14 Weeks...and a Winner!

First, what we've all been waiting for: the prize and the winner! Here are the various components of the prize: a soft warm scarf from Israel to chase away the winter chill, a book about Gladys Aylward to inspire the spirit (I wasn't familiar with her story until this year, but it's amazing!), some peach mango lotion which is supposed to be energizing (we all need more energy, right?), some citrus aloe soap which is supposed to be revitalizing, a DVD of Love's Enduring Promise which is one of the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke (I loved reading this set of books as a young teen and was heavily influenced, I'm sure, by its view of courtship, romance, marriage, and family relationships), some chocolate raisins (no big surprise there!), and a kitchen towel with a farm scene on it (to remind you that I'm a country girl). Before I send the package off, another small item might be slipped into it: on his way out the door this morning to run some errands in town, Jeff said, "Do you want me to get some more chocolate to include in the prize?" :) If he indeed returns with more chocolate, I'll make sure I include it before I send it off to...
...KRISTY of Loving This Journey! Unfortunately for you, her blog is closed so unless you know her or are already on her approved list, you'll have to miss out on reading all about the adventures of her wonderful family; but I can tell you that she has a zestful life! Kristy and I go way back, all the way to church youth group days. We had completely lost touch but then reconnected through blogging, and I'm so glad we did. Congratulations, Kristy!!! Thanks as well to all of you for playing along; it was really fun, and I actually felt my own heart beating faster as the name was drawn. Who was it going to be?? This was so much fun that I'm sure I'll do it again sometime...maybe next year on my blogiversary, maybe sooner. :)

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So, 14 weeks already? That's what the pregnancy ticker says so it must be true! :)

One of the funniest things that happened this week is that Jeff woke up angry one morning. The reason? He had just had a dream in which we were having our ultrasound, and the technician said, "Well, your BOY..." But we didn't want to find out!!! When Jeff reproached her, she tried to backpedal and make it out like it wasn't for sure that it was a boy...but the beans had been spilled and there was no use in pretending otherwise. Jeff wasn't mad because we were having a boy, but simply because the technician didn't honor our wishes to keep it a secret. :)

Two special moments of preparation occurred in the past few days. One was that yesterday, when the boys and I were at our friend Amy's house, she showed us a baby afghan that she's begun making for The New Baby. Early on in the pregnancy, she told me that she wanted to do this for us, and she wanted to know what color I wanted. I went looking for yarn and found a bright sunshiny golden yellow--a color that Amy first considered a "bold" choice for a baby afghan. She admitted yesterday that the more she works on it, the more she likes it. I like it, too--SO MUCH--and I was grateful for a sneak peek at the very special blanket that will be for this baby only (not a hand-me-down)!

Second, when I was shopping by myself late one evening, I decided to go ahead and buy the coming-home-from-the-hospital outfit for The New Baby. Of course, since we don't know the gender, I had to buy two outfits: a blue and brown one for a son, and a pink with hearts one for a daughter. Whichever one we don't use, I'll get to give to someone else who has a baby. Knowing my sentimental nature, I had to have a firm talk with myself to make sure that I will be OK with giving away the unused one. Once I convinced myself that I would only hold it lightly and would be fine with blessing someone else with it, I let myself buy them both. :)

Even though I'm allowing myself to go ahead and dream and buy and prepare, I still feel some caution in my heart. What if this baby doesn't make it? I'm at the stage of thinking that maybe, just maybe, I'm feeling a little movement. In fact, I looked back in the blog to see when I first felt movement with Tobin; and it was at 14 and 1/2 weeks, so it's not inconceivable that The New Baby is actually making his/her presence known through jabs and kicks now. But I just don't know for sure, and I can hardly wait to hear the heartbeat again next Wednesday at my next appointment; I'm more than eager for that reassurance that all is well. If I had a million dollars, I would definitely use a small portion of it to buy one of those "thingies" (good scientific name) that the midwives use to listen for the heartbeat...along with an industrial-sized supply of that gooey gel they spread on the skin first. I might actually be tempted to go a step further and buy my own ultrasound machine so I could just do a daily check of the baby to see how he was doing. That wouldn't be excessive, would it? ;)

Here's my week 14 picture which didn't turn out quite like I envisioned because I forget to tell the friend I roped into taking this picture that I wanted a full-length shot to capture my preggy belly. Oh, well, you'll just have to imagine the rest...and by the way, you'll be seeing this dress again, probably in my week 15 shot, and that one will hopefully include my considerable growth (or girth, both are true).