Joley Noelle Curtis

Click here to view this photo book larger

Joley's first week of life! I had a c-section and she spent about 30 minutes in the NICU to get her breathing just right, but other than that, all went well and we were so blessed by the Lord with the whole hospital stay and with our beautiful and healthy baby girl. I will post more pics soon. She looks a bit different now, but still very cute!!

September 3rd sound good?

Well, the doctor thinks it is best to induce labor on Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. We are soooo excited! Though of course we wish Joley would come on her own, we just want her to be healthy and therefore we are going with what the doctor suggests. My fluid levels are "low-normal" and Joley is still high and my cervix is not dilated much either, which are all reasons why Dr. Webster wants us to induce Friday. She said you never know what can happen before then, but that is what we are planning on. I will go in Thursday night at 5 p.m. to get meds to get my cervix more "favorable" and then we will induce the next morning. We know that God is in control of all of this and we have a peace about it. More than anything, I am so relieved to have this day finally come! It has been tough waiting, but I know it will all be worth it and I won't even remember the frustration or worry once she is here. Life is about to change big time, and I'm looking forward to figuring it all out:) Thanks for your prayers and we definitely ask for lots of them Friday morning! You can pray specifically for a smooth labor and delivery. I would love to have a vaginal birth as opposed to a C-section, but either way, obviously Joley's health is number one! We will update as soon as we can for any of you reading this who won't be around to see our baby girl right away!

2 days!

2 days left till the due date. No Joley yet:( but any day now:)! We have an appointment on Aug 31st and hopefully at that time we will know a little more, maybe even schedule a day to have our sweet angel! We will keep you posted, the two of you who read this;)! I am feeling really good. Getting a little swollen in the hands and feet sometimes, and feeling tiny contractions that last about 2 seconds, but other than that, all is well. Praise the Lord that my pregnancy has been so easy and wonderful. I'm thankful to Joley for taking it easy on me, and I hope she does the same as she arrives and afterward!

Joley update

According to our sonogram and measurements yesterday, Joley weighs 6lbs 11oz. My doctor, who is awesome, doesn't think the baby is coming anytime too soon. My due date is August 31 and I'm starting to get the feeling from these check ups that Joley may be wanting to stay in past that time. I am sort of a freak about being on time or early everywhere, so maybe God is teaching me about letting go of control:). We appreciate prayers for us of course in these next few weeks. I am feeling in a sort of limbo state: no job, no baby, done with all the baby prep stuff. So my prayer is that I can enjoy this last bit of pregnancy and really soak in the miracle of it all instead of watching the clock and getting anxious.

2 weeks!

I can't believe the due date is only two weeks away. I am so so ready, but at the same time, so so nervous:) I have gotten pretty good at taking care of Joley inside my belly, but when she is outside and in the world of those of us breathing air and not amniotic fluid, will I know what to do? I don't know, but I do know that the Lord has entrusted her to us and I know He will give us all we need to take care of her, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. It is a weighty thing to be given a life to cultivate and teach and grow. I keep thinking of all the things she won't know and all the thousands upon thousands of things we will teach her and watch her do for the first time. Anyway. We are super excited and thankful to God for His favor and watching over us in all this. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and we will get to do a sonogram and all that good stuff. I'll post a pic if I get one:)

Big brother Sampson!

Sampson will soon be a big bro, so we thought we should get him a gift to make him feel special:). We can't wait to see the love between he and Joley blossom!

Nursery pics!

daddy's girl

Eric's coworkers threw him a surprise shower last Friday! It was so fun to see how excited and surprised he was to realize that his office was having a party for him and that I was there too:) (it was hard for me to keep the secret for over a week, but I did it!) Here are a few pics. The daddy outfits and bib were from me:) We got so many great gifts for Joley. We are constantly talking about and thanking God for how blessed we are in all of this. So many people have been so generous and we are very grateful!

look alike?

Who do you think Joley looks like so far? (pics from top to bottom are Joley!, Jill, and Eric).

