It's a...

GIRL! I must say that I was totally shocked. I always thought "mother's intuition" about the gender of an unborn child was crazy and that was proven true. I was convinced it was a boy and I was totally wrong! I have always thought that Mark would be a great Dad to a little girl and I know that I will love dressing a girl, so of course we are thrilled. Just surprised and thrilled.

Everything at the doctor still looks good. It was really great to see her on the sonogram today. She has little legs, hands, arms, and a big head. Her head measures 21 weeks while the rest of her body measures 19 weeks. She is going to be a smart one! I was a litte sad to find out that this will be our only sonogram throughout the pregnancy though. We made the most of it, looking at her, and asking lots of questions. It's so fun to be experiencing this joy with a loving husband, awaiting a child that is wanted! A funny moment during the sonogram was that at one point, I said, "Is that the face?" and Mark followed with "Are those the eyes?" The sonogram lady smiled and explained it was her abdomen we were seeing and the dark spaces were her stomach and bladder! We obviously don't know much! The baby and I are still doing really well.

We did not want to find out the sex of the baby in the office. We wanted to find out on our own so we had the sonogram lady give us a print out of the baby picture and on it she wrote, "I'm a girl." We then put the picture in an envelope and went to lunch together. We really had a great time at lunch. We went to a place we had never been called, "Canvas." I knew it was a little sandwhich shop/cafe/bakery but we had never been. We ordered sandwiches and I had a seat. As I was waiting I pulled out the envelope with the pictures inside and a few of the other pictures that did not show the "parts." The owner was walking past the table and said, "wow, that's a little baby." Of course, I couldn't resist sharing so I told him we were getting ready to open the envelope and find out the sex. Mark soon returned with our drinks and we opened the envelope together. It was a sweet time. We happily ate our sandwiches and talked about what it will be like to have a little girl. After we had finished, the owner came over with two huge cupcakes and said "Congratulations!" Canvas, is our new favorite little spot. It's also right across from the hospital so I'm sure we will be eating there again soon!

When we got home, Mark and I both made some calls to order goodies for the grandparents-to- be. All of our parents were sweet enough to make trips to the store to pick up their surprise! Mark had the best idea. He ordered a cake for his parents that said, "We're having a " on the top and then on the board the cake was sitting on, it said, "girl." I ordered a little cake for my dad and Janet and then I ordered some pink flowers for my Mom and Vern. It was really fun to get phone calls throughout the day as they all found out about baby girl Taylor!

One of the questions Mark asked me at lunch today was "What do you want to do first?" All I could think was that I wanted to buy our first baby girl outfits. Tonight, we headed out to Target and Mark picked out the first new outfits for our little girl!

I feel very blessed by God in the timing of everything. I have patiently waited to find out the sex of the baby and today turned out to be a great time for Mark and me. I have also been working a good bit lately but this week I have several days off. Lindsay and I plan on going baby/maternity clothes shopping tomorrow and I'm sure that I will begin my search for baby room decor this week as well! Many more posts to come...