What if...

this baby is NOT a girl.

penis or no penis?? (sorry if this picture is crude to you. i find it hilarious!! my favorite wall art in all of midland :)

Because, you know, we don't know for sure. We just know that at our 15 week sonogram the tech told us she thought she saw "girl parts". Well that was enough for me :)

I remember laying there with the jelly on my belly (warm surprisingly...on movies they always squirm because it's cold) and giggling because of course it would be a girl...we had only picked out boy names!

So when I got home that afternoon (Joseph was unable to go because of class for work so both our mommas went with us. Awesome experience to share with them!) we began discussing names. The old name we liked before was Matilda Joe, but Joseph declared he didn't like that name anymore. We really argued for almost a week before one day Joseph said "why don't we just call her Charley". I was hesitant at first, but then the more I thought about it, the more I LOVED it!! :)

Originally Charley had been one of the two boy names we had picked out, and so if this little baby does decide to grow a penis, then he will be called Charley Thatcher instead of Charley Cate. It's as simple as that.

As far as nursery planning goes, I really want to use gender neutral things throughout so that we can reuse all our big ticket items for the subsequent babies we have in the future. Of course if Charley Girl is born she will inherit my antique Snow Whites that were my mother's, and if Charley Boy is born then he will inherit his daddy's boy stuff :)

So if the gender changes I will be sure to let you know. But for right now, I deeply feel connected to this little baby and my bet is that it's a little girl :)

15 weeks (about)

16 weeks

Crafting with Steph

When my sister is in town my life is just sooo much easier. For one thing, she usually does my laundry and helps with housework (thank you Stepho). Also, she is just way more fun than it being just me during the days when everyone else is at work. It's so fun. We can lay in bed and watch HGTV or the Glee reality show, we can go junk shopping or actual shopping (if we have monies), and she just spoils me when she is at home by helping me out because I'm preggers. I mean it people...she drives me places, lifts things for me, helps pick up doggie poo...she's just THAT great :)

And also when she is at home we love to pin on pinterest and attempt to make crafts. Usually I'm more creative than her (just saying), but occasionally she will out-craft me, as she did when we made these river stone abc rocks.

my rendition

Her's were MUCH cuter, and she actually made the entire alphabet. If you have a picture Stephanie, email it to me so we can add it here!

I'm actually very sad right now because I just bought an amazingly cheap dresser from craigslist and I want her to help me redo it for Charley's room. Guess I'll have to suck it up and do it on my own though!

Anyway, I love you Stephanie Ann and you are the bestest seeeester any girl could ever ask for. You will make Charley Cate an amazing aunt and we are so blessed by having you in our lives.

Books for Charley

Midland has a very well kept secret...Friends of the Library Bookstore. It might not be such a secret, but it has been a rare and gem of a find for me, especially the month of July, since everything is 75% off of the already ridiculously low prices!!!!! Keep in mind that they are only open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 am to noon, so plan accordingly and try to make it this week!

I have been almost every Wednesday and Saturday for the past two weeks and I now have a pile of old and new books to read to our sweet Charley Girl! And the best part; I probably haven't spent a grand total of over $25!

Look at how pretty:

I am totally and completely in love with all the bright colors and the faded/oldness of the books. I can't wait to be in our new house so Joseph can build her some bookshelves that are similar to this:

i'm thinking maybe two-four rows should do us just fine!

Another thing you can buy at the Friends Bookstore, vinyl records! I'm choosing the nursery color scheme from this one and have several others I can't wait to frame as well!

Moral of this post: Go and shop at the Friends of the Library Bookstore in Midland. They are located near the hospital on Michigan street. If you can, go this week!!! It's the last week of the 75% off sale...and trust me, it's quite the bargain. Joseph and I scored a stash of vinyls for him last Saturday for 18 CENTS a piece! Cents people!!!!

(Be sure to bring cash or checks :), no cc machine available here!)

a quick trip to austin and 2 very sweet little girls!

During the 4th of July weekend Joseph and I traveled to Austin and stayed with our dear friends, Aman and Juliana. Even being a three day weekend it was not NEAR enough time to see everyone we wanted to see nor do all the things we had planned. (So if you are reading this and we neglected to see you, I sincerely apologize!!!)

I snapped a few shots via Hipstamatic of Aman and Juliana's adorable little girls! Who wouldn't want to spend an entire weekend with them?

samaya, in her "cinderella" dress!

alena, wearing her dance recital dress

gorgeous!!!

adorable!!!

