Active Baby

Yesterday I was able to feel the baby moving with my hand on my belly. Later that evening, Brett was able to feel a tiny kick as well. So exciting! It is very different this time around knowing the baby is a boy. Some of you may not know that we did not find out if Caden was a boy or girl until his birth. During the pregnancy, that was a little difficult (clothing, room decor, etc), but when he was born my attitude about it all completely changed. I would have waited again, but being in Africa and not having access to all the baby stores we decided it was best to find out. I found myself feeling different about this baby last night as I said to Brett, "He usually kicks twice in the same place" as if he's already a little person with us and I'm learning his habits. I'm sure some of it is that this is my 2nd pregnancy, but I'm enjoying getting to know this little guy even before I meet him face to face.

17 weeks and...

Here I am at 17 weeks...not a lot of change, but wearing more maternity clothes these days simply because they are more comfortable in this hot weather. However, they tend to hide my belly a little because there's still plenty of room in my tops for future growth.We returned yesterday from our trip south to the Baptist Hospital in Tsiko (cheek-o) for our prenatal exam, ultrasound, and tour of their facilities. We will be posting more about that experience on our Africa Blog next week. We were blessed to see our new little one on a portable ultrasound machine. We very clearly saw a head, eye sockets, arms, legs, spine, and a healthy beating heart.However, the visiting gynecologist that did the ultrasound for us has not done prenatal ultrasounds for awhile and he was not trained to do measurements on the machine. He did say that if he was betting man.....he would bet that











Brett feels like he saw boy "parts" very clearly before the computer's battery died on us...I'd say I'm 90% sure it's a boy. We'll be requesting another ultrasound at our next visit and hope to get a better picture (and technician). But till then, we're only looking at boy names....

Our Little Fish

We enjoyed a special team swim day at the Hotel Kara Pool this weekend. Caden is learning to balance with his swim vest and even venturing away from Mom and Dad occasionally. He has finally figured out how to keep his mouth closed and head up so as to avoid inhaling water. We took a few short video clips and put them together for you to get a small glimpse of our little fish.

Little Fish
Uploaded by emersonstogo

A House Full of Friends

It's great to have a living room that is packed, everyone fellowshipping and worshipping together. This past Wednesday we had our 6 teammates, 12 interns, and 2 former Togolese missionaries jammed into our living room. It was a great time, and we even got to Skype with some good friends back in the States, who shared with us all that they are going to have a baby! We'll let them remain anonymous here, just in case they're not ready for their news to hit the world wide web and our millions of readers. You know who you are, so congrats and we love you guys! We thank God for filling us up in this way...

Baby's Moving

Just thought you'd all be interested to know that I have definitely felt the baby moving!

Keep your eyes on our blogs next week for the results of our ultrasound.

Rain Boots

I wish you all could see Caden walk in these rain boots. It's hilarious! He resembles someone walking on stilts. Obviously, the boots are too big for him but he doesn't seem to think so. He's ready to help Eric, our day guardian, in the yard as well as whatever the rainy season brings us.

Basketball Skills

Who needs Chuckie Cheese when you can have your own personal basketball toss game where the ball actually rolls back to you?!

Someday, I'll be able to beat my Daddy on the court!

What's On Caden's iPod???

Building Blocks

Building Blocks
Uploaded by emersonstogo
Brett found these unused building blocks while helping the interns clean out our team's schoolhouse. He washed them off and brought them home and Caden immediately began playing with them. He is trying SO hard to put them together himself but will often ask for "huh" which means "help". So cute!

Check Me Out

Like my new scrape? I got it from falling on some steps at the local hotel pool. I was so excited to see the parrot they have that I wasn't watching where I was going and completely fell down these two steps. I cried, but I'm o.k. now. This isn't the first time I've fallen this week. Earlier, I fell down some steps at our house. I really was trying to be careful that time and just lost my balance. Oh well, I guess these little bumps and bruises are what becoming a little boy is all about. It definitely won't slow me down any!