The latest quotes

I keep forgetting to keep her little quotes updated. But I love them because they are little glimpse in her little mind!

Oh my, some of these are so old, but I want to remember them!

On our way back from Florida, when she woke up in cold Kentucky, Inara said "Fall tricked us mom. It's supposed to be cool but it warm here. I don't care about the cold weather mom. I ONLY care about the warm weather and being warm."

Inara and I were playing Star Wars and I was pretending Darth Vader was coming back to life.

Inara: This is Star Wars Ten, where Darth Vader keeps coming back and back and back to life. 

Me: How do we defeat him then?

Inara: With the force of course!

Inara was trying to tell Shepherd what to do, while I was sitting right there

Me: Thanks for helping, but I'll be his mom, you can just be the sister

Inara: Well, you can be his mom, but I'm his lesser mom

We were watching a lot of Ninjago and she starts running around twirling in her dress. "My ninja move is twirl power!"

"Mom, last night I had. Bad dream about dinosaurs. When I close my eyes the bad dream has the same episode but then when I open them the channel changes!"

Justin: Inara, what are you doing in there (the bathroom)Inara: Oh, I'm just doing my science experiment

Guess what? If Tick-Tock-Crock ate Captain Hook's other hand he would be called Captain Hooks.

"Let the little children come to me"

 God's word does not come back void, right? RIGHT!  Inara asks questions about death and Heaven a lot. It's kind of weird, but not really I guess.  So frequently she'll say "Mom, lets talk about Heaven". Then it becomes my great joy to do so!  One night as we were cleaning up her room, she burst into tears.  Here's how our conversation went down:

Me: Baby! Come here, what's wrong

Inara: Mom! Heaven is just SO far away. And we have to wait a long time until we go there

Me: You're right baby.  But why do you want to go to Heaven?

Inara: Because I want to see Jesus, Mom

I was really so shocked.  I told her about the Holy Spirit and how God is awesome to send us a Helper while we wait for Heaven.  It got me thinking about how Jesus told his followers to let the little children come to him, "for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these".  It was just really awesome to see God's truth being...well...true!

What is something God is showing you in his word that is true? Please share! I really would love to be encouraged!

Oh Inara!

The other day we went to Smale Park in downtown. It was super fun and Inara LOVED it.  We were packing up and changing clothes, when I realized I forgot to pack Inara's undies.  Not a huge deal because she wasn't wearing a dress.  So we loaded up the kiddos and went to Johnny Rockets for dinner. Inara was riding in the stroller without shoes and didn't want to put them on before going into the restaurant. Our conversation went a little like this:

Inara: I don't want to wear my shoes mom

Me: I know Inara, but those are the rules. You have to wear shoes in the restaurant

*Paused, put on shoes and then continued*

Inara:  Do we have to wear underwear in the restaurant?

*The next time we went, we didn't learn our lesson and forgot the undies AGAIN!*

"Mom, did you know that Wall-e's directive is to clean up earth? And I think Eve's directive is to find the plant"

"I like Ariel and Rapunzel. I like Rapunzel because she is brave and I like Ariel because she has red hair."

After spending the day at Kind's Island "Ummm, I think the haunted house was my favorite ride.  I was SUUUUUPER brave and that's why its my favorite"

Inara: Momma, when the Bride and Groom get married, how does the baby get in her belly?
Me: Uh...er..um God blesses them with a baby!
Inara: I know THAT...but how does the baby get IN the belly. And how does the baby get out of the belly at the hospital?

She's been calling me "Sir" a lot lately and I wasn't really sure why. Then one day during nap time I heard her singing 'I'm in the Lord's army, yes sir!"

Sweet sayings

Inara has been saying some pretty sweet and funny things lately. Here is her latest funny things:

Me and big one speak the same language.  We both speak Spanish to each other.

