Carrying Precious Cargo!

Today I had my 23 week appointment. I guess I am officially starting my 6th month (according to the book What to Expect when you are Expecting)! I got to hear Laila's heartbeat, which is always very exciting! The doctor said everything looked and sounded great. I've also been feeling her kick and move around a lot more lately. It's strong enough for Nate to be able to feel pretty good as well! It probably won't be too much longer until we can actually see her moving around in my belly!

As it gets closer to Laila's birthday, I find myself dreaming all the time. Will she have her mama's smile? Will she have her daddy's long legs? (Please Lord, let her have her daddy's long legs!) We absolutely can't wait to meet her! Even though there are babies being born everyday around the world, the whole process truly is a miracle. I just continue to pray everyday that she will remain healthy and that we will be able to hold her in our arms and bring her home from the hospital in less than 17 weeks.

God has allowed me to play so many roles in my life up to this point - daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin, wife, teacher, friend, but I am so looking forward to my new favorite role - Mommy!!! Nate and I both feel so honored that God has entrusted us with so much!

By the way, we've chosen Laila's middle name to be Grace. Thanks so much for taking time to vote on our poll! It looks like most of you thought Grace was the best choice as well!

Baby Belly - 23 weeks

It's a GIRL!!!

We are so excited to announce that we are having a little baby girl! This past Friday we went in for my 19th week appointment and got to see her moving around a bunch on the sonogram! I was so thrilled to hear that the doctor said everything looked great! Check out a few of the pictures below. The first one shows a picture of her "girl parts" and little legs. The second one is a profile picture, but it's a little hard to make out because she was moving so much and she kept putting her hand in front of her face. I guess she didn't feel like posing today! The third picture is cool because you can see her spine pretty clearly.

We have decided to name her Laila Schuck! After choosing the name mainly because we think it is really pretty and it has my maiden name in it, we found a couple of different meanings....dark-haired beauty, dark-skinned beauty, or born at night. We'll see if the meanings hold true! No matter what her name may mean though, my main prayer is that she will be beautiful on the inside as well as the outside! We haven't picked a middle name yet, so if you have any good ideas, let us know! Since finding out we are having a girl, I've already gotten excited and been busy thinking of ideas for her room. I can't wait to get started on it in the next few months. It's hard to believe I'm almost to the halfway point of my pregnancy. I am so excited to meet her and hold her in my arms! The smile hasn't left Nate's face since finding out we're having a girl! He keeps saying she'll be "Daddy's little girl"!

The Holidays!

We had such a great time this year during the holidays! We were down in Orlando for about 12 days visiting family and friends. Unfortunately I wasn't good about taking my camera everywhere, but we did capture a few of our fun evenings below! You can see more of our pictures on Snapfish by going to www.theschuckfamily.snapfish.com/snapfish. If any of you have more pictures from this Christmas of the Schuck & Lail gatherings, send them our way so we can post them!

These first 3 pictures are of the time spent on Christmas Eve with Nate's mom, sisters, and uncle! Linda's famous Christmas Eve meal was DELICIOUS as usual and the time was filled with lots of laughter like always! Bekah, Linda, Susie, & Nate also got to burn off some calories that afternoon by performing a live-version remake of "You got elfed", which I made for them a few weeks before! If you didn't get to see one of those this year, it was hilarious. Office Depot had this program where you could post people's faces onto a body of an elf, and then email the dancing elves to other people! I have to say the "Live" version was much more entertaining! You can enjoy it too by clicking on the video below! Unfortunately I wasn't able to post the original because it expired. (I hope Linda, Susie, Bekah & Nate don't mind that I'm sharing this with everyone!!!)

This picture above is of the Lail family at my mom and dad's house on Christmas Eve night! Nate and I got to enjoy two delicious meals that day! Even though we were missing a few of our family members that evening, I think this is the first time we've gotten most of everyone together for a picture in a while!

One of the days we were down in Orlando we got to go to SeaWorld with Nate's mom and sisters! We had tons of fun seeing Shamu Rocks and the Whale & Dolphin Show. Nate and the girls also got to enjoy riding the roller coaster Crackin a few times! It was a popular day at SeaWorld because we also got to see my sister and her husband, Holly & Robin, and our friends the Schrimshers and Ryckmans with their kiddos! Me & Nate's sisters also had a blast seeing who could jump the highest in front of the SeaWorld Christmas tree. I think they had a little bit of an unfair advantage since they are about a foot taller than me!

Like I said earlier, we also made a lot of other fun memories with family and friends this year that I did not get pictures of. We had a really nice time celebrating Christmas with the Schuck's in Ocala. Even though we weren't able to stay long, it was so nice to see everyone! Congrats again to Nate's cousin Phil and his wife Jill who just found out they are having a baby boy. It will be fun to celebrate Christmas next year with 2 new babies! We also had a very nice dinner with Nate's dad Greg, Donna, Susie, & Bekah!!! Thanks to Holly & Robin we got to enjoy a nice Christmas gathering at their house, as well as a Dungeness Crab feast & game night! Even though I lost horribly at Scrabble, I'm very proud that I won a round of Scene It against the movie buffs Nate & Robin! (By the way, I still think grint is a word!!!)

This year we got to spend New Year's Eve with the Moss Family (John, Erin, & baby), for the 3rd year in a row! We had a nice time catching up at dinner and then went over to the Melting Pot for some very yummy dessert! Erin and I had a hard time staying up until midnight (which isn't unusual for Erin!) since we are both pregnant and tire easily, but we did it!

I hope everyone else had just as wonderful of a Christmas as we did this year! We are so thankful for all of you!

Happy New Year!!!