Things That Make Me Happy :)

This morning, Martin got up very early to go on a business trip and somehow Jake messed up his alarm so the kids came tumbling into bed with me at 5:30. Even with that early start to our day, it was a great morning. I was aware of and grateful for these things today:

• the kids still want to snuggle with me
• Jake will reach out with his feet until he finds my legs so that we're touching when we're lying in bed together -- I love that physical connection
• Sydney still snuggles with her 'Buddy' and sucks her thumb (although now she hides both if she's anywhere but home with her family); she's been doing this since she got Buddy when she turned 1 and I have many memories of her like this all snuggled up and sleepy
• Jake, in his exuberance, will forget to be cool and will yell 'Love you too Mom!!' as he runs down the sidewalk to school - this might be the last year for that and I love it!

Anyway, that's it for today, was just what was on my mind...

Our Baby!

It's been forever since we've written and to those who have stuck with us and still check the blog periodically - thank you! Things have been hectic but, for the most part, good. We've been settling in, learning how to live with one another - which is a whole different thing when it's four people figuring that out instead of just two. But, I think we're all thriving at this point and surely figuring out our routines and things that make each of us unique - good & bad :).

Some of you know that on the 10th of February, we found out we are having a baby. We are now right at 12 weeks pregnant and we had a sonogram today. We were concerned about the possibility of twins because I gained a lot of weight up front and about genetic problems (primarily Downs Syndrome) since I will be forty at the end of this year. What we saw today looks at this point like ONE perfectly healthy little girl. What a blessing and a relief!

She had her hand up by her face and we saw a perfect profile, four fingers and a little thumb, four functioning chambers of the heart, the stomach, head, arms, legs, spinal column, and other internal organs and measurements that all point to things developing exactly as they should for a healthy baby. The Dr. guessed at the baby being a girl and we told him we won't hold him to it if we find out later it's a boy. The sonogram technology seems to have advanced significantly, as rarely before have I seen what they are seeing and this time I really could tell what they were pointing out.

Below are a couple of the pictures - one of the head & body...

...and another closer up of the profile.

At the last minute, the kids were asking when they got to hear the heartbeat. I told Jake I was planning to wait until summer when they were out of school. One of his school rivals, Presley, is also having a baby brother or sister and he told me that Presley got to miss school for her baby. So, at the last minute I asked Martin what he thought, called my Mom to see if she could meet us there to take the kids in case something was wrong and we had to stay or do further testing - and we took the whole family to the appointment. We weren't sure if they were going to stick with their published 3 guest maximum rule but luckily they welcomed us all back and the kids were on their best behavior, which helped! It was a little less 'intimate' for Martin & me to have everyone there, but it was great fun and excitement for us all. Here I am on the sonogram table...

And here is Sydney looking at one of the pictures.

And Jake looking at one as well.

What a wonderful day!!