the white's are tickled PINK

according to an ultrasound tech & a perinatologist, baby white #2 is a GIRL! no one's more surprised than me & brian! b/f i even knew i was pregnant, i dreamt it was a girl...but just figured we'd have another boy.

but friday night when we opened that envelope to see that they had written, "congratulations! it's a girl!"...i literally didn't stop laughing. i mean, i just kept on laughing!!!

brian's over the moon w/ excitement over having a girl...& i have to admit, i'm VERY intimidated by it. i am happy that we'll have one of each, but i love my baby boy & would've loved another little man running around here. but it's incredible to know that our daughter is the gift that God's designed for our family; it's a second born girl that God will use to grow me & brian into the people & parents He wants us to be.

& while last week was frought w/ excitement over the *girl* news...last week was also an amazing journey in mine & brian's marriage & our faith. last tuesday AM my OB called to let me know that my blood levels showed high markers for down's syndrome. (apparently - we've learned - this test has a very high false positive rate & now know so many who have walked this same journey.) so thursday AM we had a level 2 ultrasound @ the hospital to check it all out.

our prayer in the 48 hours b/w that call & the perinatologist talking w/ us was NOT that the baby NOT have down's syndrome. i fully believe if that's the course God charted for us, this child & our families, then it was going to be what it was. our prayer was simply that we face the test & the future w/o fear & w/ peace. knowing that the author of perfect peace was simply asking us to look up. to rest in Him. we had a small circle of friends & family praying over us...& we felt such extreme peace driving to our test, in the midst of it & even as the dr spoke w/ us. we know that it was a divine experience. knowing that nothing the dr was going to say that day would take away our peace. that if the diagnosis was yes, then we would begin to process through that & educate ourselves for the future & for our baby. if it was no, it was no.

& while the dr did say there were no obvious signs that our little girl has down's, we are going to repeat the u/s on april 1 (not a joke!) just to confirm. but i have to say, it still doesn't matter. she's ours, He's in control & we are just so grateful for the journey...for the opportunity to have our faith strengthened & to be reminded of just how powerful our God is!

well...i can't leave you w/o posting some pics of our little man...he's getting SOOOO big it seems (almost 26 pounds now); runs just about everywhere he goes; points to things he's not supposed to have/do & says "nah, nah" (translated: no, no) & shakes his hand back & forth; he loves bringing you a book to read to him & curling up into your lap; i've watched him recently instigate games w/ other kids his age; he's begun to cry @ the church nursery when we leave (yes, we leave anyway!) & sometimes when we leave the house...he is SUCH a joy & an enormous bright spot in our days!


garrett sporting the mardi gras beads our sweet neighbors gave him!


reading w/ my mom on her recent trip here to visit with us.