The Newest Addition

10.28.08: Here is our bean at the very first ultrasound. These photos were taken at 6 weeks and 5 days. All we got to see on this day was the heartbeat (150; Nice and strong!)

12.10.08: The first images where the baby looks like a baby! This ultrasound was at 12 weeks and 6 days. The heartbeat was steady at 151 bpm.

1.26.09: 19 weeks and 4 days. This one was the biggie!! This was the day we discovered our baby to be was going to be a girl! I had been convinced until this point that I was having another boy, so imagine my surprise when I was told, with much certainty, that she was a girl! We are thrilled and it only took us about two minutes to decide on the name Charlotte Leigh. We will call her Charlie for short.

2.23.09: We are very fortunate to get lots of ultrasounds with Ms. Charlie. My doctors are fantastic and are doing everything they can to monitor the well being of this baby. This ultrasound was at 22 weeks and 5 days. It was discovered at her last ultrasound that our baby is not entirely cooperative. She does not turn in the position that the techs would like and they have a terrible time trying to get good photos of her for mom and dad to take home. We should not be surprised by this because she is after all going to take after her mommy and we all know how stubborn she can be!

In the past year, Josh and I have:

Had and lost a son. Our beautiful Sam.

Gotten a puppy.

Moved to Milwaukee from Madison.
Started two new jobs.
And bought a house.

Even I am thinking who would be crazy enough to add a second baby to that list! We have always wanted a big family (not Duggar big, but big none the less). With our lives as hectic as they are, this seemed like the perfect time to continue adding.

Our Sammie was born on Feb. 20th, 2008. He was born with profound brain damage from a fetal stroke. This was something we could have never known about unless we were specifically screening for it. Because Sam's heartbeat and growth appeared to be steady throughout my pregnancy we assumed we would be bringing home a healthy baby boy. Sam spent 26 wonderful days with us and finally stopped fighting on March 17th, 2008. We were not supposed to get 3 days with Sam, much less 3 weeks and we are so grateful for the short time that we had to get to know and love him.

Our puppy, Seamus (Sh a mus), was born on March 31st. He was a junkyard dog and it was love at first sight. We knew we had to bring him home. Seamus came to live with us in May of 2008. He has been a ton of work, but he gives us mounds of love and we feel he has been a fabulous addition to our house. Unfortunately, not everyone in our family feels this way. Our cat was very used to having the run of the house and has been very angry since Seamus came home and started claiming his space!

In August of 2008, I got a new job that transfered me to Milwaukee (Yay for the homecoming!). Josh came shortly after and on October 18th, 2008, we signed our lives away to the mortgage industry and bought our first house. Oh, I forgot to mention: on October 8th we found out we were expecting again. Happy Birthday to me!

So, currently, I am 23 weeks pregnant. I was conviced that I was having another boy and had several days of shell shock when the doctor told me with much certainty that we would in fact be welcoming a daughter. We are very excited to meet this little princess. Due to our past history, this pregnancy is high risk and right now we have an ultrasound every three weeks. It is so much fun to see her that often. I have tons of pictures hanging on my fridge right now documenting her growth. Because I am a proud Mama, I will be sharing her pictures for all to see her accomplishments!