We are having a ....

GIRL!!!!! 

We are very excited and we (or I) was soooo surprised.  I think Jake thought it was a girl all along but I was pretty convinced it was a boy.  Especially after our ultrasound when the technician and the doctor told me at separate times, "oh you have a really good picture!" So, of course I was thinking I don't have a good picture of "nothing."  But, to my extreme surprise it's a baby girl!  We would have been thrilled with either but it will be fun to experience both a boy and a girl.  The only downside is that all of our stuff is soooooooooooooo boyish so we'll need to purchase a bunch of stuff.  I love the sequence of photos that Mandy took for us to capture the moment.  We also have it on video which was fun to watch too.  When we brought the ultrasound to the check-out lady at the store and told her that on the picture it says boy or girl and to wrap up the blanket and outfit of whichever it is and we'll be back in a few minutes to get it - she must have thought we were nuts!  She actually seemed pretty excited about it and I'm so glad we waiting to find out this way.  It was very, very hard for me to do.  I admit, I was holding the envelope up to the light to see if I could get a glimpse of something... but I'm really glad we waited (the whole 3 days) to find out.  And it turns out Easton was right all along.  From the start he insisted he was having a baby sister!  We have narrowed our names down to 5 (well actually there was no narrowing down... we found 5 that we like... girl names are tough)!

We go in for a level 2 ultrasound tomorrow.  At the last ultrasound the baby had 2 cysts on the brain.  So we need to get those checked out again with a better ultrasound machine.  We went through something similar with Easton - he had a spot on his heart.  But when we went back for the level 2 ultrasound the spot was gone.  We're hoping and praying the same thing happens tomorrow when we go back in.  The cysts could be absolutely nothing and could go away or it could be an indicator of something more.  But we're only going to think of the positive right now.  I'll get some pretty cool pictures tomorrow too so I'll put them up here... they do a 3-D ultrasound so we really get a good glimpse at the baby.

Christmas was great and now our house is exploding with gifts.  Thank you everyone for all the fun gifts but for Easton's birthday we only ask for things that will fit in the palm of our hands.... seriously... We have no space left in our house.  Plus we'll be multiplying this by 2 with girl toys soon.  Yikes!  Over break we cleaned out the playroom and added new shelving to the closets so that has helped a TON but we're still bursting at the seems.  Easton also moved into his new "big brother room."  We did great with the transition and he is now sleeping in a queen size bed.  But at least I don't have to worry about him falling out!  He got a baby doll and a big brother book for Christmas so he can practice being a great big brother to his sister.  He's doing great, so far --- but I know he has no idea what he's in store for!  I had 2 full weeks off for Christmas this year which has been AMAZING!  Plus 2 extra days now for the extreme cold temperatures - which has been a great surprise!  It's going to be tough to get back into the swing of things with our busy busy schedule!

So, what's new with Easton?

• He LOVES soccer and got a new soccer ball from Santa and we signed him up for soccer - which was supposed to start this week but was cancelled because of the weather.  
• He has gone skating and sledding a few times this winter and has loved each time.  He can skate by himself this year although he gets very frustrated that he can't skate as fast as Dad yet.  
• We're just getting over a bout of Strep... he had it for 2 weeks without us knowing.  Ya know why?  He had strep in the butt!  What??? Who knew that was even possible!  
• He has moved up to a big boy carseat and gets buckled in with a regular old seat belt now.  Doesn't seem like much but it has totally hit me how old he is when I look back and he's just chillin' like a 5 year old.  
• He is great at make believe.  It's so fun to watch him play and pretend.  His favorite thing to pretend is to be a fireman and put out fires all over our house.  It's great!  Auntie Mary even got him fireman tools etc... to help him with this.
• He LOVES to help us around the house.  No matter what we're doing he wants to help or to work.  He likes to put his "work clothes" on and do anything he can. 
• Making up stories... When I picked him up from school the other day a girl in his class came over to talk to us and told him that she was going to the zoo after school.  Easton's response back to her, "I'm going to the zoo too.  I'm going to see 2 big firetrucks.  At the new zoo.  I'm going to the new zoo and it will be fun!"  Umm. What??? haha we definitely weren't going to the zoo nor have we talked about it.  So funny what he comes up with.  

 Some pictures from the last couple months:

Love this shot.  Yes, we reenacted (shhh)  finding out the sex of the baby but what good actors we all are! 

Love this picture of the cousins!  It was a bit cold and snowy so they were troopers! 

More pictures to come later today or tomorrow... time to go make dinner. 

I had my follow-up ultrasound this morning and the cysts are gone!  woohoo!! Such a huge relief!  Everything looked great.  She had a big belly and was measuring a full week ahead of schedule.  I think we might have a big girl on our hands (good thing I have c-section planned) :)  Funny because at my last appointment my doctor told me I needed to gain some weight.  Let's just hope this isn't a sign of gestational diabetes... I better watch my sugar intake!  

Here are a couple pictures from the 3-D ultrasound this morning.  She was being shy and covering her eyes and sucking her thumb in one of these... I love these pictures!  Isn't she adorable!?  :)