Oh, where, oh where did Gillian go?

Oh, here I am! Brad got on here the other day and told me I needed to update this thing; I knew that already!

So...what have we been up to lately?

Well, since I last said anything, we've had a visit from the grandparents, Christmas, and new year began, and a month of it passed, a bunch of visits to the doctor, and we made a really long trip on an airplane.

How 'bout I start at the beginning?

On December 23, my parents came to see the baby. Not me, not Brad, maybe Juliana, but mostly just to see the baby. Of course, while they were here, the furnace quit working properly, (during one of the coldest weeks of the year) so Daddy got to work on that for us. They spent a week, and then headed back to Tennessee on the 30th. It was fun having them with us.

We spent part of Christmas day at home with Mom & Dad, then we all packed up and headed to Jennings to eat gumbo with the Sarver side of the family. We had Christmas with all of them at New Years and played games with all the cousins and stuff.

One night while Trent was down, he wanted to grill out, so we went over for that; well, Juju went outside to play with Uncle Tent, and apparently wasn't watching where she was going and wiped out on the concrete. She cut her lip pretty bad, and busted her nose all up - the lip healed up quickly, but she still has a decent-sized scar under her nose from it.

Also, during this time, (actually, from right after he was born) Jonathan developed a rather severe case of jaundice, so I had to take him to the Dr. every few days to have that checked on. Thankfully, they didn't have to put him in the hospital under a light, but we did have to go back every week until it cleared up completely, which took until the middle of January!

Finally got him all better, and Juliana got sick. High fever for several days, throwing up for a couple... I finally decided to take her to the Dr, and that very day, wouldn't you know it, she was miraculously cured - the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her! :-)

Now for the really long trip on the airplane.

Sometime in December, Bro. Bob Barker called and asked us to come sing for their revival. At that point we didn't know if we could do it, because it started the end of January, and the baby wasn't due 'til the 1st, so if he was late at all that would make for a really long trip (22 hours if we drove) with a really small baby. We alsom weren't sure about driving that far in our vehicle, as it isn't in the best of shape, and this time of year in Colorado, it's kinda cold and snowy. We figured if the Lord wanted us there, He'd have to work everything out!

I guess He wanted us here.

Last Thursday we boarded an airplane headed for Grand Junction, Colorado! That sounds simple, right?

Wrong.

Thursday morning, we started for the airport in Houston in plenty of time. We arrived - still with planty of time. We went through security. I set off the metal detector. Apparently, those things don't like hair pins - just a warning for those of you who wear them and intend to fly in the near future. So, they had to pat me and the baby down and run the wand thingy over both of us. Aafter determning that we weren't any threat to National Security, they finally let us go through. Still with plenty of time.

We boarded the airplane. So far so good, right?

Did I mention that there was a big storm moving through the country that day?

Yeah. That.

We were ON THE RUNWAY, engines on full throttle, getting ready to take off.

And they told us we couldn't.

Apparently the storm was headed for Dallas, which is where we were going.

So we sat there for an hour - on the plane - with two small children. Oh, yeah, and the plane was packed - no empty seats. After an hour, pilot came back and said that because the weather had delayed so many flights, they were trying to get everyone rerouted, so we had to wait for another hour.

Finally, after 2 hours on the runway, they let us take off. It was about an hour flight, but boy, was it rough! There were a few times that the plane was bouncing and bucking rather like a roller coaster - if you hadn't had your seatbelt on and been holding on, I believe your head would have hit the top of the plane! Of course, my dear hubby, who gets carsick riding around town was puking after a couple good jounces.
Thankfully, we made it to Dallas safely, and our flight there had been delayed, too, so with the help of a very kind man who took pity on us with our kids and bags and helped up get where we needed to go, we boarded our flight there and had a rather uneventful flight into Grand Junction.
Juliana enjoyed looking out the window - there wasn't much to see since it was so cloudy, but that didn't bother her!
It's been a good week, other than for being sick through part of it - I got what appeared to be strep throat at the beginning of the week, and just as I started getting over that, Brad got sick, but other than that, we've enjoyed it immensely. The Barkers have been very kind to us, and Juju's taken to calling them Grandma & Grandpa.
I'll try to post new pictures of the little guy before too long. I don't have my camera cord with me, so it'll have to wait until we get home, but he's growing like a weed, and has just this week discovered his smile! It's an awful sweet little grin, but them I might be just a teensy, weensy bit prejudiced. Maybe. :-) We're rather fond of him, and I THINK we've decided to keep him. I'll let you know I we decide otherwise! (If nothing else, he'll make a good tax deduction!!!:-)