When I'm older and as big as God, then I can take a shower

I don't like it when the Grinch is in my mind

When I take one bite of an apple, its called an appetite

After reading the Jesus Storybook Bible "I love my daddies.  I love you and my other daddy, God"

Riding in the car we were talking about how Jesus is perfect but we are not perfect.  She is quiet for a long time, then says "Well the bottom of my dress is perfect and beautiful because its sparkly. So that's like Jesus. But the top isn't perfect and sparkly and that is like us."  It was so cute and sweet to see her put it in her terms. :) I just love my sweet girly girl!

First Visitors

Things have been a little crazy around here (feeding a starving baby every 3 hours and a busy toddler) and I realized I didn't get to post many any pictures that we took at the hospital and the visitors we had.  So here they are. He has changed so much already! :(

Inara holding Shepherd for the first time

Kissing him

Mawmaw time

She really loved him right away

Uncle Ben

Getting ready to go home

Catching a quick snooze while he was getting some tests

Wow look at all those pictures again I am so surprised/sad because of how different he already is...my baby is growing up! :(

Inara has some pretty hilarious and sweet things to say about her baby brother :)

The first time my parents showed her his picture before they came to see us she said "Awe! Picture perfect!"

While at the hospital, my parents took Inara to the cafeteria. She didn't eat much and apparently kept saying "I wanna see my baby!"

She also told my parents that when Shepherd was sad, she would give him Big One so he could suck on his tag. (This is a big deal because he is her best friend)

I also caught her telling him "Hi, I'm your family".

Inara says the darndest things!

These are just some of Inara's latest sayings that I want to remember. 

So when Inara wakes up in the morning and gets the eye boogies out of her eyes, she says "Mom, I am getting all the little seeds out of my eyes."

"So, how was your day at work?"

(or how was your nap, or your trip to the store...anything)

"Don't freak out, it was just a joke!"

Inara really loves Tangled and recently in the car she was asking some questions about why Flynn Ryder changed from being a thief to being a good guy:
"Did Flynn Ryder change because God helped him to change? Did Jesus die for his sins? Is that why he changed, Mom?"

"Speed Lemon" = "Speed Limit"

Inara was kicking my leg on the couch one day and I asked her to stop. Her response? "Mom, I just can't stop loving you!"

On our way to church one day she says, "When I see Daddy I am going to give him a loving church kiss". Girly really is a sweetie

"Can you make everyone not call Jesus "Jesus Christ" because I don't like it."

Inara while pretending with the Mom and Dad from her new dollhouse: (Mom talking to the Dad)-"I want a dinosaur. You can do anything". (Dad responding to the Mom)- "No I can't do anything, ONLY GOD CAN DO ANYTHING".

Family fun day

These past 2 weeks have been really crazy in The Duke home.  Saturday we had no plans and it just turned into a family fun day. We stared the day at Ikea, which Inara loves. She loves to play in the little kiddo bedroom and the pretend kitchen in the restaurant. And we got to get our delicious chocolate cake that we love so much.  Also I am pretty happy to announce we have made our second Ikea trip and spend under $100...success!

Next we headed to Coco Key. During the summer they had a "Buy one get one free day pass" on one of those deal websites. It was going to expire soon, so we ventured out and went. It was super fun and Inara loved it.  We played on this indoor splash park thingy (real technical huh?) for a while. There was this one spot where they had  water guns that you could shoot at people. Inara and I were shooting it at Jusitn and I hear her yell "Dad! We are getting you because we love you. We love you Dad!" How awesome, hilarious, and sweet is that? Her other favorite spot was at the bottom of a slide where the water pooled. She called it her bath and stayed there for a good 20 minutes. "Let's take a bath guys" she kept telling us. It was pretty hilarious that her favorite part was essentially a bath :)

After we played for about an hour, Inara said she was ready to go. (So glad we didn't pay the full $40 for 1 hour!) On our way out we stopped at their little game room. Inara had a blast and I had to keep telling my self she was having fun because it was the crappiest arcade I have ever been in. Half of the games didn't work and the other half didn't even dispense tickets! Luckily Inara is 3 and didn't care. She was still having fun and walked away with enough tickets to score 2 pieces of candy, a tattoo, and a little ring.

