Team Green

By posting here, I'm making myself accountable.Tomorrow, you see, is my "big ultrasound" you know, the one where they tell you boy or girl? I mean they do lots of other important things, like measure baby's head (I'm betting 90th%), stomach, femur, and make sure baby has the right number of chambers in his/her heart, and hemispheres in his/her brain. This time though, we don't want to know boy or girl. So by posting here, I'm setting it in stone. We are not finding out the gender. We are NOT finding out the gender.This is a tricky thing for me, something I've never done in my 3 pregnancies before. I've always HAD TO KNOW. And this time, there's no urgency to know. I can be patient, and will be patient until about Halloween. Then I'll lose all patience.I've seriously considered having the ultrasound technician write it on a slip of paper and either giving the slip to my midwife, or even mailing it to a friend in Saint Louis, but I decided that leaves too much room for temptation. And who needs that? I have plenty of temptation all around me, for instance a delicious coconut poke cake is sitting my refrigerator right now. That's the kind of temptation I like.So I'm sitting here, team green, until October. And hopefully, if all goes well, Barry will be the first person, besides the ultrasound tech, to know if our baby is a boy or girl!Vote on the poll though! What do you think? Is #4 ANOTHER boy :) or is #4 something altogether new? A girl?

More of Baby Owen & his name!

So, the Sunday before my ultrasound, May 23rd, I was on a mission to find a name for the baby. We had our girl's name, and have had it for about a year, maybe a little less. But we were solid on girl names, just like every other time, ha! But for boys we were all over the map. Barry loved Elliott, I loved Bennett, but the middle name was set, Barry.

Now, those that know me, know that I have a slight obsession with baby names. I mean I read "The Baby Name Wizard" for fun. (PS if you plan on ever having children, I highly recommend this book!) While perusing the book, and the Social Security Names Database I came across Owen. Owen is one of my BFF's son's middle names, but Owen Barry, it had a nice ring to it. So I asked Barry, his response, NO WAY. Shot down. Sad. Sunday night we were doing a 'car ride' to get our monsters to calm down, because sometimes, they just get tooooooo wild, and the only place they get calm, is the car. And Barry was telling me the names of the kids in his Nursery class. One of them was Ezra. I had suggested Ezra for Gabe, but Barry wasn't too keen on it, except now he was! So we were set. Ezra Barry!

And then in the ultrasound, the boys freaked out, so my dear friend Sandy took them out. We totally didn't invite her to be child care, dang it boys! And then I had to go to the bathroom to get the baby boy to change position. While I was in the bathroom, I got this overwhelming feeling of, this baby isn't Ezra. But sort of shrugged it off, not wanting to think too much about it right now. We brought the boys back in, and like I suspected, they were fine, Gabe especially, once they saw the baby on the screen. And the ultrasound tech said, "It's a baby brother." Julian's response was priceless. If you remember, he REALLY wanted a sister. He already has a baby brother, why on Earth would he want another? "Oh man! I really thought it was a girl." And that was that. A few minutes later he said, "Mommy it's baby Owen!" When we got outside, Barry told me that hearing Julian say baby Owen, made it real for him, and that he liked it.

Turns out the meaning is youthful, or something, which is the same meaning as Julian's name! <3

And here is a picture of the little fellow from Monday. I had a gender recheck at the elective ultrasound place. There was no mistaking it, it's a boy!



Is it weird to be hopeful that he'll have my lips? I mean Julian sort of looks like me now, but Gabe is still so much Barry. I want a kid that looks like me!

Friday's Appointment & My Mother's Day

Well my appointment was Friday. Any hopes of guessing the baby's gender were dashed the minute the tech pulled me into the room. "You know it's WAY too early to tell the baby's gender." I nodded, a little disappointed. However, the baby looked great, just the right size, a round little head. I'd sent a picture message to Barry, to show to Julian. This was the picture that I sent to him.


Julian looked at the picture for a little while, and said, "Aww, my baby sister." And then Barry showed him the baby's head, hand, etc. After identifying all available body parts, Julian said, "Yep, that's a girl alright." He cracks me up!


Just one more picture of the little babe.



And here's my 14 week belly shot.


We are giving talks in church this week, so I've been falling asleep thinking about what on earth I'm going to say. I think that's led to some pretty crazy dreams. Last night my mother-in-law was in my dream, and talking to me about baby names. I told her the boy names we were considering were Avery and Brett, which aren't names we've considered, ever. Brett as a possible middle name, but never as a first. Ironically the girl name was spot on.

My Mother's Day was wonderful. We'd gone to breakfast on Saturday, with intentions of going to church on Sunday. Perkins, is SO good. So Sunday morning, we woke up, and both boys had slight fevers. And Gabe has a loud cough. And I wasn't feeling too hot either. So we stayed home. Had Panera bagels for breakfast (I'm thinking that the boys and I will have to stop there before finding End Of The Year Teacher's Gifts, today!) And Barry worked on his mancave/office. He managed the boys while I took a bath, and just soaked. I got to knit a little, and figure out what I'm going to knit next. It was a good and just chill out day, which was much needed.

