I’m still in a happy shock that this is a little girl growing within me.  The tape running through my head for the past 12 hours has been, “I can’t believe it’s a girl….I can’t believe it’s a girl!”  We had really thought it would be a boy, and were equally excited at the thought of having another one. We have loved having a boy in our house and would love another, but here is why we are excited it is a girl…

1. Savannah will have the sister she’s been wanting and praying for. For years she’s prayed for “a sister to live with us” since Kaylee doesn’t. Of course this baby cannot and will not replace Kaylee in our hearts, but I know how much she treasures Kaylee and would love to have that bond with someone she can see and play with more often, too.  When I was set that this was a boy, I was kinda sad for Savannah that she might not ever have that relationship she craves. God knows what our family needs, huh?

2.  Pink, purple, fluffy, girl things. Enough said. Boy clothes can be cute, too, but not quite like little girl’s clothes! And I’m so excited I can finally buy a girly print cloth diaper that are so cute on their little tushies :-)

3. I can reuse Savannah’s clothes! I’m excited to get to pull them back out of the attic and remember when she used to be that little. A lot of them were also Kaylee’s clothes and my little sister’s,  even my own dress or 2, so there is something super special about that.

4. No more pressuring Mark into picking a name to go with Asher. We were set on Asher from just about the beginning, but could NOT pick a middle name. Ashlyn Grace has been our girl name for 3.5 years now, we picked it when I was pregnant with the twins that miscarried. I didn’t think I’d ever get to use it! It means vision or dream, which I didn’t realize until I was longing to become pregnant again and discovered that a few months before I found out I was pregnant. This baby has indeed been a dream of mine! Grace was picked simply because it sounded good with Ashlyn, but now it to me is a reminder of God’s grace and favor that He bestows on us daily.  That’s an area I struggle with a lot in dealing with the shame of my past, so it’s appropriate that God gave us this name before we even realized what it would mean to us :-)

5. No more calling this baby a “he” or Mark’s crazy joke of a nickname, “Bubba Boone,” that he came up with when we were discussing names we didn’t want.  Whew!  Glad that conversation is done, agreeing on names can be so hard!

I was excited and content to wait until birth, but for these reasons it’s made it a little easier and even more exciting to move forward knowing who this little one is, with a name to her face and each sweet kick I feel.

Now off to celebrate by buying something tiny and girly :-)