What a day....

Today I am overjoyed and terribly sad. My Lorabelle looked so good at her appointment. She is now 24 1/2 weeks and is 12 inches long and weighs 1 lb 13 oz. That's how much Hank weighed when he was born at almost 29 weeks. I am so, so happy that she is growing so well..... but today I'm also just very sad. Having her weighing what he weighed makes me want to hold him so bad. Such joy and such sadness. It just doesn't make much sense that the two can so be so closely felt together. I have pictures to share of my girl.... but I'll save them for another time. Right now, my heart is just sad and wanting this little one to be in my arms.....

I love those little wrinkles at the back of his head. So precious. Can't wait to hold him again one day... until then I pray for comfort and patience in waiting.

My sister gave me these verses to pray tonight:
Psalm 55:16-18
"As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. He rescues me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me."

Gender Reveal Party!

            I cannot believe it has already been a month since my sister threw us a party to reveal the gender of our little one. When she first told me she wanted to do it.... I was hesitant. We tried a cake reveal with my family for Hank, but it didn't turn out so well. No one got that the color of the cake was what would tell them the gender. They kept looking for something to be in the cake. Then, she suggested that Nathan and I wait to find out the gender as well. My first reaction was NO WAY! I cannot wait.... I need to know! But, Nathan and I thought about it and decided that it would be pretty cool to share that moment with our friends and family and church family that have all been walking our journey with us. 
           
          So it was decided, we would wait for the party to find out. We went to our appointment (the first one with the specialist), the sonographer had us look away while she was determining the gender, and she printed out a photo and put it in an envelope for us. It would be three long days, before we found out what was in that envelope. We took it to the card and party factory and asked them to fill a box with pink or blue balloons, and made sure to tell them that we did not want to know what color they used. They were pretty excited about the fact that they would be the only ones to know what the gender was! 

           My sweet sister planned the party for weeks, way before we had the ultrasound that would tell us. I am so thankful that our little one cooperated that day and allowed them a peek. The party had been planned, the invitations sent out, and that would have been so disappointing to have not found out. 

My beautiful talented friend Cindy took all these amazing pictures for us. I just love her. And I love that she wore a pink snuggie to the party so she could be as pink as possible! You'll see her in it in some of the other pictures.

Here is Nancy getting everyone to sign in with their thumbprint on a tree for the nursery.

My brother in law, Alex, painted the tree for us.... I was quite impressed! 

 Everyone wore pink or blue to show what they thought thought we would have, and signed the board under girl or boy when they cam in. The teams were pretty close, I think the girl team ended up having a bigger group.

Nathan worked very hard making this box.... he was so proud of it. So cute!

Nancy hung some sono pictures for everyone to get a sneak peek at what our baby looks like.

And she set up a table with some of the foods I crave.

The sweet ladies I go to church with all helped by bringing snacks, making punch, Karen made the beautiful cupcakes, and all the ladies helped serve. I just love my church family....

I was so very ready to open that box of balloons. But first we had to eat....

Then we had to play a game to determine if it would be a boy or a girl.... the game said boy.

 Finally, the game was over and Nancy said we could go outside and see if it was right!!

Here we realized they're pink! We had been thinking she was a girl because of the way God has been working to show himself in our lives (again, story coming soon!), but the ultrasound tech was so quick when she looked for the gender.... we thought it must be a boy.

Meme and Pawpaw

My sister was sooo excited! She never doubted that it would be a girl.

 My mom was sure of it too.

 

Here we are posing with our amazing Doula Sarah.

Here are Cindy and Julie, my sweet friends from work. (Here is the snuggie I was telling you about!)

Cindy never doubted it was a girl either. The day I told her I was pregnant she said, "I know it's Lorabelle!" She already knew the story of her name, which I plan to write down very soon.

Before we left, Mark (from our church) gathered everyone around us to pray for us and our growing baby girl.

Here is a picture of the boys team... a little down because they lost. : )

And a picture of the girl's team! I love that Nan is holding up her pink shoe!

          I felt so very blessed having so many people who care about us share in this news with us. More than 40 people who love us and love this little baby they haven't even met yet so much, that they spent their Saturday afternoon with us..... just almost as excited as we were to find out this news. What a blessing to be surrounded by so great a love. I cannot even put into words how honored I was for all of these special people to be there.
       Lorabelle, you have so many people that love you already. They are praying for you daily and cannot wait for your safe arrival!

I'll leave you with this.... my favorite picture of her proud Daddy.....