Consolation Prize

Poor Ezra was all geared up and ready to spend Easter with the Georgia cousins.....

...alas....

...spring break worked against us... 

(oh the plight of the buddy passer)

 ...and it looks like we're stuck with a lonely little Northern California celebration after all. 

To cheer him up, we decided to try something new at bath time.

4 pool noodles from the dollar store, one sharp butcher knife, 

  an eager fireman waiting to sort, 

 and a super warm bath later.......things have started looking up again. 

(He said, "Daddy take a picture of me being a shark about to eat a fish, okay?")

So much fun!

The Maybe Baby

Once again....we were able to see tiny sir/little miss today during our LAST anatomy scan.
 Talin had to work and Ezra was living it up down the street at school so I headed off, alone, to hopefully get a verdict.

The ultrasound tech was pleased that she was officially able to get ALL the pictures she needed to complete the scan, but, par for the course, baby had legs locked tight!! 

The tech refused to guess and passed me off to the doctor.  

The doctor knowingly laughed at my story of the baby who demanded privacy, and confidently scanned for an answer.....within a few minutes....she too was bowing out of the guessing game.  

I had originally planned on having the Dr. write the gender down and seal it in an envelope so that we could have a gender reveal party with our families (who were all on standby) later.  

I caved and asked her to tell me what she "thought" baby might be...which she did.  

The two of us analyzed, squinted, scanned...and debated.  

By the end of our time the Dr. was 85% sure that she knew what baby was....
...sooooooo....
I spent the rest of the day keeping my little secret and anxiously awaiting our party.

I wrapped up one of the little outfits that Talin and I picked out weeks ago.....

...our families logged in to Google hangout one by one... 

(Zach and Doron we missed you!)

 ...and before we knew it we had 6 cities and 4 time zones represented on our computer....it was time for the reveal.  

I warned everyone that there is still a 15% chance that we are wrong........and then the boys opened the present to find.....

PINK STRIPES!!!!

That's right.....baby is a GIRL!!!!!

We opened sparkling grape juice (Ezra had milk) and toasted our families.  

We laughed, talked and congratulated the correct guessers.  

All too soon it was time for everyone to get off 

(Lisa's poor kids had stayed up until 9 to celebrate their new cousin!). 

I'm so grateful I got to see the people we love the most and share in such a fun moment.....but I missed hugging and being near everyone.  

An online party is just a shadow of the real thing.....but I'll take a shadow over nothing any day. =)

After the rush of the party, our little family celebrated with a sushi dinner 

(ohhhh yesssssss.....avocado roll!!) 

...and a post bath story festival
(This is not my favorite "little sister" story....but it's what we had on hand.....guess it's time to get some new ones eh?)

As Ezra snuggled into bed, I had to capture his tiny photo gallery.  

Each time we get a new picture from the Dr. he picks his favorite and tapes it to the wall.  

I bet you can't tell that this kid has wanted to be a brother for a LONG time!

While he drifted off to sleep we talked about our schedule tomorrow
(he likes to prepare for the day ahead)
and what fun we had today.....one of the last things he said was,
"I got JUST what I wanted.......a little sister".

Awwwwwwwwwww I couldn't stop from tearing up.
What a sweet brother this little girl has waiting for her.

And what a loving (and silly) family to join!
Thank you, everyone, for "coming" to our get together.
It meant so much to us!

Of course, there is still a small chance that in August we will be surprised again....
...but going off my gut instinct, morning sickness, zitty skin, general frumpy feeling

....and, just for fun, the Chinese birth chart.....
I'm pretty sure it's time to start shopping for tiny dresses!

Welcome to the family baby girl!  

We can't wait to meet you!!

Spring!

The other day, I saw a wonderfully fun idea on Pintrest and decided it looked like just the thing for a restless boy on a lazy afternoon.

So, in honor of this stormy first day of spring, Ezra and I headed out for a leaf hunt and prepared to create some "spring art".

It didn't work exactly as we thought it would.....

...it definitely needs a more gentle hand....

...and perhaps a smoother work surface then concrete. =)  

But, there was something satisfying in banging the hammer and watching those plump green leaves spatter 

(at least Ezra thought so).

Daddy came home in the middle of the project which made EVERYTIHNG somehow more exciting.....and of course more silly.

 HOORAY FOR SPRING!!

Fake Out

Today was supposed to be the day...

...for weeks I've been waking up to count-down texts from my sister....

...we'd planned a party, worked out ALL the details so our family spread out across 3 time zones could join in on the "reveal" fun....

That's right.  

Today was SUPPOSED to be the day that we found out the gender of baby 2.

Our wiggle worm had different plans apparently.  

Baby squirmed, wriggled and generally showed off all little body parts...

(including flittery TOES) 

...but for whatever reason baby's knees, and legs stayed firmly clamped while ankles and feet delicately crossed.....

.....barring all view of what we desperately wanted to know.

The dr. wouldn't even venture a GUESS!

Talin thought it was hilarious

I was pretty close to tears

Sweet Ezra, happily distracted by the i-pad in the corner of the room said,
"It's all right Mommy, next time I'll just ask the baby 'Will you please untie your legs so we can see if you're a boy or a girl?'"

Here's hoping he/she is willing to listen to big brother's advice!!

We were happy to learn that baby is on track growth wise and is doing well.
We have to go back in April to get a few more anatomy shots that just weren't clear this time around.
I hope baby somehow gets the message that this will be our LAST
(yes we've tried twice to see the gender)
chance to find out if we should stock up on frilly pink bows or cuddly blue dinosaur blankets before an August arrival! =)