Houston, We Have a Kicker

Yesterday was the first day that I felt Harper move around a lot. As we all know, she has been a very active baby and I'm sure that will be quite lovely in a couple of months when she's able to actually wake me up at night. What a neat feeling though! Such a mysterious and wonderful bond between a mother and child before she's even here in our arms.

Being the planner that I am, I can see where the anxiety of getting things ready for her arrival could take over anyone's life. So much to read, so much to do and before we know it, she'll be here. I will have to stop myself from wanting to tear down the guest room just yet, ha ha. I remember when Allie was pregnant and how the nesting instinct took over. Amazing how things work!

During our last doctor's visit Grant and I discussed the option, once again, of the Progesterone therapy. Since my uterine wall has been weakened from the surgery I had last November, I am a candidate for pre-term labor. Not to say that I will have PTL but that I could.... After discussing and praying about it for a month we have decided that it is probably best to take what precautions we can to give our baby the best chance of making it full term. I will begin the Progesterone therapy at 22 weeks. A nursing service will actually come to our house to administer the shots so it should be a very easy process. Here are the pictures from our level II ultrasound....

Its a girl!! Eventhough she was breech Dr. P. was able to get a good look!



Face Shot... weird



Sucking her thumb because she is certainly not saying Gig em - gag me!




Thanks for all of the well wishes and kind emails we have received over the past few days. We are beyond ecstatic about the blessing that God has given to us!

Drum Roll Please

Grant and I had our level II ultrasound today. Everything is measuring perfectly. 10 fingers, 10 toes, perfect heart and one giant noggin! Of course we also have the news everyone is waiting for...... drum roll, please.....



We will name her Harper Caroline Nail.

God is good!

Getting the Itch

I thought I would check in and let you know what is going on in the Nail world. Work has been very busy for Grant and me but I am happy about that! More business means more money for us and who doesn't love not having to stress about $$?

I am feeling better as the weeks pass with a little morning sickness here and there. My tummy is getting bigger by the day and starting to get in my way. Fat rolls will tuck in here and there when you bend over but a baby roll goes no where… Grant came home with a staph infection on Monday night so that has been rather interesting. Neither of us has had it before so the first night I had Grant stripping the beds and putting everything he had touched into the laundry in fear of catching the nasty stuff and come to find out -- the next day I might add -- he's not even contagious. I guess our house got a nice spring cleaning :) His hand still has a lot of pain however the blisters have not opened nor has the redness progressed so we are grateful for that.

This morning was just one of those mornings for us. I get the phone call at 8:40 am. “Do you have Harley with you?” Hello, I’m at the office and no, I don’t. Grant turns the house upside down and still nothing. He’s screaming ‘treat” down the street, in his shirt and tie mind you, and said even the lawn men were looking at him like he was nuts. I get in my car and no more than 1 minute later I get the call….. I found him…. He was locked in the laundry room. You know the bedding I spoke of earlier that is patiently waiting to be washed free of Staph? Well, Harley has made him a sweet little nest out of that and was warm and toasty. Dang dog. Then our story continues…. I get the third phone call…. You’re never going to believe this but my car keys are in the door of your car. What?! Not only was Grant an hour late for work from the missing dog but now he had to wait for his keys to be delivered by our courier. What a morning!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We had the loveliest time for Memorial Day and Dad's birthday this past weekend. We packed up early Friday afternoon and headed north to Dad and Irene's beautiful "retreat" on Lake Conroe. It was a full house on the way up; Grant and Stephen in the front seat, me, Harley, Allie and Baby Walker in the back and Shelby and Shiner in the cage in the bed of the truck. It felt like when we drove our blue aerostar to Arizona.... packed and things everywhere - of course minus the 25 hour drive. I say their place is a "retreat" because that's what it feels like when we're there. You wake up in the morning to the smell of dad cooking breakfast, a pot of coffee brewing and you read the newspaper in the crisp morning air on the front porch overlooking the lake. No alarm clocks, no work, generally no phone calls... it's just you and whatever you want to make of it.

Grant and Stephen ransacked good ole Conroe Wal-Mart for a few board games and we had the BEST fun with that. I'd have to say that we have one of the most competitive families I know. Who knew we were so good at drawing with our eyes closed, sculpting stuff out of clay or spelling words backwards?? But don't ask Wade how to spell Hawaii backwards nor ask me to charade out the word "Toaster". What?! Needless to say my motions of toast popping out of the toaster were quite hilarious. Michelle wasn't able to make it out to dad's because Nick's birthday happens to fall the day after so they were celebrating with friends at the Astros game and what not. We'll have to bust out the board games for Father's Day when we're all at the house and see what happens!

I also got to spend some precious time with baby Walker while the fam went out on the boat. He loves his Auntie Krystal!

I had an OB check this morning and everything was wonderful! We are measuring a week and a half early so at about 16 weeks. Baby's heartbeat was a loud and healthy 160 bpm. Go Baby! I had a lengthy convo with Dr. Plavidal with regard to the child birthing classes, epidurals etc and it seems that I have a lot of research and reading to do. Two more weeks until we find out what it is hopefully!!! June 8th here we come!

Perfect

So, I am going to update you with a few postings all in the same day... I'm cheating, I know but time slipped out from under me in the past weeks.

As you all know we decided to proceed with the genetics screening at 12 1/2 weeks gestation. Grant and I decided it would be best for us to be as prepared as possible so, why not? During the ultrasound we had yet another VERY active baby. We thought we might be able to get a sweet peek at the gender but the genetics center we went to charged an additional $150 for the confirmation and we thought, no thanks.... after all what were we going to do differently in a months time?!

Everything came back normal for Downs, Trisomy 13, 18 and 21. A perfect child in my belly... all of God's handy work in our lives. Life is so wonderful I'll tell you.

I smile every day for the gifts that God has given me. A patient, loving and supportive husband and now a perfect child for both of us to bring into this world. God is so good!

Genetics and Such

Yesterday we had a peek at our sweet little baby during the genetics testing. She kept flipping around and was VERY active. The ultrasound results came back normal and the blood work should be back in a week. I thank God every day for the sweet blessing of our child and cannot wait to hold her my arms. PS can you tell I think it's a girl. ha ha. I think we may have a pouter on our hands.... the sonographer said it's bottom lip was just a hangin out.

Baby Walker

I have had the pleasure of spending a few days here and there with my wonderful sister, Allie, and her new baby, Walker. He is the most precious thing I have ever seen and is such a good baby. Allie had a c-section so the recovery has been lengthy for her but that just leaves more time for hog aunties like me to hold the sweet bowl of sugar. It will be so neat to have children only 6 months apart!