Okay--I think it is time

I think everyone knows now. We had some family we needed to contact before I posted anything yesterday. It's a girl! Lucy Kate (or maybe Lucy Kate Annabella, if I can convince Brian.) I would love to post ultrasound pictures but our scanner is having issues, thanks to someone being confused and thinking it might in fact be a trampoline.

I sent a picture to everyone at work yesterday that had a picture of Lucy from the peanutes and said "Lucy Kate Van Horn" but it seemed to have confused a lot of people. I just thought it would be cute . . . .

We Know!!!!

After being up most of the night terrified that we would have a blizzard and I wouldn't be able to go in for my ultrasound today, we jumped out of bed to find--not a drop of percipitation!
So, off we went to the doctor's office! Well, first we went to sonic because I wanted a cherry/vanilla dr. pepper, you know, to stimulate the baby's movement. Then, we dropped Imma off at school. I would have liked to have brought her with us but I wasn't sure she would be able to sit/stand still long enough for it to be very peaceful for Mommy and Daddy. And then we were off to the doctor's office. We waited for about 20 min. before the technician, Beth, came out to get us. She asked if we knew the sex and we said no but we wanted to find out and we hoped she could help us with that! She said she made no guarantees.
It seems like they always look at everything else first. She measured the head and the brain and the heart and the kidneys, and the legs, etc. Everything looked just terrific. Finally, she gave us the news!
And if you want to know what it is, you will have to send me an email because I have decided not to post it just yet! amyevanhorn@gmail.com
So please don't post it in my comments either or on Facebook.

Baby Names

Tomorrow is the big day! Assuming a blizzard doesn't hit North Texas, we are set to find out what we are having. We have finally decided on baby names! If it is a girl, we will name her Emma and if it is a boy we will name him Immitt. What do you think? Everyone always gives us a hard time about how we spell Imma so this will solve that problem and who doesn't love Emmitt Smith?
I am sure you are all going to post a comment about how much you love our choices!
(and yes, I am just kidding.)

Imma learns a new word!

Imma decided today that she needed to sit exactly where the baby is sitting. I told her she couldn't sit there, the baby was there. She kept trying to sit there and I kept telling her to scoot over. Finally, I told her that spot was, "occupied." She said, "Oc-pied? Oc-pied?" and then ran off screaming, "Oc-pied! Oc-pied!"
Also today she handed me some binoculars and said, "You see?"
I know it sounds like the proud stories the mother of a one year old might tell but every time we can get Imma to say anything, it is a break through! I also heard her say "pepper" and "potty" today. Too bad she didn't really want to go potty, but she did sit on the potty chair for about fifteen seconds. . . . Some day I will be complaining that she won't stop talking.

Bowling--not necessarily for pregnant people!

Brian took me bowling Monday night. Now, I am a horrible bowler. Those of you who were in my high school gym class can vouch for that. I was the worst bowler in the grade-level! But I have gotten a little better over the years. But not while I am pregnant! It was very hard to keep from turning my wrist to go around my big tummy. Brian is also a terrible bowler but he did better than I did. He said, "I beat my pregnant wife!" Uhm, maybe you should rephrase that!
Imma stayed with the daughter of one of my friends. Haley is so sweet and we are so lucky to have found someone to watch Imma that is very trustworthy and just a good kid. Imma had a lot of fun with her.
Brian has been traveling a lot lately. He was gone last Thursday night and all day on the snow-day Friday. He was gone Wednesday night and came back late Thursday. And he'll be gone most of the weekend, coming back on Monday night. It is really hard to take care of Imma by myself because you have to constantly find something else to entertain her! But we are having a lot of quality time together.
Only 4 days until the ultrasound. I wonder who is in there. Guess we'll find out soon!

Daytona 500 (with unlimited two year old interruptions)

Brian got me started watching Nascar when we first started dating about eleven years ago. At first, like many people, I said it wasn't a sport and it was just a bunch of rednecks driving in circles. But the more I watched it, the more I saw how much strategy was involved. When to pit, when to stay out, two tires or four, who to work with to get to the front, when to go, etc. Eventually, I ended up watching it even more than he did and now it is very hard for me to miss a race. From the end of November until Daytona in February, I ask Brian about three hundred times each week, "Where's the race at this weekend?" only to be told there isn't one. Sigh. But this was Daytona weekend and there definitely was a race. Despite the fact that there were over two hours of red flag delays because the track was coming apart, it was an exciting race. I was pretty bummed when Jeff Gordon made an idiotic move and knocked Kasey Kahne (my favorite driver) out of the race with less than two laps to go. But Jamie McMurray, who is from Joplin, Missouri, near where I grew up, one the race so I was happy with the ending. Brian really likes Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and he came in second. At the end, Imma and I were cheering, "Go Jamie!" and Brian was yelling, "Go Jr.!" Imma and I must have yelled loudest.
I think that last lap was about all Imma watched. The rest of the time she was running around like a crazed monkey, getting in to all sorts of things. During one of the longer breaks we watched a Baby Einsteins video together. She may seem too old for it but I like to watch them with her because it helps her vocabulary-or at least her word usage. I name whatever is on the screen and she actually repeats it. This is rare for Imma. She usually does not repeat but if she is really interested in what she is watching, she isn't paying attention to the fact that she is saying what someone wants her to say. She said all kinds of things, including "no touch!" though she apparently has no idea what this phrase means.
We are going to celebrate Valentine's Day tomorrow. That is the day we could get a sitter. Today, Brian did give me a box of reese's and a card. And I gave him a card and Imma a card and some stickers. She ate about 10 reese's minis today and enjoyed sticking and resticking her stickers until they are no longer sticky.
I am also enjoying the Winter Olympics!
Only 9 more days until we find out what we are having! I don't know whether or not I will post that information right off. I am struggling with whether or not we should let everyone know. . . . We'll see! Hope everyone has a great week!

Conversations with Imma

Mommy: "Imma, do you want Mommy to have a baby?"
Imma: "Yay!!!"
Mommy: "What should we name the baby?"
Imma: "Apple!"
She has never said the word apple before. She must be listening to the celebrity gossip.

Mommy: "Imma, be careful with Mommy's glass house. Imma? Imma?"
Imma: "I've got it!!!"
This is a long sentence for Imma!

Mommy: "Imma, don't put that toy in your mouth."
Imma: "I diben't!"
And this was just cute!

On another note, I changed my background all by myself without having to ask Alyson to show me how again!