26w

We're continuing to try to beautify the exterior of our home, and here are a few quick pics I took with my phone to try to capture what we've done...and here is the original photo just to give an idea of the changes made:

original photo (note the weeds to the left of the door & the overgrown bush to the right...)

the weeds have now been replaced with white river rock (with an underlayment of round-up & black cloth to keep those pesky weeds away for a long time)

neatly trimmed bushes (thanks to my dad) and you can see faintly in between the bushes are tall stalks of what-will-be-pink flowers, but the buds won't appear again til next year (thanks to my mom for providing & planting those)


and our mums!!! we now have two pots just like this one, one on each side of our front door on our porch. these are yellow and marroon and oh so happy!

so, aside from keeping up with the mowing, our next big venture for the outside of our home is to build a backyard fence & stairs so our pup can have room to run and run and run (and NOT bounce all crazily like in our living room...).

and regarding our sweet little Ava, she's 26 weeks today and quickly growing! 9 inches from crown to rump -- that doesn't even include the length of her legs!! I am starting to feel her more and more crouching up under my ribs...so as cool as it is to feel her, she can be mighty uncomfortable sometimes!

She should be opening her eyes any day now, and her blood vessels are starting to form in her lungs to prepare her for the outside world--which only happens to be about 14 weeks away!!

25w + 3d

We went to the dr on Friday and she said all is well with me and Ava. Her heart-rate is slowing down now from what it originally was the first few visits (starting around 160) and now it's about 130. She gave us the info we need to get signed up for our birthing classes. And we decided for sure on delivering at St. Lukes East Hospital. It's getting so much more real now!!!

One thing I've learned to be true thru-out this pregnancy, is that what they say about frequent urination is so true...Just to be sure, I counted the other day. 11. I peed 11 times in 1 day. I didn't even know that was possible.

We had to also take our pup for a vet visit yesterday, and learned the good news that he is heart-worm free! The vet also commented that Rexy is starting to mellow out (sill has miles to go, but baby steps is good enough for us!). He said that Rex will be the PERFECT pet for our little Ava, that he will be protective and loving. He said for the first couple months to be sure to give him plenty of attention, and to not scold him for just being curious with the baby. He doesn't want Rex to associate punishment with the baby. I am so relieved that the vet has this much confidence in him!!

We're finally doing cosmetic touch-ups to our house and making it feel like our own. Yesterday my mom helped with the exterior, turning our weeded front to a rock garden. and she planted some bulbs & flowers in between some existing bushes that will most likely show it's beauty next summer. We're hoping to get started painting within the month, and by October our goal is to have our backyard fence up with stairs from our deck all complete. plenty to do before the baby gets here!!!

24w + 6d continued...

and our little Ava is the size of a Rutabaga apparently...

24w + 6d

where do I begin...
My husband and I just got back from the Bahamas so that's why it's been a while since the last update.
here is a photo from our trip, and a link to see the rest of the photos at smugmug if you're interested.

We had an amazing time and I had no pregnancy complications while I was there, which I am SO thankful for. Ava was movin and groovin the whole time, so she must've loved it too!

tomorrow is 25 weeks and I go to the dr on Friday morning for our next check-up.

here are some things that I missed updating since I've been gone...

23 weeks = she is looking more and more like a little baby doll. Her skin is a little loose, since skin is producing more rapidly than fat is. but if she's anything like her mom, it won't take her long to get caught up :) she may look a little red right now, that's because her skin is loosing it's transparency and the pigment is starting to form.

24 weeks = her face is basically now complete! Her eyes are still shut, her ears are in their correct possition now, hair will continue to grow and her eyelashes are developing. Most of her features look the way they will when she is born. She is now running out of room to do cartwheels and somersaults though since she is growing so much.

25 weeks = my uterus is the size of a soccer ball! Her heartbeat can be heard with a stethoscope, a doppler, or possibly even unaided just by putting your ear to my belly! good news: if we were to for some reason have her early, she has a good chance of surviving by now, though she would have to be in the hospital for a few months possibly. we'll just let her hang out in there for a little while longer :) no need to rush things.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

22 weeks

our sweet Ava keeps getting bigger and bigger each day! Her senses are developing daily and she's exploring the sense of touch by touching her arms, legs, and even face...and my insides...
Most evenings I can feel her before I go to bed moving around in there, and most mornings. Now-a-days though I even feel her up and around during the day, which is very cool.

