The Latest Piper pictures

That's our girl! Sweet smile and all =)

We went to the ultrasound today to get her measured. Since I have a thyroid problem the doctors were concerned. YEAH, LOTTA GOOD THAT WAS! You know that your kid is huge when the sonogram tech proclaims, "Wow, she um....she has a rather large head. And a large torso. But hey! Her legs are normal!" She is supposed to weight at the large end 4 and a half pounds right now. SHE WEIGHS 5 1/2 POUNDS! Two weeks ahead of schedule! The doctor was like, "I love delivering chunky babies!" I was like, "I DON'T!"

The sonogram tech said she is very very large for her age, hhmmmm, remind you of anyone else as a baby? Maybe...JORDAN! The measurements added up to two weeks ahead of normal. That doesn't mean anything besides the fact that she is big, so don't necessarily bank on an early arrival.

Then the doctor said something no pregnant woman wants to hear, "Well, the worst case scenario is that she is 11 pounds and we do a C-Section."

YEAH! THAT IS THE WORST CASE! I don't want to get cut open! Please pray that she comes early so that doesn't happen!

I thought to myself, well they said the same thing about Noah and he was totally normal. Then she measured my belly. I am 32 weeks along. I measured 35 to 36. There is no mistake....she is huge.

So yes everyone, I look big because my child is huge! And the doctor mentioned c-section, and I have to go in every week sooner than 36 weeks because she is so big. Little freaked. And also really excited that Piper could very well get here sooner since she is so far along. Pray that is the case instead of humongo baby. The doctor said to not get my hopes up, but it is a possibility since Noah came early too and she is so big.

But freak out aside, isn't she cute? Well, what you can see of her that is. Cute button nose and sweet sweet smile. She kept rooting at the placenta whenever it came near, so hopefully that means good eating habits early, since Noah really struggled with latching on and eating. That smile made the whole fat baby issue non existent. I forgot how much I love her for a second there, then she goes and melts my heart with that smile!

Or maybe she is smirking...in that case she is much more evil than I thought.....

Prayers Needed

So we have been hearing for along time now that Jordan's office is dealing with hard times. The two bosses have cut hours on occasion and told Jordan that he is very useful and they want him to stay.

However this last week they let go of two employees higher up on the rungs to make it easier. They held a meeting this afternoon with the whole office saying that they had to lay off the two men and if they don't get more work within two weeks they will have to either lay off more or cut back hours again.

They are also moving offices next month into a smaller place. Now that could mean that they keep Jordan on until then to help move since he is the youngest and most able to help them move. We think that might be the situation, and if that's the case we have another month at least.

The biggest problem we are concerned about is trying to find a job right now. This is not an easy time to find a job, especially in the field that Jordan has expertise in, Animation and Media Design. He has beefed up his resume with After Effects and video production. If you all hear of anything in these areas that is open, please think of Jordan.

We feel like the next two weeks will determine a lot for our family. Being laid off is a very real possibility, so is a cut back in hours. Both mean hard hard times for us. Especially with Piper on her way within seven weeks... not a great time to be searching for a job or to have to take time off to stay home with a new baby.

So all your prayers are very very much appreciated. We also feel like this is a new chapter in Jordan's life. We knew this job was a band aid for a while, but nothing we wanted to make a life long career out of. Perhaps times are changing faster than we anticipated, it's all in God's hands and time.

Thanks everyone for their prayers and support! We love you all and look forward to what God does in our lives...well, for the most part = )

Happenings

What's been happening lately:

Hhhmmmm.... Well my awesome husband has taken to running every day to train for the Chicago Marathon (26 miles!). He and dad every Friday take a "cross training" day and bike. They had gotten so addicted to it that they decided to do the L.A.T.E. night bike hike through downtown Chicago and along the lake front. They had a blast, I'm only sad that I am all preggers and couldn't go with :( they looked like they had tons of fun. But they could still use encouragement because Jordan doesn't think he can do the marathon, psyching himself out prematurely I think. But anyone care to chime in and encourage, I am sure he'll appreciate your thoughts!

We had our 3 year anniversary and went to the Science and Industry Museum. He had fun, I had fun watching him be a little kid! Sadly we didn't get to see the Harry Potter exhibit, but we did get to race milking a cow! I won. Obviously. And we had a yummy lunch at Bennihana's, which I am so sad to say was way more authentic than JuRin is and I am TOTALLY going back! I used to go to Japanese restaurants with my parents way back in the day and since then they have "Americanized" the flavors. Three years, it's still hard to believe!

