Happy Valentine's Day

I think this blog should really be called "Here we go again" but keep reading and you'll see why I didn't title it that. 

I'm sure most of you don't want to read a long blog that just rambles and never gets to what you are wanting to know so I'll just say it and you can choose to keep reading haha.

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!

When did find out?? On Valentine's Day...it was the best Valentines day that we have had! We got to celebrate our love, having our sweet little Hutch AND having another little love. We are so thrilled to announce this fun news and can't wait to share more with you. 

We don't know much right now other than...I'm pregnant. We went to the doctor today hoping for a sonogram but didn't get that. I just got pricked with a needle and had some blood taken (I'm used to this by now). We do have a sono scheduled for next week so we will have more details then.

I know you're probably thinking "already??" but if you know us then you know that this is not very surprising. We want a large family and want our children to be close in age. So by the time this sweet baby joins us Hutch will be about one and a half years old. Pretty good age gap in our eyes. 

Now, last time we found out we were pregnant we also found out we were moving...

Stay tuned, you never know what God has in store for our little family. 

Here are some pictures of our very fun Valentine's Day.

Lions, Tigers and a BIG baby boy...OH MY!

Well, I'll keep this short and simple since the majority of my posts are long. Plus I'm just so excited and overwhelmed with today that I don't feel like sitting here telling the ENTIRE story. So, enjoy the cliff notes.

My mom and I went to my doctors appointment today expecting just my usual exam, but to our surprise we got to have a sweet little ultrasound! *Yes, Shawn was very upset that he missed this one, but no one knew we were going to have it.

Well, before the ultrasound began I had my usual exam to see if I have dilated....I'M AT A ONE! WHOOOO. haha As most of you sweet readers know I have been having contractions for quite a while now and have been on medicine to stop those...they haven't stopped. I haven't even really noticed them dying down either except in the mornings...I don't seem to have as many. BUT this morning, of all mornings, I had one after another while I'm having my ultrasound. My doctor didn't like that much.

Here's how our "little" man is measuring:
Head: 40-41 weeks!!!...I'll be 36 weeks tomorrow!
Body and everything else: 38-39
Weight: 8 pounds 1 ounce!!!!!

The doctor jokingly asked "And we have your due date set for the middle of May??" and I said "Yes, will we even make it to May?" and she sat there for a second...kind of giggled and said, "In my most honest opinion...no. I'll be happy if you make it to 37 weeks."

SO, she put me back on that HORRIBLE medicine that I was on a few weeks ago to try and stop these contractions and see if we can make it ONE more week. She wants to see me back on Friday to see if I have progressed any. Honestly, I hope I have :) I'm SOOO very ready to meet "My little giant" as the doctor called him.

Of course, I want what is best for our son and I want him to come on God's timing...after all He knows best! I still don't think I have wrapped my brain around all of this news...Are we really having a baby?? And so soon???

Here are a few pictures that we have taken lately.

35 Weeks!

New counter tops!

My new BIG sink... Inspired by Eric and Halie Overton :)
I have before pictures of the front of the house, but I don't have any pictures after Shawn, my dad and Dwight got done pruning and planting flowers. I'll put those up soon!

My sister and sweet nephew visited this past weekend. Lola found a new best friend. She LOVED Brenden as you can see and wouldn't leave him alone. She was such a trooper...putting up with lots of hits and pulls on her sweet face. The big dogs still don't know what to think of Brenden...hopefully seeing our little one grow will help with that.


My mom and I have been working hard to get everything cleaned and organized this week. We got our glider today and put together!! I'm putting Shawn on hanging duties tonight in the nursery...I'll post some final pictures of that soon too.

Stay tuned for updates! We could have a sweet baby within the next couple of weeks!!

April Fools??

Is our son already playing jokes on us??
Allow me to fill you in on what's been going on in the Overton household the last week.

It all started back in Lubbock a couple of weekends ago. I was telling my mom and sister to feel my belly.."It's all baby...feel!!". They both felt and looked at each other then nicely said "Um, Jay, that's a contraction." OOOHH, that's what that is! HA, I started to wonder about those feelings I was having. I thought "he sure does move this way a lot."

It all clicked right then and there. I've been having contractions from the beginning of conception it seems. I always told Shawn about this feeling that I was having but I didn't know what it was. I thought it was the baby stretching.

"How can she not know that she was having contractions" you ask?? Well, like I said...I have been having these since VERY early on in our pregnancy...I didn't think they would come so often. I also thought I would feel some sort of pain with them.

