Doctor visits, nausea and life in general

Just wanted to give everybody an update on how Steph is doing with the second pregnancy and all. While she is definitely in the throws of enduring some rough 'morning, afternoon and night' sickness, we are thankful for a great new doctor. Dr Alan Fisher down at Portland Adventist. Cool guy, laid back, caring, thoughtful, experienced, willing to do whatever it takes in terms of getting Steph comfortable, willing to make referrals for pre natal echocardiograms even though he's only known us for five minutes. Yeah, a big thank you to Jason and Tobi for recommending him. Oh, and at the last appointment (yesterday), we got to hear Little One's heart beat. That's one healthy ticker.

In other news, had a big garage sale last weekend. God blessed it like crazy. People came out of the woodwork. Made a healthy amount of dinero and got rid of a bunch of stuff, including big furniture items. Which will prove most helpful when we move in a month. That's right, it's summer... and that means moving. :-)

Seriously though, we are moving to an apartment complex that's a five-ten minute from my work. Plus it's a smaller place which means less rent per month and an easier time corraling Munchkin.

Which brings me to my next topic: Elizabeth is fully mobile now. First it was an army crawl. That lasted a week or so until she learned that her knees can be used for locomotive endeavors. Now that she is in full swing with her knees, she seems to alternate between a pure "all fours" crawl and this kooky three legged kind of thing where she only uses one kneeand, with the other leg, she propels herself with her foot flat on the ground. I don't know how to describe it. It's hilarious to watch though. All that combined with her quickly mastering the art of standing up should lead to her walking soon. And when she gets walking, we'll have her start helping out around the house. :-)

Last thought for the night... okay, question really - what are some good, unique girl names? We've got a boy's name all picked out and ready to go, but we still haven't been able to think of a good girl name yet. Something unique or a more common name with a good history/story behind it. Ideas?

Letting your hair "down"

Before:

After:

It's a family thing

Welcome to the club, Kiddo.

Nana's lap

Apparently, Nana's lap is very comfy.

Elizabeth's Dedication

This morning Elizabeth was dedicated to God. By that, we mean that we got up in front of our church and thanked God publicly for saving our little girl and for Him giving her to us. We also thanked the church for praying so much for her and for us. I then read the following passage:

Isaiah 41:8-13

"But you, O Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you descendants of Abraham my friend,

I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, 'You are my servant';
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

"All who rage against you
will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
will be as nothing and perish.

Though you search for your enemies,
you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
will be as nothing at all.

For I am the LORD, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.

May Elizabeth understand that Jesus loves her and died for her and that God is able to comfort and help her whenever she would need it. And may she learn to love Jesus and serve him with the same fervor as that of her namesake.

For Josie

Found a couple of pics from about a month ago that seemed perfect to post for Grandma Josie from Auntie Maria's work.

Easter Pics

Here are the few shots we got before Lizzie horked all over her nice new easter dress (she has been paying too much attention to Mommy lately :) )

Waving In Action

Click the below link for a short clip of Lizzie waving:

Waving.wmv (1.4mb)

Life's never boring

Took Steph to the ER last night (due to extreme abdominal pain) and she spent the night in observation. Long story short, she has gall stones. Come the second trimester of the pregnancy, she's probably gonna have surgery to take out the gall bladder altogether. Apparently she's got all sorts of gall stones in there. And they can't blast 'em like kidney stones. Whole 'nother ball game.

She's sleeping now. Super tired, didn't get much sleep at all. She's feeling okay in terms of the pain and everything. We just have to avoid spicy, fatty, hydrogenated foods for the next 8-10 weeks til her surgery. Weight Watchers is gonna go into high gear.

One upside to all of this: they did an ultrasound of Steph's tummy to scope out the gall bladder, etc. and since they were there, they also did an ultrasound of her womb. We saw Little One, all 1.3ish centimeters of him/her. Puts Steph somewhere around 6 weeks. Two cool things: 1) the tech let us hear the heartbeat. Man, that never gets old. Makes ya cry every time. 2) the tech printed us a picture, even though she wasn't supposed to. Coolest tech ever.

Cheerio

It took her a bit to figure out how to use those little white sharp things in her mouth, but Elizabeth is now a very big fan of the wonderful Os.