Baby Update

It is still kind of surprising to me to write a post titled "Baby Update" and not have it relate to Oliver ~ or even to Anabelle for that matter!  Time is flying, in some ways.  I often think of Gretchen Rubin's quote, "The days are long, but the years are short."  I'm a little over 15 weeks at this point, and certainly the days have been LONG these past few weeks.  But, we made it!  And at my check up today, the nurse mentioned that I was more than 1/3 through this pregnancy, which all of a sudden made it feel like things were moving quickly!  How fickle 'time' can be.  

Anyway, no big baby updates at this point.  And we are great with that!  In the baby dept, no news is great news we've learned.  I did have a fun ultrasound experience a few weeks ago - I think I was 12 weeks?  Got about a 20 min. ultrasound and just watched this baby (whom we refer to as Tiny) squiggle around.  Tiny had grown a lot since the 7 week ultrasound & I was surprised again how early on a baby looks, well, human!  I could easily distinguish moving hands, feet, a turned head, etc.  One sort of fun moment was when the doctor came in and both he & the nurse started to 'Oooh' and 'Awww' at this photo they captured below:

Apparently, Tiny positioned himself/herself just perfectly to show precisely what the doc was checking for (bone growth, organ development, etc).  They referred to Tiny as their 'Model Baby' and opted to store this photo to use as a model for teaching other nurses/doctors what they are looking for at this stage in a baby's development.  Considering our ultrasound experiences haven't always held the greatest of news for us, I took this little moment as an added little love message from the Lord.  Or maybe He's just showing off =)  He does good work!  

This shot below made the nurse & I laugh because Tiny looks ever-so dramatic in it.... hand by brow as to suggest, "Oh, developing can just be SO exhausting, you know?"  This dramatic flair only serves to encourage my musings that this baby is a girl.  Adam & I are still debating whether we'll find out the gender at the next appt. or wait the long 40 weeks.  We'll keep you posted!  

"Boo!"

 3D pics are just too cool

A little thumbs up as if to say, "All's well!  Thanks for checking in Mom & Dad!" 

We've got a little more to update on, but most recently was of course Mother's Day.  Just to show how very pregnant I am these days (ie, overly emotional... the two go hand in hand, right?  Or is that just me?!)  I'll pass along this little Mother's Day themed youtube video that, of course, brought me to tears.  Perhaps it's not just the added hormones, and perhaps this will touch you too... either way, it's a nice reminder how all the seen and unseen moments in a mother's life will indeed hopefully 'pay off' someday as we witness our children thrive in whatever area(s) the Lord has created them to shine in.  

We had a great Mother's Day together as a fam.  Adam & the kids were very nice to me and allowed me to spend some of the morning exactly how I wanted... cleaning!  Anabelle had the best quote of the day when she & Oliver were cuddling on Adam's lap before naps.  They were all reading a book about Mommies and when it concluded she looked up quite lovingly at Adam and said, "Happy Mother's Day, Dad."  Meanwhile, I'm about a foot away, cleaning up toys and suddenly feeling like chopped liver =)  When Adam tried to correct her that the day was about celebrating her MOTHER, she would have none of it.  It was great, I was actually quite happy she was so enamored with her daddy.  And hey, Father's Day is right around the corner... maybe she'll show me some Momma love then?

I'll leave you with a few pics from a photo shoot we did for the kid's loving Grandma R. & Lolli.  We sure adore our mothers & grandmothers and are grateful for the lives of integrity they continue to lead & the love they show us all!