Jessica Writes

Tomorrow is my Gestational Diabetes test. I hope I don’t fail!! Two things I fear: not being able to eat sweets (refer to post below) and having to prick my finger. Please send good, non-sugary thoughts my way…

Does anyone detect a pattern?

Here in Nashville, there are country music artists and other celebrities everywhere, and sometimes we’ll see someone while we are out and about. It is cool because no one really bothers them. This week I saw three celebrities which is kind of unusual.

We were eating at J. Alexanders and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban sat at the table behind us. Nicole looked so pretty and tiny, and barely looked pregnant.

Then last night, Kimberly Williams Paisley was a guest at my friend’s baby shower. She is in my friend’s bible study group. She was very nice, pretty, tiny and quite down to earth.

In the past, I’ve seen these folks out and about:

Kenny Chesney

John Rich

Big Kenny

Trick Pony

Kelly Pickler

Carrie Underwood

Taylor Swift

Alison Kraus

Rascal Flatts

John Corbett

Dierks Bentley

Garth Brooks

Mario Lopez (lol, not country music but we did see him out at 2 clubs!)

I know there are more …

We’re so sorry we had to let you go but we couldn’t let you suffer anymore. You told us you were ready and we couldn’t be selfish. You were so tiny and sick. You were a great kitty and we loved you very much - we will not forget you. There’s already a hole in our hearts and in our home without you. But we know you are no longer in pain and we know you are in a better place and we’re trying to get comfort in that. We believe God takes care of animals too, and we hope you are getting lots of love and food and are happy and healthy now.

Our pretty Chloe before she got sick:

Chloe as a kitten:

Ok, so we are basically done in the nursery, except for me ordering the Flor carpet circle that I posted about earlier. The room isn’t very big and is square so it was really hard to take pictures. It looks so good when you see everything as a whole, but I am not sure if these pictures translate the finished project very well.

What do you think?

It was a very sad day at work today. The Children’s Hospital’s namesake our our biggest supporter, Monroe Carell Jr., died, and it was my job to get a lot of the information out about it and plan a memorial service at work.

Although he was very sick the last time I saw him, the circumstances give me comfort. I was there on what would be his last visit to the NICU at Children’s Hospital in May. He loved all the patients but was particularly drawn to the NICU and had made frequent visits, quietly, to visit with families and the tiny babies for years.

That day, the last room he visited, he got to sit down and hold a beautiful little baby girl — she fit so naturally in his arms and he was just beaming. The infants we care for are so critically ill, that it was a very special treat that he was actually able to hold a baby. It was a lovely sight, and one that will stay with me now that there won’t be any more of those special visits.

In addition to giving millions of his own money to the hopsital, Mr. Carell led the charge to raise the funds for our new Children’s Hospital (we are a non-profit) and was already working on fund-raising efforts for our upcoming expansion.

So thank you, Mr. Carell, we’ll try our best make you proud and keep your legacy alive.

Ok, I love shoes,especially heels, but there is no good reason in this world why a baby would need to wear shoes …especially these train wrecks! Baby’s first pair of heels is just wrong on so many levels!

Click here to see the whole gag-worthy collection of itty bitty baby heels.

So we hung the curtains, finally found frames for the prints (not hung yet though) and threw in a side table in the nursery. Now we think the final touch would be a little area rug on the hardwood floors.

Do you think this would be too much? The walls are the same blue as the Flor rug:

I’ll post pictures as soon as we get the prints hung, I promise!

It’s hard to imagine that 100 days from today, Chris will be a father, and I will be a mother. It’s interesting to think about where we have come from, and the roles our parents played in our lives.

My father is an amazing man (my mom is too but this is about father’s day!) who always taught me the importance of honesty and working hard — among many other very valuable lessons. As a kid, I had a hard time with the working hard part, I hope I have done better as a grown-up. I am so lucky to have my dad as a dear friend and a great support — its so great to have that kind relationship with my dad. I know he’ll be a fantastic grandfather.

Some of you may know Chris has not had a relationship with his father for over a decade. It’s complicated, and not my place to get into the details. What I want to say is that Chris is fortunate to have such a caring mother, and the love she has given him (and us) is enough for two people, its really overflowing. She fills both roles. I credit her for so much of why my husband is such an amazing man, someone who I love more and more each day.

I cannot wait to see Chris be a wonderful father who will be there for his son for life. I can’t wait to see Chris teach him how to play catch, to educate him on music (since we have already established I am not so great in that area) and to always encourage him and support him.

Happy father’s day, dad, and Happy father’s day, Chris. I love you both so much!

Last night, Chris and I went to the newborn care class. There we learned the basics of caring for a baby. We learned to swaddle, diaper, put a T-shirt on and off and suction goop out of their nose and mouth.

It was a little hard to get the T-shirt on and off without feeling like we were trying to rip the baby’s arms or head off, but we got it down pretty good. I was really impressed with Chris because once he had his turn, he decided to practice some more. It was very sweet that he wanted to get it right and he took it pretty seriously. Awww, a good dad he will be.

Now the “babies” we were practicing on were not so sweet. They all had freaky faces - one had tons of curly hair and earrings, others just looked very, very weird. Ick. I know Baby Ennis will have to be cuter than those dolls.

It was a little gross to hear about the clamping of the umbilical cord and the subsequent falling off in a week or so. What do you do with it when it falls off? Put it in a box? Eww, seriously, do you just toss it?

I have lots of important questions like that just brewing in this head of mine.