our not so happy leprechaun

 

garrett had a not so happy day yesterday (& monday, for that matter). when he woke up from his nap yesterday afternoon, he was running a temperature. but...it WAS st. patrick's day & i HAD to get a picture of my little man in green...well, you can see how successful it turned out. :-)

here's to hoping luck's on our side & today's a better day!

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.

our baby valentine

garrett is our little love...i took these pics to make a few valentine's...they are just so sweet (i had to stick a bandaid on his thumb to get him remotely still, though - and that was WITH brian helping me!!!).

our little valentine is 14 months old now...running all over the place. so sweet. such a little flirt, smiling & *winking* at people in restaurants & stores everywhere we go. he babbles constantly, and we even know a few distinct words - ba for ball, ba for bottle, baba for baby (ok those all sound alike but we generally know what he means!) :-)...he's definitely got the mama & dada down. do is dog - no more hu for huck. he zooms his cars along the floor making a *car* noise. he says something that sounds like "tickle, tickle, tickle!"...probably b/c we say that as we're tickling him all the time. he has a rocking horse in his room...which he can now climb onto the back of & STAND UP! did i say how busy he is? :-) he's all boy...when he's awake, he's full force - we love it!

so...happy valentine's day! we send you love, hugs & kisses from our little valentine to you!

silly garrett

our child is constantly cracking us up. saturday night we returned from the gym, fed G & i was letting him crawl up the stairs to clean up (please don't judge me: a second post where the poor kid has a dirty face!) & go to bed.

on the way up the stairs, he grabbed brian's goggles (brian had been swimming @ the gym) & tried to put them on his head...the pictures above resulted. hahahahaha...he looks like a little super hero or something. he's obsessed with putting on my sunglasses now too...the best part is that he often puts them on his head - how i end up wearing mine around the house half the day, i'm sure.

we have a walker!

yesterday marked a monumental occasion in the white house...garrett is officially walking. all over the place. he goes fast. then he does a mummy walk. sometimes it's on his tip toes. but for the most part he's able to get exactly where he wants to go. from a walking/standing position, he's able to bend down & pick up his fireman hat or bowling ball & just keep on trucking - it's amazing!

he's also packing in food like nobody's business this week. clearly, the child doesn't miss many meals, but he's been like a trash compactor all week. as a family, we're kind of turning into a *waffles on saturday morning* kind of crew. last week it was blueberry waffles, today chocolate chip. AFTER garrett ate his usual breakfast of milk, oatmeal & banana...he ate 1/4 of a thick, giant chocolate chip waffle. his face & hands show the evidence - holy moly! he would've eaten more had we offered it to him. earlier this week he ate an entire grilled cheese sandwich, half the chicken out of my salad & half of a giant cookie! my goodness...no wonder we're @ 25 pounds & counting! now...granted, *most* of what he consumes are delicious veggies & fruits, but man...he consumes ALOT!



& i had to include one of G kissing...he loves, loves, loves to kiss!!! this is one morning he wanted me to lean in so he could kiss me (he pulls us down to his face quite often, just to kiss us!). i'd just gotten out of the shower, my wet hair pulled up, but he made me feel like a million bucks! :-) he'll kiss our hands when we're feeding him, our feet when they're propped up, my belly when we're playing in the floor, our lips & cheeks...he'll also kiss other children (random strangers, mind you) & pretty much anyone we instruct him to kiss...he's a bandit...look out this valentine's day!