A Package!

Hummm what could it be.....

Ooooh I'm LIKING what I see....

Oooooh I am LOVING what I see.....

A Hand Made Quilt!!!

From Auntie Andi!!!

What a fun and special package!

My sister started this quilt as soon as I told her we were expecting. At the time we did not know if we were having a boy or a girl so she made it gender neutral. I must say it is just perfect and very soft! In fact Brad loves it so much I have caught him on the couch all curled up with it..... I have to remind him this is Brooklyn's quilt not his!!

THANK YOU AUNTIE ANDI!!!

It's A Boy!

Nope....not our Brooklyn.....HAHA!

We found out this week that Brooklyn is going to have a BOY cousin. That's right! Blake and Erica are having a boy!!! Mark and Kathy are so excited that they are getting one of each! I think Kathy already has some matching outfits picked out in her mind...hehe! Right now Erica and I are due 11 days apart so who knows which one will be born first but no matter what they will be VERY close in age :)

And they decided on a name......BRYCE!

Brooklyn and Bryce......pretty cute I must say! They are going to be quite a pair :)

To Our Dear Sweet....

Brooklyn

How you got your name:

Daddy and I first talked about names on the Walker Family holiday trip back in December! Of course at that time we did not know if you were going to be a boy or a girl, but for some reason ;) we started to discuss girl names. We had only mentioned a few names before your Daddy said, "How about Brooke?!" I was really shocked because I have loved the name Brooklyn for a while and was thinking....WOW could it be this easy...hehe! So I asked him," What about Brooklyn?!" and he said, "I love it! We were very tired at this point and that was about the extent of our conversation that night :) As the months passed we fell more and more in love with the name Brooklyn. We really didn't talk about any other girl names....we tried, but we always would come back to this sweet name! As for boys names?....we did not have a single one picked out! When they day finally came to find out if you were a boy or girl we were delighted to hear GIRL and on the way home Daddy called you Brooklyn for the first time! He said, "I can't wait to meet our little Brooklyn!" It made my heart melt and I just knew this would be your name! To us it is so pretty and we hope you love it as much as we do :)

Later we realized that "Brook-" begins with BR like Brad and the second half of your name "-lyn" begins with LY like me! We think it was meant to be :)

Now your middle name is another story :) We are still working on that one, but we know whatever it will be, your whole name will be as precious as YOU are!

Love,

Daddy and Mommy

A Sweet Little Dress....

Grammy (Brad's mom) asked Brad and his brother Blake if she could take us all to get Coming Home Outfits once we knew what we were having! So we went this weekend to find our little girl a sweet dress! She will be taking Blake and Erica next weekend after they find out what they are having. We went to a few small boutiques but found the perfect dress (I knew it was because it made me cry!) at a little place called Mommie Chic and Me! We also got her the most precious shoes I have ever seen. Not sure if she will wear them home but I know she will wear them eventually! Just Darling!!!

Here is the cute store!

And here is the Sweet Little Dress....

Create a slideshow design Right now her dress is hanging by our desk in the kitchen area (cover in plastic of course)! We have kept it there just so we can see it everyday! It makes us smile! It is hard to believe that in just a few months there will be a little girl wearing it :) Thank you Grammy!

PART 3

I finally finished my PART 3! We were having no luck getting these pictures and videos to work by ourselves so our extremely smart and wonderful cousin Scott Murff came over and helped! A BIG THANK YOU TO SCOTT.....I know my family appreciates you right now and I do too :) :)

"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb."

Psalms 139:13

Here is our precious BABY GIRL!!!

(11 ounces)

This is the picture they gave us to show she was a little girl....HA...I know what you are thinking....your guess is as good as mine! Although the tech lady showed us a little better on the screen. We ask her how sure she was and she said 99.5%....sounds good enough to me :)

Can you see her face???

In the middle of this video you can see her heart beating! She is also stretching her arm!

This one shows her little heartbeat at the beginning and then she turns around and you can see her spine!

Right at the VERY beginning of this video you can see her grabbing her toes and stretching....this one is so neat to me!

Can you see her giving us a thumbs up!?!

"I'm doing great mommy and daddy!"

We love HER so much!!!!

