Baby Davis is a.......

BOY!!!!!







And we are in shock. We had all been expecting a girl except for my dad and Joe. Joe is excited and is bouncing around like a 4 year old at a birthday party.

The baby is measuring 20 weeks 1 day which is right on target (and 1/2 way there!!!). There are no signs of hydrocephalus (water on the brain), Spina Bifida, Downs Syndrome, Cleft lip, etc. The kidneys are functioning normally which means that the digestive tract and esophagus are intact. We saw the heart and all four chambers beating normally, the spine looks great. There are 10 fingers and 10 toes and He was a mover! I actually felt him move during the ultrasound. At one point, you can see that he has his foot up by his head. We might have a toe sucker!! He is keeping his head just below my bellybutton and the placenta is right there between him and me which is probably why I haven't felt him before. As he continues to grow and be as active as his daddy (like he was during the ultrasound), we should really start feeling him soon.

Our next appointment is in 4 weeks and everything is looking great. I haven't gained anymore weight (still at 2 pounds!!!) and the baby right now weighs about 12 ounces.

The front runner for the name is Joshua Joseph. It has been a favorite of mine and Joe's since before we got married.

The other two names are: John Thomas (called John Thomas) and David Michael, but more than likely it will be Joshua Joseph Davis.

10 WEEKS!!!

So toady I had my third visit with my new doctor. She did a trans-abdominal instead of trans-vaginal ultrasound this time. The images are nearly as clear, but hopefully in the coming months they will get better.

Baby is now technically a "fetus" instead of an "embryo" (still baby to us! Here are some 10 week facts:

The head is half the length of the body.
The arms and legs are long and thin.
The hands can make a fist with fingers.
Red blood cells are produced.
The length is about 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 inches. The head is half the length of the body.

Here are our ultrasound photos from today:

This one is the cool one. Look at the bottom. That squiggly line is the heart beat of our baby:

Enjoy!!!

New Pictures

Here are the latest pictures of our baby. Baby is now measuring 7 weeks 5 days which puts us right in an October 5 through October 8th due date. We saw the heartbeat again AND got to hear it!!! The heartbeat is currently 164 bpm. It was awesome to hear that. When you think that your little one is somewhere between the size of a blueberry and a grape and you heart something as tiny as the heartbeat, it is amazing. If we go off the "old wives' tale" of fetal heartbeats, this baby would register as a girl. Joe is still hoping for a boy, and I just want a healthy baby. We still have about 3 more months to go before we learn the sex of the baby. (I don't think Joe can wait that long!)

Our doctor also have us a 4-D image of our baby.

If we were to somehow insert a camera in to see, this is what the baby would look like.

So, as you can see, we are moving right along.

Next week, our baby should look like this:

The doctor says we are progressing nicely and that I am to see her again in two weeks.

Pregnancy should be an oxymoron

So here are some interesting things regarding pregnancy.

First: The Medication I am on CLEARLY states on the bottle - DO NOT TAKE IF YOU ARE PREGNANT. Um.... the whole reason I am taking this is BECAUSE I am pregnant!!

Second: Prenatal Vitamins state to take with a full meal or full glass of water. So basically, I threw up my meal, now you want me to eat another one? Or am I to drink a whole glass of water which will either make me sick or have me up going to the bathroom for the rest of the night?

Third: Thinking of food makes you sick, looking at food makes you sick, smelling food makes you sick: yet you have to eat in order to not be sick.

Luckily I have only thrown up three times. Twice was meals including Shrimp - so I think I have to stay away form that one, and the third was my anti-nausea medicine (go figure that one).

I felt horrible Sunday night (b/c of what happened - not how I was feeling) as we went to 82 Queen after Mass to celebrate some dear friends of ours' 35th Wedding Anniversary. They hosted a party at 82 Queen, and it was wonderful. No sooner than I got to my car at the Cathedral, did I throw up my entire meal. Lovely. Didn't even make it to the grass. Luckily, We found a hose and Joe was able to hose it down to be respectful of others.

Today I should be 7 weeks 2 days. So Sunday passed the longest time I have been pregnant. I have an appointment tomorrow, so there should be another picture coming soon of the little one if all goes well.

Can I say that I am tired of being pregnant?

Our Little Valentine

Early this month, I got a suprise. And on Wednesday, Joe and I went to the doctor and got our first glimpse of our little surprise.

Yes, I am pregnant again. On Wednesday, I was 6weeks and 3 days pregnant. Our little one is about the size of a pea and already has it's heartbeat. My EDD is October 7th, so this will be a great little Second Anniversary present. My doctor has me on some medication, progesterone, to hopefully prevent a miscarriage by bumping up my progesterone levels, but there is never anything that will truly prevent a miscarriage.

