Tomorrow's the big day!

At 8:30 tomorrow morning, we can officially stop calling Baby Neal "it" and replace it with a "he/she!" We've been waiting for this moment it seems like forever, and now the hours are just dragging by!

Today's big news, I'll try to top tomorrow's, is we decided on a boy's name :) I was looking at my celebrity gossip and came across the name Jonathan. I asked Rick about it, and it seems to fit just right for our baby. It means "gift of God" which is a no-brainer with this kid. I told Rick, if we have another boy, we'll have to name him David since they were best friends in the Bible.

I'm a little late, but here is my 17-week post. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm 17 weeks ;). The baby is the size of an onion now and weighs just about 6 ounces.

The baby's bones are now becoming more calcified instead of the soft cartilage that was there, and it's starting to put some meat on those bones.

I went with some friends to Corpus on Saturday and bought my first pair of maternity pants! I had to shop around a lot, because apparently all pregnant women are tall. Makes sense, right? I found some awesome ones at Motherhood Maternity, and let's just say I may never go back to normal jeans again. Judge me all you want, but they are soooo comfy!

I'm on the hunt this black Friday for some baby things, so say a little prayer for me. This is my first, and hopefully last, time to do this. We're headed to Houston for Thanksgiving to see the in-laws, and you better believe I'm bringing the mac and cheese. Baby Neal wants it ;).

Who wants some guacamole?

This week, Baby Neal is the size of an avocado, approximately the size of an open hand.

Now, I definitely hold issue with the last description, because whose hand are we measuring? If it's Rick's, we've got a giant baby! If it's mine, it is going to come out looking like one of the Seven Dwarfs.

The baby is now 16 weeks and is still in there practicing the basics of life. The baby can hear loud noises, so I bet it can hear the loud train down the street. The baby's eyes have moved completely to the front of its head and they can move side to side. The little one is still practicing breathing by taking in amniotic fluid, then spitting it back out to me.

We had a little scare this week with some genetic testing I opted to do. Usually they don't require these screenings until after the mother is 35, but I wanted to know if something was going to be really wrong.

All of my tests came back normal, except for the neural tube defect one. Basically, there was a possibility that the baby had a whole in its spine. The doctor said there was a 1 in 150 of this happening, and that the test has a high rate of "false positives."

Rick and I were concerned, but the doctor reassured us there was nothing to worry about yet. We got the results back today, and everything is fine :)

I told the doctor since he told me bad news, he had to let me listen to the baby. I heard its quick little heartbeat, and then he told me it was kicking! Kicking? How do you know? He told me to listen to the little thumps, and that's the baby kicking. It's showing that fiery redhead personality already!

Some nice, cooler weather has finally moved through and just in time! We've had no air-conditioning at work and I've had bronchitis. Bummer on both accounts. But it's nice and cool in here and the doctor gave me some cough medicine with codine in it. Yup, sweet dreams!

I'm starting to see Baby Neal!

I'm getting that baby belly!

Apparently, my track record stinks on this blog, because the last time I posted seems to be about a month ago. Tons has happened since then including OU beating Texas. That may be the best part of what happened last month.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for ... the baby update!

I'm 15 weeks now, so the baby looks a little something like this:

Creepy huh? Yup, that's just growing inside me, no big deal.

The little one is the size of a naval orange this week, which is about 4 inches long and weighs 2 1/2 ounces. Watch out! This little one has almost reached my height (cue the laugh track.)

This week, the baby is moving around a lot and filling up its air sacs with amniotic fluid practicing for that first nice, big wail. The baby can now also sense light, so I'm tempted to shine a flashlight in there just for funsies. Yup, I'm that mom!

We still don't know what it is yet, but we're stuck on a girl. The big news is that I moved up the gender appointment from November 30 to the 22. Know what that means? Black Friday best watch itself! Watching Rick help coach the local Little League team, however, has also made me want a son. It seems like forever until we find out!

This is another huge development, too. My nausea has passed! I stopped feeling sick all the time about two weeks ago. I told Rick I didn't know how bad I felt until I was feeling better. Moral of the story, I wouldn't wish that yucky first trimester on anyone.

So far, this one has been far more rewarding. In the last couple days, my belly has really popped out and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat at my appointment last week. It's pretty much everything they say it is :)

October was a big month, so November definitely has a lot to live up to. 

I took a trip to Dallas and Norman a few weeks ago and got to see my family and friends. Man, it's so hard to be away from everyone. My mom and I saw "West Side Story" at Fair Park and the singing was incredible! I wasn't a huge fan of the story line, because it's hard to take gang members seriously in skinny jeans. It somehow hurts your street cred.

I met up with the girls in Norman and got to participate in OU's homecoming festivities. Besides getting our butts kicked by Texas Tech, it was so much fun to see everyone. There was even a torrential storm, which is definitely a sign you're in Oklahoma.

These are pretty much the most amazing people you will ever meet ... period :)

The other life-altering, yes life-altering, event happened just a couple of days ago. My bad, it was November not October. I'm blaming that one on pregnancy brain.

My dad is ...

CANCER FREE!

We can finally add his name to the official list of cancer survivors! 

Dad has gone through a few surgeries for tumors, but there was one sitting on his pulmonary artery that was risky to take out. Awhile ago, Mom found this doctor who came from California to work at UT Southwestern to perform robotic surgeries. They decided Dad was a candidate and it would be minimally invasive.

I really wasn't worried about the surgery, because this is just the end of a very long journey for us. After Mom texted me he made it through the surgery and they got all the tumor, I had about a 15 minute good cry of emotions. 

We have dealt with this sucker for two years now, and by the sovereign grace of God, my dad is still here. We don't have to grieve because evil didn't win. 

It hit me, oh great the waterworks are starting again, that Dad has had surgery now before two big events in my life: my wedding and the birth of my child. The last thing Dad said to me was that he loved me, Rick and his grandbaby. I dare you not to tear up over that.

As family, we've had an obligation to be supportive Dad, but all of our friends collectively have made a brand new family with which the bonds can never be broken. For me, my roommates, classmates, co-workers and even acquaintances have stepped up and shown me true love in Christ. None of us are alone in this journey, and life's events just make it more evident. 

Thank you so much to everyone who has prayed for my dad, arranged a bake sale for his bills or taken the time to sit with my mom while he was in surgery. You give us hope for everyone battling cancer that we will find a cure.

You give me hope for my baby that this world is full of good.