Weekend with Carly

This weekend my best friend Carly flew over from Spokane with her 6 month old son Benjamin to help me register!  She is such a good friend to give up a whole weekend away from her family to come spend it with me.  Carly has three adorable boys, so she definitely knows what things I will and won't need for our baby! I loved every minute I got to spend with just her and Benjamin!

Every time Cody and I had previously walked into Babies R Us, I would end up feeling overwhelmed and on the verge of tears.  There's so much "baby stuff" out there that people say you "have to have" so it's hard to decide on anything!  Carly was a lifesaver to calmly walk me through the store and guide me into registering for things she knows I will use with our baby.  It was a much more enjoyable experience than I expected and I actually had a good time spending a few hours in Babies R Us without feeling overwhelmed.  Benjamin was an angel the whole time and was content to take a nap or smile his big smile at us!  After we registered at Babies R Us, we had lunch, did some shopping, and then registered at Merry Go Round.  It was such a fun and productive day! 

Cody was so sweet to offer to watch Benjamin for the night so Carly and I could enjoy dinner out with my friend Rebekah!  We came home to find Benjamin asleep on Cody.  Good practice for him for the near future :).

Cody and Benj

Benjamin is the sweetest, smiley, little guy and I loved having a baby at our house for the weekend!

Benjamin and his future girlfriend ;)

Bump watch: 22 weeks!  We're more than half way there now!

 Our good friend Katelin also came down from Bellingham for lunch on Sunday and we made a successful trip to Ikea before dropping Carly off at the airport.  It was a busy, but very fun weekend!  Thanks for all your help Carly!

Baby Lamens is a...

...GIRL!

We are THRILLED to be expecting a baby girl in September!  Boy, was I surprised!  For some reason I was completely convinced that this little peanut was a boy (probably because I'm the ONLY girl in both mine and Cody's family, so I just assumed we would have a boy first).  Most of our family members thought we would be having a boy also...maybe because I had convinced them of that! My first grade class had wanted to get in on the "guessing" of the gender before our ultrasound, so I created this baby bottle poster and had them place their votes.  A number of former students and parents of students also got in on the guessing game :)...

Here's a closer view of my "blue" vote...

Notice how the majority of the kids/parents who voted guessed "girl".  They clearly knew better than I did!  I'm well aware that I have absolutely no "mother's intuition" :). 

We went to our 20 week ultrasound Friday afternoon but didn't want the technician to reveal the baby's gender at the appointment.  She told us she was "sure" of what the gender was, so we had her write it down and then put it in a sealed envelope.  That evening (after wasting a few suspenseful hours) we headed to the mall and went to one of my favorite baby clothing stores, Janie and Jack.  We picked out our favorite boy and girl outfits and gave them to the cashier, along with the sealed envelope that held our baby's gender results.  We told the cashier that we would leave for a few minutes while he opened our envelope and wrapped up either the boy or girl outfit, depending on what it said.  Then we would come back and pick up the package so we could open it at dinner.  Here are the cute little outfits we picked out...

After we had our package in hand, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  Cody was ready to open the package as soon as we sat down, but I insisted that we wait to at least order our food and eat our salads before opening it.  I know I'm crazy, but I knew this moment would change our lives and I wanted to enjoy every moment of the suspense and anticipation.  Our waitress was kind enough to offer to take pictures for us as we opened the box.  Here we are just a few minutes before opening the box..

And here are our reactions when we opened the box (a picture is worth a thousand words!)...

As you can probably tell, I was a blubbering mess for quite a while after we found out we were having a girl :).  I felt so many emotions at that one moment - it was such a surprise and such an exciting moment that I know I will never forget.  I then called my parents who were on vacation in Hawaii and continued to cry over the phone with my mom for a few more minutes.  I'm sure the people around us thought I was nuts!  Cody and I finished our dinner in between phone calls with family and friends and enjoyed the evening celebrating with just the two of us.  It was a date night I know we'll always remember!  

Here I am 20 weeks pregnant with our baby girl!

And here are a few of our sweet little lady!

We love you baby girl and can't wait to meet you in a few months!  Let the shopping (and everything pink) begin! :)  

This Mother's Day will always be a memorable one as I got to cherish the moment knowing that this time next year I would be enjoying it with my daughter.  It was also fun to receive these beautiful pink roses from our baby girl and her sweet daddy!  I have no doubt that she will have Cody wrapped around her little finger as soon as she arrives!