It's a girl!

Yes, you heard me. :) We will welcome her into our family in the end of July (I actually think it will be early August). All the sickness I have been feeling (way worse than last pregnancy!) has finally mostly subsided. I don't think I will ever feel 100% during pregnancy, so I will just say that I am feeling good and leave it at that. The ultrasound was unremarkable in terms of problems. We will have a fetal echocardiogram at the end of the month to make sure the heart is free of defects. They did notice that the kidneys were holding the maximum volume they would allow without calling it "abnormal". So we will have another ultrasound in about 10 weeks to make sure that it is still normal. I am determined not to worry unless they tell me I should. :) And she is a little smaller than my due date would indicate. She is about 6 days behind schedule, but they do not worry about that discrepancy until it is 10 or more days off. So so far, so good. Anyway, we are SUPER excited! We have a room that has always been our future daughter's room (it was painted two-toned pink by the previous owner) and we are excited to have a use for the room. S is excited for our daughter to take a leadership role in the family with the rest of the future children. And I am excited to shop! :)

As a side note, we told our ultrasonographer about Boo's birth defect and his trouble that he had in the womb (part of my preeclampsia). She was very surprised that they at the University did not catch such an obvious birth defect as tetralogy of Fallot. She and the perinatologist went back and looked at his ultrasound records and discovered two things:
1. Boo's defect, even knowing what it was and looking for it specifically, was still undetectable on the ultrasound pictures.
2. SHE herself performed the ultrasound! I am pretty sure she felt terrible about that, and we probably wrecked her day by letting her know of all Boo's problems. But we were very clear and sincere - really and truly we do not assign blame for all the problems poor little Boo has had. It was actually a bit comforting to know, after wondering for quite some time, that Boo's defect was really not discernable and things could not have turned out differently.

What Boo Can Do

Boo has been really funny lately. He is, of course, still quite behind on his development, but that does not keep him from frequently surprising us with his newfound skills! Here is a list, which is not meant to be comprehensive, of things that Boo can do:

1. Find his nose, his ears, Mama's nose, and Dada's nose, and his mouth. I had been trying to teach him this skill for several months, all to no avail. Or so I thought. I believe, although I cannot prove it, that he learned this skill very quickly and simply did not know how to show that he knew it. You see, he will not point to his nose or ears or anything else when asked. He needs to hold on to your finger and take you to it! Funny kid.2. Army crawl. This is not his preferred method to get from here to there (rolling and back scooting have to take first place there!), but he will do it, both when encouraged and when on his own. (Notice the lack of hair on the back of his head, due to his preference of back scooting!).3. Stay on all fours for 30ish seconds. He hates this, but it is a necessary evil. And it is exciting that we don't have to hold him up anymore because his arms have gotten stronger.

4. Spit. Raspberries, anyone?

5. Clap in time to "Bingo", as well as several other songs (some of them made up!). And I mean it...he knows exactly when to clap!

6. Play ball with Dada. Those two have all kinds of fun rolling the ball back and forth. He truly is "so glad when Daddy comes home".7. Put things in a container (this has been a LONG time coming!). I even found my cell phone in his train the other day. This is all thanks to the $10 tree thing I got as an afterthought for Boo for Christmas.8. Help brush his teeth.

9. Say "N-Teh". Strange, but true. He says it and he will also imitate it when I say it. This is the first thing he has ever imitated.

10. Turn off the lights. We do this every time we leave his room.

11. Give things to Mama when asked.

12. Turn pages in books at the right time (assuming he likes the particular page...). He does have his favorite pages, like the bear page in "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and the horse page in "Who Says Moo?". (This to say nothing of his like for horses since he hates to go visit the horses at the end of our street. He cries big tears every time!).

13. Get 12+ teeth all at once and hardly act any different!! Who ever met a baby who cares so little about teething?!

14. Recognize himself in the mirror by jerking his arm around and making sure his reflection does the same.

15. "Give" Mama kisses (leans in for a kiss when asked). This is the best part. :)

16. Suck ALL his fingers (sometimes even all at the same time!). He used to suck only his right thumb, but he has chosen to branch out. He has even sucked on paper a few times.

17. Be off his oxygen for THREE WHOLE DAYS this past weekend!!! This is a first by far, since he has never been off of oxygen ever for even a short amount of time. During this time, he learned how to harvest his own boogies, since he usually has to share his nostrils with his nasal cannula. He caught his first boogie with his thumb! He is back on again now, but we got a taste of what it is to have a cordless baby, and we look very much forward to it again in the future!Sorry for the weird pictures in this post. They are not the cutest, but they do illustrate my points. And I clearly need to be taking more pictures! Every now and again, as the mother of a developmentally delayed child, I dwell on the things that Boo cannot do yet, sadly. Fortunately, this is not usually the case. It is fun to watch Boo grow up in an unconventional way, doing all the things, expected and unexpected, that he CAN do. And he can do a LOT! We love you, Boo!!!