Baseball, Baby Boy, and Bea's Hair

Another two weeks have passed, and Baby Boy Olson is getting BIG! There's news about him, but first, I'll start with Perry's big night of baseball. The Vistas held a game at Corbett on June 16th for former Vistas players...and Perry couldn't pass that up! He had a great time competing against his former teammates. He played outfield, caught and even got up on the pitcher's mound for an inning. It was really a fun night. The organizers are hoping to make it a yearly tradition.

Natalie had fun hanging out with Grandpa during the game.

Cousin Meredith still isn't too sure about Uncle Perry...

Now on to baby news! It was ultrasound time again on Monday, and we got to see our little boy kicking around. By the way, there's no doubt now that it's a boy--we checked again and I could spot it without being prompted. The best news of the day, however, is that things are going REALLY well. My cervix seems to be lengthening...it's now up to almost 6 cm. I think the ultrasound tech was just as surprised as we were. I get progesterone shots weekly, which are supposed to prevent any preterm labor. Other than that, things are normal. I like that word...normal. Could it be that we will have a normal pregnancy??? Don't worry...I'm knocking on wood as soon as I'm done typing this. He spends most of the night moving around and kicking--he's very strong! So here are the two pictures we got of Baby Olson on Monday:

His face with his little fist by his chin...

...and his foot.Natalie is just happy summer is in full swing so she can get in her swing!! We spend all morning outside watering and smelling the flowers, taking care of the garden and lawn and listening to the birdies. She is an outdoors girl, and already has a tan to match her daddy's, even though she wears 50 spf sunblock all day. She's certainly not a fair-skinned Miller like me!

And finally...here's a picture of her gorgeous hair. This was from a couple of weeks ago. Why doesn't my hair do this??????

Baby Boy Olson is Getting Bigger!

The little guy is getting a lot bigger these days. Last night, I saw my belly move for the first time. I'm looking forward to the day when Perry can feel the kicks as well. He does lots of moving around, especially when his big sister is sitting on him! Our ultrasound today was spectacular. Everything looks great so far! I can hardly believe it. It was at this point with Natalie that I was put on bedrest. I don't with bedrest upon anyone. While I would have loved to extend it much longer, it was not a walk in the park. It sounds nice at first...but it really isn't. So hopefully we won't have to worry about that this time around! We've officially switched doctors now to Dr. Bozeman. Dr. Madland's last day was on Thursday, and I did a lot of crying when I saw him. Poor guy must have been bombarded with tearful women over the past few months. My belly is getting pretty big now, so we'll start taking some profile shots beginning tomorrow when I officially hit 18 weeks. I'll have those posted in the weeks to come. I finally went out and bought a couple of baby boy sleepers! I can't tell you how nice it is to get out of the pink section of the store. It's going to be strange having another boy around here!

The Big Ultrasound

Well, this is it! Tomorrow (Monday) we have another ultrasound to make sure things are going well. By this time in our previous pregnancies, we had lost our first daughter and were put on bedrest with Natalie. If there are no changes in the length of my cervix at this point, I'd guess that there won't be any changes for the rest of the pregnancy. I'm praying that this ultrasound will help us realize that we did the right thing by going to Chicago for the surgery. It's hard to believe it will work--even though Dr. Haney is so convincing--because I always think that I'll be the exception. Dr. Haney keeps telling me we have nothing to worry about. Easy for him to say!! :) So, if you think of it, we would really appreciate an extra prayer for us tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes!

Natalie Rides a Horsey!

Our little girl is getting so big! Yesterday, she started physical therapy on a horse. I call it horse therapy, but the correct term is hippotherapy. That just sounds like she's riding a hippopotomous, so we'll stick with horse therapy. Her physical therapist, Nancy, rides with her. The idea is that the motion of the horse helps relax Natalie and makes it a whole lot easier to do the stretching and poses that Nancy does on a weekly basis at her office. Natalie LOVED it! The only thing she didn't like was the little helmet they made her wear.

Before riding...she did a little stretching in the barn.

Then, it was time to mount the horse named Lucy...

It was a windy day, but Natalie didn't care!

Lucy is a very pretty horse...
Natalie kept trying to get that annoying helmet off her head!

We'll see Lucy again next week!