Surprise gender reveal

Paul and I have known since my appointment the day before Thanksgiving that we'd get to find out the gender of baby number two on Christmas Eve. Although it was going to be a little early (2 days shy of 17 weeks), they wanted to do an anatomy scan before we left for Kenya to make sure everything looked ok with the baby. We decided to keep it a secret and do something fun on Christmas to reveal the gender. I've been to several gender reveal parties and though they were super fun, something that big isn't really our thing but we liked the idea of surprising our immediate family. We also knew there was a slight chance it would be too early to determine the sex on the ultrasound so if that ended up being the case, our family wouldn't have to be disappointed.

Just a minute or two into the ultrasound, baby number two confirmed our suspensions of having a second boy. There was no denying it, just like with Gray. Although we've had a strong feeling we were having another boy for a while now, it was still so exciting to know for sure and be able to call the baby by name. More on that in a few...

My friend Ashley was keeping Gray for us so after the appointment we headed to a party store and stocked up on blue balloons. We wrapped them in a huge box and Gray opened it on Christmas Eve night. My family was shocked and Gray couldn't have been more excited about the balloons finding out he was going to have a brother.

 

Baby boy number two's name is Paul Walker, but will go by Walker. We've had this name picked out since before Gray was born and almost named him that but wanted to use Gray since it was a family name in case we didn't have another boy. Walker is not a family name, just one we have liked and talked about since right after we got married. We knew we wanted to use Paul but Walker Paul doesn't flow as well so there you have it. Of course we've heard some comments like "Haha, Walker Texas Ranger" and "don't you know there is an actor named Paul Walker?" and "did you know that the actor Paul Walker was recently killed in a car crash?", yada, yada, yada. Yes we know all about the actor Paul Walker and no our choosing that name has nothing to do with him or Walker Texas Ranger. Those names will be long forgotten sooner rather than later and we could pick the most common name there was and somebody would have something to say about it.

Anywho, it is sinking in more and more everyday that I'm going to be a mom to two boys and I have to say, I'm quite excited about it for so many reasons! Stepping on tractors and legos is a small sacrifice to pay. I'm excited about Gray and Walker having a brother, I'm excited thinking about them playing with their tractors together and down the road playing sports together. I'm especially excited that we won't have to buy anything (other than maybe a sippy cup or two) for this baby. Everything in the nursery will stay the same and Walker will even be able to wear all the same clothes since they will both have June birthdays. I won't be doing it often, especially since there is no need to buy more clothes, but I am excited about dressing my boys alike every now and then too.

Everything checked out great at our anatomy scan and we are so thankful to God! All of Walker's body parts and systems were counted for and healthy, though they can't get the information they need on the heart until 18 weeks or later so we don't know about that yet. My iron levels are up so I guess the shortness of breath is just pregnancy related. I'd gained a few more pounds, putting me at 6 total, which is one more than I'd gained with Gray by that time. No doubt the Christmas goodies were to blame for that! And I don't even want to think about how many pounds I gained in Kenya-there is nothing healthy to eat other than fruit and all of the other foods are carbs and starches. I have two weeks to eat healthier and get back to working out before my next doctor's appointment. I went to the Y today for the first time in three weeks and thankfully it wasn't as bad as I anticipated.

I am 19 weeks today and we go back to the doctor on the 21st. We'll get another ultrasound since I wasn't far enough along for them to get the info they needed on his heart. I am so excited about seeing him again! We never got to see Gray after 18 weeks and this will be my last one with Walker, assuming everything stays healthy and normal with the pregnancy.

Kenya post hopefully coming soon!