11 Weeks

Here is the 11 week belly pic - October 2, 2013:

{That beam of light right there is Julie's mom giving her a little love from Heaven.   Makes me tear up every single time.  I didn't know Julie's mom - but I am SO extremely thankful to the woman who brought her into this world and raised such a loving, compassionate woman.  I am quite certain she is looking down on her beautiful daughter smiling with pride at the remarkable woman she's become} 

Here is the side-by-side from last week:

Definitely grown this week - my goodness.  :)  I love that belly - and I love even more that I got a sneak peak of what is inside that belly this week!

The baby is the size of a fig this week:

It's just over 1 1/2 inches long and is almost fully formed.  Tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under it's gums and some of it's bones are beginning to harden.  As was witnessed by this video:

{I know I posted it yesterday, but for some reason Blogger was being strange and it wasn't playing correctly}.  Anyway, as witnessed by that video, it's busy kicking and stretching - looks like it's doing some sort of water ballet.  :)  Also, this is the first week it will likely get hiccups in there from it's developing diaphragm.  None of these movements will  be able to be felt for another month or two however.

Thank you for all your sweet comments earlier this week about the ultrasound pictures - it seems like many are registering official guesses for a girl.  We won't get to officially find out until the beginning of November - but I am putting a poll on my side-bar...so feel free to join in the fun!  :)

Have a wonderful week, friends :)

Way Back When-sday

Kaitlyn & Sam - Christmas 2007

Falling in Love {again}

Falling in love with Kevin and getting engaged was without question the best time of my life.  I just love the beginning phases of falling in love...it feels like you're on top of the world.  No matter how terrible my day was, going home to him was (and still usually is) the greatest blessing of my life.  In the beginning, there was nothing to argue about, getting to know each other kept conversation interesting, and every little detail about each other was new and fresh.  As we all know, this feeling fades away a bit after some time has passed - the love is still there and quite frankly the hard times strengthen that love so I'm thankful that the new-ness fades and we can experience the high's and low's together.  But there is still a small part of me that misses that new love.  I figured I would never feel it again since I am happily married and have no intention of falling in love with someone else - but how little did I know that I would fall in love with someone else.  A TINY someone else.  I am quite sure this feeling will continue to grow and the day I get to finally meet this little blessing will rank right up there with the day I got to marry this miracle's daddy.  I could stare at these pictures all day long...thankfully I have a job and I can't think about it non-stop, but when it drifts into my mind, being able to take a quick peek makes my heart speed up and reminds me of how blessed I really am.


So yesterday, Julie went to her first ultrasound at her regular OB's office.  When she was going through infertility treatments, our Doctor continued to reference her "HUGE cysts" and had communicated that there is a possibility of these cysts rupturing, which would obviously be very painful and could create some problems for the pregnancy.  With that being said, her OB wanted to keep a close eye on the cysts and of course, while she was at it, she wanted to give us a little preview of our bug.  :)

She immediately texted me when she left the office - that baby's heart rate was 171!!  I thought she had typed it incorrectly, but it was followed up by saying that it was probably that high because it virtually didn't stop moving the entire time they were doing the ultrasound.  Hilarious.


This is a picture of it's back because it wouldn't cooperate :)

Now, if you're anything like my husband (or lots of other people I know), this looks like a big blob.  I don't know why - but I've ALWAYS been fascinated by ultrasounds and I have always been pretty good at being able to detect what I'm looking at.  But for those of you without such an amazing gift - I have labeled the ultrasound for you :)

It's in the same position for this little video - I'm sorry the quality isn't great, but let me explain the little set up we had for this operation:  Julie had the DVD from the doctor's office, she put it in her computer.  Using Dan's phone, she Facetimed me.  Using my phone, I video'd this little gem.  Soooo, the quality is about 4th hand by now :)  Anyway, it's in approximately the same position (head at the right, legs at the left) and you can see it flip forward and backward.  It's little legs keep crossing and uncrossing.  I'm in love.  I've watched it about 15 times since last night - seriously.

And my most favorite of all the pictures.....

This perfect and amazing profile.  Melt.My.Heart.

Need help deciphering?

I am so in love with this little miracle.  :)

Be back later this week with an 11 Week BUMPdate -

10 Weeks

Our first BUMPdate in real time!  YIPPEE!  :)


Here is the 10 week belly pic - September 25, 2013

We are 1/4 of the way done!  By "we", I mean Julie of course!  :)

Julie went to the doctor today and she sent me the sweetest video - if you listen closely, you can hear our miracle's heartbeat.  160 today.

Here is the side-by-side from last week:

The baby is the size of a kumquat this week {I can hardly keep a straight face while talking about this fruit, by the way...}:

It's a little over an inch long and weights less than a quarter of an ounce. It has now completed the most critical portion of it's development - but we are continuing to pray anyway!  Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function.  It's limbs are continuing to develop, but can now bend and are moving all over the place.  Although it's grown rapidly until now, in the coming couple of weeks it will again double in size!

