Will baby boy enter the world with as much hair as Poppy did??????

I’m just having these strange images of him needing a hair cut in his first month of life lol.

So in the comment box leave your vote.  And just to remind you (or give you an idea if you didn’t know Poppy as a newborn), I have put some photos below.

Minutes after birth

Wake Forest really spoiled us with great parks. Being in Texas only a week and a half we haven’t been real sure where to find a good park–or even if we wanted to spend time outside in 100F heat. The need for fun this evening, however, overrode our desire for A/C.

We discovered an amazing park just a few miles down the road from us. Would you know that this massive wood construction–called Kidsville–was the largest volunteer-constructed city playground when it was built back in the 1980s? Remarkable. Shame I didn’t have my other lens or I would have been able to capture the size of this thing. It’s so big that at one point I even got separated from Poppy and Emily. What happened was I got caught up snapping pics of some young guys doing parkour. Check out my pictures on Facebook.

We needed to unwind a bit. Our course schedule has us in class for most of the day every day of the week, with homework to do every night. It’s pretty intense, but we are enjoying it and are blessed to be served by linguistics professors with knowledge and experience aplenty. We aim to finish in December and then head overseas to start our first assignment with Wycliffe. Exciting!

Poppy and I participated in our local pregnant support services walk for life on Saturday called 4,000 Steps. This is the first time we’ve done anything like this but it turned out to be a wonderful and moving experience. And we got some exercise–well, Daddy did at least.

We checked in and got our name tags all squared away. Ms. Poppy visited the kids’ booths where she won a Princess rubber ducky and received a blue butterfly tattoo which she would later suck off her hand. It’s not edible, honey.

We were members of the green team headed up by a support-raising mastermind from our church. The nearly two mile walk took us winding through downtown Wake Forest and looped back around to the starting point approximately one hour later. It was a leisurely stroll with all participants being warned sternly multiple times, “Do not run!”

Arriving back at the starting point, we were greeted by cheerleaders and handed a water bottle. This was only the start of the Saturday celebrations. There were hamburgers, hotdogs, and tater chips out the wazoo. Poppy destroyed a pack of cheese puffs. Like Mummy like daughter!

The most moving part of the walk was the interview of two mothers who had reconsidered having their babies after visiting the support service offices. We were glad to play a small part in this vital ministry of life and “true choice.”

We Skyped with our parents + Uncle Justin and had Poppy dressed in the shirt. When a good moment arose, we held Poppy up to the camera so they could read her announcement!  We also did the same for Aunty Hannah in England. Needless to say there were some gasps and some yelps and some yippees.  It was hard to tell all our siblings face to face. So from there we made a few phone calls and had an instant chat with Uncle Simon.  My sister Sally is working in Zambia for a year so I phoned her cell phone on Skype and caught her going to sleep for the night.  She sounded soooo sleepy and I was worried she wouldn’t remember our conversation in the morning but I’m sure she did.

So we are excited to let everyone know that we’re having another baby!!  My due date is September 1st which makes me 11 weeks today.  When the baby is born, Poppy will be two years and two months old. We’re hoping that she is going to love being Mummy’s little helper with the new baby.

I took some photos of Poppy in the shirt I got for her and our good friend Rhea Hickok designed an announcement for us!

We’ve lived in Wake Forest for almost three years now and we always seem to go to the same places. So why not try somewhere new, right? This afternoon we went for a drive down to Raleigh to visit the Raleigh Rose Garden. Cardinals, chipmunks, squirrels, flies, and two women dressed as belly dancers greeted us upon arrival. It was so hot out that we snapped some photos, hid under some shade, and then swopped out to take more photos. Aside from the random belly dancers doing some sort of photo shoot, the rose garden was exactly what we expected: lots of roses for lots of poses.

I present to you Emily at 38 weeks in 90 degree heat.

View the rest of the pictures we took.

Unfortunately, our good digital camera has stopped working. I went to turn it on after I attempted to charge it. I hope I wasn’t frying it instead of charging it. Either way, it’s no longer working. We do have a backup but it’s quite bulky. We talked about getting a super awesome camera to have when Poppy arrives, but they’re super awesome expensive. Maybe I’ll have to learn to draw.

We’re both on our feet quite a lot: Emily at school and clinicals (running around the hospital) and me at work serving people tea. Also, now that it’s summer, Wake Forest has concerts in the park which is probably less than a mile from our apartment. We walked to the park last week to catch the local high school’s jazz band but we’re a little too late. They’d gone! This Sunday we left earlier and walked to the park in time this time to find a sign saying the concert had been moved for fear of rain. The concert, featuring a zydeco band, was now at a different park about another half mile from this one, further on away from our place. We made it in time and enjoyed a couple of songs and then headed back.