Back to the story, I finished out my weekend in Lubbock all the while noticing that these contractions were not giving me a break. I felt like I was having them constantly. I brushed them off thinking that they were Braxton Hicks contractions. That following Tuesday I went in for a sonogram...still contracting...and was put on meds to stop them. *Read the previous post for the full story*

That medicine was the most awful stuff!! I was so jittery and felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. Well, Thursday comes along and we drive into Pampa for our child birthing classes. In that class we learned that if you are before 37 weeks and are having more than 4 contractions in an hour you need to let someone know. That's when I started looking at the clock. 1...2...3...4....yep 4 contractions in less than an hour. During our break I found the nurse teaching the class and she suggested that we go upstairs just to get checked out.

I did a few things throughout the remainder of the class that she suggested but still had 2 contractions in less than 30 minutes. So, we go upstairs to get checked out.

After they poked me 5 times and finally got the IV in the doctor came in to check me. Thankfully, I wasn't dilating. BUT she wanted to keep me over night to monitor the contractions since they were coming so close together and were pretty strong. She informed me that these were definitely not Braxton Hicks contractions...they were full blown!

So, Shawn and I spent a sleepless night in the hospital on April Fools praying that when morning came I would still be just contracting and not progressing into anything that they couldn't stop. The doctor gave me some new medicine...I like it so much more! She checked me and released me.

We head home only to have a very busy weekend with my parents. Shawn and my dad worked so hard on installing our new counter tops...pictures coming soon..and cleaning up our front yard...pictures of that coming soon too! My mom helped me in the nursery and we put together his swing they bought him. I couldn't do much since I was told to treat the rest of my pregnancy as if I were on bedrest. Not all out bedrest...but be cautious of how long you are up.

BUT, when I am up doing things the contractions just come one after the other. So, I tell myself to lie down and they begin to slow down. They slow down until my sweet man gets home from work...then they start back up. I jokingly told him that he needed to move out for at least 2 weeks because he is going to make me go into labor.

This is long so I'll sum it up.
*Had contractions, spent April fools in the hospital. (baby boy will get a talking to for that one hehe)
*Still having contractions but taking it easy.
*No pain with the contractions, but they can be so frequent that they take my breath away and make me feel like I just worked out.
*I am on weekly visits with my doctor now.
*We got to fall asleep to our sweet son's heartbeat at the hospital.
*AND he had the hiccups while the monitor was on and we could hear those...so sweet.
*He is living in there as if nothing is going on out here. So he's doing great!!
*He's growing too!! I feel it...

Stay tuned for new pictures of projects and my belly at 34 weeks!

Getting close!

We had our sonogram today! These are my favorite appointments because we get to see our sweet boy. Unfortunately, our doctor doesn't do the 4D sonograms so we have to deal with the 3D. We are just glad to have one at all! She got the sweetest picture of him. We could see his eyes, the bridge of his nose, and some very chubby cheeks!! I'm convinced that he already looks like his daddy.

The second she saw our sweet boy she commented on how big his head is....surprising right? (I mean it's not like his daddy has a big one hehe) His head measurements were showing to be 35 weeks...thats 2 weeks further than I actually am! HA. She took all his measurements and estimated that his weight was around 5 pounds 3 ounces!! WHOA... Shawn and I certainly weren't expecting that! I'm measuring to be 34 weeks. Needless to say he is growing like a weed. So am I...considering all the fluids I am retaining.

The last couple of days I have noticed some consistent contractions and some swelling in my hands and feet. Today on the other hand my contractions were very consistent. I had a couple during our sonogram which sparked the doctor to give me an exam just to make sure I wasn't dilating. I wasn't dilated but my cervix was very soft. After a few other questions and issues that sparked her interest she decided that she needed to put me on some medicine to stop my contractions.

She sent us home with a document on signs of preterm labor and what to do if I continue to have labor signs. She didn't seem too concerned but Shawn and I were kind of in shock! We have a strange feeling that this baby could be an April baby. We have 7 more weeks to go and baby is gaining half a pound a week...he's going to be big! She isn't a fan of bedrest so she just told me to cut down on physical activity and keep my feet propped up AND to take my meds every 4 hours...yay :(

Shawn and I had to do our grocery run after that and bought a large package of diapers. As Shawn was putting them in the basket he stopped and said "Holy moly...we are actually buying diapers!" I'm telling you...today actually set things in for us that we are having a baby! All-in-all we had a great appointment minus the contractions! We are praying that our sweet baby stays in there a few more weeks.

