It's a GIRL!

At today's ultrasound, we found out that we are having a GIRL!
We are so awesomely excited (can I use those words in combination?) and are so THANKFUL that our baby is healthy, healthy, healthy. All I want to say is Thanks be to God, and thank you for all this beauty. I was praying last night and today that everything would turn out well. We are truly blessed.

So, she's a girl! We are very excited. SO, this will be a whole new ball game for us. I've grown used to the blue clothes with baseballs, footballs, construction vehicles, and dinosaurs. Now we get to move on to pink. I mean, certainly, any color will be fine, including blue, but Mr. FloridaWife would have never permitted pink on Raffaele, so it'll be nice to see some pink around here.

Ultrasound tomorrow!

Big ultrasound tomorrow! I'm praying that the baby is chromosomally perfect and healthy!

We'll also find out if I'm carrying a boy or girl.

This is the one and only time that Mr. FloridaWife ever comes to a doctor's appointment with me. It'll be good to be with him.

Raffaele kissed me!

Sunday morning, Raffaele woke up, smiled at me, leaned in, and KISSED me! He is just so adorable. I love my toddler so very much. He is really developing into a kind, sweet, affectionate, and playful boy. Maybe he learns it from me--I sure kiss him a LOT. Oh, it is so sweet to see him and lovingly hold him and kiss him. What is interesting about him is that he likes to wave at everybody he passes when we go out for walks. He's so friendly. He waves at everyone. There's a little girl across the street, and he hugs her or holds her hand. I am constantly amazed at how beautifully he is developing. We're going to keep doing what we're doing as it seems to be working in regards to his personality and approach towards others.

First words

I think we have a definite first word and not just a random combination of consonants and vowels. Yes, indeed. Raffaele said "mama" when he was looking for me. Mama. It melted my heart. After 17 months (yes, we are a little late in the talk department) it was so nice to hear "mama" from this beautiful boy. This was on Thursday.

Also this week, Raffaele demonstrated to me that he understands "no." I was amazed!!! I said, "no," and he cried because I said "no," but he stopped. He tried to do it again, and I said, "no," and he cried because of it, but he didn't do it. I ...am so proud of my little man!!! I congratulated him on Mommy being so proud of him!

I think he really is trying to talk. When watching a Baby Einstein video today, he said "da" when the narrator said "dog" to a picture of a dog on the screen. Raffaele has also attempted to say, "moon" which sounds more like "moo" when he says it.

This is so exciting. I am so proud of my little man.

Thankful

I am oftentimes overwhelmed by the feeling of how truly thankful I am.

Thankful for the sun that shines upon us and holds our solar system in place.
Thankful for the time in which I live.
Thankful for the country in which I was born.
Thankful for the parents who, though not wealthy in material possessions, are wealthy in faith and love.
Thankful for a supportive family.
Thankful for my health.
Thankful for the health of my parents, my brother, my husband, and my extended family.
Thankful for the health of my baby born and the one to be born.
Thankful for the gift bestowed upon me, which I hold in honor, of now being the mother of two.
Thankful for the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Thankful (and humbled) for the forgiveness of sins.
Thankful that someone would die for me and for others on a cross.

I am suddenly reminded of Jesus' words in John's Gospel, chapter 15, one of my most favorite chapters. The line that has always gripped me is this one--"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. "

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another. If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, 'No slave is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but as it is they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me also hates my Father. If I had not done works among them that no one else ever did, they would not have sin; but as it is, they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But in order that the word written in their law might be fulfilled, 'They hated me without cause.' "When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Major milestones at the playground!

Raffaele walks across the suspension bridge all by himself and he can climb through tubes! We are so proud of him!

I have always stood back and let him play, guiding him away from danger only. I'll demonstrate how to do something, or I'll hold his hand if he needs help, and then I'll watch and see if he can do it all on his own yet.

He's become so wonderfully interdependent. He knows when to ask for help (i.e., he'll put out his little hand so that I can help him), or he'll go and do it on his own.

He hasn't quite mastered the slide yet. If we put him on there sitting down and slide him down, he'll, of course, slide. But he doesn't understand how to do this on his own yet. When he's at the top of a slide, he kind of wants to go down it head first (or crawl down it).

