Third time's the...smallest?

I know this is an important post for the blog and it probably shouldn't be left in the hands of the bumbling husband, but alas, my poor wife is in the hospital and felt the timeliness of this post would be very important.

This morning at 8:02 A.M. central time in the Bridwell Tower of United Regional Hospital in Wichita Falls, Texas, we welcomed the 7 pound 3 ounce, 21 inch bundle of joy. And unfortunately nobody who took the name survey chose correctly. We named her Addison Belle Davis.

She is the smallest child so far - by over a pound - despite having the longest time in the womb. What she lacks in size she makes up for in volume.

She was sure to let the nurses know everything that was not to her liking. Things like: washing off the nasty womb stuff, the apgar test, being weighed, being talked to by someone that wasn't daddy, being touched, having her temperature checked in an exit only location, innoculations, the eye jelly stuff, having a baby stealing prevention thingly placed on her ankle, and being given a bath.

It may sound like she didn't like much, but don't let that paragraph fool you. As soon as she was able to get a little bit in her belly the crying stopped. And to my knowledge has still stopped. In fact, despite the fact that she cries at the same decibel level as an F-14, she has been pretty much an angel.

Brielle was very anxious about the whole process. She called me as soon as she woke up to check up on her mommy. She had advised her mother the night before not to move during the surgery because she didn't want anything bad to happen.

We were worried about Claire being dethroned as the youngest (after all her daddy still hasn't gotten over it. BRACKEN!!!!). Of course, she couldn't love baby Ah-eh-sun any more. She even sang her a song this evening.

Camille made me promise not to put any pictures of her on the blog so the following is another picture of Addison

I'd like to thank Camille's parent for being such a huge help this week with Thanksgiving and Addison's arrival and thank my mother in advance for coming out here to help tomorrow for a week.

In closing I guess I have to say with another girl I just have to be thankful my hair has lasted this far, kind of.

Happy Birthday Marty!!

No...still no baby. 

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's move on to something else, shall we?

Tomorrow is Marty's birthday.  He will be REALLY old...so old that I don't even know that it's socially acceptable to talk about or reveal!

(Psst.....he'll be 28!  Shhh, don't tell though!)

If you are his age or older, however, do not be alarmed...it's only him that's old.  The rest of you are perfectly okay.

So, I was banned from making a big deal out of his birthday this year and I feel like it's a total jip, even though he really hates when I do make a big deal and it's all just for me anyway.  But I was able to at least make him a birthday dinner of Cheeseburger Casserole and Cheesecake tonight and hope that he feels special.

Secretly I did this for him tonight even though his birthday is tomorrow in hopes that the baby will be born tomorrow and I wouldn't have to feel guilty about not at least making him a birthday dinner...wishful thinking?  Maybe. 

All Marty wants for his birthday is for our baby to be born.  You would think this was a sweet wish, you know, "How wonderful to hold my new baby girl on my birthday!  I couldn't imagine a better gift than that."  But I'm pretty sure it's because he's as sick of me being pregnant as I am and just wants the misery to be over with already.

But here, for my dear, sweet husband, I would publicly like to wish him

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

He is an AMAZING husband and father and has sacrificed and done so much for our little family.  I couldn't be more grateful for him! 

We love you Marty/Daddy!!

The ramblings of a pregnant lady on the edge

Before I begin, I feel as though I need to clarify something...because it kind of makes me feel like I'm a huge cheater McCheater pants.  (My husband in response to me using that phrase is going to say "you've been around me way too long".)

You see, my baby countdown/ticker/gadget/thingie would lead everyone to believe that I'm actually a week further along than I technically am.  There is an explanation however.  The countdown is to my scheduled c-section day {November 30th}.  They do repeat c-sections right around 39 weeks, so really my due date is December 6th.  This will be our second baby born the month before they were due...in case you were wanting to know some more random crap about us.

ANYWAY, seeing as I can't go further than that, I changed it to be that day so that I knew how long I had until the c-section.  I'm actually going to be 38 weeks along tomorrow...I like to confuse people...and I like to see a shorter amount of time there, because nobody wants to be pregnant forever.  Anyhow...

I began panicking the last couple of days realizing that if this little baby is to follow the example of her older two sisters, she would be making her appearance sometime between today and Tuesday. 

