You’re Not Going to Believe This, but…

It’s A Girl!!!

I’m still getting over the shock, as I had honestly just assumed all along that it would be a boy. I was very content knowing Ben would have a brother so close to his own age to grow up with, and then WHOA! A girl?! I don’t think it has really sunk in yet, but I am excited!!!

We really weren’t supposed to go for our Anatomy Scan for another week, but my friend April and I were talking about how we were dying to know the gender so I could shop for the baby at fun consignment sale this week. Well, one thing led to another, and before you know it, April’s friend (an ultrasound technician) at her OB office was “sneaking” us in to “take a peek”!! So here we go at lunch one day (so the doctors would be gone!)…I first stopped at Panera to get her friend some lunch, then waited for April to get there, too.

First text from April: “Try not to look pregnant” Whoops. Of ALL days, that was the day I wore the big ol’ comfy tent-like, empire waisted shirt that just screams~~MaTeRnItY!!~~. Ha! So, despite the fact that it was 75°, I grabbed my coat and held it in front of me the whole time.

Second text from April: “Tell Mark to come sit in the lobby 2 minutes after we go in” More laughs….I think we’re on an episode of Mission: Impossible!

April brings a cute 31 brand bag and I bring Panera, so as to look like we’re bringing her friend lunch and her party order. They buzz us on back and we act like we’re socializing until the coast is clear. Well, we really were socializing – fun girl-talk about Jake Gyllenhaal, TV shows, pets, husbands, where to get the best pictures taken of our children, etc…SO, when the ultrasound room cleared out, in we go.

While I’m getting ready, April goes out to the lobby and waves Mark in very suspiciously – ha ha ha!!! So here we all are, and as soon as the ultrasound shows the baby, Mark says, “I think I see it” – meaning the “turtle” like the one we saw on Ben’s ultrasound. So, she wiggles the baby around a little more, and then says…..”Nope!” “It’s a girl?” we ask….***insert April going nuts with excitement*** YES, it’s a GIRL!!

Wow! I was pretty much speechless. Mark said he knew all along – and in fact, he had worn his pink tie that day for the occasion :)

Here are the pics we got!!! You can see the gender in this one…three little lines = Girl!

Here she is opening her mouth...she did that several times!

Ahhhh....

....I think the fog is lifting!! I can actually stay up past 8:30 at night now!! The entire past few months have been pretty rough ~ extreme exhaustion, colds, stomach bugs, you name it...I had it. I honestly never thought I'd be up for more than an hour after Ben went to bed ever! But, it seems like things have turned a corner :) I'm finally sickness-free (thank you, God!) and have a little bit of energy in the evenings and it's so nice for a change! Last week, I had a week-long bought with morning sickness (the kind that comes and goes all day) that was a bit unexpected since at 16 weeks, I'm in the second trimester. Today and yesterday have been a little better (I even felt the baby move for the first time today!!), and I'm really hoping that nausea will be a thing of the past VERY soon.

Since I never once felt sick while pregnant with Ben, Mark and I are wondering if this little one might be a girl?? Everytime I ask Mark what he wants it to be, he gives me a different answer (very funny). So I don't know about him, but for me, I can honestly say it really doesn't matter. I can see great sides to both possibilities! Of course, I want more than anything for the baby to be 100% healthy with no complications. We won't have to wait long to find out what we're having, though ~ our next appointment will be the "big" ultrasound in only two weeks!! Yay!

Another Real Baby!!!

Wow! We just had our NT scan done again, and this is the first time we've seen any evidence of a "real baby" in there...we saw legs, arms, and hands flying everywhere! It was amazing to see our little baby in there, looking like a tiny person :)

And an answered prayer ~ the test came back fine. The baby was MUCH more cooperative than Ben was for his test, and they were able to measure the back of the neck several times really well, and the number was great. They also saw a nasal bone, which is a very good sign of a healthy baby. The heartbeat was 152 bpm and the baby was 5.8 cm long (not including the legs!). Already growing so fast!! Here are some pictures...

10 Weeks Along

Hi Little Baby! This weekend, we reached 10 weeks ~ you’re now an fetus instead of an embryo! Lately, you’ve been making Mama very tired, hungry, and giving me lots of stomach pains. I haven’t felt you move yet, but probably will in the next few weeks! This weekend, we heard your heartbeat twice with a home fetal Doppler machine. I’m so excited to be able to hear it this early!! The first time, we heard it right away, but after that, it was a little tricky to find again. You should have seen the smile on Daddy’s face when we heard it, though!!

I can’t believe you’re only 1.2 inches at this point. So tiny, but I know you’ll grow fast. We have been giving thanks and praying for you every day, Little One. Can’t wait to meet you…Love, Mama

Big as a Blueberry

January 3, 2011
Today I went to the OB to have bloodwork done to confirm the pregnancy. It was VERY uneventful....just waiting now until January 26 to go back to see the heartbeat!!

