Week 20

 How in the world am I hitting 20 weeks today y'all? With my pregnancy track record, this week marks well OVER the halfway mark since Andi was delivered at 37 weeks and Crawford was delivered right at 36 weeks. God is good, life is good and thankfully feeling good. There was a little shake up yesterday in our plans since Farmville/Centra Hospital decided to discontinue all OB/Women's services effective next month. This is devastating news for our small community and honestly super frustrating as this means women will have to drive 50+ miles for any type of prenatal care. (not to mention how many folks will be losing their jobs right before Christmas) I meet with my doctor one more time before the shutdown on Dec 1st and if she knows where she is heading, I may honestly follow her. I'm not sure if I shared, but my doctor has gone above and beyond for me ever since our previous loss last March. Not only did I mourn the loss itself but I mourned the relationship I was no longer going to have with her. With Andi, I wasn't super close with my doctor and she was on call and didn't even deliver Andi. With Crawford, we moved at the end of my pregnancy and when she came a full month early, I hadn't even met the docs at the new facility yet. 

As of this morning, I called and got established at a facility with midwives about 46 miles away until I know more so here's hoping to not having a baby on the side of the highway later on. My first appointment there will be Dec 29th for my dreaded glucose test and we will go from there but I will be delivering in Lynchburg now (fun fact though: I was delivered at that hospital oh you know, back in 1987)

How far along? 20 weeks today

Size of Baby: 6.5 inches and 10oz (although measured a couple weeks ahead at Monday's ultrasound! Also moved so much that we are doing a repeat one on Dec 1st)

Total weight gain/loss: up 10 pounds since August so about 134 now

Symptoms: Starting to monitor my blood sugar and keep a log just because I know what's coming. Heartburn this go round for the first time! Sleeping ok but missing back sleeping for sure. 

Food cravings: Anything buffalo and pizza

Anything making you queasy or sick: this morning sort of nauseous but thinking its blood sugar related

Have you started to show yet: So much so!

Gender prediction: Girl! STILL stuck on a name but definitely have something in mind. Stay tuned!

Nursery: and by this I mean a pack-n-play beside my bed for 6 months. Yup. 

Workouts: Trying...farm chores totally count 

Labor Signs: no but already getting the tightening sensations 

Happy or Moody most of the time: So happy and letting myself get more and more excited daily. The girls are so excited and that makes my heart smile

Best Moment this week: Knowing that she is healthy and feeling those kicks and flutters finally! (that started on the 26th of Oct officially and it is definitely my favorite favorite part) 

Week 17 & 18/Home Story

Hey y'all! Just going to do a little combo week situation over here because well...life is busy (but at least I remembered to awkwardley set up the timer and snap a pic in my office of this fast growing bump!) I can't believe I'm 18 weeks pregnant and thankfully still feeling great (minus sleep but we'll get there) Its so crazy because while I feel like time is flying, I also just 'forget' that I'm pregnant as silly as that sounds. I forget that I probably shouldn't be lugging 45 pound waterers for the chickens and bags of horse & dog feed and slinging my toddler around on my hip while dancing to K-Pop Demon Hunters but I do it anyway. (and I love it) Slowing down and asking for help is not my strong suit. Especially on a farm. However, Andi is the biggest help ever when Hubs isn't around and I am so thankful and so proud of that child. My Dad is pretty great too and even hauls the trash for us when he comes over. Andi insisted on carrying a bag of dog food out of tractor supply the other day and I felt like such a child labor activist weirdo walking beside her and simply carrying my car keys. I'm not exactly sure what I would do without that miracle child and I know God's spacing of these kiddos was totally on point. Not to be left out, Miss Crawford is one of my favorite comedians that walks this earth. She is so excited to be a big sister and she is so self-aware of herself. She's fierce, loves hard, emotional and so wise beyond her 4 years (and also insists that the baby be named Lavendar or Sprinkles Sunny Ginny Otey so there's that in case you were wondering about names) I would be lost without these girls and I'm OVERLY excited to see how little sister fits into the dynamic here.

On the home front, as mentioned in my last post, we have the finalized plans and I added closing in the kitchen walls opening by 5 feet on either side creating a 9 foot opening which is still pretty spaciaous. The whole open concept idea is foreign to me since we have predominitly (or really only) lived in historic homes and so I started to panic with how open that space would be to the living room. Closing the walls in and adding a transom on top of the cased opening will just make the space feel slightly more seprate. We are working with two builders to have 2 quotes presented to us and I'm literally just biting my nails in anticipation. Each has the plans and everything they need to price so it should be any day now. (Basically who can start tomorrow am I right?!) This is the not-so-fun part in the process that brings you back down (rather harshly and with a thud) from cloud 9...I'm so excited for the vision and direction I'm going with the design of this house and in true 'me' fashion, I have everything picked out and ready to go despite the fact that we haven't started digging footings for a foundation (cue the daydream music as I float off to la-la lake house vibe design land) I'll share a few inspiration pieces that grabbed me from the get-go when we first started to dream up this forever home 2 years ago. I'll also share the exact room that I basically designed this home around WHICH is such a neat 'meet-cute' story that I need to share (without making this post entirely too long. Can y'all tell I miss blogging?)