We went home and made "Cooke Christmas Trees" as Inara called them. I tried to explain they were in fact not cookies but ice cream cones. But have you tried to correct my child before? It is a lesson in futility :)

Yeah, so what if she decorated with no pants on? :)

Here she is enjoying the fruits of her labor :)

We asked her how she liked her Christmas tree and she said, in the most monotone voice "I love it". Which is pretty hilarious if you have ever met Inara because she gets excited about everything.

We finished the night with family movie night in our bed. That was an extra special treat. For some reason she LOVES being in our bed.  And of course we watched Elf.

It was a super fun day to just spend with the 3 of us (or 4 of us if you ask Inara). Inara was cute because everything we did today she would include Shepherd.  I can't wait until she can actually meet him. I just want to remember this day because it could be one of the last "family" days we have with just the 3 of us!

EEEEP, 34 weeks?!

34 weeks: Baby boy is the size of a Cantaloupe and last week at my U/S he weighed 4lbs 7oz.  He sure feels like a cantaloupe hanging out in there. He is big and makes his presence known...normally at night :) 34 more days to go!

Cravings:  Nothing particular I just am craving anything I don't have to make :)

What Inara is saying: Oh my gosh, she is seriously so sweet and so cute! I am sure she won't be in love with him as much when he arrives, so I am just taking it all in right now.  This week she said "I love Shepherd too".  She talks about him all time and seems just so excited to take care of him and teach him all kinds of things.  He is always in pictures that are drawn of the family and I just can't wait to snuggle both of my babies!

Weight gain: 27 lbs

Things to remember:  I defnitely am feeling way more pregnant this week.  I'll drop something on the floor and really think about whether its worth bending down to pick it up :)  Well I think my working 6 of 8 nights these past 2 weeks really made my kiddo on a night shift schedule. Unfortunately it's like clock work-around 11pm, he is awake and REALLY active. I am hoping since I'll be off 4 days before I deliver that will help him get a "normal" schedule.  Also this week I have felt him get the hiccups for the first time. Its pretty fun :)

High Risk: Still bi-weekly NST which isn't super great, but it IS super great to see his little chubby face once a week when the measure my amniotic fluid.  Check it...next week I only have two appointments! Starting at 36 weeks I will go weekly (BOO), but it's all worth it to have a healthy pregnancy.  I still kind of can't believe that I am this far along and in 2 more weeks I get one last ultrasound before he is here!

Inara meets Santa

Sooo, this weekend Inara met Santa. She talked his ear off. We finally started recording after a minute.  I am so glad Inara shared baby feeding techniques with Santa! I am not sure whose face was more red....me or Santa's!

32 weeks?!

32 weeks: Baby is the size of a Jicama? I seriously had never heard of such a thing! Next week I get an u/s which I am pretty excited about. And only 47 days until we meet him!

Cravings: Someone at my work came in with a pack of S'mores Poptarts. Needless to say I have had some every morning since :)

What Inara is saying: While she still doesn't understand breastfeeding (she thinks mom's special milk comes from my belly), I think she is understanding that he (hopefully) won't be fed by a bottle for awhile. She was pretty bummed when I explained that to her. She said, "You mean the ONLY time I get to feed him a bottle is when you are at work?" I sure hope her helping spirit stays around when he arrives :) (Oh and be prepared for a hilarious video coming up where Inara says some pretty hilarious things about Shepherd)

Weight gain: 27 lbs

Things to remember: These past 2 weeks he has been moving around even more.  Gone are the little flutters and full fledged punches and kicks are taking place.  They measured my amniotic fluid this week and I got a little sneak peek of his face:) That's a good thing about bi-weekly NST.

