Baby or Hundley?

If you are not familiar with the program Skype, it is a wonderful invention! It has allowed us to do video phone calls free through the computer to family and friends back in the States. I love it! I used it on Saturday to show the ultrasound photo to my sister's children.

My six year-old niece, Kaitlyn's reaction was, "it looks like a little baby Hundley!" I didn't know what that meant, but later found out that Hundley is the dachshund dog on Curious George. Since the baby flipped over right before the doctor took the ultrasound photo and therefore was face and tummy down with arms and legs tucked under the body, it really does look like a dachshund! Kaitlyn has a great imagination!

Sick again

I have been battling stomach sickness (awful nausea and vomiting) for the past seven weeks. Seven weeks!.... you may think that's terrible and that I must be pretty upset about it. No, not this time. This time it is not the result of some parasite, amoeba, or other crazy Guatemalan bug. This time it's a BABY!!!

Daniel and I found out the news on New Year's Day. That was a great way to start 2008! I had my 12 week appointment yesterday and we were thrilled to hear a strong heart beat and to see the baby moving its arms and legs. How amazing!

After losing our first pregnancy, it is hard not to constantly be in fear of losing this one. I have to continually give this little life over to the Lord and remember that He is in control and that no matter what happens, I can trust Him. It is a hard battle though since we want so badly to be parents and I am such a natural worrier!

We ask for your prayers for this little life and for decisions that lay ahead about timing to return to the U.S.

Astrid, Esdras, Damaris & Nancy

Please pray for this group of siblings. Here is a message that Kendon sent out by email yesterday -- "Astrid, Esdras, Damaris and Nancy are spending a couple of weeks with an aunt and uncle. They are really struggling with living at the Home, but we feel it doesn't have so much to do with where they are living as with life in general. They could really use your prayer. They are still grieving the loss of their mom and so much need a Home. We are praying that they will come back and want to live in our Home."

Juan's Back!

Great news- Juan is now back living at NLCH again! He came Tuesday and talked to Wendy, saying that he wanted to return, because life with his mother wasn't what he thought it would be and he missed his friends here. So yesterday he moved back!

Welcome, Jorge!

We have another new child at NLCH! Four year old Jorge has now been here for a little over a week. He is the nephew of two of the older boys at the Home, Eduardo and Herbert.

"Ring of Fire"

Usually Michelle has a huge grin on her face when Daniel does this with her. This time however, she was distracted by the camera. It is still pretty cute though!

Overnight Guest

We were thrilled that Michelle was able to spend the night with us last night since Kendon and Wendy had an event at their son's school and would be returning late. We had a fun evening with her -- playing, giving her a bath and putting her in her pjs.

Because of her tiny size, Michelle eats every two hours during the day and every three hours at night (midnight, 3 am and 6 am). This was not bad because she easily fell back to sleep after her bottles. The hard part was keeping her awake to drink them.

Daniel and I quickly discovered that we are greatly lacking in baby skills. We didn't know how to lay her down in the crib. She didn't sleep well on her back, but we worried about her breathing so we didn't want to place her on her stomach or side. Wendy had told us how to put her on her side and support her back with a rolled up blanket. We worried that we didn't place her right. Therefore, both of us woke up repeatedly throughout the night just to check to make sure we could see her little tummy rising and falling. I expected this kind of behavior from myself, a natural worrier, but waking up several times to find Daniel standing over her crib surprised me. Wow, parenting is rough! :)

Here are a few pictures: