Life Exposed

Hello everyone!

I have been wanting to write a blog since we found out what our sweet baby is, but just haven't had a chance!  I want to get everything written down before I forget the details :)

Well, last week on Wednesday we had our appointment to find out what our baby is.  We had been counting down the days for about two months, we just couldn't wait!  No more "it", we couldn't wait for it to become personal.  The night before we got up to go to Columbia, I just couldn't sleep.  I was 99% positive they'd say it's a boy.  Now, ever since I married Justin, he had always told me that he hopes I don't mind boys because Buckallews are all boys.  There's only 2 girl cousins that I'm aware of and even that generation is having boys as well.  I had completely wrapped my head around this and was completely and totally prepared to have all boys.  But, along with thinking for sure they'd tell us it's a boy, I also would have a few dreams with the little inkling of a chance that we'd get there and they'd said it's a girl.  The next morning I couldn't sleep.  Our appointment was at 10am so we had to get up pretty early.  I was still ready way early.  The ride down there felt like hours!  Once we got there and they called us back, my nerves just went sky high and I was just so excited.  We had an awesome tech. Which we had requested a new one after the very not nice lady we had last time.  It was like night and day difference between the two so I was so thankful.  Of course, she didn't look first thing to see what the gender is, but it was SO cool to see how much our baby had grown!  We hadn't seen our baby since 12 weeks and now we were at 21.  Big difference.  The lady scanned down by the legs and I immediately thought "I didn't see anything there!"  About the time that I thought that, Justin comes out and says "I think I just saw something!"  I told him that was funny because I thought the opposite.  The lady just kind of chuckled.  It was awesome getting to see the fingers and toes and watch the baby move.  The miracle of life is just so amazing.  Then about mid-way through, she went to check the gender.  She said, "congratulations you guys, it's a girl!"  It is a very clear picture as well :)  I'll post it below.  Justin and I both just looked at each other with our mouths wide open.  I'm not going to lie, I teared up.  I am carrying a precious little girl and I could not be any happier.  Justin was just in pure shock.  I was as well, but he just knew he was in trouble with having a little girl draining his wallet as well as having him wrapped around her little fingers.  We just never thought it was possible and were in complete shock.  We couldn't get over it, still can't.  We are both excited beyond belief though!  Having my mind wrapped around having boys and never getting my own little girl, I immediately started thinking of all of the fun little things we would get to do.  I can do her hair, she can do mine, we can shop together, do each other's nails.....the list goes on.  Plus, CUTE clothes to buy! :)  Remember how I said we had a definite boy name picked out and that if we had a girl she would be nameless?  Well, now it was time to hunt for the name.  I was completely blank.  There were a few we both liked, but they were too similar to other family members' names and just wouldn't work.  If we have a boy in the future, we still fully intend on using the boy name we have chosen.  And the middle names will for sure be Lee William.  Lee is Justin's dad's middle name, as well as his and also my Grandpa Findling's.  William is Justin's second middle name along with his grandpa Eddie being called that by his mother.  I also just found out that it also runs on my grandma Tharp's side of the family!  We will see if we get to use it or not.....

It's a GIRL!  Where the little white arrow is  shows that there's no male parts!

Our cutie :)

While on the hunt for the girl name, we decided to go sit at Barnes and Noble later in the afternoon and look through a baby name book.  One of the names I had thought of before popped up in the baby book and we both liked it.  However, it wasn't fitting with the middle name that we liked so I just kind of ruled it out.  So, we still felt lost with the name...

After the appointment, we were still in shock.  And starving because we had to wait for the doctor because she had to rush to do a delivery.  I do not know how that woman does it!  We went and ate at CiCi's pizza and then went off to shop a little bit.  I was so excited to find some girly clothes and Justin picked some out as well.  He's just as excited as I am.  There are certain men in the world that you just know are going to be amazing with having a little girl.  I know he's one of them.  After shopping, we met my aunt Darla, uncle Danny and their son Dayton for supper at HuHot.  It was a great visit, PLUS I love that place and I've been craving it ever since I had it last week!  It was so hard not to tell them the gender of our baby.  We had to keep it a secret from everyone for TWO DAYS!  Longest two days of our lives.  This is because we were going to get both sides of the family together on that Friday (only time everyone would be off and could come) to tell them all at once and we wanted to make sure they were all the first ones to know.  Anyway, we went to see their new house after that and it is so beautiful!

