Off We Go...

It is absolutely amazing to me how fast time flies. When we found out we were pregnant, 20 weeks seemed so far off. Now, 20 weeks have come and gone and we are faced with the realities that we are more than halfway there and October is just around the corner. This is becoming more and more apparent by the clothes I am buying and outgrowing at a rapid-fire pace and pictures below! It is hard to determine what is growing faster at this point, me or the excitement of our upcoming arrival.

Definitely building are the piles of baby stuff around the house. The one room that was repainted during spring break has become the spot for all things baby. Chris and I are so appreciative of all the awesome friends we have who have offered us so many different things already. We have only purchased two items and yet we have a corner of the room overflowing with clothes, bibs, blankets, a car seat, and various other baby things (some of which we know Baby won’t need for a while, but really don’t want to turn down at this point).

So, what are we doing to get ready? We are making Baby Reece’s first pilgrimage to Iowa! We survived the first two weeks of ESY and are headed to Iowa for the two week break. It is odd to think that we have not seen either set of family since we found out we were pregnant, and we are both very excited to be returning to the land where the tall corn grows (well not yet anyway, you know, “knee high by the 4th of July” is how the saying goes)! Don’t worry, though, I am sure we will find some corn while we there and I can help get Baby off to the best corn-fed start! Besides eating, we are going to make the rounds, seeing as many friends and family as time allows, knowing that we are not yet certain when we will be home again. We are hoping for a Christmas visit, but Baby may have other plans.

Once we get back to Florida, the real work begins. Chris and I both have classes to finish up at FSU, ESY will wrap up, and the work to redo the house begins in earnest. This could be a rather interesting venture as I am still not sure what needs to stay, where it will stay, and what needs to go. We have several friends and family who have volunteered to help out when the time comes, so consider yourself warned…you may not want to answer your phone or check your email! For now, off we go!



19 Weeks



20 Weeks



21 Weeks



22 Weeks--Looking good, huh?

Baby's first real photo shoot

So we had the "big" ultrasound yesterday, and needless to say, it was AWESOME! I know many of you are wondering, so here's the big news: we are having a...


wait for it...


BABY! If you had the "baby keeps its secret" ticket in the pool, you win! The doctor and ultrasound tech were very good at helping baby Reece from spilling the beans (if there are beans), telling us when to look away from the screen. That was the hardest thing of all. I didn't want to miss a single second of seeing our baby. I know that this is all really happening, but watching our baby move around really makes it sink in.

Speaking of moving around, baby Reece has the wiggles. (That trait runs strong on Dad's side.) It took the tech a while to get a good enough shot of baby's profile. Baby kept hiding its face with its arms. We were remarking that there are plenty of pictures on both sides of the family with hidden faces, and now we have a new one!

Baby Reece showed off all sorts of things- fingers, toes, heart, brain, spine, TONGUE, stomach, and more. I was scooping my jaw off the floor, amazed at how intricate our baby's body is already. Not to get too sappy here, but I told Jen that I can't wait to hold baby once it's here (I'm a little jealous of all the time she's getting to spend with baby at this point, but I'm not so jealous of some of the other crazy things that pregnancy has blessed her with- I'll let her post about that if she wants.)

There's those little piggies!

A foot and a hand, I think

A shy Reece? I think not...

There's that beautiful face!

There's another shot of the little kicker (which will be
doing plenty of kicking in the weeks to come)

We feel so blessed to have a baby that is developing well at this point, and we are hopeful that the rest of this pregnancy and delivery will go just as well. If any of you think you can tell from these grainy pictures if baby Reece is a boy or girl, keep it to yourself =). We will have a real baby pool this fall!