Great News!!!

Our doctors office just called and said that the results for the Quad screen that checks for Down Syndrome and Trisomy was NEGATIVE!!! Woohoo! This is fantastic news!!

I know some of you have had questions about how these screenings are conducted and all screenings are a simple blood draw from my arm. Nothing invasive to me or the baby. It is truly amazing what they can do in a lab now! They drew my blood to find out the blood type of the baby and what the gender is! Isn't that awesome that they can determine all that now with just a blood sample! It's wonderful!! No more waiting until the ultrasound to find out if you don't want to! And it's more accurate!

We feel so blessed and are very thankful for the answered prayers and support!

May I Have the Envelope Please.....

[caption id="attachment_279" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Double sealed so no cheating!!! May 18th is coming....[/caption]

We had another doctors appointment today. It all went well; we listened to the heartbeat which was very strong, took some vitals and we got the results back from some screenings. Timnah doesn't carry the Cystic Fibrosis gene, so we are in the clear on that. The baby does have positive blood, so she will need to get both Rhogam Shots to protect her during the pregnancy and birth.

The most exciting part though, was receiving the envelope with the sex of our baby in it! The office is so excited for us and they think the reveal party is such a fun idea. They licked the envelope, turned down the tabs and even taped it shut! There will be no peaking before the party. In fact, we aren't even going to keep the envelope in the house. Tomorrow we are going to visit Classic Cakes bakery in Carmel to taste some cakes and design our Reveal Cake!! We will leave the results with them and find out with everyone else when we cut into the cake. It's really going to be a fun moment!

Things are really progressing nicely though, and Timnah is feeling great. We feel so blessed for her to be having the kind of pregnancy she is. Happy, happy, happy and not sick, sick, sick! One last little hurdle to clear is the results of our Quad Screen next week. This test checks for Down Syndrome and various Trisomies. Keep us in your prayers this week as we await those results.

Thats all for tonight! Thank you for all the love, support and prayers!

Dad

 

Gender Reveal Party!!

Don't forget to check out the Parties and Shower info Page! We are having our Gender Reveal Party on Saturday, May 18th at 2pm. Also this page will have information about upcoming showers and registry too.

Cant wait until the 18th to find out what we are having!!

Back Home Again in Indiana.....

[caption id="attachment_257" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Rubbing the belly for good luck!!![/caption]

Greetings Friends and Family! We have returned from our Babymoon to Paris and it was an amazing trip! Paris is truly one of the great cities of the world; history, culture, diversity, arts and entertainment, architecture....not to mention amazing chocolate croissants and spectacular cappuccinos!

It was a jam-packed 5 days! We flew through the night on Friday night and arrived in Paris on Saturday morning. After a quick nap for Mommy, we hit the town running. We visited the St. Germain area of Paris and saw Notre Dame Cathedral at night. It is a gorgeous church!

[caption id="attachment_258" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Notre Dame at Night[/caption]

On Sunday we had quite a few highlights: we were of course with Lollie and Pop (grandma and grandpa for those who don't know) for the trip and we started by leaving a memento on the "Lock Bridge", visited Musee D'Orsay, went shopping on the Champs Elysées, had some amazing ice cream and coffee and finished the night going up in the Eiffel Tower and seeing it light up in spectacular fashion. Here are some photos of the day

[caption id="attachment_259" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Leaving a couple locks on the bridge![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_261" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Bought a new "diaper bag"![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_262" align="aligncenter" width="224"] A Beautiful Sight![/caption]

While the rest of the trip wasn't as full at Sunday was, there was no shortage of amazing sights and tastes! Here are just a few more pics of the best parts of the trip!

