Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

(I realize this is a little late and everyone reading this probably already knows this but....)

IT'S A BOY!!!!! We are so beyond thrilled to welcome another sweet, stinky, messy, snugly, loving little boy into our family! Besides being beside myself with excitement, I must say I am truly surprised. My instinct has failed me. For the last 3 months I have been borderline positive that this baby was a girl. So much so, it never even dawned on me to look at boy things while window shopping. I had an entire girl's nursery designed in my head, hair bows picked out on Etsy, and bookmarked every monogrammed item I came across online. It's not that I wanted a girl, I just really believed it was a girl. When the surprise was revealed, all I could do was laugh. Jack is going to be such an amazing big brother and I can't wait to see the friendship between these two begin.

So onto the big reveal. Per usual, Johnny's work schedule kept him from being able to attend the appointment. We obviously wanted to find out this news together, and I wanted Jack to be involved as well so I came up with a little plan. During the scan, the nurse had me close my eyes while she looked for.... well, whatever she was looking for. We finished the scan, and she put the "evidence" into a tightly sealed envelope. Earlier in the day, I had gone to Gap and picked out one boy outfit, and one girl outfit. When I arrived at my parent's house to pick up Jack, I had Patti peek into the envelope, and wrap up the appropriate outfit. The drive home (with my fate wrapped in a bag 2 feet away) seemed like a lifetime. The moment I walked in the door, we were ready!

We pulled out the video camera and gave Jack the baby's very first gift to open. FYI, it takes a toddler about .5 seconds to unwrap anything involving tissue paper, so the suspense was short lived. With the first peek of green and blue gingham, Johnny was up and jumping around the living room as if the Redskins had just won the Super Bowl, made it to the playoffs, won a single game (...grasping for a realistic point of reference here..)

For the last week I have been walking around with this ridiculous, silly grin on my face. I honestly don't know how people can possibly wait for the baby to be born to find out its sex - knowing is the best feeling. I instantly felt so much more connected to this child - like I know exactly who he is/will be. However, I have had to completely readjust my interior decorating train-of-thought. I've got some cute ideas brewing for this little boy... and I'm so excited to be able to indulge in this adorable navy blue crib I've been coveting:

So with about 23 weeks left to go, we've got lots to do before the arrival of little man - besides finishing his room, we need to go through Jack's old clothes to see what we'll need, inventory bottles/pump parts/etc, start a diaper stockpile, and continue to get Jack ready for the day his world will change forever. 

I'll leave you with these creepy yet adorable pictures of baby Hawkins. 

(Yes - he has a name. No - we won't tell you what it is.)