Many of you already know this from Facebook but I thought that I would make a post about it anyway because it is pretty big news in our family: we will be having a boy!

We went to the doctor on Thursday with Emma, Grammy, and Mimi in tow, to find out what the next little Robinson would be.  Grammy and Mimi were both fully expecting a girl, and Emma, when asked what the baby was, she responded “Gurl!”

After all the checking and measuring of the important baby stats, the technician had Kip call in the rest of the family to have the gender of the baby finally announced.  Once everyone was in the room, the Tech announced, “Well, it’s a boy.”  Her inflection showed no excitement or interest.  It sounded like she was telling us that “Well, it’s going to rain today.”  The reactions that followed though were more interesting.  Kip, according to my mother, beamed with a big goofy grin.  Mimi was so excited she teared up and exclaimed, “I know what to do with a boy!”  Grammy was all smiles, and asked me if I was ok.  (You have to understand that Kip and I really wanted another little girl, much like my sister Emily really wanted a little boy.)  I was in a state of shock and surprise for a few seconds, and then I just thought, “God is giving us a little boy, and he is healthy, moving, and going to be very precious when he gets here in less than 20 weeks.”  I was a little disappointed at first, and terrified because I figured out what to do with a baby girl with Emma, but I have no experience with little boys on an extended basis.  There are little boys in the nursery at church, but I usually let them be on their own and when they need a diaper change, I let the other worker handle that.  I am happy that we are going to have a little boy, and I am looking forward to buying him his own new wardrobe now that I know I need to have clothes for a little boy.

For those of you that have been living under a rock or don’t keep up with our lives like a stalker or super-fan, the plan as of now is to have the baby on July 19, via c-section, and name him Grayson Matthew Robinson.  No, the name isn’t a family name, it is just a name that Kip and I picked out when I was pregnant with Emma (in the event that she turned out to be a boy) and we still like it, so it will be the name of this baby.  And if you’re wondering, we are not naming him “Kip Robinson, III” because Kip says having the same name as your dad makes things too confusing. He figures maybe someday he might have a grandson named Kip. And I’m OK with that.

So, I’ve now had two visits to the doctor since I learned that I was expecting again.  I’m coming to the end of the first trimester, and I was just curious if anyone who reads out blog knows any old wives tales as to how to figure out the gender of the baby before the ultra sound.  I want to go ahead and state that I put no faith in these hypotheses, I just enjoy hearing them, and seeing how they apply to my current situation.  I will go ahead and give you a couple of statistics from the first 13 weeks.  I have had some morning sickness, but have thus far, not thrown up.  The heart beat at the ultra sound was 168 beats/minute.  Then at the second visit when you get to hear it, the heart beat was at 160 beats/minute.  (I would like to interject here that Emma’s heart beat went from 181 beats/minute to ~165 beats/minute between the first and second doctors visits respectively.)

I have heard a few crazy theories so far:

1. Since I haven’t thrown up, it must be a boy.  (This I have a hard time believing since Elysabeth had a boy when I had Emma, and she was sick the whole way through her pregnancy.  And Anna never threw up when she was pregnant with Abigail.)

2. The heart beat started low so it must be a boy.  (I had hear that heart beats between 160 and 180 beats/minute are girls, and heart beats between 140 and 160 beats/minute are boys. Again, the baby’s heart beat falls very close to the middle range that makes it hard to tell.)

3. I have heard a tale that holding the mother’s-to-be wedding ring over her belly, and seeing which way it swings will tell you what it will be, but I don’t remember all the specifics of this wives tale.

Please feel free to share the crazy and not so crazy theories and tales, I look forward to reading them all!!!

