Our gift.

Today has been a day Joseph and I have been looking forward to for a long time.  Today was finally the day of my first ultrasound!  I was all excited and nervous walking into the office, hoping for the best and expecting the worst.  I probably shouldn't expect the worst but I seem to handle bad news better if I've prepared for it a bit.  Alas, my attempts to prepare for the worst news possible were in vain, because it was all wonderful.  Not only was the jelly warm that the nurse so abundantly sprayed all over my belly, but I got to see my beautiful little baby!  It was strange to think that the child on the screen I was looking at was mine and Joseph's, but it really hit me when I could feel the baby move or kick around and see it moving and kicking on the screen!  I suppose I'm having a hard time believing that there is another person inside of me.  And I can only imagine Joseph thinking, freaked out, to himself whenever I grab his hand and put it on my stomach for him to feel the baby "There is something inside of Abby that isn't Abby" but as soon as that baby flashed on the screen I could see on his face such happiness.  Happiness that came in the form of my favorite smile on Joseph's wonderful face.  Could I be so lucky that this man sitting next to me is my husband - my eternal companion and the father of the child I am growing??  I still can't believe how blessed I am.  

Back to our baby.. first of all, baby is very healthy.  Everything is growing the way it should grow and looks the way it should look.  We saw it's brain, face, arms, belly, legs, heart, kidneys, stomach and feet!!  Oh yes, we also got a good look between it's legs...  AND our little baby is a little girl!!  It's funny though, before I went in I was majorly concerned with finding out the gender, but as soon as we were actually looking at the baby it didn't really seem to matter that much.  All I really wanted was for the baby to be healthy.  I realized just how much could go wrong.  The nurse measured and checked all of these things to make sure the baby was growing properly.  I just can't grasp how blessed we are to have a perfectly healthy babe.  A babe that will make Joseph a father, and me a mother.

Her face.  You can see where her two little eye sockets and nose are.  Even though she's pretty much a skeleton and skin right now she's absolutely beautiful.

Her little feet!  One is just behind the other.  They look pretty big so I assume she's going to have awesome balance.  ...Or she'll trip over her huge feet all the time.

If I EVEN need to say it, this is a photo of her bum and legs.  The itty-bitty arrow is pointing at the "proof of gender," yep it looks like a girl to me.

Our Thanksgiving

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything on here.  That probably directly reflects how exciting my life is as a pregnant woman.  Really, the only thing I do these days is make sure I'm not hungry, plan meals throughout the day and occasionally do some laundry.  Did I mention I eat a lot?

Joseph and I decided to make the great trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving this year.  It was really fun and I got to see a lot of people I've missed - unfortunately not all of them.  Can I blame my forgetting to visit people on my pregnancy brain?  Well, I will whether or not that's kosher.  You see, I'm growing another person, so I figure that gives me some leeway or something.  

Dear little Vincent is H U G E.  He's got adorable curly red hair and the cutest little teeth.  I enjoyed watching him a lot while we were there and he's such a boy!  He laughed at everything especially when it involved someone looking like a fool.  It's amazing how much personality children have at this age.  By the bye, he looks EXACTLY like his mother, he's got her smile, eyes and dimples.  Very cute.

TWINS.

He has never learned to crawl but he has mastered the technique of scooting.  So he just sits on the ground and uses his legs in a window wiper motion to get himself where he needs to go (it also usually includes butt hopping as well).  When he gets really excited or just happy he starts spinning in circles which is probably one of the more hilarious things I've seen a kid do.  In this video, he was more than ready to eat some supper.

I was also able to hang out with my niece Scarlet, who has grown about a foot since I saw her last.  It was only six months ago that I saw her but she has learned so much in that time!  She can draw lots of things and knows what letters words start with by their sound - and she can even write some letters.  Her memory is crazy to me, she was telling me about all of the things we've ever done together.  It was so cool.  She's like a little adult, but only 4.  And WHAT a 4 year old!  She hops and jumps and spins around just to release her energy.  It's really cute but weird to think she's so old now.  But I've decided we're twins - she's my little mini-me.  Every time I would say something she would repeat it or she would try to move like me.  

Scarlet is too cute.  I don't think I can say that enough.  She would constantly put her hand on my belly, rub it and say hi to the baby.  

My mom and I.  I'm so glad Joseph and I got to stay for a whole week!

Heck yes.  Please ignore my partially closed eye.

While we were there, when Joseph didn't have anything to do he would play this video game called Red Dead Redemption.  It's all about cowboys and the wild west.  It's actually really entertaining to watch.  

I didn't get many pictures of the people we visited but I did get pictures of my adopted family GELDER.  It was so wonderful to see them and they certainly made an already exciting week fantastic.  

Now, I might have been the only one who noticed... but Lara is 8 months pregnant and I was only 20 weeks.  We looked pretty much the same.  That gives me so much hope for how giant I will become by the end of this pregnancy.  

All in all it was a great week we had.  Although I got to see so much of my family (including extended family in Burlington for actual Thanksgiving) I think the best part was being able to be with Joseph all the time!  No school or work to keep us apart for a few hours.  It was the greatest thing!  But, I can't wait to see all of them again soon.  However I think the next time I'll see most of them will be after I have my baby!  Eeek!!