I drove ALL the way to Babies R Us today (it’s an hour and a half) to see what their bedding collections look like in real life (as opposed to on the computer screen).  They didn’t have ANY of the vintage flower ones that I liked, but I don’t want to trust the internet to send me something I haven’t seen in person, so I decided to pick up this Sugar Plum themed set.  It looks very purple in the picture, but it’s more of a pinkish-purple.  The colors in the set go well with green, purple and pink, so I think we’re going to paint baby’s room green and buy a few other green accents (ie extra crib sheets) to calm down the purple

We only had a video but I figured out how to transfer to DVD and take some screen shots, so here are the highlights:

  Here’s a shot of an upside-down baby stomache and legs.

Okay, maybe it’s a bit creepy, or perfect for the Halloween season, but here’s her face with an arm over her head.

Looks like we’ve got a pair of strong soccer legs here!  Although they were positioned next to her head…maybe she’ll be a soccer play and a contortionist? 

We stopped off at the grocery store after school and just had to investigate this strange, gigantic, yellow & orange winnebago in the parking lot.  It was the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile!  They were shooting video of anyone who wanted to sing one of their theme songs, then rewarding those who were unafraid of losing respect from peers and family with a special Weiner Whistle in the shape of the Weiner Mobile. 

As much as Peyton loves to sing, he wasn’t interested at first.  While we did our shopping we talked a little bit more about it and he decided he wanted to do it! 

Since he didn’t know the song, we spent a few minutes prepping together in the car (where I could hide) before we went back to the shoot.  The ladies there talked to him for a few minutes to get him to warm up, then one of them helped him to sing the song.  He was pretty shy because he didn’t really know the words, but he made it through the song. 

They said he was too little to be on the commercial, but they gave us a code and in a week we’ll be able to log on to their website and check out his performance!  I’ll make sure I post the information once the video is up

The down side of all this?  Now Peyton is constantly singing about his wish to be a minor weiner.  Well, if they ever show up in the grocery store parking lot again we’ll be ready for them

Well, Peyton needs to work on his hearing because this baby is definitely (well, as definite as an ultrasound can show) a little girl.  I’m SO glad we had the discussion last week and he was comfortable with the baby being “whatever God thinks is best for our family” because today he was so excited when I told him the news when I feared a week ago that this news would make him throw a fit.  I’m sure he’d be excited either way because we’ve been counting down for the past week, but I’m glad he was excited rather than disappointed. 

A baby girl!  Now I can finally make use of those adorable outfits I bought when Peyton was a girl but didn’t have the heart to return because they were just too cute!  I’m SO excited!

If you want to weigh in on a nursery theme, I’ve started registries at Babysrus and Target.  Obviously we’ll only be using one of the many I’ve picked out, but I’m kind of stuck between the vintage themes at Babysrus and the Tiddliwinks Cottage Chic at Target.  The bummer is I won’t be able to see either one until it comes in the mail – the closest Babies r us is more than an hour away, and Target only carries two or three sets that I’d rather not use.

Anyway, a little girl!  Lauren Elisabeth…or Elizabeth?

Sorry that I haven’t been updating as much as I used to.  By the time dinner is eaten and cleaned up, I’m ready for bed.  Last night I sat down in the recliner and promptly fell asleep; James is my hero for putting Peyton to bed without even trying to wake me up, even if Peyton woke up this morning with a chocolate moustache from his dessert the night before.  Last week Friday and Saturday were the same – we attended a barbeque at school on Friday and as soon as we got home I fell asleep; the same thing happened after dinner on Saturday.  James has been great about helping with Peyton when I’m tired at night, and he has also done a lot to get Peyton ready in the mornings.  James doesn’t have to be at work now until 8:30 so for the past two weeks he’s been bringing Peyton to Jenn’s and to school, and he’s also been doing most of the work to get Peyton dressed and out the door.  I really appreciate having one less thing to worry about!

Peyton still loves school and adores his teachers.  One of my coworkers gave us 3 new books, and we also went to the library this week, so Peyton has been reading books almost non-stop for the last few days.  Right now he’s sitting on a pile of couch cushions with a backpack full of books, his legs crossed at the ankles.  He also came to a meeting with me yesterday because Daddy had to be at work early and Peyton did a great job just sitting quietly and reading. 

My classes are still going pretty smoothly, although there are a few students who’ve been getting on my nerves within the first few minutes of class.  Work has been going well for James, too.  He hears a lot of compliments on how clean everything is.

Our big ultrasound is coming up on Monday!  This week Peyton finally agreed that it would be okay for the baby to be a girl, which is a huge relief.  Since Jesus told him it was a boy, I was kind of worried that a girl-baby might cause him to lose his faith :-)  We decided that God will give us the baby that is just right for us, and if He wants a baby girl in our family it will be a girl, and if He wants a baby boy in our family then it will be a boy.  Peyton is happy to agree with that and has brought up the topic himself about how the baby will be Lauren Elizabeth or Loren Henry.

My students are almost as excited as I am to find out whether it’s a girl or a boy – they keep asking if we’ve had the appointment yet.  Interestingly, two boys are the most interested – one in first hour and one in last.  The first hour boy can’t wait to find out, and the 7th hour boy wanted the whole class to guess whether it would be a boy or a girl, and he wanted to give us some name suggestions   I forgot to poll the students and I’m scheduled for a grading day on Monday, but they haven’t found a sub yet so if I have to go in I’ll make sure to give them a pop quiz

I promise I’ll update again on Monday night!

