Just a couple of updates today...

Granna had another trip to the hospital Tuesday night. She was very lethargic again, and they wanted to rule out a stroke. They believe that she is over medicated again, and are taking her back to the pain doctor, to try to regulate her meds some more. When she gets like this she can't hold a conversation and just wants to sleep all the time. Hopefully they can get all of these straightened out quickly.

Nathan Ferrell has had some great doctor's appointments in the past week. He say the GI specialist and the neurologist. At the GI appointment they discovered that he has gained about 2 lbs since his last visit in April. For the first time in a long time he is back on the charts and looking really well. Things went well with the Neurologist as well, in fact Amber got the exciting news, that they are opening a Mito clinic here in Gainesville through Shands. This is something they have been hoping and working toward for sometime, it's very encouraging to see that it's going to go through.

After our annual meeting at Little Union (weekend before last), I got to hang out a few extra days with Mister and Memaw. Momma and Daddy went home to do school work and rest, and I got to play fun games with my cousins. One of the best days was Monday. That day we all played in the yard and on the slip and slide. Memaw got this wagon that we can all sit in, and for some silly reason Brystal and Lilli just wanted to pull it around. That was alright with me though, because that meant I didn't have to walk anywhere. I rode in style with Julia. Anyway, Memaw had bought a slip and slide for all of us to play on. I'm not sure why it's called that, I just walked around and played in the water, no one didn't any sliding as there is no big slide like at the park, but it was alot of fun to run in the water with everyone else. They are crazy when the water comes out.

Well, we are back after a week without a power cord for the computer. I had lots of great ideas for post last week, such as one on the weekend meetings we attended and Ruth's 34 week post. Britt says he was going to blog about dancing and hanging out with Memaw and Mister. But I'm not sure about posting all of those things now.

I got on today and discovered that our old background was deleted, so I decided to go ahead and change over the blogspot, to some stuff I had picked out for after Ruth arrives. Eventually the header will have some real pictures, but I don't have any yet, so for now you will have to admire our stick person, personas.

Today makes 35 weeks for Ruth. She should be over 5 lbs now around the weight of a honey dew melon. According to the midwives, from now on I'll be considered full term. I think that's earlier than what the doctor's office told me with Britt, but it's good to know that if she does come early that everything should be just fine from here on out. That's because surfactant is beginning to line her lungs making it possible for her lungs to stay open with each breath. At our last doctor's appointment last week, Lauren told me that she is pretty sure that Ruth is head down, and she agreed with me that Ruth is a long child, since she found a foot partially under a rib. She is beginning to shed her lanugo and thicken up her vernix instead, aka she's shedding the light hair all over her body that kept her warm all this time for the waxy like substance that will help her slide out easier.

In between my refills of phenagren last week I had the nasty surprise that yes, I do still have morning sickness. Thankfully, I got that phenagren refilled. I'm exhausted alot now, more so than before and sleep alot. I go to bed when Britt does some nights and I'm taking naps with him about half the time too now. Some of that I'm sure is that I'm not sleeping more than a few hours at a time at night now, and some of it is just being in that home stretch. The sleep deprivation after Britt was born was the worst part of the whole new baby period, but right now that would be an improvement from the lack of sleep I'm getting right now. Let's just say that Britt gets lots more freedom of behavior lately and we watch alot of movies and put lots of music cds in the dvd player right now.

As requested, here is a little tour of our new place...

Ashley Ruth is 33 weeks today. She has pushing the 4 1/2 lb mark and weighs roughly as much as a pineapple (ummm, might need to send Gary to Publix after class for some of that now). Her skeleton is hardening this week. As she continues to put on weight she is losing the wrinkled look and her skin is looking fuller. While she continues to get oxygen from her umbilical cord until birth, she is practicing breathing in a steady, rhythmic pattern now. She breathes the amniotic fluid which is at it's highest right now, it will decrease as we get closer to her birth day. She is storing up iron in her liver, since she won't be getting much until around 6 to 9 months old. The big thing that she will do from now till her birth is continue to add synapses between her brain cells. Brain growth primarily occurs in the last month and a half before birth.

