Big Ultrasound

   I think just about everyone knows this already, but we had our big ultrasound on Monday and discovered that Shawn is going to get his little princess next. He has actually known this from the time Oakley was just a few months old. He had a dream in which Oakley was holding his little sister. He had said that Oakley was older (2-4ish) and that she was a little bald, chubby toe head. We'll see how that turns out after she's born ;-) I was just overjoyed that her heart was beating and that everything looked healthy. After having had so many miscarriages, I still have these mini panics every time I go to the doctor's office that they're going to just do a quick check and then find out the baby doesn't have a heart beat or something like that. They're horrible thoughts, and I really wish they would go away! I do love that I can now feel her dancing around but even with that, the movements are quite sporatic at this point in the pregnancy. So, I'll go a while without noticing her moving and start to panic all over again. I know deep down that everything is, and will be, fine, I just wish I could stop my brian from overthinking.
   On a lighter note, I sure have enjoyed shopping for the little monkey! The day we found out we were having a girl, we immediately went shopping. Shawn went looking for shoes for himself while I picked out a few things for (Taylor Jean). When he saw the cart, he looked at it, then at me, and told me not to go overboard (I only had 4 things-booties, bibs, jammies, and 1 outfit). I'm still working on getting him to realize that once we have 1 of each sex, we will have to buy clothes for the kid ;-) I'm hoping somewhere along the line we find a hand-me-down donor, but everyone we know with girls are either still having kids, or they've already gotten rid of their girl stuff.
   Below are both Oakley's 3D ultrasound and Taylor's. Not that you can really compare features this early on, but I thought it was fun to see them side by side. I also loved that fact that in both of them, they each have one hand right up against their chin/cheek. and the other arm up almost on top of their heads.

TJ 21 weeks

Oakley 20 weeks

Speaking of Oakley, I still am so glad that he gets to be the big brother. He is such a sweetheart and is already looking out for his little sister.

He saw an outfit I had for her sitting on the piano, picked it up and said, "Awe, she's going to look so cute in this."

He reassures me any time he's about to do something that he won't hurt Taylor in my belly. (This, I'm sure, is sparked by the countless times I've gotten after him for jumping on me and elbowing me.)

He loves to talk to her. That's one of the first things he does when he comes into our room in the morning. He'll put his head right up against my belly and say good morning or something of the sorts.

He loves to listen to her. Just about every time, he tells me that she's either swimming or drinking or peeing. He gets such a kick out of the fact that babies drink the same liquid that they pee in...makes him laugh every time he listens to her. He also just informed me today of the reason she doesn't talk back to him. "She's just a little baby. Little babies don't talk yet. Only some big babies like me do" ;-)

The past few days, he has started singing to her. If he's singing, he just comes up to my belly without really thinking about it and finishes the song he started. I love it. He has such a sweet voice that I'm sure Taylor loves it, too.

Dyeing...faces?

 Oakley discovered an egge dying kit back in November and at least once a week since then, he's asked if we could dye eggs. Even after I rehid the kit, he still remembered and asked. Needless to say, this next year, we will be dyeing eggs whenever we please. He did, however, have to wait until at least March this time around. The kit we used this time was a paint on one, and I loved how vibrant the colors were. I think Oakley had a little more fun with it, too.

Oakley loved ever minute of it

Shawn was fine with painting on Oakley, but wasn't expecting him to retaliate...rookie move ;-)

Oakley had so much on his hands that he did a bit more damage wiping off Shawn's tiny dots than good.

That face explains it all ;-)

Easter morning was so much fun this year. Oakley's finally old enough to start getting into it. What was really awesome was the fact that the Easter Bunny(ies) came while Shawn and I were out on a date Saturday night. That meant both of us got to really join in on the hunt...and we're still finding things. Oakley usually comes straight into our bedroom when he wakes up in the morning for some morning snuggles. Sunday morning, he went straight into the living room, then came racing into our bedroom yelling, "The Easter Bunny did come to our house!" He'd find a few things, then sit down and act like he was done. Then he'd see something else and yell, "The Easter Bunny keeps tricking me." Every time he found something new, it was the Easter Bunny tricking him and making him think he was done...it made us laugh. After church, we got to continue looking for goodies but mostly just spend time as a family. It amazes me how quickly Oakley is growing up and how much he actually absorbs from what we talk about. We watched the He Lives video of Christ on lds.org and discussed some things and Oakley was saying words like resurrected  and sacrifice. What a great kid we have.