Now I lay me down to sleep...

I love our night time routine. Bathtime brings with it major splashing and big smiles to our little girl's face, zipping her into her footed pajamas is about as adventurous as dressing an octopus, and then comes Abby's favorite part: bedtime stories.

This girl loves books. In a playroom full of toys, she'll go to the bookshelf nine times out of ten and pull out all her favorite books to flip through and "read" to herself. (At least one time out of ten the giant ball pit wins out.) So every night, we snuggle her into a lap (we take turns, and nightly fight over who's turn it is), cuddle up with our favorite one-year-old and her favorite fuzzy pink blanket, and read her favorite books. It's a routine she knows well, and one to which she will not tolerate any alterations. We always wind up with her toddler Bible, the one with the thick cardboard pages that she loves to turn, and each page ends with a short prayer that relates to the story, and an "Amen." After bedtime stories are read, whoever didn't have lap duty that night gets to pray for our little girl.

We say our prayers, lay her in her crib, and tell her "night night" and "we love you." Such has been the routine for weeks now, and about a month ago, Abby started responding with a very clear "night night" of her own, which we thought was the cutest thing ever. Until this week.

Abby, ever mindful of what's going on around her, has figured out that "night night" and praying go hand in hand. So now at meal times, when we bow our heads to pray, Abby chimes in with a chorus of "night night!"

Now that is the cutest thing ever.

Waitin' on Caleb: Week 22

Caleb's looking more and more like a little newborn every day. He's probably passed the one pound mark and should be around 11 inches long now, head to toe--about the size of a spaghetti squash. His eyes, eyelids, eyebrows and lips are more distinct and his irises have formed, though they won't have any pigment until closer to his arrival. Also, tooth buds are growing under his little gum lines this week. His pancreas is developing this week and his skin is still pretty wrinkly, and will remain so until he starts to bulk up in the last few weeks in the womb.

Following in his big sister's footsteps, little Caleb is proving to be a very hiccupy baby as well. It's a strange feeling to have someone else's diaphragm having spasms inside you, but I imagine hiccups are a pretty full-body experience for someone that small, so I can't blame him if he gets a little aggressive when they attack. His movements are definitely getting more frequent and I'm beginning to notice predictable patterns of wakefulness and restfulness as his movements get stronger and more discernable. Caleb's a strong boy and Justin is often amazed at the strenghth of his kicks!

The sciatic nerve pain has continued to bother me, although for the most part I'm starting to get used to it. Caleb does occassionaly move off of that nerve now, which provides me minutes or even sometimes hours of relief at a time!

As my belly continues to take on more of its maternal shape I'm realizing that this baby, like the first, is going to ride low and large, prompting well-meaning baby prophets everywhere to start telling me as early as 34 weeks that I've "dropped" and "it could be any day now." Actually, my babies just seem to like riding as close to my knees as possible. Though this womb position is pretty annoying (both a baby and a bladder don't fit in that space, trust me), I figure it should make the delivery go quickly again since he won't have as far to travel. (Special thanks to my babies for not growing high up under my lungs...it seems this is what I did to my mom, and I'll take frequent trips to the bathroom over not being able to breathe any day.)

Please continue to pray for relief from my back and leg pain and for Caleb's continued healthy growth inside the womb for the next four months!

Actually, it was rotini

I know a lot of moms who long for that first spaghetti episode with their babies. They envision the oh-so-adorable scenario where Junior runs his hands through the slippery noodles, sticks them in his face, hair or the family pet, flings tomato sauce on the floor and the high chair as it drips from his pudgy little fingers...this is the stuff great family photos are made of. The resulting mess is a small price to pay for the fun times had as parents look on with glee, wishing they, too, could have so much fun with a tray of pasta.

I had a similar vision (minus the family pet). I wanted that perfect spaghetti-stained photo, I wanted to see my daughter's eyes light up as she tried to pick up the squiggly noodles... What I did not want, however, was the mess. I don't enjoy cleaning, no matter how precious the moment that made the mess may have been. Thinking of my daughter dining on her very own plate of red-stained pasta did not bring a smile to my face any more than the idea of you wearing your muddy shoes through my living room would.

