Baby Girl at 20 Weeks

Here's our cute little girl at 20 weeks.

Sugar and Spice

Sprout is a girl, and she is now the length of a banana. She's definitely growing, and we are loving being able to know more about the baby by just knowing her gender. The sonogram pictures are very clear. I will get Tommy to post them. He said our daughter was already an exhibitionist. He's nervous about how she will be as a teenager, but we will take it one step at a time.

On the homefront, life has been overwhelming to the point of weariness at times dealing with all of the small tasks that go into getting a house ready for the market. It's almost there; in fact there is a sign in our front yard, and it should be listed tomorrow. Tommy has reverted back to some old college habits and pulled a few all-nighters (or at least until the wee hours). And because of him, the house is looking better than it has in a long time. It's a shame we are leaving it soon!

More to come.

Onward and Upward

Time marches; it's December already, our Christmas tree is up and twinkling, and Sprout is nearly halfway ready to join the outside world. It actually snowed on Friday too! Some teacher friends and I skipped out of school and grabbed Subway for lunch, and on our way some flurries blew in from the sky, not a common sight for San Antonio. Of course it didn't stick, but it was quite exciting for us Texans for the fifteen minutes it snowed.

Hopefully Topeka has some heavy, snow-angel-worthy snowfalls in store for Tommy and me. We will be uprooting from this rocky soil and settling in up there sometime in January. The emotions that this decision has created are mixed and strong. We are sad to leave our San Antonio family at church, our/my friends at Tejeda, our first house together, the adventures we have had here together, good Mexican food, all of it. But we are excited for the adventure in store for us and our family. And thus the three of us are moving onward and upward.

Speaking of the third member of our family, we will know what color to paint Sprout's room in just three days. On Wednesday we have our next sonogram, and we will get to know more about the person we'll be meeting in April.

Our lives have suddenly become crazy and emotional, and we are thankful that we have a God who is in control. His blessings to you, and we will update in a couple of days!

Laura

Boy or Girl?

Our next sonogram is scheduled for Wednesday, December 9th, and we should be able to tell if Sprout is a girl or a boy. We can't wait to experience the next big surprise, and we hope we have the same technician who let Tommy record the last sonogram.

There are many happy things happening around us. My cousin Christian and his wife Pennie had their baby boy, Kainoa (it's a Hawaiian name - they'll call him Kai) last week. Our good friends, Blake and Lydia, tied the knot last night. And on Wednesday Tommy and I leave for Ft. Wayne for an Eggold Thanksgiving. God's blessings are overwhelming, and we have so many people around us to celebrate them with. I can't wait to be surrounded by Eggolds, some of my favorite people, with a big helping of mashed potatoes on my plate. Is that what heaven will be like?

16 Weeks

Tommy and I read that Sprout should be able to hear noises, voices, music, etc. by now. It makes me ponder noise a bit more closely. What tone am I using with my students when they frustrate me? How loud is the music in my car to Sprout? Which Jackson Five-era Michael Jackson impression is better, mine or Tommy's? I'm excited that he/she can get to know our voices now, and maybe Sprout's listening closely when I'm reading aloud to my students. Time to break out the Mozart and begin the Ivy League prep.

Next week is our monthly appointment, and I will be asking when the big Gender Reveal can take place. It may be a Christmas gift next month.

Tommy received a call to a church in Topeka, Kansas. We are praying and considering, praying and considering, and we ask for your prayers as well. We've built quite a life and home here in San Antonio where the Lord has richly blessed us, but we know His blessings will follow us wherever we go.

Today, our friends, Doug and Jessica Taylor, bring their second daughter, Adelyn Mae, to the font to be baptized. Tommy and I are honored to be standing up there as her Godparents. God's blessings to little Adelyn today and always!

Laura

12 Weeks by Tommy

People have asked me if the reality of impending fatherhood has hit me yet. At those moments I recognize that the full weight of parenthood won't hit me until I'm holding my child in my arms. Fortunately there are things along the way that have allowed me to hear and see my child in order to remind me that I'm a father now and I thank God for all of those opportunities.

Today Laura and I went in for some tests which included a sonogram. Below are some videos of our baby. We were able to hear and see the heartbeat again. What was different from the last sonogram was the ability to see the details of arms, legs, hands, feet, and even some facial features. We also got to see the baby kicking off the uterine wall. Though the audio isn't the best, I was still able to hear myself make the 'awe's and the occasional 'that's crazy' as I marveled at all our child could do at 12 weeks.

So...check out our baby. He or she is a pretty cool kid.

audio of hearbeat

visual of heartbeat

kicking and hiccups

feet and the scoot

Week 7 Day 6 - Raspberry-Sized

Here is the baby's first photo. The head is on the left facing up. We could see the heartbeat, just a shimmering spot in the middle of the chest, and we could hear it too. The technician said it's a good, strong heartbeat.

The visit definitely makes it even more real. The new due date is April 27th, and, as Aunt Kathy pointed out, Sprout will be the first in the Eggold family to be born in April.

Rain

It's been raining for about two hours now, and if you haven't been keeping up with the redundantly tortuous weather of South Texas this summer, you wouldn't understand what a miracle this is.

