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

a funny thing

Today Joseph and I went and watched Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2. I'm not so hugely pregnant that I need maternity clothes yet, and most of my regular clothes fit just fine. (Currently 17 weeks). But when I sit for long periods of time, a little unbuttoning is quite comfortable. So at the movies I unbuttoned my pants.

Later that day Joseph had the brilliant idea of picking up Double Dave's Pizza. Not so great on the pregger's belly. And apparently not so great on daddy's tummy either.

So laying in bed tonight we are both complaining how our stomachs hurt and how we are never eating pizza again. Joseph even went so far as to ask me if it was ok if he took his boxers off and slept commando because the pressure from his boxer band was digging into his bloated stomach. Haha!

We had a great laugh and decided we are a perfect match...no underwear and unbuttoned pants and all!

(some of my delicious, and not always so forgiving, preggo food choices)

homemade vanilla ice cream topped with pineapple and sprinkles!

movie nachos drenched in jalapenos!

wonderful italian style pizza in santa fe, nm. wine for jojo; none for me!

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