Jake vs. his Parents

It has become clear that while I SHOULD be in bed, relishing sleep, I instead spend time making power point comparisons of either my children or, now, my husband and I versus Jake!

No one can decide who Jake looks like. Or they'll say that such-and-such looks like Ben while another part looks like me. I guess he gets his fabulous looks from both sides (haha). Anyway, I'll let you decide for yourself! (I have to say, those eyebrows/that forehead - those expressions are definitely from Ben. But the big old mouth and Turley nose? What do you think?)

~in case you couldn't tell, the first picture is Ben, the rest are me~

March for Babies

TEAM BABY BOOT CAMP
(Lynn, Marlis, me, Anne, Nancy, Cathy, Lillian, Julie & Jamie)

Saturday we had our March for Babies. It was a lot of fun! Jake and I met up with the Baby Boot Camp moms at Peet's first thing Saturday morning and then we all mosied on over to the starting line together. And because of all of you that sponsored me, I was a "Top Walker" and got a hat, long-sleeved T-shirt, sweatshirt and gift certificate for a book for Jake! I also got my name and picture in our Boot Camp newsletter with the other two Top Walkers, so that was fun!


The walk was long and the day was really warm, but there was so much good conversation the time just flew by. Jacob spent most of his stroller ride next to his buddy Joey so they had a great time. They swapped cars and trains and snacks and kept each other well occupied.


Again, I can't say thank you enough to your sponsorship and support with this walk. I truly appreciate it and, especially being pregnant, know that's it's going toward a good cause!

Siblings

I had to post this comparison of the two babies. The picture on the left is Jacob's 17 week ultrasound profile picture. The one on the right is this baby's 17 week picture. I am amazed at how similar they are. The nose and the area from the nose to the upper lip - looks like this baby might get the Turley nose, too! I guess we'll have to wait until September to really see, but it looks probable!

Good Results

Saw the doctor today and all the baby's measurements look terrific! They've updated my due date to 9/8/08 - 4 days earlier. The earlier the better in my opinion! It was hot today and it gave me a little glimpse into how uncomfortable I may be this summer! Thank God for a/c and pools. (Missing the beach right about now - it will be worse this summer!)

Jacob talked a lot about his "baby sister" today so he is in much better spirits. We spent the whole day out and about today and he was an absolute champion. I was so impressed and proud. No issues, no complaining - and he only napped about an hour in the car. For anyone with a child, you know what a big deal this is! :)

By the way, speaking of great results - a HUGE thank you to everyone who is sponsoring me in the March of Dimes March for Babies! I will walk hard for all of you! My original goal was $200 and thanks to you all, I'm already up to $360!! Amazing - you are all amazing. The walk is in 2 weeks - I'll let you know how it goes.

It's a....

GIRL!


We had our "big" ultrasound today and found a little girl kicking around like crazy in there! She was moving like a madwoman. It was really amazing and fun to watch. She did not stop moving the entire hour we were in there. Of course the tech couldn't give us any details, but from what we could tell she has a brain, beating heart, two arms, two legs, fingers, toes, eyes, nose, mouth, etc. All the essentials. The tech did tell us she has a good heartbeat (144 - average I guess is between 120 - 160? Something like that?) and we will learn more at our next doctor's appointment. Also, the AFP (blood test) came back negative, which means they did not detect and abnormalities. Good news!

Jakey was not very happy about having a sister at first. He really wanted a brother. But by the end of the evening he was talking about how he was going to teach his baby sister to play trains - his favorite pasttime - and even show her which direction the trains go. Now if that isn't love, I don't know what is.

the Belly

The belly is growing. And growing and growing and growing. I am the size now that I was when I was 6 months pregnant with Jacob! Oh well, I guess my body knows what it's doing! I have a couple of belly pictures, but not too many. I'll try to take more as the growth speeds up. The first pic here is when I first found out I was pregnant. The second pic is 10 weeks, and the last pic is 16 weeks. My, my how we've grown! (I'm now 17 weeks.)

As for gender, we are hoping Thursday we'll be able to tell. Can't wait! I had a favorite boy name and a favorite girl name picked out but Ben didn't love either one and I didn't like the ones he suggested. So today we finally came up with a list of 5 boy names and 7 girl names we both like. I guess we can narrow it down when we find out what we're having. Try them on for size and see how they fit, see what Jake thinks (though he's already decided "It's a brother and we are calling him Daniel.") We will let you know!

The Joys of Potty Training

So Jacob's potty training is going amazingly well! (Knock wood!) Everyone told me to wait until he was ready and not to force the issue. I was getting impatient (especially knowing there are a LOT of diapers in my future!) but I waited, or WE waited, I should say, and now I'm so glad we did. I know kids can be encouraged along, but I think for us waiting was definitely the right thing to do. He was ready and because of that we've had very few accidents and fewer fights. It was a bit of a struggle the first week, but I think a lot of that was the fact that we were on vacation. Not the best circumstances under which to try this huge new thing! But it all worked out and, for now, it's going really well. We are so grateful and very proud of him. (Here's a picture of him going potty with his great friend, Sage).

On another note, we should hopefully find out a week from today what "flavor" (as Ben would say) this little peanut in my belly is. I will be 17 weeks tomorrow and the time is flying. It is a bit frightening! We have both felt the baby moving, which is incredible, considering it's still pretty early. Big baby? Maybe! We will know more in a week and hopefully have some ultrasound pictures to post!