High Risk: This week I started my NST.  Next week I have 4 appointments plus I will be working 2 extra nights at the hospital.  If you think about it, could you pray for me?  I have been sooo tired lately and just looking at my calendar next week makes me want to nap :) But other than appointments I am doing well. No high blood pressure, no swelling, no headaches. Good report!

Learning

I LOVE the little "curriculum" we are using because they do all the work! With working outside of the home, I seriously just don't have time to put stuff together. So I have combinded stuff from Preschool Palace and Raising Rock Star Preschoolers. I love it because I just print it out (spent $10 total) file it in page protectors and we are good to go. It took my 2 months to get through the stuff from September, but that is ok. We have been unusually busy. That being said there were definitely days where I knew we had time to, but I just didn't feel like doing it. I hope to follow the schedule better this month. I know there will still be days where I don't get to it because of work/life, but I can do some on the weekends or just double up and do double on some days. And honestly she loves it so much that I know she won't mind. Inara and I are having a lot of fun with her "school". We don't do it as much as I would like, but when we do it, we have so much fun together.

I know I have said it before but it really is crazy how smart she is.  The other day we were learning about bears. I told her they were omnivores and before I could even explain what that meant she said "Mom, that's just like Argentinosaurus". I just looked at her and thought "What the what?!". I seriously had to look it up because I wasn't sure if that was true...but it waas. She LOVES Dinosaur Train and learns LOTS of stuff from it. Justin and I were talking about how people that say TV is bad for kids are full of crap. Here are some things we have been doing:

Working on fine motor activities

Having fun with our memory verses

"Look Mom, I made a Y".



Working on "H" tracing with ring pop in hand :)

Our playdoh family...complete with baby Shepherd

School time with friends!

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 10

Today I am thankful for how much Inara loves my parents!  Today they kept her so Justin and I could go to a conference at church. Turns out though, that it is pretty difficult for a 7 month preggo to sit in chairs for very long and I had to leave early.  My parents wanted to know if I wanted to meet them for breakfast, so I met them at Cracker Barrel. Inara was happy at first, but then she got real serious and sad and said "Mom, I don't want you to be here. Don't eat with us".  Once we started talking about why she wanted me to leave, it was actually pretty cute.  She thought after breakfast I was going to take her home and she wanted to hang out with Mawmaw and Pawpaw more :) How sweet huh?  Once I explained that she would be spending more time with them after breakfast and I was going home she was much nicer to me. I am thankful she loves them both so much :)  

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 2

Today I am thankful for my dad. He is a life saver. Seriously! I seriously don't know what I would do without him!  I am an adult, but I still need my Daddy :) He asks about my car, and last time he drove it, he made sure I was getting my oil changed soon.  He keeps Inara most of the time while I am sleeping off my night shift, he really does a great job. He says "I'm just doing what every Pawpaw would", but I assure him he is not.  He has helped with potty training, teaches her shapes, colors, letter sounds and TONS of little tunes.  And I swear deep down he is a nurse :) He "reports off" when I pick her up...what she ate, how long she napped, if she pooped (and describes it for me).  He has brought me a coke when I NEED the energy but had a house full of kiddos, he has brought me medicine when I am too sick to go out...and then insisted he take Inara with him so I could be alone :)  He is the best and I often wonder "What do people DO without a great Dad?" I don't know, but it makes me thankful Inara will get to experience it too!




 So let me explain.  Sometime WAY earlier this year I bought Inara little Toy Story 3 figurines.  One of them included the little green aliens. She started calling them "Pizza Planet" because well...that is where they are from.  She promptly lost them a few weeks later.  Every once in a while she would say (in the most pathetic voice) "Mom, I am so sad. I just really miss my Pizza Planet.  Not having my toy hurts my feelings Mom".  Lately her sadness over Pizza Planet greatly increased, so Justin found a cheap little one from amazon. He gave it to her yesterday and oh my! It was seriously like the greatest thing that ever happened to her. She spent about 3 hours saying "oh thank you so much dad for my Pizza Planet toy. I am going to love on you. I am so glad I have you again". So obviously today she is thankful for her long lost toy and her Daddy for giving it to her :)

3rd Trimester

28 weeks: Hello 3rd Trimester! Shepherd is the size of Chinese cabbage? I seriously didn't know that existed :) He probably weights about 2.25 lbs.

