first ultrasound, and other things

hi sweet catherine=)
here are some updates for you:

we heard newest babe's heartbeat a couple weeks ago. sweet music to our ears=) i had just turned 10 weeks and she told us before hand that it might be too early to find it, and she did have to search around for a minute but we finally heard that beautiful fast whooshing sound and i couldn't help the big grin that appeared on my face=) then we had our first ultrasound today and it was glorious too=) all appears to be well at this point-the little nugget is growing well and it was a pretty routine appointment. routine appointments are all we can ask for=) i'm 12 weeks now, and i asked the lady who was doing my ultrasound if 14 weeks was the earliest they ever guess at gender. she said they don't even guess that early, but at 16 weeks. that they're just so worried they would tell somebody the wrong thing since you can't always tell for sure that early, and they wouldn't want to tell someone the wrong thing. that made complete sense to me-it was the exact answer i expected. but then 2 minutes later she said "but i think i already know what you're having." i asked her if it was just a hunch type thing or if she knew by the ultrasound and she said "oh i saw it, but i'm not going to tell you now. you'll have to tell me at the next ultrasound if i was right or not." it didn't bother me that she said that, although it's obviously a little weird, but of course we couldn't help but start speculating about what she meant! it sounds like it's a boy, right??? i mean, i guess her saying she saw "it" could just mean she saw a vast nothingness between little babe's legs which would mean it's a girl, but i don't think you would make a speculation about the gender this early in a pregnancy unless you saw something THERE to lead you in one direction. right? we're not going out now to buy blue blankets or anything like that, but it's VERY difficult not to start planning in my head for a sweet little baby boy!! we have the next ultrasound in 4 weeks so we'll see what she meant then...oh. and there was definitely only one baby in my uterus. we broke the news to catherine gently and she seems to be taking it quite well=)

we're starting the work to finish our basement this weekend. and by "we", i mostly mean donnie and my dad. i'll do some supervising, i'm sure=) we live in a ranch on an unfinished basement and there are 3 bedrooms upstairs. the third bedroom is currently used as a guest room/office for daddy. and daddy works from home almost every day, so we definitely need an office space for him. so we're finishing the basement to have a guest room and an office and a play room/den down there, and turning the third bedroom upstairs into a nursery for our newest little sweet thing. and daddy and i got a new king size bed and new bedroom furniture today and i am SO EXCITED ABOUT THAT!!!! i keep walking by our room so i can stare at it. we've kinda been dreaming about a king size bed for a while, and i can't imagine anyone else cares, but it is definitely news worth mentioning to me=)

blog business: i have been thinking since i realized you were gonna live about what i would do with this blog once we had other children. and i still don't know for sure. and i used to stress about it, wondering if they would have their little feelings hurt and then that started feeling more and more ridiculous and i don't worry about it anymore. my plan is to write letters to you sometimes, or letters to this new baby sometimes, and just write with no direct object sometimes...

some things you say that are funny:
-jewelry is "gewelry". you're better about this now but it was pretty cute while it lasted.
-every time you say a verb in the past tense, you say it the right way and then add another "ed". stayed is "stayeded" and went is "go-ded" and told is "tolded" -- you get the picture. i know i should probably start teaching you the right way but i don't really want to=)
-when you have something to say you'll get an excited look on your face and say in your high voice "hey! i know one thing!" then you'll tell us whatever profound thought had just come into your head. super cute.
-you can read a little bit. smarty pants.
-if i am wanting to make sure you know how precious you are i will say "let me see your face" and you'll look at me and i'll whisper "i love you so much" and you whisper back "i love you so much too" and i know that's nothing terribly new, but i LOVE it.
-you kiss my tummy all the time, telling me that you're giving the baby a kiss, and you ask all the time when the baby will be big enough to feel it kick through my tummy. i think that's gonna rock your world, sweet girl=) -you love gum. you take the liberty of going in my purse and getting some for yourself on a daily basis.
-you also love: animal crackers, kiwi, carrots and ranch, slices of turkey, scrambled eggs (still), and you still pick mushrooms off of our pizza to eat only the mushrooms. weird little princess.
-you LOOOOOVE all things "Tangled". you told me that if we have boy/girl twins their names will be rapunzel and flynn rider. but you have finally told me that you will be ok with it if we only have one baby, and if it's a girl her name will be rapunzel and if it's a boy his name will be flynn rider. daddy and i do actually think we've decided on boy or girl names for this baby, and i can assure you they are not rapunzel or flynn rider. but i think it will be just fine if those are the nicknames you choose=)
-when we got home from the ultrasound today i showed you the pictures and you said you liked them and were smiling, then you said "that looks like a monster!" i kinda agree. ultrasound pictures are pretty strange looking if you don't know what you're looking at. but i always thought little ultrasound fetuses looked more like aliens instead of monsters.
-the other day you had just put on your shoes and were staring at them and then said "i think i'm alexis's best friend a little bit because we have the same shoes." (alexis goes to your school)
-"this bathing suit is too small for me so maybe i will give it to the baby when i'm four. or six. because i will be, like, gigi's age when i'm six." i love you babe. watching you grow and learn and become you is one of the greatest joys we have ever known. this is one lucky baby getting you for a big sister=)

mama

ps-lots of pictures to come. i mean LOTS. too much catching up to do in the picture department.