Last weekend, Kip, Emma, and I went to Laurinburg because it was time for the first planning committee meeting for my 10 year high school reunion.  I decided that since I didn’t live that far away, I might see if I could help any in the planning of this shindig.  Anyway, I went to the meeting not really knowing what all was required in the planning of a class reunion.  I found out that it is just like planning for a wedding reception, and I’ve already done that once, so maybe I can be a bit of help.  We discussed possible locations for having the party, when we would have it, what all we would do that weekend for activities, and all the not so fun logistics.  I think our next meeting might be a little more fun since we will actually be doing stuff instead of just talking about stuff.  I know that this post isn’t that exciting or entertaining, but not much is really going on with me and Emma lately to be post worthy, and I hadn’t posted in a very long time and thought I would just share on this little milestone in my life.

Some facts about my high school:

• My graduating class had 342 students

• There is only one high school in all of Scotland County

• I think I only know about 50 of those students

• There were only 3 people at the meeting and one other person on a cell phone speakerphone

That is about it, maybe something else exciting will happen soon, and make a better post than this unexciting update...

Emma is just growing and growing!  I guess that is what babies do.  To think that in just over a month she will be one year old.  My little baby won’t be a baby much longer!  I just thought that I would take a moment to update everyone on all the amazing things Emma can do now.

Watching Little Einsteins
Almost everyday since Emma was around four or five months, we would watch Little Einsteins on the Disney channel.  At the beginning of every episode, the characters on the show pat their laps to help Rocket blast off.  Today was the first time that Emma patted along with them!!  It was so exciting to see her patting along and then saying a word after they said “Blast off”!  She’s been clapping at the end of the episodes during the curtain call for about a month, but it was really exciting to see her patting with the team.

Sign Language
Kip and I have been trying to teach Emma how to communicate with us using sign language.  She is really good at “good job” which is clapping her hands.  But lately she has also picked up “all done” when she is finished eating and every now and then she’ll sign “please” when she wants you to pick her up.  (More often though she raises her arms and looks up at you when she wants to be picked up.)  She also will wave “hi” sometimes when you say hi to her.  She waves to herself for “hi” and sometimes away from herself for “bye”.  Kip also taught her how to give “high five”.  I mean, who doesn’t want a ten month old giving them five.  Next we’re going to work on “pound it” (the fist bump).

Story Time
Every night Kip reads Emma her bed time stories, and he always ends with “Good Night Moon”.  When he goes through the story and the picture is the full room view, he always points at the things that the bunny is saying good night to.  Emma has picked up that habit as well.  She always points to the red balloon first and the picture of the cow jumping over the moon second.  Then she will point at random things in the room, but it is still really cute.

Fuzz on the Floor
Emma is a pro at finding any and everything that is on the floor.  I can vacuum the living room, and within five minutes of her being back in the room she can find a single piece of fuzz that might have been missed by the vacuum.  She used to immediately stick the fuzz in her mouth, but I have been trying to teach her to bring it to me instead.  This way she learns to pick up and bring things to mommy.  It is very helpful.  We do still have to have the occational mouth check to make sure she isn’t chewing on something she should not be chewing on.

Walking?
Emma has mastered crawling and is well on her way to understanding the mechanics of walking upright.  She has actually already learned how to climb the stairs.  I found her up three steps one day when I was headed back downstairs from taking something up to her room!  Of course, we’re making sure she doesn’t get near the stairs again, they’re just too dangerous for her right now.  She can walk around all the furniture in the house and pull herself up on just about anything, including the smooth walls.  She loves to play “chase me around the house”.  We’re trying to reset her boundaries.  She likes to hold onto your hands and walk around the house.  That lets her have more freedom than being confined to the furniture and the walls, but she still isn’t motivated enough to try taking a few steps on her own.  I’m not sure if I’m ready for my baby to walk away from me yet.

Shutting Doors
Emma has also learned that the doors are a lot of fun to play with.  You can bang on them, swing them back and forth, and push them closed.  She especially likes to shut the doors on you while you are doing something in the room.  Then she realizes that she can’t play with the door anymore and gets upset.  It is really funny when she crawls around the room and goes to the laundry room door and bangs on it while saying, “dadadada”.