January 26, 2011
Well, today was a big day!! My follow-up appointment to see a doctor about my bloodwork and to get an ultrasound was today. I tried not to think about it too much by keeping busy with other things, but yesterday I got so anxious about whether or not the baby would be OK (i.e. Would we see a heartbeat?), I could hardly stand it. I even called and got my appointment moved from 4:00 to earlier in the day 11:00.

Thank goodness everything was just fine. God sure is good to me. The baby had a heartbeat of 136 and measured 1.1 cm...about the size of a blueberry! They estimated me to be about 7 weeks and 4 days along, making our due date (GET THIS...)

9 - 10 -11 !

How cool is that!??

I'm not sure why (maybe the size of the baby is still so small?) but it was very hard to see him/her. Here are the ultrasound pics we got, though...the baby is laying in the bottom of the black "bubble".




Afterwards, Mark and I stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-A to celebrate ~ what a wonderful day!

Shhhh! *happy new year's*

December 31, 2010

Today we found out we're so blessed to be expecting another baby! We had no big plans for New Year's Eve this year except to just eat take-out, drink champagne and enjoy some yummy chocolate-covered strawberries. So when I was out picking up dinner, I made sure to pick up some sparkling cider for me, too!

We decided to ring in the new year at 10:00 rather than midnight because honestly, a good night's sleep was more appealing than watching the ball drop on TV! So, I waited until Mark popped the bubbly and then gave him the good news :) He really couldn't believe it and was so incredibly happy ~ and surprised!!

I think that was my best New Year's Eve EVER!

Unfortunately, we won't be telling anyone for a while....I'm not even 4 weeks along yet!!

My Baby is Growing Up!

Oh, Ben...you're looking and acting like SUCH a big boy these days!! Mama's no longer rocking you to sleep (just standing by your crib until you lay down :), and Daddy and I are amazed at all the cute new things you're saying every day! Just today, you had your first "real" phone conversation....this morning, I talked to you on the phone and you said Hello, I love you Mama, and Bye Bye!! The wheels are turning in your head, my smart little boy, and it's so fun to watch you grow each day!

Speaking of growing, here's Ben at 19 months ~ wow!

19 Months in the Making!

Well, Ben's had an eventful past couple of months. He went for his 18 month check-up in January and got that last set of shots until he's almost school age ~ whoo hoo! He was still in the 75% for height at 33 inches and up to the 30% in weight at 24.5 pounds.

He's saying so many new words every day - it's so fun to hear! Some here lately have been apple, ball, bowl, orange, downstairs, upstairs, more, No, Yes, sock, Mimi, Bop ("Pop"), ice (that's a favorite!), berry, baby, Ben (sounds like "men"), mommy (still calls me Mama 99% of the time) , and please. He can also put them together in little short sentences, and has said bye bye dada, bye bye mama, bye bye bubba, hello dada, I la la dada, let's go!, and more please. He even made a sentence in sign language the other day by signing "more" then "bath"...it was the cutest thing EVER (as he's sitting in the empty bathtub that all the water has drained out)!!!

Ben had a fun time at Grandmama's for the Superbowl. We made a game board where you put your initials in a block and you win if that block has the score for the end of any of the quarters in the game. He enjoyed picking his own squares, and ended up beating all of us because he had the winning score for two different quarters - that means he won $10!! Ha!!

Here we are on a warm January day playing on the neighbor's cool tree swing.

So what else is new? Lately Ben likes carrying around a pair of his old cotton pajamas, or one of my soft pajama t-shirts. So, I got out a bunch of little baby blankies we call "lovies" and he takes one to bed every night now and seems to really find a lot of comfort in it.

Ben's also trying LOTS more foods these days....WHEW! He will eat anything with ketchup (green beans dipped in ketchup, anyone?!). One of his newest foods is shreds of carrot. Mark and I are so, so glad that he's eating more with the family now rather than us feeding him the few certain foods he liked.

Lastly, he's starting to mind a tiny bit, but is still generally unfazed by "time out". Sometimes when he does something he knows he's not supposed to do, like drop food on the floor from his highchair, or throw a toy, he looks at me and says, "Noooooooo" with the cutest little point of the finger - it's all I can do not to scoop him up and laugh!!

Ben attended his first "big boy" birthday party last month, too....here he is at Appalachian Gymnastics, having a BALL on the slide (climbing up all by himself!!), and loving the trampoline floor!

My Sweetie Pie

Valentine's Day was on a Monday this year, and that is also the day we go to Kindermusik class. So, we got to take Valentines to all Ben's little buddies. We thought bubbles would be fun since there's not much candy-eating going on around this house (yet!)...
Then it was time for a little Valentine's Day gift from Mama and Daddy. Oh, the fun of opening a present!!

A new bath toy!! This cool thing has stackable pieces, and even has a battery and squirts out water....F-U-N!! Daddy's idea for a new "do":

One happy fella!! ***love him***

Let it Sunshine!

