Second birthday, and other momentous occassions.

Hmm. "Momentous" looks funny.

Anyway, today, August 27, is my 'second birthday.' I became a Christian on this date thirteen (13) years ago today. I remember the date, not only because it is so special, but because it falls exactly seven days after my 'real' birthday. That's right, I turned 28 last Monday, and today I 'turned' 13. God is good, for sure. I am so blessed beyond belief. We just celebrated our fifth anniversary, and Ryan had a birthday, too. Here is what a week in August looks like for us:

August 17 - our anniversary
August 20 - my birthday
August 24 - Ryan's birthday (he's 31 now! SO OLD!!)

I had an ultrasound today (more on that later) and the lady performing the scan was telling me about a recent trip her family took to Western Maryland. I asked her if she was familiar with Swallow Falls state park, and she was. I always take any opportunity I can to brag ... not about Ryan, but about God, and how He healed Ryan from near death. I briefly told the woman about Ryan's fall three years ago, and how it was a miracle that he even lived, and also how he was expected to be on life support for at least three weeks but was breathing on his own and semi-conscious less than 24 hours after the accident. It was a horrible experience, for sure, but we can see God's hand in so many ways. So we definitely celebrate birthdays around here, and the fact that my crazy husband is even around. :)

I finally cleaned our bedroom. I am such a slob. Ask Marte. And April and Crystal. They all came over in high school to help me clean my room. And Sidra lived with me in college (bless her heart). I'm setting mini-goals along the way. Like, tonight I want to go through the clothes remaining in my dresser (that I never wear) and set them aside for donation. And if I/we can keep the room picked up for at least a set amount of time, I'm thinking paint and a new rug are in store for us. I forgot to take any 'before' pictures (they would have been too scary, anyway), but maybe I'll post some 'after' pictures.

Katrina is growing up so fast! I'm not sure why this is such a big deal to me, but she started calling us "Mommy" and "Daddy" this weekend (instead of "Mama" and "Dada"). She hasn't made the complete switch - she does still call us Mama and Dada interchanged with Mommy and Daddy - but it just seems so grownup for her to say Mommy instead of Mama. And I like being Mama! (Of course, she asked, "Where Ryan?" tonight when she heard me call out his name to bring me something. Oops.)

We're working with her on shapes now. She knows all 26 uppercase letters, a handful of letter sounds, can count to and recognize 1 - 10, and knows a heart, star and oval. We're working on the basic shapes like square and circle (she calls a circle 'round') and rectangle. Not sure how she knows the obscure shapes first, but hey, that's our kid for you. I've also started pointing out lowercase letters to her, and she knows the lowercase 'e' but that's all so far. Katrina is also really into emotions - she can quickly identify an emotion portrayed by a person or animal's expression in a picture, even the first time she sees it. She has a 96-cent placemat from Wal-Mart with Sesame Street characters on it, and the first time she looked at it, in the store, she noticed that Elmo looks like he's tripping over a stick. Right away Katrina said, "Mama, Elmo hurt. Elmo hurt!" I didn't even see it until she pointed it out to me!

(And she is not an alien child from Village of the D*mned, thank you very much MARTE and SARA!)

And finally, my ultrasound. The blood clots are GONE and the amniotic fluid is clear - no blood cell debris!! It's as if the clots never existed. God is so good. We have been praying and praying that these clots would simply disappear and I would be healed, and He answered! This little girl is very calm, not nearly the kicker that her big sister was. She has predictable active times: right after lunch, and in the evening between 10 and 10:30, when I'm trying to fall asleep. She is growing along her curve, and is slightly bigger (1 lb, 5 oz) than Katrina was at this stage of development. Any suggestions for a name? We can't call her 'This Baby' forever.