Definitely a girl!

We love you already, sweet girl.

From your head ...

To your feet!

Some really good advice

A friend of ours gave Rog some really good advice the other day, after Rog told him he's going to need to borrow his wisdom in raising a little girl. This friend's advice? "All I know is that girls need lots of love and lots of shoes." And then his wife — unaware of this conversation! — had bought us these yesterday:

We may not be well versed yet in baby girls, but at least we have her first pair of shoes! And the love part? Piece of cake.

Luke was right!

We tried and tried to get Luke to open up to the possibility of a brother, but he never wavered. And he was right! It looks like we are having a little girl, and a heart healthy one at that!

All glory to God be given! "Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion." —Isaiah 30:18

That's how we feel right now. Overwhelmed with God's graciousness and overwhelmed with support and love from our friends and family. The staff at Northwest Children's Heart Care jumped with us in joy. Our friends cried tears of joy for us. Overwhelmed. And maybe a little wiped out:

I can't get over those four beautiful chambers we saw beating away on the screen. I can't get over how thankful we feel. A little girl!

And to add great news to great news, Luke's heart is holding strong and steady. Dr. S. continues to be pleased and in no hurry to send us to the Fontan. Luke is buying us time for more knowledge to be gained and Dr. Stefanelli is gladly taking that time. He doesn't want to make any changes to his medication and he doesn't need to see us again for six months. Today was a very good day. Thank you all for joining with us on this journey. Your faith and kind words lifted us up. Thank you.

Practice makes perfect?

We sure hope this old adage holds true tomorrow during Luke's EKG. The past two appointments we have had zero luck getting him through the EKG, so we've skipped that altogether (with Dr. Stefanelli's blessing of course). This week we stopped by Dr. S's office to grab some EKG stickers for practice.

You may agree when I say we are pretty confident Luke has conquered his fear of EKG stickers!

Fetal echo is at 9am and Luke follows at 10am. Your prayers are so appreciated. You have no idea.

On the 16th day of December ...

Baby Smith at 13 weeks

I passed the 17 week mark last Friday and this Thursday we will get a good look at baby's heart. Am I hopeful? Yes. Am I scared? YES! But you know that daily bread thing? God's giving it to us. Just this week, in my study of Isaiah, we read this verse in chapter 25:

"LORD, you are my God;
   I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
   you have done wonderful things,
   things planned long ago."

And in the very next chapter:

"You will keep in perfect peace
   those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you."

We will head to Luke's cardiologist's on December 16 for a fetal echo. We decided to do the fetal echo before my regular 18-20 week OB ultrasound. We didn't want to experience that "Well, we're not sure, but we think something's wrong with your baby's heart" moment again. So we'll get a good look at the baby's heart first, and then do our regular ultrasound on December 27. And we'll pray that God keeps our minds "steadfast" on His "perfect faithfulness" while we await these appointments.

Just to make the 16th a bit more exciting, we're also scheduled for Luke's 6-month checkup on that day. Yes, we would love your prayers!

And what gender does our analytical boy predict for our family? "A sister ... because I'M the brother!"

OH BABY!

Dear Lukey Duke:

You are ...

a good friend

 a train lover

a huge fan of holidays

a jokester

 a hard worker (when it suits you)

a boy with serious dance moves

a preschooler

a blessing and a joy to everyone who knows you

And we know, sweet boy, that you are going to take to your new role with as much zeal and enthusiasm as you take to all your other roles.

After almost four years of being a family of three, it appears this blog's subject matter will be expanding ... along with my waistline.

Luke is going to be a big brother in May!

Christmas goings-ons

There's not much Luke isn't liking about all the Christmas preparations ... He would decorate a tree all day long if you let him. I think Christmas would be absolutely perfect for our little man minus one small detail ... SANTA. Luke has stated very clearly that he DOES NOT WANT Santa to come to our house. And if you suggest he ask Santa for something, he'll tell you, "Oh, I'll just ask for that for my birthday" (which, smart boy knows, is two weeks later).

So here are some pictures of our pre-Christmas fun (but don't look for one of Luke sitting on Santa's lap!)

 Nothing like the scent of a Christmas tree!

Helping Dad cut down the tree

 This kid is no miser with his sprinkles!

And every good baker has to taste his creations

Opening his first chocolate from his Advent calendar. It is so hard to only have one per day!

Hanging the stockings (that Santa better not fill!)

Decorating our big, beautiful tree last night! Serious business.

Hope all your Christmas goings-ons are blessed and merry!