It's a girl!

Yesterday, Scott and I got to see sweet baby #2 when I went for my second ultrasound. It's amazing how babies go from little beans at nine weeks to fully looking like a human at 18 weeks. After marveling at the baby's profile, tiny fingers and froggy legs, the ultrasound nurse told us that baby was a girl. While part of me was surprised (I just knew it was a boy), the other part of me felt like she was telling me something I already knew.

When we found out Preston's gender, I had been certain he was a girl, so in my mind being certain it was a boy this time around just meant we were getting a girl. Also, Preston had been telling us it was going to be a baby sister for a couple of months already, and he's a pretty smart kid.

It was fun to see the already apparent differences in my two children at this stage during my ultrasound. With Preston, he never really moved much or seemed bothered by the ultrasound wand invading his space. There were a couple of times after an ultrasound where I wondered if Preston could actually move his legs because he kicked around so little in those brief moments where we could watch him on a screen. He was always a chilled, laid back baby on the inside and continues to be one (for the most part) on the outside.

Baby girl, on the other hand — not so much. From the minute the ultrasound wand was pressed against my stomach, you could tell she did not enjoy having her space invaded. She kicked and wiggled, trying to get away as best she could. I've noticed that the best way to feel her kick is to curl my legs up in front of me to give her a little less room. It gets her stirred up every time. Looks like we need to be ready for a girl who needs her own space.

Prior to this ultrasound, Scott and I had decided not to do too much planning until we knew the gender. We got to enjoy a nice little stretch of expecting a baby while not fussing with the logistics too much. Now, it makes the reality of everything sink in a little more. Baby sister will be here in four and a half months! We've got to start making decisions — the biggest one at the moment being what we'll call her.

While baby now has a pronoun, she doesn't have a proper noun. Girls' names seem to be much harder to decide on than boys names for me. Scott and I spent the majority of the time batting names back and forth while waiting for the doctor yesterday. Every name was either connected to a person one of us had a bad memory of, sounded like we were trying too hard, or just wasn't a good name. The naming conundrum always brings me back to this "Friends" scene.

So, for now, we'll start pulling the newborn stuff out of storage while running through ever-growing lists of girl names. Too bad Vito is a boy's name.

Image via Pixels.com