And for a non-baby update...WE'VE MOVED! We bought our house and are nearly 2/3 of the way moved in! Saturday is the big U-haul/furniture day. We have our mattresses already moved, we were too excited so we wanted to start sleeping there as soon as possible. We have a dog (Rex) and a cat (Jaxon) [see photos below] who we've already moved over there with us and they are quickly getting accustomed to the ins and outs and all the secret hiding places they can find. My mom, dad, brother, sister in law & sweet nieces saved the day yesterday. We had no hot water, even though the lady at the gas places swears that the gas is on. We had pilot light issues. But with much persistance my dad finally got it working! and thanks to him and Brandon, Jaxon has a safe haven away from Rex as they installed a cat door so now he has one place he can run to where his brother won't be attacking him...

our new home...

the day we bought our first house, 7/28/08


Rexy

Jaxon (nicer than this picture makes him look...though 100% just as much of a troublemaker...)

21w + 3d

our baby girl this week: Ava is supposed to be about 7 inches in lengh and almost 11 ounces in weight...HOWEVER...at the 20 week check up the dr said she was already 15 ounces, nearly 1 lb! So no telling how much she weighs right now. But a friend of ours who just had her baby 6 weeks ago said the sonogram can be off by a lb more or less so maybe she is right at the right weight. we'll find out soon enough I'm sure!

She can now taste what I taste because she is swallowing amniotic fluid for hydration, nutrition, and to practice swallowing & digesting.
and something VERY cool about this week...
Sam felt her move for the first time! It was last night, we were watching TV and I felt her moving around right below my belly button. So I had him put his hand there, and I put both my hands on top of his to weigh it down a little and sure enough over and over again he felt little patters on his hand! It was so neat! This morning she won't stop moving around either--which for now is really fun :) I'm hoping that since now I'm primarily feeling her move by my belly button and not on my left side that means she turned. and HOPEFULLY she turned so her head is down and her feet are up...time will only tell though.

and lastly, we've been doing lots of shopping already for her! My mother-in-law & I went to Babies "R" Us the other day and just had a heck of a time trying to force ourselves not to buy every cute outfit in there for her! We got her some adorable onezies with matching caps [it will be winter so she'll need to be fashionable with her hats ;) ], a really cute zip up hoodie/sweater, and plenty of other matching top/pants outfits. I think though as I think about how we will dress her, present her, etc., I really love the little girl sweats outfits. You know, the matching track jackets & pants. So I need to keep my eye out for those because I just love them. Good thing for now is she will wear what WE think is cute :) I know that stage won't last forever... so here are just a couple of the cute outfits we got for her while shopping. and even though this stuff is mostly pink, that won't be the way it is for long. I found some adorable browns, oranges, and yellows in the organic clothes online @ babies r us that I registered for and I just couldn't pass them up! She will need variety in her style.

Christian the Lion

20w + 5d

well my brother posed a very good question...What does Ava Mae mean? My research consists of whatever google gives me...and here are several different selections to choose from (seems to me they don't really know for sure where Ava came from or what it really means...):

AVA
1. origin: Germanic, meaning: N/A.
2. origin: Afghan, meaning: Voice.
3. origin: English, meaning: a variation on the medieval names Avis and Aveline.
4. origin: German, meaning: a bird.
5. origin: Greek, meaning: iniquity
6. origin: Greek, meaning: A form of Eva
7. origin: Latin, meaning: Like a bird

made popular in large in the 1950's thanks to actress Ava Gardner.

MAE
1. origin: English, meaning: a variation of spelling for the fifth month, May.
2. origin: Celtic/Gaelic, meaning: From Mary

so know we sort of know...

20w + 3d

the long awaited for name of our daughter...

AVA MAE LANE

after talking about it, Sam and I decided we couldn't keep it a secret anymore and wanted to share the name with others.

and, we are officially registered at http://www.babiesrus.com/
so, for your entertainment, if you'd like to see the baby items that we see fit for our girl, here is a link to our registry:
http://www.toysrus.com/ControllerServlet?lastName=Lane&firstName=Jami&state=MO&target=search&userType=giftGiver&searchForPerson=primReg&whereTo=viewRegistry&x=56&y=5