Kicks and Heartbeats

Well, yesterday we could hardly wait until 3:45 when it was time to see the doctor. I think that I would feel better if I could just check in on this little baby once a day to make sure there is still a heartbeat. After yesterday, it's probably a good thing that doesn't happen daily, because I think that I could watch our baby move forever!


We were able to see the heartbeat, yes, that's right see the heartbeat. Here is the heartbeat. Don't feel bad, I think it just looks like lines too! On the right though is a picture of the head.


We were also able to see what I think is really cool, Steve still can't really see it though. Down the middle of the picture is a straight white line, that is the spine. Coming out of the white line, Spine, are little white lines that look like a star burst. Those are the ribs!


I know it's a little hard to see, but way to cool not to share!




The coolest picture that we got was our little baby giving us the thumbs up! The doctor said this is the clearest and earliest thumbs up he has ever seen! he was really excited too!




I just liked to sit and watch our baby kick his/her little feet around! I can't wait to meet her/him.

Penny for your thoughts...that's all their worth

To give you an update... my weekend meeting was fantastic, and it was great to see friends once again and get reconnected to the Lord through others words and ideas. It was inspiring and I was hoping for a day of rest and reflection afterwards, but it ended up to be a sudden jolt back to reality. So now here I am supposed to be working, but thought that I would instead put down a few thoughts for y'all. After all, I have a l-o-n-g car ride up to MN this weekend to process my thoughts.

We get to "see" baby Vera again today. I hope that we will get another picture, but I don't want to make any promises.

Well, I really do have a ton of work to do...less than once month left...yikes!
Enjoy your day

For all you out there who were wondering, things here are going well. We are extremely busy right now.
I have a work meeting that lasts Friday through Monday here in St. Louis. Actually it is more of a training event that I was lucky enough to become a part of. It is called SLED, and it is sponsored by my office. This group gathers LCMS teachers from all over the United States to give them the skills that they will need to become principals. We are given a group and a mentor. We also meet 3 times in one year before we "graduate". This is the third meeting. There is a lot of work that is assigned over the year and also throughout the weekend. It is also a lot of information to take in, so I am fried by the time I get home everyday during this meeting.

While I am having fun in my meetings, Steve will be writing a rather large paper. Next week marks the forth and final week of his summer classes. He will then get to enjoy summer for two weeks before heading back to school for four more weeks.

Thankfully we have been able to relax and sleep a bit during this week, to gear up for our up coming fun weekend.

I hope your weekend plans include more fun than ours!

Naps are Good

Since we found out that we were going to be parents, life has gotten busier. New doctor appointments, sleep, shopping trips to find clothes that fit, sleep, deciding on what to register for, and sleep. As you may have picked up, I have been a little on the tired side. I am assured that this will soon go away, but for now I live in a state of exhaustion.

I am lucky that I have not been sick other than a little queasiness every now and then. And sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing, my sense of smell has increased. All the joys and many more of being pregnant.

I started to realize one morning as I was getting ready for work, that the sink in the bathroom needed to be cleaned. I promised myself that I would come home and clean it quick before heading onto the next activity. Well, I got home from work and realized that the couch and a snack sounded much better than cleaning the sink. So the next morning I made the same promise, with the same results. I realized that I can not keep doing the things that I have always done before.

This gave me a thought, Steve and I enjoy a clean house. Now that our lives are changing, can we still achieve this? I would like to think yes. Maybe we are being unrealistic, but I hope that we can still live our lives the way we like to, in a clean put-a-way house.

For now, Steve has really stepped up and helped pick up my slack. And hopefully soon I will have more energy to get back into the swing of things.

The news is true

Well, it is true there is going to be a new little Vera coming to our household. We found out Friday morning around 9:30 am that we were going to be parents! And here's the kicker, we really had no idea.

We had an ultrasound done and we got to see our baby waving it's arm at us, an occasional leg, and it's face. It was a busy little thing! For all of those who understand the stats that they throw at you when you are pregnant, here they are:

The baby is 10 weeks old, 3 centimeters, heart rate of about 160, and due to enter this world on December 25th. Yup, Christmas Day. That is why we have chosen the name Jesus (said Hay-Zeus) Navidad Vera.

Now I have to say that as a person who has never had a child before, I used to get quite annoyed with people who talk about how many weeks along they are, and I have to try to convert it into months, but now I am understanding why you have to do that. The baby grows so much each week, that it is impossible to simply keep track of months. Also those little ultrasound pictures, where you have to be trained to see something that resembles a baby. But oh yes, I have turned into one of those people who share the first pictures of our baby! Here it is!

The other question we have gotten from everyone is, "Are you excited?" the answer is simply how can you not be excited? So yes, of course we are excited!