It's a BOY!

For all my family (who are most likely the only ones who read our blog), this is old news because we called everyone the day we found out! But it seems official when I blog it... We are having a baby BOY!! Yes, I know that it shocked just about everyone, with the exception of Carrie and Tricia (they were the only ones who believed it could happen!).

(around 4 1/2 months)

Tim, Abbey and I went in for my ultrasound October 2nd and were amazed and excited. He is already so cute!! He has been moving around a lot and it was fun to see just what exactly he was doing in there! We got to watch him suck on his fingers (that little jaw already has a strong suck, it was moving pretty good! Nursing shouldn't be a problem), while his other arm was nestled behind his head. His legs were crossed and bent up with the occasional kick straighting them out. To be honest, the tech looked at his "parts" so fast that I really didn't get a good look at that area, but she said he was "defiantly a boy." My doctor came in for the follow up and informed me that has was healthy and normal, but he was a "big boy." It could change month to month but he already is in the 87% for his growth! I think I am destined to have big babies.

It was fun to bring Abbey with us. When the picture came up on the computer Abbey immediately started saying "Baby". I think that it helped her mind click that the baby is in "mama's" belly. When Tim later asked her where her baby brother was, she ran up to me and started to lift my shirt! She will be a great big sister. I'm a little worried that she will try to be too helpful!! She loves babies and seems to be very motherly. It is fun to watch her with Christine's baby Luke. She tries to put blankets over him and give him his pacifier! It will be an adventure come the end of February!

(these are action shots of him sucking on his fingers, notice the jaw moving)

Oh yeah, we already have a name picked out too. It will be Michael Reed Merrill. Michael is a family name (Tim's older brother who passed away shortly after he was born, and my mom's real dad), and Reed is Tim's middle name. I guess we beat out Peter and Brittany with getting to use Michael (I still wouldn't care if you guys ended up wanting to use it!). We are very excited to welcome Michael into the world and our family. I hope he will be a "mama's boy" because Abbey is definitely a "daddy's girl". Regardless he will be very loved and we can't wait to meet him in 4 more months (wow, that seems real soon!).