You are a non-stop
mover and shaker. I can only imagine you
will be the same when you emerge from your nine-month hideout!
This week you were
so active, it was easy for three of your aunts to feel you move! Your Aunt Esther felt you kicking during
Bible study, and your Aunts Priscilla and Mercy felt you move while they were
home visiting us from college. During
church on Sunday, you bumped your Aunt Mercy’s hands nearly the entire
sermon! You also jumped around during
our band practice. I’m sure it was
because Mercy was there playing drums with us, and we have been without a
drummer in her absence!
Your cousins Aidan
and Isabel greet you every time they come over, their cheerful little voices
saying, “Hi, Beta!!!” to you.
And of course, you
are still growing. Stretched out fully,
you are about eleven inches long, and you weigh almost one pound!
An important gland,
your pancreas, is developing this week.
The pancreas is part of your digestive system, responsible for
regulating your blood sugars, and secreting enzymes that aid in absorption of
nutrients and digestion.
Your inner ear has
developed sufficiently where you have a sense of balance. This increases your motor control, and hence,
movements!
Your eyes have
formed, but the irises lack pigment. I
have brown eyes. Your Daddy has hazel
eyes that some days look brown, or green, or grey. Your cousins on my side all have blue eyes,
even though their parents have brown!
They have caught the genes of their grandparents. If I could make a wish, it would be for you
to inherit your Daddy’s eyes. I love the
way the colors shift, and the way the light dances through them.
On your tongue,
taste buds are forming. Soon you will be
able to taste light flavors of the food I eat, filtered through the amniotic
waters you swim in!
In other sensory
news, your sense of touch is in the works as well. Soon you will able to feel the textures of
the umbilical cord, your squishy surroundings, and even your own skin.
Several times this
week, I have been able to feel where you are inside me, pressing gently until I
feel the firmness of your body. Often
when you bump me, I can press down and feel the round firmness of either your
hand or foot. Many times you punch and
kick me at the same moment, so I feel strong movement in two parts of my belly simultaneously. It makes it easier to know what size you are,
because both ends of your body can be distinguished at the same time.
When I sleep in on
Saturday mornings, you must get antsy for me to start my day, because this is
one of the best times to feel you move.
I usually awaken to your strong bumps and flips, and spend twenty
minutes or more with my hands on my belly, smiling gently to myself, feeling
your water aerobics. Your Daddy is
always so happily snoring next to me, I can’t stand to wake him! So it’s just you and me time.
He talks to you
every night still. Many times you have
been still a while before my bedtime, but within minutes of hearing his voice,
you awaken to play with him.
The most popular
questions I get asked about you, from friends and strangers alike, are when you
are expected to arrive, and if you are a boy or girl.
We are expecting
you to arrive sometime in the month of March.
We don’t know an exact date when you were conceived, to estimate more
specifically from that day. In addition,
you will come when you are ready. If you
fall within the bell curve of average, you can arrive anytime two weeks before
or two weeks after an estimated date.
Thus, if we estimate mid-March, we can expect you anytime that month!
In a sense, this is
comforting to me. I tend to be a planner
and a worrier, so it honestly puts me at ease to have such a vague idea of when
you might arrive. The unknown makes it
easier to be at peace, trusting you will be here at just the right time, and we
won’t, can’t, have it all figured out.
As for the second
question, you already ARE a boy or girl, and have been so for weeks now. But since we don’t know, I usually answer,
“We’re not finding out.” People are
surprised, but seem to think it is exciting to wait for your earth entry for
you to show us your gender.
Before you were
even conceived, your Grandmama, my mom, knitted you a hat. Rather, two hats - one blue if you are a boy,
and one purple if you are a girl. They
are soft and stretchy and adorable. The
moment you emerge into the cold earth air, one of these little hats will be
perched on your head to keep you warm.
The first garment to touch your skin will be one handmade with love,
before you existed.
This past Friday was a special date: 11-11-11. Your Daddy and I have had a habit since early in our friendship, of making wishes. We especially liked to make wishes when the clock said 11:11, or when we passed by a fountain. I can remember walking through a mall, or being in Las Vegas, and your Daddy shuffling in his pockets for loose change. He would hand both of us a penny, and we would silently make a wish and toss it into the fountain.
I distinctly remember wishing for him to ask me on a date (when we were still friends), and wishing he would ask me to marry him (when we were dating). Clearly, we both prayed a lot about our relationship, and I took that decision much more seriously than "just" a wish. But wishing is significant while remaining casual, so it is much different than prayer.
So for several years, we have taken a special date night to a local fountain (on November 11th), and carried 100 pennies with us. One hundred pennies for one hundred wishes. Some years, we have split the 100 pennies up, so we've each had fifty. This year, we each had 100. It is tougher than you'd think to come up with 100 wishes! Since San Antonio is in such a terrible drought, there haven't been fountains running all year. So instead, we found a bridge over a koi pond at the local Japanese Tea Gardens.
“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in
heaven or on earth—You who keep Your covenant of love with Your servants who
continue wholeheartedly in Your way. You have kept Your
promise to Your servant; with Your mouth You have promised and with Your
hand You have fulfilled it—as it is today. Now, my God, may your
eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this
place.” (2 Chronicles 6:14,15,40)
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In
all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy…being confident of
this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)
"For this reason, ever since I heard about you… I
have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”
(Ephesians 1:15-16)
The Lord keeps His promises, and there is NO one like
Him. These things are truth. They are also what we plan to name
you. Names that mean God is faithful and true, God keeps his promises,
there is no one like God. Your life will be a testament to this, and your
name will call out its truth every time someone says hello to you.
