The Results Are In!

Well, I had my appointment. And the doc did the ultrasound. And he told us what we're having.

It's a....

(Ready?)

(Really ready?)

(Here it comes...!)

BOY!!!!!!!!

"Brothers don't shake hands. Brothers gotta hug!!" (Name the movie!)

Hahaha! I'm really excited. It was completely obvious to the doctor, and to me. There was no question. Honestly, I knew it was going to be a boy. I had a feeling. When I was Black Friday shopping the other day, there were so many adorable little girl clothes for super cheap that I could've easily picked up and purchased. But, I kept telling myself, "Self, don't buy that. I really feel like it's a boy." And honestly, I'm relieved. I was SO convinced with Weston that I was having a girl that I distinctly remember feeling a tiny sting of disappointment. But, no tiny sting this time. I just keep thinking about how fun it will be to have two little buddies, and how SIMPLE everything will be (same room, same decor, same bedding, same clothes, same Halloween costumes, same toys, etc.), which is especially nice for our ongoing apartment lifestyle. Plus, so many of you have two (or more) boys, and they are so sweet, and I just really love that dynamic. (Not that I wouldn't love to include a girl, because they are seriously precious, too.) But I love the idea of having goofy, rowdy, burping boys who love Star Wars and sword fights!!

Anyway, it's soooo nice to know and to be able to say "he" and "his" now! (Even though I was pretty much doing that anyway.) Now we just need to dive into that super-fun process of choosing a name. :-) Whee! Let's hope that we can choose one as easily as we did last time! (It really wasn't that easy.)

Place Your Bets!

My 16-week ultrasound is one week from today. So, it's time to place your bets!! Will it be a boy or a girl? Make your call in the poll on the right!

(I'm assuming, of course, that the baby will be in the right position and the machine will be high-tech enough to tell the gender by next week. If not... cue "Price Is Right" loser music.)

Here's the lowdown:

-I'm pretty sure that EVERYONE who guessed the gender in their comments on the last post guessed girl, mainly due to my increased nausea this time around. However, I remain unconvinced. My friend Rebecca had way worse nausea with her second pregnancy, and then had another boy.

-On the other hand, the Chinese gender calendar clearly predicts girl.

-On the other hand, globally there are about 105 to 107 boys born for every 100 girls, so really, we're all slightly more likely to have boys than girls with our pregnancies.

-It seems like the majority of my friends have boys. In Tim's family, there are five boys and just one girl. For Tim's parents, all of the grandkids so far are boys.

-I have a boy. And honestly, I'm probably a better boy mom than girl mom, because I don't know how to French-braid, I'm not crafty, and I hate drama. That doesn't mean that I don't want a girl; it just means that it would be a HUGE adjustment.

So, those are the main considerations. But really, I guess it all just depends on whether that little X or Y got there first. Haha! We'll find out soon... (hopefully)!

Yes, That Was an Announcement

[Editor's Note: I know most of you already know this, because you probably got a phone call or read it on Facebook. But, just in case...]

WE ARE EXPECTING!!!

We enlisted the friendly Pumpkandersons to share the news, but since they're pumpkins and can't actually speak, they used their own cryptic method instead.

I am 14 weeks pregnant at this point, with an expected due date of May 13th (but of course we all know I'll go over). My OB here in Tulsa is fabulous and likes to do ultrasounds at every appointment through 20 weeks, which means that we may find out the gender as early as my 16-week appointment. Here's hopin'! As with my pregnancy with Weston, it's once again hard for me to really envision the baby and understand the upcoming change to our family dynamic until I know whether it's a boy or girl. Once I find out, I can start to either get excited for Weston's future brother-best-friend and breathe a sigh of relief that we don't have to buy a million new clothes, OR get excited that I'm going to have a little Jean and go out and buy a million new clothes.

Weston and Pumpkin (thank you all for the nickname suggestion) will be just over 3 years apart (39 months, to be precise). He is slightly aware that there's a baby in Mommy's belly, but rarely mentions it anymore. Perhaps he'll understand when my stomach begins to swell, but for now, it's probably just a strange, hard-to-grasp concept for him. On the upside, he seems to love babies in general. He's always excited to see babies, and he's always very cute with them.

I'm a little happy that I'm once again avoiding a third-trimester-in-the-sweltering-summer. But seriously, I have had some SERIOUS nausea this time around -- WAY worse than with Weston. With Weston, there were a handful of bouts of nausea, and only one that was severe enough to actually remember. (I had eaten a breakfast burrito, and then realized that eggs were the most horrid thing ever. So, I laid on the floor and moaned, "That was a bad choice...") This time around, I started feeling nauseated at 6 weeks, and it didn't go away until 12 or 13 weeks. I know, that doesn't sound like very long. And no, I never actually threw up. But, geeeeeeeez, you guys!!! I had no idea how awful that first trimester can be! I hate nausea. I HATE IT.

