40 Weeks today 2.28.2007

These 2 pictures were taken today, at UF, "on the hall" by Debbie Royer! Thanks Debbie!!!

Baby Names

For those of you who are unaware of the names we have picked out for Baby Jube, here they are:

• If Baby Jube is a boy, his name will be Jackson Lee. (Jerrod has been campaigning hard for "Colt Fletcher", but I highly doubt that that name will written on his birth certificate... one can dream, right?
• If Baby Jube is a girl, her name will be Harper Lee.

Yes, both middle names are the same. We have discovered that Lee is a family name on both sides of our families. For my family, it's the last name of the first family member, on my mother's side of the family, to cross the pond from Ireland to America - Mary Lee was her name, she was bringing her niece's over to America and was supposed to return to Ireland upon delivery of the girls, but something else happened. The ship that they were on was shipwrecked off the coast of Newfoundland. As the story goes, a sailor on the ship tied her and 1 of the niece's to some floating apparatus - they floated to the coast of Newfoundland, lived, navigated her way down to Pennsylvania, became a housekeeper & cook, finally settling in Massachusetts, where she married a Sea Captain named Henry DeGorville, who ended up being lost at sea, but as the Lord had in store for Mary and for the rest of us, He had a plan for her. She had several children with Henry, then grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren, and now a great-great-great grandchild! Thank you Mary Lee for starting this great legacy of strong, resilient women!

As for Jerrod's side, the name Lee was the middle name of the matriarch on his mother's side of the family, Virginia Lee Sikes, who brought the Sikes family from Alabama to Alachua via cover wagons during the 1800's. The Sikes family settled in the Forest Grove community, on the same land that Jerrod & I now reside. Thank you too!

sweet thoughts

This picture was emailed to us by our friend Neal Horstmeyer... it's a sweet picture I wanted to share with y'all...it's what Baby Jube looks like when Mommy listens to Mozart for Mothers to Be, or when Daddy talks to Baby Jube telling him/her how much he loves them & can't wait to meet them!

We love you Baby Jube!!!

The Final Countdown...

Well, I will be 40 weeks tomorrow, February 28th, & the baby could arrive any day now... I've had a few people "placing" their bets... the most notable date thus far is for something to occur this Friday night, the 2nd of March. Not only will there be a full moon (oooooohhhhhh) on this night, there is also a lunar eclipse taking place (double/triple oooooohhhhhh).... the myth behind this crazy phenomenon is that the pull of the moon works in relationship w. the pull of the tides aka "WATER" hence the association with the increase in births during this full moon fever.

Funny side note, my Mom worked in obstetrics for 38 years, talk about experience with this crazy phenomenon. I remember her sharing w. my sisters and I all these crazy full moon fever baby births at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass... more on potential arrival dates, my Mom has some hopeful thoughts on the arrival date for Baby Jube... she's been suggesting/hinting about the 6th of March, hmmm, one could only wonder why? (It's her birthday!).

Another funny tidbit, my mother-in-law, Jeanette, is convinced that the baby will arrive this Saturday the 3rd of March, which is also Auntie Bob's, her sister, our Aunt Barbara Fowler's birthday.

My sister Lynne is flying to Aruba on Saturday, and of course, she & I are both thinking... Murphy's Law.

And, of course EVERYBODY wants to be the first to be called when Baby Jube enters the world... I am going to have to disappoint for just a moment, then you can get over it, I highly doubt that making a phone call as soon as Baby Jube enters the world will be the first thought on my mind - just taking a stab in the dark with that thought. But, have no fear, calls, emails, pictures, smoke signals, snail mails, etc. will arrive promptly to all who requested. Jerrod will do his very best to make sure that all will been informed. May I request that if you receive the word to pass this very special word along, Thank you!

This may be our last blog before Baby Jube arrives, or we could wait 2 more weeks - whatever the case, we, Jerrod, baby & I, greatly appreciate all of your thoughts, prayers, well-wishes, support, encouragement, advice, and most importantly your love!

Family

Family, so important and so loved!

Here are some pictures of our family. I only have a few, so as I collect more family pictures I will continue to add to the blog.

The first picture is of my sister Lynne w. Bronson - her doberman! She also has a cat, Romeo, but he's rather elusive & no pictures of him have surfaced as of this posting.

The next picture is of the Fletcher Men. This picture was taken on Christmas night 2006. From right to left on the front row, it's Kenyon, his son Ryan Ashton, and Papa Fletcher, on the back row, it's Daddy. It's a 50-50 chance that you could be part of the Fletcher Men clan... we'll soon find out!

This last picture is of Bubb's aka Clarissa Jane. She's, in our humble estimation, the best cat ever. This is one of her favorite things to do... to lay on Daddy's boat... she's probably taking in the that much loved aroma of fish and I am sure she's thinking about having salmon for dinner, we'll have to check the menu on that one.

almost at 38 weeks....

Hello All,

Yes, I know it's been toooooo long since I have posted anything. I do apologize. I have so many exciting & wonderful things to share, but haven't found the time to sit down & write them all out.

I do want to update you on how "big" I am. Here's the most recent picture of me w. Baby Jube still hanging "in" there. These pictures were taken this morning, the 13th of February by one of my co-workers, Debbie Royer. Tomorrow, on Valentines Day, I will be 38 weeks... and I am considered full-term - so Baby Jube could make his/her grand entrance any day! And yes all of my bags are packed, baby's bag is packed, the infant carrier is securely fastened, our homeopathic kit is also ready to go too. Essentially, all systems go.

Let's see what else has been going on... I had two absolutely wonderful baby showers, the first given by our Church Family, including the hostess Angie Middleton, along w. the assistance of Kala Duncan, Dianne Skye, Steve Middleton, Bennilene Pennisi, Glenda Hayden, Sondra Hester, and Sarah Cathey - there may be others, but I am unaware of who they are. Thank you to all who assisted Angie. The shower was fabulous. It was a Jack & Jill shower so it was quite interesting having the men there with all the ladies. I think it was especially comforting to Jerrod to have some "testosterone" in the room too... but that's my personal opinion. Some of the guyes even had the opportunity to play holey board. My Mom got to come to the shower too, which was such a blessing for us. She also made her carrot cake... it will soon be known as her world-famous carrot cake as this carrot cake is THE best I've ever had the opportunity to eat (and that's not just the hormones talking!). We, Jerrod, Baby & I were showered with so many great gifts and a money tree, with which we bought our much needed cloth diapers... which I have at the house washed & ready to be utilized! I also purchased a few other odds & ends like a changing table & a baby boppy. Here's a picture from the shower.

The other baby shower was given by my work family at UF, the department of Family, Youth & Community Sciences. This too was another wonderful shower. The wonderful people involved in giving us this shower were Kathy Septer, Rose Barnett, Ellen Vaughn, Karla Shelnutt, and several others that I am also unaware of... my hats off to all of you who made this shower so unique & special for Jerrod & I. At this shower the people in my department blessed us with many great gifts including, a diaper dumpster (the "technical" term for a diaper pail) several great outfits, bibs, washcloths, a safety first baby essential kit, a Gator outfit, some onezises, books, music, a Christian video, and so many other great items. They also pitched in to give us enough money to purchase our travel system! All in all two of the best baby showers ever! Jerrod, Baby & I have been blessed by so many people! Thank you.

Well, that's about all the time I have for now, I will blog more later.

Ps. I am still feeling really great! I Thank God for blessing my pregnancy and making it so very enjoyable!!