Any early guessers?

I forgot to include the binoculars in the last post. When we put our curled hands up to our eyes, we say we're looking through binoculars. When Ellis does it she says she's looking through her "big-occulars" and when she just uses her fingertips, she says she's looking through her "little-occulars" and just today she introduced me to her "really-tiny-baby-occulars" :)

I had a 12 week (and 4 days) ultrasound yesterday. It was so wonderful to see a bigger baby along with a strong heartbeat, a spine, two-halves of a brain, an ear (I assume they're both there, but I only saw one), a bum and out-stretched legs, and a waving arm. Hard to believe there's a little person inside me growing like nobody's business every second of every day.

We are definitely going to (try to) find out the sex at 20 weeks. SOOOO...any guesses? The only clues I can give you are:

-I had a dream that at a very early ultrasound we saw the distinguishing characteristic of a boy.
-It's hard for me to picture a boy added to our family. A girl is easy to picture.
-We have a boy name we like enough to actually use.
-We have a girl name we like enough to actually use.

That's all I've got. Your guess is really as good as mine.

Funny girl

The scene: Ellis was combing my hair.

The instructions (from Ellis to me): "You need to hold very (berry), very (berry) still, okay sweetie? And my name is The Mama."

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Preface: Whenever Ellis gets grouchy and yells at me I ask her to please stop---I never YELL at her.

Out of the blue comment from Ellis the other day: Don't yell at me, Mom. I'm just a little girl.

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Lately Ellis addresses Gabe as Princess. Which is pretty hilarious.
For instance: Stop singing, Princess.
You are a sad little girl, Princess.

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Ellis: I'm gonna be funny now.

I'm considering using this one myself.

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Today Ellis was with a babysitter during her lunch. When I picked her up, in an attempt to keep her from falling asleep before we got home, I decided to ask her what she had for lunch (even though I packed it myself). I asked her if she ate her smoothie and she insisted she hadn't. I looked in the bag and it was gone, so I asked if she had eaten it before lunch for a snack. She emphatically denied eating the smoothie, finally saying, "I didn't eat the smoothie! I DRANK the smoothie!"

Introducing...

Our tiny gingerbread baby soaring through the final frontier:


This little one is due at the very end of January...six days before Ellis' third birthday. We are hoping and praying that he/she gets to stay in until the due date! Seeing/hearing the strong heartbeat at our first appointment a couple of weeks ago did a lot to put our minds at ease and also helped us to be excited! After miscarrying a few months ago it was difficult for me to allow myself to believe I was really pregnant. I know those of you who have been pregnant after a miscarriage can relate.

Ten weeks tomorrow. We are planning on finding out the sex when we can in a couple of months. Up until yesterday I thought it was a girl, now I'm having some feelings that perhaps I'm wrong.

The Three Muskateers

In reverse order, here are some (a lot) pictures from our day with Amy and her girls, Amelie and Finley. We cooled off in the park's stream and the girls got soaked. So much fun :)
















Before the water, we rode the train, followed by a picnic lunch in the shade.






Waiting for the train:




Running wild:


We started out at the petting zoo, or the aptly nick-named (by me), "Poo Zoo" as both Finley and Ellis stepped in poo, touched it with their hands and got it smeared on their legs. Flip flops were not a great choice for this particular portion of our outing. Live and learn. Fun was still had by all three of the girls, who got to pet a baby cow, baby sheep, baby donkey, baby goat, chased/got chased by (if you were to ask Ellis) a rooster, gawked at a big black duck, and a sleeping pig.



All watching the lone duck:




Amelie making sure the little girls don't touch the rooster, which is one of Poo Zoo's rules:

Wash Park

Smelling (blowing air through your nose onto) the roses:




Watching (scaring) the tiny baby ducklings:

hiccups

Ellis has the hiccups, so I mimicked her and said, "Hiccup!"

She replied, "No, I'm not hicking up."