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

Psalms 139:14

PART 2

Note: Brad has given me permission (haha) to write about his experience! He wanted me to write about it, but it's not like he will forget...HAHA. He is a trooper and so in love with his little girl already!

Once we made it upstairs, checked in, and sat down in the waiting room I could tell Brad was...ummmm....well SCARED OUT OF HIS MIND!!! It just hit him like a ton of bricks! When we were in the room waiting for the doctor he just kept taking deep breaths and said he felt like the room was closing in on him. He couldn't catch his breath! I REALLY thought he was going to pass out hence why I was glad he had food in him! I wanted to laugh a little...kinda because it was really cute (I had never seen him like this before) and I KNOW he is going to be wonderful with our little girl (he is so good with all the little girls at church), but I felt bad for him too...he was very serious! You could tell a million things were running through his mind. I told him to talk to me....was he disappointed??? I was thinking....he always said he didn’t care if it was a boy or a girl. He VERY quickly said NO NOT AT ALL, he was excited and wanted a girl, just overwhelmed and didn’t know what to DO with a GIRL! He was NERVOUS!!! He was thinking about EVERYTHING.....changing her diaper, school, college, boys, wedding, etc. You name it....it was running through his mind!!! He knew what to do with a boy, but a girl was the unknown!!! He had not prepared himself as much as he thought in regards to it being a girl. This whole time he was just so excited we were having a BABY!!! Later he laughed and said he wished he HAD looked at the Chinese Calender just to have been a little more prepared.....HAHA! He kept saying who can I call to talk to??? He needed to hear that this was a normal feeling and I was no help...I was not a GUY!

We made it through the appointment, it was quick, Dr. Ball gave us material about classes and the hospital tour and we left . She said one more appointment in April and then we go to every 3 WEEKS.....WOW! As soon as we got in the car he called his buddy Blake who had a little girl first and Blake reassured him that he had the same reaction!!!! He said, “Just ask Jamie’s mom, I was a nervous wreck!” Whew! That made Brad feel so much better! By the time we made it home, told our parents, family, and friends he was just beaming! He recalled his near panic attack to his family at dinner and we all laughed and joked! He is going to be the BEST daddy and this little GIRL is going to be wrapped around his finger. It makes me cry just thinking about it!

As we went to bed Brad could not stop talking to her......

“We found out what you are today!”, “Now we know too...HAHA!”, “You are so BEAUTIFUL!”, “We saw your toes, and hands, and your little heart!”, “We can’t wait to meet you!”, “You are going to be pretty like your mommy” -that one made me cry, “I love you I love you I love you!!!”, “I can’t wait to hold you in my arms!”

OK so I was crying through their whole conversation! She was kicking too so I know she heard him!

What a day we had! It was beyond our wildest dreams :)

**Today we had a reverse response!!! I am really nervous and Brad keeps calling me and telling me "IT"S A GIRL!!"...HA!**

Drum Roll Please......

Oh WOW what a day filled with emotions and excitement!!! I didn't blog yesterday....it was just so late by the time we got home and told everyone! We were exhausted...but in a good way!!!

I’m just going to start at the beginning...this is going to be LONG! I broke my post into Two Parts! I will probably have a Third because I can't get the pictures and videos from the CD to work. Brad is going to have to help me...but he is at WORK :( If you make it through all this reading you deserve a sticker...haha! I know I am writing a lot, but it is mostly so we can look back and remember every detail :) Anyone reading can just skim read....my feelings won't be hurt HA :)

I got up and didn’t know what I was going to do to pass the time. We were planning on leaving at noon so I had a few hours. Brad had to lay grass so he was already gone. I decided to do some loads of laundry and get on the computer and read blogs. Sort of a productive morning HA!

Brad came home around 11 and showed me a text he got that morning. It was from our friend at our church, Dena, who has a 6 year old daughter. The text said....”Kaylin woke up this morning and the first thing she said was, “Today is the day that Brad and Lydia find out they are having a GIRL!”” Guess she knew something we didn’t...hehe!

