Halfway There

Monday was our second of two ultrasounds to make sure baby is developing normally. All checked out. Lori's family got to come see the ultrasound since they were in town, and the tech was so gracious - turned the room into a mini-theatre and spent extra long on showing us the little parts (not all of them!).

The baby is healthy, about 14 oz, heartbeat 142, and kicking and squirming in there like she's getting ready for a swim meet. Lori started feeling the movement in Colorado but did not realize it was baby until we got back home to Florida. It feels a bit like the rumbling of a hungry tummy without the noisy growling. We both love the feeling of little elbows and knees and it is still awesome to us this entire process.

We tried to upload ultrasound pics to this blog, but they would not take, so if you want to see the cutest nose and toes in utero, drop one of us an email and we'll send them.

Here are some belly pictures from Colorado. We were at about 20 weeks at this time.

Colorado

We had a great time in Colorado - nearly a week of mountains, creeks, boulders, elk (or deer, we couldn't tell which), and even snow. Dave was in heaven with the cool weather and Lori spent the week bundled up in layers of polartech.



Saw some of the most beautiful landscape God has created, shared picnic lunches, spit cherry pits out the window of the car, and explored Red Rocks Ampitheatre, very slowly, on foot. Hope you enjoy the pictures.




Here is Dave on our drive thru the moutains west of Denver, to Central City:












Below:

Red Rocks Ampitheatre

Lori at our first stop in Rocky Mtn National Park

Snow angels near Bear Lake in Rocky Mtn National Park. Yes, it was snowing and extremely cold.

Below:

Elk? Deer? Really big dogs?

Lori and Dave almost to Trail Ridge Road; the road that takes you from one end of Rocky Mtn National Park to the other. Happened to be under 3 feet of snow the day we went, so we drove up as far as they'd let us, froze our bunskies off, then went back down.

(Closeup) Dave and Lori at Red Rocks

Week 18

Even though we opened this blog several months ago, it has taken us till now to make our first real posting.

Dave's graduation was just a couple of weeks ago and we enjoyed having his family all in town for the special occasion and some of Lori's family too. Dave graduated with flying colors, sat in the front row, and even ended up in several photos on the Naples Daily News website.

Mom Inez and clan















We have had help overhauling (or updating) our bathrooms in recent months, and we have our dads, Dave's brother, and Lori's uncle to thank for so much hard work and guidance. One bathroom is still under construction, but we're excited about what it will look like as soon as it's ready to go.
Dad Crawford and Dave in the yard














James and Dave in the shower



















And baby news from Lori - According to our calendars we are in the middle of week 18 of our pregnancy, and that means our little bumpkin is about 16 weeks along in development. The latest calculation is that baby E is about 5 inches long head to rump, so about the size of a big onion. Anytime now I'm told we'll start to feel some movement, and I sometimes sit still to see if there are butterflies in there or not. I've had up and down days, and now in my fourth month am starting to have "out" days. Pants, shorts, and skirts are all starting to get tighter, and the baby bump is starting to get noticably bigger. I think it's time for a shopping trip... :)
Belly at about 11 weeks (April 13-07)



















Belly at 16 weeks (May 14-07)



















love to you all, Dave & Lori & bebe