Another pic or two!

Here are some more pics from another 3d sono! I have some nursery pics but I want to wait until it is all finished before I post them.

She likes to sit with her legs and hands all criss crossed in front of her face. You can see her foot up by her head in the one above:)

This last one is our fave! They say babies don't really smile, but she is probably advanced and smiling in the womb already!

Joley smiles:)

Here is a pic from our 3d sonogram where Joley is sort of smiling. Her face is squished a little, but it's still cute:) We are getting so excited and ready! I'll post nursery pics soon.

Belly Shot

Thought some of you would want to see this... I stress some because it is a bare belly pic:) It is so fun to see Joley growing. She is also VERY active. We can pretty much see her every movement now as she is getting so big and strong:) Praise the Lord!

100 days till JNC!

100 days left until the baby comes (give or take a few)! I haven't blogged in a while because I just haven't had a lot to say. Things are progressing really well though. The belly and baby are growing like a weed, and I can feel her moving all day long. Eric can also feel her now too:) which is really awesome. We are slowly but surely coming into the reality that we will be parents of a baby soon, one that lives outside of my womb! Crazy! Once I am done with school (June 11th) we will start really getting to work on the nursery. I will post pictures when that happens. June 12th my family and I are taking a family vacation to CO, which would be great if I could actually do any of the activities! I can't white water raft, hike tall mountains, ride horses, ride in hot air balloons, or sit in steamy hot springs, so I guess I will be taking a lot of leisurely walks and reading lots of books, which honestly will be just as great in the end I'm sure:) Any suggestions for a good read would be greatly appreciated. Preferably fiction!

On a side note, I am watching the LOST finale tonight. It is such a wonderful show and I am really going to miss it:( I look forward to showing it to our little girl someday, when she's old enough of course:) It is fun to think of how I will make her watch all my favorite movies, and she will think I am a big dork! But ultimately it will be so amazing to watch her see and experience everything in life for the first time, not just great movies and shows and books, but everything else!

If you are wondering what JNC stands for, well, I will tell you. We have decided to name our sweet angel Joley Noelle Curtis! Hope you like it! If not, you'll get used to it:) Joley is pronounced like any other name with a "Y" sound on the end, like Julie, Haley, Katy, etc. So, it doesn't sound like Angelina Jolie and it is not after the actress either. The meaning in French is "pretty" and the meaning in Hebrew is "Jehovah is God". Noelle means "Christmas" or "peace" which is fitting since we found out we were pregnant on Christmas day:)

So, I'll blog again sooner than later. Here is a link to what is going on with the baby this week!

Baby Joley at 26 weeks!

Baby Girl Curtis Bump

I had a request from my dear friend in Italy to put up a pic of the baby bump:) (shout out to Jessica Buono)! It is growing every day and I have a feeling its only gonna get bigger, resulting in an infant! Our little girl is moving all the time now, and it's so cool. I can't wait till Eric can feel her too!

IT'S A ....

Our friend Cassandra made this cake for our big gender reveal party! We had to wait a whole day after going to the doctor to cut this beautiful masterpiece and find out if we are having a boy or a girl.

So lots of friends and family came over last night and we all crowded around the table to find out what the inside of the cake held, pink, or blue? And the answer....

PINK! It's a GIRL! We are so thrilled:) Can't wait to meet her and we love her so much already!

P.S. Since I found out the sex yesterday evening, I made my first purchase for the little lady today! Here is the crib bedding I bought!

dieciseis!

16 weeks and counting! 168 days to go. Baby Curtis is the size of an avocado, according to the produce/baby experts. Not only the baby, but my belly is growing for sure! Seems it may have just popped out an inch or two over night. I was having some cramps all day the other day, and that night Eric was holding my belly and he was sure it was much bigger than just the day before. It was very strange, and I am looking much more preggo by the day.

