It's a...

BOY!!!  

We had been looking forward to March 21 since soon after we found out we were pregnant.  We were so excited to know what the baby was and to be able to start preparing for his/her arrival.  For the longest time, Caroline wanted a girl and wouldn't even talk about it being a  boy.  She always used 'her' and 'she' and would ask me questions like, 'Mommy, when are we going to go to the doctor to find out the baby is a girl?'  We would let her know that it may be a boy and that we don't get to pick.  The week before the appointment, we really amped up the conversations.  We would talk about how much fun Anna has with Jack, and how she could teach him how to play basketball and jump on the trampoline and play football with Daddy.  She finally said the night before the appointment that having a boy would be fun.  Glad we convinced her when we did!

That night we put her to bed and a few hours later I was brushing my teeth.  It hit me square in the face what we were going to do the next day.  The excitement of it all had made me really look forward to Friday because I knew we were going to find out the gender.  I didn't, however, think about the fact that the rest of the anatomy would be checked and that leaves a lot of room for bad news.  First, I thought that there may not be a heartbeat.  Second, I thought that the heart, brain, spines, hands, feet, kidneys, and everything else could possibly not have formed correctly.  Thirdly, I remembered again that we would find out what the baby was.  So I got into bed and I told Jason that these were the things that I was worried about.  He assured me that everything would be fine and we went to bed.

We got up the next morning, put Caroline in her Big Sister shirt, grabbed some breakfast, and headed to the doctor.  We waited for the appointment, meanwhile my heart was in my throat, but I just read to Caroline and colored with her.  Finally, they called my name.  We grabbed everything and headed back to the sonogram room.  I got up on the table and Mrs. Barbara went to work.  Caroline let everyone know that if the baby was a girl, she wanted her to be named Bapunzel (Rapunzel) and  if it was a boy, she wanted him to be named Flynn Rider.  Within the first few minutes, I thought I saw a ding-a-ling, but I wasn't sure.  She got a good shot of the feet, saw that they were great, then she got the leg bones and worked her way up.  And there it was.  Homeboy was laying with his legs spread wide open and his ding-dong was in very plain sight.  Mrs. Barbara said that we could definitely start painting things blue because there was no doubt he was a boy!  She asked if we had a name and Caroline yelled out, 'Flynn Rider!'  We all kind of laughed and Jason said, 'Camden Michael.'  Caroline was not very happy about that, but Jason told her that she could call him Flynn.  That satisfied her.  So, Mrs. Barbara kept doing her thing and eventually we saw every part of our little man and every single bit of it was perfect.  Four chambers in the heart, everything in the brain that was supposed to be there, two kidneys, good bladder, three veins in the umbilical chord, nice spine, two hands, two feet, and everything else that was supposed to be there.  I definitely let out my breath I had been holding and let myself get really excited about everything I just saw.  Jason and Caroline were playing and celebrating and talking and we just took it all in.  Barbara was so great through the whole thing and was so sweet to Caroline.

 Our BOY!!

After the sonogram, we headed to meet with Dr. Oliver to go over what they had just seen.  She gave both of us a clean bill of health and sent us on our way.  We headed to get a blue balloon for the Facebook post and started making our phone calls and sending out our texts.  It was so fun to let everyone know about Camden!  Everyone was so excited - especially Leslie because Jack would finally have a boy cousin!  Jason's dad called and was very touched that we are using his name for Camden's middle name.  Such a sweet thing for Jason to want to do.  After a little celebration with some ice cream at Dairio, we headed back home so I could get to work for my afternoon class.  

We had dinner with John and Jamie that night to celebrate and then we headed to Babies 'R' Us to pick out the very first boy outfits for Camden.  They had an awesome set with a rhino playing football and we had to have those.  Even though little girl clothes are still ridiculously cute, I'm excited about buying some blue and green stuff!  

So this is the story of how we found out we are adding a boy to our brood!  We can't wait to meet little man in August!

3 Year Update

We were finally able to make it to the doctor for Caroline's 3 year check up.  She was 33 1/2 pounds and 38 inches tall (both around 75th percentile).  We did the developmental questionnaire, they measured her, and for the first time they took her blood pressure.  She was asking questions about it all.  She didn't miss a beat.  Watching Doc McStuffins helped because she knew the names of a lot of the instruments and had an idea of what they were used for.  Her tube is still in on one side, but it is coming out.  Hopefully, it will work its way out and we won't have to go through a second surgery to get it removed.  Overall, she did a great job and we've got us a happy, healthy 3 year old!

Being Rich

There has been a lot of talk about teacher pay and about how poor it is in North Carolina.  That is not a great thing when my husband and I are both teachers trying to make a life for us and our family.  It is not often that money is not something that I think about.  It is in the top 5 reasons that couples get a divorce and I can understand why.  Money can be stressful.  It is hard to know that there is a week until you get paid and you have just a little bit of money in the bank.  I know that we are definitely not alone in our worries about money.

Last night, I was washing dishes and cleaning up from a delicious dinner that Jason had made for us.  We had food (really good food) on our table with leftovers in our refrigerator.  As I looked up from the sink I saw Jason and Caroline having a conversation.  Not about anything special, but in that moment I felt incredibly rich.  I started to think about all that I have.  I have an amazing husband that loves me to the ends of this earth, an amazing little girl, a baby that we get closer to meeting every day, a nice house, two cars, a job I love that has an impact on lives, and the list goes on.  It is hard when the daily struggles of life get in the way to keep all of that in perspective.  It certainly was nice in those few minutes to have that perspective back and really remember what it means to be truly rich.