It's a.....

We're having a GIRL!!!!!

This morning at our 20 week appointment we found out God has blessed us with a little baby girl. She is healthy and weighs 12 oz., which is right on track for how far a long I am. I am also healthy, doing great, and have gained 6 lbs. at this point.

Going into the appointment I was expecting them to tell us we were having a boy. Why? Because it seems all of my friends have had or are having boys and both of our families have LOTS of boys. Joe was hoping it was a girl and had thought that it was going to be a girl. I was quite surprised when we were told it was a girl. I was partly surprised because as soon as the tech put the doppler on my stomach she happened to hit right between the legs with a clear shot. She said "you're having a girl." I thought she was kidding because it seriously hadn't been two seconds since she had started. She told us she was 100% sure it's a girl because of the angle she was able to see the sex organs. To quote her she said, "There are no boy parts down there." We are both excited! :)

This first picture is a profile of our little girl. :) The one below it is one of her face straight on. It looks a little creepy because it mostly is emphasizing her skull. 

It was amazing getting to see all that we did. I am so grateful we have the technology we do. As you can see, the baby looks like a baby now. It was neat to get to see the heart beat again, her bones, and all of her organs. It was awesome to see the baby move on the screen while feeling it at the same time.

My clothes are slowly starting to get too small. A few of my pants still fit and some of my shirts do. I have upgraded to mostly maternity shirts at this point. They are just more comfortable. I know from the picture of my belly you wouldn't guess my clothes don't fit. People keep being surprised with how little my belly is, but I think people don't realize that you don't 'look' pregnant for most of the pregnancy. I feel great. I'm still able to workout on a regular basis. I haven't felt tired during the day or anything like that. I'm sure as things progress I will! No crazy cravings, although I do enjoy spicy food even more than I did before getting pregnant. Garlic bothers my stomach, so I try to avoid it. (Sorry Berni's!)

Thanks for all of your prayers and excitement during this time in our lives!!!!

Crab'n on the Bayou

Every place Joe lives he likes to pick up a new 'sport'. Since we're in FL and live on the water he has started fishing and just recently bought a crab trap. This morning he checked our trap after filling it with the bones leftover from buffalo wings last night. There were two stone crabs inside. Stone crabs have large claws with the best meat. They are regulated though, and have to be a certain size to be able to be taken. Only one of the crabs had a claw big enough. Here's the crab we kept. Their claws are quite strong, enough that it can bruise your bone! Joe was smart and grabbed some tactical gloves before engaging with the crab.Here is the claw he took. It measured about 5 1/2 inches long. So we boiled the claw and made a scramble with the meat.

This is our resident Heron. We see him almost everyday around our 'backyard'. He was out on the dock when Joe went to check the crab trap.