So those are the really big accomplishments we’ve made in the last few months.  I’m sure we’ll let everybody know how her first birthday goes.  Be sure and check out the pictures (there aren’t new ones, but the old ones are still super cute)!

Tonight Kip and I went out for our second date night since Emma was born.  We had a nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then went to a movie.  We saw Fireproof with Kirk Cameron.  It was really good, and I’m excited that Kip was willing to take me to see a “chick flick”.  I highly recommend seeing the movie, just keep in mind that it was made with amateur actors.  I am so thankful that we also have the most awesome baby-sitter.  Hope everyone else had a Happy Mole Day!!!

Emma has hit a very frustrating and tiring milestone, well, it really isn’t a milestone, it is just a phase I wish we could move past.  We finally started being able to sleep through the night about a month and a half ago.  We quit being the kind of parent that went upstairs at the slightest stir to quiet and comfort so that Emma would learn to self sooth and put herself back to sleep.  It was great after only like four nights of me having to get up and turn the monitor off and sit up in the living room so that Kip could continue to sleep, she quit waking up.  Then suddenly, last night at 2:30 am, Emma woke screaming.  I almost went up stairs, but refrained and she did eventually quiet only to start screaming only fifteen minutes later.  I was concerned because we had only just lowered the level of the mattress in the crib that evening, and I was afraid her pacifier had fallen out under the crib bumper.  When I did get upstairs I was unable to find the paci in the crib, so I replaced it with a new one and she did eventually calm herself down enough to go back to sleep.  In the morning I found the paci on the floor next to the crib.  I hoped that this was a one time occurrence and things would be back to normal this evening.  Well, as you can see by the time stamp of this post, and the possible incoherence of the rambling that it in fact has not gone back to normal as I had hoped.  (Thank goodness for spellchecker too.)  I’m going to check in the morning to see if Emma is finally cutting her first tooth and that is why sleeping all night and taking good naps during the day has once again become difficult for her.

She has calmed down and gone back to sleep, so I am too.
“Good night stars, good night air.  Good night noises everywhere.”

So today is an interesting day in the wonderful world of motherhood.  Both Emma and I are sick with colds.  So I’m learning very quickly that I have to put how feel on the back burner to take care of her, instead of only feeling icky myself.  What is really interesting, Emma doesn’t even act all that sick.  She is still happy when she sleeps enough, and cries when she is hungry or sleepy.  She just sneezes more, and has a runny nose.  She might feel as bad as I do, but I have no way of knowing that as she has yet to master the art of speech.  She is however really good at making lots of different sounds, to include the “mmmmmmmmmm” sound.  This could mean that she will say “Mama” first instead of “Dada”.  She is ever growing and changing.  We now let her sleep on her tummy, and she is growing like a weed.  At her last check-up she measured in at 13 pounds 11 ounces and 25 inches long.  I’ll try and keep you updated on other mommy moments.

I’d like to start this post out by wishing all you mommies out there a belated Happy Mother’s Day!  I just celebrated my very first Mother’s Day two days ago, and I’d have to say it went really well.  It has been a real blessing having Emma in our lives, and we both love her very much.  She made me a very special Mother’s Day gift (with Kip’s and my help of course).  She made a really good hand print, and had her daddy frame it so we could keep it forever.  And then Kip gave me a new Honda CR-V to replace the Ford that I had been driving since college.  True, we bought it a couple of weeks ago, but it was for Mother’s Day.  Kip also got up early and brought back breakfast from Bojangles’ this morning.

At church on Mother’s Day they always have three really pretty flower bouquets to honor the moms that regularly attend the church.  They draw three names from a bowl, and each lady got to pick her bouquet.  Each year they leave out the names of the moms who were picked the year before.  I think that is a very fair way to make sure the same ladies don’t get flowers each year.  Well, it was exciting because my name got pulled second, and you can see the pretty floral bouquet in the picture below.  So, all in all, I’ve had a really good first Mother’s Day!