But do not fret...I didn't have her today.  In case you were wondering.

Anyway, when I realized that she could come any time now I was all - uh, I don't think I'm ready to have a baby today.  I have some things I'd like to get done before the baby...which I can't think of any at this exact moment but I'm sure there is stuff that should be getting done pre-baby.

So I went to my doctor's yesterday...without my kids mind you.  THAT phone call to a lady in my ward sucked.  "Hey, you may not know who I am but I was told you would be someone who might be willing to help with babysitting?"  Luckily she was more than nice and even though I felt DUMBER than DUMB, I was able to go to the doctor's and not have to explain to my 4 and 2 year old what the doctor was doing. 

I sat there with my gorgeous pink paper-towel skirt, sweating up a storm and tapping my fingers like a mad woman while waiting for the doctor to come in, nervous about what he would say.  I had things running through my mind like, "Yeah, you're at like a 2, I don't see you making it past this weekend" or "Holy cow, your water just broke, you must be rushed to the hospital ASAP!"  I was unnecessarily freaking myself out for the worst.

The doctor checked me yesterday...and in his somewhat southern accent I heard "Yeah, you're close."  I froze...I said, "Uh..what!?!?"  He seemed surprised at my reaction and said again, "You're closed." 

I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Oh, good!"  I think the nurse was shocked at that response - as I'm sure the majority of women at this point would have been disappointed at the lack of progress.  But I was glad.  For now I can breath knowing that unless things go freakishly fast in the next day, this baby will probably be gracious and at least wait until my mom can get here on Tuesday night.

So, to help keep me from going nuts, I have made a new goal. 

My goal is to have a 9 pound baby.  That's right people, I'm shooting for the stars here!

Both of my girls have been over 8 pounds (8lb. 12oz., and 8lb. 4oz.) and I figure if I get until at least Thursday then there's no way the baby won't be bigger than those, right?  That's my goal...I plan on making it a reality by eating a lot of Rocky Road ice cream (a new thing since being pregnant as it's not a normal favorite).

I am getting very anxious for my mom to be here.  Not only because it's been FAR too long since I've seen her (or any of you other people's back in Utah) but because it means I can go ahead and have this baby, because the side of me that has to get out of bed 4 times a night to pee and another 4 times to take Tums is DONE with being pregnant.  Bring on the 2 a.m. feedings with a newborn!

Little Inventor

Because it's worth documenting I have to share what Brielle told me the other day.

"Hey mom, I have a big idea!  I am going to make a machine.  Here are the things I will need: plastic, some fishy crackers, chocolate, skin and some shampoo." 

When I inquired as to what this machine was, she said...

"It will do all my chores for me and pick up all my toys.  Although it is going to need arms and hands to do that, so I guess I will also need some paper that I can roll up to make arms and hands for the machine."

I can't wait to see how that turns out for her.

What is "Texoma"?

Lately I have had a hard time seeing the funny in things. I'm sure I could rattle off a good sized list as to why, however I will blame it mostly on one thing...the one inside me trying to karate chop her way out.

But there are some bright spots in this world, especially now that we have entered in to the land of "Texoma".

Yes, you heard me correctly, Texoma. Apparently I was wrong in believing that we were moving to Texas.

I feel like such a fool!

"Texoma" is the combination of Texas and Oklahoma, because we're near the border. We happen to live in one of the two "major cities" in Texoma, and let me tell you it's something major!

Every restaurant this side of Oklahoma boasts to be "Voted Texoma's Best____" and we know that it will be a winner if we eat there, because if all of Texoma voted it the best, it MUST be worth my time and stomach.

The kicker? There is a city around here named Texarkana - as in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas all rolled in to one, because it happens to be near the border of all three. The people around here are ridiculously creative.

The news - for instance - reports only on things happening in Texoma, with their 80's camera's and visual effects and even 80's hair do's and clothing. It's very small town things like, "Today our Texoma neighbor's plowed their field!" Okay, maybe not THAT small town...but you get the drift.

The commercials in Texoma are the stuff movies are made of. Big Bob out front of his car dealership with his cowboy hat and mascot yelling "Come on down to Big Bob's today and get a REAL 4-wheeler or ATV with your purchase of a new Ford pickup-truck!" Besides the name of the dealership, I swear that is a real commercial!