I'm a little behind on posting, but had some pictures from a wonderful weekend we had a few weeks ago! FINALLY, the snow was all gone away and the weather was beautiful (and warm for January!!). For starters, Ben slept until 7:30 both days ~ YEAAHHHHH!!!! That was a heavenly treat that rarely happens. Saturday, we ran errands and just hung around the house playing with Ben. I put a roast in the crock pot, so dinner was DONE with minimal effort. On Sunday, we took advantage of the gorgeous sunshine by picking up Pal’s and going to Winged Deer Park. Ben loved running around in the open field, and was so cute testing us to see how far he could go before we called him back to our blanket. He’d run 10 steps and look at us, then run 10 more and look back, until we said, “Ben, come here!” The he’d come all the way back and do it again.





When we first got there, we got all the food out and he was toddling around the blanket, eager to go explore in the grass, so he didn’t respond the first few times I asked him to come eat. Then I said, “I’ve got French fries…” and BAM! He did a 180° and was ALL ears, ready to eat! We laughed and laughed!!

It was a wonderful lunch, despite the fact that Ben managed to step on not one, but two sandwiches…mine AND his. He was even sitting down when he stepped on his – I have no idea how that happened, but there was indeed a cheese-covered piece of bread stuck to his shoe….more belly laughs!!! (yes, I ate my hamburger anyway!)

After we ate and relaxed a little on the blanket while Ben played, we headed over to the slides where Ben had a BALL. It was an hour past his nap time when we finally left, and he was still signing “MORE”!!

The "Bens"

I recently saw this picture of my brother Ben on Facebook and was really surprised to notice that it looked a lot like my baby Ben!! Little Ben was about 14 months in this picture....check out the shape of their mouths and eyes ~ wow!!

Christmas 2010

Well, YES, Santa came to see Ben this year ~ ha, ha!! Here he is on Christmas morning in his cute little "Santa's Helper" pyjamas with reindeer feet. Santa brought him a climber with a slide and a tunnel to crawl through! He loves it! So much, in fact, that it has taken the place of our coffee table in the den because he uses it so often.

Ben also got a cool puzzle-type board with all kinds of different latches for him to learn to open and close...right up his alley!

Big smiles at Grandmama and Grandaddy's house....

His own personal rocking chair from Grandpa and Sue ~ as soon as he saw it, he hopped right in like he KNEW it was his!

17 Months Old

Almost a year and a half?! I still call Ben my baby, but he's more like a little boy every day. At 17 months old, here's what he's up to these days...


-Down to one 1.5 hour nap a day, and at night sleeps from 7:30-6:30
-Still getting more teeth - he's only got one more bottom canine to come in, and then his second molars. Whew!
-We still do one bottle before bed. I think he'd be ok if I dropped it from the routine, but since he kind of eats like a bird sometimes, I don't want him to wake up hungry!

He's getting really good at sign language, and we've added a new sign for diaper. Here he is saying "more".

He's also starting to say some more words, like Go!, yellow, I La La (I love you), and Nana. Plus, he's decided he really likes saying Mama, which I LOVE :) He loves to dance, and it's such a cute little jig: he stands completely still and just bobs up and down bending his knees anytime he hears music (even a cell phone ringtone, ha!!)

Ben also just recently starting mimicing us. His favorite thing to copy is vacuuming. He used to just pull it around everywhere, but lately, he actually rubs the hose on the floor like he's cleaning it! He'll also take anything he sees, such as a bottle of hair goop, and act like he's putting some on his toothbrush like toothpaste to brush his teeth.

I love to see his little personality coming out more and more. A lot of mornings when I go in to get him up, he's waiting for me with all his pacis in hand, and THROWS them out of the crib all at once! I guess that's his way of saying Good Morning! He can hear me open the dishwasher from another room, and comes running in to "help" me unload it, and the same for the washing machine. It's his job to throw all the wet stuff into the dryer :)

Last but not least, he's actually starting to mind a tiny bit now...if we say "No", most of the time, he'll comply. And, if he knows something's "no-no", he'll look at you and start shaking his head No - so cute!! But even when he's not minding one bit, I'm amazed at the patience I have (so far, ha!) There's nothing I wouldn't do for his precious little grin!!!

Daddy and Me

A few weeks ago, Mark tackled the task of clearing our yard of all the leaves. Ben's favorite thing is to be outside, so he was all about helping Daddy...

He dragged that rake around and chased Mark all over the yard, having a ball! Then fun times playing in the leaves.

We love, love, love our new house and the great backyard. It even had a swingset with it, and lots of fun trees to climb on :)

Ho, Ho, Ho!

We had a "successful" (i.e. no Stranger-Danger crying :) visit with Santa last weekend! I was especially excited to see that it was the same Santa as last year....look back here and see if you can believe how much Ben's grown in a year!!