The windows and room that started it all ^

We looked at plans for years..100s...1000s of plans! We even staked off two separate sets of plans on the property just to pull up the flags and be like naaaa just kidding. If I never look at an online house plan again I will TOTALLY be fine. I randomly came across a design and architecture firm out of TN (I know, super random) and we were smitten with pretty much everything they touched. (we had felt this way before with a firm out of SC but got smacked with extremely unrealistic prices for drawing plans we basically had already designed. Their style though? On point.) One home in particular I kept coming back to and finally told Seth, you know what? I'm DIGGING DEEP (like private invesitigator deep) and I'm going to find the owners and basically plead and beg for a look at these plans. I searched and crossed google images, found related magazine articles and tagged design firms and photographers and finally tracked down the socials of the owner. (I know, I'm creepy) I have reached out to so many designers and lots of times don't get responses or they want a consult etc. which makes perfect sense so honestly I didn't expect much. But now, let me introduce you to the sweetest and most open person I could meet-cute on the internet. She willingly shared her dream and story of their home and how it had evolved a decade earlier on graph paper. She shared the tough parts, the exciting parts, her willingness to lean on the Lord in prayer and let His will be done when it felt like too much. She answered questions, we followed each other and then she did something I never expected. She shared their entire set of construction plans with me and I knew, deep down, that this was the foundation of our forever home. I was so drawn to what she had designed although we needed a slightly smaller space. Once Seth and I had a minute to sit down together, we got to work right away dreaming and drawing up what would eventually be a home that fit our current and future needs.

We found an affordable architect (affordable being the term of the year here. We essectially had the plans completed ourselves and we talked to architects that wanted to still charge over 10k to draw out. Whew!) to turn the plans into a legal, completed blueprint set. I shared these with the homeowner and it was so neat to see her opinion and praise for ideas and spaces we had altered to make our own. Its awkward sharing your blood, sweat and tears with a random person in VA (me haha) that could essentially just replicate your home in another state but she took a chance and definitely influenced my design process for the better. Its amazing what and who God can bring into your life to help write your own story. (My Mom keeps telling me to keep the family in the loop and then do a road trip home tour of each other's homes in the future!) Anyway, if you've made it this far, thank you again for reading my online diary of sorts! I hope each and every one of you has a fabulous week and cheers to the 'ber' months ahead - which are always the best! Xoxo Jessi

Almost a year later...

 Well my goodness time sure does fly. My last post was an update on moving back to our home town, renovating my grandparent's house to live in while we build our dream home and starting our life on the farm. SO much has happened so lets do a quick catch up sesh shall we? We are still at my grandparent's house but we have added a big coop and 14 chickens, a fabulous garden, a little farm stand, a new barn cat named Mavis, Miss Shelby (our almost one year old Golden Retriever aka Bennett's wife since they will be making some babes soon) and still have the donkeys plus Moo girl our paint mare and Pirate Parade our thoroughbred gelding. Next up? We are checking out some mini Galloway cows and beef cattle next week to add to our ever-growing farm. I think Seth is really coming around to all the animals and homesteading so to speak and I am loving it - and also a little shocked!

We decided on the name Buffalo Church Farm for our forever home and used the old native American marker tree on the property as the logo. We just wrapped up our final meeting and revisions with the architect and have our finished plans IN HAND Y'ALL as of last week! I cannot believe it - two years in the making and we are finally ready to break ground on Buffalo Church Farm. I'll share a little sneak peek below and definitely stay tuned as that journey starts to take shape. 

2025 has brought us joy but also heartbreak as we navigated the loss of a baby boy back in March. Although it was a surprise, our hearts definitely felt content knowing he would be apart of the Otey crew and never would we have guessed that a miscarriage would be in the cards. We were smitten to say the least. While we will never know why he didn't make it to my arms, we find peace knowing that God has a different plan for him and that one day I will hopefully see him. He is now by the marker tree and will always be in our hearts. The girls celebrated their 10th and 4th birthdays on a trip to the mountains shortly after and we are just soaking up all the family time we can. They are literally growing like weeds and bring so much joy, laughter and love to our hearts daily. How lucky I am to be their Mama. 