Cravings: Chocolate milk. I love milk all the time for the past month I ONLY want it chocolate :) YUM! I also and newly obsessed with vanilla wafers and peanut butter. It is go to snack!

What Inara is saying: One time she told me "Mom, I don't want a baby brother. I want a baby sister." But mostly she tells completele strangers "Did you know, my mommy has a baby in her belly? I am going to have a baby brother". Its really fun and sweet :)  She is really excited to play with him and show him everything. We got out all the infant toys and she kept saying "Mom, I'm going to show him how to play with this". Then one Sunday at church she asked if they could be in the same class together once he comes. She is such a sweetie :) Also today she said this to Justin "Elmo loves his goldfish just like I love my baby in mom's belly". How cute!

Weight gain: 20 lbs.

Things to remember: I really don't want to forget the joy of little (well now BIG) baby kicks. This will be my last time experiencing the miracle of pregnancy and so even though sometimes I can't breathe because he is ALWAYS up in my ribs, I still get a little smile on my face to feel him moving around in there.  He is super crazy in my belly and it honestly makes me a little nervous for his arrival :)

High Risk: Things have really started to pick up in terms of appointments. I am happy to go to them all if it keeps my preggers longer, but it looks like it will be every 2 weeks appointments from here on out. The good news is that next week we get another sneak peek at our baby boy :) So I DO have to start kick counts which I am not super excited about. I just really hope it doesn't turn me into a nut case.

Baby Duke is a....

Cravings: Still craving and eating bananas which is still weird since I don't like bananas :)

Gender: Baby boy!

Name:  We have had a baby boy name picked out for almost 5 years probably. So we are going to stick with what we originally liked. We aren't keeping it a secret, but haven't decided how to spell it yet...I'll keep ya posted :)

What Inara is saying: I was super nervous to tell her that baby was a boy since she has refused to think of that. But it actually wasn't as bad as I thought :) The night before we tried to get her excited by telling her when we got back from our appointment we would have pics of the new baby. So when I got home after the appointment she was REALLY excited to see the pictures. I showed her the pictures and told her she was going to have a baby brother. She immediately asked "What is he the size of". I told her a banana. Then she paused, looked real serious and said "Mom, are babies humans?" I told her yes babies are humans. Then she got excited for her baby brother :)

Weight gain: I have gained about 10 pounds so far. Definitely doing better than my last pregnancy

Things to remember: I am really getting to that point where I feel pregnant. I'm not miserable or anything like that, but just little things that are making a big difference. I can't "suck in" my baby belly anymore and speaking of baby...wowza! Baby boy likes to move around. It is a fun little reminder of the awesome things God is doing in my body when I feel little kicks. But since he is bigger now, sometimes I feel a hard lump on my belly! Its super fun to actually feel your baby through your belly :)

Ps, every time I say "Baby brother" I can't NOT think of Buster from Arrested Development. Please watch this...you won't be sad

The ultrasound: I seriously was expecting something to be wrong with baby during the ultrasound. I think because I work with sick kiddos, that just seems like the norm to me? So each time I saw a fully formed spine or an intact bladder and heard the words "that looks good", I was so relieved :) One time I did think there was something wrong with the heart because the tech. took a TON of pictures and sometimes looked at the screen in a puzzled way. But everything was fine...4 little chambers each pumping the right way :)  Early in the u/s I thought I got a sneak peek and thought it was a boy, but then she showed us a picture and we both knew right away without her telling us...it was a boy! It was crazy how obvious it was. I was nervous before hand, because I really thought and wanted it to be a girl. I was nervous that if it was a boy maybe I would be disappointed. But I absolutely 100% was not. When she said "It's a boy", I just cried...I now have a son. I have been thinking about how weird it is we are having a boy, and how different it will be...but not disappointment at all.

