Big Brother and Sister's Shopping Spree :)

Connor and Kylee were excited to see pictures of their sister...so excited, in fact, that they didn't notice they were holding their pictures upside down. :) But who can really tell what you're looking at in those sonogram pictures anyway, right?

As you might imagine, we were so excited to share the news of our pregnancy with Connor and Kylee. Part of the reason we waited so long to share our news with others is because it was important to us to tell our kids first...and we wanted to have as much information as possible about the health of the baby before we told Connor and Kylee. This meant waiting until we were able to visualize kidneys and a bladder on sonogram, which happened about 2 weeks ago, at 16 weeks' gestation. We had a first trimester screening test done, of which there are two parts...bloodwork and sonograms, each set done one month apart. We completed our first portion in January and our bloodwork and sonogram looked great, but it was still too early to tell if the major organs were intact and functioning appropriately. So, it was an agonizing month long wait until we were able to have another sonogram done and see our precious little lady floating around in fluid with kidneys and bladder intact. But the wait was worth it. My bloodwork from the second portion of the screening also came back normally, which was another huge relief, as my AFP with Caden was out of whack...so hearing that this AFP was normal was yet another PRAISE!

We had our sonogram at 9:00 in the morning, and after receiving great news all around, waited until we picked Connor up from school to share the excitement with the kiddos. Sure enough, Kylee's first question was "Is this baby going to die?"...and we felt very blessed to be able to tell her that this baby has all the parts she needs to breathe and live outside of Mommy. We have learned not to answer questions like this with a "no" or "yes" answer...God is in control and we don't want to make promises we can't keep...but overall, it was great to be able to offer a reassuring answer to that question!

We then shared that our baby was a little girl. Connor said "OH, MAN!" as he instantaneously realized that he is now, officially, forever outnumbered. Brandon assured him that the two men would stick together...and after all, Buster is a boy, too. ;) And, as I remind Connor, the boys in this family have an angel on their team which beats any number of girls here on earth. :)

Our next stop with the kids was Babies 'R Us, where they had a great time picking out outfits, blankets, and stuffed animals for our newest member. There was A LOT of pink in our cart!! Here are some pictures of them with their things for baby sister:

We love you, baby girl!