sugar & spice & everything nice...

...that's what little GIRLS are made of.

We went for an ultrasound this past Wednesday to check growth and to find out what the baby's sex was and my, oh my, did we get some news!

I think I said in my last post that I didn't have any expectations, no hunches about what this one might be and I really didn't.  Jeff actually called it, though -- he thought it was a girl for some reason.  Anyway, when they said, "Well, yeah, you're right -- it's a girl", I'm not entirely sure that I had any kind of reaction.  Seriously.

I mean, I said I wouldn't be disappointed with either one and I most definitely wasn't disappointed.  I was excited.  But I would've been just as excited if it had been a boy.  So.  This feeling, knowing I was growing a girl...weird.  That's all I can say.

We certainly had some reality checks during the appt.  We found out it was a girl almost immediately (like, seriously -- that was RIGHT where she put the wand down on my belly) so everything that was said through the rest of the appt was "her this" and "she that".  Weird.

And then...THEN.

The ultrasound tech said something like "...yeah, she's not going to turn her face out -- she doesn't have her hair and makeup done...".  Jeff paled and with jaw dropped, he said, "Oh, man..."  I wish you could've seen it.  BOTH of us were thinking, "Wow, our vocabulary for the last 3 years is about to take a 180 turn..."

Anyway, baby girl got an A+!  Both the ultrasound tech and the nurse afterward said that everything with her looked wonderful, right where she needs to be at 18 weeks.  She weighs about 8 oz.  :)

I caught Jeff staring off into space after the ultrasound, before the nurse came in, so I asked him what he was thinking about.  He kind of shook his head and said:

"I was just thinking that I'm going to walk her down the aisle one day."

Oh, wow.  He's already gone THERE.  I was thinking we have to get through prom first...

Or how about we just think of her name first, huh?

2nd birthday...

2nd birthday party...MUCH different than the first birthday party.

 

Instead of a small family gathering at our house, we partied it UP at a nearby park in Surf City with lots of friends and wind.

 

Yes, lots of wind.  Brrrr.  The party was from 10am-12pm on Nov 3.  Hello, fall!

 

Yeah, I took a risk.  You never know how it's going to be around here.  Had the party been a little later in the day, we would've been fine, but the cold didn't seem to bother the kiddos.  Just the adults.

 

Go figure.

 

 

 

Anyway, we still had lots of sunshine in attendance so that did wonders to ward off the chill.  The kiddos played on the playground for the beginning of the party and then when they started getting hungry, they wandered over to our shelter to grab some party snacks.  We had:

 

chocolate chip pumpkin bread

cheeseballs

goldfish

white cheddar popcorn

cupcakes

(cute little) mini water bottles

 

I did make most of the decorations again this year (it was a train theme), but couldn't do as much as last year since we had to set up outside.  Most of them were on the food table, but I did make a banner than no one could read cuz it was so flippin' windy. 

 

Nice. 

 

It said, "Choo-Choo, Deacon's 2!"  I hung it in our house for a couple weeks after his party, just to get some more mileage out of it.  :)

 

After everyone ate their fill, we spread out a big mat on the ground and let Deacon open his presents.  He did pretty good.  He never wanted to stop opening presents, though he did like to look at each present after it was out of the wrap.  You know, instead of just tearing into the next one. 

 

He gets that from his mama.  ;)

 

 

 

Once again, we had our awesome photographer Larry there to take photos for us.  Best idea I ever had.  He gets all the credit for these fantastic shots of such an important day in the life of our family...

 

 

 

Happy birthday, doodle bug!  We can't believe you're already a happy little toddler!  You bring such joy and laughter to our lives -- we're so blessed that God gave you to us.  We can't wait to see what the next year holds for you.  Love you with as much love as our hearts can hold!