I read in one of the many baby books I have that babies can start to hear at 19-20 weeks. Last week was week 20, and I learned very quickly that I have a little hippie dancer growing in my belly. Our school had a musician teaching our kids for the last two weeks. Every time he stood next to me and started playing his guitar, the baby would start moving around. In fact, the first time I felt him was during the chorus of "This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land." Told you I had a little hippie dancer baby!

Now we have a little ipod concert for the little boy every night. As soon as I put the headphones on my belly, i can feel the little butterflies in my stomach. I have this crazy image of a little Josh flailing his arms and moving his head to the beat. So far he has boogied to Jack Johnson, Newton Faulkner, and my absolute favorite musician, Robert Earl Keen.

My friend Missy is suggesting some good 80s tunes and Motown for the baby to rock to - Pat Benatar and Aretha Franklin.

So now we need names and a good musical selection for our little boy to jam out to!

It's a boy!

I hate being wrong...most of the time...however, this time, it's okay. We had our sonogram this afternoon and, after much poking and prodding to get baby in the right position, we learned that it's a boy!!

After telling everyone how I KNEW this baby was a girl, I am more than a little embarrassed to have to tell everyone that I was wrong - but hey, there are worse things to be wrong about.

Now we have to open the baby book and search in the boy section. We know for sure that Charles will be his middle name for my dad. If anyone has any name suggestions, shoot them my way!

waiting, waiting, waiting

So, after weeks of waiting, I thought we were going to find out for sure if we are having a boy or a girl. Now, I know that it's a girl. Joy, our nurse practitioner, has guessed a girl. Dr. Counts predicted a girl based on a high heart rate and the extraordinarily horrible morning sickness. OK, I admit, the morning sickness may not have been "extraordinarily horrible," but it is nice to brush my teeth without dry heaving. Back to having a girl....

I just know. I realize that sounds silly, but I just know it's a girl. And...George did his 100% accurate (at least for his own children and grandchildren) needle test and it said "girl."

Wednesday was the big day. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided it was not the right day and sent a warming trend resulting in ice roads to Southcentral Alaska. Josh decided that it was not reasonable to risk driving to town on glare ice which was probably the best choice.

So, we rescheduled for Tuesday - and the receptionist at Alaska Family Sonogram assured me that 19 weeks is a much better time to determine the sex.

Stay tuned - we'll find out in three days - boy or girl! Although...I know it's a girl.

Baby on the Way!

18 weeks today and feeling better than ever! It took a year of intense trying for this to happen for us, and the relief of hearing baby's heartbeat and seeing baby flip around on the sonogram screen is comforting and exhilarating!

We had a dr. appointment last week which was short and sweet - weigh me (gained 8 lbs. so far), measure the belly, listen to heartbeat (nice and strong), and give blood. Go back in 8 weeks. And that was it!

But Wednesday is the big day when we find out the sex. So far general consensus from the doctor, nurse practitioner, and sonogram technician is the baby is a girl. I think Josh is a little worried about a girl (hey - girls can ski too!), but we know health and happy are the most important.