Our baby girl's ultrasound pictures

These pictures are 6 weeks old already. They were taken when the baby was 21-1/2 weeks along in gestation. Now she's 27-1/2 weeks, so clearly she and I have grown a lot since then. The ultrasound went well--she looks healthy in all respects. The pregnancy is going well--I have felt great since a few weeks after that first trimester was over.

Samuel is doing well, though I don't think he has any idea about the baby. We tell him sometimes that I have a baby in my tummy, but he looks at us like we're crazy.

I know the ultrasound tech put "?Girl" on the photo, since you're never 100% certain. But besides this picture, we looked at multiple views of the genital region, and all seemed very, very clear that the baby is a girl.

Little foot--how sweet.
Here's the profile shot. I think these always look a little bit odd.

Recent pics

Here are a couple pics from our first weeks back together as a family. There have been a few amazing sunsets, and Rudi thought to take pictures of it one night...We also went to a beach on Andersen Air Base (northern end of Guam), which is where the beach shots and also the shots of the breathtaking view were taken.

The first picture I included because I never post any pictures of me pregnant. So there I am, halfway through!

Samuel and me at an overlook on Andersen Air Force Base

At the same overlook--how awesome and beautiful!

Taking pictures of these two never gets old for me...

The standard family self-portrait in front of a not-so-standard sunset. Are any sunsets 'standard,' though? Below is the view from our back patio...

Daddy (and husband) is home!!

Rudi arrived back on Guam (from deployment to Iraq) on Dec. 24, 2009 at 10 pm. What a wonderful Christmas present--it made for our best Christmas ever!

Samuel remembered Rudi, much to Rudi's delight. When Samuel awoke on Christmas morning he was shy for about 15 minutes, but after that he had Daddy hold him, play with him, etc. He even said, "Daddy Home." Samuel now enjoys being a finicky toddler by sometimes insisting Mommy hold him and other times demanding Daddy.

Samuel and I arrived back on Guam on Dec. 3 and we spent the three weeks leading up to his homecoming getting adjusted to the time change, buying a new bed (king size--so the 3 of us can sleep together), getting adjusted to our new part-time nanny, and getting used to my going back to work part-time.

The nanny (Mirina) is working out well: she is clearly wonderful with Samuel and he has taken well to her. When both Rudi's and my work schedules are back in full swing (Rudi full-time and me part-time), it will be nice to have Mirina so that we don't have to arrange our schedules in order for one of us to be home with Samuel. When we were doing that previously (we were not using daycare), it kept us from being able to spend time together as a couple/family, and also our house turned into a pig sty!

Here are some pictures since Rudi's return.

Samuel playing in the rain

us out on a dinner date for our 6th anniversary

Samuel and Daddy having fun in the rain

Rudi trying to make it look like he got me a Christmas present!! He felt bad that he came home w/out gifts, but how could he? He got back from Iraq the night before.