As I was getting ready I realized I had picked out a pink shirt and for a brief moment I thought hummmm maybe I should wear something more neutral just in case it is a boy. Brad laughed and said it didn’t matter (no one would notice either way) and since all my clothes were either in the wash soaking wet or still drying I stuck with the shirt. Side note: I noticed I am having to do laundry ALOT more since I only have a few items I actually fit in to :-/ Anyway, we got ready and I wanted someone to take our picture of the moment before we KNEW..hehe! No one was home so we went to Brad’s Grandparents house and they took it for us.....here we are! Do we look nervous?!?

I was drinking lots of water all the way since I was suppose to have a full bladder...ugh! We stopped at Subway for a quick bite (which I am so glad we did because it was good Brad had something in his stomach...I’ll reveal why later! ;) and made it to our appointment 20 minutes early. Now I was told it was going to be a 2 or 3 hour wait from my doctors nurse so I had water and snacks and Brad had a magazines and some work papers. NOPE not the case. We got there and she said since I had an appointment I would get in right away. YYYEEEAAAA!!!! Within minutes they called me back! Brad had to wait out front :( but they reassured us he wouldn’t miss anything! I met the nice tech lady (I can’t even remember her name anymore) and she explained that she was going to take lots of pictures and measurements. She also asked me if I wanted her to tell me right away when she discovered the gender or if I wanted her to wait and tell us when Brad was in the room. I told her I wanted to WAIT! She did a quick ultra sound (I didn’t get to look at the screen) measuring the amniotic fluid and then RELEIF....she let me empty my bladder! Back in the room she turned the screen and I finally got to see our precious baby! Wow I could not believe how much our child had grown already. I wished Brad was in the room!!!! She told me the baby was laying horizontal with the legs to my right. No wonder I am always feeling the kicks on that side! I asked her if she could tell me if everything looked ok...she pause....and said that the doctor would be able to tell me. It made me kinda nervous the way she paused, but I was also aware that she was not aloud to tell me much so I tried not to worry! It felt like we were in there for a while and when she finished I asked her, “So do you KNOW what it is???” She said NOOOO the baby’s foot is in the way so she wanted me to get up and touch my toes 10 times and then roll around on the table back and forth. I started to sweat bullets....OH NO we're not going to find out today....YIKES!!! I think I touched my toes like 100 times and finally she stopped me and said I didn’t have to roll anymore (she was laughing)....I might have been overdoing it, but I really wanted to KNOW!!! Finally she went and got Brad. He had a big nervous smile on his face and came right over and grabbed my hand. I loved seeing him at that moment!!!!!

As soon as she put the ultra sound thing on my stomach she said, “OK right here!!!!!” I think she was excited for us that she had found the spot and the foot had moved!!!! “She said OK see these three white lines???” In my head I was thinking (sorry not sure how else to say this) 3 little boy parts......we are having a little Boy!!! And about that time she said, “That is what we look for when it is a little GIRL!!!!!!!!” A GIRL!!!!!!! AHHHH and then a flood of emotions came over me, I started crying, Brad had a big smile on his face and said WOW and gave me a hug and kisses and he just kept saying WOW A LITTLE GIRL!!! He was all teary eyed and couldn’t stop looking at me or the screen to see our little GIRL!!!! We couldn’t believe we finally knew what we were having! So exciting!

After we composed ourselves as much as we could, and she let me go to the bathroom again...it was time for some more fun and this time Brad got to see it all! We watched the screen as she pointed out all the little parts of our sweet girl. Her legs, arms, heart, head, feet, even some organs. Our little girl would stretch her arms then touch her toes, and even gave me a good kick. We could see it all....it was so AMAZING!!!! She gave us a thumbs up once like “I’m doing good mommy and daddy....no worries!” and once we saw her shake her head NO! It was pretty funny! Then the tech lady switch to the 3D machine and said that sometimes these pictures don’t turn out as well with the baby this little because they have no body fat, but we would look! It was REALLY cool.....we got a few pictures of her face kinda tucked behind her hands. We couldn’t really tell who she looks like or anything, but it was breathtaking!

Once we were all done the doctor who reads the pictures came in and told us everything looked great and we had a HEATHLY GIRl! “SIGH” It was wonderful news that we have been praying for...God is so Good! I feel like it was all over before it even began, but we were in there for an hour. As we were leaving to head upstairs for my appointment with Dr. Ball the lady said. You wore the right color shirt!!!! HA I told Brad someone would notice....hehe! She gave us our pictures and a video CD and we left in awe!!!!

