and baby girl makes four

IT'S A GIRL!

Aaron and I went for our anatomy ultrasound on Monday morning. I knew a little bit more of what to expect this time around, but I was very anxious waiting in the lobby. We had a different ultrasound technician this time, and she was very nice.

She explained everything she was looking at very well. And thank goodness for that because a lot of it still looks like black and white blobs to us!

Praise the Lord that everything looked healthy and the baby was wiggling around like crazy!

When she went to look for the gender at first she commented that she was pretty sure she knew the gender but wanted baby to spread its legs further before she said it out loud.

"Sure," said Aaron, "just drag it out!"

She checked on a couple of other things and then went back down to the baby's bottom. After some jostling with the ultrasound stick thing, Baby finally spread its legs wide enough for her to capture the screen and point out there were "no boy parts!"

"Looks like a girl to me!"

It's all a little fuzzy after that. I honestly couldn't say what I thought we were going to have, but I think kind of deep down I was figuring it would be another boy. So I was pretty shocked. Aaron, who already thought it was a girl, let out a happy shout.

We finished up, and she told me I could finally relieve myself of my very full bladder by this point. I know that I always have to leave a sample and the bathroom was literally across the hall. But in the two seconds it took me to walk in there, I totally blanked and forgot to pee in the cup. Oops! 

We had our regular appointment with the doctor after that and got to hear our daughter's strong heartbeat again. That never gets old. We have another ultrasound next month to clear up some confusion about our due date. She may be making her appearance a little bit earlier. We shall see!

A girl.

How exciting.

Being the insane planners that we (ahem, I mostly) are, we have had names picked for a boy and a girl for several weeks. We decided to not go with the girl name we had picked out to go along with Graeme originally. Instead, our new baby girl will be...

Maisy Katherine Bauer

Maisy (MAY-zee) is a name I started to see here and there on the internet that I really started to love and think was super cute. Katherine is the middle name of Aaron's grandmother that passed away just one month before we got married. She was very special to both of us and we have always wanted to use Katherine as a middle name for our daughter. Plus, "Maisy Kate" as a nickname is basically too cute.

When we first looked up "Maisy" we learned it was a Scottish name (it's a nickname for "Margaret"). This basically sealed the deal because "Graeme" is also Scottish. Who knew we are apparently very drawn to Scottish baby names?! Maisy means "pearl" or another definition we found was "light's creation." Katherine means "pure."

We pray our sweet "Pure Light's Creation" will grow to be a loving daughter of the King! She will definitely be our little princess. (Her father is already wanting to plan her first trip to Disney World!)

I am honestly still letting it sink in that I will have a little girl. I have always wanted a daughter. I grew up with a little brother, and in all of my many years of babysitting/nannying, I have mostly cared for little boys. I feel very comfortable with boys. A baby girl will definitely be a new adventure.

Just as I do with Graeme, I feel a great weight of responsibility in raising Maisy. Raising a child is no small calling. With God's help, Aaron and I pray we can raise both of our kids, and any future children (that's still way up in the air!) to know God made them, loves them, and wants to be their friend forever. And that they will grow up loving Him, making wise choices, and sharing His good news with the world.

We can't wait to meet our little Maisy Kate.

In other brief news:

1. I am 19 weeks pregnant now and feeling pretty great! I have felt baby Maisy moving for a few weeks, but Aaron is able to feel her now! 
2. We had a GREAT time at the beach! It was the first time we had ever gone on vacation with just my family. Graeme LOVED it this time and is still asking about the beach every day. I will have to do another post with more details of our last beach trip of the summer.
3. Graeme will be 17 months old on Sunday!?! I can't believe we are almost halfway to him turning two. If I had to pick one word to describe him right now it would be "FUN!" He is so inquisitive, curious, and smart. We are able to carry on pretty coherent conversations with him and he is very able to express what he wants. Or doesn't want. He is still mostly obsessed with the dump trucks outside our house.

He's going to be a great big brother in a few months!