Thoughts on baby boy

Just hangin' out.

Our house had been buzzing with excitement in anticipation of this ultrasound. John would tell me how many days we had left everyday, Rebecca's had a calendar on her ceiling above her bunk bed she would mark off every time I woke her up, and they were voting in her classes on boy or girl. Really everyone in the neighborhood has been up on when the big day was coming.

In the days before I was getting more and more anxious. Partly because of excitement and partly just because I was still not feeling this baby a whole lot and I always have by this point. It was so great to see all the baby parts there. Not just arms and legs but a brain and kidneys and a diaphragm and four chambers in the heart and even lips!

And just like I suspected he was moving all over the place on the screen and I still couldn't really feel baby. I have wondered if the placenta was in the front because that is something I've read about that can delay mom feeling movement and turns that is the case with me. So even though I have a baby approximately 3/4 of a pound and 10 inches in length doing flips in there I have felt very little, which has been frustrating!

I keep thinking about how I'm now going to be the mother of three boys! So strange! Several people have asked how I feel about having a boy when I was expecting this pregnancy to be a girl. For one thing I knew after I wanted to die for 2 1/2 months this was very likely not a girl. Now I'm just so excited that he looks healthy I really didn't care at all. It was such a feeling of elation when we walked out of the doctor's office I had to restrain myself from telling everybody I came in contact with, "Heh! We just found out we're having a BOY! And he looks GREAT!" So no, I'm not disappointed. I'm very, very excited.

Now people are asking if we have names. We don't. Boys are harder to name for me so I hadn't even wasted any brain power worrying about it until I knew for sure (which has driven John crazy.) Yesterday I looked at hundreds of names with Peter and we've made lots of progress on what we don't want to name our baby. For the record I'm not into Utah names like Radley or Brayden or Mormon ones like Nephi or Moronihah. Our family history lines haven't been hugely inspirational because there is so much repetition. I now know that I have an "Elmo" in my line though. Peter still thinks we should name him James so we'll have a Peter, James, and John. I'm not finding the humor.

I laid in bed this morning feeling tiny kicks and thought about how I'm going to go through all the super-hero phases again. How he'll probably grow into a teen with one-word answers and grunts. How I'll hopefully be sending him on a mission and be sad when he leaves. If he's anything like Nathaniel and John he'll have ear problems as a baby and toddler. I'll be doing shots and check-ups and diapers and wondering when I can go see a movie again.

As we are in the office Peter suddenly notes that I am "only" 4 1/2 months. (Why is he just connecting this?) Then he notes that we still had another 4 1/2 months (my eyes are rolling.) Then he says, "So in 4 1/2 months we are going to have a crying, pooping baby."

Well, that is the idea Peter.

Something tells me that even though we've been through this four times before we really have no idea, after eight years have sufficiently fogged our memories, what we are in for.