Long-overdue update

It has been almost 2 months since my last post, and I really, again, have no excuse other than life has caught up with me. We'll start with Kylie, then Butterfly, then sweet Jaycee.

Kylie would be 21 months old right now... it's so hard to believe that we are so, so close to two years now...  Every day, I think of her still. I think of how beautiful she is, how sweet she is, and what she would be doing now. I try to imagine my life with her as a 21 month old, but it is so hard to do-- would she look more like me now, or still like the spitting image of her daddy? Would she be walking, talking, etc, or would her prematurity and bowel surgery prevent her from doing normal toddler things? Would we be at the doctor a lot? All of those things just consume my mind. She is a very, very loved little miracle baby, and I could not have asked God to bless me with a more perfect first-born child. She is my heart, for sure, and I miss her deeply.

Today, I am 20 weeks, 3 days pregnant with Butterfly, who decided to be stubborn last week and not reveal himself/herself to us through ultrasound. Stubborn little kid already... wonder where that comes from? (*cough* CHRIS *cough*). Hah. This pregnancy has been much, much different than Kylie's pregnancy, which in a way is a really good thing for me. It prevents me from freaking out so much from comparing, and it also puts my mind at ease some more. Everything has been nearly textbook with this pregnancy; heart rate is always in a good range (140-165), and I've been feeling movement since week 14. Even in ultrasound, this child is so, so active compared to Kylie, and the US tech told me at 12 weeks I was going to have a fun end of pregnancy cuz this kid was going to be everywhere. I'm sitting really low, and this baby is pushing down on everything, especially my bladder. We go to the specialist in Birmingham on July 20 for my big measuring ultrasound, and we should find out then if baby is a boy or girl, though we are all thinking boy at this point. My OB said if he had to guess, he'd guess boy, but if all we have is a guess, I can't be certain. Hopefully we'll know then. Also, at that appointment they measure all body parts, organs, etc, and it will be a good indication of what is going on. I'll be 22 (almost 23 weeks) by then, so I'll have some time to get the room ready if it's a boy before I go back to school. Doctor still confirmed 37 weeks is as far as we need to go, unless something is just overly good, and we can try to stretch it to 38, but he is still saying end of October, very beginning of November, which is fine with me. I just want a healthy outcome.

Jaycee is growing so fast. June 1, we celebrated her 4th birthday. It has been such a sweet blessing to watch her grow up and change from baby to preschooler... she is learning so fast, and she is so smart and quick to pick up on things. She doesn't miss a beat. She is the most loving, sweet 4 year old I know, and she is just such a blessing to us. We are thankful every day for her presence in our home and in our life. She has such good friends here, and overall, we couldn't be more thankful to have her to help us get through the days. She loves Kylie and Butterfly as her own blood sister and future brother or sister... she is going to be an amazing big sister to them! I know that I wouldn't have made it this far without her, and I can't imagine my life without her in it. Hopefully, she starts pre-k in the fall if we can get all the paperwork handled right. I really don't want her to miss out on the opportunities school has to offer her.