We also found out that our old crib, which we haven't been using since moving here, was recalled. Not the tubular recall, but some other one. The spindles can break. So I spent part of the day filling out the paperwork, taking off the hardware, and getting it ready to mail into the company. They'll then send us a voucher for Babies R Us for a new crib. I'm so thankful to my friend Jackie for telling me about this. I was just going to throw it away! So now I get partial credit for a new new crib for the baby!

Well, I should attempt to get my boys dressed. I want to figure out the end of teacher gift things quickly, and stop off for a bagel :)

Early Mother's Day!

I did it. I convinced Barry of the worth of the ultrasound. And explained that Julian will be a lot more comfortable, in a non doctor's office setting. And that even if they can't tell at 16 weeks (which in reality they should be able to) I'll be able to go back for free. At that point, he'll be done with class work at school, and on his own study schedule for boards! (14 days and counting!!!) So if we have to go in a week later, not a huge deal. He just stays later at the library! So on May 26th, at 8:45 AM we will be heading to the ultrasound place, and doing it! I asked if it was OK to bring my 4 year old, and she said yeah, there's seating for 7. SO if you want to go...LOL! I do need to find a sitter though for Gabe. I know Julian will be fine, but G?! I'm not so sure. He's kind of a maniac. I'm really, really excited to know! And I'm not nervous about them telling me the wrong gender, because it's so early, because they are super trained professionals. I think, honestly, if we are having a girl, I will be in SHOCK! Seriously. A Palizzi girl!? Really? What are those ;) We are still talking names, and I asked Julian last night, which boy name he liked, and he said, "MOM, it's REALLY a sister. I've told you this a million times." (That was literally his quote.) So we'll see if he's right.

I have an appointment, with an ultrasound, tomorrow. I hope they give me a picture or something for Julian. He's really all about the baby. I posted this on facebook, but the other day, we were driving, and he said, "Mommy, we really need a rocking chair so I can rock my baby sister to sleep." How freaking sweet is that? Seriously?

Julian's almost done with preschool. He has school today, Tuesday, and then a picnic at the park on Thursday to celebrate his last day! I can't believe it! And I can't wait for school to start again. Both boys will be in school! J M/W/F and G W/F! It's going to be WEIRD! I think I'll miss my one on one time with G. We have a lot of fun when J's at preschool! But he definitely needs the socialization aspect. He's not shy, but he's definitely a mama's boy! Definitely.

I haven't been in a picture taking mood, so I don't have anything cute of them to post. I did make something pretty cute. My friend Dana was saying that she was having trouble finding something for her baby to wear to a wedding this coming weekend. She said the shade of purple she had to match was really weird. So we went to Joann's and found a striped cotton on clearance for $3/yard, and the purple matched PERFECTLY! Total cost? She already had the onesie, and fabric was a whopping $.75! It turned out pretty cute, IMO! I had to hand sketch the tie, I couldn't find my pattern I'd already made. It wouldn't have worked well anyway though, 3-6 months is MUCH smaller than 3T, in case you were wondering!


And back to babies, my childhood friend Elizabeth (Bizzie) is finding out if she's having a boy or girl today! I can't wait to know!!!

I fell in the toilet...

...TWICE this weekend. I know, I know. I live in a house full of boys, it's to be expected. Except, it wasn't the fault of the males in my house. It was totally my fault. After my vomiting this weekend, I forgot to put the toilet seat down! And then went to go potty later, and FELL in! Ugh.

Today, according to my doctor's u/s, puts me at the first day of the 2nd trimester. I'm really excited. Except I barfed this morning. I'm hoping today was just a risidual from the 1st trimester, and things are only going to look up!

This pregnancy has been one for the crazy dream handbook! I remember having ridiculously vivid dreams when I was pregnant with Julian and Gabriel. I remember having a specific delivery dream with Gabe that turned out to be ridiculously close to the truth. This pregnancy, I've already dreamt of nursing the baby (my biggest wish, and something that I am hoping to be successful at. Hey 3rd time is the charm right?!), delivering the baby IN AN AMBULANCE, with Julian and Gabe sitting next to me. Last night though, last night was the best dream ever. I was at Walmart, but it was AMAZING Walmart. And everything they have online was in store. So the pink bike I have been lusting over for years, was in store. First of all, let me go back and say that I was at Amazing Walmart on Black Friday. And there were Christmas decorations everywhere. I dropped Gabe off at child-watch, THANK GOD Walmart doesn't have a real child-watch! Could you imagine!? And headed back to find my bike, and a random assortment of wooden toys. I was cruising on my bike through Walmart! CRAZY! Ok so I guess this dream isn't as crazy as my nursing dream (sparing the details) and my ambulance delivery, but I hardly ever remember my dreams.

So I was considering getting an early ultrasound at like 16 weeks (the earliest the ultrasound place said I could come in) and finding out the gender early. Barry seems to think it is silly to find out just 2-4 weeks early. I can understand that, but on the other hand, I REALLY want to know! Plus I think it would be better for Julian, who's SO sure he's having a sister (even Gabe's jumped on the 'didder' band wagon!) to have the ultrasound done in a private setting vs. the doctor's office. If we do wait until my BIG ultrasound, we're bringing J. I need someone other than me to tell him that he's having a brother, if he is. I'm afraid that if I try to tell him, or Barry, he won't believe us. So what do you think? Is it stupid to spend $90 to find out 2-4 weeks early? Be honest, be real, I just want to know if I'm being dumb!