We had our ultrasound last Thursday and all looks good with our little baby!! We are truly grateful and know that there are many who do not always have the beauty of this news. It was with a heart of relief I walked out of our midwives office. Jake and the boys came along too. I told Tyler that he use to be in my belly, just like his little brother or sister is now, "I don't want to go in there" he said! We all had a good laugh at that one! This baby looks just like Tyler and Luke did. Long forehead and pudgy nose! I'm in love!Our little Sweet Pea has quite a lot happening! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear my voice now, (and my own research almost guarantees she can hear my voice because I think I've been yelling a lot lately, I have to work on that one). Just the typical, "stop fighting", "share your trains", "if you do that again, you're going to your room", "I said stay out of the toilet" and such! She is measuring up to 6 inches, head to bottom. I'd say that sounds about right because almost like clockwork, at 10 pm each night I feel lots of movement. Must be a night owl like someone else I know! Hair on her scalp is sprouting, (cute). A waxy protective coating called the "vernix caseosa" is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid. What a GREAT invention God...makes sense because they're swimming in there for almost 10 months, they would be shriveled for LIFE without that coat of wax!
A mother's joy begins when new life is stirring inside...
when a tiny heartbeat is heard for the very first time,
and a playful kick reminds her that she is never alone."
~Author Unknown
Better get to bed....Luke has been sick, lots of throwing up the past 24 hours. Bless his heart, he and Tyler were such troopers with me today. We were on the road a total of 5 hours. I drove to Philadelphia to pick up the train table I won/stole on ebay! This thing is amazing....came with tons of tracks and 40 trains!! (We are SET for the next 2 years as far as gifts are concerned). I had packed some snacks, Thomas tapes, puppies, nuks and left over nap time. They slept on the way down. We stopped at Panera on the way home and then, as if Luke was waiting until we got home, we walked in the door and he threw up everywhere....great timing I will say! Just finished changing his sheets again, it's almost 11 pm. I hope it's just a 24 hour thing. I feel so badly for him because it scares him when he throws up so much at one time. On the other hand, I love being there for my babies when they are sick. I remember how my Mom was just so sweet when I was sick, (and all the time for that matter). But you remember that wonderful "special" feeling when you were being taken care of? I made Luke some cinnamon sugar toast with milk this morning, that's what my Mom use to give me. The taste of that still takes me back. If you're still reading all my ramblings, I'm curious, what did your Mom do for you when you were sick?
Here's to a good night's sleep!
"Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers, and sisters, aunts and cousins, but only one mother in the whole world."
~Kate Douglas Wiggin
*"baby mine" by allison krauss
Jeane served me this wonderful meal and I did my best to not scarf it down. She sent me home with some fabulous birthday gifts: a lovely 
Thank you Jeane for such a wonderful time. I always look forward to our times together.
Last month I had the privilege of honoring a friend that was visiting from Australia. Miranda and I went to church together and I came to respect and admire her and her husband Joe and their 10 children! She is a woman to be esteemed. I invited some of her friends and we had a lovely morning together.
From Left to Right: Sharon Martin, Rachel Stoltzfus, Charity Lapp, Miranda Riddington, Barb Smucker and MaryAnn Stoltzfus.
I had such fun planning the menu.
Enjoying each other's company and catching up on life.
and yes, if you look closely, that is a bed spread!! I found it at a garage sale this past summer and just love it! Normally it's thrown over our couch, but since I didn't have a tablecloth large enough for this table, I took it from it's place and thought it worked just fine!!
We checked into the BRIDAL suite....oh my goodness, it was amazing!! The room is practically the size of our entire downstairs! I was so honored to be spending the night in such an 
We ate at 
It was held at
There was a stunning floral arrangement in the cutest little green vintage vase. Jake had gone to 
I enjoyed the company of my friends and family and opened my darling gifts. (Pictured above: my oldest sister Fan with our newest addition, Bennett and my lovely niece Megan). I will seriously be doing another post to show you all the CREATIVE, LOVELY, BEAUTIFUL, THOUGHTFUL gifts I received! I can't stop looking at all my new things! As we speak I am wearing the GORGEOUS pair of shoes from my friend Jena!! (notice my baby bump starting to peek out....I'm almost 20 weeks 
Another "gift" was a birthday shout out from 
Thank you my sweet Jake for taking the extra time and energy to plan this surprise for me. I know you are busy with many, many details at work and yet you took the time to carefully and lovingly celebrate me! ~I love you for life~
We eat, (of course) and then the men go off to their corner to play "Rook" for an ungodly amount of time. 
The rest of us sit and chat about life, (while I chase my boys around a.) keeping them out of the toilet, b.) keeping them from feeding grass to the dog, c.) stopping them from turning the ice tea faucet on full force without a cup underneath or d.) all of the above). We head home late, in our gingerbread footsie pj's, weary from digesting and laughing too much in one night! 