March 16th

Well today is the day! I couldn't sleep much last night....too excited I guess! Brad is as cool as a cucumber although he was singing "I'm so excited....that I just can't hind it!" all last night! I cried this morning when I was feeling the baby move, just overcome with emotion, anxious to see our little one today, praying that everything goes well, and being one step closer in knowing our precious child even more!

Big Day Tomorrow!

We are in week 19...WOW!!! And tomorrow we find out if we are having a BOY or a GIRL! We knew from the beginning that we would try to find out the gender. I totally respect the patience of people who wait, but I also feel like it is still a surprise; "you just get to enjoy it a little earlier" as one of my friends said ;) ;)

Our appointment is at 1:00 for the ultra sound (yea) and 2:20 with the doctor. They told us to be prepared to wait 2 to 3 hours when we get there and to bring snacks and water! WHAT...I feel like it is going to be midnight before we are able to tell everyone...HA!

So do we have a preference??? NOPE! Since day one we have been praying for healthy! It is kinda fun on your first one because it really doesn’t matter (for us anyway)! I know eventually we will probably want to be able to experience what it is like to have a boy and a girl. But we feel so blessed just to be having a CHILD! Only God knows what the future will hold, we may end up with all boys, all girls, or simply one and we will be happy either way :)

We have been receiving lots of guesses from people! Most of the strangers I meet....like the lady at Target and at the bank say BOY. A three year old little girl from our church ask her mom if Ms. Lydia was pregnant and when her mom told her I was she very confidently said, “She is having a BOY!” We have been getting lots of GIRL guesses too; a lot of my close friends are thinking GIRL!

So this whole time I did not take a peek at any prediction test like the Chinese Birth Calendar. I know it is all just for fun, but the Chinese Calendar has been pretty accurate for most of my friends. I was just wanting to wait and see if I had a “FEELING” and then I thought we might peek when it was closer to time....haha...I know I am weird like that! Soooooo I waited and waited for my “gut” to speak to me, but one week I thought girl for sure and then it switched to boy! And now I have absolutely NO CLUE, NO GUT FEELING, NONE! Oh Well!

I went ahead and peeked at the Chinese Calender, Babyman, and another random test and they ALL said

hmmmm....Interesting

....and then I was going to do the IntelliGender but changed my mind.

I was having trouble spending the $30 on it when I knew I would just find out the next day ;-) If the baby does not cooperate I might go ahead and splurge! Brad has decided to definitely not peek at anything....he wants to go in with no preconceived ideas! HA! He is so very excited! We will find out soon enough though.....I still can’t believe it is tomorrow and I sure hope our little peanut will let us take a look :)

Quick Story:

When I went to Walgreens to see how much the Intelligender was I couldn’t find it. I figured it would be in the aisle with the Pregnancy Tests. A man that worked there could tell I was looking for something and he asked me if he could help. Without really thinking I said “Sure, could you please tell me where the Pregnancy Tests are.” I wish you could have seen his face! He looked at me like....Ummm you could just pay me and I will tell you that YES you are pregnant......HAHAHA! It was priceless! But he didn’t say that and just nicely directed me to the correct aisle. It was pretty funny! As I said before, I didn’t buy the test but I got a good laugh!

Baby Bump Pictures :)

I call these my headless shots.....

Can you tell I am growing (in the belly area I mean?? HA....I know I am growing everywhere else!!!).....it doesn't seem like it looking at these. I FEEL so much bigger than I look!!!

Week 15

Week 17

Week 18

Week 19

(Me in all my growing glory....haha....and excuse my messy hair)

Brad was helping me hang stuff all around the house today and he had this idea....called it

"Our Growing Flower"

(Sorry if YOU are a boy....I promise it will be the last time we call you FLOWER!)