He's gotten really good about how to climb up and down stairs and to hold onto the railings when he needs help. The other great thing about the playground is that he LOVES seeing other children, and he loves playing alongside them. He will be an excellent big brother. We look forward to this very much.

2nd edition of Parenting with Grace

Bill and Martha Sears (whose books I love) wrote the forward to the second edition of Parenting with Grace. Did you know that they started out as Catholics, left the church for 37 years, and returned? Anyway, in regards to parenting, Dr. Bill Sears says, "we are seeing so much more than just the scriptural basis for Attachment Parenting – we are seeing the spiritual basis for it, and for all of family life."

The forward is here.

Yes, Raffaele does like book-reading now

It has taken a long while, but at 16 1/2 months Raffaele likes book-reading now. Well, he is not 100% there yet; he is in the beginning stages of book-reading. He likes our bedtime book, Goodnight Moon. Last night and tonight, he asked that I read it to him twice. He is indeed so precious, and I continue to cherish every moment with this beautiful life of his with which God entrusted me. I am so honored to be Raffaele's mother.

About a month ago he began to point at objects in his books. I seized on this new found discovery of his and began to tell him what each of the objects is. He hadn't quite sat for stories until I began reading him Goodnight Moon. The little story books that I have been able to read to him in their entirety are two little Pat the Bunny books which we have.

I feel like I've entered a whole new world. A world filled with books and imagination and new discovery.

Some couples give life...

Last week I became aware of a couple expecting the arrival of their daughter to be born with anencephaly. Then, a few days later, I read of their daughter's birth and death fifteen hours later. As the father says in his blog, "love has no time constraints." The father expressed how sad he and his wife were, but grateful for the time that they got to spend with their daughter.

The eulogy that the father wrote is very moving. As he noted, diagnosis of anencephaly is normally met with termination of the pregnancy. But this couple would take what they were given. They would carry their baby to full term and spend whatever time they could with her, because love has no time constraints.

The couple has a young son, and they prepared him for his sister's arrival as best they could. The son wanted to teach his sister how to play with garbage trucks.

Mothers desire that their children be healthy. I have spent this entire pregnancy (and Raffaele's) asking God that my children please be born healthy. "Please God, let my child be chromosomally perfect and healthy, and thank you for the fact that Raffaele was born chromosomally perfect and is healthy." Daily I pray this. I can understand how difficult the decision would be for some women regarding continuation of their pregnancy, although, for me, it's a clear black-and-white decision to always side on the side of life and give life to my children.

From the eulogy written by the father for his daughter this past Monday:
Neither my wife nor I will ever forget those last moments of her life as we held her in our arms and wept and consoled her with insufficient words. We knew when we had reached the point of no return. We held Vivian and held our breath as Vivian, holding her rosary, breathed her last breath.

Ultrasounds today

Thank you, everyone, for all your kind words. I keep meaning to go back to each of you to thank you personally, and I don't seem to find the time.

It's 11:26 pm and I only just sat down a little while ago. So, here's a quick little update.

I went to the perinatologist today. My OB/GYN has referred me to the perinatologist because I am over 35. Anyway, everything is going really well.

The baby is doing fine, and he/she moved around a little bit but seemed to mostly be sleeping.

I declined all genetic testing.

I feel great except I have an incredible appetite, and I am extra sleepy.

Here are the latest ultrasound photos. God bless.

Raffaele let me read to him today

For the first time today, Raffaele allowed me to read an entire little board book to him. It was "Goodnight Moon." I read it to him at bedtime. I am going to add this to our bedtime routine.

We are expecting a new baby!

Yes, you read that correctly. I will be 10 weeks pregnant tomorrow. I still can't believe the good fortune and rich blessings that have befallen me. After struggling for two years to become pregnant with Raffaele, I almost feel guilty in saying that I wasn't even trying to get pregnant this time around, but what BEAUTIFUL FORTUNE has found it's way to us!

Yesterday I went for my first ultrasound and my eyes filled with tears as I witnessed my baby's little heart beating on the screen -- a nice 170 beats per minute. And then my baby started to move his/her arms and legs all over the place! It was such a beautiful sight to see, and I am so happy for this technology to be able to witness such beauty so early in a pregnancy.

