That's right, Baby M is a sugar & spice, ribbons & curls, beautiful little girl! Bryant & I couldn't be more excited about the news and have already made our first baby girl purchases. :) I think we're going to have a spoiled one on our hands...but seriously, how can you resist all of those cute girl clothes!

The plan was that we were going to have the ultrasound tech write down whether it was a boy or girl in a card that we brought with us and seal the envelope so that we could look at it later when we were by ourselves. (Actually, we originally planned on opening it on Christmas Day...but I just didn't have the patience to wait FOUR MORE WEEKS!) Anyways, our plan kept evolving and eventually we decided that we would open the envelope after leaving the doctor's office at dinner and then we would go to this adorable baby store in Hays, Bella Luna, to make our first gender specific purchase. However, then we found out that Bella Luna would close shortly after my appointment and that we wouldn't be able to go after dinner, so again - our plan changed. So, what really ended up happening was during the sonogram we asked the tech to avoid showing us "the goods" and asked her to put the info in the card...we would wing it from there.

The sonogram was unbelievable, amazing, incredible, and any other adjective you could use to describe seeing one of the loves of my life for the first time! She moved around alot so we were able to see her wiggle her toes and toss her arms about. She kept covering her little face with her hands, which was adorable! The tech was great and showed us all the cute stuff - and the important stuff. It really is amazing how detailed the ultrasounds are...we were even able to see the blood pumping to and from her heart. The tech also let us know that she weighed 10 ounces, which means she is a little bigger than average (the books say a baby at 19 weeks should weigh around 8.5 ounces.) The whole process lasted around 30 minutes and the tech made sure to take lots of photos for us (including one pointing out whether it was a boy or girl! Which turned out to be a pretty clear shot! haha) Here are some of the pictures:




After the ultrasound I had my 3rd appointment with Dr. Hodny...this was the first time I actually had to wait past my appointment time and it took F.O.R.E.V.E.R.(Keep in mind the entire time we were waiting around we had the envelope that said what "it" was and decided we wouldn't look quite yet...) After we got in to see the doctor we did the normal checkup, weight/blood pressure/measure/heartbeat/etc. Everything looks healthy and we are growing as scheduled. During the ultrasound her heartbeat was 161 and during the appointment it was 144...so she must have calmed down by the time we got to the 2nd appointment.

After we FINALLY left the doctor's office (with sealed envelope in hand) we decided to torture ourselves a little more and wait until we were in front of Bella Luna to open the envelope. After we parked the car, I was dying to find out and we decided to rip the envelope open right there and see if we were going to be buying pink or blue! I held the envelope so that we could look at the same time...and there were the words "It's a girl! Congratulations!" I think we were both in shock for a second and then we started laughing, kissing, and hugging. We were both so excited and happy to find out that a little girl would be entering our lives in just a few short months!

We went to Bella Luna right away and were overwhelmed with the amount of adorably girly outfits. Everything from huge bows to tutus! :) We decided to just buy a few things, which included a pink football hair bow and a crocheted owl stocking cap. ADORABLE! We then went to dinner at Gella's and started making phone calls to our family and friends to spread the news.

The first person to find out was Aunt Whitney. Bryant announced that we were having a little girl by telling Whitney, "Well, it looks like Lyla is going to get a Remy!" (To explain this better...from the very beginning, we decided that if we had a girl we would name her Remy and if a boy it would be Owen. However, the other day I asked Bryant if we would definitely call her Remy or him Owen once we found out and he said no - so I figured we would still think about it once we found out. On the day of the ultrasound Whitney sent us a text that said, "Just so you know, Lyla says Remy way better than Owen.") In all of the excitement after finding out it was a girl - I hadn't even thought about what her name would be for sure, until I heard Bryant tell Whitney that Lyla was getting a Remy - so I guess that's it...our baby girl has a name! Well a first name at least...we still haven't decided on the middle name yet. :) Stay tuned for the name blog!

Anyways, to wrap up this incredibly long post, we couldn't be happier and am I so excited to finally be able to start making some decisions on our little GIRL'S room and prepare for her arrival! We are still waiting to hear back from Dr. Hodny to make sure that everything looked healthy from the ultrasound. He told us that the radiologist would look at it and let us know how everything turned out. He told us not to worry because if there was anything major that was wrong they would have called him right away. I'm anxious to hear back, but am optimistic that our beautiful little girl will be just fine! :)

Pink thoughts,

Bryant, Danielle & Belly