Almost halfway!

This morning we had the joy of seeing our little unborn baby in 'real life'- I had my 19 week ultrasound.

Bronwen came with us, and spent almost the entire 50 mins (it took a long time because a student did the ultrasound first, but then the tech basically had to re-do it to double check everything) playing with my wallet.   And we got to see our little 'sprout!'

They check the major parts make sure that everything is in working order. So we got a good look at baby's head/skull, face, nose and lips, spine, limbs, hands and feet. And got to see the heart beating away and kidneys, stomach and liver inside. We are very thankful that the baby appears healthy so far. I had recently read about a couple of mothers discovering that their baby had a heart defect at the 20 week ultrasound.... so it is always at the back of your mind, wondering if everything is okay. Thankfully that little heart was beating strongly and healthily, you can even see the little chambers and heart valves moving on the screen. And apparently baby has an excellent set of kidneys.

It's amazing to see all of those little parts formed in there already. Now, there's just a whole lot of growing to do over the next 4.5 months!

actually got a cute little button-nose profile shot... this was not the case with Bronwen as you can see  at the end of this post!

for you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.. all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be..

- psalm 139

More birthday fun

Last Thursday was my 27th birthday. I had a lovely day, and here are some pictures from our celebrations..

Brian made pancakes for breakfast. I love special breakfasts. Now that I am working most Saturdays, we often miss out on our weekly 'Saturday breakfast', pancakes or crepes with coffee. So it's nice to have bonus days ;).

There was pear hazelnut gratin to go with them, and whipping cream! The gratin is baked pears, soaked in orange juice with hazelnut crumble on top, and ginger jam in there too. It's really good.

Bronwen loves whipped cream.

Looking out the window.

That afternoon we went to our weekly moms group with the ladies from church. Here is Bronwen just hanging out with some of her buddies..

'Hey, call me!'

 Little explorers.

Everyone on the couch. Bronwen is the oldest one here... the youngest two were born in December. Cuties!

Birthday flowers from Mom and Dad Claus- thank you!

Happy faces after nap.

Brian also made me a special birthday dinner, which I forgot to take a picture of because it was so delicious.. salmon and risotta and fancy salad, yum!

It was a great day.

A couple of videos

Here is our little lady this afternoon. Sorry about all of the zooming at the end of the second one... I forgot that I couldn't take a picture mid-video.

(I've decided to just put my Bronwen-videos on this blog too- now that there are less of them.. plus, new-baby probably won't get their own blog so trying to start being more equal now ;)

Afternoon tea

I am sitting here drinking a lovely afternoon tea and Bronwen is napping. We went to the library today and it tired her right out. So many books to pull off the shelf! (though, she didn't pull off too many). So many people to smile at! Such a nice open space to run free in! And downstairs in the kids library, so many other kids to look at! And, a box of raisins to find on the table and half-eat before her mother noticed. Well, I hope they weren't too stale, or contaminated.

I added a fun little pregnancy ticker for those interested parties. I find it interesting when they say, "-- days to go!" as if every pregnancy has a definite end date. After Bronwen being born a full 9 days past her 'estimated due date' I am fully preparing myself for this one to do something similar. That way, I'll be really surprised if he/she comes early, and hopefully not as impatient if he/she doesn't!

We are going to leave the gender of this baby a surprise. It's a pretty common question people ask though- 'Do you know what you're having?'. Yup, yup I do. A baby! I think that it is an amazing moment when they say, "It's a boy! or 'It's a girl!' and wouldn't want it any other way. I can see how some people might like to know, for planning purposes or curiosity's sake, and I don't fault them for that.

But it's a really, really fun surprise. There aren't too many surprises like that in life.