So I altered the vision: rotini pasta (the swirly ones) cut into manageable pieces instead of slimy thin spaghetti; a minimum amount of sauce, largely soaked up by chunks of ground beef to minimize splashing; a bib that stretched from her neck to her elbows to her knees; and most importantly, small amounts of food rationed at her parents' discretion. (And of course, no spaghetti dinner is complete without garlic bread.) The resulting scenario was just as fun, just as entertaining, and just as camera-worthy.

And the best part? My mop and I didn't have to spend a whole lot of time together when it was over.

Baby blues and walkin' shoes

Sometimes Abby just does something so adorable that it would be wrong of me not to share it with the world. And yesterday was one of those times.

Our little girl has been, over the last week or so, perfecting the art of putting one foot in front of the other. She's gone from baby steps to stumbling around like a drunken sailor and most recently has mastered moving steadily from one room to the other like a good little biped.

I'm certain part of her motivation for learning to walk upright is that she couldn't wait to start giving hugs of her own volition. To prove it, she successfully maneuvered herself away from her favorite toy and over to the stool where I was seated, caught up in an activity that is oh-so-fascinating to my daughter: tying my shoes. And as if to say "mom, stop playing with those laces for a minute and revel in my cuteness," she proceeded to lunge for me, wrap her skinny little one-year-old arms around my calf, rest her chin on my knee, and hug the living daylights out of my right leg.

I really don't know if I can handle all this cuteness...

Waitin' on Caleb: Week 21

Caleb's probably almost a pound now and should be about 10.5 inches long, about the length of your average carrot. His movements are much more pronounced now and he's getting big enough that I'm often able to tell where in the womb he's hanging out at a given moment. He's definitely following the standard fetal pattern of sleeping when I'm up and moving around when I'm still, which is making getting to sleep at night a little bit of an adventure. It's hard to go to sleep, no matter how tired you are, when there's a baby doing karate in your belly. His eyebrows and eyelids are developed by this point and his face is beginning to settle into what it will look like when he makes his big debut.

I'm definitely getting larger, though not so large as to make things like washing dishes and doing laundry uncomfortable yet. I'm just large enough, in fact, to make carrying Abby on one hip inconvenient, but she and Caleb usually have a fun time seeing who can kick the other the hardest through my belly whenever I have to carry her around somewhere.

There's only so much room in this little (growing) belly of mine, and unfortunately for myself and pregnant women everywhere, babies and normal-sized bladders do not coexist well. Frequent trips to the bathroom, small meals and constant snacking are a big part of my life now as Caleb declares his dominion over what was my abdomen.

And, like his big sister before him, this little guy is perfectly content to spend all of his time doing jumping jacks on my sciatic nerve. With Abby, this resulted in a left leg that was, for the most part, numb for the last 4 months of my pregnancy. Caleb has kicked off his attacks on my sciatic nerve much earlier, leaving me with residual pain that resonates from my left hip down to my ankle and feels a little like someone trying to drill a butt-cheek-sized drill into my left butt cheek. I've not yet found a position--either moving, sitting, standing or lying down--that offers any relief. (Moms who've been there....any thoughts?)

Please pray with us this week that this nerve pain would ease up, and that if it doesn't, I would at least be able to go about my day normally. And as always, thanks for your continued prayers for a healthy baby boy and his continued development over these last 5 months!

A wreck, of the ramblin' variety

No, you're not seeing things. That's me, proud graduate of the University of Georgia, decked out in my one and only Georgia Tech t-shirt, and Abby, sporting the GT jersey her Uncle Matt sent her. I'd like to think Tech's loss today (to that other tech that's so popular here in Virginia), was made slightly more bearable for my helluva engineer hubby by seeing his two girls decked out in blue and gold...proof that love transcends even college football allegiances. I just love him that much.

Camels and emus and geese, oh my!

Abby had a lot of firsts this morning at the zoo: Her first conversation with a bird (she waved every time it said hello); her first time feeding a llama; and her first kiss from a camel. I learned that while she likes to quack and point and shout "duck" when she sees her feathered friends, ostriches don't necessarily appreciate being mislabeled and retaliate by trying to nip her little fingers (which, to their credit, look suspiciously like little worms).