I know I say it all the time...but he is SO active!! My ribs are bound to break before this is all said and done. But...I wouldn't want it any other way :)

Baby Update

Well, I think my sweet husband has been much better about blogging lately! I don't know about you but I love reading about how the Holy Spirit is making such wonderful adjustments in his life.

I haven't given our lovely readers (that would be you) an update on this sweet baby of ours in a while so I figured I should do so today. Where to begin?
1. He is growing like a weed!
2. There are times where I can't bend over or get up due to the sweet feet in my ribs.
3. Sleep is still very little at night...but not quite as bad as it was.
4. I CAN'T BELIEVE HE WILL BE HERE IN 8 WEEKS....8 WEEKS!
5. He gets the hiccups...a lot :)
6. He is so active. Some of his kicks take my breath away if they are just in the right spot.

As some of you know by now the doctor that we initially started out with when we moved here has decided to close her practice and move it else where. We were so bummed! She carried the same views about labor that we did and I was so excited to be able to go through this with her. Fortunately, there were two other doctors in Pampa that we could choose from.

We could choose the young doctor fresh out of school (this could be good right? She should be up to date on all the current research and studies about natural childbirth...right??) OR we could pick the lady who studied out of the country and is board certified in just about everything AND has been doing this for YEARS. We saw the pros and cons to both sides.

I was really excited to talk with the young doctor on her views because I just KNEW that she would be all about natural childbirth since she just got out of residency...WRONG!!!! I can't tell you how upset I was when I got off the phone with her. She believed the complete opposite!! So, I thanked her for her time and moved on to the next doctor...not expecting much. After I spoke with the other doctor's receptionist I knew right then and there that she would be the doctor for us!

I asked her about the doctor's philosophy on childbirth and she just went off!!! I didn't even have to ask questions..she told me everything I needed to know right then and there. I again thanked her for her time and before I could get off the phone I was BAWLING!! *This was my first "emotional" time throughout this pregnancy...and it felt good.* I tried sending Shawn a text to tell him about it and I couldn't even see the screen to type it. He called me almost immediately and was just as excited as I was. So, I called right back and scheduled our appointment with her. A week later I was in her office and may I say...I LOVE her! She is everything we were praying for in a doctor.

I know that I was so emotional about this because I knew that God heard our prayers and knew that we needed his guidance. I knew all along that God was going to lead us to the right doctor...but so quickly? After I was able to call and get everything squared away with the doctor's office I had to thank God for being so gracious. The tears just came flowing again...I think the last time I cried that hard was when Shawn moved to Arkansas. Oh geez...here come the tears again just thinking about it.

I am truly...TRULY amazed at our God. I have to admit that I was not so excited about moving to shamrock...especially since we were pregnant. But I have to tell you that this has been the greatest experience for Shawn and myself. Never have we been so involved in church and with each other. Shawn enjoys going to his United Methodist Men's Bible study on Thursday mornings at a local restaurant before going into work, we have joined the Wednesday night Bible study, I have been going to the United Methodist Women's Bible study on Tuesday morning, and we just started Sunday school this past Sunday.

As I have mentioned before, we are by far the youngest couple at the church but that is one of the reasons we love it so much. I can't tell you how much we have learned from everyone. I am in love with all of these women and their hugs...oh their hugs are so sweet. We are in complete awe of our Heavenly Father! He has taken this "not so wonderful" town and turned it into something that we have grown to appreciate and enjoy.He deserves all the praise for what He has done in our lives.

Here's such a wonderful verse to remember:
Matthew 7: 7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

I hope that at the end of your day you can sit back and realize all that God has done for you...small or big..and thank Him!

Boots

Meet Boots.

Boots is our sweet Baby's first stuffed animal. Shawn and I were in Dallas a couple of weekends ago and made a trip to Build a Bear! I have to admit that when we walked in I wondered what on earth we were doing there. There was a little birthday party going on and about 10 little girls had their Hello Kitty/Jonas Brother bears ready to stuff/fluff/and dress.

Shawn and I loved the little dogs...since we are dog people...so that's what we chose. Once we got started we began to have some fun with it. We got to choose how fluffy we wanted him, put a heart in him, dress him, name him...the list just goes on! We felt like kids again. It's kind of crazy to think that there is a store dedicated to stuffing/dressing/naming animals.