The Davis Family + 1 (or, The New Addition)

On Thursday, December 17th, 2009, at 10:31 a.m., Jonathan Cole Davis entered the world; he weighed 7 pounds and 1 ounce, and was 19 3/4 inches long. Unlike his big sister, who came into the world with her eyes wide open (and has scarcely shut them since), he chose instead to snooze his way through his first day on earth. Also unlike his sister, he actually knows how to CRY. She screamed. Or shrieked - or squealed at the top of her lungs. But not cry. He cries nicely - although he hasn't really seen a need to to do much of it (at least not until this morning, but that's another story entirely.)

We arrived at the hospital at a few minutes past 4:30 in the morning; they admitted us, and sent us straight to labor & delivery. Once there, we were put in a room, and they started IVs (it took 3 tries to actually get the thing in my hand, leaving rather painful holes...ow.) and the nurse expressed her suprise - she said she usually doesn't have people walking in there who are over 4 cm dialated and totally effaced who aren't actually in labor already! :-) Oh, well, I guess I just have to be different! Anyhow, we sat there for the next 4 hours or so - they increased the pitocin drip every 15 minutes or so, until around 9 when they came and broke my water -"to get things moving a little faster" - and did they ever! In the space of about 20-30 minutes, we went from 5 cm. to 9! So, they called the Dr, he said go ahead and start pushing, so they all came in and started getting things ready, had me push a few times 'just for the fun of it', and then the nurse left the room. We sat there minding our own business for a few minutes, when all the sudden, the Doctor came flying through the door and said, "we've got to get this baby out of there NOW!"
Ok, now we were scared!
Apparently, his heart rate had started dropping, and though it wasn't dangerously low, they wanted to get him out quickly. Dr. Darby checked, and said he was too high for him to reach with the forceps, but said to try to push once and see if he'd move down far enough, otherwise he was doing a c-cection immediately. I pushed a couple of times, and he said he thought he could reach him. During this exchange, the baby's heart beat had gone up a bit, but after those pushes, it started dropping again.
Talk about going into high gear! Without any warning, the Dr. said, "Dad, I need you to help. You hold her shoulders with one arm, and push on the top of her stomach with the other arm. She's going to push like she's never pushed before." With Brad pushing on my stomach, me pushing, and the Dr. pulling, he was out in about 5 minutes! He told Brad he got to cut the cord since he'd done half the work getting him out, and they quickly got him under the warmer. Thankfully, he immediately started breathing and protested mightily about the treatment he was getting!
Remarkably, Mommy only tore a tiny bit - even with all the jerking and pushing that was going on - and only had to have ONE stitch!
Other than bruise on the side of his head from the forceps, baby Jonathan is in perfect shape! Not quite being 38 weeks, they had warned us that there was a slight possibility that his lungs wouldn't be totally developed and he might have to have some oxygen at first, but his lungs are in perfect shape! In fact, the pediatritician came in to check him out yesterday morning, and when she came to talk to me, she walked in the door and said "I am SO confused!" His gestational age (according to my due date) was 37 weeks, 6 days, but his developemental age, according to her testing was over 39 weeks! She said he's perfect...

But we knew that already!

God is soo good!

Juliana immediately said that we could keep him! In fact, when we asked her what she thought of her new brother, she said, "he's so cute - I lubs him!" and gave him kisses! She has been very good with him. While Im typing this, he's on my lap sleeping, and she come every few minutes to crawl up beside me -'can I see the baby brudder?'- and rubs his head or pats him. She also loves to hold him.

