Time for pictures! One by one I'll post them with a bit of fatherly commentary.

First off, here's a picture of my son Jacob's right hand. If you ask me, I think he looks like a Quarterback. Notice the bone strength and the grip- imagine that throwing a 60 yard pass down the right seam, splitting the safeties and catching the reciever in stride.




Ok, here's the picture.





You see what I'm talking about, right there in the middle. Beautiful isn't it?

Ok, picture two. This one is a decent profile of the head. Notice the eyes, the little button nose, and the little chin. His hands are folded. In this picture he looks a bit like a merman, that's because the bottom half of his body is turned around...

As you can tell, he looks quite comfortable. In the beginning of our ultrasound, Jacob was sleeping like this, with his arms crossed. After he woke up, he gave us some more interesting pictures.

It's a boy! I am proud to say that my kid is negative 4 months, and I'm already embarassing him. This picture is of his backside, his frog legs are to both sides. In the middle are his "boy parts" as the doctor told us...

As a point of reference, the two white objects on the left half of the screen are his feet. You can figure it out from there. P.S. He's mooning you.

Ok, that's enough for now. Thank you all for your love and support. Jacob feels very loved.

We will be posting another picture of Ashley soon as she is growing.

It's A....

It's a BOY!! If you guessed that, pat yourself on the back because you were completely in the minority:)
His name is Jacob Daniel and he is on schedule to arrive about April 10th. He is extremely wiggley, making it tough for the ultrasound woman to get the images as clear as the doctors like them...which will allow us to have another ultrasound experience on November 30th!! As of now he's chilling wayy down low and though we didn't get a good profile view, we did see him yawn and have the hiccups!
Pictures to come soon!!

A slight delay

Just an FYI: We received a call from the doctor's office to explain they didn't have an ultrasound technician working tomorrow (Monday). So, it looks like we'll have to wait all the way until Tuesday afternoon to learn what we'll be calling our baby ....... :)

Poll time

We're at about 16 1/2 weeks...and there finally some belly changes! In addition, tomorrow we get to hear our baby's heartbeat again and then one week from tomorrow (on Nov 5) we'll know whether we're having a girl or a boy! That is, we'll know as best as possible until our baby is born :)

So, what do you think: is it a girl or boy?

Other than awaking a few nights ago because of a 'twitch' in my stomach and the occassional twinge or bubble, everything is pretty boring (in a good way I suppose). Though, I can't wait until I can feel some kicks and Daniel can join in on the fun!

Week 15

As promised, we're posting a picture now that the camera has been located. I wouldn't say that I've "popped" (such a pleasant term), but I'm definitely showing some baby... Kris Diegle, our labor & delivery nurse friend, said it looked like I was carrying a girl - and then laughed because there's just no way to tell something like that...even sonograms sometimes get it wrong. We shall "know" on November 5th!

<3 Family

I love family. My dad and Grayson came to visit Daniel and myself in our "new digs" from last Wednesday to Monday morning. It was glorious. I felt bad that Grayson slept on the couch, but she didn't seem to have trouble sleeping:)

It was nice to eat at a table with them in the evening and watch movies with them...whenever. We walked around the lake park downtown (Tempe) and attended the Cardinals vs Panthers football game. Truthfully, I think that was a harder game to attend than anticipated as loyalties sometimes run deeper than anyone realizes until it's put to the test!
We were also royally spoiled by dad with grocery store visits and a few other goodies. While I realize it may thrill only <0.1% of any population, I'm thrilled abnout the drying rack for our back patio! Not only is the AZ environment perfect for drying things outdoors as it rarely rains, but it also helps us out as power is pricey and our dryer sorta bites. Anyway, Grayson left with most of my clothes (as none of them fit me any longer) and Dad left us with some goodies and plenty of food - not to mention how satisfying and pleasant it is to be with family. It's also nice that when some of your family is with you, you feel closer to the rest of them. Even though my mom was still in Raleigh teaching, it didn't feel like 4 months since I'd last seen her when speaking on the phone.

Now, I'd love to post a picture of the weekend...but somehow the camera is un-findable. I haven't really looked hard and neither has Daniel, but I figured it was about time we made it clear that we were still alive and well! When we locate the camera, we'll get to posting a picture and perhaps there will be some noticable baby growth to my mid-section. No promises, though.

Also, we want to congratule the new parents Jesse and Christy Steel who are now joined by their healthy little girl Lily!

First Trimester Down

Today marks the end of the first trimester...at least according to the dates we've been given thus far! I think my body wanted to make sure I didn't forget the nausea of trimester 1 by reminding me throughout the day today. Oh well, it also reminds me of the life growing everyday inside me- and in that I get endless amounts of pleasure.

I don't really think there's been much external growth within the past few weeks...

In the past week, Daniel and I have done quite a lot! This past summer my music loving dad got us some concert tickets to a Dave Matthews Concert here in Phoenix...and aside from the 2.5 hours in traffic to get there (ugh), we had a great time and a real date. The next day we moved. again. And thanks to Daniel's family and lots of willing college (LCM) students, we got the majority of our stuff into this apartment Wednesday night. This move was into our official apartment with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. We feel like royalty. Though I believe rent and all the living costs of this (and all) big city are utterly obscene, this apartment- our home, is SO very much worth it. And I know how much more we'll appreciate it in the coming months!