Anyways, we immediately found some overalls, boots, and a cap...all to cute to pass up. After you pick out all of the goodies for your animal you get to name him! Shawn picked out the name Boots...fitting right? Just look at his cute little cowboy boots :) Once all is said and done, you get a "birth certificate" for your animal.

Boots is patiently waiting for his little buddies arrival...and so are we. We've had to be very careful with Boots and Wes...for those of you who know Wesley...he LOVES his stuffed animals!

Shawn and I had lots of fun at the store and can't wait to see how our little man plays with his Boots. I would highly suggest all of you parents/parents to be making a trip to the Build a Bear store!

Update

Last week we had a doctors appointment which took 3 hours! Since we are seeing a doctor in a smaller town she is extremely busy... all the time. She had 2 emergencies the day of my appointment, but I didn't want to reschedule so I waited.

She went over our last sonogram with me and said that our little guy looks to be growing at the rate he needs to be. She estimated that at the appointment he was nearing the 2 pound mark and said by week 28 he should be 3 pounds! That's only a week away! I can't believe we started out with a piece of rice and now we actually have a little 2-3 pound baby in there. I'm sitting here watching my belly move all over the place with his every move. It melts my heart each time. Oh..and my mom is officially the second person to feel him move. My sweet sister tried and tried to get him to move but he just wouldn't do it.

The doctor also told us that she has decided to close her practice and move it somewhere else. As most of you know our due date is May 19th...or the 20th which is my Grandma's birthday!! Anyways..she gave the hospital the date of May 1st as her last day...WHAT DO WE DO?? She said that there is a possibility of her being there to deliver us but no guarantee. Shawn and I have decided to talk with her at our next appointment next week to see what other doctor she suggests. Even though we LOVE her we don't want to chance forming a relationship with someone who might not deliver our son. We have prayed about the situation and both know that God will take care of it all. We are surprisingly calm about it; that's what putting your faith in God does!!

Shawny got me this necklace from www.doulashop.com called the Bola Pregnancy ChimeThey come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors. When the baby reaches about 20 weeks he can hear sounds from outside the womb. Shawn talks to our little love every night and is determined for him to know his voice when he gets here. The chime rests on your belly and makes its noise with your movements. It apparently is supposed to be a soothing/comforting sound for the baby in the womb and when he makes his appearance in the world. Does it work? I don't know, but I love how thoughtful Shawn was when he bought it for us.

Sweetest Nursery

Our little guy's furniture has finally made it to it's new home! Shawn and I made a trip to Amarillo yesterday to pick it up. Little did we know, the furniture had been in Amarillo since December!! We knew that one piece was in but they were "still waiting" on the other pieces to arrive. They were actually already there, but the owner was not notified. Oh well, this was the perfect weekend to get it all set up!

I felt so helpless as I watched Shawn unload the furniture from the Uhaul. He unloaded, lifted, and put all the furniture together all by himself! He let me know that even if I wasn't pregnant I wouldn't be much help...We sure did not remember his furniture being so big when we picked it out!
I don't know if you can see that the box weight is over 180 pounds...there were 3 that were at least that size!
"Shajwan Overton"?? Not sure how they came up with that but it was on our receipt and the boxes haha. Once Shawn got the boxes unloaded he decided that it would be easiest to take everything out of the boxes and then make a trash run. That made a huge mess!!
We finally got all the boxes loaded and thrown away. While Shawn put everything together I cleaned up the living room...Styrofoam is officially miserable to pick up! It gets everywhere! Here's Shawny putting it all together!!
The pups helped too! :)
We sat in his room this morning before church and talked all about the things we want to do with it. We also realized that this makes things extremely hard for us now!! Having baby furniture and no baby for at least 3 more months is going to be difficult! Seeing his room full of furniture really sets things in for me. I've always wanted to make sure that my little loves have the sweetest little nurseries. We love love love his room and can't wait to welcome him and bring him home to it!May...Please hurry up and get here; we would like to meet our son :)

Little Love Update

Today was a LONG day.

Yesterday we were supposed to have an appointment with our doctor but it got canceled due to the weather. I was pretty bummed and my day was not so productive! BUT to my surprise and joy, the dr. office called this morning to see if we wanted to come in this afternoon! I immediately jumped up and got ready. Shawn, luckily, had the day off so we were ready to go! It was very convenient too b/c we desperately needed to go to the grocery store.

Our dr. office doesn't have an in the office sonographer (is that the right word?)...she flies in every two weeks from Houston to do all of the sonograms. I was glad that she was in so we didn't have to wait another few weeks or month to see our little love. I was also excited to see how much he had grown. At all of our sonograms he still had swimming room...not this time! He is officially taking up all the space he can.

