Twice Blessed....

So it's been a while since I last blogged and lots has happened since my last post. Thanksgiving Day at our house was a huge success! We only had 8 people total but it was nice for us all to be able to gather around the table and eat together. My very first turkey turned out to be moist and delicious; what a relief! Believe it or not, I was so stressed I could barely sleep the night before:) We broke the big news to Aunt Pat, Uncle Steve & Kyle; Aunt Pat was super excited to have another little one running around at future family gatherings.

This past weekend, Benz helped me to put up and decorate our artificial Christmas tree. There were Christmas carols playing in the background and snow was falling on Saturday morning as we "decked the halls." It really put us in the Christmas mood! We've been reading Christmas stories, making a list for Santa and singing "Frosty the Snowman" every night before he falls asleep. My sweet Benz "stops to smell the roses" in life and took a moment to look at the tree once it was all decorated and said "Pretty, Mommy. Thank you Mommy Christmas tree." It is so touching for him to point out the small things in life that he appreciates! (He similarly thanked his Grandpa Brawley for putting up Christmas lights outside of their house). We sent out our annual Christmas card photos this week, only this year we announced our big news to the remaining family & friends by saying "With love, Matt, Melanie, Benz and Baby Brawley...coming June 2008."

Today was my first appointment with my doctor; she was able to find baby's heartbeat, which I put into the video above. The heartbeat was 166 beats/minute and for those that don't know, there's a theory that anything above a 140 is conducive of a female:) We don't want to get our hopes up....so we'll see! I also had an ultrasound and was able to see the baby moving its' arms and legs...it was so amazing! I truly feel blessed to have two children in my life and a loving husband who is very excited about this pregnancy. Today made everything feel much more real and official for us both. We'll all have to wait and see if I'll be on the hunt for pink or blue...the magic date is January 31st. Not sure if I can wait that long, but it is something to look forward to!!