If You Can't Say Something Nice...

The other day my Aunt Patti told me I needed to tell some stories on my blog. I've been seriously lacking in the blogging department, but I have a couple of things working against me. First of all, this whole pregnancy thing has been a complete bear... Second of all, our computer died AGAIN. Aaron could not bring her back this time, so we have been without a computer for two months now. I have been keeping up with the outside world with my new ITouch. I can get the internet, but I do not have the patience to type on the mini little touchpad....

I told my Aunt Patti about these things and also added that I didn't have a lot of nice things to say at the moment, so I didn't really feel like writing anything. I try to 'keep it real' on the blog, but it would be stupid for me to complain about my life. We are truly thankful for a lot of things... I am pregnant... Aaron has a job... we don't have a blue tarp on our roof like a lot of people still do in a post-Hurricane Ike Houston. Life is good but when you feel like you have the flu for two months straight, it can be physically, emotionally, and mentally draining. When I had the stomach flu over Thanksgiving I lost quite a few pounds, and I have still not regained what I lost two months ago. I am 13 pounds under what I was when I was 14 weeks pregnant with Camden, and it's hard to keep anything down with this pregnancy. I've been on three different prescriptions to ease the nausea, but none of them worked. This pregnancy has been a lot tougher than my first one, but we are getting through it and understanding that this is a small season of life, and we get a totally rad child out of it. We're praying the sickness ends soon, I get healthy, and Baby McD stays healthy.

Now for those pregnancy questions we've been getting a lot...

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?"
I'm nervous to answer this question after I was completely wrong the first pregnancy. I knew my first baby was a girl. I knew it by those silly chinese calendars, how I was carrying, how sick I was, how everybody else said it was a girl... I was going to have a girl. Friends even called my belly 'Kate' because that was going to be her name. I'm a planner, so of course I planned names and nurseries for either one, but I knew it was a girl. At the ultrasound appt, I waited for the tech to announce "It's a girl!" but here's how it really played out...

Ultrasound Tech:(pointing at baby's nether regions) Well what do we have here?
Me: (squinting to make sure I saw right) It's a boy???
Aaron: *giggling*
Ultrasound Tech: It's a boy!
Me: Are you sure?
Ultrasound Tech: Oh yeah, I'm sure.
Aaron: *still giggling*
Me: *stunned* No crystal chandelier? (It was already in my Pottery Barn Kids online shopping cart.)

It wasn't until I got in the car that I started to tear up. I immediately called the one person who wouldn't think I was crazy for crying... my friend Jill. (Ironically I got the same tearful phone call from Jill last year when she found out her second was a boy.) I was crying for several reasons...

1. I was going to be a terrible mother because I didn't even have the maternal instinct to know it was a boy. (crazy pregnant woman thoughts)
2. I grew up around all girls. I had no idea what to do with a boy. Out of all of my cousins there was only one boy. (and we curled his hair and put make-up on him quite a bit, so that doesn't count.)
3. I was a high school teacher, and that year I had the most annoying, immature group of boys ever. They drove this pregnant girl nuts, and I did not think I could deal with one of those!

It took a good two weeks to adjust to having a little Camden and to get excited about having a boy. I was still nervous that I wouldn't know what to do with him though. It has been almost three years since then and I still keep that ultrasound appointment card in my wallet. It's a reminder that I have no idea what I need and God does because my Little Man is the perfect child for me. He's all boy, but there is such a sweet gentleness to him that melts any girl's heart. We're totally BFF, and I can't imagine a world without him.

As for the new baby McD... for some reason I think this one is a boy...but obviously I'm a terrible predictor, so what I think doesn't mean much. I haven't even checked those silly calendars this time. Will I be a little sad if it's a boy? I definitely won't be sad, but I know I will have to mourn a few things. There will be no one in the house who will watch Steal Magnolias and cry with me during Sally Field's monologue at the grave site... no one to go on the hunt for the cutest pair of shoes... and no one to share in the excitement over a killer sale on jeans. On the other hand, I'm actually a little nervous if I have a girl because I know how to handle boys now! Either way we'll be excited, and we don't have to wait long because my ultrasound is in three weeks!!!

Names?
Yes, we have names picked out, and they are set in stone. I know some people don't like to share names, but I'm okay with it. If you don't like them... that's cool because Baby McD is not your kid to name. If you steal them... whatevs... because I don't have a copyright on 'em.

Here they are folks!
Girl: Caroline Ann(e)
Boy: Bennett Aaron (He will go by Bennett, not Ben.)

Yay for Baby McD!
By the way, I have not forgotten about the Little Man. Updates and pics are coming... I just need a computer to download the pics!