Snowed White and the 3 Dogs

I was gitty as a school girl when the snow began to fall Wednesday night. The last time I saw the picturesque powder plummet was several years ago in Alexandria, VA. This snow shower only lasted an hour or two, but that was definitely enough time for Angie, Nick, and I, along with the 3 dogs, to run around like we were kids again (the last time we remember it snowing in Seguin).

Killer decided that the fluffy flakes falling on her face looked tasty enough to snack on. Fortunately for me, I had the camera on her for her first snowy experience and captured her nipping at the snow as it floated down.

We bundled ourselves and the dogs up and headed outside to join the other neighbors in the col de sac who were also out enjoying this rare winter weather. Angie and I were immediately thrown into battle against Nick. The war was on after I almost received a snowball smack in the smacker.

It was a great break from reality and Angie's studies for her huge licensing exam on Saturday. Also fun to see the ground, houses, cars, and dogs turn white for a short moment. Although it is chilly winter weather outside, this is nothing compared to Jay's wintry windchill experience with temperatures recording in the teens. Hopefully he is staying warm enough while out on his latest mission. He currently isn't receiving any mail or emails. He probably won't receive any mail until he gets back to Bagram, which could be several weeks from now. That is all I know for now. I'm leaving for Texas Sunday, as in 2 days from now, and will be arriving Monday night. I do not know where I will be after that because, as I said before, everything lies in Tricare's hands and how they schedule my doctor's appointments. I will let you know when I may be coming to a city near you. Until then...

The Pecker-Checker Test Results are in!!!

The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived...Peanut is indeed Honey Roasted! Oh wait we knew that already. I mean Peanut is a girl!! Can you believe it?? Some of you were right on the nose with your predictions. One more female to add to Jay's repertoire, but this little lady will definitely be an entirely new adventure. What I understand so far from Jay is that she will not be leaving the house until she is 21. No doubt all his friends will agree and take turns guarding the door from the outside. I am sort of excited to learn more of these Jay-isms regarding raising our little girl...they are intreging.

So needless to say we are both extatic, smittin', and wondering what the heck are we going to do with a little girl...come on I know you all are thinking it too. haha. Well we all know Peanut will be wearing a baseball cap and cowboy boots before she is 1, like any Texas girl should (my prediction anyway). Jay is already protesting against pink, just an FYI for all of you who have visions of pink everything in your mind. Let's be honest, we all know Jay, and knew that was coming. No matter pink, green, or yellow we will figure it all out with a little help from all of you who have raised their little girls (like myself) most successfully.

Before we received this enormous news, Jay and I did have a few scares over the last month or so...and I personally think "scares" is an understatement. In December, my high-risk specialist found an abnormality on an ultrasound that led him to believe Peanut might have a chromosomal abnormality. He ordered the mulitpile serum screening test (bloodwork) for late December and from that bloodwork came some more abnormal calculations that suggested Peanut was positive for Trisomy 18 Syndrome. This is an extremely scary and pretty much fatal diagnosis. They kept our hopes up with the fact that its common for false-positives to be calculated from the screening. So the next step was an amneocentesis on Jan. 9th. The procedure sounded scarier than it turned out to be (needle going down into the belly and getting a sample of the amniotic fluid surrounding Peanut), but it was the only definitive test available. So we definitely said YES in bold letters and even threw in some of our own money to get the results in 2-3 days instead of the normal 2 weeks. Definitely the best $400 we ever spent. After the longest 5 days in our lives, because the 2-3 days included a weekend, the doctor called back yesterday and confirmed that the test was negative for Trisomy 18 (Peanut doesn't have the syndrome). The results are 98% accurate and the definitive results arrive in 2 weeks. phfeww!!!

After about 30 minutes of losing it, regaining my togetherness, and losing it all over again...it all finally began to sink in...We are having a BABY GIRL! In only 5 months! Oh my GOSH! So of course the first thing my sister and I thought was to celebrate in the best way possible, SHOPPING! We went straight to Target, got a starbucks and b-lined it straight for the baby section.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. Peanut is our little miracle and we are so grateful to be able to share her with all of you. We cherish this huge circle of friends and family that expands from Texas, Georgia, Virginia, all the way over to Europe, and I guess right now to Afghanistan. We will make sure Peanut knows of the faith, love, and support that brought her here to us.