It's A Girl!!!

Jenna and I decided we wanted to know the sex of the baby. Neither of us are particularly good with waiting on surprises and we have so much baby stuff in storage, it gave us plenty of time to organize and get ready (by plenty of time I mean Jenna has already done it because she is the premier dominant force in parental planning and organization, thanks love).

Our appointment was Friday morning, the day after our 4th wedding anniversary. The ultrasound tech was a pretty funny lady who nicely asked us to look away anytime she was going to show something that might give the gender away. The anatomical screening was really cool anyways. For those of you who are new to this, they basically get at least one good picture of every major body part so the doctor can review it and make sure everything looks good. It took us about ten minutes of Jenna being poked and prodded to get a sort of good picture of the babies left hand.

We left the doctors office with an envelope sealed and decided to have a little picnic for ourselves. We took the trek to Highland Park and sat underneath a nice tree with a great view of the sunset and the reservoir.

We celebrated with a photo shoot.

We had countless conversations and guesses about the babies sex, but in all honesty neither of us cared either way. We were too excited in general. That being said, we both assumed it was a boy. It was not. For a brief few seconds (minutes/hours/days... I don't know) I might have freaked out a little. I'm not saying I'm buying guns and turning to religion and strict conservativism, but I am saying Romney! Romney! Romney!*

For five excruciating days Jenna and I kept our secret. Exchanging name ideas. Smiling every time we said she. Just living in the joy of knowing. Throughout those five days we prepped what would become one of the best parties I've ever been a part of. We have so many loving family and friends who are already a huge part of our babies lives, we decided to celebrate the cupcake (our nephew Elijah told us if it was a girl we should name her cupcake... it has become a go to nickname already) with as many people as could make it to our house on a Wednesday evening. We were missing some close friends and family, but if my count is right 53 of our friends showed up for the occasion.

We only invited three people.

The amount of love that has already been shared and expressed from the folks above and our friends and most importantly family members who couldn't be there has been staggering. We're having a little girl and literally EVERYONE we know loves her. She's not even here yet and I'm thinking of making her a Facebook page (jk jk).

I made a few comments at the party, as I often do, thanking everyone for being there and expressing my love, respect and admiration. I assume that is what I said. If it wasn't, that's what I meant and I hope it was conveyed through the tears I was fighting back and the gigantic smile on my face.

Little Baby Cupcake Chew is a girl! She's beautiful. She's so smart, it's unbelievable. I can finally feel her kicks (which is surreal and phenomenal and is making me smile right now) and I'm pretty sure they are in  Morse Code. The first time I felt it I'm pretty sure she said Go Bills.

I'm so thankful for the people in my life. I hope you can tell.

* Authors note: Comedy hurts sometimes and I can assure you it pained me to type those words and that name. Obviously just kidding.

Moving and shaking... less shaking.

Last week Jenna and I bought the baby's crib and put it together, together. I had finished up the room (a project that took way longer than I thought it was going to take, partially do to the trickiness of crown molding and partly due to me taking a two week break after the crown molding project).

Looking around the room and imagining everything we and the baby are going to do in the room was an overwhelming thought. I started remembering playing in my room when I was a little boy. A three year old lining up his stuffed animals and pretending I was a teacher. My first poster I put up on my own, when I was old enough to think things were cool.

Then one of my best friends and his wife had twins and I started thinking of all the friends the baby is going to have. That led to thinking of all the people who already love and cherish our baby and they haven't even meant it. We are finding out the sex Friday and next week we are having a Gender Reveal Party (because Sex Reveal Party sounds too provocative) and people are so excited for it. We have more people insisting on babysitting our child than asking. Friends who look out for Jenna and offer me completely unconditional support.

I'm not surprised. If anyone has ever read either of my other blogs, you know how much of an influence our friends and families are in our lives, but this is an entirely new level of love, respect, and community I was not expecting. In a lot of ways our baby and our family is a very private, personal, and special event Jenna and I get to experience together, but there is this whole encompanying sub plot involving the people around us who will be a huge part of our babies life.

I'm not one for blessings, but I do feel remarkably loved and supported. It isn't always easy. Jenna and I are doing our best and learning more and more as the days go by, but I can say with certainty and joy that the people around us want to make it better and easier. Sometimes people say the wrong thing or have no idea what the experience entails, but in a lot of ways that is just as nice. Their concern, over complicated personal and social adjustments, or just general lack of knowledge on the subject matter is endearing. It reminds me how special it is to be going through this. This entire experience puts us in a new an exciting challenge we get to tackle together. Thankfully we have a gigantic (and super attractive) team of supporters behind us. Let's just say Jenna is Ryan Fitzpatrick, I'm Mario Williams, and all our friends and family are packing into Rich Stadium every Sunday to support us as we completely and totally win the Super Bowl this year and every year after this. (I've been thinking of Football a lot lately. Editor's Note: If the Bill's end up doing poorly, which I highly doubt, please adjust this analogy to Jenna being McAdams, I'm Gossling, and all our friends and family are the millions of people who love the Notebook.)

I can't wait to meet this little person. I can't wait to be a dad. I already love seeing Jenna's little belly and it makes me just melt to think of where the world is taking us. Thanks everyone who has shared their love and support. It makes everything so much easier and I'm definitely not scared to admit we're going to need it. I hope to return the favor to all of you (via hugging) as soon as I can.