It's a Girl...Maybe...Probably

Yesterday, we had a fun, spur of the moment ultrasound to try and determine the sex of the baby. It just so happens that we have a friend who is an OB nurse at a local hospital here and has access to the equipment. Since I am only 13 weeks it is a very tough call and the nurses couldn't guarantee anything. However, after two different nurses stared at a very cooperative little angel for about ten minutes, they are about 75% sure its a princess. So, this isn't my official gender announcement, but it was enough to a least get us thinking in that direction. Liberty was very very disappointed. She was mad, actually. Scott and I are very excited, of course. We just adore our baby girls. That was just one of the exciting things we got to do this Christmas. My family is coming in today and we will continue to celebrate through the weekend. I will post pics of all our Christmas fun next week.

This baby was so active. It was like she was performing just for us. Here you can see her little arms and legs.

Visiting Santa

Today after Liberty's basketball game we went to visit Santa. Even though she knows Santa isn't real, she still wanted to go and get her picture taken with him. It was really cute and thankfully not very busy.

Ahhh, hugging Santa

Always willing to pose for a picture.

I am also very excited to share that Liberty spelled her very first word (not counting her name) all by herself yesterday. She wanted to make her list for Santa (she told me I could just buy the presents since Santa isn't real). On the list she wrote the word "ball." I couldn't believe it. I asked her how she had learned to spell ball and her reply was "I just knowed." She repeated it for Scott this morning so she really, truly knows it and it wasn't just a fluke. I can't believe she is about to be five and she is already beginning to read. Time really does fly, doesn't it?

Busy Weekend

We had lots of activities this weekend and so much fun. Friday night we went to the memorial tree ceremony at OU Children's Hospital. Each year the hospital puts up a tree specifically for children who have died and families can come and place ornaments on the tree as a memorial to their child. It was a sweet little ceremony and, of course, Liberty really enjoyed putting Lilly's ornament on the tree. I was really impressed by how well everyone there seemed to be doing. It was a time to celebrate our children and put aside our grief for a moment. It was nice.

After the ceremony we went ICE SKATING! Liberty has been looking forward to it all week and I decided she was finally old enough. Every Christmas downtown is turned into a Christmas paradise--full of fun, winter activities. The outdoor ice rink was really cool. When we got there we had to wait in a huge line and I was worried that the rink would be too crowed for 3 amateurs. Nonetheless, we all got our ice skates and headed to the rink. Scott was immediately hating me for thinking this was a good idea :)

I just knew all three of us were going to end up piled on top of each other the minute we stepped on the ice. The first lap was a little rough. It took us at least 15 minutes to get around and Liberty must have fallen at least 200 times--with me holding on to her. Depite the slow start, Liberty got the hang of it really fast and soon refused to let me hold on to her. It didn't matter how many times she fell, she just kept getting up and going for more. Scott gave up after about the third lap and headed for the wall to watch. By this time, Liberty wanted to see how fast we could go. Without Scott holding us back, we blazed around the rink! :-) It was such a fun time and a great memory.

On Saturday, Liberty had her first basketball game. If you have never watched 4 and 5 years olds play basketball, you are missing out. It was the cutest thing ever and highly entertaining. Here's Libs in action. She actually got to shoot the ball once. She was so excited and came running down the court to tell me that she had scored! In reality, the ball didn't come anywhere close to the the goal and actually one of the refs caught it. Regardless, she was very proud of herself.

Saturday night we went to our neighbors house for a party. I wish I had brought my camera. Liberty decided to take part in the Guitar Hero game. I have never laughed so hard. She was jamming like a true rock star and entertaining everyone in the room. Surprisingly enough, she actually hit a few of the right notes. In the middle of one performance she stopped and turned to our friend Randy (who was playing the other guitar) and said "You're going down." She then turned and continued to rock out. It had everyone rolling. She is such and entertainer--give her a microphone and any musical instrument and she will give you a show!

That pretty much ended the weekends activities because Sunday I woke up and had no voice and I still don't. Liberty and I have been fighting colds for a week now and I'm sure the change in weather isn't going to help. On a positive note, the morning/night sickness is getting better. I'm still really tired though. My neighbors sweet mom reminded me on Saturday that I'm not as young as I was when I had the other two. Gee thanks! Hopefully my energy will return soon!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Haas Family Christmas Tree

This past Saturday we went to get our Christmas Tree. Ever since Scott and I have been married, we have gotten a real tree. Usually we just go to Lowes or something, but the past two years we have gone to a Christmas Tree farm just right down the road from us. Last year Scott went alone because it was way too cold for Lilly. However, this year we decided to start a new tradition and the three of us went out together to cut down our own tree. As you can see, Liberty was done after about 30 minutes of hunting for the perfect tree. You would think that a fussy little girl would speed us on our way, but no, it took us at least another hour to find "the tree."