Now for pictures...

The official 'First Photo'

Cleaned up pretty nice, huh?

Big Sister meets Little Brother

Daddy finally gets to hold him

The whole family

Sweet Baby Boy

Kisses!

Tired Dad

Getting ready to go home

Going home at last!

And, just for reference:

Juliana at 1 day

Life, as we know it:

Where to begin? I have been woefully neglecting this thing, haven't I?
I shall now attempt to update you on the happenings in our lives over the past month or so - if I can keep from falling asleep on my keyboard! (You have to give me a break here - growing a person is hard work!)
The first week of November was revival with Rev. Larry Pettit; enjoyed hearing him preach again and feeling the presence of the Lord. (that reminds me - got to finish posting the sermons on the church website http://www.westlakepilgrimnazarene.com/ - Oh, Bother!)
The day after revival ended, we set off for Missouri. A friend that Brad used to work with when we lived there had called and asked him to come do a drywall finishing job for him, and we wanted to go spend some time with the family there, so off we went.
Juliana loved being able to stay at MoMo & Bapaw's house - and of course MoMo spoiled her rotten. She also got to rake leaves one day with Pop M&M (Brad's dad), and had a blast!

She also had a little birthday party with family (and Heidi & Emily Boardman, but they're kinda family, too :-) ), one night with a PRINCESS cake! She's very into princesses right now, so that made her day, as well as all the cool stuff she got - Heidi, she's already worn out that aquadoodle thing ya'll got her!

Of course, while we were there, Brad and I both managed to catch a nasty little bug. He was sick for several days, and I tried to puke the baby out, but somehow he stayed in there, and we made it back home without any permanant damage - I think.

November 19th, we headed south again. Drove from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and stopped to go to a Gaither concert. We had gotten free tickets for it, and our seats were front and center - 10th row back from the stage! Would have enjoyed it more if we hadn't just traveled for 8 1/2 hours to get there, but it was a good concert anyway!
Got out of there around 10 and made the 2-hour trip back to our house.

Saturday (the 21st), the ladies from our church had a baby shower for me - with a John Deere theme! :-) I didn't get any pictures, 'cause my camera batteries decided to die on me - BOTH sets of them! Anyhow, we got some lovely things for the baby, and had a good time with all the ladies. Thank you, Sis. Adamson, and all of the others who helped out!

After that came Thanksgiving, then a very special day -
On the 28th, our baby girl turned 3!

She's grown so much in three years - already so grown up in some ways - and in other ways NOT. (We aren't going to discuss the potty thing right now...) Just in the last few weeks, she's learned to draw (she can do a pretty good Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucmber), she's learning her alphabet, she can count to 20 (usually with no help, although 14 & 15 still confuse her every once in a while), and she tries to help mommy do the dishes and cook. She's pretty good with unloading the dishwasher - the stuff she can reach, at least - but she wants to play in the sink now; if I leave water in the sink, she's reaching over and dipping stuff in it and stirring...one time I even found her with one of her play cups, dipping soapy water out of the sink and drinking it! Her tastebuds definitely aren't grown up yet! :-)

As for the little guy, he's still in there - wiggling away. I've been having contractions off and on for several weeks now (enough that they told me last week to take it easy, rest lots, drink lots, and try to keep him in there 'til 36 weeks...) but no baby yet. I went in for Doctor's appointment yesterday, and when she walked in she said, "I really didn't expect to see you in here this week"! Comforting, huh? Anyway, if he hasn't come by next Monday (my next appt.), they're going schedlue a time to induce - around 38 weeks. For some reason they think this kid is going to fall out if I sneeze or anything (I've tried it and it doesn't work.).

So, I guess we'll have a baby sometime between now and Christmas! :-) We're trying to get his room ready so he'll at least have a place to sleep when he gets here.

So that's a few things that happened in the last month or so. I can't promise you I'll have more time to update in the future, but I'll at least let you know when the baby comes! :-)