It's a....

BOY!
Yep, we had our ultrasound last night and we're having a boy! Grant was asking the technician if the baby was in a good position to see what the gender is and the technician said, "Yep...you're going to find out! Do you see what this is?" And I saw what he was pointing to and I said, "Yep; I've never seen that in any of my other ultrasounds. It's a boy!"
Grant then said, "I know you can't be 100% but how sure are you it's a boy?" The technician said, "Oh, I'm 110% sure. He's definitely a boy. He's showing off!"
He was all curled up so we couldn't see his face but he sure didn't mind giving us a good view of his boy parts! (Just like a boy, right?!)
We're still kind of in shock, although I felt pretty sure it was a boy. We feel like we have the girl stuff pretty well figured out so we're trying to wrap our brains around what it will mean to have a boy. When we realize it was a boy my mind flashed forward many years and thought, "I'm going to be going to sporting events!" This was quickly followed by, "I get to redo the nursery!" because if it was another girl we were just going to keep Maggie's bedding since she's moving into her new "big kid" room. So now you have a glimpse into my shocked brain last night!
Crazy. I can't believe we're having a boy!

The Philosopher

Maggie has become very philosophical lately. If something happens that isn't great and I say something like, "Oh, no!" she'll look at me very Zen-like and say, "That's okay, mama. Sometimes things just happen as easy as they are." I'm still trying to figure out exactly what that means. I think she knows...
I've written before about how she is "spirited" and part of that is that she's very intense and goes from complete contentment to complete devastation in LITERALLY one second. We call it "freaking out" and when she starts doing this we say, "Maggie, freaking out is not okay." We help her calm down and when she's calm we help her apologize and so now sometimes she'll apologize without any prompting. Yesterday this all happened and she said, "Daddy, I'm sorry for freaking out." We think it's kind of funny (not the freaking out but the apology part).
I have no idea why but about six months ago I taught Maggie what Jazz Hands are. We didn't talk about it again for about 5 months, and then about one month ago Maggie randomly started doing (and saying!) "JAZZ HANDS!" I'd love to get it on video...

Pumpkin pancakes

I've been making pumpkin bread semi-regularly now that it's actually fall and my only problem is that I always have a little bit of pumpkin puree left over. Fortunately we have an amazing recipe for pumpkin pancakes that calls for 6 Tbl of pumpkin puree. We love this recipe so much (lately we've been making them about twice a week!) and several people have asked for the recipe so I thought I'd post it here for everyone. I think they taste like a pancake version of pumpkin bread with yummy fall spices.

Pumpkin Pancakes
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbl sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1 pinch clove
1 cup milk
6 Tbl pumpkin puree
2 Tbl butter, melted
1 egg

Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl combine milk, pumpkin, butter and egg. Combine wet and dry ingredients and cook in a skillet or on a griddle.

You will love these! They are the perfect fall breakfast.

Joy

Maggie has these sunglasses that her grandpa sent her and she loves to wear them. On Saturday we went to Target and on the way out I handed them to her as I was putting on mine. She put them on and we walked a few steps out to the parking lot when she asked me, "Mama, can I take my sunglasses off? I want to see the world. The world of joy!"
Of course I said yes (once I quit laughing) and she took a few minutes to enjoy the sunset. And then I made her take this picture in the parking lot to document the moment:

Mama, you look like a mermaid...except for your butt!

I know I just added that last post but I'm adding another one because I just read something so funny! The title of this post is a direct quote so if it piques your interest or you just need a good laugh go to this link:

Ben & Birdy

Random things

Okay, I'm pretty sure I've never said anything remotely political on here before but I can't help but share this incident that occurred tonight at Whole Foods. There was a woman named Sophie stationed outside Whole Foods helping people register to vote. I had to change my address since we've moved since the last election, so Sophie gave me the form to fill out and she, Maggie and I had a bit of a conversation while I was there. We left to eat dinner with Grant, then came back about 30 minutes later as this normal-looking guy walked by Sophie and said, "Who are you voting for?" She said she couldn't say as she was required to be non-partisan while on the job. He said, loudly, "Vote for the hottie!" I was standing about 5 feet away and although I assumed he was talking about Sarah Palin, I couldn't resist saying, "Oh, you think Obama is a hottie?" He's still walking away but he looks over his shoulder and says, "NO! I think Obama is a Muslim!" I said (mostly to Sophie), "I think you're pretty ignorant!" But I secretly hope he heard me, although I'm sure it wouldn't have made an impact on him. I hope he's not registered to vote.

And now back to our regularly scheduled content:

I recently made a playlist of fun music for Maggie and I to listen to in the car and one of the songs on there is Harry Connick, Jr singing "Oompa Loompa" from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Yesterday Maggie wouldn't take a nap but was still having "rest time" alone in her room and I heard her make her own version of the song, singing, "Oompa loompa doopety doo I've got the joy of the Lord" Not bad, huh? :)

She is as excited as ever about our new baby and already loves to kiss my tummy and tell people, "Our baby is sooooo cuuuuuuute!" Many mornings the first words out of her mouth are, "How big is our baby today?!" Check back in about 5 months to see if she still thinks our baby is so wonderful!

And in VERY exciting news, I am going to have a new sister-in-law! Grant's brother, Blake, and his longtime girlfriend, Jenny, got engaged on Wednesday (strangely enough, 7 years to the date after Grant and I got engaged!). They are probably going to be getting married in the spring so if y'all see me eating a cupcake after the baby is born just remind me that I have a wedding to go to soon. Anyway, we're very excited and happy for them! They're in Florida right now for Jenny's brother's wedding but I'd love to post a picture of them and the ring as soon as they get back! Congratulations Blake and Jenny!