Introducing...

Our precious little SON...

Carter Travis Armstrong

After months of waiting and anticipating the news of "boy" or "girl" we are happy to announce that we are indeed having a BOY and his name is Carter!!  To say we were shocked is a little bit of an understatement!  We were so expecting another girl, I don't know why, but both of us were.  When the sweet ultrasound tech showed us the obvious evidence that HE was very much a little BOY, we couldn't believe it!  Our hearts  quickly melted over our little guy, who was wide awake the whole time we were looking at him.  It was music to our ears to hear that his development was right on track and his measurements were perfectly appropriate for his gestational age.  We marveled at the clarity of the 4-D images we were viewing as we watched all 4 chambers of heart beating and saw the intricate details of his brain.  Amazing to see and take in all that God is knitting together each day!  As we listened to every detail of his development, I couldn't help but lay there and praise the Lord for His faithfulness to us.  To be doing this a second time is so sweet and to now experience a brand new privilege in raising a boy, is such a blessing.  He has been so good to us and the healthy report we received yesterday was not wasted on us.  To have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby truly is a miracle.  There are so many things that could potentially go wrong and it's easy to forget to thank the Lord when they all go so right!  But we are grateful for what we saw and heard and we are asking the Lord to continue what He has started in our precious Carter until we can hold him safely in our arms.

Of course we went into this ultrasound with a couple of girl names all ready to go, but no boy name that we were sure of!  For the last 24 hours we have constantly been discussing and deliberating over a few, and after lots of thought, we finally decided on Carter.  We decided it suited us well and we just loved the way it sounded with Armstrong.  We could see ourselves yelling "GO CARTER" from the sidelines of a soccer game, which really became one of the main criteria for whatever name we chose!  After lots of research, I discovered that Carter means "Cart Driver" or "Transporter of Goods" which just like Ava, has no real spiritual meaning to us, it's just purely interesting :)  But, who knows, maybe he'll be like most boys and develop a love for cars and transportation of all kinds!!  We really do love it and we will be excited to teach Ava to say it in the coming days!

For his middle name, we chose to name him after his Daddy, Travis.  For many, many reasons, I can think of no greater choice than that.  As I've contemplated what it means to have a son and the implications of raising someone's future husband and father, I would be one grateful and proud Mom if Carter follows in his Daddy's footsteps.  I love my Travis so much and have always known that he was exactly the kind of guy you wanted to bring home to Mom and Dad and the kind of husband every girl dreams of.  He has developed the character and integrity of a Godly man who follows hard after the Lord and loves everyone around him.  He is a strong leader with a tender heart.  That is exactly the kind of man I pray that Carter becomes.  I am proud that he shares his Daddy's name and hopefully his legacy.  No matter what Carter chooses to do someday, nothing matters more to us than who has the devotion of his heart.  If he loves Jesus and wants to bring him glory all his days, than we will sing a thousand praises to the Lord for answering our prayers.  Carter Travis Armstrong is already a dearly loved and prayed for little boy and we are thrilled to be welcoming him into our family!  

This is our first look at Carter's little face...Can you see his mouth, lips, eyes, ear and forehead?  

This is in 4-D, which is unbelievable.  We basically watched a live, 3-D video of him while the ultrasound tech snapped real time pictures.  Kind of creepy I will admit, but so amazing too!

This is him with his little arm covering his face!  He was shy about having his picture taken :) 

This is a good shot of his little button nose and his profile. 

 He's all curled up against the placenta here.  

I think he has the same little nose that Ava does!

And our absolute favorite shot, was watching him open his mouth up wide for a big yawn!!  Can you see it??  How sweet that was for this Mom and Dad to watch??  Makes me so excited to hold him and watch him do that in person soon!  

Now, for those of you wondering, I realize it appears as if he has no arms here!  He does :) I'm not sure why you can't tell in this picture, but we saw both of them and all of his little fingers too!  So worries about his appendages :) 

We are so grateful and excited about Carter and proud to introduce him to you for the first time!  

Our little family is growing and we are so blessed.  We have loved every minute with our sweet Ava and we know we will love every minute with our precious Carter.  What a miracle he already is!  

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him."

Psalm 127:3