Pregnancy Update!

Hooray!! We are 20 wonderful weeks along in our pregnancy- halfway there.

We just got back yesterday from our FABULOUS trip to Colorado. I will be posting more about that soon... for now, just a pregnancy update.

We went to the doctor for our ultrasound on the Friday before we left (8-8-08). As I mentioned before, we were torn about finding out the sex of the baby. Ryan wanted to... I thought about letting him have the secret... but ultimately, we went for it!

The ultrasound was amazing. Shannon (yes, I am on a first-name basis with the ultrasound tech) showed us so many different parts of our growing, healthy baby boy. "There are the kidneys... the spine... the heart (all four parts were visible!)..." The technology is astounding. God is knitting this little one together inside of my womb- from the tiniest little being into a healthy growing boy.

Staring up at that screen and seeing our precious baby BOY was such a cool experience. Yes, it's a boy!!! At first, the baby was being stubborn and didn't want to show off his "man parts". He seemed a little irritated that she was poking around all up in his space! But towards the end of our time, he lost all sense of modesty and revealed for the world that he is indeed a boy!

Finding out the sex was the best decision we could have made. It has provided so much of an opportunity for us to bond with our baby-- especially for Ryan. Ryan is so proud that his boy was so obviously a boy at nineteen weeks! Shannon said she'd bet her job on this one... :) Anyway, the whole experience made the pregnancy so real for Ryan, and we have been ecstatic ever since.

So, that's our baby news for now! Here are my Week 20 Photos-- a big difference, I think, from Week 19!

Love and blessings,
Sarah

19 weeks

We are 19 weeks along! I looked at these photos and said, "I am starting to look pregnant!" Hope you think so too.



We go to the doctor tomorrow for a sonogram. We might be able to figure out what the sex is. The only problem now is... we can't decide whether to find out, and if we do find out, whether to tell people or not. I just haven't been able to make up my mind about it! I think we will just wait and see what things feel like tomorrow.

Pray that all goes well for our appointment!
Blessings,
Sarah, Ryan, and Wee One

Keeping the home

Not writing about pregnancy for once! I have some blogs that I like to read pretty regularly. Most of them have to do with homemaking, maybe even some child-rearing ones. Today, one of them mentioned this post from A little Loveliness. I thought it was sweet and true. I loved the little details this woman put into serving others with meals.

These are the kinds of things I feel so blessed to do as a stay-at-home wife. Cooking, sewing, creating, beautifying, taking care of my home and of others... I find such joy in these things! I am inspired by other women who clearly are more naturally gifted in these areas, and I love to gather ideas from them.

My momma would be the first to affirm this statement: I am not a naturally clean and neat person. Oh boy. Trying to get me to clean my room growing up was like trying to pull teeth from a squirmy three-year-old mouth. And don't even get me started about the junk... I mean... treasures you might have found underneath my bed. I was a messy messy messy little girl!

Things didn't change much when I went to college. My roomie and I were unbelievably messy in our dorm. Our poor RA. I think we scared her to death when she came by one day. :)

But things did change towards the end of college and then when I got married. All of the sudden, I wasn't just cleaning to clean... I was keeping a home. My home. My husband's home. The home the Lord has given us.

That is not to say that I am the goddess of all things domestic. I honestly have to work pretty hard (and am a rather slow worker) at keeping our lovely home. It definitely still does not come naturally to me. But there is so much more purpose in it now. And I am learning.

I am challenged by the words of Colossians 3:23-- "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." And since I am currently blessed to be a keeper at home (Titus 2), I am called to do it with all of my heart. As working for the Lord. What a challenge!

Well that is all for now! I am off to keep this home-- may my efforts bring Him glory!

Love,
Sarah

Feeling the baby move

So, I know it's pretty early to be feeling the baby move. BUT...

I think I mentioned in my last post that I thought I felt the baby move. Well as the week goes on, I become more convinced that those little bubbles are our little blessing giving us a kicking show! It is pretty amazing. I felt it first last week when I was laying in bed. It is usually when I am sitting, especially reclining.

Well yesterday, I told Ryan that I definitely thought I felt the baby moving. He was playing video games, and I was reclining in my pink chair, watching.

Between games, I asked if he wanted to try and feel the baby. (I didn't think he would actually be able to. They say that this is too early.) So, he put his hand on my belly, and !blip! he felt a little kick! I could hardly believe it!

And if we were tempted to be skeptical, we tried again last night when we were laying in bed. Sure enough! He felt that little blessing kicking my belly some more!

How amazing is that?!?!?! I'll tell you. Very.

18 weeks

Well, yesterday we officially hit the 18 week mark! I'm not growing quite as rapidly or roundly in the tummy as some pregnant women do... but we can definitely tell a difference! It seems to get firmer by the day. Ryan can really tell the difference when he is hugging me. :) I love to reach down and feel that there actually is a baby in there-- not just extra fat!

On a more exciting note, I think I may have started feeling the baby move. The other night we were laying in bed, and I told Ryan that I thought I might have felt the baby! Of course, it also could have been indigestion or gas... haha... his reply, ever practical, was that we'd feel the baby soon enough! :)

Still, I couldn't help thinking yesterday that I might actually be feeling the baby. It felt like little blips, little bubbles down where the baby is in my abdomen. And I felt it on and off during the day. Of course, I won't really know for sure until I start feeling more movement and can tell it is definitely the baby (and not some other function in my body!).

I read somewhere that the baby can start hearing sounds from the outside world about now. Ryan and I are going to start reading to the baby together. I'm thinking about reading through the Psalms to the baby, and then asking what Ryan might want to read. It is amazing how even in the womb, babies can begin to know what their parents sound like! How I pray that God forms these little ears and this little heart to hear Him clearly and love Him fully. I pray that the Scripture we read to him or her might impact his or her little life even in the womb. May this child truly be like Psalm 22:9-10---

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.

10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother's womb you have been my God.

Psalm 22 has a lot of prophecy about Jesus, and it is clearly written in a time of deep anguish. I cannot claim of course that it all applies to my child- nor would I want it to! But these two verses stick out to me as something to pray for our child... for though the child will inevitably face trials and times of anguish, I pray that he (or she) will always have this assurance of completely belonging to God from birth.

Well that's all for now. Blessings on you and your loved ones,

The three of us