PS: You can see just how much Emma has grown in the picture.  She is getting so big, and beautiful!

We’re having a baby GIRL!

Kip and I went to the doctor’s office on Tuesday and we learned that our baby is a girl.  It was exciting until they got started and we found out that Emma (that will be her name by the way) had decided to be camera shy.  It took about thirty minutes to get a decent shot of her face in the “4D” view.  I actually thought that the 2D view looked better than the 4D view.  (You can judge for yourself, but we think it looks weird.  In fact, Kip thinks the fourth dimension they are referring to must be creepiness.  Sorry, he made me put that in here.)  The technician kept shaking and poking my belly to try to get her to roll over, but somehow it gave her the hiccups.  It was actually really cute to see her with the hiccups because her whole body would spasm, but I still can’t feel it.  It is amazing just how much I love her already, just from seeing her on the monitor.  We think she is going to have my nose, chin, and (sadly) my feet.  You can see for yourself in the picture of her feet.  I had fun today getting out all of the baby girl’s clothes that we already have (from numerous yard sales over the last few months) and washing them so they will be ready for Emma’s auspicious arrival next March.

Other exciting news on the baby front
I actually felt the baby move Friday night.  She decided to finally let me know she was down there.  It feels a lot like somebody is thumping you, but from the inside out.  She is especially active in the last hour or so before I go to bed in the evenings.  She also will roll around if I wake up in the middle of the night.

And in case you haven’t noticed, the pictures link to larger versions of the sonograms.

My what a big month April was.  Kip and I had our second anniversary, as he posted about, there was Easter, I decided exactly when I would be quiting my job, and I have sprained my foot pretty seriously by falling down the stairs at church on Easter Sunday.  That is correct ladies and gentlemen, I said fell down an entire flight of stairs, and as it was on Easter Sunday, I was dressed appropriately in my new Easter outfit.  I was told that my skirt did not go over my head though, so I managed to remain modest on my quick trip down to the basement of the church.  So, I spent my Easter Sunday in the emergency room of Northeast Medical Center in Concord, NC.  I fell down the stairs because the heel of my shoe caught on the step and I lost my balance.  I am very heart broken because the very tip of the heel, or the grip of the heel, broke off when I fell down, and those were the shoes that I wore on my wedding day.  They are irreplaceable.  After spending the day in the emergency room, having a pregnancy test (it was negative for those of you keeping track or at all interested), having four x-rays taken, and waiting for quite awhile, we learned that they couldn’t see that anything was broken, so they think it is simply a sprain.  However, the doctor told us that if it still hurt after a few days I should to to the orthopedist to have them do a more thorough exam of my foot.  Well, it is now several weeks later and I still have a sore foot, and it pops almost daily.  On the shoe front, Kip took me to the mall and I bought the cutest flat ballet slippers that were eyelet material to match my Easter skirt perfectly (the same one that I fell down the stairs in).  Of course they were flats as I have pretty much decided to give up high heels for the time being until my foot heals and I will be able to walk in them again.  I shared all of that to share that within the month of buying these brand new shoes, that I absolutely adored, I ruined them too.  I wanted to wear them to Scott’s (and for those of you living under a rock, that is my brother-in-law) graduation ceremony at High Point University.  I didn’t expect it to be such a miserable day, or that we would be sitting on folding chairs on the lawn.  Needless to say, wet grass and perfectly white cloth shoes do not mix in a positive fashion.  The shoes are now grass stained, and no longer white.  I did enjoy Scott’s graduation, and the fun of listening to the arguing African-American family that sat directly in front of us for the better part of the ceremony, and listening to Bill Cosby give the graduation address without having planned a speech (we think).  All in all, it was an ok day.  I go to the doctor on Monday to see how my foot is doing, and exactly what is wrong with it.  I’ll keep you posted on the foot and shoe fronts as the week progresses.