It's a Girl!

We are not only expecting (not yet officially announced here, but you may have read between the lines) in early March of 2012, but much to our delight, we are expecting a baby girl! And what good is our first time ever finding out the sex of one of our babies before birth, without a hilarious story:

Since Paul was a little wishy washy about finding out this time (but ever the most kick ass husband, humored me anyway) I decided to make finding out a little more intimate and special for us than the typical threesome in the darkened ultrasound room. Awkward embraces, trying to avoid a gooey belly, and sharing the moment with a complete stranger. It is all a little odd, which is why we've avoided it. Until now.

With a bit of Paul's sketching and my precision art school folding skills we made this card and asked the ultrasound technician to, "PLEASE not tell us here," "agora." Instead, we would have liked for her to write "menina" or "menino" in the card to take it with us on our trip this weekend and find out together, over dinner, alone (with the rest of the restaurant, and perhaps our waiter, but whatever). Paul reiterated in Portuguese and the tech agreed, emphatically, that she "ALWAYS" writes it down, "no problem!" (Silly Americans)



We proceeded with the exam, measurements, squiggly baby, heartbeat, when suddenly she slams down "the wand" stands up and shouts out before I could muzzle her, "I can say one hundred percent...It is GIRL!"

The soundtrack to my best laid plans: SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH to a halt. I look at Paul and say with my eyes, "What the what!?" then we smile. I say "I told you so." Paul says "I told you Hanna's can make girls." I say "thank you for making a girl for me, you rock." I make a strangling motion at the back of the technician's head and then we decide that she is a goof ball and we all strangely embrace. She holds on a little too long to "Paulzinho" (little Paul) as she calls him and we all may or may not have had a group hug. I can't really remember in all the excitement, oddity, miscommunicationness. It was all very Brazilian, none-the-less

So, we saved the fun for Sam, who despite still trying to decipher his colors, was only slightly excited when he opened the card over dinner:

Paul & I: "If it's blue, it's a boy. If it's pink, it's a girl." (Toddler friendly and no, we don't really give a shit about stereotyping. We'll raise strong intelligent and open hearted children with words, actions, and kindness, not with colors.)

Sam [opening the card with buttered noodle fingers]: "Green?! What does it mean?"

Me: "Pink, Sam, pink. You're going to have a baby sister! Isn't that exciting?"

Sam: "Can I have some more noodles, no sauce please and dessert now?"

We are sure he will find the excitement in having a baby sister sometime...in....oh....say.....fifteen years when she is bringing her cute friends home.

Until then, I AM ECSTATIC, winning, lottery style. Our little family. Baby sister. Names. Dresses. Tiny fountain sprouts of hair on top of her head. Shopping. Ya Ya Sisterhood weekends. You get the idea.

Paul is excited and nervous, having never had a sister or daughter, but there is no doubt in my mind that she will steal his heart and he hers and they will dance away tiny toes balancing on polished dress shoes...late night feedings, kitchen floors, wedding first dances. Life is good. Really freaking good.