So the news is...

...We're at 12 weeks, and counting.

And if you still don't get it, we're expecting a new addition to our family (in July).

Here is a picture at eleven weeks and two day. We would have had a better picture but he (or

she) turned at the last minute so this picture is him (or her) facing us. This visit was very exciting because we were actually able to see our baby move. At one point the doctor even said it looked like he (or she) was sucking his thumb, which was also pretty cool.

In this picture you can see the right arm (that I labeled). While the doctor was freezing the image, the baby moved his left arm up above his head (like maybe he was waving to us???). The right leg is hiding somewhere. We got to see the heartbeat during this visit, but the doctor said it was still too early to hear it (I think he has older sonogram equipment than some practices). Regardless, the doctor informed us that everything looks good and that we should have good things to look forward to.

Our next visit isn't until late January (our 16 week visit) and maybe, just maybe we'll get to see whether it will be baby BOY Smith or baby GIRL Smith.

As far as everything else goes, I would say things have gone pretty smooth so far. I don't have too much nausea (mainly only when I'm hungry or eat excessive amounts of cream cheese dips [which is sad because i crave crab dip on a daily basis which drives Justin nuts]) and so far I've had no vomiting spells. Besides my crab dip cravings, I have a handful of olives everyday. I'm suprisingly not too hungry yet, which explains why my weight stayed the same from last month to this month, so this means I cook dinner less which is not so nice for Justin. One thing I have noticed though is that I seem to have an aversion to meats these days and vegetables are not as exciting as they usually are for me. I gravitate mostly towards pasta and potatos which I'm sure is "very healthy," and I'm becoming full more quickly than usual, which isn't great when we go out to eat because I almost never finish my meal. As far as sleep goes, I was napping every afternoon almost in the first two months (and I was crabby if I didn't) but lately I've seemed to trade my afternoon naps in for an earlier bedtime, or at least becoming tired a LOT earlier than usual. I'm thrilled that I'm able to sleep through the night pretty well (considering I usually have a really hard time falling asleep), but these days I occasionally have a potty visit at 3 or 4 am. Justin unfortunately is getting less sleep, but that's mostly due to work and partly due to being sick. I now have to sleep on my side a lot more for comfort and I, for the first time, had to buy pants with the belly band...which might not seem too exciting, but it was (and they're way more comfy than all my jeans that I have to unbutton after I eat). Justin says that there's a baby belly forming, and while I'm starting to agree a tad bit, I'm waiting until it's a little more obvious to share with the world.

Up until now we've been very anxious and walking on eggshells with everything. We were praying that our second visit went well (which is understandable if you know our history) and now that it has, we're becomming very excited. We're still very anxious and constantly wonder if everything's okay, but each day it gets a little better and even more exciting.

We are definitely counting down the days until we get to see our little guy or girl at our next visit but until then, we want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy the new year; we sure will!!!!