As for me, I am patiently... or not so much waiting. I'm ready to be done with the being sick, exhausted, and just plain sore all the time. I'm trying to enjoy some one on one time with everyone's favorite stinker, but he just wears a body out. I think he could outlast the Energizer Bunny. Pregnancy with Britt had it's own challenges, but they are nothing compared to this one. Speaking of Britt, he has progressed from kissing Ruth to tackling me around the waist when asked about Ruth. He still pats her and loves on her (rather vigerously I might add), but his hugs now need a running start. I look forward to seeing the two of them together despite all the horror stories, we heard on Sunday about second children. Things are progressing pretty normally however.

Momma and Daddy decided that it was time for us to move to Gainesville so they started packing. I wanted to help Momma with the packing so I was going through some boxes to make sure she was packing everything in the right way. Momma was sure that they could handle the packing okay so I got to spend a couple of weeks with Ahna and Grumps all to myself! The first thing we did on vacation was stop at this big beautiful flower garden. There were more flowers than I could ever hope to count. Grumps called it a Rest Area on I-40 in Arkansas, but I don’t really know what a “Rest Area” is, or a “I-40” is, or what a “Arkansas” is. But I know a flower when I see it, and this was a big beautiful flower garden. I wanted to touch every single flower, but Grumps said we didn’t have a year. Ahna let me touch some flowers before Grumps put me back in my car seat. Even today, I’m still trying to figure out what a year is, but I haven’t really lost any sleep over it. The next day Grumps and Ahna took me to a good Old Baptist church out in the country. The people there were so friendly. I really enjoyed being there. After church I spotted a clock and told everyone where it was just in case any of them didn’t know. We ate lunch there and visited with them. Did I say they were friendly? I really liked them, and I think they liked me, too. Soon, we were back in the car heading for something called “Branson Missouri”. Grumps drove up, down, and around hills. I don’t know why he couldn’t just drive in a straight line. Ahna and I played the game “Up and Down” where I raise the arm rest on my car seat up and then down over and over again. Ahna and I had a lot of fun playing “Up and Down”, “Itsy, Bitsy Spider”, and “Where is Thumbkin”. When we finally got to Branson, Ahna and I got to sit out on a balcony. We saw a furry little animal. Ahna said it was a groundhog. It was nice out there. After supper, Ahna and Grumps took me into this shop that had clocks, clocks, and more clocks! I have never seen so many clocks in one place. Sometimes, I think Grumps just enjoys torturing me – I mean really – he takes me into a shop full of clocks and won’t let me touch a single one! The day after we got to Missouri, Ahna and Grumps took me to something called a “Little House on the Prairie”. The house belonged to somebody named Laura Ingalls Wilder and her husband. They weren’t home that day, but some other people showed us around. I got to see her pa’s fiddle, but Grumps wouldn’t let me touch it no matter how much I told him that I wanted to. All I wanted to do was just touch it! I think Grumps needs to work on being a little bit nicer to me. Instead Grumps let me have a stick. As much as I like sticks, I’m still wondering if that was a fair trade. They told us that she wrote a lot of books – I like books. The next night we went to “Dixie Stampede”. There were so many pretty horses in their stalls. A sign said not to touch the horses because they bite. Even so, I was a little bit mad at Grumps since he wouldn’t let me get close enough to touch a horse. See what I mean about Grumps needing to work on being nicer to me? But we sure did have a lot of fun once we got inside. Grumps and Ahna bought me a new stuffed horse to go with my other horse. Then we got to see this real funny guy throw a bunch of stuff up in the air without dropping any of it. He threw tennis rackets, some big knives, rings, scarves, and plates. He did all this while saying some very funny things. I laughed real loud and clapped a lot. He was so much fun to watch. It looks like it was a lot of fun so one of these days I may show Momma how to throw plates. After watching him, we got to go into this big room. They gave us some food to eat – the soup was very tasty! But the best part was that they kept bringing horses, cows, and flags out for me to see. Horses, cows, and flags – somebody must have told them what my 3 most favorite things are! How else could they have known? The next day we rode a while in the car to somewhere called Oklahoma and Kansas. We saw something called “Route 66” which Grumps said is supposed to mean something from history, but it just looked like an old road to me. Back at the condo I stacked blocks for Ahna and Grumps. They cheered and clapped so I cheered and clapped. They were having so much fun watching me that I just had to keep stacking blocks higher and higher. I can’t really count yet, so I’m not sure how many blocks I had stacked. Grumps said ten, but I don’t know what ten is. Grumps seems to know a lot about numbers. Then Ahna read several books to me - I love it when Ahna reads to me. She knows so many things that are in the books. She ought to be a teacher because I think she would be a really good one. The drive back to Ahna and Grumps took most of a day. Grumps set up a TV just for me on the back of his car seat. Ahna let me watch “The Fox and the Hound”, “Aristocrats”, and “Mary Poppins”. Sometimes Ahna would lay her seat down so that she could watch with me. The best one was “Allison Krauss and Union Station” in concert – I had to watch it twice! I liked to bounce my head and foot and hand with the music. Of course, every time I saw Miss Krauss’s fiddle, it would make me think about Grumps not letting me touch the fiddle at Laura Ingalls Wilder’s house so I would tell Grumps and Ahna about her fiddle. Grumps really needs to work on being nicer to me about that fiddle! Somebody said that I had Grumps and Ahna wrapped around my little finger. I mean really … just look at how much bigger they are than my little finger! Maybe I misunderstood what they said. I had so much fun on vacation with Ahna and Grumps, but I am glad to be back home with Momma and Daddy. I was a little concerned about Momma and Daddy being able to move without me, but they said that they had some very good help. All my toys, my bed, and Mara are here so it looks like they were right. Grumps said that in less than a year (I am still having trouble with understanding what that year thing is) I will forget the vacation since he doesn’t remember anything from when he was as small as me – I don’t see how I could forget since we had so much fun. Anyway, it was a great vacation, but I am glad to be home with Momma and Daddy.

