Oh BOY!

Today I had the wonderful experience of finding out the gender of our baby!  My midwife met me at the ultrasound office.  This little guy was really shy and it took a long time to get a good picture of the gender.  I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to find out!  I was kinda hoping for a boy for my Simon to have a buddy, so I am really, really excited. 

After the ultrasound, I went to Target and got some cute boy clothes.  I was kind of in a hurry and very excited, so I just picked a bunch of things I liked.  I wasn't even that stressed when the total came to quite a bit more than I thought.  After all, we "needed" them. 

I met my co-op mom friends for lunch and shared my news!  It was fun and exciting to show them the cute things I picked out.  We had a nice lunch and a lovely talk about all kinds of things: Santa, "The talk", good literature and how to get our kids interested.  I just love being able to talk with like-minded moms about things that are important.  I'm so grateful for these awesome ladies!

Then I stopped by Dallin's work to share the news with him.  He had a little blue note folded in  his pocket that he handed me after I told him the news.  He had a pink one in his other pocket, so I confiscated both for the baby book!  We're thinking we really like the name Sullivan. 

The kids came running to greet me to see what color of clothes I had in my bag!  It's a BOY!  They all shouted.  Simon was very excited, "I thought it was a boy, I said it was going to be a boy!  I'm going to have my own brother!"  Simon and Sarajoy spent 20 or 30 minutes playing with the baby clothes in the crib. 

The receptionist for the ultrasound place misinformed me about the water intake before the ultrasound.  She said I needed a quart in me one hour before.  Well, by the time I got there, I was so miserable and full that the tech could hardly see my baby. He took one quick peek and sent me to the restroom. My uterus was so irritated that I kept having contractions.  He said it was making my placenta look lower than it really is.  That whole lovely experience left me with a stomache ache and headache for the rest of the day. 

I got dinner started, and Nathan offered to take over so I could lie down for awhile.  While I was trying to sleep (between about 20 interruptions), I started thinking about all of those baby clothes.  We've worked so hard this month to stay within our budget, sacrificing things I never thought I would like milk and butter.  Why on earth did I think it was okay to spend that money on baby clothes?  Did we really need them?  Laying there, I decided that we don't.  I have 5 months to see what hand-me-downs make their way to my door.  I have yards of fabric that I can use to make clothes, and I'm sure we'll get some gifts.  I realized once again that it will actually be more fun and fulfilling to "make do" than it is to just go to the store and get what you want.  Technically, we "have" the money for those clothes.  But I know there are better ways for that money to be spent, and I like the feeling that I'm being a good steward.

But it was really, really embarassing to admit this to my husband and kids.  I can't wait to get those clothes back to the store so I don't have to think about my blunder anymore! 

I was glad I had the courage to talk to the family about it, though.  I think it made a nice FHE lesson. 

And I'm really excited to prepare for this baby by being thrifty and "making-do"!

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