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The day had finally arrived, January 9, for our sonogram to check on baby Hanks and their growth, and to (hopefully!) find out the gender!

At this point, I was 19 weeks and had not yet started to feel the little flutters of baby Hanks.  I had started to show (at least in my opinion), but I was still wearing my regular clothes. 

Colin of course joined me at the appointment, and it took us a while to understand what we were seeing.  The ultrasound technician is obviously a pro and could move the wand and in an instant have another measure she needed.  I, an anxious mother-to-be, couldn’t help myself but ask “is everything looking good so far?” every few minutes (probably more like seconds).  Everything was, and we even got to see baby dancing a bit as we tried to get them to cooperate for the heart measurement.  Our ultrasound tech said “earthquake!” as she tried to rumble my belly to get some movement.  Baby Hanks was perfectly content to prop their head up with one hand and suck on their thumb as they dozed off it seemed.  When she asked where the stubbornness comes from, Colin guiltily accepted the charge.

Then, came the time to confirm the gender.  I had told her that Colin was going to find out there, but I didn’t want to know just yet.  She was a bit surprised, but I told her that he was going to surprise me later that evening somehow (an idea we stole from some of our sweet friends!).  I loved it – it gave him a chance to surprise me since I had already gotten to surprise him with the big news that we were expecting.  I looked away from the screen and watched Colin’s face.  At first, I could tell she was moving too fast for him to see or be able to distinguish anything, but then I saw a smile creep across his face, and I knew he knew.

Now, there are a ton of old wives’ tales about how you can tell if it’s a boy or girl, but bottom line – everyone is different.  The biggest clue or guess I had was that my Mom had gotten sick when she was pregnant with me, but not with my older brother.  Since I did not experience any nausea the first trimester, our guess was that it was a boy.  Our parents, Jill, and Micah had all guessed boy, but Ryan guessed a little girl.

After all the good news from the doctor that baby was healthy and measuring right on track, I headed home and Colin headed out to run some errands for the surprise.  Once he got home, he setup the gender reveal and walked me over to it (“no peeking!”).  When I opened my eyes and saw a PINK “Baby Girl!” balloon and pink A&M booties, I couldn’t believe it.  Tears filled my eyes and I had to ask him if he was serious because we were so convinced it was a boy.  It was a sweet, sweet moment that I will cherish forever.  We knew God had blessed us with a little girl.

I attempted to dry my tears, and we made the phone calls to family to let them know – lots of surprised folks!  We shared the news with our parents via Face Time so they could see the balloon and know, while we watched their reactions, which was fun.  After that, we couldn’t stand it any longer.  It was time to make baby GIRL Hanks official on Facebook with a little announcement and spread the news of our little blessing.

New Years in Colorado

Since Colin and I had two weeks off for the holidays, we planned to go to with his family the second week to a chillier climate – Beaver Creek, Colorado!  Some friends of friends had lent us their home to stay in, so we joined a couple of other families in this 6 bedroom home. 

The house was gorgeous and was truly someone’s part-time home as it was fully decorated and had everything you could imagine stocked up and ready to use including all kinds of kitchen gadgets, full-size shampoos in the bathrooms, books to read, puzzles to work on, etc.  We cooked most of our meals so we could stay in and watch it snow without worrying about driving.  There was a shuttle bus that came right up the driveway to pick up anyone that wanted to go to the ski resort, and would bring them back within a 5 minute call.  It was great! 

 {Walkway to the house; kitchen; living room; Colin & I's room}

At 18 weeks pregnant, I wasn’t about to attempt to ski.  (The reality is – I know I’m not a good skier, and now I had the perfect excuse!)  Colin took Jill skiing one day – his second time, and her first.  Jill wasn’t as fond of it as Colin was, so she headed back with us after we joined them for lunch.

 

{Beaver Creek Resort; Colin & Jill ready to ski;
ski pass for the day; all suited up!}

For New Year’s Eve, we went and cooked our own meat at the Minturn Country Club.  The ‘stuffed potato’ dessert was some sort of mousse rolled in cocoa – delish!

  

 

{Joe, Michael & Tara cooking their steaks; our "baked potato" dessert}

After dinner, we headed back to the house and rang in the new year with New York – topped with party horns, confetti poppers, and champagne (or grape juice!).  Colin and I stayed up and worked on the puzzle to rang in the Colorado new year.

 {Lots of fun with noise makers!}

We worked on a puzzle on-and-off, went shopping for our ‘Beaver Creek’ and ‘Colorado’ keepsakes a couple of days, and watched movies in the evening.  The best was getting to watch the Chick-Fil-A bowl game where A&M had a surprising comeback after being down 38-17 at half and beat Duke 52-48.  Way to go, Johnny Football! :)  It was even sweeter knowing we watched with fellow Aggies in a die-hard Longhorn’s house.  Love it. 

 {Beaver Creek Resort area - by the creek;

of the mountains; ice skating rink; 

Jill, Colin, Glenda & I; ice sculptures}

{Donna in her crazy hat; cozy socks by the fire; 

puzzle fun; men baking cookies; 

Colin and a Moose Drool bear; 

intense game of Apples to Apples}

It was a very relaxing trip, but I was ready to get back to Texas and our warmer climate!