Last week, it was hot here. Not as hot as it's been, but hot nevertheless. As a result, we spent some quality time in the water on Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday night, Mom, Dad, and Brystal came up to spend the night, and on Thursday we all went down to Ichetucknee Springs. We all got tubes and headed up to the North entrance, Dad and Gary dropped the rest of us off and took the cars downstream. Britt and Brystal went and put their feet in the water, and hated it. The water there is very, very cold. Even after 2 and 1/2 hours in the water, I didn't get use to it. When Dad and Gary got back we headed down to the water. Brystal and Britt had their life jackets and a little inflatable boat to ride in, and all of us shoved off. It was really beautiful floating down river. We saw lots of birds and turtles and some fish. Britt fell asleep about 10 mins in and woke up about 15 mins before we got out. He had a GREAT nap. Brystal thought the water was too cold, and ended up riding in Dad's lap most of the way. They have trips between 30 mins and 3 and 1/2 hrs, next time we thinks we might go down a different part of the river. Gary and I really enjoyed it. We are hoping lots of people decide that they want to come, so that we can go again. Next time we really have to bring a water proof camera though, so that we can get pictures.

Granna has been back in and out of the hospital this week. They took her in because she was pretty exhausted and unresponsive. They believe the culprit was over medication. They seem to have better regulated her medicine now. She is still pretty weak and coughing up blood.

I have some exciting news for those who haven't heard. Bro. Jim has found a new job and seems to like it. I've been meaning to update all week with the news, but haven't found time. He started on Tuesday as the Operations Manager. He had done some cabinet work for the sales manager and worked with him in the past. This position is one very similar to one that he had previously. However, he has his work cut out for him since the last guy had a system that no one understands. He is working alot of hours but it's good work and he has Saturdays and Sundays off. Jim and Kelly are very happy and relieved. Thank everyone for their prayers for this special family.

As for us, Gary is busy working on his schooling, and we seem to be pretty settled in here in Gainesville. The traffic is horrible (and it's not even fall yet), but no matter where you go, you get stellar service. Everyone has been super nice. Several people have asked for a video tour of the new place, so maybe we'll do that this week. I guess we'll see if there is a day that I have the house clean enough, haha.

