Marshmallow's Anatomy Ultrasound

First, meet Marshmallow. This is the name we have given our unborn child. Sam's prenatal name was Poppy (because when we found out about him, he was the size of a poppy seed), and we got so used to saying it that for a good 18 months after he was born I found myself referring to Poppy whenever I spoke of my pregnancy. Weird, huh? Well, this name is derived from the proximity of my due date to St. Patrick's Day. Chris didn't like Lucky Charm, so we went with Marshmallow, because that is the best part of Lucky Charms. I'll admit that we don't use this name quite as frequently as we did Poppy, but I think that's largely because a certain someone thinks we're actually offering him one every time we bring it up.

Anywho, today we got our second peek inside at little Marshmallow. Today I am 19 weeks and 6 days pregnant and Marshmallow is weighing in at 11 ounces. That is exactly what Sam weighed at his anatomy ultrasound, which I believe was at 19 weeks 1 day. Not only are our children similar in size, but they appear to be similar in personality, too. It was almost scary how paralleled this appointment was to Sam's! It appears that we produce children who love to swim and kick until they are asked to do so, and then curl up as tightly as possible so that no one can see anything. We went through a whole list of antics just to get the kid to move enough to see the necessary anatomy.

Summary of the ultrasound: we have a healthy baby growing in there!

And that's all we really know. Once again, we will NOT be learning the gender prior to birth. I'll admit that I was super tempted to peek today, but alas it is still a secret shared only by God and our ultrasound tech. My chart now contains a big red flag indicating that this information is to remain a surprise - it is written down nowhere.

So here you go, the latest pictures of our little one. First up, knee in the face - profile shot of head on the right and you can see some arms and legs all bent up on the side:
This one is a bent arm - hand on the right side:
Next we have a foot (top left):
And two feet right together in the center:
And finally, a creep front shot of the face, complete with alien eyes:

The Steel Trap

At Uncle Matt's rehearsal dinner we all realized how much alike he and Sam looked at the tender age of 2. More recently, I've come to realize that Sam not only resembles him physically, but shares some of his personality traits, too. Top of the list: a memory like a steel trap. The kid seems to remember everything.

Take, for example, our car ride to church on Sunday morning. After informing me that we were also going in the direction of the gym (he also recognizes the turns for school, Kroger, home and church), he reminded me "Daddy take you that store buy plants" as we drove past Home Depot. Half a mile down the freeway he recounted "Last time wait our turn, its raining!" See that would make sense to you if you knew that last Sunday we had measurable rainfall for the first time in 3 months, causing an accident and major traffic on our way to church. We had to wait our turn to get through the one open lane in that very same spot. One mile later, we passed a temporary carnival in a mall parking lot. "Gammi, Papa take you that, go high around!" Y'all, my parents joined us on the Ferris wheel when they were in town for the Rodeo LAST MARCH.

He regularly tells stories from weeks ago. (Ok, so it helps to understand his stories if you were there with him, but they are still correct.) In the mornings he asks me what we're doing today, and he can remember not only the days plans, but the order in which they will happen. Its quite helpful that now he remembers where he leaves everything.

Sometimes its overwhelming to think that he is absorbing, processing and remembering SO MUCH of what happens in his every day life. Will he remember my less-than-friendly reactions to other drivers? Will he remember the times I react in frustration or anger when he's just being two? Sometimes I hope not.

But maybe 50 years from now when Uncle Matt is on the mental decline and no longer able to remember such details, we'll be able to ask Sam exactly what he was wearing on his 39th day of 2nd grade.

Dewberry Farms

I have very happy childhood memories of the pumpkin farm. Circle S - who remembers? Bundling up, hot cider, donuts, hay barn, hay rides to the pumpkin patch, picking out the perfect pumpkin lying right where it had been cut from the vine. I want those memories for Sam, too.

So I googled and asked around - there is one option in "Houston." Out we drove (almost an hour) to Dewberry Farms. I dressed us all in jeans because I was overly excited about the overnight lows, but it was still 80+ by the time we were done. They were selling sno-cones, not hot cider. The pumpkins had been trucked in - not a vine in sight. The Christmas Trees they drove us past were not douglas firs, but some Carolina something-or-other-variety that didn't look like they'd hold an ornament. Guess we won't be cutting our own down anytime soon.

So it wasn't the same as in Ohio, but WE HAD FUN!

We hit up the Cow Train first. I couldn't tell if Sam was enjoying the ride, because he has a tendency to concentrate really hard when experiencing something new and different. But we hopped off and he announced, "I had fun on that!"


Next we jumped on the wagon ride. No hay, but in truth my husband's allergies may have appreciated that. Sam definitely enjoyed this ride! In addition to the tree lot and the flowers, we drove past the corn maze. I think it wouldn't have been too difficult for any adult over 5'6" this year - stupid drought!


Then it was time to pick a pumpkin. Sam thought they were all great, and enjoyed examining all of them. He was NOT, however, interested in taking a cute fall picture amongst the pumpkins.

(At this point in the day our camera died. Someone used it for his fieldwork this week.)

Sam got to sit on a big tractor, and reluctantly got down as a line of other little boys began to form behind him. We moved on to "Little Farmerville" to play with the other 6-and-unders. Not at all interested in digging in the box of loose corn, and frustrated that he's still too short for most tricycles, he found joy in the big roller slide and long tunnel.

Then he found real joy in feeding the goats! Oh how the boy giggled as he felt their tongues on his hand. We visited more animals in the barn, visited some singing stuffed chickens, and called it a day.

Chick-fil-a on the way home was a wonderful way to end our family outing.

Visitors

Gammi and Papa came to visit from Ohio over the weekend. Actually, Gammi flew in on Wednesday afternoon and she and I played while Sam was at school on Thursday. It was my first completely non-productive school day, and I enjoyed it. Too bad they can't all be like that! Nothing like Starbucks (decaf), a pedicure, shopping and lunch :-)

We are finally seeing a bit of a break in our weather - highs are only about 90 these days, and lows are in the 60's - so our mornings are lovely. We spent a lot of time outside with Gammi and Papa. Not a whole lot of really exciting adventures to recount, but we had a bunch of laughs and fun. Here are a few cute pics for you:

Gammi sat down to do her bible study. Sam ran to get his Bible, then asked for a sheet of paper and a pencil. He put the paper on top of the open Bible, just like Gammi, and got down to work.


We celebrated Papa's birthday with some really yummy chocolate cake. Sam made us sing to him about 8 times. And he enjoyed helping to blow out the candles.



Thanks for coming to visit us!