I am 24 weeks today. Nothing too much to report. Still feeling great. Even greater now that Mike's back home!

For those of you that don't know, Mike has been in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in Africa for the past two weeks. If you have been keeping up with your current events, you know that President Bush was touring several countries in Africa last week. Mike was at the airport in the capital of Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam to support the President by setting up equipment that enabled the Secret Service to provide air surveillance. Of course most of the time he was there was dedicated to the mission, but he was able to go into town one day to do some shopping. He brought us some great presents, but first, I'll do my best to explain the pictures. These pictures were actually taken by some of Mike's friends, so Mike is only in one of them. Mike is the 4th person down in the top right picture. It was taken on the C17 that they flew down there on. The top left is a picture of a couple of kids outside a shack. Under that is a picture of some street sweepers. Mike said the streets were incredibly dusty and these old ladies would be out there in the middle of traffic sweeping the streets. On the right is man in a red, tribal robe. Mike said (and he learned this from the drivers that drove him to work every day) that these men were members of a certain tribe that entered manhood by killing a lion with their bare hands. Mike said they usually carried a staff/spear or a very heavy wooden club. There is a picture of a lumber yard, in which the workers where bare foot and wore no gloves. Ouch! Mike said most ladies carried things on their head. There is one picture of a lady who looks particularly heavy burdened. Mike got to see Air Force One and the deversion plane land, and eventually, he was President Bush come out and get into his car. You can see from the huge billboard that the people of Tanzania were very excited about Bush's visit. All Mike's drivers said they loved Bush. There is another picture of a man pulling a cart loaded down with stuff. Mike said that there were people selling bananas at intersections. If you bought one, they just reached up to the basket on their heads and picked one off the cluster.

The last picture are of the presents Mike brought me. The first is a hand carved wooden box. It has 2 elephants on the top and a rhino on the front. The second is a plate with a elephant, rhino, and zebra. Then below, Ezra is wearing one of the two shirts that Daddy brought him. This one says American Embassy Dar Es Salaam. You can tell he was really happy to see Daddy!

I almost forgot the best part. Mike had a layover in Crete, Greece. He did spend the night, but he was only there for about 16 hours. They got to eat dinner in town and do some very brief but memorable sightseeing. He said it was BEAUTIFUL. I've been wanting to go to Greece for quite a while, but now he's saying, "We HAVE to go!"

I am 23 weeks today. I am finally able to say, I think this pictures accurately portrays how I look and feel . Except I'm not sure you can appreciate how cold it is. When I took this picture it was about 36 degrees. That was at 2:30 in the afternoon. It's been in the low 20s and teens at night. Burrr. But it's been beautiful every day for almost 2 weeks, so it's been awesome--I love it!

Being 1 is hard work. Ezra is teething--still. I think the 1 yr molar on his right side is coming in. It's red and swollen and I expect it to make its appearance any day. He's been a little fussy, but for the most part, he just sleeps. I definitely don't have a problem with that! He'll sleep around 12 hours at night and take about a 3 hour nap during the day.

Today was Ezra's first birthday. It was as good as could be expected with Daddy gone and no "real" party. We started off the morning with our usual breakfast of eggs, banana, and toast. Then Ezra hung out with his friend Scarlet for a few minutes while I took Skyla to the vet. After that we came home and Ezra slept for about 3 hours (after sleeping for about 11 1/2 hours last night...) while I worked on his cake. When he woke up from his nap, I gave him the beaters from making the cake. He loved it! Of course he loved to lick the beaters, but I also think half the fun was banging them on his tray. Then we had some lunch and he watched me make the icing for his cake.

Our neighborhood friends stopped by with some birthday ballons and couple of presents. He got a little train and some more bath toys. He loves the bath!

I was pretty happy with how the cake turned out. It was my first attempt, and I think it went reasonably well. We eat dinner at church on Wednesday nights, and I took the cake so everyone could help us eat it. Ezra no doubt liked the cake, but as you can see, he was more impressed with the fire.

He wasn't too sure what to do with his little piece of paradise at first. He just poked at it for a while. I think it was overwhelming. I ended up having to cut about half the piece into smaller pieces and then leave one big piece, which he eventually shoved into his mouth.

Then it was time to open a few presents. We're saving most of them for when Daddy gets home and we have the "real" party, but he had a few to open. Jennifer sent him some bath toys. Of the presents, that one was the only real toy, so obviously it was his favorite. Next was the baseball growth chart we gave him. It's really cool. He might appreciate that later on, but as you can tell, he was still more interested in his bath toys. Last was his toy car from Nana and Grandpa. Nana is starting him an antique car collection. So this car will need to be put away until he can appreciate it enough not to pull the hood and doors off. But he thought it was pretty cool. He also got some assorted, soft and squishy sport balls from our friends the Hemington family. Those were also an instant hit.

Overall, it was a delighful, busy, memorable day. I'm a little sad that a year of first holidays is over, but I know there are many more firsts to come. It does seem like time has gone quickly, but at the same time it doesn't feel "lost". I think I enjoyed every day of Ezra's first year and I feel so blessed to be able to call this sweet little boy my son.

The day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. Yea! This morning I had my big ultrasound where they identified body parts and organs. Mike missed this appointment with Ezra so he was able to come and enjoy seeing the baby for such a long time.
Although the technician couldn't give us specific details about the baby's health he did tell us a few new pieces of information.
First, he is still very definitely a boy. We've officially decided on puppies for the nursery, but still no name. Since I'm getting a little tired of blue, the nursery set that we picked out is brown and beige plaid. It's really cute!
Second, he said the baby currently weighs about a pound. And looks pretty good. We saw his beating heart, brain, kidneys, stomach, bladder, limbs, spine, etc. Looks like a little person in there.
Third, judging by the measurements (which is how they had to determine due date in the beginning), he put my due date at June 10th, 4 days earlier. Technically the first set of measurements is supposed to be the most accurate, so they will not change my official due date of June 14th. If this one is like his brother he'll be 4 or 5 days late anyway. :)
So I have another appointment on Wednesday with my OB to go over some lab results and the findings from today's ultrasound. Hopefully, we won't have too much to discuss because everything will be perfect! If there is anything interesting to report, I'll do another blog. Otherwise, just assume everything in A-ok.

What's a blog without naked bath pictures? You may be able to see his tooth poking through on the left side of this other two bottom teeth. Ezra loves to watch the ball fall through the net when he drops it. He also likes to lay on his tummy and "swim". What a silly boy!









I know I always say this, but this shirt really does make me look bigger than I am. Ha, ha. I also forgot when I bought it, that I don't like this style shirt because I feel like a balloon. I would rather it gather under the bust. Whatever. I guess I'm just fat. Now stop looking at me and notice--there's snow on our mountain! It didn't quite make it down to our house, but it's still fun.