Christmas Blessings

For those of you who I haven't talked to, our Christmas has been full of surprises. Last week, I was fortunate enough to have the oppportunity to find out Sweet Pea's gender - even though I was only 14 weeks. A friend was able to get us in for a "sneak peak", but unfortunately Josh wouldn't have been able to attend because of work. So, I decided to keep it a secret and save it for him until Christmas!!!

Because I was keeping such HUGE news from the most important person in my life....I did what any girl would do - I told EVERYONE else. Yes, everyone!! And I got mixed reviews. Most thought that it would be the perfect Christmas gift, while a few thought that I was downright evil!!! Regardless, I was able to hold my secret from Josh for four days!!!

I can't tell the story of how I told Josh without giving away the gender (Josh isn't very quick with my clues!). So without further delay, here are our ultrasound photos.

Here is Sweet Pea. This is the actual size of the baby. Pretty cool, but really small!

And for all of you wagering enthusiasts who guessed that Olivia would have a baby brother, You Were RIGHT!!! We have a son on the way. Could we be more blessed, a girl and a boy!!!

So, back to the story. If you remember, I played with Josh a little when I told him we were pregnant. Olivia's 11 month birthday was the decoy, and it took him quite a while to figure out what I was trying to tell him. (I mean come on..who celebrates an 11 month birthday with a box full of presents!) So this time, I found something that I new I wanted my son to have. A Train Table! After visiting two of Olivia's boyfriends, David and Luke, we realized how cool these things are and that no boy should be without one. So when I found one for a VERY reasonable price, I picked it up as part of my surprise to Josh. He and Olivia ripped right into it. But he never thought that it was strange that I had gotten our daughter a train table. (Not that I gender-type or anything.)


So, I had to pull out the obvious clue. We have a time capsule ornament that hangs on our tree every year, and every year I write a recap to remember all of the wonderful things that have happened to our family. At the bottom of this year's summary, I wrote about how Olivia and Daddy had been extra good, so good in fact that Santa got together with God and decided to give Daddy his very own son!!

Needless to say, my wonderful husband was absolutely extatic. He couldn't stop hugging and kissing me! He was just smiling from ear to ear the rest of the night. Aunt Mary and Uncle Micah were there to hear the exciting news too, and they were also all grins! So it's official, we're a family of 4 - one girl, one boy! Life just can't get any better! Now comes the fun part...thinking of names!! Again, we have all the girl names that we could ever need...but we're still stuck with the boy name. So for now, Sweet Pea's still Sweet Pea. But don't worry, Son. Mommy and Daddy are working really hard to find your name. We'll have it soon, I promise!

Hope your holiday was a exciting as ours!!! And don't worry, Josh wasn't mad at all that I kept it a secret. In fact, he absolutely loved finding out the way that he did!!! And even he said that he needed to be quicker with my clues!!!! I love you, Honey!!!

Second Trimester - Finally

We are now officially in our second trimester. We had our 12 week appointment last Wednesday, and finally got to hear that precious heartbeat that I've been dreaming about. It was a routine apponitment - Thank God!!! And everything is going well. We go back on January 6th, at which point I'll be almost 17 weeks. We're counting down the days until we can finally find out if Olivia is having a baby brother or a baby sister.

According to Sweet Pea's Baby Pool, the concensus seems to be that he's a boy. Right now the score is 8 to 13 in favor or a boy.

I still feel weird because I have to remind myself that I'm pregnant. Since being off of the Prometrium, I feel great and wouldn't even know I was pregnant. It's definitely a different feeling (emotionally) from the last pregnancy. With Olivia, we were already looking at nursery themes and talking about baby names. With this pregnancy, we're just much more laid back....and busy!

I guess it will all see more real in the next several weeks when we start feeling the baby move! Can't wait for that!!

I'm also having a personal struggle that I want to have a poll on....but that will come later. Stay tuned!!!!


~~~Special thanks to Becky for fixing Sweet Pea's ticker. It looks great. Thanks Becky~~~