Chilibean at 20 weeks!

So we've got a few pictures to show you. Chilibean isn't really a bean anymore! Along with these shots, we got to see the 4 chambers of the heart, the spine, and the big belly with the umbilical chord stretching down by the legs! There was a strong heartbeat, but not much movement, so it was probably taking a nice nap. But it will be moving around soon. The ears are fully developed and it can begin to recognize sounds like voices, music, and Lucy's barking! So between John's Sneezing, Nicole's Laughing, and Lucy's howling, it will have much auditory stimulus! This one is a profile shot of little ChiliBean. You can see the forehead and nose, mouth, and chin. I really doubt the little strands on the forehead are hair, but you never know! You can also pick out an arm underneath the head. That's an elbow right above the chin and part of the hand can be seen right under the "R" of profile. It looks like a speck, but it's probably a thumb!
This is a close up of the foot and calf. The toes are on the bottom, with the heal pointing up and the leg going to the left. The little line across the ankle is the umbilical chord. She couldn't show us a full shot of the legs because we want that surprise hidden!
Here's another profile shot. The head's turned slightly, and you can see the neck and collar-bone pretty well. See those three smudges on top of the crown - that's the hand it's lying on. This is our Skeletor Face! The ultrasound picked up the skull outline pretty well! It's looking like it's going to have a longer, more Truitt-like, face. But you can also see those Chilcote cheekbones!

Here's a good shot of that arm under the head. You can see the other hand down by the arm pit. Two legs, two arms, one head! We've got a healthy baby and a healthy mommy! Half-way there!

Love you all!

John and Nicole and Chilibean!

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First Day of Spring

Apparently, yesterday was the first of spring. Here in Ohio it definitely looked like it - blue skies, birds chirping, etc. So I did not think anything of stepping out of my car at the school's parking lot and heading into the building without looking for ice. Oops. I took one step and BOOM! fell flat on my back. It was painful. I got up and went into the building pretty shaken up but okay. I called our doctor's office just to let them know that I fell for the baby's sake. They told me that I definitely needed to come in that day which I was glad for because my body did hit pretty hard. So John and I got to go again for an unscheduled appointment and hear little Chilibean's heartbeat and know that all was well. He(she) is growing, and we could tell because the heartbeat sounded a lot stronger. So, the doctor confirmed that mom and baby were okay and also gave me the go ahead to go in the hot tub at the cabin we are staying in over Easter which I thought was taboo. She said it would be fine just as long as I didn't let myself get too hot. Next Thursday morning we will go back for our 20 week ultrasound which we are very excited about. Afterward, John and I will go and register for all the fun things that come with having a baby at Target and Babys R'Us. Happy Easter, Everyone!

Final Answer...

Okay, so we know we told you all that we were going to find out the sex of Chilibean, BUT we changed our minds AGAIN. This time our FINAL ANSWER is that we are going to wait. Really, we are. Deep down it was our true desire to wait, but my practical nature got in the way. I wanted to garage sale for baby clothes this summer and needed to know the sex in order to do that. Then I thought, why not just buy clothes for both a boy and a girl? There are so many babies being born this summer (our friends Megan, Heather, Lorien, and Rebecca and my brothers J0e and Danny) that surely someone will have opposite of what we're having and could use the clothes! So there you go. Final answer - we are waiting.

There really isn't any other news to share right now. I'm feeling good. I had a few bouts with heartburn this week, but Tums took care of that pretty fast. One of the big things John and I did this week was map out our calendar from now until August. We're getting new carpet for the house...we're having our own garage sale...we need to paint the nursery...we need to register...I'm helping with other people's showers...John's rearranging the garage (Matt, he may need help with this - hint, hint)...we plan on doing summer camp...we're going to Chicago to visit Granny and catch the Cubs...the list goes on and on. We had to map it out on the calendar or else we'd go crazy. It's all pretty overwhelming but really fun at the same time.

This Thursday we have our next check-up and we'll let you know how it goes. Hope everyone has a great week. Can you believe it's March already?