IT'S A.....

Ever since we told the kids back on Valentine's Day that we were having another baby, the kids have been desperate to find out if it is a boy or a girl.  Especially Mitchell.  Especially Mitchell.  Oh wait- did I say that twice?  I'll say it again- especially Mitchell.  The 3 girls have varied in their guesses of what they thought it was going to be- one day they'd all say girl, the next day one or two of them would jump ship and say boy.  But our Mitch Man never wavered in his conviction that he thought it was going to be a boy.  Really- the only possible thing in his mind that it could be was a boy.

He started making big plans for his new baby brother- they would share a room, he'd get him out of his crib every morning, and he even went as far as to think that he got to name is brother all on his own.

 (Joey and Josh were his two picks).

As the day of my ultrasound drew nearer, talk of what gender baby would became a multiple times a day conversation.  Ben and I decided it was a good time to discuss how baby gender's are chosen.  We told the kids that while it was fun to discuss and guess the gender of the baby, ultimately the decision had already been made.  Heavenly Father had chosen the gender of the baby already and that even if it wasn't what we thought (or were really hoping for), the gender was meant to be and that baby- boy or girl- was supposed to be a boy or girl and was meant to be in our family.

Mitch, as I said, was absolutely positive it was a boy.  Our sweet little man was definitely the one most interested in finding out and talked about our baby all the time.  Every single prayer he said always included, "We're thankful we can find out if the baby is a boy or a girl."  But we already knew he didn't think there was any chance that it could be a girl.  It just couldn't be.  Every boy needs a brother, right?

People asked me if I had any motherly intuition as to what the gender would be.  With Chloe, I knew without a doubt that she was a girl.  I also knew that Mitch would be a boy.  Being 2-2 in the gender guessing department, I was certain I knew the gender of both the twins.  I just knew we had a boy and a girl in there.  I was shocked to find out they were both girls.  From that experience, I had very little faith in myself to know anything for certain about this 5th baby.  Knowing that I so desperately wanted to give Mitch a brother, it was hard to imagine it not being a boy.  And my strong desires were over ruling any "motherly intuition" I might have had.  But practicing what we were preaching, I knew we had to expect that it certainly could be a girl.

The big day came- May 30th.  As I dropped Mitch off at school that morning, he kept asking me when my appointment was and when he would get to find out what the baby was.  He was so, so anxious.  I was too- I had had a dream the night before that it was a girl, so I really had no idea what to expect.

Ben met me at my appointment.  I was very nervous, for a number of reasons.  Finding a healthy baby was such a blessing. 

As soon as the ultrasound tech got to the gender portion of the ultrasound, I kind of held my breath.  She pointed out the "area" and I'm not the best at deciphering things on a sonogram.  If someone tells me what I'm looking at, I feel much more confident.  When she pointed out "the area" to us, I had a guess as to what it looked like, but was not confident in my guess at all.

Knowing our 3-1 ratio of girls to boy, the tech gently told us, "It's... a girl!"

I was shocked, but not really.  It kind of took my breath away, only because I knew how crushed Mitchell would be.  After the ultrasound, Ben and I were discussing the news and the word "disappointed" is a very harsh word.  We were only sad for Mitch's sake that he wasn't going to get a brother.  I knew it would take a day or two to wrap my head around that, but I knew after that I would be fine.  How can you be disappointed with a girl?  My 3 girls have been so fun and I knew a 4th would be even better. 

I knew it would kill the kids, especially Mitch, to have to wait until Ben got home from work to find out the news, but Ben really wanted to be there.  On the way home from the appointment, I stopped at the store and picked up some pink frosted sugar cookies to make the announcement.

When I picked up Mitchell from school, he didn't even say hi- he immediately asked, "So...what is it??"  He was so bummed when I told he we had to wait until Dad got home.

After what felt like an eternity, Ben got home from work.  I wrapped the sugar cookies in a grocery bag and told the kids to close their eyes.  I explained that if the sugar cookies had pink frosting it was a girl and blue frosting meant a boy.

Chloe was the first one to squeal.  Mitch knew right away what pink meant, but was quite stunned.  He kept asking, "Is it really a girl?"  When we told him yes, it was really a girl, he fell backwards on to the carpet and kind of groaned.  I thought for sure if he cried, I would cry.  But he handled it very, very well.  When Ben asked him if he could handle another sister, he gave us the thumbs down sign.

Luckily, the thought of getting to eat the sugar cookies cheered him up.

IT'S A GIRL!

We had to rush off to Chloe's softball game after that.  Lexi showed us her trick of doing the splits (quite well), and Leah tried to mimic (not so well).

After the game, we stopped by Dairy Queen to celebrate baby girl's big reveal day.  

As the picture shows, Mitch was doing fine.  He has handled the news great and is totally fine now, 7 weeks later.  He is still so very excited about this baby and still prays at every single prayer, "We're thankful we can have a baby."  Leah's newest phrase in the past few weeks is "I'm going to keep the baby forever," Or "I'm going to kiss the baby forever" and then she leans over and kisses my expanding belly.

This has been a very hard pregnancy, but has also been one of the sweetest.  To have four kids who all understand what's going on and to be so, so excited has been one of the sweetest blessings to me.  Not a day goes by that one of the kids doesn't bring up the baby in some way.  They love to touch my tummy and especially love when they can feel her kick and move.  I will often hear one of the kids telling another sibling, "The baby makes mom tired" as I'm resting on the couch.  Or they'll ask me, "Is the baby getting heavy?"  I have probably been asked 1.5 million times "When is the baby going to be here?"  September really can't come fast enough.  But until then, I will enjoy the daily reminders of the joy and excitement that this sweet girl will bring- it sure does make the discomfort and pains of pregnancy much more bearable.  And boy are we sure glad it's a girl!