April's Announcements

We got an offer on our house!

We haven't really made any big announcements that we are moving, but we are currently in the beginning stages. We are attempting to short sale our home due the to crap-tastic housing market, and the fact that our family has outgrown our two bedroom condo. Those of you who also purchased your homes around 2005, or soon after, know what we're dealing with. It's not a fun situation, but we are hoping that by doing things this way that we can avoid foreclosure. We listed our home at the end of March, and after attempting to keep it spotless while showing it half a dozen times, we got an offer on April 2nd. Now we are waiting to find out if the bank will accept the offer, and in the mean time we are looking for a house to rent.

Wish us luck:)

My Mom got engaged!

On Easter afternoon, we had a luncheon at my Mom's house between conference sessions. She has been dating a wonderful guy named Allen, and they surprised us by announcing their engagement. We couldn't be more excited for her, and we have enjoyed getting to know Allen and his family. It has been fun helping them make wedding plans, and attempting to figure out if I will fit into the assigned dress come summertime. I love weddings!


I'm half way there!

A week ago I hit my halfway mark in this pregnancy (give or take a few weeks). I feel great, and this belly of mine just keeps growing and growing! I've been enjoying feeling him move for the last month, and I've been busy stocking up on boy clothes. I even got Kevin to agree to submit some boy names so we can work towards finalizing a name for the little fella. Boy names are hard I tell you! I also just ordered the hypnobabies home study course, and started interviewing doulas in preparation for this birth. You can read more about my birth plans and progress on my birth blog.

We registered the girls for preschool!

A few weeks ago we registered the girls for preschool! It's hard to believe that they will be old enough to go this fall. We visited the preschool to take a look around and meet the teachers, and the girls LOVED it. I let them pick out backpacks at the store, which resulted in Brooke begging me to take her to preschool every day. Patience doesn't come easy for a two year old:) Hopefully by keeping the summer busy with swim lessons and movie days, it will go by quickly, and August will be here before they know it.

Boy this month went by fast!

Oh Boy!

Friday's ultrasound couldn't have come any sooner. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning as I dropped off the girls at Grammy's house, and headed to the ultrasound center. Kevin and I had both been harboring a little nervousness leading up to this day. We were hoping that there wouldn't be any surprises, other than the baby's gender, and I think we can't help but relate ultrasounds to surprises at this point.

When the ultrasound tech started measuring, our eyes were immediately glued to the screen. We watched as she measured the baby's head, kidneys, nose, neck, and then legs, promising to check for the gender once all the measurements were complete.

I found myself attempting to study each black and white body part with a critical eye, counting heart chambers, or what I thought were heart chambers, and wondering to myself what a normal baby's kidneys look like. Was everything there? Did everything look normal?

As she was finishing the measurements of the baby's legs, the baby moved and I saw a little flicker of something white and weenie-like. My eyes got huge and I immediately shot a glance at Kevin, while the ultrasound tech did the same to me. She knew that I saw "it," but wasn't sure if Kevin saw it too.

Kevin, completely unaware, continued to gaze at the baby's movements waiting patiently for the big news. And so the ultrasound tech continued, and got a nice close up before she said, "and there is the sex."

"It's a boy!"

My sweet husband, being the laid back mellow man that he is, smiled and repeated her words. I could tell that he was shocked, and I admit that I was a little shocked too. I think it's still sinking in.

She took a lot of 4-D pictures like the one above, the majority of them resembling a little alien baby to which Kevin commented: "look babe, he looks just like you!" Ha ha ha....

Most importantly, our baby boy seemed to have all of his parts and was measuring right where he should be. Other good news was that my placenta was far far away from my cervix, and my c-section scar, so I shouldn't have to deal with placenta previa like I did with my last pregnancy.

Everything looked great, and we are so grateful!

And so here we are, embarking on a completely different journey

with ONE baby

BOY

that will hopefully be delivered by

VBAC

and will bring so many

NEW

experiences and joys into our lives.

I can't help but feel like a new mom all over again, and at the same time I feel so blessed!

So the majority of you {73%} were correct after all!

Thanks to everyone who played along:)

Battle Of The Sexes

I've never been the type who received personal revelation about the babies I was carrying...or anyone else's baby for that matter. Recently, I've marveled over stories of moms who had their baby's name whispered to them while vacuuming, or who knew the gender of their child long before they were ever conceived. While I believe in the ability to receive this type of personal revelation, I've always figured that these types of experiences were only common in biblical times. Unfortunately, this is not one of my "gifts," but I am content with letting this information come when and however it comes.

We went into my last 20wk. ultrasound thinking we had a very large baby boy on our hands. A few weeks prior, a feeling that something was different came to my mind. Our appointment day finally arrived, and the bump we so lovingly called Adam, turned out to be two girls. Suddenly everything I was feeling made sense, and while I never received any details as to what was going to be different, I was grateful for the heads up.

With this pregnancy, I haven't felt a large pull towards either gender. For a while I thought there was a good chance that it could be a boy, but lately I've been feeling more girl vibes. I try not to read into these "intuitive" feelings too much, especially since I was so off on my guess last time. I'm happy to have another baby, and I'm glad to know that we will receive whatever is right for us.

So as of now,

Chinese Calendar votes: BOY

Brenna votes: GIRL

Brooke votes: BOY

and Dad put $100 on: GIRL

I am indecisive,

(although $100 would make for a great thrift store shopping spree:)

You have until Friday to take a guess via the poll on the right!