What I really wanted to tell you though was that today Emily’s been cleaning out the cupboards and by that I do mean cleaning them out by organizing and cleaning them out by eating. She was pretty tickled to find a chocolate bar (Hershey’s dark) hidden in the back of one of the cabinets. This was before the walk to the park(s). Who but a pregnant woman would take a chocolate bar with her on a walk, munching (and sharing a piece here and there) as we walk?!

So I’m not a big one for myths or old wives tails (some people look at me and say “you are carrying low, you can’t possibly be having a girl”…erm…OK how do I respond to that?) but the pregnancy brain phenomenon has got to be true!!  I have a few stories to prove my belief.

Story number 1.

Me and my friend MarLa used to carpool to nursing school together.  This one day I had ridden in MarLa’s car so she dropped me off at the end of the day to get my car which was parked at Walgreen’s (Pharmacy) where we would meet.  I had a bunch of stuff with me that day including a massive school text book that is heavier than a bag of bricks!  Stumbling to get my keys I went to put the book on the roof of my SUV.  As I put it on the roof I distinctly remember a sweeping thought dash through my mind “I’m gonna forget this”, but strangely enough I still put it up there.

Well I got in the car and drove home.  When I arrived I got out the car and started gathering up my stuff to take inside….”wheres that book!!!”.  I had only gone and left it on the roof, driven off and lost it on the way home!! I immediately got back in the car and drove back the way I had come home.  I phoned Drew  and told him the story so he left work and drove to Walgreen’s to see if he could find it.  I drove all the way to Walgreen’s trying to remember if I had heard anyone honk or give me some kind of signal.  I kept looking at the road as much as I could and on every corner, it had vanished!!  I would just LOVE to know where that darn thing went.   That thing would have caused an accident anyways, maybe the police picked it up before I could get to it…haha.  I never saw that important and expensive text book again, and couldn’t afford to replace it.  Maybe loosing that text book should be my excuse for poor grades instead of the pregnancy brain.

Story number 2.

I’ve been in some sticky situations in my life time.  For example,  a few dear high school friends will remember the time we were on our Duke of Edinburgh expedition in France and got completely lost and disorientated just as the sun was going down.  We were soooooo scared, so tired and probably all cried ourselves to sleep that night as we camped on top of a cliff face!  Well, I can’t say I cried myself to sleep over this next story but I definitely had the same feeling of being completely stranded with no safe and easy way out.

I had just left nursing school after a pre-clinical conference in which we have to wear smart business attire.  I was 5 months pregnant so I was in between normal clothes and waiting to seriously buy maternity stuff. I was wearing this black dress because I couldn’t do the buttons up on my dress pants (trousers) anymore.  I started off down the highway (motorway) without a care in the world when all of a sudden my SUV starts jerking and sputtering.  We were having no problems with the vehicle at the time and this was the first time since we had bought it off some friends that any inkling of trouble was about to start.  Suddenly I looked at the gas (petrol) gauge….with this car there is no light that comes on to indicate that you are dangerously low but the little ‘check engine’ light was on and the marker was way down on empty….I was only running out of gas!!!!!!! I kept driving as long as I could which wasn’t very far until I could pull over away from an exit.  I stopped the car and thought “this can’t be happening”.  I got my bag and rummaged for my phone only to remember that I had left it on my bedside table that morning, which I hardly ever do.  What now I thought.  Drew was at work until 5pm and it was around 3 so it would be a while until he came looking for me.  Should I sit there and hope some policemen drive past?  No, I’m not one for just waiting to see what happens.  I could see an exit for a small mall up ahead but quite a little walk but thought it was my only hope.  I could ask to use a phone in a store or get to a gas station and buy a tank and walk back…haha.  I got out the car and started walking!!!  It was windy and kinda chilly but the sun was shining at least.  I said a quick prayer and made my way in smart black shoes and this fitted black dress along the side of the busy highway.