[caption id="attachment_266" align="aligncenter" width="224"] The Arc de Triomphe in all it's glory[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_265" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Pouring the World's Greatest Hot Chocolate at Angelina's![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_269" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Date Night at Moulin Rouge! What a show![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_268" align="aligncenter" width="225"] With Lollie and Pop at the Tulleries Gardens! Thanks for a great trip![/caption]

By the end, we had one tired Mommy! We had quite an adventure getting to the airport on the final day. Without all the details it involved Pop and I missing the first train to the airport, Timnah and I almost missing the second train as my watch got torn off my wrist and someone drew blood on me while Timnah screamed at the train to let us on, a mad dash through the airport, a security check of my backpack for no reason and just by the skin of our teeth getting on the flight! (Guess it was about all the details!)

End of story--a great trip and very happy we went before Bambino arrives!

Love you all--

Dad

The Family Truckster

"The times, they are a changin." Bob Dylan immortalized these words in 1964. Never more have I felt that those words were the lyrics of my life. It seems as though just about every week I am making a decision about the next 6 to 12 to 18 months in such a different way than I would have made the decision just 6 months ago! Each decision seems to matter so much more!

Case in point: we just purchased our first family mobile! She's a real beaut isn't she?!

[caption id="attachment_242" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Complete with 8 Track and power windows![/caption]

I had really been on the lookout for tan, but the green will have to do. I can't wait to get her on the open road for a trip to Walley World.

Just kidding, here is the new car we bought. A 2010 Acura MDX.

[caption id="attachment_245" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Can't you just see Timnah toting the kid(s) to swim lessons in this?![/caption]

Anyway--back to the changing times. About 6 months ago, I was convinced that adoption was going to take a longer time and I would get another sports sedan until we thought that we were getting a baby. I could have some more fun in a fast and sporty car and then dump it right before the baby was here Boy was I wrong. Then when we got pregnant. (Everytime I say "we got or we are pregnant" I think of Top Gun when Maverick is describing his encounter with the Mig to Kelly McGillis the day after the mis-guided kareoke stunt and Goose feels left out of the story.) Tangent over. We got pregnant and I still wanted the sports sedan! I had a really hard time giving up Non-Dad wishes of Josh. But when I really stepped back and realized that I had to plan for a 4-5-6 year or longer vehicle, that was safe and good quality and big enough to hold the plethora of baby stuff for just an overnight, it was clear that I had to make the best choice for my family.

Ultimately, I am, and we are, very happy with the purchase and it feels great to have that out of the way before things really start to get hectic. Who knows, maybe I'll just add some gorgeous wood paneling and take the family to Walley World after all!

Signing off for now!

Dad

 

Off to Paris!!

Well we are all packed up and we leave tomorrow for our baby moon trip to Paris with Josh's parents! We are all so excited! We have 5 full days jam packed with sight seeing, cafes, and shopping!

I hope to find a few cute baby things for our little one. Oh I wish I knew if it was a boy or girl so I could shop specifically.

We will write all about it when we get back!

The Third 3rd

So there is some controversy over what my actual due date is supposed to be. Our Moms have calculated it at October 6 th, but the doctors office has me at October 13th based on measurements from my first ultrasound on March 1st. So there's a weeks difference in there. But I'm secretly hoping its October 3rd, not just because its Grandpa Smith's birthday, but because having the baby on the 3rd would be cool since Josh's birthday is March 3rd and mine is July 3rd! Then we would all three be on the 3rd of the month!

This would also be helpful for Josh to remember. He is notoriously bad with birth dates! We will see....

 

Second Doctors Appointment

My second appointment was last week and it went well. Everything is going good so far. We tried to hear the heart beat with the Doppler but couldn't get a good listen. So we quickly went into the ultrasound room to take a quick look, and there was our beautiful baby moving around in there and playing hide and seek with us!



I have another appointment tomorrow for blood work, which will tell us the sex of the baby! But, we are waiting and plan on revealing what we are having on Saturday, May 18th at a party at our house! We will have a bakery make our cake either blue or pink on the inside and when we cut the cake we will all find out together!! That will be so exciting! Details for the Reveal Party will be posted soon!