We thought we would share the first pictures of our little one with you. (it is the grey bean inside the black pear looking shape)

Tainted Peanut Butter

Like many Americans this morning, I woke up to discover my peanut butter was being recalled. I get up every morning and have my breakfast while watching the morning news (definetly need those traffic and weather reports), so while I'm munching away on my Peanut Butter Capt Crucnh with Soy Milk, I learn that ConAgra is recalling all Peter Pan and Great Value brands of peanut butter that begin with product code 2111.

See Link http://tinyurl.com/yspbpe

Being the good little wife that I am, I get up and check our peanut butter. Sure enough it has 2111 on the label. My husband followed and looked longley at the pb and says " and we've already used it. Hate to make it go to waste."

So go home and check your labels and it just might save you from Salmonella.

Ain't it Nifty?

Ain't it Nifty??

Joe is FIFTY!!!!

Black Christmas

Well, here again I have fallen off the bandwagon of blogging. Sorry, but my job and life has been a little hectic lately.

If you scroll down the right-hand side of the page, you will notice a new counter box. Earlier this month, Joe and I discover that I was pregnant and we probably conceived on our trip to Asheville. While we were very excited, we kept our enthusiasm to a low and I refrained from blogging about it. Mostly becuase we were waiting until Christmas day to tell my dad, and I did not want it out within the family beforehand.

My doctor immediately saw me on the sixth and we got a nice ultrasound of the gestational sac witht the yolk sac inside. This was great since we had never gotten that far before. The next week (on Wednesday) I started spotting and they brought us in. We then had a "fetal pole" which measured 5 weeks and 5 days and we saw the heartbeat. Joe and I started getting very excited at this point.

Last Monday, my middle back started "killing me". oh, it was horrible. That lasted about two days then I started spotting again then had some slight blood Tuesday evening. On Wednesday morning, I called in for an update and they wanted to see me. So I hopped in my car and drove over (again). I saw the heartbeat again and the newly formed little legs. Our baby was now measuring 7 weeks. I asked about the cramping and spotting and the doctor said that 20% of pregnancies have spotting.

So I left with another great ultrasound picture. I was mentally feeling better since I had read that if you see the heartbeat within the 7 to 10 week mark, you decrease you chance of miscarriage by 60%.

Guess I fell into that 40%. I went back to work and that afternoon I was cramping something terrible. I asked my boss if I could go home and rest since I would be the only one in the office the next day. I went home early and took a bath. I felt better and was popping Tylenol according to the directions the doctor's office gave me. This was around 3:30.

Joe came inside and we talked about the visit and we reviewd our ultrasounds, etc.

*****Some might consider this TMI, so skip ahead to the next set of stars if you are fainthearted****
About 6:00 I went to the bathroom and heard "clunk, clunk". I looked down and I was now heavily bleeding and passing large clots. I immediately went upstairs to relax in another bath. I debated on whether or not to call my doctor. I had been told that unless I was having the "worst period of my life", I should not worry and come back at my next appointment in January.

AS many of my good friends would know, I have had extrememly bad periods in my life. So bad, I have been crawling on the floor begging for relief. I used to be on Anaprox which was the heavier, prescrption form of Aleve WWWAAAYYY before Aleve ever came out. So, needless to say, I was in pain but it wasn't the worst.

So, as any young lady would do during a bath - I had two choices 1. read a book or 2. talk on the phone. So I called up two of my dearest friends and was talking to them. As I was talking with my second friend and we were discussing doctor, I looked down and thought, "Hmm...that doesn't look right." I reached down between my legs and in my hand was my baby inside it's sack. Talk about trauma. I said "OMG, OMG." My friend said WHAT?" and I told her. She immediately started crying and she said she was calling our family priest immediately and asked which hospital I would be going to.
****
So needless to say our Family priest and our dear friend S came over that evening. We blessed the baby and named it Mary Joseph. We had a small graveside service Saturday morning for a burial. Joe and I purchsaed a heart shaped puzzle box as a casket. It was slightly bigger than the palm of my hand. Inside we placed two heart shape cut outs from a receiving blanket we would have used. Each of us wrote our own message on our own heart. We also put a lock of hair from each of us in it along with a heart shaped picture of Joe and I together on vacation.

Our little one was buried two days before Christmas at St. Lawrence Catholic Cemetary on the Charleston penninsula. A tiny cement cross and a tiny plaque with their name is all that distinguishes ours from the rows of tiny cement crosses of stilborns and little ones that didn't live very long.

So, needless, to say, our Christmas was not a good Christmas. But however bad, it truly brought Joe and I together more and realized what good friends we have. Anyone who would be willing to come out two days before Christmas to support your friends burying their seven week gestational baby, is a true friend.

Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving turned out a bunch of surprises for us.

1. We got an AWESOME appraisal back on my house. (my closing is tomorrow)

2. It snowed in Charleston Tuesday morning, November 21st

3. My parents came down on Wednesday and stayed all the way through Sunday. They LOVE the house and what we have done with it.

For Thanksgiving, I prepared my first Turkey. (yeah!!)

Here is everything I made for our meal:

Citrus and Herb Turkey
Italian Sausage Stuffing
Chiptole Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Homemade Maccaroni and Cheese
Green Bean Casserole
Fresh Cranberry and Orange Relish
and Citrus and Herb Pan Gravy

Boy! Where we stuffed!! Everything was excellent!! My mom was weary and tried making me do things her way, but I stood my ground. The night before I stufed the turkey with orages, lemons, onion and fresh herbs. I made the Herb seasoning rub and rubbed it on the turkey and put it back in teh fridge. In the morning I took it out, let it rest and warm up, and popped it into the oven and cooked according to th directions. (not using an "Oven Bag" like my mother had wanted) an Presto! a scrumptious, moist Turkey. Wow. It was the moistest Turkey I have had for Thanksgiving in a LONG time. Usually, a family member (not my mom) makes the Turkey and it is SO dry.

So, I had to give myself a big pat on the back.

I hope your Thanksgiving was full of wonderful surprises and many blessings!

One Wild Night

I have A LOT of catching up to do. The weekend of the 10-11th, Joe and I went to the upstate to stage my house for an appraisal for my refinancing. On the way home I was about 3 miles ahead of Joe, cruising at 75-ish, just past Orangeburg (i.e. - I'm in the middle of the boonies), and I hit something in the road - hard. I immediately got over b/c I KNEW I had blown my tire. I immediately called Joe so that he wouldn't pass me.

So we unload my trunk to get out my spare and tire iron, etc. Well, needless to say this wasn't your ordinary tire change.

See... I got all new tires back in March - and wouldn't you know it - the bolts where on TIGHT!!!

How tight? You might ask. Let's see, we broke not one but TWO lug wrenches. Before we broke the second one, Joe tried using the wieght of the car to help. Let's just say that they were on so tight that it LIFTED my Camry off the ground. After that, we finally called 911 who directed us to *HP who directed us to another number (which was closed), so we called *HP back to see if we could get a trooper out.

By the time the nice trooper came, we had already been out there 2 1/2 HOURS! He (THANK GOD) had one of the 4-lug wrench. The kind tha tlook like an X. It took Joe pulling up and the trooper JUMPING UP AND DOWN on the wrench in order to get the lug bolts off. Luckily they weren't stripped or broken.

They put the tire on and it was flat! (excellent) So the trooper gave me permission to drive down the shoulder the two miles to the truck stop down the way. Had we know that there was a truck stop two miles down the way - I would have sent Joe for another wrench way before that.

So our normal 3 hour trip to 6 hours to get from the upstate back home to beautiful Charleston.

So - what shoudl everyone learn from this leasson??? Make sure that Firestone or whoever, backs off your bolts a 1/4 turn when they screw them on with the torque guns. AND always have a Cross style lug wrench in your car. Wal-mart has them for $7.

More Stuffed than a Thanksgiving Turkey

WoW!!

So Dear hubby took me to Candelight Christmas at Biltmore. After Joe got out of the presentations, we went driving along the Parkway. We didn't see much so we went shopping while we waited for our reservations. We entered the Estate about 4:30 and proceeded to the Deerpark restaurant. We were one of the first tables sat.

OMG!

We feasted on Baked Brie with praline pecan sauce, Sweetpotate soufle with praline pecan topping and chipotle pepers, Trout Mondine, Prim Rib (we put the praline pecan sauce on this as well!), Turkey with sausage stuffing with Sherried pan gravy. They also had oysters, clams, mussels and peel and eat shrimp. Along with an assortment of salads (I had the Waldorf Salad). They also had Split-pea Soup and Minestrone.

For dessert we had Bananas Foster over Vanilla Ice Cream, Pumkin Cream Pie, Red Velvet Cake, Chocolate Torte, Blueberry Cobbler, Applie tart, and I can't remember if there was anything. Basically all the desserts were yuck except the Flambe station where they created the Bananas Foster. I had to have two servings of that. Hey! I told you I was more stuffed than a Turkey.

Oh.....but it was SOOOOOO Good!!! I think I now need to go to confession for my glutony. ;-)

Afterwards, we went to the car and drove to the house. This year they did MP3 players with headsets for the tour. The house was beautiful and so were the decorations.

