My Gender Prediction

I'm overwhelmed by all the comments!! ;) I guess my "stalkers" are busy doing other things and not checking my blog daily. Whatever. Here is my prediction:

With the dangle at that angle, I'm saying *BOY*!!

And because I just MUST compare, here are other sono pics.
Brynn
Ada
Lila
Grant

Gender Prediction?

I read an article yesterday about the "angle of the dangle". Basically, a way to try to predict the gender at 12 weeks. I've made this easy for you by copying the pictures and rotating our sono pic.


SO - What gender do YOU think this baby will be? I have my prediction, but will withhold so as not to influence you. Post some comments, blog stalkers!!! (Please).

Hazing

Yesterday was Grant's first day in the toddler room at day care. The kids in their seem SO MUCH BIGGER!

I got a call in the afternoon that a "friend" had scratched Grant's face. Some friend. There is a scratch down the right side of his face - it's long but not very deep. When they called, he wasn't wailing in the background, so I think he took it in stride.

I missed the call that came in late afternoon. A "friend" had bit (bitten?) Grant on his arm. What is this? Prison?!

All that hazing really wore him out: Don't worry - today we enrolled him in Tae Kwon Do.

Weekend wrap up

Our weekend was full of family time. We had a blast!!

Friday night there was a dance party at Amy's. I don't have any photos. But this was Grant on the way there:

Saturday morning was pretty lazy. I slept in til 9, then we all took a nap. Derek went to Matthew's 7th bday party, where he "dominated" at bowling and laser tag. Way to show those 7 year olds who's boss!! Then we spent the evening with Jacob and Andrew. We took the stroller and wagon to a park in our neighborhood. I'll admit to going a bit crazy with the Instagram App.

Sunday morning was lazy too. After a big breakfast, Grant and I took a quick nap.

Grant didn't nap so well laying on me, but he was begging to be tickled once he woke up:

After the short nap, we headed over to Big Gaga's where 14 of her great grand children (out of 20), 9 of her grandkids (out of 27), and 7 of her children (out of 10) had fun playing ball, building with blocks and watching Brynn eat her first birthday cake. The kids' laughter filled the house - it was wonderful.

Not playing with Uncle Steve's hat

Don't worry - Papa checked him for ticks

We had to bail on the big celebration dinner with friends, and at 7:15 when Grant was screaming the ENTIRE way home, I was happy with that decision!

Baby Hicks's diet

When I was pregnant with Grant, he always wanted Chipotle. That guy could eat Chipotle 5 days per week if I let him.

With this pregnancy, my baby wants fried chicken. But only 2 pieces... and in 2 hours, 2 more pieces (and so on and so on). Baby isn't picky - Popeyes, Chickfila, DQ, or even with waffles.

My friend Cat has a unique psychic ability - she is a baby gender psychic. Cat has predicted a girl. She predicted Grant correctly, and several other babies. We'll know in about 2 months if her abilities are still in tact.

Today I'm in a maternity top and pants. I'm not concealing my belly anymore with drapey, loose clothing. This top is tight and just BEGS strangers to ask "When are you due?"

My friend Hayley is due 1 month before me, but I look like I'm due 1 month before her. The second baby must have it so nice - a luxury suite instead of a shoe box motel. I'll have to be careful - Derek has strong feelings about ladies that get huge while pregnant. He's going to write a book called "Don't Get Fat in the Face - I Don't Want to Look at That." I don't know what kind of chapters it will contain or if it's just a picture book, but this idea seemed brilliant to him last year at the annual crawfish boil.

I'm looking forward to getting more and more round. And I'm really looking forward to dinner with friends this Sunday - all you can eat fried chicken!!!

Mrs. Hicks goes to Austin

Tuesday night I went on my FIRST EVER Southwest flight to the capital of weird - Austin. I was thinking all day that it would be my first night away from my baby, but then I vaguely remembered Meadow's birthday. So it was my SECOND night away from my Grant, but I did have another baby with me.

Robby, Ericka and Olivia picked me up - they had burgers and I had chicken and waffles. The weather was great so we ate on the play ground, and Olivia was an angel. She climbed up the ladder and went down the slide about 100 times. That's not an exaggeration either. The steps on the ladder were almost as tall as her.

The next morning I walked to the capitol and met up with our lobbyist and local counsel. I had packed my walking shoes (flats) and my lawyer shoes (heels), but I'd forgotten my round brush. It was close, but I survived.

I provided about 1 minute of testimony, which you could have streamed online. But I really didn't want a larger audience, so I kept that nugget to myself. The committee asked me no questions, which we thought was either great or terrible. The committee didn't hear all of the bills before it in the morning special session, so it didn't vote while I was there. I was back in my office before 3 p.m. At the end of the day, the committee voted on most of the bills before them but left mine and a handful of others pending. We're hoping for a vote on it today.

I was thrilled to have this opportunity. I was relieved to have 2 pros by my side to walk me through the process (and to the committee hearing room). Now I'm hoping for great news. Our bill died last session (lots of bills died last session - voter id stalled everything), so it would be a big feat to have it pass this session!

New daycare photos

Here's a few of my favorite photos of Grant from March & April at day care:

I love elastic

Today I'm wearing maternity jeans. I had forgotten how WONDERFUL maternity jeans are - stylish denim on bottom with a comfy elastic waist band on top.

I ordered these jeans in between my miscarriage and this pregnancy. If Derek reads this, he will be hearing about this new batch of maternity clothes for the first time! You see - I have a slight addiction to babysteals.com. And I fell in love with maternity clothes they had on their one day. And well - we can skip the middle part where I wasn't sure if it was "ok" to order maternity clothes when I wasn't pregnant - and jump right to the part where I confess that Rachel made me do it. She's a terrible influence - anyone who knows her will tell you that. ;)

I was shocked to see that I had ordered an XS. They actually fit GREAT, and I'm hoping to dump these before long in favor of my previous, stretched out pair of maternity jeans. That way I can keep a "small" pair for post-pregnancy.

So this pregnancy, maternity clothes were broken in on day 74. Last time around, I wore maternity clothes for the first time on day 83 (which I know thanks to my previus blogging). Last time, I started with maternity tops and this time I'm starting with bottoms. I definitely feel bigger. And now that maternity clothes are on the table, I can start pooching out my belly instead of (trying) to suck it in!

Videos - playing and walking

Look at these 2 kids playing:




And Grant has become a pro at walking. Exhibit A:

Teeth

I tell you what - I'm getting the hang of being a mama (almost). This morning I saw at least 4 new teeth poking through the top gums in Grant's mouth. He gave me a very good view when I took his bottle away from him to get him dressed. I couldn't see if anything was coming through on bottom though. I won't be able to update this evening because I'm having some quality girl time tonight at the Ronald McDonald House. I love Jill for getting me involved in the volunteer craft night there - it's something I would never do on my own and I absolutely LOVE going! Honestly, before I went, I thought Ronald McDonald House was an orphanage.

I did manage to forget to give Grant some Tylenol this morning, so I'm sure they are having fun with him at day care. See - ALMOST getting the hang of motherhood.