Baby G... irl!

We're having a baby girl!

How stinking cool is that? It makes this whole baby thing real. Some day, she will get her ears pierced. Some day, she will have a boyfriend. Some day, she will come to me crying because she is a hormonal teenage girl. Some day, she will get married. Our baby is a real person. A real girl. This is getting crazy. 

She kicks all the time, now. She can totally dance. Sometimes I feel bad because I don't think she has enough room, and I feel like she's banging on my insides asking me to let her out. I realize that babies like that claustrophobic comfort stuff. And if she came out now she wouldn't be happy or healthy. So, I'm going to make my first hard mom decision and I'm forcing her to stay in my belly for 20 more weeks and then she can come out. It's for her own good. Don't argue with me. 

I bet you want to hear about the doctor's appointment. Ok, I'll tell you. We didn't go to our normal doctor's office. We went to an office in the hospital that we will deliver her at. We were having our full anatomy ultrasound. It was an hour long ultrasound done by this fancy guy who knows a lot about looking at the baby on the monitor. He went through and measured all of her body parts, he checked her heart valves, looked at her brain, looked at her face and lips, and did a bunch of other stuff. She's perfect. There was not one thing wrong with her. Wanna see how cute she is now? Like, really. She looks like a baby. A super cute baby. 

She's smiling! 

Such a happy baby girl. 

CUTEST FOOT EVER!

She has biceps. For real. Look at that. She isn't even born yet. I guess we know whose muscles she'll be getting...

The dude asked if we knew the sex, or if we wanted to know. We said yes. 2 seconds later, he checked and told us she's a she! That was a weird feeling. Knowing that she is girl. It gave her an identity. Like I said earlier, it made her even more real. My brain felt like it was going to explode (how many times has that happened in the past 5 months?). I had so many thoughts. I didn't want to put up her crotch pic. I thought that was weird. I feel like it's violating her. I'd be mad if someone put up a crotch picture of me. 

I have already bought so much stuff for her. Don't tell Scott. Wanna see the snow boots I just ordered off Etsy? 

I'm sure you're saying to yourself "Why would a baby need snow boots? Especially when that baby lives in Southern California?" Well, she needs snow boots because they are freaking cute, ok? I have a feeling this pattern will continue. Sorry, Dave Ramsey. I want things with ruffles on the butt. We're painting her crib yellow. I think she'll like yellow. 

Ok, back to the appointment. Basically, the guy went through and looked at everything and then called the doctor in to take a look and they both said she was the most perfect and cute baby they have ever seen. Then we left and skipped down the hallways. We giggled a lot and hugged a lot and brainstormed names while we planned out her future.  I want her to do whatever she wants to do. As long as it's not drugs or the Marine Corps. She is not allowed to be a Marine. 

We ran a couple of errands on the way home and then Skyped with our parents to tell them the news. We decided my dad got to know first because Scott's family got to know that I was pregnant first. We captured his expression with a screen shot: 

He said he knew it would be a girl. He has 4 sisters, Scott has 2 sisters, and I am a girl. Good reasoning. He also told us that we would be so emotional and in love when she came. I totally believe that. I'm so emotional now. I cannot even imagine what I'm going to be like when I can actually hold her. 

Next up was Scott's mom. Scott called her and woke her up to make her get onto Skype. He made her cover her eyes while we got our little sign in place:

She was also so happy. She was even dressed appropriately! She is sending me pink bows to sew onto everything. 

We then called Scott's dad because he doesn't have Skype. Scott said he seemed a little disappointed but I thought he sounded happy. He just wants us to have a healthy, precious baby. I am anxious to see him interact with the baby. He's going to love her so much. 

Finally, we Skyped with Amber and called Danielle. They were both excited. Except for Danielle, she was asleep. She was as excited as you can be when getting woken up in the middle of the night. I woke up to an excited text from her the next morning, of course. Speaking of Amber and Danielle, they threw me a really cute and heartfelt baby shower a couple of weekends ago. The day before their shower my friends from Texas through me a vintagey Anthro inspired baby shower, it was right up my alley. They were both the greatest baby showers ever. I have not yet posted the pictures, but I will realllly soon! Here are two different albums, one that my sister Danielle posted of the Oklahoma shower and one my friend Danielle posted of the Texas shower. 

 The next day we sent out a text to our close friends letting them know, which was immediately followed by a mass email to our extended family and friends that included pics. I'm sorry we couldn't tell y'all in a more fun way but it's been a pretty crazy two weeks and I don't feel like I have a lot left in me. This is as good as it gets this time. 

That's the whole story. My next post will hopefully include pictures of all of her sweet gear and the beginnings of her nursery. 

Other things happening in our lives:

My mom is in the hospital. She had a seizure and fell face first onto the kitchen floor. Thank God, my dad and I were there. It was horrible and awful and scarring but we were able to help her and she wasn't alone. She broke several bones in her face. She had surgery, got 4 metal plates in her face, and is now recovering. She will be transferred to a recovery nursing home where she will stay for 20-100 days. Then she will be moved to a hospice/nursing home where she will live. I thought about writing an entire feelings post on this but I know that would only cause you guys to feel bad for my family. Don't do that, just please pray. God is the only thing that can fix her and our broken hearts. Pray that God heals her dementia. Pray that the insurance pays for her hospice care. And please pray that my dad is comforted during this entire process. 

Scott is doing great as a sergeant. He is settling into his role and learning more every day. He was made to be a Marine. 

A couple weeks ago we met the Young Life San Clemente Area Director at church. I did not think I wanted to do YL right now because of all that is going on in life. But of course, God had other plans. I met with him today and I'm pumped to be a leader! Scott can't make the full commitment to be a leader but he'll help out as much as he can. We are both so excited God has lead us to this. We love Young Life. We fit there. It's gonna be great. 

I'm sitting at a coffee shop and they have an Internet time restriction. I wish I could write more but they are going to kick me off. I'll leave you with some of my wishes for our sweet, tiny, baby girl:

I hope she's confident in her self and in her body. I hope she's cool. I hope she loves Jesus more than anything else. I hope she likes to have painted nails. I hope she likes to play outside. I hope she's creative. I hope she makes friends with everybody. I hope she is sweet. I hope she loves me and her dad and always wants to hang out with us. I hope she knows we love her a lot. I hope she tells her friends I'm her BFF. I hope she has a really fun BFF, other than me. I hope she likes to cook. I hope she's compassionate. I hope she wants to live radically for the Lord. I hope she knows Texas is her real home. I hope she doesn't want me to buy her expensive clothing, but instead likes to go thrifting and sale rack shopping. I hope she doesn't have a stupid boyfriend. I hope she some day has a super cute boyfriend. I hope her husband loves her the same way Scott loves me. I hope she has a talent, like singing or painting or something. I hope she enjoys physical activity. I hope she doesn't say cuss words, unless it's funny. I hope she grows up to be exactly who God wants her to be. 

Also, I have been stalking baby blogs (duh), and these are some of the posts that moms have written as advice for friends and family who are visiting the new baby and new parents. I think they are pretty great. You don't have to clean my bathroom but I'd love for you to bring me food. 

http://avital.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-be-best-post-partum-visitor-in.html#axzz1JdTIvWli

http://lipstickjunglegym.blogspot.com/2011/04/brand-new-momsa-must-read-for-you.html

http://www.wild-and-precious.com/2011/07/taking-care-of-new-moms-guest-post.html

http://itsahuntlife.blogspot.com/2011/08/guest-post-jora-from-domestic.html

Thanks, love you!