Family and Jonah's 18 month pictures

Jonah is 18 months old - as of the 14th!!! But we decided to have some friends do pictures for us instead of making the usual Sears run. They turned out good - and it was fun to do it at the house.
The only thing is, I have no clue how to edit photos - and we'll want to do some of that before we order any. Also, Jonah was SO tired during the pictures. I should have planned nap time a little better. So no smiles. But we are kind of ok with that because when we look back on this time in his life, we'll remember that, although he does smile a lot and is a happy happy boy, he often wears a very serious face - as if he's thinking very deeply. He probably is. But still - we have another photographer friend who wants to do some more pictures of just him - where he is happy. That will be perfect! So...enjoy the first round of Jonah's 18 month/family pictures.

It's A GIRL!!!

Today was our "20 week" ultrasound - though I wont be 20 weeks until Sunday and the ultrasound puts me at 19 weeks tomorrow. Some things you just never know - like when exactly these babies will decide to join us in the outside world. But one thing we don't have to wonder about - this baby is definitely a girl!!! And she's looking beautiful and healthy! And we couldn't be happier!

Here are some of the awesome pictures they took of our little Rebecca!

This is one of the 4-D images they took. She was cuddling up against the placenta so a lot of her face was hidden - but we almost got a full face view for this picture. I think she looks just like Jonah!

She's going to hate that I posted this if she ever runs across this blog in later years -
but I think it's great!

I had prepared myself for the news that we might be having another boy - to the point where I had convinced myself that I couldn't be the mother of a girl! I just couldn't wrap my head around that idea. I know how to take care of a little boy - that I could handle. But a girl! - haha
But I think I only tried to convince myself that I felt this way because I knew that I wanted a little girl and I didn't want to feel disappointed if we found out we were having another boy. Truth is, it just wouldn't have mattered - we already love this baby no matter what. But, even when I told that to Dwight - he wasn't afraid to admit that though he feels the same way, what he's really hoping for is a Daddy's Girl : ) I'm so glad that he got his wish! And Jonah gets a little sister! I think he'd like that too if he understood any of what is going on.

One of my most favorite parts of the ultrasound was when the tech left and we were waiting for the doctor and Dwight started asking me how we want to decorate her room. He had opinions on the colors and everything - mostly purple to go with the yellow walls! Dwight is not normally one to care about this sort of stuff - being a manly man and all - so it was it was so cute to see him excited to the point that he's already getting geared up for the baby girl prep!

Needless to say - we are on clouds today and are so excited to start getting things ready for Rebecca's arrival.
That's going to be her name, by the way. We're pretty set on it. Middle name - not so sure yet - but we love the name Rebecca and it just feels right.


So - now we're about half way there and thank heavens I'm feeling better these days because now that we know who we're going to be getting ready for - it's time to get to work!

I wrote this to a friend who just had her baby and I realized that it summed up so much of how I feel about Jonah at this age. With a new baby on the way, I think back a lot to when Jonah was first born and I'm so grateful for every single day that has brought him to this point in his life. What a special little boy I have! Here's what I wrote:

"I always get sad as every different stage passes - but then I come to love the next one even better! Especially since he becomes more aware of things, sleeping patterns become easier, and then he begins to show how much he loves you! That's my favorite thing : ). Of course he loves you now, you're everything to him! But wait until he comes up to you and hugs you for no reason. I miss the baby stage - but boy do I love my toddler!"

I hope I can continue to remember and appreciate those memories as he grows up. I still get so sad at how fast time is passing - but I can't help but be so happy too. Jonah is so full of life and love and I can't wait to see the amazing person he's going to become. I just hope I can record everything well enough so that I never forget these precious times and all the ones we've yet to enjoy.

Update...

Well - we lost our camera a few weeks ago so my update wont have any pictures on it...again. We have a video camera that takes still pictures, but I don't know how to upload yet - we'll have to figure all that stuff out one of these days.
Meanwhile - here are some updates

Jonah is walking! Two weeks ago Wednesday, we were playing in the living room and he stood up and walked! It was literally overnight. He had his final PT apt last week and Jeanette was so happy with the progress he made that she discharged him completely and said there's nothing that she would have us work on. He should just keep on from here. He still wants to hold our hand most of the time, but at least he can do it now and it's so fun to watch how proud he gets of himself.

During this time I was able to have my mom and my sister visit. My niece and nephew stayed with us for a few days and my mom was here for a week. We really enjoyed the company and Jonah had so much fun. He especially loved my step-dad, Hal's beard - which was cute.

We got Universal Studio year passes while the family was here and we were able to go two times so far. This last time we got to see the Harry Potter world. Very cool. I actually did the broomstick ride which I guess I shouldn't have as a general rule for pregnant ladies - but Dwight checked it out first and we decided it wasn't any worse than an airplane ride - : ). Loved it! I probably wont go on it again til the baby comes - but that's why we have the year passes! Can't wait to go again, especially when it's not so crazy busy.

