We’re Having a Girl!

Since we had nearly all the family and closest friends all together in one place at Jack’s birthday party, we thought that would be a great time and place for a gender reveal of baby #2! Aaaand it worked out perfectly that Jack’s party fell on my 19 week mark so we could schedule the anatomy ultrasound for that very morning!

The ultrasound tech was wonderful, talking us through each thing she was looking at/for and reporting the various measurements, etc and how everything she saw appeared very healthy and normal. We had told her that we did want to find out the gender, just not at that moment, and she was great about doing a quick check without us even realizing it. We had her write down the gender on an index card and seal it in an envelope, which I then took to Party City and had them fill a black balloon with corresponding confetti after I left. The plan was to pop the balloon with everyone gathered and all discover the gender at once!

It kinda worked. The Party City employee used the iridescent confetti from the 3-part package with only a couple of the larger, bright pink pieces and upon popping the balloon, it took us several seconds to correctly identify what color had actually come out! HA!

We are overjoyed at God’s gift to us of a baby GIRL! Zach totally called it from the beginning. I, on the other hand, wasn’t so confident. Granted, nearly everything about this pregnancy has been completely different than my pregnancy with Jack, but that is not necessarily a gender indicator. Maybe it is/will be for me, but I don’t have enough children to make that call, haha. As people asked me what I was hoping for or wanted, I honestly found myself torn. There were such wonderful reasons to desire both! On the one hand, since Jack and this baby are only going to be 17ish months apart, the idea of it being a boy was very appealing – brothers and buddies so close in age! I loved it! Plus I already have lots of boy clothes and they will be sharing a room for the next couple years at least and the room is already decorated for boys. On the other hand, I do very deeply desire to have a daughter and it would be nice to sort of “lock that in” and get one of each right off the bat. And I mean come on, the girl clothes are off-the-charts adorable. Oh the fun to be had with outfits and hairbows and accessories! By the time the anatomy ultrasound day came, I still felt torn but if I was being honest, I would have to admit that I was hoping for a girl a teensy bit more than I was hoping for a boy. 🙂

And a girl it is!

(And in case you’re wondering, they will still be sharing a room while we live in this house and I’m not planning to redecorate. The corner of the room where she will eventually be sleeping is still a little blank so I’m planning to put some sweet, girly decor up there. A pink airplane, perhaps? 😉 )

Chloë Delaine is the name Zach and I have chosen for her. We have had the name Chloë picked out since before we were married. It was one of those things where we were having fun discussing potential children’s names and Zach said, “I’ve always really liked the name Chloë” and I said, “That’s pretty. I like it too!” And it’s been our #1 pick ever since. Aaaaand we may or may not have later realized the “Jack and Chloë” connection from 24 and thought, “You know, we are totally ok with that!”

Her middle name, Delaine, is actually very meaningful for me as it is the middle name of my best friend, Raigan. Raigan and I have been friends for over a decade and have such a storehouse of memories, conversations, road trips, laughs, tears, sleep overs, jokes, and wonderful times together. She was a HUGE part of my relationship with Zach, there for pretty much every single part of our story and culminating in being the maid of honor at our wedding. Despite living in 2 different states for 2 years, we have stayed close and even grown closer.  I am so happy to get to name my daughter after someone so dear to me.

JackJack turns 1!

our cute little bean sprout turned 1 on the 7th!  we had a small-ish party with family and a couple close friends.

it’s hard to believe that we were just meeting him for the first time only a year ago…

and now look at our big big boy!

at his party we at lots of food,  enjoyed a very impressively decorated airplane cake that my mom made,

and opened presents!  Jack received some pretty fantastic gifts – all of which have immediately been put to use and greatly enjoyed (balls, blocks, trains, walker wagons, bath toys, etc).

my parents kindly hosted the event and zach’s parents were in town – so it was very special to have BOTH sets of grandparents present.

instead of cake, jack got a special birthday chocolate pudding…

…which daddy ensured got all over his face in lieu of frosting, etc. haha

these days, jack has quite the exciting life.  he loves hanging out with his daddy whether it be helping build things,

pointing out his buttons

or working on the computer.

he regularly empties the towel & tupperware cabinet and crawls around with a piece of tupperware in his hand:

he spends lots of time with mommy too…

and in his high chair seat:

speaking of the high chair seat… this kid LOVES eating solids and “real” foods!  and while he likes sweet potato and applesauce as much as the next kid, he has surprised us with his love of full-flavored, savory foods!  his favorite thing is hard boiled egg yolk mashed up with spicy red pepper hummus.  i’m not even kidding.  he gets very impatient and whiny while i’m mashing it all up because he wants it so badly!  and he will scarf down mashed black beans and mashed peas as quickly as anything else.  funny kid…

living in arizona, having kids that enjoy water fun and swimming is simply a necessity.  we have started him out young!  from bathtime…

to a baby pool on the back porch…

to the local public pool…

he has grown to LOVE being in the water!  we have also started him in infant swim lessons so he can learn survival skills and how to be safe around the water.  SO important with little ones and especially living in a state where swimming and pools are so prevalent!

it seems that jack has had an explosion of comprehension and development in the last 3-4 months.  he understands and remembers a lot of words, even if everything he says sounds like “bah!”  we have actually been a little startled to realize how much he understands and remembers.  if we say “jack, where’s your ___?” or “jack, go get your ____”, he knows “ball,” “books,” “walker,” “bear,” “snowy” (stuffed dog), “duckduck,” and “xylophone,” to name a few.  he can point to his hair, ears and self when we ask, and also sticks out his index finger when we say, “jack, how old are you?”

we have recently started to teach him a few sign language signs to help him communicate more.  he picked up “please” within 1 day and within 2 days was using it unprompted for multiple things we hadn’t tried yet!  and he has just started to understand how to use the signs for “more” and “help” (like for when a toy gets stuck under the couch and he can’t reach it, etc).

he has been “cruising” (walking while holding on to the couch/coffee table/etc) as well as walking with a little walker for a couple months now, and we were wondering when he would decide he wanted to actually walk on his own.  well, it just started happening over the last few days!  he has started to stand up on his own from a squat an independently takes quite a few steps to/from us, the coffee table, his walker, etc. – laughing the whole time!  he thinks it’s hilarious!  maybe it’s because of the way we cheer each time….

i don’t think a day goes by that i don’t pause for at least a brief moment in amazement at how much JOY i experience as a result of this child.  i knew i would like having kids.  i also knew it would be a lot of work.  but man, i was simply not prepared for the joy and delight that can be found in having a child.  it is truly beyond anything i had imagined.  caring for him and loving on him and watching him grow, learn, develop, play and live is wondrous.

jackjack, your mommy and daddy love you far more than you will ever know – and being your mommy and daddy is the happiest job we have ever had!  happy birthday, Bean Sprout!