Its a 9 foot beauty.

Poor tired girl!


This was taken before it got so hot we had to get rid of the coats!

My manly husband cutting down our tree! You can see Libs doing her part--holding up the tree :)

There are already tons of presents under the tree. I must admit Scott and I both went a little crazy this year. Usually we keep things very small--just a couple of gifts for each of us. I don't know, this year we just felt like splurging a little! My family is coming to us this year for Christmas this year. I am so thankful for that. It will be nice for all of us to be together and us not have to drive.

Yesterday we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was racing along at 173 bpm. It was a glorious sound to my ears. In the coming weeks we will be doing a level 2 ultrasound. We will probably do at least 2 of these as a precaution. Please continue to pray for our little ones health. Pray that the baby will be healthy. But most of all the he or she will be exactly what God has planned and that our hearts will be prepared for what He has in store for us.

Visiting Lilly

Lilly is buried in a historic cemetary in Rochester, Texas. The towns population is 378 and the cemetary is surrounded on all four sides with acres and acres of cotton fields. She is surrounded by generations of family going back to the late 19th century. It is truly God's country and a perfectly peaceful place to remember her. We went to visit last Wednesday. I thought it would be special for all of us if we planted a tree and decorated it for Christmas. It will also be a nice tradition that we can do every year. I bought a dwarf spruce and planted it at Lilly's graveside. Liberty had a blast decorating it and thought it was so wonderful that Lilly would have her own Christmas tree.

She started to get sad once she finished decorating the tree and didn't have anything to distract her. She sat beside Lilly headstone and looked at her picture the rest of the time. Right before we left she said the most precious prayer. Even in her moment of sadness she was able to thank God for Lilly and praise Him because she is in Heaven. I think we can all relate. We are overjoyed that Lilly is with her Creator and that soon we will join her, but we miss having her here with us!

Lilly's headstone turned out absolutely beautiful with one exception--her last name is spelled wrong. We called about it right away and the place that made it is going to fix it, no problem. Here are the pictures. Just use your imagination and pretend its spelled correctly :-). The stone matches the other family stones that are around hers. Her great grandparents and great uncle are buried right across from her.

Right after we finished decorating the tree a little butterfly flew up and landed right on it. It was the craziest thing considering it is way to cold for butterflies. Nonetheless, the little thing couldn't get enough of Lilly's tree and hung around until we left. It was really sweet and a perfect reminder of our precious girl. It was beautiful day and we had a great time remembering our princess and all the joy she brought to our lives.

Thankgiving

We are traveling to Texas today to be with our family this Thanksgiving. We are all looking forward to it. We will also get to visit Lilly's grave this week. Her headstone was finally placed yesterday, which is perfect timing. I was so afraid it wouldn't be there in time for Thanksgiving and it would be another month or two before we had the opportunity to see it again. We'll take Liberty out there and decorate for Christmas. She is really excited and the thought doesn't seem to make her sad in the least. What an amazing example she continues to be for us. There is such freedom in her childlike faith. She isn't burdened by guilt, worry, sadness, and all the other things that seem to clutter our lives and blind us to things that are most important and eternal.

We continue to be overjoyed with the prospect of our new little one. I cannot imagine what God has in store for this little life. Liberty remains convinced that she is getting a baby brother. She now has Scott hoping for a boy. I cannot imagine having a little boy, but I honestly don't care. I lean toward boy only because people tell me the morning sickness will not be so bad if its a boy. However, if we are going on that, I definitely feel like its a Girl! I have been so sick the past couple of weeks. I am hoping and praying that the end of my first trimester will also mean the end of morning sickness! I am also less than pleased with the fact that I now only have two pair of jeans that fit. What! I'm barely 8 weeks pregnant. How can my clothes already be too tight?! Hmmm...maybe it was all the cookies I ate the first month before I started feeling so bad.