As I’m walking along I notice a white car has pulled over up ahead of me, dreading the conversation when I get there I keep walking.  The window is turned down so I tilt my head and look through.  There’s this guy just sitting there alone…”Hey I work at a mechanics just down the road I can take a look at your car for you” he said.  “Oh its not broken I just ran out of gas, I’m just gonna keep walking til I find a gas station” I say.  “Well I could give you a ride, you’ll be walking for a while the only one I know is right around the other side of the mall” he said.  “Nah, I think I’m just gonna walk” I reply.  He took it quite well and I think he understood that I didn’t wanna get in the car with him.  I kinda felt sorry for him because he could have just been trying to be nice and helpful yet these days its just not a risk a young girl should take while carrying her unborn child.  So he drives off.  Well just as he drives off another car pulls up as though they were kinda next in line to talk to me!  It was a couple this time with a really young baby in the back seat.  They looked really nice and I felt like I could trust them.  They asked if I was OK and I told them what had happened so they said they’d take me to the nearest gas station.  So I got in and off we went.  I found out that they had been driving in the opposite direction and had turned around to come and help me!!!!  I was kinda touched.  They seemed really cool, kinda sporty, mid-30s with a 3 month old baby girl asleep in her car seat.  We chatted the whole ride before  we got to the gas station.  The guy came in with me and we bought a little gas tank; as I was paying for it he went out and started filling it up for me.  They took me back to my car and the guy put the gas in while I got back in the driver’s seat.  He finished, put the tank in my trunk (boot) and I started up and left!!  I looked at my watch and in less than an hour I was back on the road!!  I could have been walking for at least a whole hour to the gas station then a whole hour back!  That couple must have been sent from God!  But I could not believe the situation, no phone, 5 months pregnant, in a dress and heels, walking down a busy highway…..oh my!  I got home and phoned Drew, he was shocked and kinda mad at first but what was I supposed to do!!!  They don’t have those cool little emergency phones on the side of the road like they do in England!  He was just glad I was OK in the end.

Story number 3.

This is a little story that happened yesterday, little but funny.  I have been working at the Tea Room for two years now, I’m the longest standing employee so I know my way around the place and the customers pretty well.  Which is why these next two stories are so bazaar to me because I have never made mistakes like this over the whole two years I have worked there.  Also, you must take into consideration that the tea room isn’t a hard place to work, its a small place, mostly older women come in for a quiet cup of tea and the menu is small too so you can’t go too wrong.

Well yesterday I had a table of four ladies, granted it was the lunchtime rush and I had a few tables who were all ordering dessert and stuff at the same time, but nothing I couldn’t handle normally.  So I took the order for this table of four ladies and went off into the kitchen to place the order with the prep person.  After a bit she called my name to let me know my order was up and the food was ready to be taken out to the table of four ladies.  So there I am picking the plates up and walking out to serve their food…..I put down the plates and realize I never served them their drinks!!!!!! Oh my goodness!!!!  I run back into the kitchen and shout at Drew, Help me! Help me! I forgot their drinks!!!!  I take the next two plates out cuz I can’t just serve two of them and not the others!  So I put the plates down and say in a really sweet and charming voice “ladies I’ll be right back with your drinks”.  Inside I was screaming.  I quickly get their drinks, thankfully only two ladies got hot tea so I didn’t have to wait for water to boil, but oh my…I could not believe it!  Can you imagine going to a restaurant and placing your order and about 5 minutes later your food just randomly turns up when you are expecting drinks!!! Hahahahahaha

Story number 4.

This story happened later in the day after the incident with forgetting the drinks.  In fact this story is extremely similar possibly slightly clumsier and funnier.  This time I had a table of five, three older women, one young girl and a little boy.  They were just ordering tea and scones.  So I take the order as usual and then go off into the kitchen to get everything ready.  I get a couple of teapots and put them on a tray then I go and fill up two glasses with ice because the young ones ordered pink lemonade.  I head out toward the table and serve the glasses of lemonade and then go to the tray and pick up the teapots. “Hmm…that’s weird they feel very light” I think to myself.  I take the lids off and come to see that not only have I forgotten to fill the pots with hot water but I have forgotten the actual tea leaves too!!! At this point I’m ready to call it a day and announce to the whole room that I’m nearly 31 weeks pregnant, took a big test at nursing school that same morning and really really can’t be bothered to walk all the way back into the kitchen to fill up these two teapots!  But I refrained myself and politely and calmly said…”I’ll be right back m’am”.

As I said before, I have never done anything like that before so I wholeheartedly believe it is due to pregnancy brain, maybe possibly overdoing it by volunteering to work at the tea room after a big test….but I was kinda excited to have the test over with and miss my friends at the tea room so I thought why not.

