It's a girl!!

We had our first ultrasound today, and it's a girl! The doctor said that she's in the 47th percentile for growth, and that everything looks perfect and healthy! Below are some pics, and we'll probably upload the ultrasound video online sometime later tonight. Enjoy!


She's flicking us all off ;-)


Blood flowing to and from the heart:


The spine:


Her face:


And finally....

1 Year Anniversary

Today marks one year of marriage for Daniel and I. :)

Here are some pictures from our celebratory day at Maymont Park in Richmond!














You can credit Daniel for many of these very artistic pictures. We spent a little while at the park today, then went to Short Pump, "shopped" for a little while (I think we spent 7 bucks), and then went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (my FAVORITE!!!!!). It was a good day. :)

Also.... on Wednesday, we see our first ultra-sound! Hopefully I'll get some pictures or video from that to upload for you all to see. And maybe we'll get to see if it's a boy or girl! I'll update you later Wednesday night!

Gypsy.... and other things

I need to show you all her new favorite position....


Yes, that's right, she likes to use my shoulder as a seat and hang her head and arms over the top of the chair. Go figure. I don't know why she does that.... tell you what though--she sure has a bony butt!

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see her and my brother in a few weeks!! We are going to Cancun with my parents for about a week.... it'll be the last hurrah for Daniel and myself before the baby is born. Hopefully the food will be better this time than it was on our honeymoon :) Oh, and hopefully we don't get sick!

I'm doing a Beth Moore Bible study with the girls in my small group called "Jesus the One and Only." I actually am really enjoying it! It does take quite a bit of time each day, but it's been really neat so far. There were 2 really cool things this week that I realized in my study that I had never seen/thought about before. The first one is in Luke 4... for some reason, I had either never recognized the significance of this passage or had never read it. Either way, Jesus is in the temple one Sabbath doing his Sabbath service, and it was His turn to get up and read the scroll. Tradition was that someone would get up and read the scripture for the day and expound on it once they were finished reading. So Jesus gets up and reads from Isaiah 61:1-2, which is the passage basically describing the Messiah's job description. So, he finishes reading that and everyone's eyes are fixated on Him. I like to think of this as a special Holy Spirit moment. :) Then, he expounds on the passage by saying, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Whoah! Way to go, Jesus. I just thought that was so cool.

The next thing that really struck me is this. So, we're all familiar with the idea that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted, so that's nothing new. But did you know that the scriptures say that when Jesus comes out of that season in His life and returns to Nazareth, He returns "in the power of the Holy Spirit." (Luke 4:14) Think about it.... whenever we are faced with a season of temptations or serious trials in our lives, we're oftentimes totally defeated, miserable, and deflated human beings. Obviously I know Jesus is God in the flesh, but if you read the account of the temptation, He does exactly what we should do whenever we face "trials of many kinds"--revert back to God's Word. Find that victory and strength immediately in the Word of God. When Satan tempts Jesus, Jesus immediately quotes scripture to rebuke him. And in doing so, he comes out of that time of temptation in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. Tell you what man, I want to be that kind of person who can refute temptation and the attacks of the enemy with Scripture immediately.

So here's to a.) reading and studying that Scripture so that it can be hidden in our hearts and b.) calling that Scripture to mind immediately when things cross our paths.

Tummy pictures :)

So..... I got a comment from someone ;-) who told me I don't update this enough, and that I need to include pictures. SoOOOOooooooo, here is an update with pictures!

First of all, uhh, Daniel's best friend came up and visited us this weekend. He's a really cool dude. We need to find him a woman!!! I was really glad they got to spend some time together.

I had a sleepover with the jr. high girls in the youth group Friday night (not at our house). That was pretty fun, and I hope that the girls had a good time and got to develop some good relationships. And can I just say how excited I was that they were all tired by 11?! :)

Also, I need to show you what my cat's doing right now:


This second picture is how my cat wakes me up every morning. She doesn't mess with Daniel. Ever. But, David got a nice taste of good ol' Gypsy Friday night... I think she was in his room messing with stuff and jumping all over the bed the whole night (cuz I wasn't there). Haha. But usually, at about 5:30, she comes in, purring and spreading her wet nose goop all over my face. She's hungry. So, she decides it's time for me to get up so I can feed her. Thanks, dear. :)

Okay, so here are some 21 week tummy pictures. Enjoy!




So there you have it! Later :)

Update!

Welp, it's been a while. Sorry!

First, and biggest news! Daniel got to feel the baby kick for the first time last night. Very cool. :) He was pretty excited about it. Like.... it was the most exciting thing in the last year. So that was very neat. Right before we were going to go to sleep, he asked me if the baby was moving around at all, and I said, "No.. I think it's asleep." So he put his mouth right on my belly and said, loudly, "WAKE UP!!!!!!" And then..... I think he startled the baby, cuz it started moving! So, I had Daniel put his hand where I normally feel movement and push in pretty hard, and we felt movement. So now, it's definitely a reality for Daniel--there's actually something alive and moving around inside my tummy!

Speaking of tummy's.... I was at Curves the other day working out and one of the ladies asked how far along I was, and I told her I was 20 weeks. And she goes, "REALLY?! You just look like you ate a big lunch!" I thought that was pretty cute. I definitely have a bit more of a belly now though. It's like in the past 3 days I've started to poke out considerably more than before. I remember my doctor telling me that between weeks 20 and 30 is when your body really figures out it's pregnant and starts adjusting to it moreso than before, so maybe that's why?

In other news, I helped the drama dept. at Daniel's school this past weekend with their musical, Into the Woods. If you've never seen this musical, let me just say that it's probably one of the toughest musicals I have ever seen. Musically. It's SO rhythmically difficult. And the sad thing was that the chorus teacher at the school told the drama teacher that he wasn't going to help with the musical, so the students had been rehearsing for 3 months for this performance without any real musical help (?!!). So I get in there as a last-minute arrangement 2 weeks before opening night, and it was a nightmare... complete nightmare. Originally I was just supposed to play piano for them, but there was no way I could learn all the music and help them learn their parts at the same time. So I bought an accompaniment CD with most of the music on it, edited it, and that's what we used for the performance. In 2 weeks, the kids did an AMAZING job pulling everything together. I can't tell you how proud of them I am! They pulled it together and it was a totally different show this past weekend than when I first got to rehearsal 2 weeks before. If you aren't familiar with the musical, I encourage you to go onto You Tube and look it up... watch clips from the song "Your Fault." You'll see. :)

I've picked out crib bedding! Here's what I want to get for a girl and here's what I want to get for a boy. We'll find out 2 weeks from today if we're having a boy or a girl, so I can't wait! Once we figure that out, I'll register. So, any of you who have babies, please send me suggestions of things I should definitely register for! Cuz.... I have no idea :) Oh, and if it helps, I plan to breastfeed.

Daniel will take some pictures of my belly this weekend and I'll post them on Facebook, so we can keep up with the growth. Hope you have a great night!!!

...

Can I just say that I am completely exhausted and in desperate need of a break?

Yes? Well, good, cuz I just did.

That is all. :)