She's Moving!

Or rather...now I can feel her moving!! Yesterday I had finished lunch and was working at my desk when all of a sudden I felt a little punch from the inside. It was unlike anything I have felt before, so I reasoned it must be the baby! Over the last several weeks I have thought perhaps each twinge or gurgle in my tummy was our girl, but couldn't say with certainty that it wasn't just gas or digestion. I was beginning to feel like a bad mommy since I had heard from others that they started feeling their babies way before 20 weeks. Was something wrong with my mothering abilities if I couldn't even feel my child? I realize this is silly and I honestly didn't fret too much over it, but boy am I glad I am on the other side! Pardon my enthusiasm, but this might been the coolest thing about being pregnant. I can't wait until the kicks are strong enough for Andrew to feel them!

On another note, our good friend Sherah Witt took some lovely photos of our family at the lake last weekend and I have been able to use them to update our pictures on the blog. You can see more of her work here: sherahwittphotography.blogspot.com. Our specific shoot here: HERE

p.s. I have definitely "popped"

Nathalie and Baby M

Andrew's reaction to Having a Daughter

As you know we decided to indeed discover if Baby M is a boy or a girl. I am so glad we did! I still think it is awesome when people have the discipline to wait, but for us it has helped us bond with our daughter and imagine life with a girl.  Andrew thought we were going to have a boy, along with 65% of our blog readers which I think is 9 people, and when he was told he would be a baby girl's daddy, he was a little surprised and shocked. His first reaction to me was, "We are going to have a baby!", like it wasn't until that moment it was real for him. Then as if accepting it he said, "we are going to have a daughter...wow...wait.... what if she doesn't get asked to the dance?" This comment caught be a bit off guard. This was his first reaction to the news? I tried to assure him that the dance was a long ways off. Then he said as if he hadn't heard me, "what if she DOES get asked to the dance!?" It seemed the reality of this scenario in his mind would be even worse than the first.

Even though we laughed about it, it became apparent to us how much we already love our girl and how much we want to protect her. I imagine these feelings will become even stronger once she is here. While I think it is good for us to love and protect our daughter, we are also asking the Lord to help us trust him with what he has for her life. We know that his path for her is perfectly planned and ultimately for His glory, but I suspect living this out will be difficult at times. We are praying about this.

Andrew now refers to "us" as "his girls" and it is really cute how much he has embraced having a daughter. I know she will adore him just like all the other baby girls in our life (there are 5 other baby girls in our small group alone and they all love Andrew). He talks to her and constantly touches and kisses my belly for his daddy daughter time. It is adorable and I love Andrew more or differently somehow now that we are going to be parents together.

In addition to seeing her private parts, we also got to see her heart, spine, lungs, kidneys, bladder, and stomach. Although the ultrasound photos of these anatomies are not as interesting to look at, I found them beautiful to behold! It is a miracle that all of her spine is in tact and perfectly formed. Likewise that she has functioning kidneys and bladder etc.. I am just in awe of how all of this happens in such a short amount of time and how thankful we are to God to have made our baby (at least as far as we know) healthy.

I am still eager to feel her move inside me. So far nothing on that front, but I am told I should start to feel her any time. I cannot wait for that!!

Nathalie and Baby M

Baby m is..........

A........

Beautiful baby....



GIRL!!!!!!


We are thrilled and will share more soon!

Nathalie and baby M

Weekend at the Lake

I am about a week late in posting this, but last weekend we had the great privilege of visiting Possum Kingdom Lake! Andrew's brother's wife Amy spent her childhood weekends on this reservoir, and her parents recently bought a second lake home right on the water. They invited us to their lovely place for a weekend of fun and sun. We had a great time! Since I am with child I was unable to partake in the tubing/skiing/jet ski fun but very much enjoyed watching the others from the boat and taking quite a few dips in the lake! It was so refreshing to get away and some relief from the heat in the water. I have concluded riding on speed boats is one of my favorite activities in this world.

Humm...this is not our best together shot but the only one I have of both of us. Notice I wore my lap swimming suit. It did the job but was not the cutest thing on the lake for sure. I have a variety of lovely 2 piece swim wear options, however I personally feel totally uncomfortable wearing them at 17 weeks pregnant. Some girls can totally pull this off....I am just not one of them.

Oh well...me and Baby M had a great time totally covered up in our 1 piece lap suit. Very fun weekend indeed!

On the pregnancy front, I am just about 18 weeks along now and feeling awesome. I don't think I have ever felt this hungry in my whole life though! Food has also never tasted so good! For the first time I always know exactly what I want and feel completely satisfied when I get it. Our baby also apparently loves some spice. I have been craving all kinds of spicy food, the greater the kick the better. My current favorite are sandwiches from Potbelly with their famous hot peppers. If you don't know what I am talking about you are seriously missing out. Oh man that is a good sandwich! I also am cooking with a lot of jalapenos and Asian hot sauce...yumm! This Thursday we have our "big" ultrasound where they will measure and look at all of his/her parts and tell us with certainty if Baby M is a he or a she. We are super excited and anxious for Thursday to arrive!

Nathalie and Baby M

Belly Shots

The Belly Shot has been something I have been meaning to do weekly since we discovered Baby M. 16 weeks into it I have two pictures taken on the same day last week. This is even the first baby. You are supposed to be good about this kind of thing with the first. I think my hesitation to take these images are due to several factors. First of all, how pregnant I look over the course of a single day seems to very quite a bit. I wake up looking fairly normal, slightly poochy and my pants don't button but I can still wear them. However, by the time I get into bed you'd think I was about to give birth right then and there! It is a very strange phenomenon that I have read is normal, likely due to bloat, but not shared by most of the women I know who have been pregnant. The question this raises for me is when to take the belly shot on any given day? I mean at what point is my belly the most accurate so to speak?

These shots were taken before dinner so I was a little larger than that morning but not as big as I would be after eating my evening meal. The other issue is I still feel like I don't quite "look" pregnant. As you can see, there doesn't seem to be a distinguishing bump just yet so I am left with photographing my extra chub until I "pop". I have been promised this will happen soon! Let's hope so! So here they are. I am making a commitment to be better about taking and sharing these pictures. I know I will appreciate them once Baby M is here. Oh and thank you to Maria who took these and helped me find my best side angle if there is such a thing!

Nathalie and Baby M