itty bitty is growing!!

We had our 12 week appointment on Thursday to check-up and hear the heart beat, but when the doctor tried to hear the heart beat with the heart monitor, he couldn't find it. I got really nervous, but he was really sweet and said they like to hide when they're this little, so we'd just do an ultra sound instead. I was still pretty nervous, but Keith and the doctor were both very calm. I am so thankful for our doctor. He is calm, confident, friendly, and encouraging!!

We were excited to get to see him/her again, and when he found the baby and the heartbeat right away, I was very relieved and thankful. The heartbeat was 166 at 8 weeks and 160 this time! Keith says Itty Bitty just was just being sneaky and hiding from the doctor so that mama and daddy could see him/her again:)

Here's picture #2!!!! Our sweet baby has grown soooooo much in the four weeks since the last picture....from about a half inch to about 3 inches!!!! Wow!!! Very cool!! S/he is looking like a real baby!!! I never could see much in these ultra sound pics until now....it's funny how easy it is for me to see the tiny little head, body, and arms now that it's my baby...it was even more clear live on the screen. It's difficult to get a clear freeze-frame shot.

The doctor says everything looks great!! Our tiny blessing is growing and changing everyday.

Belly pic #2 at 9 weeks...this is the first day I thought I was beginning to look preggers....it may have just been the horizontal stripes;)
Belly pic #3 at 12 weeks....this is one of the only pairs of pants in my closet that would zip this week. I was thankful that I saved some clothes from before I lost weight a couple of years ago. Keith was sweet and got them down from the attic for me the other day. I was much more comfy in my big pants!!

I am thankful to have felt really well throughout the first 12 weeks. I've heard lots of stories about how sick some people are. I felt queasy for the first several weeks, but that has pretty much stopped now. I have some minor back pain, but nothing too painful. I have been really tired!! I've always been a sleepy head, but pregnancy has taken it to a new level:) When I read about all the things happening in my body and see how much that sweet baby has grown, it is easy to see why I've been tired!!

I haven't had too many crazy cravings. For a while I wanted baked potatoes a lot. Lately, I've been drinking lots of milk and eating way too much peanut butter. I've also been eating lots of apples and bananas...so much so that Keith has been singing me the pre-school song, "I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!" He doesn't sing the whole thing and change the vowel sounds though:( I liked all of these things before I was pregnant but didn't love them. I rarely drank milk or ate peanut butter, and now I have them both at least twice a day...funny!

our sweet baby

On Monday, December 28, we got to have our first ultrasound!!! It was absolutely amazing to see our tiny miracle and hear his or her heart beat!!!! WOW!!! It made us so thankful for God who creates life. Our baby is just about an inch long and already has so many vital organs and body parts. It really was an incredible experience that we will never forget!

My sweet doctor confirmed what we thought was the due date. Right now Baby Clark is scheduled to arrive on August 9, 2010....8-9-10....wouldn't that be a FUN birthday:)

sharing the big news

We debated about how best to share the good news with our parents and sisters. Since it was so close to Christmas and we would see everyone soon, we decided to wait until we could tell them in real life! Keith didn't think I could wait three whole weeks, and I did almost slip when talking to my mom and sister a couple of times...but I did it, and I'm so glad:)

The logical thing was to reveal it with an early Christmas gift, but what should it be??? So many of the things we saw were pink or blue, or they had a specific grandparent name.

We were excited when we found the book, The Gifts of Being Grand for our parents. Their delayed reaction was cute...."Does this mean what we think it means?!!"

For the sisters, we got picture frames with a note inside for Aunt Misty and Aunt Laura to reserve this frame from their future niece or nephew, scheduled to arrive August 2010.

All six of them were thrilled about the new addition to our family!

Telling our families our news was special and telling our friends has been too! Thank you all for being excited for us!! Your sweet hugs, phone calls, emails, kind thoughts on here, and comments on facebook have all made this experience one that we will always treasure!! We are thankful to be able to raise our little one along side such precious family and friends:)

itty bitty

We got our very special news on Tuesday, December 1. After seeing only one line month after month, we were so happy!!! We hugged and cried tears of joy. We celebrated with a quiet evening at home putting up our Christmas tree. We ordered a pregnancy book online and decided to keep our news to ourselves until we could tell our parents in real life.

The next day, we took Belly Pic #1, and I could not stop smiling all day!! I IMed Keith and said, "I just cannot believe there is an itty bitty teeny weeny baby inside me!!!" From then on, Itty Bitty stuck as our fetus name:)
The following Friday night, we celebrated with dinner at Olive Garden and went to Target to browse the baby section and buy our first onesies (a sweet little gender-neutral set that says, i love mommy, i love daddy, and i love hugs)!
Our hearts are heavy for all of the people out there who want a baby so much, but are struggling with infertility. We started trying a year and a half ago, and it felt like a such a long time to wait. It was difficult to see other people get pregnant so easily, especially those who didn't even want a baby. But, we know that a year and a half is nothing compared to the time so many couples pray for a baby. May we remember to be sensitive to the struggles of others as we celebrate our miracle, and may we never tell a young couple that it's about time they have a baby without any knowledge of their situation or the desires of their hearts. I love these thoughts by Josh Ross. May they be a reminder to all of us.

a very merry christmas

In early December, I got to go to a conference in Gatlinburg, so Keith came with me, and we had a blast! Gatlinburg is a super fun place to visit, especially at Christmastime! Everything was beautifully lit up and decorated. We spent the evenings bundled up, walking around town, sipping hot chocolate, chatting, and shopping. It was fabulous:)
Then, we celebrated our sixth anniversary at Chaffin's Barn, a neat dinner theater in Nashville. It was a Christmas comedy set in small town Texas:) We loved it.
Then, we got to travel to Texas and spend Christmas with my family! Yippee! We had the best time relaxing, talking, eating, and playing games together! Then, to top it off, we got a gorgeous snow on Christmas Eve!!!! It was neat, because instead of snowing during the night and melting the next day, it snowed all day, and stuck around for a couple of days, so we had a white Christmas and loved it!!
But, the best, most wonderfully amazing thing about Christmas was.............we got a positive pregnancy test!!!!! We could not be more excited and thankful!!! Our hearts are full!! We are in constant prayer for our itty bitty miracle, and we love him or her soooo very much already!!!!!