Our Growing Family!

Few things in life touch your soul like the moment Jeff and I experienced today. We were blessed to see and hear the heart beating of our second child for the very first time! Our newest arrival is due on August 26th. He/she is currently 1.35 cm in length, a textbook measurement for their age (7 weeks and 5 days) :) The heartbeat was also textbook perfect in rhythm and speed and was one of the most beautiful sounds I think I've ever heard. We feel blessed beyond measure and have prayed for this child long before the Lord placed it in my belly :)

The story of our sweet pea's due date is a pretty cool one. The Lord truly listens to prayer...and I think He takes mine literally! To back up a bit, with Laura, her original due date was Feb. 27th. My prayer, over and over, was to just make to my 5th grade gifted field trip on Feb. 17th. I wanted to support my kiddos on all their hard work with their engineering project. So, what did the Lord do? He allowed me to walk into the hospital only a few short hours after the field trip was over and begin labor only once I was in a gown and checked into the hospital! Of course, we all know that I gave birth early that next morning on the 18th :) With this little one, we prayed over and over that the child would be born by the end of August so that we could have our children every other grade level apart. I cherished all the shared experiences that I had with my siblings growing up and both Jeff and I wanted to give that to our children. So after almost half a year of trying, the Lord blessed us with our little one....when do you ask? The end of August, of course, just the date we prayed for :)

This picture is a bit different from Laura's first ultrasound based on the position of the baby in the uterus. With Laura, we got a side profile. With this sweet one, we get a "face-on" look...he/she is looking straight at us! You have to look at the picture from right to left. On the far right, you'll see a circle...that's the yolk sac. Immediately to the left of that, you'll see the head, followed by the body and feet. You can even see the arms beginning to really bud from each side of the body! We can't wait for Laura to meet her little brother or sister!