Ok, I am off to pack for all of us and run errands before we head out of town. Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

--Amy

Baby Pic

I had another ultrasound today. I was so relieved to see that little heartbeat! Everything looked great. Scott couldn't come today, so I brought my trusty little companion, Liberty. She was so cute. She totally couldn't see the baby, but she just stood right beside me the whole time. She is such a caretaker. She was primarily concerned with the "picture" hurting me or the baby. She did her best to comfort me until she was satisfied that we were going to be alright. Scott and I are realizing more and more each day what a special little girl we have.

My official due date is July 6, 2009, which is Liberty's birthday. I was so surprised when the technician told me. Scott and I were already joking about how close all of our children's birthdays are. Now there is the potential of having 3 July babies all within days of one another. At very least, we are consistent!

Now we just have to wait about 3 more months to find out the sex of the baby. Yes, we definitely want to know! Liberty is convinced she is having a baby brother. The other day Scott asked her how she knew mommy was having a boy and she said "God told me." I definitely don't want to discourage a word from the Lord, so we will just wait and see :-).

--Amy

Bisphenol A (BPA)

BPA is a synthetic sex hormone that mimics estrogen and is used to make hard polycarbonate plastics. Several studies conducted by environmental organizations such as Environment California and the Environmental Working Group have concluded that the plasitc in baby products such as bottles and food containers leached this harmful chemical into the contents of the bottle, exposing babies to a level of of BPA that causes harm in laboratory animal studies.

Bisphenol A has been linked to early onset of puberty, obesity, diabetes, and behavior problems. The developing fetus and infants are most vulnerable to the effects of BPA and they also have the most exposure. Almost all infant bottles, plastic food containers and liquid formula contain BPA!

The FDA is maintains that these products are safe and the levels of BPA leached into these products is not significant enough to cause harm to developing babies. However, the studies mentioned above provide contradictory evidence.

I know we just one more thing to worry about, right. Honestly, if I hadn't already lost a child, it probably wouldn't even be on my radar. However, until someone can tell me why my baby died and why her body didn't work like everyone else's, I think I can take this minor precaution and not expose my other children to something that could possibly be poisoning them!

If you want more information on BPA visit the following websites:
http://www.ewg.org/chemindex/chemicals/23297
http://www.chej.org/BPA_Website.htm
http://www.enviroblog.org/2007/09/bisphenol-a-in-your-body.htm?gclid=CO7X9NGi_ZYCFQKJxgodExz9_g

--Amy

Tired!

I had my first appointment with my new OB today. She was really great and was immediately willing to help us pursue any type of genetic testing or counceling if we wanted. Scott and I both agree most of the test are not neccessary and would probably just cause us more stress since it is highly unlikely that the tests would turn up anything useful. I did, however, let her know I was concerned about heart and other organ problems and wanted to make sure we did every thing we could to catch any of these things as early as possible. I don't really anticipate their to be any issues since Lilly was born perfectly healthy (at least in those regards). I just think it will ease some of my stress if we check these things out periodically throughout the pregnancy. My next ultrasound is scheduled for next Wed. morning. Hopefully we will be able to see the baby clearly and most importantly that little heartbeat!

Today was the first day I have felt any nausea. I was still able to eat and at least there is no vomiting yet. I am praying its just a fluke and I will continue to nausea free! My biggest complaint is that I am SO tired. I really shouldn't complain. I know what it is to be exhuasted beyond my capacity to function and this isn't even close. It's just tired enough to be annoying. Like I would rather lay on the couch and watch tv rather than clean my house and getting up to get things for Liberty is highly annoying.

I can already tell this pregnancy is going to be different than my previous two. The biggest difference so far is that I am STARVING! With the girls I could barely eat at all and tended to lose weight rather than gain. This time I am predicting a much larger weight gain. My current craving is cookies. Not just any cookies, but Eileen's Cookies. Thanks to my dear friend Lydia for introducing us to the wonders that are these amazing creations. They make the most unbelieveable double lemon cookies and I'm perfectly willing to drive half way across town to get one (or a dozen). With Liberty I craved wierd things like soap. I would just imagine how great it would be to eat and entire bar of soap. Weird, I know, but totally true! With Lilly I craved lobster. I have know idea what lobster even tastes like. I refuse to eat anything that ever lived in the water. Nonetheless, in my mind, lobster seemed like it would be the best the ever. Pregnancy obviously makes me crazy!

Thanks for checking in on us and just keep praying for our precious baby's development and that the enemy would not use our past experiences to make us overly anxious and stressed!

More Drama

So far I am feeling really good. No morning sickness yet. Since I was sick the entire time with my previous two pregnancies I am hoping this one will go much more smoothly. I have to repeat the ultrasound in two weeks to find out how the baby is developing. By then we should actually be able to see the baby.