With heartbreak and loss also eventually comes reflection and healing and we decided to not give up on trying to expand our family. Around mid July we found out we were pregnant again and though our hearts were guarded, we started letting ourselves feel joy and happiness again slowly by counting each day as a gift and thanking God for the blessings we already have. My doctor has been heaven sent and I am so looking forward to the relationship that will develop with her. She called us after hours one evening to let us know that genetic testing came back and that all was well. She also asked if we wanted to know the gender and informed us that it was another little Otey girl. My heart swelled up with so many emotions and we were all together as a family to receive the news that evening. It just felt right. I am 15 weeks as of yesterday with this little baby girl (when I wrote this post I was 14 and not sure when I would share but it feels good to start writing again) Andi also informed me that this new baby may want to look back one day and see these posts since I did them for each previous pregnancy. Oh the nostalgia of the good ole' blogging days. (Good idea Andi!) 

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. I'm so excited to bring back the blog and document both this new home journey and also this new pregnancy journey. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I hope you all know just how thankful I am for each and every one of you. 

Xoxo

Jessi 

2025                                             2020                                          2014 

How far along? 14 Weeks 

Size of Baby: an orange - 3.5 inches and 2oz

Total weight gain/loss: Lord have mercy who knows? 125 start

Symptoms: Big ole' sore chest, SO tired but feeling good and thankful

Maternity clothes? Oh yes- 100% when it comes to pants. Living in dresses thus far

Stretch marks? No - incorporating the oil already though

Sleep: Sleeping great and heading to bed way earlier than usual. Still waking up to pee every night 5x or more! 

Best moment this week: Writing this for future me and future babe

Miss Anything? Wine while cooking

Movement: Nothing prominent yet! Can def feel uterus/tightness of left lower side though!

Food cravings: Texas Pete/Buffalo Sauce haha and Pizza at first!

Anything making you queasy or sick: thankfully no

Have you started to show yet: Oh yea

Gender prediction: Baby Otey #3 is another girl!

Nursery: Not so much in this house but have a theme in mind

Workouts: At least 3x a week plus farm chores, whew!

Labor Signs: no

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy but nervous, deep breaths!

Looking forward to: Feeling movement!

My Grandparent's Home

Never in a million years would I have ever thought that I would be living in my Grandparent's house & making meals, etc for my family. There is something so lovely and so heartwarming every time I walk through the mudroom door. The nostalgia is at an all time high that's for sure. The first time I baked a cake in Dolly's kitchen, I texted my aunt Betty and definitely teared up a bit. Every time I step into that big pantry it is like stepping back in time when I used to literally shop in there for things I needed and didn't feel like 'driving into town' for in high school and in college. 

My Dad offered the home to us as a place to stay while we build our lake home. It is perfectly situated about 2 miles from the building site, 1 mile from my parents, 40 minutes or so from Seth's parents and about a half a field away from Betty. The house has been empty since both Dolly and then Clinton passed away but the memories are still in every nook and cranny. So many wonderful holidays and SO many wonderful meals were shared in that very kitchen. I remember bringing my college friends over almost every Sunday (usually slightly hungover) just for Dolly's famous Sunday lunches which brought us all back to life. We knew it needed a little sprucing up before we could totally move in so about a year ago, we decided to dive right in and start getting some things done. Most of the renovations were cosmetic minus the wall we decided to knock down in a dark hallway to expose the front door and lots more natural light. Things were cleared out and moved, carpet was pulled up, floors were sanded, walls were painted and lots and lots of cleaning was done before we could envision a plan. 

We are still working to finalize floor plans for the new build but I will share some inspiration next week for sure. Today, lets take a look at some before and afters I was able to capture during this 'sprucing up' process. We moved in fully in July and it has been the perfect little homestead ever since. We love the out buildings and fields, having our horses there, the creaking in the floors, the interesting upkeep that comes with well water, having to drive your trash to a dump, the banging the furnace makes (think Kevin in Home Alone) and of course, the treasured memories of the life my Grandparent's made here. 

Main Kitchen

Eat-in Kitchen

Dining Room

Hallway

Back Hallway

Primary Bath

Primary Bedroon

Crawford's Bedroom

Andi's Bedroom

Living Room

Entryway

Guest Bedroom

Next Phase - Clean and Spruce up!

The famous pantry y'all!

Opening up this wall was literally the BEST move
 (this was that super dark hallway if you scroll back up!)

Mudroom Space

Entryway coming together! SO bright!

Floors in living room + paint

Pantry had original floors underneath

Kitchen Today

Dining room which is now the playroom that connects to the girl's bathroom

That opening made the WORLD of difference!

Guest room

Dolly right in front of the kitchen sink

Something tells me they would be proud. We sure do miss them!