It's a....

Well we've been guessing for awhile about our baby's gender. At first, Mimi thought it was a boy because the baby was sitting low in her belly. Then we thought it was a girl because Mimi kept getting kicked and it was keeping her awake. As Mimi put it "only a girl would be this mean." Then we looked at the heartbeat (lower=boy while higher=girl). Ours was "medium low." So we thought it was a boy.

Unless I'm blind and unless the sonographer was hiding something...Baby P is a little girl.

Luckily, in my life I've been surrounded by women so I know the basics. I know all the Disney princesses and I know to keep Kleenex handy. I'm going to try to talk her out of being thirteen. I would actually just prefer her to go from twelve to...maybe twenty. Just skip that messy stuff in the middle that I won't understand.

Mimi and I do have a name picked out. In fact we even have backup names also in case the baby comes out and the name just doesn't feel right. We won't be sharing them because of my own sinful nature. In the past, people have told me names they were considering and I've felt very free about telling them which name I thought was awful. And inevitably that's the name they pick. Awkward. I will save my friends from this by taking this off the table.

Updates

Make a pregnancy ticker

Celebrating Each Other

Greg and I have been all over the place this past month. Texas, Alabama and back to D.C. We started making a bucket list of things to do before we leave this wonderful city. Last weekend one set of Baby P's future grandparents (my parents) joined us in celebrating my Graduation from Georgetown University. I graduated on Friday (which just so happened to be Greg and my five year wedding anniversary).

Yesterday we celebrated our Five Year Wedding Anniversary on a Potomac River Cruise (something that was on both our bucket lists).

Our wedding took place two years to the day that we met. We met at 4 p.m. Eastern Time (in Washington, D.C.) and were married at 3 p.m. Central Time (in Texas). I'm really into symbolism. It is sad to think about leaving D.C. because we have so many wonderful memories here. I hope we can come back at some point in our lives and share the city with our children. Our celebration was like a mini-vacation where we got to see a perspective of the city we had never seen before. It was a wonderful romantic day.

I am so glad to have such a loving and devoted husband. Greg and I are really trying to enjoy the times we have together as we prepare for Baby P. We've been cooking together, spending hours chatting and just enjoying each other. I'm going to miss the times we spend together but we are both excited about being parents.

Baby P already has a large Rubbermaid bin full of things, mainly books and diapers from the Washington Journalism Center Spring 2011 class. Tuesday we'll hopefully find out Baby P's gender and we can begin to put together baby registries. I am so excited about Tuesday.

Even if we cannot find out the gender I'm just going to be excited to see my baby again after a month's hiatus.

Fatherhood Fears

I've been very conscious recently of my lifestyle. I'm staying up late playing video games. Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2 and Castlevania--they all have blood, people screaming and sexual content. Oh, and they rock.

I want to go out to eat all the time (and many times want to eat junk food--as defined by taco salads and hamburgers).

I'm reading less non-fiction. I'm mainly avoiding things that have to do with reality. It's not just reading--I don't really want to pay bills, go to work, do much around the house. Adult things.

I don't really talk about it to other people because I feel somewhat immature about the way I'm living, but to be frank I'm kind of scared that I won't be able to do these things when I have a child. And let's not be silly, I mostly won't. Fatherhood is going to change me forever, which I'm excited about and completely terrified about. It's taken me 28 years to like the person I am. But I'll have to be someone new to be a good father.

Weird People and Pregnant Ladies and Stop Grabbing The Belly

People act weird around pregnant ladies. (Although, to be fair and politically correct, I'd imagine people would act equally weird around pregnant men).

Some of it is pretty sweet. Folks riding the X-2 bus with us are a little more likely to offer a seat, family and friends are more sensitive about our time and eager to make sure Mimi gets enough rest.

Then there are the belly touchers. Family and friends aren't a problem, but strangers off the street are. They seem to be under the impression that they are entitled to touch my wife's stomach. They'll ask permission sometimes but usually they're reaching for her stomach before she gives consent.

"Excuse me, ma'am? Can you kindly remove your hand from my wife's stomach?"

I want to think that people are just enamored by the mystic time that is the creation of new life. But I don't think it is. I think it's just American entitlement.

Little Earthquakes

It is the strangest feeling in the world when something is growing inside of you. Yes, I know it has been said before but I'm a little weirded out by the baby turning somersaults in my belly. Baby P woke me up last night at around 3 a.m. kicking me in the side. By the end of today I felt like he/she had bruised up my entire inside belly. It feels like a mini-earthquake (far from those that impacted Haiti or Japan, but very impactful in my little world).

The responses about this on Facebook were all excited ones. Mother's gladly sharing the joy they felt when they felt their little babies moving for the first time. I am excited, but at the same time this is all sort-of strange. Hoping tomorrow that Baby P is a little nicer to my insides, but perhaps as I get scars from the preliminary kicks it will feel more like he/she is kicking and less like getting jabbed in the stomach from the inside.

I know the earthquakes will just become bigger as my pregnancy progresses. One thing I do know is that the more I feel the baby move, the closer he/she is to arrival. The first half has gone by so quickly (yesterday marked five months until Baby P's due date). I'm praying for you each day baby. I love you and I cannot wait to introduce you to this world.

The Halfway Point (Almost)!

We are almost half way through the pregnancy! I am so excited because while at the lake with my family I was able to feel what I think is the baby. To me it felt more like bubbles popping. We find out Baby P's gender on May 31st (hopefully). I have one more OB appointment before that.

Things are coming together with the transition to Missouri. Hopefully we will close on a house in Columbia before the end of the month. I'm so excited to begin to create a nest for our little family.

This month we visited Texas for my sister Sarah's graduation from Southwestern University, we went with my family to Lake Buchanan (the lake my dad has been to pretty much every year since he was 4), I've only missed 4 years in 28. I cannot wait to teach Baby P how to fish for white bass, catfish and stripers. The fishing was not too good this trip, but hopefully in future years it will be better.

We also celebrated Mother's Day. Several of my friends wished me a Happy Mother's Day on Facebook, and I got to have dinner with my mom and dad, sister Catelyn and Greg. The baby will be here in less than 5 months and I cannot wait to meet him or her and know what it is like to be a mom.

We are in Birmingham, AL right now visiting my sister-in-law Edge. Edge will graduate from Samford University on Saturday. Such and exciting time in the life of the Perreault Family!