The Wee One

In case you can't tell, this is our baby's fuzzy profile. We learned may good things from the ultrasound this morning, like:

• The baby has a big head and brain
• The baby has a nice spine that is fully connected in all the right places
• The baby has a 4-chamber heart, two kidneys, a tummy, and a full bladder
• The baby likes to suck on its hands and kicks like a donkey
• The baby does indeed have two arms, two legs, and digits

AND...

while no one will say for sure, The baby appears to be a BOY! Yep. So break out the blue, and let's celebrate! I celebrated early by getting a great haircut and highlights last night. Nothing like an evening of beauty and a healthy ultrasound to make a pregnant mommy feel WAY-better!

PS: HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my nephew JACK-A-RACK! He's two today and such a sweet boy--we love you, Jacky! And HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to my "Other Mom," Ellen Buchert on 4/23, my brother-in-law, Davey, and my brother, Marshall, on 4/24. Addie said, "My two uncles have birthdays today? Awww...I love my uncles, all my uncles...the grown up ones AND my little-kid uncle!" (Marshall turned 7).

More Saturday

I took this picture while taking the girls on a drive Saturday. It's just south of town as you head toward the Pop Stand...that's Livingston Peak.
I took this picture about 2 miles and 5 minutes after that first cloudy one...weird, huh? This is the entrance to Paradise Valley, about 5 miles south of town, just before the East River Road turn off.
After we played at the park, the girls went over to the creek to feed the ducks some bread and popcorn. There were ducks, geese, and swans, but we try to feed the ducks the most because the geese and swans are bullies. Addie liked the swans' black feet.

By the way, it's Monday morning and it's still snowing. I had to go get some milk earlier and I about froze to death--I thought it was warm enough for just a fleece, but no--it's 31 degrees and very windy ("feels like 18"). But it's supposed to be 60 degrees and sunny tomorrow and 75 degrees by Friday. Whatever! Gotta love spring in Montana!

Busy Saturday

Rich put in all our fence posts on Saturday--it took him 9 hours of work! To keep the girls out of his hair, I took them on a little adventure to the park and on a drive. After lunch and nap time, Addie and I had a bubble bath, too. We even talked Daddy into taking one later because he was so sore from all that hard work. We sure appreciate him and we can't wait to have a fence! Addie at the park
Heidi on the slide at the park
Silly Heidi in the tunnels

Addie and Heidi enjoy the tire swing at Sacajawea Park

Mommy and Addie enjoy a bubble bath...I love my tub!

By the way, it got up to 70 degrees on Saturday--Addie even played int he sprinkler with the neighbor kids--and today, once again, we woke up to SNOW, and we still have flurries! Crazy spring weather in Montana! At least it's beautiful.

Check Up

I had my regular OB check up yesterday. All seems to be well, baby's heart beating loudly on the doppler, belly measuring right-on for 18 1/2 weeks (baby is supposedly 10 inches long from head to heel--wow!). My active blood pressure is still totally out of control--they take it once when I walk in and again after I sit there for a while--the first one was 156/100 (!!!!) and the second was 128/80. What the freak! I was told to keep taking my BP at home twice a day and come back to report every two weeks because if it stays above 145 when I am active, they will put me on "rest." Which is so totally practical when I am home alone with two little kids each day. I am praying that it will all balance out SOON!

I also logged the crazy head/body aches/vomiting I have been having every 6-7 days since early March. The doctor looked at the list of symptoms and told me that it looked like my migraines had returned (I haven't really had them much since I was about 24) and that I had been lucky because most migraine sufferers get them way worse during pregnancy. Of course there is no medicine I can take right now besides Tylenol, naps, backrubs, and tub soaks, so I guess I will carry on!

We have our diagnostic ultrasound on Wednesday 4/26, so we should know which kind of baby we are having in a week! We are so excited! I don't know if I blogged it, but a couple of weeks ago, I dreamt that I had my 20-week ultrasound and it was a huge baby boy--so huge that they delivered it by c-section at 21-weeks! Wishful thinking, I know--who wouldn't love a healthy 21-week pregnancy!?

Spring, my eye!

It's snowing, and it's BEEN snowing since the sun came up (or maybe even before that). Addie had her date with Grandma today and they built a snowman. Heidi was not so lucky--she had to stay home with me and all I let her do was play in the snow on the deck.
She likes eating snow almost as much as dirt!

I should have pix of the girls in their Easter dresses later today--we took them with my mom-in-law's camera--they looked really cute in their matching Laura Ashley lilac dresses!

Easter Sunday

Addie & Heidi at Grandma's
Heidi, Cousin Danny, & Addie
Addie & Heidi again

They also hid eggs at Grandma's House on Sunday...Heidi was an old pro at finding eggs!

Addie, Danny, & Heidi search the sandbox for more Easter eggs.

Easter Fun

Addie & Heidi discover their baskets Sunday morning...

Our Bunnies

Heidi eating her chocolate bunny for breakfast

Addie and her chocolate bunny

This was actually Saturday...Addie played with Heidi's toys while Heidi was napping

Happy Easter

Enjoy your celebrations today and the symbolic beauty of spring! Here is one of my favorite thoughts about Easter and the Resurrection...

“Then dawned the first day of the week, the Sabbath of the Lord as we have come to know it. To those who came to the tomb, heavy with sorrow, the attending angel declared, ‘Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5).

“ ‘He is not here: … he is risen, as he said’ (Matt. 28:6).

“Here was the greatest miracle of human history. Earlier He had told them, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life’ (John 11:25). But they had not understood. Now they knew. He had died in misery and pain and loneliness. Now, on the third day, He arose in power and beauty and life, the firstfruits of all who slept, the assurance for men of all ages that ‘as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive’ (I Cor. 15:22).

“On Calvary He was the dying Jesus. From the tomb He emerged the Living Christ. The cross had been the bitter fruit of Judas’s betrayal, the summary of Peter’s denial. The empty tomb now became the testimony of His divinity, the assurance of eternal life, the answer to Job’s unanswered question: ‘If a man die, shall he live again?’ (Job 14:14). …

“And so, because our Savior lives, we do not use the symbol of His death as the symbol of our faith. But what shall we use? No sign, no work of art, no representation of form is adequate to express the glory and the wonder of the Living Christ. He told us what that symbol should be when He said, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments’ (John 14:15).

“As His followers, we cannot do a mean or shoddy or ungracious thing without tarnishing His image. Nor can we do a good and gracious and generous act without burnishing more brightly the symbol of Him whose name we have taken upon ourselves. And so our lives must become a meaningful expression, the symbol of our declaration of our testimony of the Living Christ, the Eternal Son of the Living God”

(President Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Symbol of Our Faith,” Liahona and Ensign, Apr. 2005, 4–6).

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY...

...two years ago, Heidi Lynn joined our family. Thank you, Heidi, for all the sunshine and joy you bring to each of us! Happy Birthday, Heideline!