It's...a...

So we found out yesterday that Four is a baby girl. Tirzah is thrilled with the idea of having a sister, and we are all thrilled right along with her.

We got to take all the hooligans to the ultrasound with us, like we did with Jericho. They were surprisingly well behaved...asking lots of questions and getting lots of laughs out of the *very patient* ultrasound technician. She said it was the first time she'd heard kids say a baby sibling looked like a bird...she typically hears "dinosaur". The hooligans like to be different.

They were well-prepped for the ultrasound, and knew they wouldn't be seeing much but baby sister's skeleton. We made it into a science lesson of sorts, and the hooligans were excited to see baby sister's heart (with all the different chambers and the blood flowing in and out) and her brain, stomach, bladder, kidneys, etc. They were a little confused as to why she was in water...and assumed she surely must be uncomfortable because they wouldn't want to be in water like that. (I reminded them that they were in water too...and how much they like baths and swimming. Then it was all "oooooh...yeah.")

About 3/4 of the way through the ultrasound the kids suddenly were ALL parched and dying of thirst...and the main concern was not Four's comfort, but when we could get slushies. (They've obviously been conditioned to know that Sonic and their happy hour special is on the way home from mommy's doctors appointments.) Thankfully little sister was "the best behaved baby of the day" according to the tech (wonder if she will keep that up???) and our appointment didn't take long at all.

We got them their slushies and then went to pick up a little outfit for the baby...kind of an accidental tradition we ended up with, picking out a "going home" outfit for baby when we find out what they are. Tirzah had a great time helping pick it out. She also wanted to get the baby sunglasses and a swimsuit and about 379 other articles of clothing. She obviously needs to be given a tight budget once she starts shopping. She wanted me to take a picture of the outfit we picked, and then decided her pj's were also in need of a photo opp. I agree. ;) I think she's gonna make a great big sister to a little sister.

We are feeling so thrilled with how healthy Four looked today. I have kind of been holding my breath, waiting for something to go wrong ever since we lost our sweet kiddo's twin. Not a great example of trust in God, I know. But hey, just keeping it real around here. I am so grateful, though, that God continues to show me His grace even when I have nothing to offer him but my fear and doubts. I know that you're not guaranteed anything in this life, but we are so grateful for how God is knitting this baby together even now. We are so looking forward to meeting her this Summer, and getting to finally see more than just that cute little skeleton of hers. ;)