The baby is a....

So two weeks ago we went for our anatomy scan ultrasound and are pretty certain we know what we’re having.

I know gender reveal parties are the big thing these days, but I felt a little silly doing a huge event with our second child considering we didn’t do it with our first. However, I still wanted to use some baked goods to share the news. Since the only cake balls I’ve ever made were made with red velvet cake and everyone LOVES them, I didn’t want to venture far from guaranteed success. So I tracked down an easy recipe for a blue velvet cake (involving a box cake mix, SCORE!) and made one blue cake and one pink cake.  Bryce sat right beside me as I was rolling the cake balls prior to placing them in the freezer and he probably ate 1 out of every 3 or 4 I made. He doesn’t care if they are decorated or not! Since I wanted to share the news with the girls at work on Friday, I went ahead and finished/decorated about a dozen of each color so that I could share the news with our parents, siblings, and closest friends on Thursday evening and then decorated the correct color of cake balls for work the next day. So below are a few of the finished products.

 

So is Bryce going to get a baby brother or baby sister???

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 According to the ultrasound tech…it’s a GIRL! And the shots below are pretty convincing!

Of course considering girls are often mistaken, I went ahead and posted the ultrasound on the Ultrasounds board on baby center to see if the tech there agreed and she  stated she could definitely see girl parts, and a couple others agreed it was a girl! I sure hope they're right!

So initially we were all in a little disbelief! Nic made it no secret that he wanted another boy. Bryce begged for a baby brother, and even the weekend after told me how he REALLY wanted a baby brother. Bryce has since accepted it and is just as excited as he was before...Nic not so much! I think he's scared of having a little girl...especially in the teenage years!

Besides finding out the gender, there are a few other stats worth noting...

Baby’s estimated weight was 10 oz, and was measuring 19 weeks 2 days. Heartbeat was abouts 152 bpm. All in all baby looked healthy. 

End of the School Year

Since we returned from Cozumel…which now feels like AGES ago… it has been a whirlwind. My brother, Dad, and step-mother came in town for a golf tournament, then Bryce had a Class Program (which I will elaborate on below), then we snuck down to the lake, came back for a birthday party the next day, and then there was Mother’s Day. Then we spent the weekend in Western Oklahoma for my brother’s high school graduation and then came Memorial Day weekend!!?! Thankfully June hasn’t been too crazy, but we still have managed to keep ourselves busy even though we haven’t been back to the lake since Memorial Day weekend. Geez, I feel I’ll never catch up! However since the primary purpose of this blog is to serve as a journal for me, I feel I need to just pick up where I left off…and try not to leave anything too memorable out.

 So about that Class Program…that occurred on May 6th.

Bryce started the “school” year off in the 3 & 4 year old program, though he wasn't quite 3 years old yet; so one Monday evening we were treated to a “End of the Year” program. Occasionally I had heard Bryce singing songs that I did not teach him, as the only songs he seems to learn from me are Party Rock Anthem and Sexy and I Know It! Then I’ve also heard him say the Pledge of Allegiance, so I had no doubt that he was learning and would participate.

So before the program I had set out some clothes for him to where… he apparently didn’t like the jeans I had picked out, but fortunately did wear the shirt I chose. Then he insisted that I “spike” his hair up. So he was quite dashing when we left the house, but when is he not?!

Nic was on duty, but was able to have another guy come in and work for him a few hours so he could attend since the school is out of his fire district; so he met us there. I left Bryce with the rest of the class and we took our seats. Bryce led his class in onto the stage where, ironically, there was a sign stating “No children allowed on the stage”! LOL! 

 

They started the program off by saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Then they began with the red song and proceeded to sing a couple of other color songs. At some point in the middle of this Bryce stopped to wave at me and said “Hi Mommy!”. 

 

  

In addition to the color songs they sang a fire truck song, for which I saw a helmet on Bryce’s head one moment and then the next it was gone! At the time I wasn’t exactly sure where it went and why he wasn’t wearing it any longer, but I just thought they were short some hats. 

 

So they went on to prepare to sing “We’re going on a lion hunt”. This song evidently involved props such as hats and backpacks. I heard a girl say “I want the backpack!”, then the teacher replies, “No, Bryce gets the backpack because he doesn’t want to mess up his hair!” OMG! I can’t even believe this is my child! He sounds more like my sister’s child! LOL! Evidently this is also what happened to the fire helmet in the previous song!

After they did their final song, which they requested audience participation for, there was a small reception where cookies and punch were served. Before Nic left to go back to the station, I snapped this shot of Bryce and Nic…which probably has to be one of my all-time favorites.

Overall, I’m impressed with everything he has learned in daycare this year. It has definitely turned out to be more of a preschool than a daycare. He can count to 14 or 15. He can count some in Spanish. Of course he can recognize all of his colors and can recognize his numbers. He knows his ABC’s, though he slurs K through P. He can almost spell his name B-R-B-C-E. I think he asks “Why?” so much that he can’t make the connection that it is also a letter.

 Just some other fun facts to be recorded at this point in time:

• His favorite color is red. Fire Trucks are red, OU Sooner colors are close to red,
• His best friends are Mommy, Daddy, and Gavin. He likes to use this as a bargaining chip when he wants something.
• He LOVES the water! He never wants to take a bath, but once I get him in there I can’t get him out.
• His favorite song right now is Party Rock Anthem, thought Sexy and I Know It, Dirty Road Anthem, and Boys ‘Round Here are not far behind. I think I need to look into some Kids Bop CD’s.
• His favorite cartoon is Team Umizoomi. 
• His favorite food is macaroni and cheese.

As if it's not obvious, but I did distort the kids faces on the close-ups to protect the innocent. ; )

So. Far. Behind!

I have at least two posts waiting to be finished and posted, but I just haven’t had it in me. Morning sickness and exhaustion has hung on far longer than with Bryce. I haven’t touched my laptop in so long that I had to search the house for it! So until I get around to finishing up the other waiting posts, I thought I would at least give a quick pregnancy update.

Currently I’m about 17 weeks. Thankfully I believe the morning sickness has taken its leave for now, but exhaustion remains and heartburn/indigestion is no doubt here for the long haul. My appetite has definitely returned and I feel I’m CONSTANTLY hungry. My easy go to snack has been fruit since I always have some at home and it’s available at work. I’m still drinking a lot of milk, sometimes I feel I just can’t get enough.

I’ve officially given up on normal pants and have succumbed to the comfort of maternity pants! I don’t know why I try to put it off for so long. It may be the challenge to go as long as I can in normal clothes or just the fact of giving up my normal wardrobe, including my favorite pair of jeans!

I’ve been feeling the baby move for a couple of weeks now, though I haven’t yet felt any real kicks. I am excited for the day when Nic and Bryce can feel the baby kick from the outside. I think that may make it just a little more real for Bryce. 

 Nic and Bryce both hope it’s a boy, my sister and I both feel it’s a boy, and the necklace test indicated it was a boy. Surprisingly I’ve been far more patient with this pregnancy, maybe because I know (or thought I knew) what to expect the second time around, but I’m going to hold off as close as I can to 20 weeks before we go back for our second ultrasound where we find out the gender...hopefully.

I had a doctor’s appointment Friday. My net weight gain is about 2 pounds so far; considering I lost weight from my first and second appointments, but I definitely gained it back this month. The baby's heart rate was about 145 bpm.

I think that's about all for now...I'll try to finish the other posts I've been working on but in the meantime here's some pics of Bryce being silly as usual.

I apologize for the less than stellar quality as they were taken with my phone...I'm just a little lazy these days!