Selflessness

As I prepare for the upcoming arrival of Baby G, I can't help but be shocked at the selflessness of a friend of mine, Sarah. I met Scott and Sarah through church several years ago and they have struggled with the loss of a child through miscarriage and were a source of strength for me during my emotional recovery after ours. Since October, they have been struggling with the challenge of getting their second child well. Their baby girl, Emma, has a serious medical condition (you can read more about it on her blog (http://www.emmajanae.blogspot.com) and their journey is one of such faith... the kind that moves mountains.

On today's update, Sarah was explaining that Emma's doctors now have decided she needed put on the heart transplant list. I can't even imagine how hard this news must be for them. She also talks about in her blog how hard it is that Emma has gotten to the point where being held (she has only been held about five times since she was born, due to her heart condition) is annoying to Emma. I can't begin to understand how difficult that must be, to watch your child there in pain and crying, and not be able to pick her up and hold her because it just makes things worse. Emma is just not used to being held.

With all of that said, Sarah's post ended with this comment:

"Please keep us in your prayers as we take this next step. Emma is such a fighter, but it is hard to know how to pray because getting Emma on a transplant list means that our potential gain is someone else’s loss. Please keep the prayers coming."

Sarah is confused about how to pray because like she said, her gain means someone else's loss. This has to be one of the most selfless things I have ever heard. To think that she doesn't know if it would feel right to pray for a heart for her own daughter, because that means someone else would have to lose theirs. What a difficult situation.

Sarah calls out to her family and friends for strength and for her continued faith. In turn, I am calling out to mine... please pray for Sarah and Scott (and baby Emma, of course). Such a difficult situation and such a hard prayer to pray... All I can hope for is that I will be the kind of mother that Sarah has already become in the few short months of being one. Understanding that someone else would have to lose their child to potentially save another... THAT is selflessness.

And now... what you've all been waiting for...

Michelle Jones did an AMAZING job with our family pictures. I can't WAIT to see the rest... she sent us a few to pick from for our Christmas cards... so I am passing them along to you!

Seven weeks and counting...

Today at the doctor's office, Dr. Parker said something that REALLY freaked me out...

"If you go into labor any time between now and two weeks from now, we will stop labor. If it's any time after two weeks from today (December 16th) then we will just let you have this baby!"

Eeeeeek! Can you repeat that? Slowly?

Yep. That's right. Stephen heard it. I heard it. Baby Garvin heard it.

So not saying it will happen, but if it does, Dr. Parker is totally okay with it. I think he should just stop labor for the next five years and then I will REALLY be ready to be a mom!

Baby Showers and Wishing Trees

Well, let's catch up on the happenings since the last post...

After looking at the envelope's contents, Stephen went clothes shopping and put the clothes in the guest room closet. He keeps telling me not to snoop around the house, but I know where they are and I still don't want to know Baby G's gender. I spent some money at Baby Gap on clothes for Baby G (cause I know deep down in my heart Baby G is Brooks and not Harper).

We took maternity pictures with Michelle Jones Photography last weekend and that was super fun, no matter WHAT Stephen says! I can't wait to post those pictures when we get some to post.

We registered for baby items... I talked Erica Healey (one of my best friends) into going with me to do that stuff. YUCK. In her words "Blind leading the blind"... So then the registry lead to a WONDERFUL baby shower at her house on Sunday.

This was really cool... they had little pieces of paper out and people gave words of wisdom or wishes for the parents to be. It was called a "wishing tree". LOVED THIS!



These are my lovely hostesses, Kari, Erica, Kayli, and Amanda.


This is the book that Stephen and I have been playing with since we got it yesterday. Stephen came to bed last night with the "tickle monster" mittens on and tickled me so hard I almost wet the bed. Brooks (or Harper) loved that game. He (or she) was going CRAZY when I was laughing so loudly.

Then we have the ADORABLE little cupcakes that Amanda made... she's as creative as Martha Stewart (minus the whole prison thing)!!

We FINALLY found a gender neutral baby book!


AND picked out art work for the nursery... which my cousin Kayli is going to make happen:

And also decided on a mobile... but have to find someone to make it for me because I just don't have the time.

So as you can tell... life has been full of letting (forcing)other people to do nice things for me! Oh, the joys of being pregnant!

Stephen Looked!

Well, word's out. Stephen looked at the envelope. Our initial intention was to not find out our baby's gender. So the day of the ultrasound, the technician wrote it down on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. We said we were going to let the biggest bidder have the envelope. That didn't last too long. Stephen had the envelope in his "super secret drawer" (which by the way, I showed to him when we got our bedroom furniture) and he was SURE no one would find the drawer after that... but it defeats the purpose when he tries to hide things from me because I am the one who showed him the drawer in the first place. Anyway, he put it there and one night as he was finishing up reading a bedtime story to my tummy (this has become a bedtime ritual), I smarted off to him and just said "if you want to know just look!"... and he did (disappointment). He just couldn't take it anymore. So two whole months after NOT opening the envelope and NOT knowing what Baby G will be (Harper or Brooks), Stephen knows for sure. However, I still don't want to know and he isn't going to tell. Although, he has slipped up several times and said "He ______" and since I have thought this whole time that he was a he... it just makes me even MORE sure. And then he tries to play it off like he only said he because I have always said he.

So that's about all that has been going on in the Garvin Household. Just still trying to complete the nursery... it's so dang hard though cause I don't want to make it TOO boyish or TOO girlish. We have about 10 weeks left... so it's probably a good idea to finish the room.

Baby Thumps in the Baby Bump

The other morning I was laying in bed and I felt Baby G kick several times in a row. I have felt little flutters here and there, but this time it made my shirt bounce. That was October 4th. I really wish Stephen would have been there. It was really neat. He has felt Baby G move several times, but NEVER like this. I could actually SEE him/her moving, not just feel it. Also, we went to the doctor last week and the nurse had the monitor out trying to find the heartbeat and Baby G kicked the monitor so hard the nurse pulled back because it surprised her. She turned right to Stephen and said, "DID YOU SEE THAT!?!?!" It was quite adorable!

With all this talk about movement, I have decided two things:

1. Baby G is convinced that I know Morse Code. He/She keeps trying to communicate. I think I will read up... because there is no way in the world these are just baby kicks. This kid is trying to tell me something!

and 2. I think he (if he is a he) will be a kicker... probably for OU (cause if he trys to play anywhere else, he will get disowned). (And if he is a SHE and not a HE, she will probably get disowned either way, since I want a boy.) :)

Casa de Garvin

Here are pictures of the updates we have been making to the house... and by "we" I mean Stephen. When we bought the house, the people who lived there previously put decals on the walls in the two kids rooms. One room had sports stuff, baseball gloves, footballs, golf balls and clubs, etc. The other room had sports cars. The decals were EVERYWHERE. When we went to take them off, we realized they had used some sort of glue that was NOT going to come off. We tried everything... GooGone, paint thinner, all kinds of cleaners... EVERYTHING. Finally, Stephen decided to sand down the spots and re-texture. But after months of trying to talk him out of that and into sanding down the entire wall, it finally paid off and he sanded both rooms, from floor to ceiling. It was a mess! There was powder from the paint and texture all over the place. Stephen would come out of the rooms looking like he had just jumped into a swimming pool full of chalk dust. It was all over him, his face, his eyelashes... everywhere.

I forgot to take before pics and during pics, which really stinks. But here are a few pics.

After Stephen had sanded the walls down, and before the guy came to texture.






The second picture is Stephen painting the guest room. The third and fourth are the almost finished guest room. Then last is what's done of the nursery. It's still a work in progress, as you can tell by the clutter.