Picture it:
Mom is standing by the kitchen island, talking on the phone. Daughter (age 5) is standing next to her, crying, eating her chicken nuggets from McD's, and rubbing her eyes. Out of nowhere, daughter grabs Mom's stomach, gets down nose to bellybutton, and screams, "I don't even like you!" and then bursts into awful, deep, uncontrollable sobs.
What you have just witnessed is the peak of Eibhlin's reaction to today's news. She will remain, forever, the only diva in the house. Yes, my friends, my intuition was off. I still have a 75% success rate, though, so I am not too upset. The same cannot be said for my daughter.
We went to the ultrasound appointment this afternoon as a family unit: all three kids, Mom, and Dad. The ultrasound started off beautifully; Tadpole is growing well and is measuring dead on for height, weight, etc at this age. Then Tricia the sonographer checked for gender...oh, boy? Really? After begging her to go back two, three, four times, there was no denying it! It didn't help that Tadpole reached down and tweaked himself a couple of times to let us know it was there.
After we all (sonographer included) nearly fell out over the fact that he has already learned how to use his joystick, the realization sunk in for all of us and then Eibhlin's face fell...all the way to China. The poor thing lost it in the office and spent the next three hours sobbing.
How did everyone else react? The boys are thrilled! They cannot wait for a little brother and they hope that he shares the same birth "day" as they do: the 22nd of the month. It would be kind of neat, actually, as then we'd have all but the summer solstice represented. Aaron could barely contain his pride in his swimmers...he was grinning so hard, he looked like the Canadians in South Park. As for me? No joke, no lies...I was surprised (sort of), but was in tears just knowing that baby is doing well and growing as he should. However, I couldn't help but feel my heart break a little for my little girl who was so sure that she would have a little sister with whom to share girlie secrets.
After several hours of tears, Eibhlin climbed up in my lap tonight, Happy Meal toy in hand, and placed her hand and the toy on my belly. She told me that the toy was for her baby brother. I asked if she was okay and, with a small sigh and a smile, she told me that she was. With that, she hugged me, hugged her little brother in my little belly, and snuggled in to watch the game.
I don't think I could be any luckier than I am. Unless, of course, someone knows of the perfect 4+ bedroom house out by the lake that will fit me, Eibhlin, and the BOYS?