I love this picture. You can see his little arm over his face. That is how Inara and I both sleep :)

Ultrasound pics: The only appropriate time to post pictures of your kid's genitalia :)

High risk: Things seem to be going well so far. I got cleared to fly and see a friend in DC in a few weeks and I don't have to go back until my 24 week appointment. Then I'll see them again at 27 weeks (a few weeks before my BP was elevated with Inara) and they will decide what to do at that point.

Oh kiddo!

Inara is seriously hilarious. I find my self cracking up laughing at her multiple times a day. Here are some of her latest phrases/conversations. Oh and on a plus side, my baby girl can now undress her self completely independently (including shoes) and can dress her self with minimal help too!

"Mom, pee comes out my butt"

"Hide-and-go-peek" = Hide-and-go-seek

When trying to get Inara to take a nap one day, we hear her yelling from her crib "Daddy! I'm not a sleepyhead Dad!"

While driving in the car a night she asked "Why is the moon following us?"

Her favorite phrase when you ask her to do something is  "I would LOVE to!" Ex: Inara do you want a waffle for breakfast? Answer " I would LOVE a waffle for breakfast.

Proof she is indeed a "sleepyhead" :)

Dreams

So I think last night Inara remembered her first dream.  As soon as she woke up, she was asking a lot of questions about lobsters.

Inara: Mom why were the colorful lobsters were climbing on my pink blanket? I would close my eyes and they would pinch my legs. And then I would tell them 'get away lobsters' and they got away. Then I just listened to them making sounds

Me: What kind of sounds do they make?

Inara: All kinds of sounds! Why do lobsters pinch everybody

Me: Well the pinch to protect them selves

Inara: Why do they crawl?

Me: Because they don't walk.

Inara: What do lobsters eat?

Me: I think they eat dead fish in the ocean.

Inara: And they think it tastes good. They go 'mmmm, that is yummy!'

It was pretty hilarious...and so are these picture of her sleeping :)

It is also to be noted that we put her to bed with ONE blanket and EVERY morning she wakes up with 4 of them in her bed with her :) I love my crazy girl !

12 Weeks!

Here are some updates from Baby D at 12 weeks. Enjoy!

Baby Duke is now the size of a Lime. I had all these great ideas of getting the fruit that matched baby's size to show Inara...but alas...I am human and tired...and still sicko sometimes

Cravings: I am REALLY feeling cherry limeades. I had some form of that drink nearly every day this week!

Gender: Inara has been really excited for us having a girl...and so am I. We will find out in about a month, but I know I will be happy either way

What Inara is saying: Well she has asked me what "her baby's name is". She refuses to think the baby COULD be a boy. And has said she will feed HER a bottle. She also said I can hold the baby and Justin can "hold me like a big sister", whatever that looks like :) Did I mention she wants a sister. Here are some of our most recent conversations.

Me: So Inara, do you think it would be fun if we had another baby in the house?

Inara: Yes! She could sleep in my room...and then I could sleep with you and Daddy in your bed.

Me: Well, if we do have another baby, it will sleep in a new room and you will stay in your room. So would you like a baby brother or baby sister?

Inara: A baby sister!

Me: So not a baby brother?

Inara: Nope, I just want a baby sister.

Recently we were watching a show where they were playing with a little baby. I asked her if she is going to play with our new baby. This is how it went:

Inara: I am going to tickle her!

Me: Well, ya know, we might have a baby brother and not a baby sister.

Inara: No mom. I want a baby sister.

