Baby Girl Thomas!

22 September 2015

I think many of you may already know, either from conversation or Instagram, but I wanted to share the news officially here: we are welcoming a little lady to our family in January!

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To back up a little, we knew pretty much from the beginning that we would find out our baby’s sex before birth. I know several folks that have been so happy with their decision not to (my sister and Nancy, for two), and the frugal side of me really liked the idea of loved ones gifting us practical, gender-neutral gifts over tons of pink or blue outfits. However, I didn’t really buy the argument that the surprise of the gender would provide any additional motivation to get me through labor (it seems unlikely anything could top the idea of simply meeting our baby!). I also felt that the waiting and wondering over many months would make me more anxious than excited. Finally, we thought that knowing whether we were expecting a boy or girl would help these two non-baby-lovers wrap their heads around everything that’s going on.

So, when we went in for our twenty week ultrasound, we asked the doctor to hide anything pertinent on the screen, and write the sex on a note sealed in an envelope. I like that he signed the outside — very official, like the Oscars :)

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That was a Thursday, and we kept the envelope in our hot little hands until Friday evening, when we opened it at dinner on our first night in Greenville.

From the beginning, I thought we were having a girl. Actually, it was less of a thought and more of an assumption — I have two sisters, 90% girl cousins, and almost all of our close family friends have all girls. We just don’t do boys in my world, as evidenced by my Dad’s response when I asked for final guesses:

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Our families were pretty much 50/50 on whether it would be a boy or a girl. The vast majority of online friends thought it would be a girl. As I said, I thought girl from the beginning until the last week or so, when I started to think it might be a boy. John didn’t have a strong feeling until the last week or so, when he also started to think it might be a boy! We even consulted Joanna’s old wives tales round-up, and my answers leaned towards boy.

Still, I wasn’t surprised when we opened the envelope and saw girl! The beautiful thing is that even though for years I’ve always thought I’d prefer to have a girl, and especially a girl as the oldest child, by the time it actually came down to our actual child, I can honestly say I would have been equally as happy either way. All of the things you hear about just wanting the baby to be healthy are 100% true, but more than that, I think my happy ambivalence was due to the fact that I’ve gotten the chance to know some lovely little boys (my nephew and Perry!) over the last few years, and have been reminded that they are equally as wonderful and fun as little girls!

That being said, I think John will be an amazing Dad to a little girl. Also, let’s be clear — I’m pretty excited about the two sets of pink cat pajamas I’ve already bought her. For the most part, though, our registry is pretty neutral, and you might be surprised to see the nursery design I’m working on. (More on that soon!)

Finally, since many folks have been asking, I would say at this point we’re about 95% set on a first name, and 60% set on a middle name. We will be keeping both under wraps until she joins us!

I would love to hear: If you’ve had a baby, did you have a strong feeling about the sex, and were you right? Did you find out beforehand? For everyone, if you want to have children, would you rather have boys, girls, both, or no preference?

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Elizabeth
September 22, 2015 9:36 am

We didn’t find out the sex of our first baby. It drove everyone crazy, but I loved the anticipation and excitement of finding out. I went back and forth thinking one day it was a girl, one day it was a boy. My husband said girl the whole time and he was right. We found out with our second (another girl!) and that was fun as well. I love having girls. I don’t think I’d know what to do with boys :)

Maureen
September 22, 2015 10:10 am

Congratulations!!!!! Little baby girl Thomas is one lucky lady. You’re already a great mom with the care and attention you’re giving to her during pregnancy. :)

September 22, 2015 10:21 am

A girl! Hooray! So, so excited for you three! What fun news! I’d been wondering when you were going to announce this. I’m SO behind on blog reading, that I find myself typing in your blog every now and then just to see if this announcement had been made, as I didn’t want to miss it. A girl! How fun!

September 22, 2015 12:20 pm

This has been a topic of conversation in our family a lot lately as we inch toward that season of life. Brandon and I would both love to have a boy first because it would simply be different for us. I am the older sister and he has an older sister. We know how that dynamic works and while we love it, we think it’d be neat to have an older brother. That being said, I have a strong feeling we’ll end up with a girl first. My cousin who is like a sister just had her second boy and it’s very similar to my mom and her sister. She had two boys and wanted a girl, my mom didn’t care either way and she ended up having me first. Only God knows and time will tell!

September 22, 2015 8:40 pm

Yay, baby girl!! Can’t wait to see your nursery–I’m sure anything y’all are up to is going to be completely lovely and sweet!

Dave and I definitely want both boys and girls someday, but as you know, I half expect we’ll end up with something like six boys, ha!

September 22, 2015 9:48 pm

Hooray! Congratulations :) I’m the only child of a single mother and I honestly have a hard time wrapping my mind around the thought of having boys. Plus, I love to dress little girls and do hair. I’m afraid I wouldn’t know how to be a good mama to boys. However, I know that when the time comes, God will give me whatever I need to be a good mama to either gender and I’m sure I’ll just be grateful for a healthy baby. I’m so excited to follow along on your journey :)

Christen W.
September 23, 2015 10:30 am

Congrats on your baby girl! I feel like this is the year of the girls and last year was the year of the boys. My husband and I both are having our first and really wanted a boy because my husband had lost his father 3 years ago and we wanted to honor his dad and use his name. I could have sworn we were having a boy. Everything in my body said boy well turns out we are having a girl as well come this February! I have attached the blog post our photographer did that shows just how surprised I was!

http://www.hebasalama.com/b-l-o-g/its-a-gender-reveal-9415

Jenny
September 23, 2015 10:48 am

Congratulations! Girls are the best! I found out with both of mine as early as I possibly could. There is no way I could have waited. For the first one, I kind of wanted a girl but would have been happy no matter which way it had gone. But for the second, having already had one, I definitely wanted another girl! I think that sister relationship is so special and I was thrilled to experience it for the first time as a mother, since I grew up without a sister of my own!

Sarah
September 23, 2015 12:20 pm

Congratulations! As someone who’s planning on starting to “try” in a year, I’m so excited to see all the fun choices you make for your little one! I am also one of three girls, so the idea of having a little boy is completely overwhelming to me, mostly because I am so baffled by them! What do they even like to do?? Recently, a boy around 11 or 12 was seated next to me on a long flight. He seemed a little nervous, and he was separated from his dad, so I decided to chat with him…and literally all I could come up with was “So…do you like sports?” He said, “yes” and then I completely froze. My husband took it from there, and they chatted the whole way, in what may as well have been a different language for all I could understand. So, girls for me please!!

Peggy
September 28, 2015 11:51 am

Love your Dad’s comment! Not sure the family would know what to do with a boy!

Morgan
September 29, 2015 8:26 pm

We are expecting our first and I definitely want to find out! I am just too much of a planner to wait and I feel like you…it would just make me more anxious than excited :)
I honestly have no feeling either way, but my husband is set that it is a girl. We are so grateful that God has blessed us with a little one and I will love being a boy or girl mom!
Congrats on your little miss!

September 30, 2015 1:31 pm

I was 95% sure we were having a boy. And then there was Milly Elizabeth :)