Blog Update

February 24th, 2012

I haven't really put anything on this blog for a long time. I have some good reasons, but the main one is I'm pregnant. I am finishing my 28th week, and I am ready to have this baby now ;) This is by far my hardest pregnancy, physically and mentally. With Brynn and Austin I felt really good except in the beginning and at the very end. This pregnancy, I had one really good month in January. I am really, really hoping this baby comes 1 or even 2 weeks early :) Brynn came 2 weeks early, Austin 1. Until then I am counting down, and trying to get big projects done, so that when this baby comes I can enjoy the little, tiny, guy and soak it all in. I also got called into young womens 2 days after I found out I was pregnant, and that was a big adjustment. But that is going much better and I am actually enjoying the calling, instead of dreading all the time it takes.

We had been debating if we should wait to find out if the baby was a boy or girl until the very end. Shane had no desire to go this route, and knew that I wouldn't make it. I also realized I didn't want to deal with getting all the clothes and such out with a newborn at home. So we came up with the idea of waiting past the 20 week ultrasound to find out. We took Brynn with us to the first ultrasound I had at 14 weeks (we surprised her and told her in the parking lot that I was pregnant, then she got to see the baby at the ultrasound), but decided it might be better to leave her out of the 20 week ultrasound. She would get bored, and I worried if something was wrong I didn't want her there to see us deal with that. Thankfully everything looked perfect. During the ultrasound we had to close our eyes close to half the time because the baby was moving so much and had the legs up by its head. During the appointment I mentioned to Shane we should just find out and enjoy seeing the baby more, but he stuck to the plan.

We finally decided Valentine's Day would be a fun day to find out if it was a boy or girl, in my 27th week. Shane came home with thoughtful gifts for all of us, including flowers for Brynn, sunglasses for Austin (he always wears Brynn's very girly ones) and my favorite candy, sunglasses, earrings, and necklace for me. He actually remembered I have been wanting new sunglasses for a long time, he put a lot of thought into my gift which I really appreciated. Brynn was super thoughtful and had picked out a locket necklace for me when she went shopping with Shane. Apparently she was really excited to buy it, and Shane put pictures of her and Austin in it. When I put it on she was so excited, and later that night kept asking me to wear it herself. Shane thinks she really wanted it for herself, but gave it to me. So we share the locket necklace. That girl I will always love for her thoughtfulness and sincerity, I am lucky to have her.

After the gifts we went out to dinner to smoky mountain pizza and pasta in sandy. We used to go there all the time in Boise, but have only been 2 or 3 times in the 6 years living here. It was delicious, with the same menu items we would get in Boise, the salad and pasta being awesome. They have a new item for kids where they make their pizza at the table. It looked so good when they brought it back cooked, and it was delicious. The kids loved it, its a brilliant idea.

We came back to the house and did the 'baby hunt' Shane put together for the kids. Each clue was a picture of Austin and Brynn when they were a baby, they had to hand Shane a mini blue or pink bottle for their guess if it was a boy or girl in the picture. If they were right, he would read the clue on the back. They were simple clues, and the kids loved them. At the end was the ultrasound picture in the envelope saying what the baby was. Weeks before we had the idea of teaching Brynn how to read boy and girl, and her reading to us what the baby was from the picture. She figured out that she only needed to know that boy starts with b, and girl with g. We are sitting and recording her while she takes what seemed to be a long time to figure out what the picture says. I saw her reading the top, and walked her through looking for the picture and finding a word next to the picture. She stumbled, and Shane was anxious wanting to help. But she stuck with it, and told us there was an "o". I said maybe there was 2 or 3 words, but to find the boy or girl word. She finally read the boy and was excited! We looked at the picture and laughed when we saw it said "oh boy!!!" It was fun to have the kids involved and Brynn was proud of herself. Then we celebrated with blue frosted sugar cookies from smart cookie, our favorite! I had a friend look at the ultrasound the day before and call in the color of the cookies.

Overall it was a fun way to include everybody. I am glad we finally found out it was a boy, and even though we were so sure it was a boy, it is still taking time to adjust to the idea of it actually being a boy. I also feel like it makes it more real for me, to think of the baby in my belly as a boy, and not just a baby. I also think of how much more energy this house will have with another boy. I just hope he is a good baby and gives me sleep ;)

As far as names, I have always loved the name Ethan. We have been calling him that already, but I guess it won't be official until he comes. I am going to think of other names, I don't love the idea of there being 50 other Ethans in his life, since it is such a popular name. But then I think, who cares, I have always liked it. We have 10 more weeks to decide (technically 12 ;)