Pregnancy Brain

I found this on the internet about pregnancy brain and liked what it said:

Pregnancy brain is a condition that affects expectant mothers, usually during the first and third trimesters. Sometimes known as placenta brain or baby brain drain, the condition is usually characterized by short-term memory loss or forgetfulness. Some medical experts say that pregnancy brain is a myth, but evidence shows that many women have experienced this condition.

Studies linking memory and pregnancy are limited, and their results have been irregular. However, pregnant women have claimed to experience frustration while trying to remember the most simple everyday tasks. Some working women who are pregnant have become emotionally distressed because pregnancy brain has rendered them unable to work effectively.

It’s understandable that women’s emotional levels vary greatly during pregnancy. Hormonal surges, combined with the fact that pregnant women must eat for two and may be getting less sleep, are contributory. A great deal of the mother’s time is taken up with thoughts of the baby, so a little forgetfulness is expected.

Increased levels of the hormone progesterone are thought to be a culprit in pregnancy brain. Progesterone can often cause headaches, mood swings and fatigue. The increase of progesterone is often greatest in the first trimester and may be the reason for increased forgetfulness.

The effects of pregnancy brain vary greatly among women. They can be as simple as forgetting phone numbers that one has dialed for years or placing toilet paper in the fridge. One mother-to-be drove home only to find she had arrived at a previous home she had not lived in for six years.

Doctors have devised a few key steps that may help pregnant women decrease the risk of pregnancy brain. Sleep is a key factor in keeping the mind mentally healthy. A pregnant woman should try to get the same amount of sleep as she did before the pregnancy. Eating a well-balanced diet is essential to keep both mother and baby healthy. Doctors recommend that pregnant women take prenatal vitamins in order to ensure the intake of vital vitamins and minerals.

Exercise is also essential to keep the circulation flowing, decrease tiredness and make the mother feel mentally healthier. Another tip is to drink plenty of fluids. When pregnant women become dehydrated, their electrolytes may be disrupted, causing decreased memory and confusion.

The good news for pregnant women is that pregnancy brain is only temporary. It should start to decrease once the baby is born, although some mothers claim that pregnancy brain can last for some time after the birth. However, with most of the mother’s time spent taking care of a newborn baby, this is only to be expected.

An Angel Named Jessica

22166So where to start.  Nursery furniture an be so expensive new and there was just no way Drew and I could afford it on a student’s budget, so the next option was second hand….still people would ask $100 maybe more, maybe slightly less but when you think about 4-5 pieces of furniture in one room it all adds up to a crazy amount that we just don’t have lying around right now.  Then one day an angel popped onto my computer screen in the form of a facebook message from Jessica (Drew’s lovely cousin who was actually present at our wedding in England, too!).  She was writing to ask if we wanted the crib and changer that her daughter had been using but was now ready to transition into a big girl’s bed so had no need of the nursery furniture anymore!  Oh you could not imagine the relief that swept over my soul when I read that message.  Jessica also graciously wanted to give us a whole bunch of her daughter Lauren’s old clothes which were in fantastic condition and super super cute!!!  I think Jessica may have a special place in my heart, not only for her generosity and kindness but for the fact that she thought of us and realized what a huge blessing giving us all those things would be!  We love you Jessica, all 3 of us!!!

Ikea Mom

With that taken care of we were then able to look at other pieces that would match the color of the crib and changer.  Where to look…IKEA of course!  One of mine and Drew’s favourite stores.  Its not the highest of quality but its cool, funky, affordable and modern.  So with only about 10 Ikea stores in the whole of the USA we had to make some calls!  I found a good 4-drawer dresser on the website and knew that my mother-in-law was going to be visiting a store in Pittsburgh really soon.  So I contacted her and asked her to see what the display one looked like and if she thought it was cute enough for her first grand-daughter’s room, then to go ahead and buy it and we’d pick it up when visiting them next.  So then we had a crib, a changer and a 4-drawer dresser, none of which was actually in our house or in our hands.

