After a great Thanksgiving in Utah, we were preparing for a fun and low key Christmas in Idaho and found that that's just not how it works for us. A week before Christmas, I had a gallbladdder attack (it feels like your chest is being crushed and it doesn't let up and kind of like having someone kick you in the chest while having a heart attack) and went to the ER and the next day went into surgery. Sounds fun, right?
This was taken in my hospital room while we waiting for my surgery.
I was teaching my husband and mother-in-law the joys of being Swiss and making Bratsleigh!
Three weeks later, I am doing much better. My tummy will never be on the cover of Sports Illustrated or Cosmo with my new scars (but let's face it, I have never been in a place for that to work anyway) but it's still growing nicely and my scars are almost completely healed.
Ben has started school and is busy juggling two jobs along with 13 credits. He is a busy man, but we have been very lucky to get him into three online classes so he only has two classes he has to be at school for and they are on the same day. He is now working on his education courses and is so excited about them. To see the purpose in his studies is absolutely amazing. I know that he will be an incredible special education teacher someday.
Finch is 8 1/2 months old now and is the light of our lives. He has golden strawberry blonde hair growing quickly out of his head, and is the king of army crawling all over our home. There are things I never even knew existed on our floor until I had a child that was attracted to the bad things he shouldn't be touching. I have learned the art of peripheral parenting and never letting my sight completely leave my son while still being productive. Finch can also sit up from laying down and is trying to stand up against things and is getting pretty strong. He is also signing a little with us. With my hearing impairment and with Ben's degree of Special Education, we feel that using sign language is a great tool in our home and with helping our children learn to communicate earlier. Yesterday, Finch signed "Please" twice and is getting very good at it. Also, I am learning the realities of being the possessor of the yummiest food in the house...I have found that if anything is on my plate, it is instantly more delicious than anyone else's in the building. Finch has to try anything I have on my plate and loves sharing with me whatever sauce I have in my meal. He likes pizza sauce, and he loves ranch. It's fun to see the expressions he makes when he tries new things. We have found that anything to do with cinnamon is a no no for Finch. He freaks out and won't close his mouth and just sits there helpless until we get it out of his mouth.
Finch loves his daddy and knows that daddy is "dada" and asks for dada all the time when he is gone at work or at school. Whenever Ben comes home he gets so so excited, and he is my little buddy. His new favorite song is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by IZ and he enjoys watching me do my makeup and hair while we talk and chat in the mornings. Each day I spend with him I fall more in love with him and rejoice that I get to be the lucky lady who is his mama.
Baby Rose is 22 weeks today and she is doing very well. Her last ultrasound showed that she was super healthy and super on track with her development (yay!). She is the size of a spaghetti squash today and kicks me all of the time. She is very active and enjoys nudging my bladder, and likes to congregate on the left side of my body. Finch was on the right side so I'm guessing they are already the polar opposites of each other or else the yin to the other's yang. I guess we will see. I have found that I am already showing pretty well and I am so glad to be over halfway done with this pregnancy! My projects for her include a lot of really cute receiving blankets for her. I am finishing up a strawberry blanket that I started when I was 12-13, and I am also working on a beautiful set with poppies on them (poppies are my favorite flower) and I am so excited to wrap her up in them when she is here. My nausea is pretty much all gone since the surgery and although I am dealing with another possible uti and lots of fatigue, I am doing much much better. I am trying to be careful, knowing that my chances of getting preeclampsia are pretty high with pregnancy number two. Today, I found out my blood pressure is starting to rise again, so we are definitely going to keep an eye on it and I will start to rest when I can even more to keep my blood pressure low most of the day (let's see how far I get with a little man to keep me busy!)
Rosemary's Strawberry blanket
20 weeks
21 weeks
22 weeks (current week)
Apart from surgeries and pregnancy, I am just enjoying being a mama. I spend my days with Finch and we play, watch Grey's Anatomy (we don't have cable, we go with what I have in my dvd collection), and learning to crawl. My hair is back to it's pre-buzz cut length and I am loving being back to the old looking but new me. I keep getting stopped at the store or on the street by really nice people who compliment it and it makes an old married mama with a baby bump feel better. Ben is wonderful to compliment me, but sometimes it's just nice to get told how nice you look when you don't feel as pretty after life has been hectic for a while by someone who doesn't know you.
This was my buzzcut after it was done, in July
This was my hair as of yesterday
Things are going so well in our home. We love our home, our ward, and after 5 years being in Rexburg, I am feeling very much at home here. We've been in our little house for seven months (the longest we've spent in any place) and we are feeling very proud of ourselves right now.
So, that's pretty much it for us here in the Davies home. I hope that everything is going well for you all and thank you so much for reading :)
Love,
Liz, Ben, Finch, Rosie, and Zola
