The News You've been waiting for

I recently mentioned that we found out the sex of the baby, but were not going to tell anyone for a bit. I have to admit, it's been fun to have our little secret. We kept it a secret so that way we could tell our families before we told everyone else. I know that several of you are dying to know if it's a boy or a girl. I've found it funny how offended some people have gotten when we refused to release the information to them. But the time has finally come, and I would like you guys to know that we are having a BOY! You know what though? I knew this all along. I had a feeling from the very beginning that it was a boy. How did I know? I just did. I don't know. I just knew.

One small rant here (because what blog of mine would be complete without a rant on pregnancy these days? ) - I've had people come up to me and say, " I knew it was a boy because of the way that you are carrying the baby." (supposedly because I'm so big) I've also had people tell me that it looks like I'm carrying a girl. But you know what? I've done extensive reading on this subject, and talked to doctors, and the truth is, that that's just not true. You really can't predict if it's a girl or a boy by the appearance of the way the mother is carrying the baby. It's nothing more than an Old Wive's Tale. You just can't. Everyone woman is different. And every woman carries her baby different. The reason that is seems that I'm larger is because I have a small frame - I don't have as much room to carry the baby internally as other women do. Plus it's also genetics. My mother got really large with me too. She also has a small frame. It's not about the fact that it's a boy or a girl, it's more about genetics and the uniqueness of each woman. Some people may have correctly guessed that my baby is a boy, but it wasn't because it was of the way I'm carrying him, like they think.

So the name - the first thing people ask after they find out we are having a boy is the name. Have you thought of any names? Yes, we have. His name is Levi Harold. Now before you get carried away with comments about his middle name, let me just say, that Harold wasn't exactly on my list of favorite names. However, it happens to be a family name on Joel's side of the family. There was no persuading him on any other name. Harold happens to be Joel's first name, Joel's father's name, and one of Joel's grandfather's name. It's definitely a family name. And although I'm not crazy about the name itself, it has a good meaning - "Leader". I do like that. "Levi" means "United" or "Joined". So my baby's names mean "United Leader" I like that. And I can live with the name Harold. Marriage is about compromise (and you don't always get your way!).

Here are two pictures of Levi at 19 weeks, who used to look like a blob in the sonograms. It's fun to see the changes between now and the first sonogram he had.

His head is in the upper right corner. He is facing upwards. His belly is in the middle, and the white circle above his belly is his hand.


this is my favorite picture. Levi is sucking his thumb. This picture is mostly of his head. His head is in the center of the picture, facing upwards. The lighter part of his head is his face. And then his hand is just above his mouth, you can see his fingers, and his thumb is in his mouth. So cute!

When we show the sonogram pictures to people, Joel's friends and family say that Levi has Joel's head. But then when we show them to my friends and family, they say that Levi has my head. HA! To tell you the truth, I don't think you can really tell yet. I think his head is still developing it's shape.

One more fun thing - Joel finally got to feel Levi kick! It was really neat. It made me happy that he could finally feel what I feel Levi doing inside of me.