Nursery in the Explorer

22043Being in nursing school really helps me to keep busy and distracted from getting crazy obsessed with baby stuff.  If I were sitting around at home or even doing a day job, I would just go crazy with wanting to buy everything now now now!  So forgetting about the nursery for a while was ok.  Until spring break arrived and we were able to take some time out to travel up to Pennsylvania to visit the in-laws and then take a day trip to Ohio to collect the furniture from Jessica.  Everything went really smoothly and we came driving back from PA with a nursery in the back of our Explorer!  Funnily and kinda freakishly enough on our way up to PA we passed Ikea, right there on the motorway!  So on the way home we stopped in to look around, we just love walking through the rooms imagining what we can do with our own place one day.  Well, while we were there we spotted a cute bookcase in one of the childrens’ rooms and with it being nice and big and under $100 we had to get it!  The funny thing was, as we walked through the rest of Ikea we wondered the whole time whether we had room in the car or not….we were determined to make it fit though.  By the time we got back in to Wake Forest we literally did have the whole nursery in the back of our explorer.  A crib, a changer, a dresser, a rocking chair (that we are borrowing from my in-laws. Matt, Drew and probably Justin too were all rocked and nursed in that rocking chair!) and finally we had a super cute bookshelf too.

Up in No Time

I think we had 75% of the furniture assembled and in position the night we got back from PA, we were so excited.  I moved the fake tree we had in our room into Poppy’s room and put some fairy lights on it to act as a night light.  And then used a shelf I already had that at one point was up in the bathroom but we kept knocking it off the wall so I took it down, now it looks perfect in Poppy’s room above the dresser.

A Match Made in Gingham

22221By the end of my 3 week spring break, we had the whole nursery set up. I also bought the bedding–that took me a long time to decide on and a whole other story!  Bedding can be incredibly expensive!  But with the savings we had made so far we really wanted to go ahead and get Poppy bedding that she would use for a few years.  So we went with a ladybird (for the British) ladybug (for the Americans) theme, with pale pink and apple green color for accents.  I did say I didn’t want to go over the top with pink: I like pink but I think its so typical with babies to just go over the top with the pink, so I wanted to use red seeing as Poppy has the same name as a red flower and apple green is a nice bright colour.   Oh, also while at the Ikea on the way home from PA we bought a lamp for Poppy’s room, I think its so pretty, its soft yet gets pretty bright once the bulb warms up and has these lovely flowers that stand out when the light is on.  The valances over the windows were a bargain, too.  I found them for $1.50 a piece on sale at Walmart, I got four panels to make sure I had enough to go across and I think it looks great with the extra length to be able to make the ruffles.  The green color pretty much matches exactly with the bedding and being gingham, too…..PERFECT MATCH!

Basket Cases

22209The baskets you see around the room are from various places.  The two big baskets on the changer shelves I found at Marshalls for $10 each which I thought was good for nice big baskets.  The three baskets on the wall I got from this big warehouse type place up in PA that we went to while visiting my in-laws. I thought they would be great for storing things like blankets and burp cloths and things you want handy; I think they look great as decoration too.  I added the ribbons which I got from Walmart and took a while to decide whether I should use three different ribbons or all the same or just two…..let me know what you think.

Gifts

22257There is a white basket on the bookshelf which I picked up in a Goodwill for a couple of dollars; works great to keep Poppy’s little toys in.  There are also bits and pieces around the room that are gifts people have already given us.  Drew’s Grandma bought Poppy the pink piggy bank, I think she even put a few pennies in it.  The Paddington Bear with mini passport was given to me years ago by my older sister Sally: I think she wanted me to take him to different places and take a photo of him at major landmarks….maybe we will get to do that with Poppy.  Drew’s Aunt Carol bought us the Anne Geddes baby record book–love it!  Its a very simple, straight forward baby book with cute photos, I’m excited to start writing in it!  The baby shoes also on the bookshelf were worn by Drew when he was a little boy and the Johnson’s baby bath gift set was given to us by a regular customer at the Tea Room.  Drew and I have just been blown away by our regular customers from the Tea Room.  Another couple gave us this BEAUTIFUL pale pink dress, its in one of the photos I took of clothes hanging on the crib, its a traditional style of dress. So precious. She’ll look like an angel in it.  The books on the bookshelf are a combination of books I already had that I’ve collected over the years, I have a few Dr. Seuss books, a mini book called The Queens Knickers and others I have found over the years and loved so much I wanted to buy them.  A whole bunch of the books came from my mother-in-law, some were Drew’s and I think some were Justin’s.  Last but not least there is a photo album on the windowsill with Poppies on the cover, this was given to us by a friend’s Mother who when heard that we had named our baby Poppy saw this gift and had to buy it.

An Adventure

As you can see the construction of our nursery has been an adventure!  We have been so blessed by so many people already and those are only the things you can see in the photos!  That dresser is full of clothes and bits and bobs that people have already given to us. It’s just awesome.  As I write this I feel a little body inside me stretching after a nice long sleep, and we are just so excited to meet her at the right time.

I shall be sure to post an updated photo when the wooden letters arrive!