love her to pieces

Ever since we told the kids that another love would be joining our family, they've each been rooting for one to match their own gender. Ella was ecstatic to have a baby sister, and Summit was certain that the stork would be delivering him a little brother. Me? I didn't really have a preference one way or the other. Not to sound cliche, but really all I want is a healthy baby. That's what weighs most on my mind.

I even toyed around with the idea of waiting until it is born to find out which stereotypical color bow to put on the mailbox. Toyed for a minute. I'm not one for surprises...when I was younger, the very presence of a wrapped gift sitting beneath a tree in the days leading up to Christmas would cause me to have restless leg body syndrome until I'd unwrapped the thing (and wrapped it back - sorry Mom and Dad-) and found out what was inside.

No, I wasn't even able to wait until the 20-week appointment to find out if I'm growing a blue or pink bonnet. Thank goodness for the early, 16-week gender-diagnostic ultrasound. Thank goodness they squeezed me in at closing time when I cracked under the pressure of seeing the machine and needed to know. Right then. And, thank goodness we found out with plenty of time to spare. I hadn't put too much thought into just how ruined one of my non-parasitic (see: umbilical cord no longer attached) kids would be when they found out the results.

To say Summit didn't take it well would be an understatement. He was completely devastated. He cried sobbed bawled for an hour straight. He was furious at me, at Matt, at Ella, at the new baby-to-be. As if we got to pick it out. As if we just ordered up the thing at Target. As if we had just subjected him to the ultimate betrayal: another girl. Eventually, Popi was able to console my forsaken 4-year-old son by explaining all of the benefits of being the only boy (see: fishing, four-wheelers, sword fighting with him while the yucky girls are shopping).

So, it seems that we're welcoming another baby girl into our fold! I had a dream about a sweet, rolly, brown-haired little princess just the other night. We couldn't be more excited! We love her to pieces already.