Week 18...and it's a BOY!!

Another week down, another week closer to meeting our sweet baby. We had our second ultrasound (first ultrasound was at 7 weeks) appointment this morning. We had been anticipating this day for many weeks, but the time spent in front of that machine was a million times sweeter than we even imagined it would be. All of baby's body parts and systems were accounted for and healthy, which was far better and more important news than waiting to find out what "it" was. She took all of the measurements and checked for everything before finding out what the sex was. As she was moving the wand around taking measurements, I heard her say "I know what it is", and as soon as she said that I knew it was a boy. A few seconds later she pointed out the evidence of him being a boy and there was certainly no doubt! We couldn't be more thrilled about our sweet little prince!

Our ultrasound tech was super nice and gave us 11 pictures of our sweet little man. He was facing down almost the whole time but he was moving his little arms and legs quite a bit. She was so patient and tried for a long time to get him to turn around so she could get a profile picture. He finally did at the end. The little booger is stubborn already. I won't mention which parent he gets that from. Mom and Gram, you can keep it to yourselves too ;) I am pretty certain I felt him one time when she was pushing hard on my stomach trying to get him to move. As I saw his leg kick on the screen, I also felt something inside of me that seemed like it had to be him. It was so quick though, and I didn't feel him again, or at least that I know of. In the next week or two, I should be able to start feeling his movements quite often. I can't even tell you how much I look forward to that!

Based on his measurements, our perfect little boy is about 7 ounces and 5 1/2 inches from head to rump, which is exactly what our baby sources say he should be at this week.

Here are a few pics from today...


Practicing his soccer moves and building up those calf muscles. Daddy is already so proud :)


The feet and hand pics are my favorite!



No question he is a boy!



After leaving the doctor and calling our family, we couldn't wait to go and buy something for Baby Boy. We only bought from the clearance sections but got several sweet little things. Between hand-me-downs, grandparents and great grandparents, I don't think we'll ever NEED to buy anything, but it was fun being able to pick out some things for him ourselves. Now that my mom knows that he is a he, a lot of his wardrobe will be sweet, hand knitted clothes.


With my heart so near and dear to Africa, there will be a lot of elephants and giraffes in sweet boy's nursery and clothing. I could not resist this hat...OH. MY. GOODNESS!!




Baby boy already has a sweater for his first winter. Gap clearance, 6 bucks!


We are pretty close to deciding between our two boy names but won't announce it until it's 100%. There's no going back once it's out there. Even being able to say "he" has been so much fun today. Paul and I feel so much more attached to him already after seeing him today. I could have looked at that screen ALL day!

I go back to the doctor for my monthly check-up on the 30th. Just two more weeks and we get to hear that sweet heartbeat again! God is so incredibly good!