Yesterday made 32 weeks for little Ruth. She now weighs in around 4 lbs. I should be gaining around a lb a week from here on out, half of which will be Ruth putting on weight. If that is the case, I will still weigh under what I did with Britt when she gets here. The Phenagran has done wonders for my morning sickness. I still have one or two rough days a week, but I'm throwing up almost none now. I wear out faster now than before, but I think alot of that has to do with the Phenagran. I can function with only half of one, but it still leaves me sleepy. She also has fully developed fingernails and toenails now.


Yesterday we had our check up with the midwife. She says that everything is looking normal. We go back in another 2 weeks.


Sometime between week 32 and 36 she will begin to dream while she sleeps. I wonder how they have figured that out. I really wonder what she has to dream about, having seen none of the world. My dreams are plenty active though, mostly full of parnoia about going into labor when I head back south while Gary is still in Gainesville, and having her before he gets to Tampa. It's a bit silly to worry about, especially given the fact that there's nothing I can do about it, if it even happens. I suppose I will pack my labor bag this coming week, and just in case we are less than a mile from North Florida Regional Hospital.

My Dearest Gary Britt,


Today makes 3 years of marriage for us. In some ways I can't believe that we have only been married for 3 years, I tell you all the time and it's still true, it just seems so right the two of us that it seems like we've always been together. I really cannot picture life without you. You are the calm factor in the house, while I am freaking out and running around like a chicken with its head cut off. You are the one that reminds me to slow down and enjoy the little moments when the house is a mess and supper is running way late. You are by far the level headed one.


Life is changing yet again for us, though I suppose that life is always changing. We have gotten moved and semi-settled in Gainesville. You are getting into the swing of classes, and we are starting to get some symbalance of routine back in our lives after so long of no work and no direction. Only to throw it all up in the air again in two short months when the next child arrives. Who needs routines anyway, we like things exciting and unpredictable right?

There aren't enough words to tell you just how much I love you, and how I've come to depend on you. Not only are you calm underfire, but you are the world's best cook, Britt's biggest playmate, and the most enthusiastic song leader - all while taking care of us. You are sweet, gentle, and incredibly patient with me. I love you for many reasons, not just because you are such a devoted father and husband, but because of who you make me. You make me want to try harder, do more, and be better. You help me remain calm... well calm-ish, you remind me that things don't have to look perfect in the house, and you ALMOST make me interested in cooking. Haha.

I know this next year will have a new set of challenges for us. Perhaps the biggest one will be balancing time for us together with school, a new baby, and the millions of things we always have to do. But I know that we will make it through and it'll make for some good stories, just like the ones from this past year. I know that because, you always too much importance on me and Britt, and things of the Lord to let this family fall through the cracks. You are the strong and steady one, and I love you for that. All I can say, is that all those other women who passed you by, really missed out on a wonderful man and I hope we get tons more years together. I love you!

~Your dani~

Today, I just have a very short post for you. Momma and Daddy have gotten unpacked and settled in, here in Gainesville, but I have yet to thoroughly examine everything, so I have a busy day today. Grumps has also promised to help me blog about my very exciting trip to Branson with him and Ahna. He understand everything I tell him, and since Momma didn't go along, I don't figure she'll be much help. Today though I have this video of some of the fun things Grumps has taught me while I've been in Alabama.

Yesterday was a nice calm day around the house. We got up and went to church like usual on Sunday morning, then came home and all took afternoon naps. Since we were new to the area and didn't really know what was going on for the Fourth, we opted to just hang out here at the apartment. Besides, I don't think any of the four of us really felt like getting out. In the evening we decided to sit out on our little back patio, and see how Britt liked his "new yard." He most enjoyed throwing his ball down the hill, and then bringing it back. That is until some of the neighbors started shooting off screamers, whistlers, and firecrackers. The little boy would duck down, scrunch up his shoulders and run like he was in the middle of a mine field. He would nearly get to the ball and some more would go off, and he would turn around without the ball and run back up the hill, saying "Pop, pop." We got a real kick out of it, and even though the video is a bit out of focus, maybe you will too.