Addie Meets Sophie... Well Kind of

Yesterday was a big day for Miss Addison. She came with her mommy and daddy to the hospital to see the ultrasound of her sister, Sophie. Addie didn't really know what was going on, but she was excited to be in a new place. I am now 37 weeks and the Dr. (with a little pleading on our part), decided to do an ultrasound to check the weight of the baby. We are concerned because Addie weighed 9 lbs when she was born. Many people say the 2nd baby is even bigger... so we wanted to keep an eye on her!

Here we are waiting to be called in to the ultrasound room. Addie loved climbing in and out of the waiting room chairs. This is her "Cheese Face", she just sticks her chin out. :<) Yes, I know I look huge! Only 3 weeks to go~


Even though Addie really has no concept of a "baby" being in mommy's tummy, we try to teach her anyway. Anytime we say "Where is Sophie?" or "Where is your sister?" she will point to my tummy. Sometimes, however she'll point to her tummy. Let's just hope she's not too confused when Sophie turns out to be an actual baby. Otherwise, all tummies from now on are called Sophie.


We were so excited to be getting a 3-D ultrasound, only to find out that Sophie was too big to do a 3-d ultrasound to predict her weight. Our technician was so nice, she told us everything we were seeing and what to expect at this stage in pregnancy as far as Sophie's growth. She went through and measured her head, tummy, femur bone, spine and a lot more to predict how big Sophie is. In order for the results to be accurate, she needed to come within a week and a half of her actual age. The technician measured everything at 35 weeks and 6 days. She was a week off, but said that it would still be acurate.
After all was measured (and we were reassured SEVERAL times that Sophie is indeed a girl), the computer came up with a weight of 6 lb.s 4 oz. The catch, however, is that the computer could be in error of 14 oz either way. So she could actually be anywhere between 4 lb 10 oz and 7 lbs 4 oz. I was pretty disappointed to have such a range. I am personally predicting Sophie to be towards 7lbs or more currently, which means she could be anywhere from 8.5-9.5 when she is born. Addie had the same ultrasound to check her weight, the day before she was born. During that ultrasound they predicted her weight to be anywhere from 6-8lbs. Well... they were off, she was 9 lbs. All this to say, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, INDUCE ME EARLY!

Here is a cute picture of Sophie's profile. The circle towards the top left is her hand at her mouth (possibly sucking her thumb). Then you as you go up and to the right from the mouth you can see her little nose sticking out and her forehead. Don't feel bad if you can't see it, we've had some practice!


Ok- so I know we said we didn't get the 3-D ultrasound, well we thought we weren't going to. Our technician was so wonderful, she took the time to take us to the next room to try and get a 3-D picture of our baby for us. These can be a little tricky to see. The best picture we could get is of her feet. Her head was turned and we couldn't see her face very well. If you look at the middle left you see a dark black spot- move over to the right a little and there are her toes, andmove up from the toes and there is her foot, ankle and calf. I do believe I see some little baby rolls on her feet/ankles. Then above the calf to the left is her other foot/toes- you can't see that one as well. Exciting, huh?! If any of you are thinking of having a 3-D ultrasound, you definitely should. The technician said the ideal age to do it at is between 26-28 weeks b/c the baby is not quite so big, but has skin at that point.


So Addie came in and was able to see Sophie on the ultrasound, of course she didn't understand, but she was there anyway and new something exciting was going on! Even though Sophie was not as big as I expected her to be, we are so excited to of been able to see her little heart beating and her diaphram moving up and down (practicing her breathing). She is completely healthy and is in no distress. Her daddy, mommy and sister are so excited to finally hold her and have her meet them. Not much longer!

This Journey...

I used to be an avid journal writer. I would write prayers, thoughts, songs... Needless to say I have about 8 journals stashed away from about 12 years ago to the present. Today I began to journal and realized that as I was writing my thoughts down, I was writing them in a "blog form." Basically, I was writing to all of you.

Looking back at some of my journals today from the past few years I realized a few things about myself: 1. I often feel or have felt like a failure 2. My prayers/thoughts in past entries revolved around God making me a better person 3. I wanted/expected God to change me -period.
Okay, so those three things aren't terrible and they are probably pretty common things to go through. The problem lies in this: I have often felt like I failed and when I did I wanted God to take the responsiblity for it; I wanted God to fix me, but how could he when I felt like he failed me too.
So where does that leave me today? A failure? No.
Life is made up of a series of stages. In the past 5 years I have been through the: Newleywed stage, New career stage, Not sure if I like this career stage, Not so Newlywed Stage, Moving/Transition stage, New parent stage and soon to be 2nd child stage. Those are just some of the stages life can bring. Each of those stages is like a life of it's own, together each stage creates your life.
I prefer to think of relationships in a different way. Relationships can have changes, just like life. But instead of one phase ending and other beginning before we realize it, Relationships are a journey- not to be completed. Just like life, relationships are filled with experiences, failures, successes and at the end of our journey we are changed.
Over the past 12 years, has my relationship with God grown? Has my Journey been changing me? Absolutely. Have I felt like a failure over and over in the past 12 years? Dfeinitely. Was I always on the right track? Maybe, Maybe not. Do I believe God has failed me? Not in a million journeys.
As one of my favorite artists, Sara Groves, writes- "This Journey is my Own."
http://www.saragroves.com/store.asp# (6th song)
And so this journey continues. Life will bring me in and out of different phases, but this journey with God will thankfully never end.


For my first blog post I would first like to thank all of those who inspired me to be the blogger that I am today: First my husband from blogs about a sandwich being our daughter to your latest inspired thoughts, thank you for having a blog I can count on to never know what will pop up next. Then, to all my friends who have recently started posting blogs (yes- Ashley and Kyle) and my dear friend who posted blogs from her second home in Ethiopia (read daily by me and many of you!) thank you for your inspiration and motivation. Oh and to my small group- who has taught me that this journey works so much better if talked about and openly shared.