Piper is doing great, we have our last ultrasound scheduled for August 10th (I think). So hopefully here soon you guys can glimpse at her cuteness again before she is born. I think we have something like 70ish or so days left until she is due! When did I pass up the 100 day mark?! Well nesting has kicked in and I have pretty much turned our apartment inside out rearranging and cleaning in preparation for her arrival.

Speaking of rearranging...we also found Noah a......(drum roll please).............BIG BOY BED!!!!!!!!

We were so appreciative to get one from our friends the Thompsons and lucky for us it is just perfect! Noah was so excited he took all his covers off his crib and murmured to himself, "nonononono, on the big boy bed now..." as he proceeded to place all sleeping paraphernalia on the new BIG BOY BED. I guess he was more ready than we gave him credit for. We laid him down last night for the first time in his big boy bed and didn't hear one peep until early this morning (6:30!) when he woke up freaking out...but once he was in mommy's arms and I reassured him how "cool" the big boy bed was, he got happy fast and excited all over again. We'll see how naptime goes...

So there's our life in a nutshell for the last few weeks. Lots of fun and OH YAH, Congrats to Jordan and Jana Huff on the arrival of their new little daughter!!!!! Lydia Shalom Huff was born July 22 at 1:03 weighing a whopping 6 pounds! She is so cute! They are recouping and I hear the Jana was a rock star! You go guys! Many blessings on the new parents!

We're still hanging in there

I have been busy preparing for father's day recently as well as getting ready for summer camp and a family trip to be had within the next few weeks so nothing much different has been going on except that.

I have been trying to get into the "girl" frame of mind with washing and preparing baby girl clothes for Piper's arrival, and since I haven't the first clue about baby girl stuff I went to Moriah for help.

Oh My Goodness! She gave me what can only be described to as an avalanche of baby girl clothes and suddenly I was in a sea of pink and purple ruffles. Which is so beyond my general frame of mind for clothes that I gotta admit I was overwhelmed. But a few days later, a few hundred loads of laundry later, and massive organization of Noah and Piper's closet later I think I can do this. Forgive me Piper if by chance you are accidentally dressed in boyish clothing from time to time, but I will try my hardest to think girlier than I have the past year and a half.

Speaking of Moriah, if you read this, thank you again for loaning me all those woderful girl clothes! I got to sit and really get excited for this little one coming and truly appreciate how different having a girl is gonna be, plus you inspired a whole room makeover for Noah and Piper's room which will be a huge help in the long run. Once I am HUGE lifting bags of clothes will NOT be an option.

Lastly, please pray for our family for this summer. It looks like Jordan has four extra side jobs to get done by AUGUST, summer camp this next week, an anniversary to have fun with, Moriah's birthday, and a family trip to Arkansas. We need time together desperately and this is a huge summer for us. By the time it's over we'll have just enough time to catch our breath before Piper's arrival is to happen... so prayers for happy hearts and family time toghether are appreciated.

And lastly, some pictures of Noah and me (featurnig Piper in da womb).

It's a........

GIRL!!!

Piper Shea Ferrell

Next Ultrasound and Names

The next ultrasound is this tuesday, the day after memorial day. We will hopefully find out if we're having a boy or a girl! We don't mind either way.

We also have a few names picked out for the little ones, now everyone gets to vote:

Boy = Miles/Milo
Girl = Parker, Piper, or Tatum

We like Parker and Piper the best. I like Piper, Jordan is pulling for Parker.

So which is your favorite? We also need a middle name for Miles if its a boy....any suggestions?

The names, by the by, are non negotiable. If you don't like em please don't poop all over them since we do like em. But we do need help with middle names...... so your skills will be best placed there! Your turn : )

Impressive....

We recently started teaching Noah "School" in the mornings. We review numbers 1-10, letters, and Colors. Colors are his favorite. Jordan sat down with Noah today to go through them for fun since our cable is out and Noah loves his "school". Here was the result!

I was amazed at how much Noah knew! I had to get it on camera. When we do school in the mornings he MAYBE maybe can get two colors without help, but today he got a lot more! It was more or less to impress Daddy. He loves Daddy praises. Which altogether made me very happy that he is learning fast and that he is such a smart little cookie. God gave me a gifted little boy!