It's a BOY!

Yes, I was a little surprised. I have to admit that I had such strong feelings it was a girl in there...Dave did too, though he didn't want to admit it. So, of course, he got what he was hoping for, and is EXTATIC! And of course, I am too! My only reservations are, how in the world do I trust my intuition again?? A girl felt so right...I just sensed the female-ness (not a word, I know...) in there. Weird, huh? With Sam we knew it was a boy and we were right... I guess this time was different in the sense that I wasn't going around claiming it was a girl because I was allowing room for the fact that it could still be a boy, though I would be surprised. So maybe in the back of my mind I knew it wasn't really a girl the whole time. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking...who knows. :)

I am actually pretty darn excited about it though. It's so crazy how differently my thoughts changed direction! When I was watching the monitor and she started moving it in the "hoo-hoo" area, I could immediately see it was a boy before she even said anything and the more we looked, and the more there was absolutely no questioning what it was, I felt so good about it. So I had gone from feeling strongly and right about it being a girl, into feeling so strongly and right that it was a boy in a matter of under a minute! I know it's right and it feels really good. I was wanting a girl SO bad, but oddly enough, when I knew it was a boy, the first feeling I felt was relief for some reason. Almost as if I knew that having a boy would have been right the whole time. Granted, part of the relief comes with the fact that I am sooo excited that I won't have to buy more clothes and baby things because we already have everything! Also, the kids are going to have to share rooms and it is a lot less awkward if they're both boys. It will also be so exciting for Sam to have a little brother to romp on!

I just love little guys so much so I just get so excited when I think about having another one. I actually can't picture myself even having a girl, though I know there is one out there for me...it's just that right now is not the time for her. But when it is, I will be THRILLED!

What will baby Joshua's (that's the name we are pretty set on) personality be like? Will he look like Sam, or completely different? I am so anxious to know these things because it's so hard for me to picture how it will be to have another boy when I am so used to just Sam! It's all very exciting to me! I just hope and pray that I can raise good strong boys to become good, strong, and righteous men!

*Sigh* So, when the day comes for frilly dresses and cute bows I will be over-joyed....but I can be patient for that day. :)

The baby is doing excellent in every other way, as far as they can tell, and so am I. The pregnancy is going smoothly and the baby is growing and developing normally, keeping right on time with the same due date of Feb. 14. One thing I have noticed is that he is definitely more active than Sam ever was when I was pregnant with him. He seems to constantly be on the move, punching and kicking me everywhere, and I'm sure it will get much worse as I get farther along. Especially when I lay on my back or sit down and lean back in any way. During the whole ultrasound he wouldn't sit still for a second. It was sure cool though to be able to feel him and then see on the monitor at the same time exactly what he was doing to cause the blows inside of me and how he was positioned. She was able to get him to give a high five by bouncing on my belly up and down, which he didn't like. I got many more pictures, besides the one at the beginning of this post, of hands, feet, arms, thighs, etc. If you can't tell in the picture, the bum in on the right side (it's from looking at an angle underneath him) and his thighs go out to the right, with his male parts in the middle. :)

Sorry about the lengthiness of this post...
Anyway, we took Sam to the dr. right before my appointment yesterday because he wasn't seeming to get better even after a week, and hearing what this stupid virus did to other kids in this town, it worried me. So, come to find out, because he had it for so long, it settled in his chest and ear and now he has an ear infection and a mild case of bronchitis (I'm glad we caught it before it got worse!). So this explains a lot! I'm grateful we went because now he is on an antibiotic and already seems to be going a little better...

Better to the point where he was able to play outside today again. I heard him dragging something in the kitchen and when I went in to look he had dragged almost half the garden hose inside the kitchen, all around the table, causing water to be everywhere, of course. It was hilarious...it's times like that where I know why I want to have more kids... :)

Sam was so upset when we went right from his doctor (he cried the whole time at his doctor, cuz the way he remembers him is as the "shot man") to my doctor. Every time I lay on that table he gets so upset and scared for mommy. I have to reassure him the whole time. We thought at the beginning of the ultrasound that it'd be a problem and Dave would have to take him out, but it was funny because he calmed down when Dave stood in front of the big screen TV they had on the wall, showing the ultrasound video, and said over and over again, "Sam, lets watch this show of the baby." It immediately calmed him down and the whole rest of the long time we were in there Sam kept saying, "Show, show." The ultrasound tech couldn't believe how good Dave was with him at calming him down. She told him at the end how excellent of a father he was. :)

Well, now that Sam's getting better finally, I wish I would start getting better! I felt like the sickness was subsiding a little yesterday, but I feel even worse today! Last night was miserable and today all I can seem to do is lay around! Thank goodness Sam has been better today than he has all week.

I'm so excited for Halloween! Sam is going to be a dragon...that is, if the costume fits him. I need to try it on him to make sure. I have been letting him carry around his pumpkin trick-or-treat bucket all week so he can get used to it and I am trying to teach him the halloween terms, like "trick-or-treat," but all he can say as of right now is "pumpkin." So hopefully by Halloween he will have it down. I'm just excited he can actually get a little more into it this year! Last year was miserable! Anyway, we have a community Halloween party thingy on Saturday the 25th (and Grandpa will be here for that...yay!!) and then the ward party/trunk-or-treat is on Wed. the 29th (the Y.W. are helping out with that), and then for actual Halloween, our plan is to go to the Valley and spend it with Brand and Tiff, our long lost friends we haven't seen in too long! And hopefully we will be able to get some trick-or-treating in with Sam then!