The next day I had to sub.  A few people in the school knew that I was finding out the gender the day before so of course I knew it was going to be so hard not to call her a "she" that entire day.  Justin was off work that day so I didn't have to worry about him ;)  Anyway, I wore a pink cardigan and mint skinny jeans that day and of course someone had to ask if I was wearing pink for a reason.  It honestly was the only thing that looked cute with mint and fit!  I got asked multiple times that day if we knew the gender yet and of course I couldn't lie to them so I just told them yes but that I couldn't tell them until Friday.  They weren't happy with the answer but I was so proud of myself I stayed firm all day on not telling!  Honestly, the one I was concerned about spilling the next day was Justin, lol, but he did awesome too!

Friday evening was so much fun.  The families came over and we had them wear pink or blue for what their votes were.  I made a cake that was pink in the middle and we did that before we ate.  The majority of the family came wearing blue.  Well, I would've too, considering I was positive it was a boy!  I took a photo of each side before we cut the cake.  We had both grandma's cut the cake.  My mom and Justin's mom were the only adults to wear pink.  All three of my nieces also wore pink but let's face it, they really just all love the color pink--ha!

It took them no time at all to dive into the cake and their faces were priceless!  My mom's was mostly like "I told you so" and Becky's was pure shock!  My mom said from the beginning that she just had this feeling that it was going to be a girl.  "God has a sense of humor" was the thing she always made sure to tell us.  It will forever be engraved in our minds because He sure does!  It was just so fun to be able to tell the whole family.  They were all happy and excited for us.  I just love our family. (P.S., if you're curious about where my dad is, he wore neutral because he didn't know, or have a preference and I did take a picture of him, but he doesn't like his pictures on the internet, haha)

Team Pink!

Team Blue

My two sisters-in-law and mother-in-law loving on baby girl :)

We also posted our announcement on facebook to announce to the rest of our friends.  I was so excited about the announcement we put together.  It was a complete original idea.  I'm just in love with it!  I think I'll have to print it out for sure.  People kept telling us how cute it was....so fun! :)

Well, as I've said many times before, you totally find out who your friends are through exciting times and sad times.  There have been so many people that are so excited for us and have already started making things for our little girl, etc.  Of course, there are always some that you "expect" to be there for you and be just as happy and excited, but, as usual, sometimes you can just expect too much from people.  Now, I have decided that the positive has WAYYYY outweighed the negative and I am just overwhelmed with happiness and joy over those who have been so sweet and caring to me/us through this.  It's truly amazing!  Thank you so much to those of you for the congrats and the constant calls, texts and messages.  It means the world to us!

Since finding out we're having a girl, I've went crazy over figuring out a theme for the room and picking out her crib, changing table and glider.  I have found all of it, just the glider is unavailable :(  I've also figured out the room colors which will be pink, grey and white.  I've got it all in my head and I can't wait to start working on it!  We also ordered the stroller/carseat combo!  I'm so excited about getting it!  I feel overwhelmed with the amount of things to get/get done before she gets here, but it's coming together a little at a time!  We're already gathering quite a few things and have had people volunteer to help with the room.

On another note, baby girl DOES have a name now!  I'm so in love with it and I just can't wait for her to get here.  Justin and I never disagreed on a name so it's been really nice.  The name is a secret of course.  It's fun that way, but also there's so many people having babies right now that I'd be devastated if the name got stolen.  Let alone there's so many opinions on names out there and if the parents love the name, it's disheartening if someone else doesn't feel the same way.  After she's born and named, there's no going back :)  This name just fits!

I can't express how wonderful it's been to see God's hand in all of this.  We prayed about when it was time for us to have kids and Justin and I were on the same page at the exact same time.  We knew that if it was God's will for us then to have kids, He would make it happen and He did!  I wouldn't trade these almost 4 years with just Justin and I for anything.  It's the time in marriage that you really get to know each other.  You get used to each other's quirks, get past the petty fighting, start to learn to pick your battles, let alone all of the time that we've had with just the two of us.  It's going to be a huge change for us, but I have no doubt that with God and our marriage being so strong now, we can face it together.

I know this was all baby stuff this time, but I need to get it all down to look back on and not forget the details! :)  I don't really have any life lessons to write about right now, sorry!

I hope everyone has an awesome rest of the week!  Thanks for tuning in to our baby update :)

P.S., as I'm getting ready to add the pictures to this, I forgot to mention how cute baby girl's profile is!  We think she has daddy's forehead and my face shape/chin and the cutest little button nose, which I just can't get over!  I'm in love so much already....the anticipation of seeing what she'll look like is killing me!

21 weeks