Little Mexican Dress

I'll post about Mexico as soon as I have some pictures, but allow me to tell you about one of the highlights. We surfed, we snorkeled, we relaxed on the beach, we read, we slept, we took boat tours, we saw whales, we ate lots of tacos, we fished, we went to the flea markets, we spoke a ton of Spanish, we went to a glass-blowing factory, and we ate gelato (that one doesn't quite fit since we didn't go to Italy). But one of my favorite things was our one random impulse buy. I was walking through the little flea market stands and I saw this darling little Mexican baby dress. It was white with little red and blue flowers, and I thought it was so cute and little. Jen was buying one for their little girl (who is due July 30th), and I thought... if I get home and find out that our first child is a girl, I'm going to be really sad that I didn't get this little dress. It looks kind of similar to this (minus the design on the bottom):



Well... we'll find out if we're having a boy or a girl in... oh... about three weeks! so... I guess if it's not a girl this time around, then we'll have to pack it up in storage.

Yep! We're expecting our first little person this August (He/She is due August 31st)! We couldn't be more excited! And we couldn't be more grateful! I'm 16 weeks along, and we can't wait to find out what it'll be!

For those of you who didn't know already and feel sad that I'm telling you the same way and at the same time that I'm telling Joe Blog-stalker, don't feel bad. I'm not one to send a mass-text and tell the world. I figured people would just start finding out as we go, but a quick word on the blog might be a good way to tell friends I don't see or talk to regularly. You're still my friends, friends! Plus, we didn't even tell the parents (on either side) until we were already out of the woods with our first trimester. I spent the whole time feeling tired, but not a bit nauseous. I consider myself extremely lucky. I'm also lucky that my biggest cravings included string cheese and yogurt... and that my strongest aversion was to chocolate and ceasar salad.

It was fun telling the parents. For Scott's parents, we sent them a package with two Berernstein Bears books about a new baby and visiting the grandparents. We wrote a little note with the due date in the front inside cover. We had them open it while we were on the phone so we could be excited together. We told my parents at a dinner up at their house. My grandparents were there, and so was my sister with her family. We told my mom we had a V-Day present for her. The present was a beautiful glass butterfly figurine (For V-Day from my dad, she was given 3... one for each grandkid). So we gave her one more, to let everyone know that she was about to have 4 grandkids instead. It was so fun to tell our families! And we were already 1/3 of the way through when we did! It makes the whole process go by really fast.

So let me know what you think... boy or girl? I go in for the ultrasound on April 4th. (I've already had one ultrasound which revealed our baby with froggy little legs...which I love). I'm proud to be able to say that I've gained 6 pounds in 16 weeks (this is a huge triumph because I was only able to put on 1 measly pound between weeks 8 and 16). I'm still not showing and I'm wearing all my normal clothes... but I hope to start showing soon. Then maybe it'll feel a little bit more real! We heard the heartbeat at 8 weeks. It was 160 beats. Today it was at 156. I'm told that a high heartbeat like that usually signifies a girl... but I've been convinced all along that it's a boy. Who knows? We'll be thrilled either way. At night, when I'm having a tough time falling asleep, I rearrange the furniture in our house in my mind... I'm really excited to start to make room for this little one!

Does anyone know a better way to display our pregnancy countdown? I've never been a fan of the strange floating fetus you see on the left. It's extremely creepy.