Ladies and Gents, we have a kicker!

After everyone telling me over and over that I should start feeling the baby kick by around week 20, it finally happened! It actually started the Thursday before the baby party.  On that day I thought I felt something that people described as gas, bubbles, butterfly's, or a muscle spasm. Then, I felt the same thing on Friday and again on Saturday. It wasn't until Sunday night that I knew this wasn't my imagination, it was my baby boy! That night while getting into bed I felt him again and had Daniel see if he could feel.  Many people say that dad usually doesn't feel the baby kick for several weeks until after mom does.  Well, I have coined Daniel "Magic Hands" because he felt him move that night and every single day since.  Sometimes, Magic Hands will put his hand on my belly and the baby will kick just for him, even when I'm not feeling any movement at that time! Since being able to feel him, Daniel has affectionately named the baby, Bubba and it's a name that we love. No more "it" or "the baby," now it's him and Bubba--I love it.

The movement is amazing.  It is indescribable.  It's the exact thing I needed to help me connect to my baby boy (and not my girl!).  I love that I can feel him move, him turn, him poke and him say hi to daddy.  I'm having a boy and I have connected to him in ways that I never thought possible.  I cannot wait to see what he looks like.  Will he get my bright blue eyes or Daniel's green flecked ones? We joke wondering if he will be tall like all of the members of our family, or somehow get the genes from his only two short(er) relatives: Grandpa and Papa Poo Poo head! Will he have dark hair like ours or come out looking like his blond Ward cousins? 120 days to go until our due-date, he'll be here before we know it. :)

Bubba's first concert with his favorite babysitters, Scott
and Auntie Angie!
Dave Matthews Band

Bubba is a name that fits for now but we are happy to say that we're fairly certain we have a first and middle name picked out that we love.  I imagined that we had months and months of agonizing name torture ahead of us, but Daniel actually thought of his first name while we were in Florida in June and it's a perfect combination of what we were looking for: something not mainstream but not too strange either.  The middle name is ironically one that we both thought of individually and is a perfect fit with his first.  Sorry kids, you'll have to wait until he's born to be in on the secret! Until then, we have a nursery to start preparing, a registry to figure out and research the infinite world of daycare providers. Can't wait!

It's a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday night goes down as one of those top ten days, thus far, in my life.  I am so glad that we waited the 12 (not quite as agonizingly long as I thought) days for the gender reveal party.  So many of our closest friends and family were there, it was such a special moment.  

The party was great, food and friends were plentiful and amazingly enough, I wasn't chomping at the bit to pop the balloon, I think I was more nervous than anything.  Finally, the big moment arrived and after a count of three, Daniel popped it.  I was shocked!  I couldn't believe how much blue was falling at me and in total disbelief that it wasn't pink!  What I couldn't stop thinking, after the tears stopped flowing, was that Daniel was getting his little man and the Hillman name would continue on with this babe (not to mention that everyone loves a Jewish boy!). I'm in love all over again and cannot wait for 19 weeks to pass until we get to look into his little eyes.  

Team Blue!

Team Pink!

It's funny, when people asked me if I had any premonitions as to what we were having, I always said that I didn't have one.  Deep down, I must have thought we were having a girl because I found myself looking mostly at the girl lists in the baby name books, the girl headbands on Etsy and the girl clothes in stores.  After Friday night, I have had to make a complete shift in my thinking.  That night before bed I typed, "baby boy" into Pinterest and cooed over the adorable little man shoes, pictures of baby boys being held in their daddy's hands and all things related to snips and snails and puppy dog tails.  I'm going to have a little boy, I can't believe it...

Speaking of boy, here is the picture that we got from the doctor that held the truth--I guess the four clicks on the keyboard wasn't four clicks after all but more like fifteen! I had to ask Todd to describe exactly what I was seeing and was told to picture a baby sitting on a glass table and you are looking up at the baby.  You see too little legs and baby boy parts, or that's what Todd told me anyway. How they can pick this stuff up amazes me, but there it is--my son's boy parts all over the internet!

Lastly, when garage sale-ing with Meg a few weeks ago we found this sweater and just had to buy it because it was just so precious.  So glad I spent that 50 cents and can't wait to see him in in this winter!

Baby BOY is the size of a pomegranate!

~Mama Jess