drumroll, please......

All right, everyone. I tempted you with our ultrasounds, telling you everything but baby's gender. It was mean, and I did feel a little bit bad. But we wanted to tell our family in person. Now that's taken care of, I can tell you.

We're having a........GIRL!!!!!

We are, of course, very excited to welcome a little lady into our family. I would honestly have been happy either way...I love the idea of brothers, and boys are so much fun to have around the house. But I had been praying for a girl, I think in large part because my mom has left such a beautiful legacy, and I want so much to be able to share that with a daughter of my own. Lying there in the doctor's office, with an ultrasound wand on my belly, I felt like God was comforting me in some sweet way. He is very good.

Oddly enough, though, knowing I'm having a girl makes me appreciate my little boy even more. I have been delighting in all his boy-isms lately: the roaring, the running, the climbing, the obsessions with trucks and airplanes. Sometimes I get a little nervous about having a girl...this is uncharted territory with a lot of hormones involved. I'll be looking to you other mom's of daughters for some advice on what to do in the coming years, I'm sure!

Well, we're off for vacation at the beach. More pictures later......