BIG Day!

There are three reasons why today is a big day for our family. First, we found out that baby is a BOY. He was shy during the first part of the ultrasound as he was in a breech position with his legs crossed. Nadia was head down in every ultrasound, but that's not true of this little guy. Thankfully though he did let us get a few good looks between his legs toward the end of the ultrasound. Everything looked fine. They want me to come back at 24 weeks for one more ultrasound so they can thoroughly examine the heart. I am very excited that Nadia will have a brother! I am following the pattern of my two sisters who both had a girl first and then a boy. Now we need to pick a name as Deborah Marie will not work for a boy, LOL! I also want to start looking at options for decorating his room. I have been searching on Craigslist for a crib, and I finally found one a couple of days ago that was reasonably priced ($50 and that included the mattress). They live near Paul's family, and since Paul's dad has a truck, they can pick it up and bring it to our house the next time they come up.
Second, Nadia turned 14 months old today. I still consider her to have a 5 word vocabulary (with "up" being the word she says the most often), but I think that will change dramatically in the next month as she's now starting to try to repeat words when I ask her to say a certain word. She will say "up", "Mama," etc. on command if I ask her to say one of those words. She's still a very good eater and generally sleeps at least 14 hours a day (11-12 of those are at night). I know the morning nap probably won't last much longer, but so far she still seems to operate best with 2 naps a day. Pointing is one of her favorite ways to communicate her wishes. She enjoys waving "hi" and "bye," clapping her hands, and giving someone "five." The last 14 months with her have been sooo wonderful, and I look forward to seeing all the ways she'll grow in the coming months! The highlights of my days are seeing her smiles, hearing her laughter, and cuddling with her.

Third, the fall semester began today for Paul. He is taking his last doctoral class. He's not excited about taking this particular class, but thankfully he won't be a TA this semester (as he was last year), and he's only taking one class (whereas he took 2 a semester last year). He plans to take his comprehensive exams in the spring. I hope this class goes better than he thinks it will. My fall semester begins one week from today so I am enjoying the last week of my 3 week vacation.