Chapter 4 - Can You Feel the Beat

This is probably the 3rd or 4th time that we have gotten to hear Lil' Peanut's heart beat. It never gets old. It is however, the first time we remembered to take some technology with us to record it.

It took awhile to find the heart beat. It makes you hold your breath... utter that quick silent prayer... Dear God, please let everything be ok.

Apparently, our little girl likes to play hide n' go seek. Her favorite hiding place would appear to be behind the placenta.

The mid wife, smeared the sonogram goop on the end of what I am calling the baby mic. She then smears the baby mic on G's Lil' Peanut shell and starts smearing the mic around til she can find a heart beat. I always half expect to hear a little child giggling in contentment. I have yet to determine if the goop is cold or not. G's face hasn't given away any clues.

The heart beat is revealed about 23 seconds into the exam... whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Chapter 3 - Family Genes

Probably the most frequently asked questions we are asked have been, "do you know if it is a boy or a girl?" and "What's her name?" No surprises there. Well, we know that it is a girl, but we remain prayerfully patient as to the name.

As the expecting parents our questions tend to be on the what will she look side of things. We devised a strategy to arrive at several possible outcomes of our Lil Peanut. We are going to take the best facial features from our immediate family creating a composite outcome. We are quite confident that our baby will be in the top 1% of the worlds beautiful, the elite if you will. We are sure you will agree as the following images will illustrate the caliber of DNA we are operating with.


The short forehead with horse like face is an extraordinary feature. "Why are you wearing your face so long" may not be the best way to console our Lil Peanut. Thanks a bunch Grandma C and Great Grandpa GW.

The beaver teeth may prove to be invaluable when opening our favorite brand of olives. Thanks for that, nephew S.


We are hoping that Lil Peanut will get momma G's and Niece S's umm....

- cheek capacity for storing food in the winter.
- we are particularly fond of the lowered ear right next to the mouth. Perhaps she will be able to hear herself crying better decreasing the overall volume.
- maximized eyelid space is a must as Lil Peanut is very inexperienced with eye shadow. This will be a great opportunity for her to stay within the lines.



Nothing expresses beauty like the whites of eyes and heavily forested eyebrows. Other than that, we are doing all we can to eliminate this characters genetic influence.

Get over yourselves, every family has at least one of these goof balls. If you don't know who the goof ball is in your family, then it's probably you.


Nephew S... Thank you Thank you Thank you. We were worried about Lil Peanut sticking her head where it doesn't belong. Like between stair rails, or the rails of her crib. At least now we know that if she ever gets stuck, it will be feet first. Silly broccoli head. It appears nephew S. has great ear control. Can you send morse code messages with that floppy thing.



Is super suction a characteristic of beauty? Lil Peanut will never lose her pacifier.

I wonder if I could use that to clean my golf balls?








Aunt K, what an amazingly long middle finger you have. Hmm... how could little peanut use that. Hey, wait a minute.

Maybe this family has two goof balls to filter out of the gene pool;-)




So what will she look like....? Just like her ol' man of course.
Poor peanut... she is going to have such a struggle with vanity.

Chapter 2 - Bellies

Here is the lovely G at the twenty weeks milestone. There is no hiding it anymore. That little 'extra' bump now resembles more of a smuggled wok than the half eaten cantelope.

This is probably the last week that these jeans will.... um... fasten. I wonder could they make waste extenders that zip into place. Just keep adding ever extending triangular patches to the button and fly of the pant. And of course you could have messages printed on the patch, like '22 weeks along' or 'would you let me know if I forgot to zip'. Might be on to something here.

If you stare at G's.... umm... torso as if it were one of those 3d posters a tropical frog begins to appear.

Ahh this all still very exciting. Occasionally there are reports of possible Lil Peanut bumpings. Actual bumping havn't been confirmed. They might be confused with digestion, gas, or hunger.

Momma G is more beautiful than ever. She appears to be accepting the bodily changes with grace and a spirit of discovery.



Here is S at 20 weeks. The doctors are concerned. He appears to be around 32 weeks along. Suspicions of twins have not been discounted. Gas, indigestion and hunger have all been confirmed. Do not stare at S's torso as it has a gravity all its... oops to late...

you will make me a 4 layer frozen treat... make the buddha a 4 layer frozen treat... resistance is futile.

Just for the record, S was pushing his stomach out. There is no way he is more than 28 weeks along.

Chapter 1 - Sonogram

We are normal people excited about the prospect of becoming parents. We are scared, excited, worried, loving. It seems those are the normal emotions. The entire life of the child rushs in, in an instance. First kiss, bruised knee, wet bed, shaving, leaving home, getting married. It's overwhelming... Reality hits... one day at a time.

We have known for awhile of our pregnancy. How do you introduce a future grandchild to the world. Gender unknown, therefore name unknown. 'Lil Peanut' will do. 'Mother you are going to be a grandmother'; it ranks right up there with 'I'm getting married'. It's one of the most joyful experiences that man can participate.

Lil Peanut has been the topic of many conversations, particularily the prayerful ones. Boy, girl, doesn't matter. Healthy, are all the digits there.

The long awaited for sonogram day arrived. Our first look into Lil Peanuts world. What a treat. Moments of amazing recognition followed by alien obscurity.

Lil Peanut is tucked into a bob-sled like cocoon. Looking down, Lil Peanut is resting on its back. The digits of the right hand are clearly visible in the top middle of the frame. The left hand is the white hotspot on the bottom and left side of the picture. And finally, one of the knees is the left most hotspot.

Lil Peanut is chilling on her back. Just like her ol man. The head is on the right and the spinal column is the bottom sweeping hotspot. Her facial profile is a bit obscured by the left hand. After all the measurements (Yes! it's a she) have her weighing in at 10-11 oz. Approximately 3-1/2" long. She is so tiny. To tiny for momma to feel.

Lil Peanut's head is still on the right. The black dot above the spine is the heart. LP's hand is still blocking her profile. It looks like she is gripping the handle bars of her mountain bike. Below and to the right of her hand is a developing eye (black with a white highlight).

Lil Peanuts head is now in the top left corner with the back of her right hand pressing against her forehead. If you follow her hand, wrist to forearm you can view a portion of the umbilical cord crossing her arm. The UC looks like a little turd but the technology is limited and messes things up. The pictures looked great in real time. The snap shots just don't do it justice.

She looks like a teddy bear in this picture. Eyes, nose, mouth, and the hand against the forehead are clearly discernible. The umbilical cord can be clearly seen wrapping around the left arm. It looks like she is wearing a one-button blazer with a high collar.

Really don't like this picture. She looks quite alien. She has moved her hand to her mouth.

G was concerned about twins and asked if more than one could be seen. The operator said nope their is only one and at the same time Lil' Peanut stuck out her index finger as if to say, Nope! Just one mommy. Either that or she heard me talking about the Broncos and knew who she would be root'n for.