20 weeks, 3 days

 18w5d            20w3d

backyard play

lucas loves to take his sister out to the backyard to play. his favorite thing to do is, well, everything. he loves to mow the lawn, play soccer, go on the slide, play on the swing...you name it. emma's favorite thing is the swing. i tried taking her off of it today thinking she was done, but she shook her head madly to tell me that she wasn't ready to come off yet. it was very cute.

it's a...

we had our ultrasound appointment yesterday, when i was 19w5d pregnant, and found out that we are having another girl! we were a little surprised only because our doctor thought that we might be having a boy. it was just too early to tell at 11 weeks. allan and i had already started preparing ourselves for another boy. we began thinking of boy names (our top choice was owen lee), telling lucas that he might be having a little brother, and telling friends that we thought we were having a boy. what a shocker!

we brought lucas and emma with us to the appointment. emma wasn't aware of what was going on, of course, but lucas was asking all kinds of questions. my favorite was, "what are you doing to my mommy?" our ultrasound technician was great...and patient. she let lucas listen to the heartbeat as many times as he asked to (we finally had to tell him to stop asking), she sat him on her lap and let him help her push some buttons (data) into the machine, and she let him help with the dvd and pictures. he was so proud of himself, and we were proud of him, too! our babiest girl weighs 12 ounces and is healthy and thriving.

we're excited that emma and her sister will only be a year and a half apart, and that lucas will have TWO little sisters to love and teach and protect. allan's comment when we found out it was a girl was, "uh-oh, lucas, we're outnumbered." i can't wait!

in order: girl, foot, foot, face (a little scary, we know!)

tumble bumble

i've experienced flutterings in my belly a handful of times now. the first time i thought i felt the baby move was on march 28, when i was at the end of my 15th week. even though this is my third pregnancy, i still wonder whether it's really the baby moving or something else going on in my belly when i feel movement. well, tonight it was absolutely clear to me that it was the baby! it's been a relief because i was expecting to feel movement sooner this time around...you know, since i'm more experienced and all. :0) the baby is still bumbling around as i'm typing. such a sweet, sweet feeling. babies are truly miracles God gives to us, that's for sure!

as for updates on our other two little miracles...

lucas is incredibly thoughtful and inquisitive. there's probably not a day that goes by that he doesn't say or do something that amazes me or completely melts my heart. lately, he's been telling me that he loves me all the way up to the moon and back (aaawww!). lucas is fully potty-trained and has been since the middle of january...yay! his favorite book to read to me is "if you give a mouse a cookie." he's learned how to use the mouse on the computer and loves to play the educational games offered on pbskids.org. i'm working on teaching him how to write his name. so far, he's learned how to write L.

emma loves to point at things and say, "da," which is her way of telling us she wants "that." she is not talking or signing as much as lucas was (mostly because i haven't been as diligent at teaching her), but she definitely knows what she wants. she loves food and will scream when she sees it and doesn't get it. we stopped by sonic tonight during happy hour to enjoy some refreshing fruit slushes for half-price. emma started squealing and pointing saying, "da" as soon as i placed my cup in the cup holder. she was relentless! it was very cute. she's also picked up "no!" from her brother. she will actually use it in the right context, such as when you are trying to change her diaper when she wants to play instead. i fear she's going to be a handful!

emma having a blast with lucas pushing her on the rocketlucas and emma in their new car seats (emma gets to face forward!)emma trying to put on her shoeemma posing and being cute!

sharefest 2008

our small group from church participated in sharefest 2008 this morning, helping to clean up a code violation home in kennewick. besides working hard, we also had lots of fun eating donuts (thanks, steve and angela!) and watching the kids try to attack ants with their shovels. here's an "after" picture of one area that we helped clear and clean up, along with pictures of our good-looking gang!

18 weeks, 5 days

plymouth park

while my sister was in town visiting, we decided to take her on a quick camping trip aboard our new trailer. we drove about 20 miles to a place called plymouth park. we loved the campsite because it was close by (we can do last-minute trips), it had a lake, clean bathrooms, and sites with full hook-ups. lucas and emma had a blast with their aunty vicky. they played in the mud, rode on their scooter, played chase and tag, and roasted marshmallows. the best part for me were the s'mores (i had 3 of them!). the weather turned out to be perfect - warm and sunny, so different from our last trip just a month ago. whew!

look who's 1!

our little emma grace turned 1 today! i can still remember the day she was born, at 6:35 in the evening. she was so beautiful and such a little sweetheart...hardly fussed at all and would just lay on my chest and sleep. she still loves to put her head on our shoulder and just cuddle with us as often as she can. the love we have for her really is indescribable.  we praise God for such an incredible blessing she is to us!

her day started out with lucas singing "happy birthday" to her, which was really sweet. we had a simple celebration for her in the evening with our family and good friends. we kept things simple so that we could really focus on honoring our little girl.

our sweet birthday girl

cake time...oh so yummy! emma got her very own cake,
and she loved every bite of it.

getting showered with gifts