He's REALLY Growin' Now!

                                                                   
                                                          18 Weeks! 

How did it get here so fast?  We are almost to the half-way point of this pregnancy and these last 2 months have flown by in such a hurry.  We got to check in on the little man yesterday and due to his squirmy / trying to nap self, we couldn't get a very good picture of him this time.  Our sweet (uncooperative!) boy showed us his hand as we watched him open and close it, as if to say, "Okay, bye! Can I please get back to my nap?"  We were also apparently being too loud for him since he covered both of his ears with his hands to cover up all of the outside noise.  It was precious to see him even if he did just want to be left alone.  He is already 8 oz. (how in the world can they tell that?) and while he's too scrunched up to give an exact length, his legs are looking so long!  I should be feeling those long-legged kicks any day now. 

Lately I've found myself trying to envision what his face will look like.  Wondering if he will look like a carbon-copy of his daddy or if he'll have little characteristics of us both. What he'll look like as a kindergartener and if he'll have a funny personality.  Wondering if I will be able to keep my composure when he proudly brings the first bug inside of the house to show me or if I'll scream bloody murder like I do when I see one now.
It's such a miracle to think we will soon be blessed with a little man with a personality of his own and I can't help but day-dream about it all of the time.

Here are a few more of the pictures from our ultrasound yesterday.  Unless you have a trained eye to tell you what you're looking at, these will probably just look like little glimpses of an alien.

Head is on the right and you can see a piece of his hand and his feet in this one.

 

 

He must have changed direction 5 or 6 times while we were peeking in on him.

 

 

 

Now his head is on the left and I think there's a hand and arm in front of his neck

 

 

And I have no idea what's going on in this picture!  He was SO squirmy!

 

 

 
He got a clean bill of health from the doctor on this check-up and the quad-screen bloodwork (that checks for things like down syndrome and chromosome defects) all came back negative and everything looked to be normal.  We are so thankful for answered prayers for continued growth and what seems to be a healthy baby boy so far. 


Psalm 139: 14
"I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."


And in other news, in regards to our upcoming move.....

We found a house!  We had a house-hunting trip filled with 5 packed-to-the-gills days to try and find a place we would like to live in TN.  While it was mentally and physically exhausting, we came across THE house on the 5th day and were able to get an offer out before we boarded the plane.  We are so grateful to our patient realtor, Billie, for giving up the better part of her week to spend in the car with us roaming the Kingsport area real estate.  We will be living close to some of our best friends and are so happy to be under contract in such a good neighborhood!