The big news this week is... we will find out the sex of the little nino on April 6th, just three weeks from today! We went to the doctor last week and heard the heartbeat and all seems to be going well. We made our appointment for the second semester sonogram, where they look at the baby in detail, including checking out its heart, brain, spine, etc, and whether or not it has a little something between its legs or not:) Boy or girl, we will be thrilled and we truly do not care. At first I thought I did, but now I don't at all. Seems like either would be so sweet and unique and "magical" (a word Eric and I like to use from a movie about a knocked up teenager "Juno"). Check out the clip:) we like to quote (you have to press play on the little screen once you get there). Pretty sure I'll be calling the baby "sweet angel", which I kind of do already.

I haven't felt the kicks yet, but all the info says they will be coming soon. And apparently the baby can here us now, so taming the tongue and listening to classical music are some of my next tasks:)

Oh, and the reason for the Spanish entry title: I have begun looking up Spanish immersion preschools. Yes, apparently I am one of those people, plotting pre school before the baby is even born.

snoogle and baby names galore

Sorry I did not post for week 14. I did not have much that was new to say. The baby was the size of a lemon though and has graduated over the week to an... Apple! Crazy. I've had some growing pains, but nothing too severe. We get to go to the doctor on Thursday which I am really looking forward to. Can't wait to hear the little heart beat again:) It is possible to determine the sex of the baby at around this time, but most doctors will not from what I've heard, due to not wanting to make an error and then you go out and buy a nursery and a million baby outfits for the wrong gender. So, I don't expect to find out this month, but at the April appointment we will for sure.

So to names... I am now going back and forth about Jackson and have no more clue about a girl's name. I do not think I will be sharing our ideas anymore though, because then if people say they don't like it, it makes me think maybe I don't like it, and I don't want to go off of what others' think, but off what Eric and I think is the best. So, we may decide on names, and then surprise everyone when the baby is born with what his/her name is. I probably care too much what people think, but this way I don't have to worry about it:) So if we name the little one something you don't like, just pretend you like it:), just kidding, sort of.

It is really really hard to come up with names that we both like though and that we both like for longer than a day... considering this child will have this name its whole life, we should probably agree and love the name for a consistent period of time before deciding. I'm going back and forth on Jackson because of the popularity thing. I'm thinking maybe a middle name Jackson might be best. I love the name Jacob, "Jake" but that is my brother's name and he may think it's weird and I don't know if Eric likes it, I'm just thinking out loud. Anyway... let me tell you about this body pillow I got called a SNOOGLE.


It is awesome (though I hope I don't start getting poofy hair and wearing weird pj's like the woman in the pic from using it or from being pregnant:))! I wish I had always had one and I may never give it up even after I have the baby. I slept really well last night and was less sore when I woke up. Thankful to my mom for buying it for me, plus a maternity shopping spree she took me on yesterday! I hope I will be as wonderful a mother as she is to me.

grace and peace!
Adios for now!

13 weeks!

Hola! They say the baby is the size of a medium shrimp now, or the length of a peach, about 3 inches. I am really starting to feel that I am pregnant in my belly, which is feeling stretched, or full or something. And even though my baby weighs only 1 ounce, my back is constantly aching already! Also, my skin is super dry all the time, like all my moisture is going to the little one.

I bought maternity jeans yesterday and I think I may never go back to regular jeans! They feel like sweat pants, but are just a lot cuter. I am excited about having the preggo belly and the maternity clothes, because it just makes it all seem like more of a reality. Between doctors visits, it is hard to even believe I'm pregnant. For about a week after the visit, I am on cloud 9 thinking how wonderful this all is, and then after that, I go back to worrying if the babe is okay and counting down the days to my next doctor's visit. Thankfully my hope is in the Lord ultimately, and I try to turn to Him with my anxieties in all of this. The doctor cannot do anything for my baby and I cannot do anything harmful to my baby that the Lord is not in control of, and that is a great comfort.