Our safari ride gave plenty of opportunity to get up close and personal with the wildlife, and (before it got too feisty) the ostrich played a fun little game of peek-a-boo where Abby, seated safely on my lap, would duck from side to side peeking around my head while the ostrich did the same behind me. I was a little freaked out by their game, but Abby seemed to love it.

In what could not have been a more perfect situation, we were greeted in the petting zoo area by four very hungry ducks. Thankfully, I'd had the foresight to buy a $3 cup of animal feed with which to entice them to bring their quacking and flapping close enough to my daughter to make her pretty much the happiest kid on earth. (Next time I'll have the foresight to bring my own cheap dried up bread from home.)

This was definitely an adventure worth repeating.

Waitin' on Caleb: Week 20

Poor little Caleb...it can't be comfortable to be the size of a banana (he's probably about 10 inches long now, head to heel) and be squished inside this little belly of mine. Thankfully, we're at the halfway point, and thankfully, my midsection is doing its part to make room for our little boy.

It's nearly impossible for us to believe we're halfway through with this pregnancy already! The time really is flying by...if this last half can go by as fast as these first few months have, you might get to see the big-bellied version of my happy dance.

Since every pregnancy is different, I think a concise side-by-side comparison of Abby and Caleb's gestation periods is in order. Sort of a halfway-through-the-pregnancy review.

So here are my 20 weeks stats:

	Abby	Caleb
total weight gain:	7 lbs	10 lbs
belly circumference:	34.5 inches	35 inches
maternity pants:	optional	necessary
fetal movement:	faint	strong

So it's true for me as well...things happen more quickly and in greater degree with successive pregnancies. I'm carrying this baby low just like the first one, and am attributing the necessity of stretchy waistbands (in spite of the only half-inch difference at this time from my first pregnancy) to the fact that my hips just aren't as close to each other as they used to be.

Caleb's movements are getting much more discernible. Unfortunately for me, they come without warning and tend to stop me in my tracks or make me jump. He's a strong boy! Please pray for his continued strong and healthy development, and for a healthy last 20 weeks in the womb.

What's in a name?

A lot actually. We've thought long and hard on this one to make sure we'd be packing a pretty good punch with the name we chose for our son, so we're very pleased to announce that Peanut is now officially...

Caleb Steven Fisher

Caleb comes from two Hebrew words meaning "of the heart" or "faithful." God has indeed shown His faithfulness to us in this pregnancy in healing my uterus and allowing this baby's development to continue unhindered, and we'll be reminded of His grace every time we speak our son's name. It was Caleb who, when Moses sent out his twelve spies to survey the promised land, returned and reminded the people that though it seemed a daunting task, God had promised them the land and they could indeed occupy it and overcome the "giants" that lived there, because God was with them. It was Caleb (along with his faithful friend Joshua) who was promised entry into the promised land when the rest of their faithless generation turned in fear and refused to occupy the land God had given them. Our prayer for our Caleb is that his life will be shaped by such a bold faith and that He will walk confidently in the Lord.

Steven is a tribute to Justin's dad whose own faithfulness and leadership of his family will echo down through generations to come. God has used Justin's dad mightily in the life of his own three sons, teaching and training and guiding them as they've grown in a knowledge and understanding of the Lord, and we will look forward to telling our son about the Godly heritage his grandfather has given the Fisher family (and probably share some of Steve's jokes while we're at it).

Yep...these are big shoes we're giving our little one to fill. Can't wait to meet our precious little Caleb!

What's in a name?

A lot actually. We've thought long and hard on this one to make sure we'd be packing a pretty good punch with the name we chose for our son, so we're very pleased to announce that Peanut is now officially...

Caleb Steven Fisher

Caleb comes from two Hebrew words meaning "of the heart" or "faithful." God has indeed shown His faithfulness to us in this pregnancy in healing my uterus and allowing this baby's development to continue unhindered, and we'll be reminded of His grace every time we speak our son's name. It was Caleb who, when Moses sent out his twelve spies to survey the promised land, returned and reminded the people that though it seemed a daunting task, God had promised them the land and they could indeed occupy it and overcome the "giants" that lived there, because God was with them. It was Caleb (along with his faithful friend Joshua) who was promised entry into the promised land when the rest of their faithless generation turned in fear and refused to occupy the land God had given them. Our prayer for our Caleb is that his life will be shaped by such a bold faith and that He will walk confidently in the Lord.