I was very excited because they have added new rooms and a new route (on the third and fourth floors) to the tour.

So we had a wonderful night at the Biltmore Estate. I highly recommend it.

Blessings!

On Holiday

Or as we in America like to call it, On Vacation. I think I like the European title and so will use it for this brief jont to the mountains with my DH. He is giving a presentation tomorrow and Tuesday to the N.C. Society of Tax Professionals.

So we started off today at 2 p.m. It took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to drive from our house to Reidville Road in Spartanburg. (Excellent, almost a new record for me. I have made it from my parents house all the way to IOP (that's Isle of Palms for all you non-Charlestonians) in three hours.

So DH and I had dinner with my parents at Outback. Very poor service and might I say skimpy on their salads. So after that quick break we headed on up the hills. Too bad most of our winter clothes are in storage. Can you say brrrr..............?????

So we are now in the lovely Mariott Renaissance hotel in downtown Asheville. I haven't a clue what I shall be doing tomorrow while the hubby is away. (probably sleep, read, and watch t.v.)

After D.H. is finished with his group we are going for a drive down the Parkway (i.e. The BlueRidge Parkway) to see some fall color. Since we live in Charleston, there isn't very much fall color around us. Unless you count the slight browning of the Palmetto trees as they shed the older fronds for new ones.

DH surprised me a few weeks ago with tickets to Candelight Christmas so at 5:30 we will be dining at the Deerparkrestaurant on Biltmore Estate and then will enter the house at 7:30 for the Christmas Candelight Tour at Biltmore. I am so excited. We used to be passholders but aren't anymore. Christmas is the only season I have not seen Biltmore, usually because I wasn't paying the extra money to see it at night and I can't stand crowds nor heavy traffic. Every time I have tried to go I have gotten backed up on I-40. Sorry, but if it's backed up that far, it isn't worth it.

So I brought the warmest skirt I currently have in my closet and hopefully with layers, will be warm enough.

I also hope to have a little time to blog a bit.

I see that SCGG [slacker! ;) ] got a job (Congrats!), BTCM is almost to the end of the alphabet (beautiful moon this month, btw. should have seen it low in the horizon and beautiful in Chas, and looking great here in NC), and Napoleon is still off having "fun" at law school. Btw, your blog makes me want to run out and eat seafood somewhere.

Well...I better go. DH has ironed each of his shirts and is on to polishing his shoes. I might be able to get him to iron my shirts before I slip in to something a little more "comfortable" and left over from our honeymoon.

Hey.....this is a vacation!!! ;)

New Photos and Virtual Tour

Here is a link to new photos and a virtual tour of our home.

Vitrual Tour

Happy Anniversary to Us!

So yesterday was our First Anniversary!! We were going to go out of town but with the house on the market, we decided against it. SO my DH made reservations at 82 Queen where we had our reception that time last year. Needless to say they botched our reservations and gave away our table but luckily the people left (tourists!) and we at least got to sit there while we had our desert (creme brulee for me, praline pecan peach cobbler with cinnamon ice cream for him) and sipped our frangelico (hazelnut liquor). Dinner was so-so for me and Joe was the winner for best dinner.

Most of the day earlier had been spent...you guessed it - working on the house. After dinner we headed to (of all places) Walmart. Yep, we spent the evening at good 'ole Wally World. No, we aren't rednecks we just really needed some things for the house (i.e. toilet paper - who knew two men could go through toilet paper so fast???) and we eneded up getting a few other things like some palm trees for our patio, some material for new headcoverings, etc.... It's amazing how time flies when you are in Walmart. We got there between 7:30 and 8:00 and wouldn't you know - before long it was 10:00!!!

After we left 82 Queen we headed down to the port to see the cruise ship that had come in. It was the Carnival Victory. Now last year we left out on the Triumph on Tuesday, October 18th, so this year they upped the schedule a bit. It was great to see the ship and we reminisced about how we saw our ship for the first time and we got excited - even though the cruise was horrible.
We did do a quick drive around town (with the sunroof back) taking the same route our carriage did when we left 82 Queen headed to 2 Meeting to begin our honeymoon.

Since this Anniversary is supposed to be "paper" - we decided on this as a present for each other. When we saw this at Christmas we knew we had to get it. You can't see it very well from thsi photos but it is a couple remembering their wedding day and you can see their "ghosts" with their family in the bandstand and a vis a vis carriage awaiting them to whisk them away. hopefully we will get this print this week and have it matted and framed.

FOR SALE!!!!

We have done it. Our home is now For Sale. We have a home on James Island which we will be submitting an offer on in the next couple of days!! Yeah!!! Once we have it under contract - I will post the house we are buying.

3213 Wynnefield Drive for sale