motorcycle all summer to tell me what he thinks. Last I heard Sheryl and Patti think girl. And Aaron thinks boy.

Me and Josh are pretty convinced that it's a girl for several reasons.
(1) We have always thought it would be fun to have a boy.
(2) He's been outnumbered by girls his whole life.
(3) We've bought more boy stuff already than we have girl's stuff.
(4) We keep calling Lil D a "he" by accident.

We're thinking the odds are pretty much against a boy overall. At first I always wanted a boy just b/c I'm not that girly. I can't do hair or makeup. What if I end up with a super girly one? Oh my. Boys seem to be more actively fun although I think I was a pretty dang cool little girl when I was growing up so I guess you never know.

So now, a few hours before we find out I'm undecided. The correct parent response is "whatever as long as it's healthy" - right? I have names I love picked out for both so I'm good there, and as we've been out shopping I can't help but notice the girl clothes are SUPER cute. I'm excited to able to call our baby something other than "it" today and to be able to start dreaming up rooms and watching for cute deals on gender specific items. Probably going to be the longest work hours ever today.

Got my green on for St. Patty's Day! Have a good one! I'll talk to y'all later. :o)