Anyway! My next appointment isn't until March 11th, but I'm trying to find a way to get another sonogram somewhere before that, even if I have to pay a little much for it. It's so fun to see. At my April appointment we will be able to find out the sex. We have a boy's name picked out pretty certainly, but still not sure on a girl's. Right now we are thinking Jackson Mitchell Curtis for a boy. Jackson being my maiden name, and Mitchell is Eric's brother's name. I am pretty against "popular" names, and Jackson is very popular right now for some reason (like 3 of the last 6 people I've known who have had boys, named their boy Jackson), but I have so much love for the Jackson name and so much pride in my amazing family, I think it is worth going against my "anti popular" name thing. What do you think?

Okay, sorry for the long post. Just wanted to update:)

Here is the link for week 13!

Baby Curtis and Mom, week 13

Below is a pic of a baby about the same age as Baby Curtis. Amazing to think about him/her living and growing inside of me and already looking so much like a little person. The Creator of life is so big and unfathomable, and yet He loves us so much and gives us blessings like these. He is knitting our baby together in my womb, His eyes are on its unformed body and all of its days have been ordained for it by Him, before one of them comes to be:) His thoughts about and on our baby outnumber the grains of sand. - Psalm 139. We are constantly praying that our child will know God and know Christ's love for him/her and that he/she will learn early to trust and love Him. We would love your prayers on this as well. Gracias!

Baby's first Valentine's Day

Eric took me to 3 Forks for some lobster bisque and steak for Valentine's Day and it was delicious. We joked that hopefully the baby wasn't getting used to that kind of meal:) I got flowers and a sweet card as well. You can see to the right my "baby bump" or at least that's what I am hoping it is:). You can judge for yourself if you think it is just fat, or if the baby is showing up at the 3 month mark...

11 weeks

What will our baby look like? Hopefully like Eric because he was so super cute:) This week the baby is the size of a fig or a lime... I've included a picture of a fig for your imagination to take greater shape. Imagine Eric's cute baby face on this little piece of fruit. We went to the doctor on Wednesday and we got to see the little babe again and hear its busy heartbeat. It was a lot bigger, with a super large head... bout half the size of its body:)

I was glad to hear my doctor say that I can get my hair dyed. I have been wanting to, but read on the internet that it wasn't for sure a safe thing. My doc gave me the go ahead

though so, salon, here I come!

The internet is not really a wonderful source for info when pregnant because you can pretty much find a website to say anything you want to hear, or don't want to hear. Like it is normal to have mild cramps, or that mild cramps could be a very serious problem and you should go to the ER right away. So, instead of trusting the internet, we are really learning to trust God in all of this. It is a very out of control feeling, not being able to ensure the health and happiness of my baby, but I guess I need to get used to that huh? It is teaching me a lot already and we are so thankful for this experience.

Stay tuned...:) We are almost out of the 1st trimester. Keep all 3 of us in your prayers! Here is the 11 week info...

Baby Curtis and my development at 11 weeks:)

10 Weeks:)

Read what is going on (more or less) with the little niño this week by clicking on the link below:) It is so miraculous to think about. I am feeling really great. No morning sickness, thank the Lord. I am just always really tired, and having to pee like every 30 minutes. My next appointment is in one week. I'll keep you updated.

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-10-weeks_1099.bc?read_more=1&scid=mbtw_preg10:653&pe=2Ux36bo

p.s. If you are hoping for a boy and get excited that the website refers to the baby as a boy, don't get too excited... it changes from he to she every week:) If you are hoping for a girl, then next week you'll get to read about her (hypothetically).

Reason for Bloggin'

The reason for this blog is to keep friends and family updated on the life of the Curtis's, including Eric, Jill, and growing baby:) That's right... we are preggers! It was an amazing gift from God that He so perfectly revealed to us this past Christmas morning. I am off facebook and twitter and all of that, but I want to keep a blog for family and friends to see what's up, especially when we have a little one, and all the pics start piling up. For now, during the pregnancy, I will just blog every once in a while about how it's going, how the babe is doing, and hopefully will add more sonogram pictures that look more like me and Eric:). The baby is pretty much always on my mind, but I will try to write other pertinent things as well.

grace and peace,

Jill