Sweetness, One Week, and Kicks

Yesterday I went to help my friend Jamie who is pregnant, on bed rest, and has an almost 2 year old. I had so much fun playing with her daughter Jailyn! When I was sitting on the couch she came up to me and patted my tummy and said BABY! It was so cute. She then lifted up my shirt to reveal my lovely maternity pants, pulled down the...ummmm not sure what you call it.....but the "material" to reveal my belly, and planted a big kiss! Normally this would be kinda weird HA, but I knew this was obviously something she did to her mommy and new brother to be :) It was just precious and made me excited about #2.....WHAT!!!!!.....UMMM did I just say that! LYDIA....lets get through #1 first!!!! HAHA no really it was just neat knowing she is loving on her brother already. It made me smile and I enjoyed her sweetness to my little one too :)

We are just a week away....yikes! I read an article in a pregnancy magazine the other day about finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl. It made me laugh when she said (and I 'll summarize) if you find out it's a boy you think " Ahhhh I don't know what to expect....and it makes you nervous!" and with a girl you think "Ahhhh I KNOW what to excpect.....and it makes you nervous!" Haha I thought this was so true....for me anyway. We just can hardly contain ourselves!!!

Today I sitting on the couch eating lunch when I felt a kick or a punch....don't really know which. I reached for my tummy and boom there it was....I felt it outside for the first time!!! WHOO HOO! Where is BRAD???? I called him right away to tell him...he was sad he was not there but VERY excited to hear this news! Later I was working on my blog and and checking e-mails and WOW this little one just kept moving and again I felt the a little boom on the outside. It happened like 4 times!! Ahhhhhhh Brad come home!!!! I called him again. SO, maybe tonight he will get to feel our little one. I can't wait!!!!!

Baby Bump Stories

I have been cracking myself up lately with certain baby belly incidents. It is amazing to see your body change, but a few times I seem to forget (not sure how that happens) that I now have this new growth sticking out in front of me...hehe!

• The other day I was with my friend Joella headed to a Bible Study at her house. I parked my car in her drive way. She got out and was headed into her house when I called out, "I"M STUCK"...... I was laughing so hard! I could only open my door a little ways because of the other car in her driveway. I would normally be able to get out, but not this time! My belly was hitting the car door and I could not move!!! We were both laughing so hard and I had to go to the bathroom which only made my predicament even more funny! I ended up squatting to lower my belly under the door handle and was able to slide out. I wish I had a picture!

• I am also finding that I keep hitting my baby bump on the chair next to me as I get up from the table. OUCH!

• And finally, I am getting more and more stains on my shirt....hummm:/ The other day I looked in the mirror after dinner and I had a huge stain on my shirt that I could not see just looking down. It happens when I am cooking not eating. I think I rubbed my belly on the counter and somehow got something on it that way. Anyhow, there it was in the mirror! I kept giving Brad a hard time b/c I know he could have seen it. I told him he has to help me out with this kind of stuff! Add "check Lydia's belly" to the list of other things he keeps an eye out for like making sure nothing is stuck in my teeth...hehe!

I love my bump though....it means our little peanut is growing yea! I'm sure I will be adding to this list later cause I know my bump is just going to get BIGGER and BIGGER Oh Boy! um...or Girl!..ha ;)

There's a Baby IN THERE :)

Week 17:

AHHHHHHH! Last night I felt the baby move!!!!! I had been having a few moments that made me stop and wonder at the beginning of the week. I was never for sure if what I was feeling was the baby, but last night I KNEW it was!!!! I was sitting there durning Bible Class and started to feel "something." :0.....I quickly told Brad and then it happened again!!! I started to tally how many times I felt our precious child, I also kept hitting Brad to tell him....he just beamed :) I can’t wait for him to feel our little bean kick too! *sigh*....it was just pure bliss! Here is the picture of the tally marks....I thought it was neat that the date was right there in the corner (I saw that later). I commented on facebook that I WAS paying attention in class, just a little distracted...hehe! It was a wonderful distraction though and an amazing feeling!!! I can hardly put it into words. It was a very definite movement. Some describe it like a little flutter, but I felt like it was a little stronger. I knew without a doubt I was feeling the baby :) This might be one of my favorite moments so far to experience!!!! WOW!

IT'S MARCH

Woo Hoo!!!

Exciting things are going to happen this month!!!!!

In 16 days we find out if we are having a boy or a girl :) Hopefully our little peanut will cooperate!

More on predictions later....

Let the countdown begin!!    YEA!!!!!