Finally here...

Today was our anxiously-awaited ultrasound day. Long enough we've had people asking if we know what it is, what we think it is, if we want to know what it is, if we want to know what they think it is (actually they don't ask, they just tell us) and what we want it to be. Today we finally KNOW and those questions are put to rest! Hooray! Of course, now begin the questions of have we chosen a name. No, we haven't. We didn't finally decide on Cora's until delivery day. Believe me, we are no more decisive than we were two years ago.

So, you want to know what it is???

It's a....











girl!!!

We are so excited. I kept going back and forth about which I would prefer. Either one would have been wonderful and perfect. But Dave had no qualms about expressing he was hoping (or more realistically trying NOT to get his hopes up just in case) that it was a girl. Of course he wants a boy too. With the next one. We just both agree it will be so fun to have sisters close in age. So, as my sister-in-law Rebekah said, "Yeah! A house of princesses that camp and hike and mountain climb and read really big intellectual books." Sounds fun!

Today was not just ultrasound day, mind you. Today was: arrive half an hour early for Mommy and Me at church as usual so I can prepare coffee and treats for a dozen and a half ladies and snacks for 2 dozen children. Leave early from Mommy and Me (before Cora's favorite part--the singing) to rush to for Cora's appointment with the speech therapist. Spend an hour and a half "playing" with the therapist who confirms what we pretty much knew--Cora is doing fantastic and right on schedule with her speech development. Just a precautionary though due to the TS. Then rush home my exhausted, totally played out, whiny and hungry toddler for a quick bite of lunch (which wonderful Dave had on the table: leftover butternut squash soup and bread toasted and melted with mozzarella). Get Cora down for her nap just as Esther arrives to babysit. Dave and I rush to the ultrasound at the hospital. We quickly get in and out. I drop Dave off to do some errands "in town" at the bank, library, etc. from which he will take the bus back the quick ride to Regent for an afternoon of studying. I continue on home to relieve Esther, consider making phone calls to let people know the news, but instead promptly fall on the bed and sleep for the last half hour of Cora's nap. Cora wakes me up and I jump up to bake cookies and get ready for our dinner guests. Sage and her toddler Lucas arrive at 4:30 for some play time. The husbands walk over from Regent at 5:30 and the four of us sit around the table enjoying a relaxing meal for a couple hours discussing elections, classes, the myth of a "balanced life", and the details of preparing for life with two children, while Cora and Lucas destroy the house. Our friends leave, we do a massive overhaul of cleaning up the wrecked house that was just cleaned last night to perfect order for our small group Bible study and will just have to be cleaned again tomorrow before my parents arrive. The never-ending cycle. We get Cora to bed after lots of stories, water, singing, prayers, more books in bed, talking, crying, putting her pajamas back on, more crying, more prayers. Then Dave goes to have a short visit with a friend in need and I am left to FINALLY getting around to sharing my great news! This is my life. Only usually it involves studying/classes in there somewhere. Which, for today, is right now. Good night. I'm off to Jonathan Hill's A History of Christian Thought.

Tomorrow I'll start running again, first with a midwife appointment at 9:30, then picking up my parents at the train station after their journey from Seattle, then a quick lunch and off to class....