It's a...

A week ago we had our 20 week ultrasound and were able to spend 25 minutes looking at our little peanut. It is the most humbling and surreal experience to see this little life moving and squirming around. Brent was meeting me at the ultrasound so he could get Isla settled with my friend who came to watch her while we were gone. And wouldn't you know... they were ahead of schedule (which never happens) and had me go back before Brent was there. I started to panic a little as the ultrasound got underway, but was relieved when Brent sheepishly knocked on the door.

This little one almost didn't cooperate enough to allow the tech to determine its gender. But after enough poking and pushing, the baby gave an obstinant series of kicks back, and turned enough to see what we were so patiently waiting to see: It's a girl!!! We are so excited to give Isla a little sister, and know the two girls will be good friends as they grow together. Brent and I had not been unable to agree on a boy's name, but have had a girl's name picked out for quite awhile. We're 99% sure this baby will be named Norah Lee Lacey. Norah, because we loved the name (though I did find out that my great great grandmother was named Nora), and Lee after Brent's mother's middle name. The first time we heard the combination, it felt so right and perfect. We can't wait to meet our little Norah!!

A question...

Why do you always feel most inspired to do something when you can't do anything about it right then? My good husband is doing a fitness challenge and has been really inspiring with his dedication to eating better. The problem: I'm almost 5 months pregnant, and getting "in shape" right now seems a little futile. Sigh. Instead, I guess I'll just have to focus my efforts on eating healthy for this little baby and hope the motivation lasts another 5 months.

P.S. It should be against the "rules" for husbands to get skinnier while their wives are pregnant. Just saying. :)

Still here.

Maybe I need to stop recommitting to my blog. It seems to be the kiss of death to any new posts. Knowing it has been almost a year since my last post, the thought of having to play "catch-up" makes me want to scrap the whole idea. So instead, I'll do a quick recap, and then move on.

We're back in Arizona! If you'd asked me a year ago if we'd ever be back in Arizona, I would have given a definite "no". But after months and months of interviewing in Washington, we started to consider leaving our beloved NW. The whole process was inspired and a new, better job fell into place with little to no effort by Brent. We feel incredibly blessed to be back in Arizona, where we left many good friends and lots of great memories. We love our new ward and the great friends we're making. Our house and neighborhood are amazing and Isla is loving all the added space (with a backyard to boot).



To add to the blessings we have received, we found out in December that we're expecting Baby Lacey #2 in August! In another week and a half we find out if Isla will have a little brother or sister. She will be a great older sister and will LOVE having a playmate besides mom.

Speaking of our little Isla... she's not so little anymore. This month she turned 18 months and has definitely become the queen of the house. She loves to "talk" aka ramble on and on with out making much sense. But has slowly begun to add more and more words to her vocabulary. She continues to say "dadda", "hey", "hi", and "Isla" but has recently added "shoe", "key", "bye-bye", "hot", and finally... "momma". She enjoys singing with daddy and has started to sing the ABC's on her own (though we might be the only people who can really tell what she's saying). At her 18 month visit she continued to be off the chart in height and 45th percentile in weight. She loves being outside and really loves when daddy gets home and wrestles with her before bed.



All in all, we have no room for complaint (though I can always find some), and feel very blessed to have a healthy little family. I hesitate to say that I'll try to post more, but I will. We'll see how this goes...