Me: Well Inara. We don't get to choose that. God chooses

Inara: I choose Mom. A baby sister

Me: We will be happy with whatever God decides our little family needs

Inara: A baby sister

Soooo apparently she wants a baby sister :) Which is fun and sweet....but I am not sure how it will go over if baby #2 is a boy... Also this is what it looks like when you are a "high risk pregnancy"

Yup...that is a mediset...no I am not an old lady. On Tuesday when I was told I need to take NINE pills a day. I'll admit it...I pouted. I HATE taking medication. Swallowing pills makes me sick because I am kind of a small child. I mean, I take gummie vitamins ya know?! But Justin is great and reminded me that other people around the world aren't as privelaged to take these medicines. Also 9 pills a day is a small price to pay for a healthy kiddo. He was right. I would take 90 pills a day if it would help baby D get here safer :) I got a good one ladies!

My sweet funny girl

I love that Inara is taking in full sentances. She really is super funny, inquisitive, and sweet. Here are some of our recent conversations

When having a late night drink of milk she looks up at me from her cribs and says:

"Milk comes from all sorts of things: cows...utters...spouts...straws"

Inara to Marley while holding her Bible:

 "This the bible. We have to read it. Ill show you how. Like this. You open it up and turn the pages"

The other day she came into the living room dressed like this:

She said "I look like my Dada"

While looking out the her window in the car at a construction site, she sighs real loudly and says in a really sad and pathetic voice:

"I just love dump trucks...I wish I could ride one"

Sometimes when she like something or something cool happens she asks "Is that awesome?"

And she really is just a little sweetie.  Since I've been feeling sick, she is constantly asking me "Momma, do you feel sick?" One days she climbed up on the couch with me and said "I snuggle with you Momma, then you'll feel better". She definitely knew what would work! :)

Baby, Baby, Baby OOO

So yes, we are surprisingly pregnant!  It was a big surprise as we were not trying to get pregnant, but it has been so obvious thus far, that God had other plans.  Well remember when I miscarried a few months ago?  Well things just hadn't been right for awhile with my body after that. So I went to see my doctor who started me on a medication I was to take for 10 days that would help kick start my cycle....well that didn't really happen. I called them to make a follow up appointment since things were still crazy, but I was feeling pretty yucky that day.   So I figured I would just take ONE MORE pregnancy test just to be sure... at this point I had burned through like 5 in a few months....and low and behold

Ps how fun are tests that say "Pregnant" and not just 2 little lines?

It was kind of a shocker.  The next day I was planning on calling my high risk OB to set up my first appointment. I figure I should know the name of the medication they gave me, so I looked it up real quick and my stomach sank.  The medicine I was on WHILE I was pregnant is REALLY bad to take if you are preggo. It can cause lots of problems.  So I just sat there...staring at my computer screen thinking how I'll likely be having another miscarriage soon.  Meanwhile, Inara is playing by herself in her room. I have the monitor on and I hear the sweetest voice sing to me:

Savior, He can move a mountain

My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save

Forever, author of salvation.

He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave

I just burst into tears. No truer words have ever been spoken. My sweet little girl (who I use to sing that song to while she was in the NICU for 1 month), was singing exactly what my heart needed to hear. God is big and mighty and can choose to save this tiny baby in my womb if He chooses too. BUT should He choose not to, God is still big and mighty and has saved my soul from Hell and rescued me to Heaven. *sigh* I KNEW know it will be ok.

So on last Monday I went to have an ultrasound to "confirm" my pregnancy and find my estimated due date.  I was kind of nervous, but as soon as I saw the little flutter on the screen and heard the little thumps of a heartbeat. I had instant relief! I tried not to cry so I wouldn't mess up the pictures. All my fears quickly subsided that moment.

So now I am in that "oh my gosh I feel so sick and tired all the time" state. But now I can be happy because it means there's a baby in there!  So if you think about it, could you pray for us? Last time I got pretty sick with Inara and we are hoping we don't repeat that and I don't end up on bedrest either.  I also had some crazy symptoms last time (pregnancy induced carpal tunnel) that I would like to not have this go around. Baby Duke will be here 1/25/13!

PS, thanks for all the excitement! I mean I was pretty excited, but the fact that SOOO many other people are too makes it super fun for us :)