heading into my 20 week ultrasound last week, i admit i expected it to be a girl.  i tried to remain neutral on the gender front, but it was hard – and here’s why: my daughter REALLLLLLY expected a girl – early on, she declared this new baby would be a sister, and no matter how many times we tried to tell her the baby could be a boy, she was certain it was a girl.

so of course, it’s a boy!

having realized more acutely each time i’m pregnant how miraculous it all to have everything fall into place to give birth to a healthy baby, just praying everything would be okay was my main thought going into the ultrasound. i know a number of gals (in “real life” and in blogland) that have had a range of heartbreaking “not okay” things be revealed during routine ultrasounds, and once that happens to you or someone you know, i think you can’t help but approach pregnancy with more caution. the baby’s health was, of course, the most important thing on my mind.

the best news is that this little fella is doing great and measuring right on track and is perfectly healthy.  so wonderful.  but the news that took a bit longer to process is that the little one is a BOY.

our first reaction?  “POOR EM!”  and no, she did not take it well when we told her that evening. she just was SOOOO certain, you know? she’s only five – she wears her emotions on her sleeve. and then it sort of triggered a reaction in me – i’m one of four girls, sisters are all i know!  my mom is one of 11 kids, 8 of whom are girls, many born all in a row.  my sister has three daughters.  i think, deep down, i always expected another girl, like it was in my genes or something.  and as a sewing mama, yes, i wanted another little gal to pass Em’s handmades down to!  all that work!  all those skirts and dresses she’s already grown out of!  ack!

it took a bit for me to adjust to the fact that our family will have TWO boys, one girl, and that Em won’t have a sister.

after a couple days of hugs and snuggles, though, the surprise for both Em and i wore off, and the pure excitement returned.  it’ll be fun to have the younger two kids be the same gender – they’ll probably play more together anyway!  i love being a mama to a boy – the one i have is super fun!  O is a bit clueless about it but is all smiles when we talk about baby brother.  Em still kisses my belly multiple times a day and telling us she loves him and trying to feel her little brother kick any chance she gets.  and when he does kick her, it seems to make her day.  she announces to everyone we come across that “my mommy is having a new baby brother!” with a big grin on her face (she even told the cashier at the grocery store).

all is well and we are very happy and excited and grateful, and can’t wait to meet this little guy in a few months.  i love him already.  i’m gearing up to do more boy sewing, since i now know it WILL get passed down!

SO!  anyone wanna help us out with some baby names??  we have a couple early thoughts but we’d love ideas, if you’ve got ’em!  we like names that aren’t super popular or trendy, names that are interesting but widely recognized as masculine.  care to share some of your favorites?  🙂

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details on the little elephant pants above:

• fabric is gray elephant fanfare flannel by Rae Hoekstra (to match his big brother’s here).
• pattern is Rae’s free newborn pant pattern, lengthened 1/2″ so they’ll last longer.  i made quite a few of these for O when he was little, and they were awesome.  didn’t blog most of them though – they’re just so quick and basic and easy!