19 weeks and IT'S A...

We were able to see our precious baby yesterday!  Our youngest baby, that is.  Whenever I say "Where is my baby?" John Ryman pats his chest and says "baby".  Yes, sweet boy, you are my baby and will always be no matter how many more babies we add to our family.  Patrick usually joins me when I know I will have a sonogram.  John Ryman sits with him and loves to point out all the screens, lights and pictures of babies. 

Our baby's sensory development is exploding and might even be able to hear our voices now! 
Baby G weighs 1/2 a pound, about the size of a large heirloom tomato :) and the arms and legs are now in proportion to the rest of the body.   Absolutely amazing!  My heart hurts for any person who can see the detailed curve of a spine or four chambers of the heart beating strong and still believe that the baby is not a life.  Even John Ryman could look at the screen, seeing its arms moving and head turning, and say "baby".  Our sweet baby had both arms cuddled around its face and crossed those precious feet towards the end of the sonogram, showing off every tiny toe.  Thankfully, those legs weren't crossed the entire time so we could find out the gender!! 

While we both thought it was a girl from the beginning, we truly would have been delighted either way.  We were just ready to find out and get to know our baby a little more.  Our first prayer has always been that this baby would grow to know God, love Him and serve Him.  Our second prayer is that it would be healthy and grow into the little man or lady that God created it to be.  Some days I pictured John Ryman with a little sister- protecting and loving her- while other days I thought there could be nothing sweeter than two brothers close in age exploring life together.  I think I naturally leaned towards wanting a girl simply because we already have a son and I would love to experience being a mother to a daughter as well. 
All that to say, we were pretty anxious and ready for this Dr. appointment to arrive!

As much as we wanted to be surprised for our gender reveal party later that night, we felt like we needed to have a special family moment that morning and then have time to share with out of town family before the party.  My dear friends, Heidi and Christine, put together an adorable party "Beau or Bow" to celebrate our little baby and share the gender!  What a special day full of memories!

(all our friends marked their prediction on the board.  In the end... Girl won by 1!)

We opened a big box full of balloons to share the news- It's a GIRL!!!!

  We are ready to add lots of Pink and Bows to our house! John Ryman has been practicing saying "sister" and we are dreaming of names and designing the nursery.  Almost halfway there- can't wait to meet our precious daughter and see John Ryman as her big brother!