Thinking blue

It's a boy! 

I do believe that this revelation explains my strange urge for Captn' Crunch Berries every night and his nonstop movement (which may be due to the sugar rush).  The neatest part of knowing is thinking about how this will fit with our family.  Everything is difficult to imagine when you are having a baby.  One day they are joyous thoughts and dreams of who they will be and the next moment they are there with their own approach to life from the very beginning.  I laugh to myself whenever new parents try to meticulously plan what their immediate future will look like when the baby arrives.  It never works out that way and I think most people figure that out pretty quickly. 

This week we have been doing plenty of imagining.  When we found out on Monday morning, Charles and I had breakfast together to talk about our first thoughts.  He immediately thought that this child will pee all over everything.  I instantly had this sense that our house would never be quiet again.  We then spent a good deal of time excitedly thinking about how Julia will respond to it all.  Gender aside, both of us thanked God that he appears healthy and is growing right on target.  

Julia was indifferent to the news that she was having a brother, but she happily announced that she was having a "brudder" to her grandparents.  The next day, she made the announcement to our neighbors, but proudly stated "sister", which we had to correct.  She's not a very consistent announcer, I think she needs more practice.

The second trimester is a funny thing.  I have felt this renewed sense of energy and I feel absolutely wonderful, which is vastly different from a few months ago.  That energy has translated into the need to get everything in order from the baby's room to random closets.  I think my nesting instincts are kicking in much quicker this time.  This is when all of the good stuff comes together and I remember why I loved pregnancy so much the first time around.  Just feeling him kick is such a precious gift. 

In many ways this feels very similar to my experience with my first pregnancy.  The only difference is the time to document everything.  Charles took this picture the other day and I realized that it was my first pregnancy photo this time around.  As a second child myself, I vowed to be just as diligent in assuring that he gets the same time and attention, but I am already recognizing how difficult this is.
Here we are at 21 weeks - Julia is giving her little brother a sticker.  It doesn't give the full "belly shot" effect, but it's the best we've got so far.

And here are some fun pictures from our "adventure" night.  These are mundane weeknights where nothing fun is happening, so we make up our own adventures.  This involved the "adventure" song, my winter hat  (Julia's pick), and a box.  The other day our adventure was going to get the oil change. I find that just singing the adventure song puts me in a better mood about boring things, so it's a win/win for everyone.