I eventually realized that my stomach had to be in some sort of perfect, mystical equilibrium between hunger and satiety to avoid feeling overly nauseated. If I was the slightest bit hungry, I felt sick. If I was too full, I felt sick. So, I started eating crackers and snacks ALL the time to avoid even the tiniest onset of hunger. I seriously decided that I'd rather gain 25 pounds in the first trimester alone than endure the constant nausea. And I also realized that it is entirely possible to be both nauseous and starving at the same time. Although I felt awful, I was still having cravings, particularly for salty, salty foods, like tater tots, cheddar-sour cream chips, Ramen noodles, mac & cheese, etc. Apparently when I'm pregnant, I craaaaave salty foods!! One night I thought it would be a brilliant and perfectly nutritious idea to make pigs-in-a-blanket for dinner. (... And I wonder why I didn't feel well...)

Anyway, the nausea is gone now, and I feel splendid. I still don't look pregnant, and I doubt I will for several weeks still. (I looked back at my pregnancy calendar with Weston and saw that I didn't even start unbuttoning the top button of my jeans until 20 weeks. That's just the beautiful, squishy, freak body shape with which I am blessed.)

Anyway, we're excited, and in case you are, too, I posted a Baby Ticker over there on the right side so that we can all observe my pregression. Huzzah!!!

The Halloween Post!

Don't worry, you guys, you can always count on me to be the LAST ONE to blog about holidays. :-)  And now, on with the Halloween festivities!!

A couple weeks before Halloween, we made the obligatory autumn voyage to the pumpkin patch.  Being cheap/lazy, we fed the goats the pieces of dried corn that other kids had dropped on the ground, rather than simply buying our own little bags of dried corn:

 I guess we learned our lesson, though, because Weston unfortunately got sent to the pumpkin patch jail:

 But don't worry!  They released him on bail the next day, and we were able to proceed with our pumpkin purchases:

 One night shortly before Halloween, Tim prepped the pumpkins for carving.  As inclined as we were to keep the carving activity genuine for Weston, we eventually decided that we probably shouldn't let a two-year-old wield a six-inch blade.  So, out came the markers!!

 Surprisingly, he was extremely focused on the task.  I think he did a pretty swell job:

 He even smiled for the camera:

 Tim was hard at work on his design:

 ... while Weston got to enjoy a yummy, sprinkly doughnut from Krispy Kreme!

 Remember the Pumpkandersons?  Well, here are mama and papa all lit up:

 As Halloween approached, we were delighted to receive the annual Halloween package from Gangy, chock full of treats and surprises.  Yay!!!  This is one tradition for which words cannot convey our gratitude and appreciation!

 Weston marveled at the giant gummy skewer:

 And... oh yes.  There was bubble wrap to boot:

 The day before Halloween, we breakfasted at Mimi's Cafe (one of our favorite restaurants, we've decided).  Here's how to get chocolate chip pancakes at Mimi's, according to Weston:

(1) Study the tiny picture of the chocolate chip pancakes on the children's menu for a really long time:

 (2) Devour said chocolate chip pancakes:

 (3) Conclude by licking every last smidge of chocolately goodness from the fork:

 Meanwhile, Tim and I ordered pumpkin pancakes.  And not just any pumpkin pancakes -- pumpkin pancakes with SPICED CARAMEL APPLES on top:

 Mimi's is right next to the mall, so we wandered over there to let Weston explore the play area while Tim and I recovered from our sugar comas:

 No steering wheel?  No problem!!  Just imagine one!  (And apply your own sound effects liberally.):

 On Halloween, we kicked off the evening with the famous Anderson recipe for Dinner-in-a-Pumpkin:

 It was my first time having it, and it was really tasty.  (And kudos to Tim for making it, because it's a little time-intensive!!)  It's a beef-and-rice combo with cooked pumpkin on the side (mmmm):

 After dinner, we suited up Darth Vader:

 And naturally, he had to check himself out in the mirror (just like the real Darth Vader does every day, I'm sure):

 Our first house was that of our friend Diane from church:

 Weston approached doors with much more determination than last year, when he was still pretty unsure of everything.  This year, we started plugging the concept of free candy pretty early on:

 And... JACKPOT!!!

 We trick-or-treated for about an hour, even though Weston wanted to quit after two houses and just eat the candy that he'd gotten.  (We eventually convinced him that more houses = MORE candy.)  Here was the sweet, sugary bounty at the end of the evening:

 He was, by far, most excited about the lollipops:

 ... but he also found time (and stomach space) for a mini Hershey's bar before bathtime:

Hooray for Weston's third (and most successful) Halloween!!!