OH BOY!

SULLY! It’s a BOY!  AHHH! I have been on cloud 9 and leaping for joy for exactly 7 days now!  Seriously, this is how I felt with my other 2 as well because I got EXACTLY what I wanted.  2 girls then a boy.  How does that even happen??  I can’t believe it.  With Lucy, you KNOW how badly I wanted a girl.  Then with Piper I was beyond ecstatic too 'cause I wanted to give Lucy a sister SOOO badly.  And now that this is our last, we prayed for a boy and wanted a boy….and A GILLEY BOY is coming!  It still doesn’t feel real!  Like, it’s real but it’s not. HA!  I can’t explain….. 

Anyway, here's a summary of my GENDER REVEAL ultrasound appointment:

They were teaching a student that day and she was SOOOO slow at everything (not good for someone like me who's crazy amounts of impatient) but after she was done with all her learning stuff (took almost 35 minutes which is FOREVER in Britt-time), the real tech FINALLY showed me some relief and said “Ok, it’s gender time!”  And I got all nervous and my heart rate shot out of the roof!  But his legs were crossed!  What a little rascal.... The tech kept saying “I don’t see anything!  The baby’s legs are crossed so I can’t tell.”  I was like, “UM, you better be able to tell!  I’ll do handstands and cartwheels to get this baby to uncross the legs if you can’t see it!”  (side-note: the umbilical cord looks like girl parts to me because you see lines, which means girl.  So I kept seeing it and just thinking he was a girl)…then the tech said, “Oh wait, I think I see a bulge….I’m trying to make this a boy for you.”  We laughed nervously…. But still she couldn’t see it.  Then, suddenly she goes “Ok…..it’s a boy” (all calmly).  Meanwhile I gasp and say “REALLY?!!???!”  And she points to it and I am still saying “you’re sure??!?! It’s a boy?!?!”  and Shawn was holding my hand and he leans down and hugs me and cries a bit and we kiss and hug and we are so happy!  And Lucy was ecstatic! She knew the whole time that we were having a boy.  She can't wait!! However, the cord was still getting in the way so the ultrasound lady said “I want to get a better picture, so go potty and hopefully the baby will readjust himself and then we will take the pictures.”  So I went potty and I was kinda nervous like, “why would she want to check again?  Maybe she was wrong.”  We joked a little that maybe she’d only see girl parts this time (my Mom said “well, at least Shawn got to experience what it would feel like to have a boy for a minute," hehe)….but NOPE.  There you were again!  My little boy!  My Sullivan Michael.  My SON!  Shawn and I have had the name Sullivan (Sully) picked out since I was pregnant with Lucy.  It was going to be our son's name no matter what.  Michael is Shawn's middle name and they will share the same initials: SMG.  It's the world's cutest boy name if you ask me ;)

(While we are on the subject of Gender, I made a list of all the Wives' Tales I could find and the results basically prove them to be right most of the time: 12 points for Boy, and only 4 points for girl.  See? I'm not THAT crazy!)

Anyway, in the midst of all this I should write about my Mom coming to see us!  Oh my goodness, we had such a good time!  She was here for 8 FULL days.  I am SO lucky!  It was the best thing ever to have such great help for a week!  She helped with all the little stuff that makes a huge difference (brushing teeth, getting dressed, morning milks, etc.).  I had more energy that week than I've had in a long time.  Was especially nice since Shawn was gone half of the week.  Plus we managed to squeeze in a couple day trips as well.  One day we drove over to Portland to visit the downtown area, eat Lobster, and shop a bit.  We stayed over night and the next day I took her Cape Elizabeth (I go there a lot but it's because it's literally the most beautiful place on earth, in my opinion).  She was just as entranced with it's beauty as I am each time I go.  God is so good.....

Also we took her to Vermont for a day to, what GPS says is South Royalton, but what the Mormon's say is Sharon, VT.....not sure who's right, but it was the Birthplace of Joseph Smith, nonetheless, and it was really, really pretty!  It was neat to stand on stones that were set at the entrance of his house and things like that.  We took a golf cart tour of the grounds and that was the girls favorite part :)  It was a neat experience and I am really glad we got to see it.  