Let me just say, if I weren't excited enough about being a mom, these two little girls make me even more excited! They are so sweet! One of my favorite memories from the weekend was riding in the car and sitting next to Alena. I was explaining to her that there was a baby in my belly. I asked her if she would like to hold the baby when it was born, and she promptly replied "NO! It will get germs on me". I said, "oh you mean you will get germs on the baby", thinking she had it mixed up. "It will get germs ON ME!" My bad! She also insisted that we name the baby Ferby! :)

Samaya kept telling me "you are Brandi!", over and over again. (When she was wearing her Cinderella dress she said this and I replied "you are Samaya". Well she corrected me..."NO, I Cinderella!" It just melted my heart. And in the car she would declare "I gonna look for diggers". (They drive by construction often and see big tractors and diggers).

Basically anything that comes out of these two little girls mouths is so sweet and will make anybody, including Joseph, want to have little girls too! When we got home he decided that maybe having girls wouldn't "be so bad!" HA!

It was a wonderful weekend and thank you to our lovely host's for making us feel at home, as usual!

(Also many thanks to Travis and Jen @Gateway Church for giving us a free crib!!!)

a post I cannot post yet

I will write this tonight and post it later. Much later. Until everyone knows! And then it won't be a secret anymore, and I can declare to the world that, I, am going to be, very soon...


A MOMMY!

And Joseph will be a daddy ;)

So let me first just say how beyond excited we are and how incredibly blessed we feel to have such a miracle impact our lives. We are giddy with excitement and can't wait to love and hold and cuddle our sweet baby. Due December 30, 2011.

How did all this happen, you ask? (and no, this won't get into the birds and the bee's :)

I can remember my LMP (last menstrual period) so vividly and it plays a huge part of this story. And that is because we were pregnant at that time. It was a Friday, and I had a sub job booked for the day. I was only five weeks preggo, and woke up early that morning to get ready. When I went to the bathroom there was the thing that every woman dreads seeing when she is pregnant. Blood. And not just a little "spotting", but lots. (Sorry for the TMI).

So panicked, I woke up my mother-in-law, Valerie (a nurse) to ask her what to do. She recommended putting my feet up for the morning and cancelling the sub job for that day. She said it was normal for some women to bleed and that all was probably fine.

But deep down I think I knew that all was not fine. I was lucky enough to be able to see my OBGYN that day and she did a vaginal ultrasound. She found no indication that I was pregnant and said that most likely I had had what was called a "chemical pregnancy" when the sperm and egg meet and fertilize but the egg doesn't latch on to the uterus for unknown reasons. This news was just so devastating to me. I have wanted to be a mommy now for a long time, and I was so excited for the opportunity to finally arrive. Joseph was such a trooper and really held it together for me. While it was a tiny loss, it was still a loss, and I will forever feel like that little baby was a sweet baby boy.

So fast forward one month later to April. I remember washing dishes and getting this very strange sick feeling. Not nausea or anything, just severe weakness, like wow, I might just pass out right here. Immediately I knew that something in my body was off. I had a pregnancy test left over from last time (I took two then, as I was in disbelief at first) and headed in to do the deed. And guess what I saw? A bright pink, absolutely positive, double lines! I tried to nonchalantly grab Joseph to show him and he was ecstatic as well.

We decided to wait until we were at least six weeks along to tell even our family. At the time I took the test I was only maybe four weeks pregnant (I have very regular cycles!) and we did NOT expect nor even think it was possible to get pregnant again so soon. We just didn't want them to experience the same heartache as last time. Our "plan" was to drop the bomb on Mother's Day. But one sneaky little momma found out before then...

One night I was sitting at the dinner table and had my head down. Valerie very jokingly asked me, "Brandi, you sure have been tired a lot lately. I wonder if there's a reason for that?" She had a little smirk on her face. Joseph and I looked at each other and intuitively knew that she knew. Come to find out that day we took that home pregnancy test we didn't disguise our happiness so well. Apparently our huge "smirks", as Valerie refers to them, gave us away and she knew right then. Mother's intuition I guess!

On Mother's Day we did get to surprise my momma and my lovely grandmother and aunt. It was so special and I love that our families are so excited for this sweet baby.

We had our first ultrasound at 15 weeks and the sonogram tech said she thought she saw "girl parts" but didn't want to be sure until we were further along. I'm saying it's a girl though. I just feel it. And I guess if I'm wrong then that's ok too! It won't be the first time I've been wrong about something :)

profile shot; 15 weeks

tiny baby feet; 15 weeks

We are enamored and completely in love with our little Charley Cate Minefee. Joseph already calls her his Charley Girl and right now I'm a little obsessed with picking out antique nursery finds to make her room one of a kind. So far I have a great collection of vintage children's books and cute vinyl records! One is even the very old school Winnie the Pooh!

But as I said earlier I won't post this until everyone we want to know via face to face message knows! So until then... (UPDATE: I guess everyone that is going to know by now knows!)

Pray for the health and loveliness of our Charley Girl, as we are so excited to be her parents in December! What a wonderful Christmas gift!!!

my big ole belly and sweet charley girl; 17 weeks