{A Cozy Place For Him}

***This is a post I put together back in August.  For some reason I never posted it.  Although it's outdated I feel it should still have a place on our family blog.  It was such a special day for us***

With all three of my pregnancies I've found out the sex of the baby.

 To me, it's a mid-pregnancy surprise & boost.

Now I know it's a little boy I feel a deeper bond with him.

 I also love that he's no longer an "it", he's a he.

There's still ample mystery surrounding him.

 I find myself daydreaming about him and his place in our family rather than wondering if my baby is a boy or girl.

 And my goodness is there a special place for him!

Here are some photographs from our big reveal...

As a family we all worked on painting this box.
I wish I had pictures of the process...

It initially seemed as if everyone was happy about finding out we were having a boy to bless our clan.

Then it happened,

without warning I looked over to see my little girl in tears.

Shattered that it wasn't a girl.

Prior to this day we had many long talks about, "no matter what we'll love it."

Everyone was on board.

In all honesty I thought the talks were more necessary for Reed.

 He really really wanted a boy and I knew if it was a girl he'd have a strong reaction

 and it would take him awhile before he got over it.

 I didn't, but should have, expected it from Fiona as well. 

She's only human and really had it in her head that a little sister was joining the family.

{the note from the ultrasound tech}

I can barely stand to look at this next picture without tearing up.

Comforting her was near impossible. 

 All I could do was tell her what she was feeling was okay and let her mourn the little sister she had dreamed up. 

Reed on the other hand was over the moon!

He was so sweet to Fiona.
He kept rubbing her back and in the sweetest voice told her, "This is just life Fiona." 
He's an old soul.

Fiona's grief was sparatic.
She would perk up and be fine, then minutes later she'd break down again.
I'd look over to find her sitting off on her own crying with a blue balloon attached to her arm.
Later in the day she got angry with me. "Why did you have a boy? Why Mum?"
We talked about the importance of our little one's health and she understood a healthy boy is better than a sick little girl.  An hour later she'd see something pink and start crying.  As a parent it was a challenging day to watch our little one wrestle with her emotions.  By bedtime she told me how much she loved her little brother.

The next day she came to terms with it. Fiona announced with great pride to her classmates that she was having a baby brother.  She talks to him all the time. (He just may find her voice more familiar than mine)  She still hopes our next one will be a girl and that's fair.

 After having this experience I am so incredibly grateful that we did find out his sex before having him.  It gave us all a chance to digest the information and make peace with it before he's born.
 So for the next 18 weeks we will create a cozy spot for him and of course continue to love him.