Week 20--Gender Reveal!

What an awesome week this was, dear readers. I had a moderately busy early week, which I spent most of counting down the hours, minutes, seconds until our big appointment Thursday morning. Texan also spent the week on pins and needles, excited for an early day off mid-week. And since he only works for a few hours on Fridays, it was like a 4-day weekend around here! The night before the appointment, we had bible study with our dear, sweet friends who all begged for an early morning text reveal. Then Texan and I stayed up WAY too late on our devices. I was pinning nursery ideas on Pinterest with the help of my iPad, while Texan asked me a slew of questions from some strange website on his laptop, like, "Have your feet gotten warmer, or colder since you conceived?" and "Has your nose gotten bigger, smaller, or stayed the same?" Apparently the questions were supposed to tell us the sex of our baby. The first quiz he gave me resulted in 80% possibility of a girl and 20% boy. Then the second quiz said 100% boy. Well, unless you haven't been on facebook in a while, you already know what the ultrasound said. IT'S A GIRL!

The morning of the appointment we arose at 7:30 and drove to the big city where my doctor's main office is. His office is located in a building next to the hospital where I will give birth, so we were excited to see the complex and found our way around the parking situation with ease. We were so excited, in fact, that we forgot to go to the hospital afterwards and ask for a tour of the baby wing. We were too elated, staring at our ultrasound pictures and planning our shopping trip. First was the ultrasound, which was in an office all by itself. I was delighted to find 4 other couples/families waiting to find out the sex of their babies. I was showing far less than everyone in the office. But I figured that is because all of them already had at least one child from what I could tell. One couple came out while we were waiting with their long strip of pictures, wiping tears from their eyes. An outgoing man asked the question that was burning inside of me. "What are ya havin?!" he squawked. "It's a girl," the lady replied mistily. I spent the rest of the wait wiping tears from the brims of my eyelids and fixing my makeup in my phone camera and praying that God would let me get through this without crying the whole time. Thankfully he answered my prayer and I was able to actually laugh a bit during the ultrasound, to which the tech told me to stop because she was having such a hard time getting the baby to be still so she could measure the head, that every time I moved the baby would move again. When she was finally done photographing every vital area, she asked, "Are you ready?" I'm pretty sure she loves this part of her job. I know I would. She turned the screen slowly, covering it with her hand. "It would be a..." Then she pulled her hand away and squealed, "GIRL!" I guess the noise I made could be described as, "Oh!" It was sort of an exhale. I had been holding my breath. I looked at Texan and laughed. He had a big smile on his face.

Afterwards we had lunch at the mall and bought our little lady a few clothing items. On the way home Texan said, "I've got my Daddy's girl." I have a feeling that was what he was hoping for all along. In fact, he even began singing* his own version of "My Girl," in which he changed "girl" to "girls." And while he sings it, he rubs my belly. So sweet. I have no doubt a little girl is just what my tough guy needs. We spent the rest of the day resting at home except for the 9:30 pm trip to Dairy Queen to share the good news with our friends who we hadn't seen since they returned from vacation, and wanted to hear about our day.

We revealed the sex to the world on Sunday via a delicious cake that was made at 10 o'clock Saturday night after a long day on the lake with our friends. We were all exhausted, but I know for me, the excitement of revealing the sex to all of our friends and family kept me going. Here is a shot of the top of the cake, and then the middle after we cut it open. It's called a Gender Reveal Pinata Cake and it's pretty self-explanatory to assemble. The M&Ms are chocolate raspberry-flavored because that's the only flavor that comes in all feminine colors.

Thank God for hot pink vanilla-flavored icing. The cake was a big hit. And Texan didn't mind finishing the leftovers after church one bit.

As far as cravings, I really only have one that I haven't mentioned.

These things have been around at least since I was in junior high. I remember when healthy cereal bars became pretty popular and my mom started buying them for my lunches. I never really liked the taste of them, but the consistency was nice, so I ate them. Plus, I knew I was supposed to eat something "healthy." A lot of them ended up mutilated at the bottom of my gym bag and thrown away at the end of the school year. Wish I could have all of those back...Well, lately, I have been craving them something fierce. My favorite way to eat them is at 6 in the morning after Texan leaves for work and I can't fall back to sleep because I'm too hungry (which happens every morning). I usually grab some applesauce or a granola bar, but now I have a strawberry Nutri Grain bar with a big glass of milk, and that is the perfect snack to hold me over until I wake up on my own terms. Being awoken by hunger is a strange development that has accompanied my second trimester.  I don't mind it. In fact, reader, I am loving this second trimester.

And here I am. Half way through this journey. Although I am excited to meet my little SJ*, I really love this time with her. And I will be sad to see it go, whether that is when I'm too round to sleep comfortably, or right at the very end when I have to go back to being a normal person. I get a little sad when I think that one day she won't be with me all the time. I won't be able to keep her safe from everything like: people's germy hands, fluorescent lighting, techno music, Miley Cyrus, Walmart, dog slobber, inclement weather, morning breath, the smell of broccoli, and all the other things that are not so wonderful about earth. But I will be able to share so many wonderful things, like her extended family, holidays (mostly Christmas), the way her Daddy dances in the kitchen when he's had a good day at work, the way her Daddy sings Michael Buble while he's shaving, and, let's face it--all the wonderful things about her Texan daddy. Not to mention the way my dad will love to rock her to sleep, the way my mom will kiss her chubby little cheeks. I think we'll be just fine.

*We have two "S" names that we both agree are equally exceptional. But we are waiting until she's born to pick the best of the two that will suit her. Her middle name is Jane, which we have already decided on. Thus, we refer to her as SJ. And you can, too!
*I like to sing to SJ as well. But if you know me, you know I'm always singing. My favorite James Taylor song is "Sweet Baby James." It's a cowboy lullaby that he wrote for his friend's baby. I change "James" to "Jane" and sing it to her. I hope when she arrives she'll remember the sound of me singing it to her, and it will sooth her. I love my baby Jane.