Speaking of the baby- he's (or she's) doing great! 18 weeks now! We heard a very strong heartbeat at our last appt. I've felt him move a little bit lately - that's always so fun. And in two weeks on July 1st we'll get to see him in an ultrasound again! Hopefully we'll know then if we should say 'he' or she' : )

Also, I'm in a play right now. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I'm just in the chorus, but the plan is to do enough of these that people in the area know me well enough to eventually let me have a bigger part. In the meantime - it's way fun and I'm getting to meet a lot of great people. I'm so glad Dwight supports me being in these community musicals. I forgot how much I miss them!

Dwight's doing good - loves his job, loves Jonah and had a wonderful Father's Day! He got accepted into the program with NASA that will pay for his schooling so we wont have to use his GI Bill and dig into savings to make up the rest - Master's are expensive! He starts in August so our freetime will be limited for a few years, but it will be worth it in the end. His first finals are the week after the baby is due so we can already see how crazy life is going to be. Good times ahead!

So that's what's going on with this Renshaw clan - business as usual! Life is mostly full of watching Jonah grow and falling more in love with him all the time. He is the sweetest, funnest little guy. I'm so sad I lost all those pictures of him - but I don't think my memories will ever get lost...hopefully : )
Hopefully one of these days I'll blog regularly and wont have to condense months worth of fun into one posting. But really, why do I do this anyway - mostly for me to write memories down and if anyone happens to run across it - they can enjoy my reminiscing. My next goal - journaling! Sure wish I was better at that...

Almost walking!!! FINALLY!!!!

Jonah took his first steps today! Of course, I wasn't expecting it so I didn't have the camera out : (
But it was so exciting. Jeanette, his physical therapist, came for her usual every-other-week visit and I was kind of bummed because he really hadn't shown much progress of the last two weeks. He's been doing some one handed walking, but I couldn't get him to stand up from all fours the way she had done at her last visit.
But to my surprise, as soon as she started working with him, he was standing up like a pro - almost doing it on his own! And he stood for about 5 seconds a couple of different times, and YES! he took his first steps!!! He took 1 step a few times, and one time he took 3 steps! I got all teary eyed and had to stop myself before I started bawling in front of Jeanette.
I've been able to convince myself over the last few months that even though Jonah is late in a few things and has to get some extra help, there is nothing wrong with him and that it's nobody's fault - but I can't help but have this worry sitting in the back of my head. It's such a relief to see that he's finally showing signs of moving forward. I am very proud of my little man! I can't wait to get some pictures of him walking around by himself. And as soon as I do - I will blog it for the world to see!

Renshaw Baby #2

Most everyone already knows the exciting news - that Baby Renshaw #2 is on his way! He (or she!) will be arriving around November 21st.
Jonah will be 22 months old. We think two years apart is a pretty good spread.
We feel extremely blessed that it all worked out this way. We didn't want to wait too long for #2 since it took 3 years, countless doctors, 1 specialist and 2 miscarriages before we were blessed with the news that Jonah was on his way. So, just in case it took a while again, we started early with this one. Obviously, we didn't have to wait too long!

As of this last Sunday, Mother's Day, I am 12 weeks and SO glad to be over the first-3-months hump. I started showing really early this time. I guess my body just knows what it's doing and felt like showing it off.

Jonah is much too young to really know what's going on - but he's so full of love that we don't feel worried about bringing a new friend home for him. We're teaching him to call my tummy "Bean" to help with the transition after the baby is born. He thinks it's funny to pat my tummy and say "bea! bea!"
He's going to be such a great big brother!

The magic of Jeanette!

Jonah has the best physical therapist ever! He's been seeing her for about 6 months now since he was taking his time deciding that he wanted to crawl. She is going to stay with him until he walks. I'm sure that we could have just left it all alone and he would have figured it all out eventually - but I'm so glad that we decided to go ahead and do it. Here are some of the benefits I've discovered:

1. It's free
2. Reassurance for Mommy
3. It works (ie-day of pt - no steppy step, day after pt - steppy step all the time!)
4. It's free
5. Jonah gets to have his friend come over for "playtime" every other week. He loves it!
6. She comes to us - we don't have to go anywhere!
7. Doctor visits without the shots...so nice

And now, we are almost walking! At Jonah's PT yesterday, Jonah started to stand up almost unassisted and do one-handed steppy step. It will probably be another month or so before he's ready to walk on his own, but I feel better every time I hear her say"he's improved so much since I last saw him!"

So here's a big shout out to Jeanette, our favorite doctor ever!
We're sure gonna miss you when you go on Maternity leave...