But in the words of some of the people I've come in to contact with: "We may not have much around here, but at least the people sure are nice."

This is true, I will give Texoma that.

Marty has helped heighten my enjoyment of Texoma by pointing out things that are just so very fantastic.

A couple weeks ago I was sitting on the base waiting for him and there were so many birds that I was actually afraid to get out of my car. I have NEVER seen so many in one place in all my life. I mentioned to Marty that it was odd and wondered if maybe the landscaping crew had been fertilizing the lawn with bird seed on accident. Then Marty said to me, "No, this IS south for winter."

Wow, mind blowing I tell you!

So although I miss Utah - for now I am going to sit back and enjoy the comical nature of Texoma's finest....it can only get better from here!

Korea Projection Explained - kind of

When Marty wrote his Korea post I let him know that it was a bit abrupt.  I liked his soldier conversation because - seriously - they REALLY do talk like that, and it's weird because I kind of feel like they may as well be speaking Korean sometimes.  Anyways, I told him that most people would want a few more details than what he gave.  So, me being the very detail oriented person I am will take it upon myself to try and clear a few things up regarding Korea.

It's a place very, very, very far from here.

Does that help at all?

Yes, that about sums up all my knowledge related to that part of the world. 

But now I will actually clear up a few things.  For instance, soft orders are not set in stone.  There are no dates or details or anything.  In fact Marty keeps telling me he technically hasn't received any soft orders at all and that he was just PROJECTED to be going to Korea.  I don't know the difference...but whatever.  "Hard orders" - a.k.a. set in stone - won't happen until MUCH closer to his graduation date.

The thing about Korea that really has me scared though is that depending on which base they want him to be stationed at we may not be able to go with him. Families are not allowed in certain parts. He would have to go for 1 year while me and the kids stayed back.  It would, however, be considered a deployment.  After that year we would get stationed somewhere else for the 2 remaining years.

There are a few things that could change the projection to somewhere else though.  Those things would be:

1. He is taking a 10 day paternity leave after the baby comes.  This will push his graduation date back by about 2 weeks which would change when he could be available to even go to Korea...maybe they want someone the exact day they originally thought he'd be available.

2. Speaking of graduation, he doesn't graduate until June or July...that is still a long way away and so things could change.

3. Claire is technically supposed to see a pediatric eye specialist at least one time a year*.  Because of this there is a good chance that when we take her to her annual appointment in January they will put her on the EFMP (exceptional family member program) thing Marty mentioned, which basically means that we can't go anywhere that doesn't have a speciailist for her...which usually includes anywhere over seas, because really why would an army base in Korea (or any other country) need a pediatric eye specialist?  She is not already on this because A. I had no idea that it even existed.  B. She hasn't been due for an appointment while we've been in the military life.  C. We haven't gone in to the base hospital to get the referral for her to go to the eye doctor.

*QUICK explanation, basically her eye muscle in her left eye "didn't wire correctly" so she has limited ability to move her left eye to the left.  It has nothing to do with vision or anything else.

So, for now we are doing nothing but waiting.  I am not worrying/dwelling on it and am making no plans around it.  We are going to continue living life as normal and we will just have to wait and see what happens!

Korea? For me-a?

Everyone loves a good acronym right? Let me just give you a brief example of how it works in the military.

Soldier 1: I got my soft orders.

Soldier 2: How did you see that?

Soldier 1: I just checked my ERB on AKO.

Soldier 2: Are you excited?

Soldier 1: I don't know what to think. With how long our AIT for BMET is I don't know if that will change. Plus my kid might be put on EFMP. I just hope with an OCONUS station I get good PCS leave.

Soldier 2: Did you hear about the IET formation?

Soldier 1: Yeah, I heard we're just going over SOP's and some UCMJ stuff. Plus one of the toon sergeants is on TDY so it shouldn't be too long. Just make sure you know the Army song and LDRSHIP values and requirements for the APFT.

Soldier 3: I like turtles.

Believe it or not we actually talk like that. It's disgusting, really.

Anyway the real reason for the post is to let the masses be aware that I have been projected to be stationed in Korea. To be more specific, 18th MEDCOM. Of course things can change between now and then. Camille is definitely hoping so. Otherwise she'll have to find some recipes with Nureongi.