Steven is a tribute to Justin's dad whose own faithfulness and leadership of his family will echo down through generations to come. God has used Justin's dad mightily in the life of his own three sons, teaching and training and guiding them as they've grown in a knowledge and understanding of the Lord, and we will look forward to telling our son about the Godly heritage his grandfather has given the Fisher family (and probably share some of Steve's jokes while we're at it).

Yep...these are big shoes we're giving our little one to fill. Can't wait to meet our precious little Caleb!

Good ol' fashioned fun

Abby Jean and Abby Mae had a fun time cruising through the farmer's market in this souped up little red wagon this morning. Please note: this is not the wagon you remember from your childhood (you know the one...it was held together with paint and rust). This one comes with all the upgrades: backrests, sippy cup holders, leg room, seat belts, 360-degree front wheels and no-tip construction. It also provides plenty of space for storing tomatoes, okra, squash and raspberries, which turned out to be a big plus this morning. Now if we could just get the girls to stop taking each other's sippy cups...

Waitin' on Caleb: Week 19

It's a boy!

This week's much-anticipated ultrasound showed that everything's looking good with little Peanut's development, and revealed that we'll be welcoming a son into the world in January! He's a big boy and showed off a pretty full belly when he had his picture taken on Tuesday. The technician told us he must like to eat (seems to be a common theme for our kids). He's weighing in at about 10 ounces but we weren't able to get a length for him, so we'll just guess that he's on track at about 6 or 7 inches long (head to rump) this week.

Peanut's been moving like crazy this past week, kicking, squirming and--our ultrasound showed us--head-butting my upper abdomen. Justin's able to feel the firmer kicks now, but much of our son's rolling around is still only discernible to me. He was a sleepy little boy during our scan on Tuesday, yawning, stretching and sleeping through most of the one-hour exam.

His sensory development is beginning to take off this week and his brain is designating special areas for his senses. Peanut can hear us now, and unless he's going to be a baldy when he's born, the hair on his head should be sprouting around this time.

Please pray for us as we prepare for the awesome responsibility of welcoming a son into the world and into our family. Just when we thought we had this girl thing figured out, one of my friends pointed out that now we get to relearn everything! We know God has a plan and a purpose for our little boy...pray that we would be up to the task of raising this precious gift up to know and love his Creator!

No names yet...but we're getting close!

The Land Before Time

In just one day, our Littlefoot has turned into a Sharptooth.

Turns out Abby had a pretty good excuse for the fussiness, the runny nose and the fever we dealt with yesterday: a central incisor, making its grand delayed debut. (That's it peeking through the bottom gum line.)

We let her practice using her sharp little tooth last night and she seemed to enjoy being able to crack the Better Chedders we gave her to snack on. Now that she's got the right equipment, maybe she can learn to chew her food instead of swallowing it whole.

Puppy dog tails

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.
--Psalm 127:3

Today's ultrasound made it official: the family of fish is once again at an even split. In January, we'll get to meet our first son!

To answer the frequently asked questions:

• Yes, we're sure. Our little boy was not shy about having his picture taken when it came time to prove his manhood.
• No, we don't have a name yet. Maybe we'll just stick with Peanut. I think it's a name he could really grow into.
• Yes, we're excited. What kind of a question is that?
• No, Abby is not excited. She's exhibiting exactly the kind of ambivalence you'd expect from a one year old being told she has a little brother.
  

Peanut's a big boy, and based on his size our due date got bumped up another two days, making today's ultrasound technician my new favorite person. All reports were good, which is exactly what we were hoping for. So far Peanut's proving to be a much more chilled out little baby than Abby was. Instead of flailing about while they tried to take his picture (like his big sister did in her last ultrasound), Peanut was content to sleep most of the time, stretch, yawn, and wake up just long enough to roll over and make it difficult for the tech to get the last few pictures she needed.

We're almost halfway there...and can't wait to meet our little boy!