Seeing Favour in our Future

I am 19 weeks today.  Almost half way there!  I had my second nuchal scan with the doctor yesterday, which is basically an in depth ultrasound.  I love that stuff, seeing all the little parts.  When the technician was doing the initial screening, the baby would NOT move.  It made it easy for measuring a lot of things, but when it was time for her to see certain things (like the heart), the baby was just not in a good position.  I had to roll over a couple times so the tech could get a different view. 

At the end of the ultrasound, the tech says, "Everything looks good with the baby, but" and I start mentally freaking out - is there something wrong with me?  The placenta?  WHAT IS THE BUT??? 0.5 seconds later, "but I think this little boy is a little girl."

Excuse me?

"But we don't have any girl names picked out."

Travis says, "I guess we're going to have to change the Christmas cards." (They have Colin's name on them.)

The doctor came in the room at that point to confirm that he is 99.9% confident the baby is a girl.  "No external plumbing on that one," he said.  Funny guy. 

So!  I immediately start thinking about names.  I couldn't get past the naming.  I couldn't see any farther than that.  I was so excited for Travis, because I know he really wanted a daddy's little girl.  Now, hopefully, he will have that.

When I was driving to work, I talked to Alexa on the phone.  She said she doesn't have the little baby girl clothes anymore, but she would save Skylar's current clothes.  Yes please!  I didn't even think about clothes.  I purposely chose neutral colors for Aiden's room so it would be easy to reuse for a boy or girl.  So we will be able to reuse most everything, but clothes are a biggie.  I'm going to go through Aiden's old stuff and pull out all his neutral things.  I can already see our bank account dwindling to nothing.

Aiden went with us to this ultrasound.  I got him all excited to go see the baby on the TV, but I think it was too abstract for him to see.  He got bored quickly.  Thank goodness for toddler apps on the phone!  Aiden seems to be grasping the concept of being a big brother a little more lately.  He knows there's a baby in Mommy's tummy, but not in Daddy's or his own.  I REALLY need to buy him some big brother books.  I was reading one of Blair's to him the other weekend and started crying while thinking about Aiden as a big brother.  I will be so proud, I know it.

Now that whole I-have-a-feeling-its-a-girl thing makes more sense to me.  I really thought the baby was a girl until they told me she was a he.  Plus, I have this theory that nausea is worse with girls because there is more estrogen in your body due to the second female on board.  With a boy, acne should be worse because there is more testosterone present.  I have had more nausea and less acne this pregnancy.  Now my feelings are founded!

I already think I have come up with The Name.  I need to mull it over a bit, but I'm 99.9% sure we're going with Mila.  It's Russian, ranked #364 in the US and means 'favour or grace'.  I like it's simplicity.

Christmas Photos

I forgot to post the photos from when we went to get the Christmas tree.  We also bought Aiden a mini tree to keep in his room.  He pulled it out and carried it around as Dad was lugging the full size version.

Helping secure the tree

He was able to turn one screw in all the way!

Setting up the trees

For our Christmas cards, we went to the neighboring town and took photos along the railroad that lines the main road.  I think due to the drought, a lot of the trees are changing colors at the same time.  Usually they all change at different times, meaning we never have a true fall.  It currently feels like fall in Illinois, even though we're one week from the first day of winter.

I used a tripod to take the photos containing all three (four?) of us.  It was tricky.  I'm pregnant, it was muddy, it was windy, Aiden does NOT smile on cue.  Here are those results - see for yourself!

Creating the Christmas cards helped us think long and hard about what we want to name our impending little one.  We've had a running list for months, but only a couple names remained on the list.  Our final choice?

Colin Curtis

Curtis is after Travis' dad.  (Aiden's middle name is Gregory, after my dad.)  We chose the name because we like it.  But after further inspection we found out the following:

• Colin is short for Nicholas in England.  My name is a female version of Nicholas.  So both our names mean 'victor', as in 'victorious person'.  My grandpa's name is Victor. 
• The name Colin was ranked #111 in America according to a Baby Center in 2010.

I loved the name Aiden and there is no way I would have changed it.  Even if I had known in advance that it would be the Top Boys Name for 6 years in a row, beginning in 2005.