Saturday, February 18, 2012

It's a..... BOY!

Emily had her "important" ultrasound on Valentine's Day and found out she will be having a boy - The pictures were very clear!!  Although he did not want to cooperate and give us a good side profile view as he had at 14 weeks, he did cooperate with the gender shot!


We are very excited!  She and Tommy were hoping for a boy, and he will be the first grandson on Tommy's side of the family.  I am relieved to see everything is progressing normally and on schedule, and he looks wonderful!  Her due date is still July 4th!  I was really hoping to be able to post some ultrasound pics, but for some reason, they gave us a CD instead of the paper pics.  I can't figure out how to put them in jpeg format so they will save to iPhoto.  I'm afraid if I "save as", I will lose them completely!


Now the fun begins... planning!  Now we get to go register her at Babies R Us and Target.  There is even a cute little consignment store nearby that has a registry!  I have already been asked to make him a Pooh blanket (or 2) which of course I can't wait to get started on!


We all know the father decides the gender and that there is no way to tell until the ultrasound (or birth if you want to wait), but it is always fun to "predict".  There is some chinese gender chart that claims 93% accuracy that they said predicted a boy.  They also said "If the Giants win the playoffs, it will be a boy", and then "if the Giants win the Super Bowl, it will be a boy".  Well we know how the games turned out and... It's a BOY!  No correlation of course!!


They have been thinking about names for a while now, and they have decided his name will be Eli Alexander Brown.  They were joking about putting Eli in his name (for their favorite quarterback), and it stuck!  I think it is a good strong name!  Only 20 more weeks until we meet our grandson!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

It's official

So... By inadvertently posting a picture from Instagram of Emily and her boyfriend Tommy (I forgot I linked Instagram to my Facebook page), the news is out.  After getting several private messages on FB, I realize I need to come clean and share... We are expecting our first grandchild, due July 4th!


The reason I have not said anything sooner is not due to denial - I have known since they found out at 2 weeks (yes they told me immediately) and have accepted it, even embraced it.  I have kept relatively silent because of how others may react.  Did I wish this for my 16 year old daughter - absolutely not!  Do I support her and am I excited to be a Granna - Absolutely!!  We all understand this will be a very hard road for everyone involved, however, I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and that we are not given more than we can handle!


That being said - for those of you who give her unconditional love and support - thank you!  She needs all of the support she can get.  For those who will read this and think that she has ruined her life - please do not post your comments.  Even though this was definitely not in our plans for this point in her life, she has not ruined her life - only redirected it.  There is nothing to stop her from achieving everything that she has wanted to - it will just take longer and different planning.  My mantra since day one is "It is what it is - and it is a baby"!  She could have made other choices, and we many not have had the opportunity to have this blessing in our lives, but she didn't - and for that, I am so proud of her.  She chose not to take the easy road that so many girls her age take.  A baby is a blessing regardless of how or when it was conceived!


We are now in planning mode.  It has been so long since I have looked at baby items (other than for showers), and everything has changed!  Cribs no longer have drop sides (it's against the law) and babies should be wrapped in a swaddler as opposed to blankets.  Bumper pads and wedges are no longer recommended - my girls had them and turned out just fine!  There are however, so many cool things that would have been great to have when my girls were born - video monitors, Boppys, Bumbo seats, plug-in swings...  We are enjoying window shopping and figuring out what are needs versus wants!


Emily is now 19 weeks along.  The much anticipated ultrasound will be this Tuesday - Valentine's Day.  She has had 2 other ultrasounds done - one at 10 weeks to determine due date, and the other at 14 weeks for the fetal development screening (to rule out downs or other abnormalities).  They are hoping for a boy (first male grandchild on his side) and I wouldn't mind a boy since I had 2 girls.  We also have friends with baby boy clothes that they would love to pass down.  Regardless of whether it is a boy or a girl, our hope is for a healthy baby and a complication-free pregnancy and delivery!  So far, everything is going along smoothly!



Baby at 14 weeks - Beautiful profile!


Taken last night - 19 weeks 2 days

For those who are interested, I will blog as things progress.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Also - this is my first attempt at blogging.  Any advice would be welcome - I want to be able to link to pages I follow so others can see the great pages I have found.  Also, I have no clue how to add recipes and directions for crafts.  Help!!