It’s been about a week since I last wrote, so here’s a quick update – everything is going well.  Peyton continues to tell everyone about our baby boy and the toys and games he’s going to play with the baby boy.  I continue to remind him that we don’t know for sure yet that the baby’s a boy – we’ll find out in about 2 weeks on Monday the 24th.  Whenever we see a baby he says it’s our baby’s friend.  He helped me wrap a gift for one of my coworkers who just had a baby and he was really mad when he found out I had already given it to baby Kylan.  Luckily I knew the mother would have baby Kylan at school for volleyball practice the next day, so we stopped in and he got to see the baby.  He was so excited when we walked away, he said “Mommy, I wish that was our baby!” 

He and I also went to the football game on Friday night – we only stayed long enough to eat hot dogs because as soon as Peyton was done eating he was more interested in testing mom than watching the game, so after his warning we left.  He did enjoy it while it lasted, though, and we saw baby Kylan again on the way out…Peyton especially likes his cute little tiny feet.

We saw a few girl babies at church and he thought they were so cute, so I asked him if maybe he could have a little sister?  No, Jesus said it was a boy, a little brother.  And that’s that.

If it is a girl, she’ll have to be a tom-boy.

Our labor day weekend has filled up quickly!

Uncle Gordon invited us over Saturday evening for a salmon BBQ.  On top of the great food, we again enjoyed some time around the campfire roasting marshmallows and talking.  Steven had a 9th-grader-sized dirtbike they had borrowed from friends that he was racing around.  He offered to take Peyton for a ride, but Peyton was scared.  After a while, however, through first sitting on the bike with Steven, then sitting on the bike while Steven used his legs to move it forward, Peyton was ready for a slow ride.  Which turned into a super-fast ride not too many giggles later   Peyton had such a great time zooming around the backyard for what seemed like an hour.  We’d hear him laughing hysterically when they went over a bump, or yelling at Steven “watch out for that tree!”  We’d hear him begging “faster!  go superfast!” and indeed they did   By the end of the ride his arms were like ice from riding around without a sweater in the cool evening, and his wind-blown hair was so cute.  He looked like such a big boy! 

I was so proud of Steven, too, who made sure to ask us if it was okay to take Peyton out before he asked Peyton if he wanted to go.  He was so patient with Peyton, who wasn’t quite ready at first, and when they got on the bike and were going to get ready to go he asked Uncle Gordon to make sure Peyton’s legs were in a safe spot where they wouldn’t get burned.  He is an awesome young man!

Yesterday morning there wasn’t any Sunday school at church because they’re switching from the summer program to the fall, so Peyton and I planned to stay home.  He has a tough time sitting through 20 minutes of worship and announcements, I don’t think the other hour of church would be any easier. 

In the Kmart ad they showed a collection of Winnie the Pooh style baby gear on sale, so he and I went there to pick up a couple things that we’d left behind in California when they didn’t fit in our moving truck.  He was SO excited to pick out baby things, and I let him pick out a special toy for the baby just from him.  He is so proud of the Winnie the Pooh rattle and the set of car keys, he’s told Daddy about them many times. 

We also looked at some of the layette that was on sale.  While I’m sort of holding on to the 10% chance the baby could still be a girl, he’s a firm believer in the opposite.  He kept picking out boy outfits, and I was looking at yellow and green.  “Honey, we’re not sure the baby’s a boy.”  “Yes, mom, the baby is a boy.  I already told you!”  “Well, sweetheart, the doctor hasn’t said for sure yet.”  “Mom, he’s a boy.  I already know.”  The lady at the other end of the aisle laughed and said, “what are you going to do if it’s a girl?”  Maybe she’s right – maybe I should quit hoping for a girl and wish for a boy for the sake of avoiding any disappointment from Peyton

Last night we BBQd with our small group and enjoyed a campfire and smores and fellowship at their house.  Peyton played in the sandbox and ran around the yard with the boys for hours…needless to say he slept good last night.

Today, after Peyton woke up the baby by “tickling” him, I got to feel some strong kicks for a few minutes before baby decided he wanted a back-rub, pushing his feet into my back and his back against my stomache.  Only 3 more weeks and we’ll find out for sure what we’re expecting!  For now, I’m off to get some cleaning done; James is already outside mowing the lawns.  I think we’re planning on putting together a shelf we picked up for our garage and doing some more cleaning in what will be the baby’s room.  This afternoon we’ve been invited to a house-warming party for some of our co-workers, so we’ll be there this evening.

Happy labor day!  Enjoy the last days of summer before fall starts!

Have you ever seen those cute little hershey’s bars labelled “Heresheis” – here she is – to celebrate the birth of a baby girl?

It looks like we won’t be buying any of those any time soon.

Our test came back green this morning – green for boy, just like Peyton said.  When I told him, he looked at me like “duh” and said, “Mommy, I already told you that.”  I asked him how he knew our baby was a boy and he said Jesus had told him. 

I guess we’ll find out on Sept. 24th whether this test is worth anything   In the mean time, I’m the only girl in a family of boys…still!!!