It's A..........

We had our 20-week ultrasound today. I had been looking forward to this date for so long, it's not even funny. I hardly slept last night because I was so excited.

So to keep you in suspense no longer.......

It's a GIRL!

We're super excited, and now I can finally get David to start talking about names with me!

Baby girl is measuring 10 inches in length and 14.5 ounces. Apparently, that's right on track for January 15th, so that's good. I guess she was sleeping during the ultrasound, and she refused to move around much. The doctor shook my belly around and had me lie in three different positions, to no avail. (I'm hoping that's a good sign for when she's sleeping outside of the womb!) Anyway, because he couldn't get her to move around much and she was all curled in a little ball, I have to go back in a couple weeks. He wasn't able to adequately view her spine since she was curled up, but he hoped that in a couple weeks she'd be more stretched out. She also had some kind of cyst or soft spot on her head. There was an actual medical term he used to describe it, but I completely forgot what it was. He assured me that as a single symptom, it meant absolutely nothing. I should have asked more questions, and I'm looking forward to seeing my OB-GYN on Tuesday and my follow-up ultrasound to reassure me that everything's okay with this little girl. Any prayers you could offer up would be appreciated!

Hooray for the first granddaughter on both sides of our family!

It's Grillin' Time

Yesterday David was grilling shrimp for our dinner, and a miraculous thing happened. It started to rain! We haven't seen much rain lately, so the three of us gathered on the back porch to watch. The wind started sweeping the rain sideways, and it was getting us a little wet.

Daniel: The rain is making me cold!
David: Well, good thing we can just throw you on the grill to warm you up.
Daniel: NO! NO! NO!
David: You don't want to get on the grill?
Daniel: NO! I would be on fire!
David: What about Mommy? Should we throw her on the grill?
Daniel: NO!
(I smile smugly.)
David: Why not?
Daniel: Because she's too big!

So much for my son being a mama's boy!

Whack-A-Mole

When I picked up Daniel from the sitter's today, he was playing whack-a-mole with Isaac and Aubrey. Discussion as we walked to the car:

Me: Were you having fun playing whack-a-mole?
Daniel: Yeah.
Me: How do you play?
Daniel: You just whack-a-mole. Isaac whacked it every time it turned green.
Me: Oh yeah?
Daniel: And I whacked it every time it turned red.
Me: So when did Aubrey get to whack it?
Daniel: When you came and picked me up.

So much for giving poor Aubrey a turn! Luckily, she's the oldest of the three, so I'm guessing if she had really wanted a turn, she just would have taken it!

Majalca

We visited Majalca, Mexico, last weekend for a family reunion. It was absolutely gorgeous there, and we had a wonderful time thanks to all of David's family for organizing everything!

Daniel had his first airplane trip, from Dallas to Chihuahua. He was a champ - sleeping both the way there and the way back! I thought he might enjoy seeing the plane take-off and everything, but he was much more interested in the grapes I gave him to eat. He had been a little leery of the plane when we had first told him about it. When we told him we were going to be flying to Chihuahua, he replied, "We could just take a car instead!" The plane trip was without incident though.

He loved Majalca. What's not to love about a place that has a trampoline, sandbox, and swing set all in the front yard? He also got to go for a ride in the ATVs, and he liked that a lot too. He even went on his first hike, and he handled it like a champ! He enjoyed scooping up minnows from the stream, touching fuzzy caterpillars, and even holding a little snake by the tail! Fearless! He watched all the older cousins play soccer and pushed a big dump truck all around the town, dragging either Aunt Cristi or Buela everywhere. By the end of the trip, the aunts and uncles got a kick out of asking him where he wanted to live. He'd reply, "I want to live in Majalca!" The only thing he didn't like was the water fights. Daniel continues to live in fear of getting wet (outside of the tub), and he was fairly freaked out when two water fights broke out at separate times! Luckily he stayed close to me. Noone dared to get the pregnant lady wet.

He tried his best to say some Spanish phrases, learning to say "mucho gusto" when he shook everyone's hand. One morning he even ran to me and said, "I'm going to go tell Ana Sofia 'buenos dias!'" and took off running to tell her! He was surprised when we crossed back into the US to hear English again. He pointed to the lady scanning our passports and said, "That lady's speaking in English!"

Say Cheese!

Today I was sitting on the big chair in the living room with Daniel. He suddenly grabs me by the head and swivels it around so that I'm staring straight ahead. Then he stares straight ahead and starts smiling with a big, cheesy grin. I look at him as if to say, "What are you doing?" And he says, "No! Mommy, look at Tacky! He's taking our picture!" (If you'll remember, Tacky is our imaginary friend.....) Anyway, Daniel held still and smiled for a good little bit, much longer than he'll ever hold still for my pictures. I guess Tacky has an advantage over me because he doesn't have to worry about Daniel running up to "see the picture" before it's even taken. Even Daniel's imagination isn't that far-fetched!

Zens Reunion

My dad's side of the family had a reunion last week in Mountainair, NM. This meant a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa, as well as Aunt Pam and Bryson.

Grandma dancing with Daniel

(live music that Daniel couldn't get enough of) Grandma and Grandpa with the two grandsons CousinsBryson could not get enough corn in his mouth fast enough!

There was a luau on Saturday night. This was Daniel's favorite part of the trip, maybe because there was sand to play in. They even roasted a whole pig - a fact Daniel has mentioned to many people we've encountered since then!

Bryson in his leiGrandpa MonkeyGrandma MonkeyDaniel monkey

Cousins in the Bath

I'll post more about our Zens family reunion soon, but I have time for one quick story.

Daniel shared a bath with his younger cousin, Bryson (8 months old), on Friday night. Daniel got a glimpse of Bryson's "goods" when he laid back to get his hair wet. He said, in surprise, "Bryson has a little tiny penis!" He paused, looked at his, and said, "I have a big huge penis!"

I had no idea this "measuring up" would start so early! Daniel better hold on to his claim now - I'm pretty sure Bryson will pass him up in all aspects of size in just a few years!