pizza in SoHo and cupcakes in Greenwich Village, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge with snowflakes swirling around us (here's a picture), wandered through Times Square at midnight, and sat in the audience of a really funny TV show called The Daily Show... and all the time I had the feeling that something was different. I had the feeling that you were here with us. When we were making our way to Penn Station for our train ride home, we passed Madison Square Garden. A circus happened to be letting out at the moment that we were walking by, and there were happy kids jumping around everywhere. I thought, "I can't wait to have a kiddo to take to the circus!" I was thinking about you...When we got home to our apartment in Alexandria, I dropped my luggage in the hallway and ran to get a pregnancy test. I didn't even have to wait 15 seconds-- I got two pink lines right away! I don't think I'll ever be
able to describe how it felt to watch that line slowly materialize... my heart skipped a beat and my hands started to shake. I've never been so excited about anything, ever. I was pretty thrilled on the day I married your Dad, but this was a whole new kind of joy. I ran into the office to tell your Dad (he was working on the computer), and he couldn't believe it. I think it took some time for it to sink in, that you were really here. Then he wrapped me up in his arms and kissed me. We paced around the living room for a while, thinking about how much you were going to change our lives. We were walking on air and a little bit scared, too... we wanted to be good parents to you! We couldn't concentrate on anything else, so we went to the store and got four books on pregnancy. As silly as it sounds, those books really did make us feel more prepared for the next 40 weeks. It's been two and a half weeks since then, and you've been on my mind every second of every day. I've gone to work (at the Capitol in Washington), shopped at the grocery store, seen movies with my friends (your first movie was called Year of the Dog), gone to Baltimore to watch the Orioles (your first baseball game!), and the whole time I've felt like I have the most wonderful secret. I've got a person growing inside of me!
I thought that nothing could top the first day that I found out about you, but I had an ever more amazing experience this Tuesday morning. My doctor wanted to find our how old you are, so she sent me to get an ultrasound. The doctor told me to look at the screen, and there you were! Inside my uterus! She told me that you were 2.2 milimeters long... such a tiny little pea! Then, to my shock, the doctor pointed our a little flicker on the screen. It was your heart beat! You weren't even three weeks old, and your heart was beating clear and strong on the screen! It was an absolute miracle... there's no other word for it. I called your Dad to tell him that I had seen you for the first time, and then I called my brother (your Uncle Will) from the car on the way to work. I felt like I was bursting with joy...I wanted to tell everyone. I couldn't stop looking at the pictures the doctor gave me.... I sat in the parking garage before I went into the office and stared at them for about 10 minutes. Your Grandma Judy was visiting from Florida that night, so she got to see them, too. You already have so many people who love you, in Texas and Florida and Istanbul, Turkey.
You're still really tiny, which is why I'm calling you little pea. You must really be growing, though, because for the last few days I've been starving all the time! I feel like I can never get full...my stomach is a bottomless pit. Last night I worked late and didn't have time to eat much dinner, and when I got home I sat on the couch and ate an entire box of macaroni and cheese. Tonight I ate a spinach calzone the size of my head (Dad and I were watching the Democratic presidential debates and Grey's Anatomy on TV) and I'm already hungry again! I take it as a good sign... I'll try not to feed you too much junk. =)
Your Dad and I love you, LP. Hang in there...
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