Yesterday it rained throughout the morning as well as I taught grammar to eighth graders which, of course, is much less exciting and novel than rain in San Antonio. I didn't blame the students; all I wanted to do was be at home on the couch reading my book.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat, and with a little prompting from Tommy, I called in sick. So today I was at home in bed reading my book when the heavens let loose on my roof. I opened the blinds and snuggled back in, giving a fleeting (and a bit triumphant) thought to my students working on a grammar lesson in my classroom.

I can see the soccer fields pooling with water from the upstairs window, the sky is solid gray, patches of green are reawakening from the dust in my sad little backyard, and these are lovely sights to tired eyes.

Bun in the Oven

Last Saturday, August 22nd, I woke up early to take a pregnancy test. I had taken enough tests over the past few months to know not to get my hopes up. In fact, I thought I'd test, grab some water while I waited, view the negative results, and get back in bed with my sleeping husband, confident that I'd be opening a bottle of wine that evening. So when I returned to the bathroom with my water after doing the test and saw two pink lines in the display window, I didn't believe it. I stared at it for awhile, pulled the instructions out of the box, read the "two lines" part over and over. "PREGNANT. Two pink lines in the result window. One line may be lighter than the other." I was preggers.

I pulled out the Scrabble board and sat at the kitchen table making baby-ish words fit together for Tommy to see when he woke up. I thought maybe I would keep it on the table and make him breakfast, but I couldn't wait that long. I snuck it upstairs and put it on the counter of our bathroom. Then I got back in bed.

I got him to wake up (slowly) and make his way to the bathroom. His first word was an awestruck "Really?" But he believed it more than I did.

I took another test the following morning, and the same two lines appeared. We still read the instructions over and over in case we were wrong but found no way we could be. I made an appointment for the next Saturday. Two plastic sticks I could be skeptical of; a report from a doctor I could not.

We made it through the week (my first week of school) telling only our parents and siblings and a couple of close friends, and yesterday morning (August 29th) I met our doctor, a jovial and very likeable man. He confirmed the pregnancy and put the due date tentatively at April 6th, 2010. Tommy and I will be going back in two weeks for a sonogram, and we should know for sure how far along the baby is then. We are anxious to be able to know just how big it is week by week and what is happening to it. We are so thankful to God for this awesome blessing, and we are thankful for family and friends to share in our joy.

Sprout's first gift from Blake and Lydia

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

After a few weeks of being at home with no work responsibilities, I cannot imagine going back to the grindstone. There are too many things to be done, learned, enjoyed, and experienced to have the burden of a daily job. I have not, however, been frivolous with my time. My house has experienced the shock of a healthy deep cleaning that it hasn't felt for awhile. Room by room, I'm scrubbing baseboards, vacuuming up those little spiders, cleaning off the dust that seems to hide until I've turned my back just to settle right back in its place. But it feels good.

I have also been putting my sewing machine to use. Over the school year I learned how to use the machine by making a pair of pj pants under the mentorship of my school's home ec. teacher, Mrs. Willard. It took all year... My classmate, Sandra, and I called our projects the "eternal pants," but thankfully they were completed in late May. At home (under no supervision!) I have made a couple of skirts (wrap-around - no zipper) and some cloth napkins. The hobby is addicting, and although I may think I am being frugal by making my own clothes, the materials add up to be more than I would usually pay.

These weeks have kept me homebound for two reasons: I am saving up for our trip coming up, and it's too bloody hot to spend much time outdoors. The energies that I put into springtime planting have turned to dust, both figuratively and literally. I watch my flowers dry to a crisp and my vegetables die before their prime from my air conditioned haven behind the windows. And just like last year, I care little and merely scoff at my vernal idealism. How could I have thought anything green and lush and not native to Texas might survive this year? I shake my head in despondence...

Tommy and I will soon be shaking the Texas dust from our feet and heading north via Natchez, MS, Memphis, and Indiana. We haven't roadtripped just to roadtrip since our honeymoon, and we are looking forward to hitting the highway. Tommy especially can use a break from work as the summer season is in full swing with VBS and mission trips. We will be attending my cousin Heidi's wedding as well as Kristen Barz's wedding, both in Ft. Wayne on the same day and both with grooms named Andy. There should be plenty of stories and pictures we will share when we return later in July. Until then!

Camp Luther `09

What better way to kick off our blog than by writing about our trip to Camp Luther in the north woods of Wisconsin? My mom and dad and sister, Lisa, came as well as my Gram and Aunt Mary. The cool weather came as a great relief since the Texas summer is in full swing in San Antonio. Tommy and I resurrected sweatshirts and jackets we hadn't seen since January. We had a few rainy days, but we still crammed in all the Luther activities that have become tradition in the decades that my family has made the trip.

Most mornings started with a hike in the woods, and during the days, depending on the weather, we kayaked, canoed, played Scrabble or shuffleboard, and soaked in the wildlife. Tommy discovered biking on the trails, and the two of us got away for a spin down the road from camp. He also took the sunfish sailboat out on a sunnier day. On Monday it rained all day, so Dad, Tommy, and I ran to the Tree House Village and played a game of Scrabble. Dad won.

Gram dominated the shuffleboard court. Together, Tommy and I were a 100% defeated team. We just couldn't hold a candle to that lady. Of course, there were campfires and s'mores, card games, moments sitting on the beach or the dock of the cabin, mosquitoes and ticks, deer, and best of all for me, the tall trees of the north woods. It was great to be together for a week and sad to leave. -L