We were able to go on a hike one day on a breathtakingly beautiful trail not too far from my house, went walking along the river one day, went running through a trail in the woods another day, and she even ran a couple gnarly hills with me once!  We were active but it felt good!  We countered our physical activity by eating way too many doughnuts and chips, but hey- it was vacation! (Did I mention I gained 5 pounds? Yep.  They're here to stay!)

We also threw her a mini-birthday party and the girls baked her a cake and frosted it ALL by themselves.  After they frosted it, they dumped 10 pounds of sprinkles all over it and beamed with pride at their beautiful creation!  Super cute.  We all blew out candles again and again and then Shawn and I went on a date.  Sigh....what a happy night it all was!  Happy Birthday Mommy Dearest!

I miss her a LOT. Like, a lot, a lot.  But it was good for my soul to have my Mama here with me again, even if it was only temporary.  Every girl needs her Mom.

After she left I had an insanely busy week (which was a great distraction from the ache I felt in my heart caused by her absence) and now that it's winding down I'm feeling extremely satisfied with all my accomplishments!  After I finish this blog I will have officially checked off all the items on my incredibly long list!  

One major to-do was a behavioral therapy appointment for Piper that has been looming over my head since June.  Piper has been having MAJOR meltdowns since she turned 2 and everyone told me "it's just the 'terrible twos.'"  But I'm her Mom.  Something in my gut told me it was more than that.  These weren't textbook tantrums.  These were screaming-all-day-and-thrashing-around-uncontrollably-for-hours-upon-hours meltdowns.  I wanted answers.  I knew there was a disconnect in that little brain of hers and I wanted a therapist to give me tools to help her.  Piper is so smart and social and excelling everyday so I knew it wasn't a developmental problem or something major. But it was enough of a red flag and a nagging in my gut to bring her in.  After a 2 hour evaluation she was diagnosed with Anxiety.  They said her problem solving skills are at a 3 1/2 year old level but her motor skills are only a 3 year old's level (she is still only 2 if you don't know).  So her brain wants to solve a problem but sometimes her body can't quite figure out how to do it and that gives her anxiety. Anxiety is expressed through an epic meltdown because she has too many parts of her brain that aren't matching up and she doesn't know how else to cope. As she grows, she will need to learn how to cope with it, but it's genetic and, unfortunately, I passed it down to her :(  Anyway, she scored off the charts for her age in almost every single category but she gets anxiety when things aren't exactly as they should be and that is what has been causing the major meltdowns.  I just knew something was "off" but I feel good knowing it's something that's highly manageable as long as we work at it together.  I'm going to read books and such to gain tools to help her as she gets older so that *hopefully* medication isn't something she will NEED.  I just have to make sure it doesn't progress as she ages.  They also said she's at a 4 year old level as far as knowing her ABC's/123's so when we have her watch TV, we need to let her see more shows about "feelings" rather than learning.  We need to teach her how to fully understand emotions to help control her anxiety rather than shows that teach her the alphabet and stuff.  She is advanced enough for that but needs to catch up on figuring out how to process emotions that trigger her anxiety. But as I said, at least it's something manageable.  It's not something that will debilitate her day in and day out, if that makes sense....I'm glad I know what's up now!  Knowing how badly I have anxiety, I should have guessed that's what she had but I didn't even think about it in a 2 year old!  I'm really thankful for smart people who know how to help my babies :)

And now, the fun part: I get to post a bunch of pictures!

Good night everyone and HAPPY OCTOBER!

 Papa saying Good Bye to Lucy. So sad....but man, was I glad to have her home again!

 

 DATE NIGHT! (Saw The Intern.  It was good!)

And guess what??? FALL HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!

So, Piper is the world's messiest eater (especially doughnuts) and I just had to take pictures!

 My Mom left 3 days before our Foliage started to change.  Can you believe it? She missed it by THREE days!!!  I'm so bummed.  It changed really late this year.  These are just cell phone pictures from our drive to the doctor this morning, but the leaves are getting so pretty!

 P.S. 20 weeks down, 20 to go! Can't wait to hold my little Sully!