The big drama of the week is that my purse was stolen--apparently right out my car which was sitting in my driveway. I keep hopeing it will turn up, but so far no luck. Today I am busy canceling checks and getting a new drivers license. Thankfully we don't have credit cards. Unfortunately the whole ordeal is going to be quite expensive. Ugh...

Liberty had basketball evaluations last night. She was so cute. She is not very good at all, but she is really excited. We bought her a new basketball and she is very dedicated to practicing at home (which means in my kitchen since its too windy and cold to go outside). She starts practice next week and will even have games on Saturday. Its only for six weeks, but its going to be so cute.

We also had our first Hope Link meeting last night. Hope Link is a support group that myself and two other women founded for mother's who have children with rare disorders. We had one person showed up as well as someone from OGAC. We had some really great discussion and we are so excited about watching the group grow and ministering to these women.

I am looking forward to a stress-free weekend after all of our activites this week!

--Amy

Happy Election Day!

No pictures today. We are not as far along as we thought. Best guess is 4-5 weeks, so the ultrasound showed very little. All we could see is the sac that surrounds the baby. It was a little disappointing, but just seeing that gave me some relief. At least I know I am 100% for sure pregnant and the baby is where he/she should be. My first OB appointment is next Wed (12th). Hopefully then she will let us know when the next Ultrasound will be.

Lots of people have been asking me if there is any way we can test the baby to find out if he/she is sick. The answer is no. There is nothing we can do now or after the baby is born. Lilly was 5 months old before we knew she was sick. It was five more months before we knew why. We literally did every test available to us (researchers have more, but aren't available to the general population) and we were not able to link a specific gene to Lilly's disorder. This makes genetic testing impossible. Unfortunately, there are still limits to genetic testing and so much doctors still don't know. We will just have to wait and see.

The good news is that science has its limits, but God's power is LIMITLESS! He is the author and creator of life and we trust that our baby will be perfect in every way JUST LIKE LILLY WAS!

--Amy

Vote!!

If you didn't participate in early voting, make sure you get out and vote tomorrow. Vote McCain/Palin!

I'll post the pictures from my first Ultrasound as soon as I can. I am so excited and I know tomorrow is going to be the longest day ever since my appointment isn't until 3:30.

Liberty showed her very first signs of jealously the other day. We were all laying in bed playing and talking. Scott and I briefly took our attention off her to talk for a moment and she said "You and Daddy are really excited about the baby and your not excited about me anymore!" Oh boy! We are trying to avoid this as much as possible by including her in all the conversations and decisions. I guess some jealousy is inevitable though.

--Amy

The Holidays

Scott and I put up our Christmas lights yesterday. I am so excited about the holidays this year. I don't know why. I was anticipating a sense of emptiness without Lilly. Of course, we will be missing her, but its not nearly as difficult as I anticipated. So, we decided to kick it off early this year and here at the Haas house we are displaying our holiday spirit.

My first ultrasound is Tuesday afternoon and I cannot wait! For some reason I just can't quite wrap my mind around the whole pregnancy until I see that little blob that is our baby. I was the same way with both the girls. It just isn't "real" until I see that first picture.

Of course we are already tossing around names. Scott and I can never agree so this time I am enlisting the help of our friends. Click the button on the home page that says vote for our baby names and help us out. This is the initial list so keep checking back for more selections. I suppose it will be much easier once we know the sex of the baby, but it doesn't hurt to get started!

--Amy

I'm Pregnant!

Wow! We are all still in shock, but so so excited. The pregnancy was planned, but we never expected to conceive so quickly. We have been discussing the possibility of having more kids for some time. The possibility of having another sick child has been very overwhelming and weighing heavily on our hearts. We have prayed through all the possibilities (adoption, IVF, etc...) and Scott and I both felt God's plan for our family was to conceive another child. Going through this process was not easy, but last month Scott and I both felt it was time to start trying. The timing was obviously perfect because almost immediately I became pregnant!

We are all very happy and already eagerly anticipating the arrival of our little one. We are holding tight to Jesus and believing that He will prepare us for what is to come. We know there is 25% chance that the baby will have the same disease Lilly had. We are not naieve nor do we pretend these odds do not exist. However, we believe God is ultimately in control and we will trust in His plan for our lives and that of our unborn child.

Please join in celebrating and praying for this precious new life.

--Amy