Sorry if that bored you - but it fascinates me.  :)

Julie went to the doctor today and the official measurement shows 10 weeks 3 days (no, we are not changing our weekly BUMPdates to show this new development), but here's the most insane part of all of this.  If today is 10 weeks 3 days, that makes her due date April 20th, 2014...also known this year as:

Easter Sunday

Does that make anyone else get a little choked up?  Or just me?  All along I have given God the glory for the miracle of this journey and the fact that the most important day in the Christian calendar is this baby's due date is just more than I can take.

Lots of Love -

Calling all Mommies...

Alright, so I'm not sure how many of my readers have recently had babies and/or are parents - quite frankly, I don't know WHO all is reading this blog.  I see the stat numbers each day, but I kind of am wondering if my mom and sister are looking at this blog 500 times per day - because I can't figure out who else would be reading?!  :)

Here's the deal: I went to Babies R Us with my Mom, sister, and "might-as-well-be-sister" (Jenny) to look at baby stuff.  I'm telling you, I just about had a nervous breakdown in the middle of that store.  Holy overwhelming.  That was ridiculous.  After that experience, I logged in to the website, because I figured that would feel less overwhelming.  Yep, not so much.  The insanity that is registering for baby registries is SO much more than I expected.  Wow, not ready for that.

Here's where you come in...Would you PLEASE leave me a comment with your favorite NEED to have baby item?  What's worth it and what is going to collect dust in the corner?  How many of those ridiculous blankets do I really need - because probably the 8-12 Babies R Us is telling me is a little much?  Moby Wrap or whatever that other baby backpack looking thing is?  Video monitor or just the "old school" audio monitor?  Drop-ins or bottles?  I mean, I could list questions from now until this baby is born (and I'm not ruling that out at this point!)

On another note, I was recently informed that commenting on this blog might as well of been like breaking into Fort Knox - I'm sorry about that!!  I didn't realize there were 4,378 steps in order to leave me a comment!  I think I fixed that now, so there should be no reason to not leave me comments!  :)  {lets just keep our fingers crossed that we don't get spam comments now...}

You guys are amazing - thank you SO much for your help!

9 Weeks

You all know the drill, I'm writing in real time - but not publishing until we have a little more information and are sure everything is ok with the baby. I'm apologizing in advance to all of you who have asked and I have boldly lied to your face. I hope you forgive me! :)

Here is the 9 week belly pic - September 18, 2013

When she texted me this picture, I almost started crying.  For some reason, her looking down at that belly just gets me all choked up.  The simple fact that OUR baby is in there is enough to start that emotion - but beyond that, the thankfulness I have for this woman is more than I have words for.  I am so beyond thankful that she loves this baby when I can't for the next 7 months.  It is just so overwhelming to me.

Anyway, here is the side-by-side from last week:

Bigger, yeah?  I think so.  And certainly still bigger than I feel like it should be at 9 weeks - but hey, I'm not complaining!  The fact that it's visible makes it way more real to me from this far away.

The baby is the size of a grape this week:

It weighs a fraction of an ounce and is almost 1 inch long.  {how crazy is that?!} It's eyes are fully formed, but will be fused shut for many more weeks.  It's heart is finishing dividing into the 4 chambers, it's little teeth are starting to form, and it's tail is (finally) completely gone.  Seriously, can we just talk about how disgusting that looks in pictures?!  It doesn't even look human!  This week is the first week I don't get a little sick looking at it...is that bad?

This is the last BUMPdate that won't be in "real" time - on Wednesday of this week, she will be 10 weeks, so I will be able to blog it in real time.  Probably planning to have BUMPdates on Thursday's because I don't usually get a picture until Wednesday night.

We are so overwhelmed with the love and support we've been given since announcing this little blessing - THANK YOU!!

Lots of Love,

8 Weeks

You all know the drill, I'm writing in real time - but not publishing until we have a little more information and are sure everything is ok with the baby. I'm apologizing in advance to all of you who have asked and I have boldly lied to your face. I hope you forgive me! :)

Here is the 8 week belly pic - September 11, 2013

And the comparison from last week:

The baby is the size of a kidney bean

Also this week, we traveled to St. Louis to hear the heartbeat.  {9/9/13}  I didn't think this appointment could get here soon enough!  When we finally got into the appointment, he put the ultrasound machine on her belly and immediately saw this:

"One perfect, healthy baby" He says.  Julie's immediate response?  "ONE?!  Move that thing around in there?!  ONLY ONE?!"  So, the Doctor continues to search and yes, there is one perfect, and healthy baby in there.  It's little arm and leg buds were wiggling around all over the place.  And PRAISE GOD, it's little heart was fluttering quickly.  It's heart rate was 168.  Everyone says that's a girl rate.  Whatever that means.  :)

All we care about is that it's healthy and everything looks perfect.

Thanks for the prayers!  :)