It's a...

Human? This was the "best" shot of the baby's face the technician could get. Of course, our sweet little man was not exactly forthcoming...all balled up and wiggly at the same time. A boy! Alice was not surprised at the news, but she quickly informed me that the baby in HER tummy was a girl. I asked her what we should name him and she suggested "Susan." Bobby and I were thinking "Zurg Rex" was more appropriate considering the above photo (thanks to Joshua G. for the name suggestion, by the way).

Honestly, I'm struggling NOT to cram this boy into the "boy stereotype" box in my brain: noisy, destructive, physically aggressive, and disobedient with gusto. The funny thing is, most boys I know (and have ever known) do NOT fit that stereotype, and yet it remains.

After the ultrasound, we met with one of the midwives. He confirmed that everything important was in place and the baby was doing well. I asked about the possibility of an early labor again. Turns out, it only counts as early labor if it starts with contractions, not your water breaking. Shucks. Maybe this kid really will be born in April. Hm.

Bobby and I took our "Skelator" photos back to the car with us and started home when we noticed the car didn't sound right. We pulled off and discovered a very flat tire. Just 20 minutes later, we were driving home on our teeny donut spare and realized it was flat, too. A gas station was right there, so we filled up with air and prayed we would get to a tire shop in time. The spare held up just fine and we decided to go pick up Alice and share the good news with her. She was staying with her friends, and my friend, so I stuck around to enjoy a long chat with my friend about these crazy mixed feelings. I kept wondering WHY the gender thing seemed to matter so much. Why did I feel like curling up somewhere quiet and thinking about the news for hours? Why was this news something that I had to process and ponder when the news about Alice's gender was surprisingly easy to accept? I think it stems from that crazy "boy stereotype" of mine...like I will have to be a different mommy to each child.

But that's not all. My feelings are also complicated by the fact that I already have a vibrant and active little girl that I love dearly. The larger, and more pressing, issue is how another child will change what I already know and love about being Alice's mom. Alice and I headed to the tire place to get the flat fixed. They said it would take half an hour so we walked over to Culver's for a quick lunch. I held Alice's hand as we crossed the parking lot. She was chattering away about what she was smelling and how many cars there were and the mess of ketchup someone had left in the parking lot when the strangest thought crossed my mind, "This is one of the last times that it'll be just me and Alice." That thought makes no sense, and it's totally untrue, and yet I could hardly keep myself from crying. I'm mourning as if she's going to be taken away from me as soon as the next baby materializes. That's not true, of course, but the feeling is in there deep and I can't shake it off as easily now that the baby has a gender...and a face, of sorts :)

It turns out there was nothing wrong with the tire. No puncture, no valve leak. The tire pros couldn't find any reason why it went flat when it did. Funny, huh? I was completely relieved at the news. When we got back into the car, I happened to glance over at our ultrasound pictures again. I was struck with a fresh relief, a new thought, "Hey, maybe this mom-of-two thing isn't actually a problem that needs to be fixed. Maybe it'll be okay after all."

Now to think about boy names...

Communication difficulties

Our internet access and phone have been out of service the last couple days. Comcast manages both of those for us. Service has been spotty recently, thanks to a curious squirrel chewing through one of the lines, but I was told that issue was resolved. Hmmm. Perhaps a pack of the squirrel's buddies are out for revenge? There's no telling how our phone and internet service will be working this week, so please call Bobby's cell if there's an emergency. Thanks!

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been a fun one, mostly.  The week itself was fairly normal, but Saturday was a very busy day.  Susan had to work in the family history center in the morning, so Alice and I spent the morning playing and going to the store.  We bought some food for a special dinner.  We had to watch some kids that evening, and when that was all done we went out for a date.  Unfortunetly there wasn't much time left and we were exausted so we just went home to watch a movie.  Sadly our internet was down so it had to be a video we already owned. It was actually a lot of fun.

North Carolina

I almost ended up in North Carolina. Back in 2002, I was looking for grad schools to apply to that had strong nutrition programs. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill was in my "top five" list. Little did I know at the time that North Carolina would become such an interesting and important place to me at this point in my life...or, uh, my hobby.

Yeah, yeah, I'm talking about family history again. Several of my requests for information from the North Carolina State Archives have borne exciting (dare I say titillating?) tidbits of information that advance my understanding of these people. One of my people was being sued for slander and false arrest. Others were squabbling over land. One little girl inherited huge amounts of property from both of her wealthy and well-respected grandfathers. All of these incidents turn boring old names and dates into REAL people. My people.

Before I was asked to be the director of our local family history center, I didn't much care for the family history scene. Now I wonder if I'll ever be able to give it up :)

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was a Halloween extravaganza. Unfortunately I was not there for all of it, but Alice was and that is what is important. On Friday Alice went to a Halloween parade and an assisted living facility. Sadly the management there was a little bit too concerned about swine flew to let the people living there actually hand out candy to the kids, so instead Alice and many other kids marched through the common areas showing off their costumes, and afterwards got a bag of candy for her troubles. That night we had our church's Halloween party. It involved a chili cook off, games for the kids including pumpkin bowling, and a trunk or treating.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, our camera is dead, and my phone is really bad a movement, like I said before.

On Saturday we went to a Halloween party instead of going trick or treating. We figured that Alice had enough candy already. It was a lot of fun. We had home made pizza, candy, and games. Alice had a difficult time, because she was up past her bedtime, but she also had lots and lots of fun. I would like to post the pictures of me as cousin it, and our family in a bunch of silly wigs, but those will have to wait until they arrive by e-mail. Overall it was a very fun halloween.