He was in a breech position and in a not so comfortable position at that. She said that he looked to be very healthy and cleared his heart, brain and sweet face. He didn't want to cooperate for her to get all the appropriate measurements to clear his spine but she felt very confident that there are no issues. I'm hoping he does not get comfortable in that breech position..TURN LITTLE GUY. She said that he weighed in at about 1 pound 12 ounces! CRAZY. I can definitely tell that there is a growing baby in there. He is SO active and my belly is starting to feel heavy. We also saw some sweet forming chubby cheeks.

**Let me go ahead and clarify a few things from my SWEET husband's previous blog. He has made it out to sound like all I eat is pizza and twix. I have had 2..I reapeat TWO packages of Twix since being pregnant!! They were just back to back so he felt like I had them ALL the time. I also have not eaten that much pizza haha. I loved pizza prior to being pregnant so this should not be anything new to him. AND the last time we got pizza...it was his idea! But I guess all the pizza and twix are making me SO large that I "shake the foundation when I walk". Friends...we live in a pier and beam house...a spider could shake the foundation. I rest my case. Until next time...

Living With Pregnant

Good evening ladies and gents. I figured that since Jamie and I are "kind of" isolated up here in Shammy-Town, some of you may be wondering what it is like to live with Jamie while she is pregnant. I will say that Jamie really hasn't had any dramatic changes and is still pleasant to be around just like before. However, I have noticed a few subtle changes and thought I might share them with you.

(1) She gets winded tying her shoes.
(2) There are many nights that she does not sleep good and let's me know by grunts of frustration and occasional kicks in the back throughout the night.
(3) Going on a 1 mile walk can sometimes be like trying to get her to run a marathon.
(4) She gets winded getting settled into bed.
(5) The foundation of our house shakes when she switches the side she is sleeping on.... :)
(6) Nice diaper bags are really "for the baby" and "not the Mommy".
(7) I have bought more twix in the last week than in 24 years previously.
(8) Pizza almost brings tears to her eyes...(this one really isn't much of a change) (9) I commonly get asked the same question more than once in a short time span.
(10) Sometimes I say things that "make her wanna cry"...most of the time in a good way.

All in all I consider myself very blessed by how she has acted while pregnant, especially after hearing other people's horror stories. Here's to hoping that her stable demeanor holds for the rest of the pregnancy!

Big Boy Update

Well, the last few weekends we have been working on our little man's room and have finally finished it. That is until we get all of his furniture in and bedding! I was planning on making his bedding myself, but soon realized that I was nowhere near experienced enough to make all of that bedding. So, as we were buying our furniture at Kids Space I saw a lady there designing her own bedding and thought it was a good idea. Shawn let me have complete say in the bedding...as long as there was green in it! **This is a huge step in our relationship...take a look at our bedroom below...not much going on!** He didn't care if there were funky designs or colors!! WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO WITH ALL THAT FREEDOM???

Well I did what any new expecting mommy would do...I had lots of fun and picked out some way cute fabrics for his bedding. Since I didn't make the bedding I decided that I needed to make something...so I chose curtains. I figured it couldn't be that difficult right? Shawn and I took a trip into Amarillo to look for fabric and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it there on the rack at Joanns...IT WAS THE SAME FABRIC AS HIS BEDDING!! I was so excited *in the words of my dear friend Ashley..."I wanted to take a victory lap around the whole store"* How cute is that?! Now, don't worry...only the outside of his bumper pads and his blanket are in this fabric..so it's not going to look like Paisley overload in his room.

We had a blank canvas to work with so we started off with the chair rail. Shawn was set on doing a texture on the wall so I let him get after it. I just about flipped when I saw all the pink, but Shawn assured me that it would dry white. It did.
After we finished all of the texture and trim we started painting! We picked out a lot of colors but settled on a "Spring Moss" for the main color and a cream for the top part of the wall. We think it turned out pretty good! I finished up the curtains today and have them somewhat up. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well they turned out!Our little guy is doing great! He is very active...kicks constantly. The nurse had a hard time finding his heartbeat at our last appointment because he was moving around so much. We get to see him again on Feb. 4th! Those are my favorite appointments. I cannot believe that we are in the 6th month already. I can't wait to see his sweet face, hold him, sing to him, and to see him in his daddy's arms. What a lucky boy he is to have Shawn as his daddy.

**I don't know why that one picture won't show all the way..use your imagination.