So, there he/she is, in the ultrasound picture below. You can clearly see the head, body, arms, and feet as well as the eyes and nose.

It is truly remarkable. Thanks be to God!


P.S. If you know me in real life, unless you are family, don't go spreading this news around as I haven't told anyone at work yet, and I don't want word to get over there. If you are family, feel free to tell the whole family.

Update on me and Raffaele

Sorry I haven't posted an update, but here is a new one.

I continue to work full-time, and Mr. FloridaWife continues to be a stay-at-home-dad with the occasional contract work. My parents stop by everyday. Once I'm home from work, I take care of Raffaele 100% while he's awake on evenings and weekends. Then, I finally sit down (as I am now) at about 10:30pm in order to check emails and launch into my homework, since I have been back to school for my MBA for over two years now. I only take one class at a time, which is all I can handle, because when you don't sit down until 10:30pm, that means that you're up until 12:30am regularly doing things for YOU. Then, Raffaele wakes up once during the night, and I bring him into bed with us (after I've given him a bottle of formula). Then I get up to go to work in the morning. I have days and days where I survive on five hours of sleep, so coming here to make an update becomes the thing I never get to do. Enough about me. Oh, by the way, after this term (which ends in September), I have three MBA classes left plus the Capstone Course (which is one intense week on campus with the other MBA students). So, I can see the light! (Right now my class is a Marketing class; it's pretty interesting.)

Raffaele continues to do exceedingly well. He is happiest when he is outside walking around investigating things. I follow him around. He can build tall, skinny structures with his Mega Bloks; he only builds with the 1x1 blocks right now. I build elaborate buildings and abstract structures, and he likes to destroy them. He likes the Baby Einstein videos, but he won't stay to watch an entire video, and I have to be near him, which is fine. If he senses that I've sneaked away to do something, he gets upset, cries out and runs around looking for me. So, I spend my time with him in very close proximity. That's him at the right with one of his tall, skinny structures. The base was built by me.

Raffaele still will not consume solid foods. I don't need any advice. That's how it is. He'll eat something other than formula when he is ready to do so. (Hence, why he needs that bottle of formula in the middle of the night. YOU try consuming nothing but formula all day and see if you don't get hungry by the time it's the middle of the night.)

While Raffaele was ahead of the range for crawling and walking, he's at the end of the range for talking. He hasn't spoken his first word yet. He does a lot of good babbling, though. He communicates via his own brand of sign language, so he understands communication. He just doesn't talk with any words yet. I was a late talker, so he's taking after me. Actually, I was very much into investigating things and building things as a child without much use for words, so I think Raffaele has taken a lot of that from me. (Mr. FloridaWife, on the other hand, can TALK. Sometimes we'll be out, and it takes forever for us to leave, because he talks and talks and talks...)

Raffaele's update

Raffaele is doing exceedingly well. He is so handsome, so soft, so funny, and so full of energy. His smile fills my heart with JOY and I thank God every night that I became pregnant with Raffaele. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. What a beautiful gift was bestowed upon me. I will love Raffaele and comfort him and take care of him as best as I can.

Raffaele continues to be adventurous. He would rather walk and explore everything than sit and play with a toy (which he doesn't really do). When he hears an airplane overhead, he points up. I understand the signs that he's made up.

He loves doors. All kinds of doors. Even sliding glass doors. He loves to open and close them.

He still has hardly any interest in eating solids. When I sit down to eat, I sit him down with me (he in his chair), and I give him food, and he sucks on some of it, but he doesn't actually consume it. He drinks tons of formula per day, about 8 ounces every 3 hours. He is very healthy, and we are being patient with his dislike for food.

The Ball Pit

We got Raffaele a ball pit for his first birthday. I was unsure if he'd actually use it, because he prefers activities like exploring, walking, putting things into things, etc. BUT, lo and behold, he discovered that he can run across the room and belly flop himself into the ball pit! So cute.

Leading me by the hand

Raffaele started leading me by the hand this past week. He finds me, takes my hand, and then takes me somewhere.

A little boy in puddles.

This was taken on June 27, the day he discovered puddles. After a while, I couldn't keep him back anymore from jumping in all these puddles. He was already dirty and wet. What's a few more?