Pumpkins, Retreat, Freak Outs, OH MY!

Last week was insane. I get breathless just thinking about it. Let me just put this out there- Never, EVER, start a business if you can't afford to have someone else do all of your accounting and tax prep. It's not worth it. That is all I'll say about that.

In other news, I went with some of our Life Group gals and their kiddos to the pumpkin patch last Tuesday, and had so much fun. Can't wait to take Bean again... you know, when he's not inutero.



Here are the kiddos. I just love this picture!! No one's looking at the camera, exactly, which cracks me up. They're all staring at Madison, who's trying to obey as we all yelled at the kids "Look at the camera!!!", while she was yelling back "The sun's in my eyes, Mommy!!" Poor kids.

There were animals to feed, a hayride, a pumpkin patch where you got to select your own (tiny) pumpkin and plenty of photo opportunities. So much fun!

On Thursday, my mom arrived and we spent Thursday and Friday shopping for maternity clothes and doing some initial baby shopping research. I just wanted to get a taste of what was out there, and I'm so glad I did because I practically hyperventilated when we walked into BabiesRus. It was completely overwhelming, and I can't imagine just walking in and registering. Whoa. So.

Then, on Friday afternoon, we left for camp!! My church was hosting a Women's Retreat at Pine Cove down by Tyler, and Mom came along for the fun. When we got there on Friday evening, she decided she wanted to do a zip line, and when I asked the people if I could zipline too, they looked at me like I was high. Maybe next year.



Here's Mom on the zipline! She's so cute!!

By Monday, I was EXHAUSTED. I'd had a decently relaxing day until around 4pm when I realized I hadn't felt Bean move all day. I called the nurse and they had me lay on my left side after drinking some juice. Still not feeling anything, they had me come into the office for a sonogram.

There was Bean, happy as a clam, sleeping away. The sono tech had to poke at him a bit to get him to move around, and once he was moving quite a bit, asked me if I could feel him. I still couldn't, and the tech pointed out that how my placenta is positioned is acting as a pillow between me and the baby. I'm really not feeling any of his small movements yet. Rather, he pretty much has to be doing jumping jacks for me to feel him. (Which he must do regularly, because I normally feel him quite often throughout the day.) I did get to see him "drink" (or at least that's what she said he was going.) He was moving his little jaw- so cute.

Anywho, 2 sono pictures and $180 later, I felt like an idiot. It's amazing how overprotective I can be while I don't even have a kid to be overprotective of yet!!! (Well, I do, but not anything I can really do while he's in there baking...) The sonogram tech asked me if this was my first pregnancy. Um, yes. Was it that obvious??

Hoping for a quiet week this week!! Just found out that the crib I thought I'd found has been given an "F" safety rating, so back to the drawing board there!! So many things to figure out...

IT'S A.......!!!

BOY!!!!!

I have to tell you, I was kind of shocked. I somehow got it into my head that it was a boy- about two weeks ago, my mom noticed that I was calling the baby a "he" all the time in conversation. She stopped me and pointed this out, and since I apparently "thought" it was a boy, when the sonogram tech said the words "It's a boy!" I was surprised, thinking that there was no way I would be right.

So. The appointment went really well- actually, I could see the bean's two little legs and bottom, and there was nothing in between them! So, I was sure at that point that it was a girl. Then the tech said "Whoops! The legs are crossed, let's see if we can get it to uncross those legs." She poked me a bit with the sono probe, and all of a sudden, there was something between those legs! It is VERY obviously a boy!

Everything else was checked with the sonogram and looks good. The baby is about 10 oz. right now, and was measuring about 3 days ahead of the due date. (This doesn't mean that they change the due date, but rather the baby's growth will probably even out somewhere down the road.) The baby's size is in the 75th percentile; he's a big boy!

We got to see the heart, the kidneys, the brain, the umbilical cord, and everything looks great. The only thing we didn't get to see was a really clear profile picture. He was holding his fist up to his face, so you can see the forehead and nose, but he's hiding his mouth. Sweet baby- I just want to kiss him!!

Predictions

So with the sonogram that will reveal the sex of our child approaching, I've been hanging on everyone's predictions. (Yes, I know that predictions and old wives' tales don't really mean anything and that God determined the sex of our baby before Brian and I even met... But, that doesn't mean I'm not dying to find out what it is!!!)

The first prediction came from one of my best friends, Morgan, who declared the minute I told her I was pregnant "It's a GIRL!!! I can't live with anymore boy babies! It MUST be a girl!!" She was basing her prediction solely on the fact that all of her future sister-in-laws and cousins have birthed boys and she needs a flower girl in the not-to-distant future, but still, it was a prediction nonetheless.

Second predictions came from my book club ladies, who first dangled a threaded needle over my belly:



And then dangled a threaded needle over my wrist:



This prediction was determined by seeing if the needle swung back and forth or in a circle. According to these ladies, in both instances, the needle swung in a circle, predicting (very scientifically) that our little bean was a BOY!

Third round of predictions were a Facebook quiz of my friends. 6 said boy, and 5 said girl. No overwhelmingly one-sided results there.

Lastly, a family friend told my mom that she could very accurately predict the sex of the baby by looking at a current front-facing head shot of me. I sent her this picture yesterday:



I have no idea what she's basing these predictions on, but she mentioned something about tear-ducts to my mom.....? Anyhow, here's what she sent back:

I was at 98% for 25 years

but I'm hitting 75% in the last 4 months????? so let me know what the sonogram says.

Healthy happy Mom and baby! Buy something pink!

So we shall see!! Our sonogram is tomorrow at 5pm, and if the little bean cooperates, we'll be announcing shortly thereafter what God has blessed us with! Both Brian and I would appreciate prayers for calm nerves- we're both really nervous for some reason!!