Picture please...
I've gotten more requests to please put up more pictures of my growing belly so here it is (23 weeks). It continues to grow as do the little ones. After being gone from work on a three day weekend, I got several comments from co-workers teasing "What 'happened' to you over the weekend?" The difference is certainly noticeable over three days although Hubby and I laugh about it daily because we swear it looks bigger day to day...more later this week...
It's a girl!
Can daddy handle two Henry women?
Mystery solved...
So we finally found out what the little cuties are! How blessed and fortunate we are to have a boy and a girl soon to be running our lives. So far they are growing well from the ultrasound photos and everything looks healthy. They are slightly larger than an average singleton. This is pretty normal since multiples tend to "mature quicker" and it will work to their advantage if they decide to join us early.
My intuition was that there was definitely a stubborn, I mean, persistent little girl in there (hey persistent is good-you get what you want when it is important!) from my symptoms in the early days. I also put my money on the other being a boy and had already began calling them as such when talking to them. My only mistake is that Hubby's wild boy that I was feeling move so much on my right was really the girl. So at the ultrasound, HE seemed very eager to let us know and get me to stop calling him the "g" word. Just for good measure, he continued to let me know the whole next day by giving me the strongest kicks I've felt to date. Sorry little one, you are all boy, I won't make the mistake again. At least Hubby was finally able to feel him kick for the first time later that night at our birthing class. And our little girl is a wiggly one too with big feet and long fingers (the better to play the piano? or run?). Hubby got to feel her kick the next morning.
I'm very excited to have both a boy and girl. While I was not the frilly and flowery clothes type wearer growing up, I can't wait to dress my little girl in cute ruffly pink outfits. Of course it will be my fault if she tears them off and puts on comfy sweats or jump suits. Karma has to come back some time, right? I am excited about the fact of watching my husband get to be a father to a son, something I know he wished he could have experienced more of having when he was growing up. I know it will mean a lot to him and me to create the memories we didn't get to have enough of. We are truly lucky to get those opportunites in life that allow us to connect to the past and make a positives out of lost opportunities.
Name Game..to be determined
So the big question of the week is now "what are you going to name them?" To be honest, Hubby and I had that picked out about three years ago back when he was twisting my arm to start having a family. We agreed on a girl's name that we both liked pretty much immediately. The boy's name was pretty much a no brainer.
For two people who met randomly on the internet, and to have several profound soul connecting things in common, is one of the things that made our meeting special and continues to make our relationship special today. Our father's dying at a young age is one of the things that made me not quickly move on from his web page (well that and he ran/coached track, he was biracial and went to an Ivy league school). It seems only appropriate to honor those who brought us together "TJ" as Hubby has pointed out in the past (to no one in particular) what a good sports name it makes. We considered reversing the names. Those of you who knew my dad well would know that he would roll over in his grave to let a person know the importance of the CORRECT name. If you called him Jon XYZ's, he would retort, nice to meet you, "Jake" Johnson's. And I'm sure several of my school papers were sent back with the correct name of XYZ no "s", etched in for good effect by him, to my teachers. He let only one person in his life call him "Jonny." Need I say more?
Unfortunately if we do switch the boy name now, we will have to switch our girls name too. The second boys name, which we both agreed on immediately (Brian), is basically the male version of our first choice girls name. I liked our girls choice because it had a little "ethnic" flair without being too outlandish, something we'd love to add. So...
We are for fun, scanning baby name books and of course track meets for other possibilities. Here are some of the interesting names and meanings we have found so far . Vote for your favorite...It won't influence us a bit but we're hearing opinions left and right, so join in...
| 1. | Achen | Ugandan |
| A twin |
| 2. | Banji | African |
| Second-born of twins |
| 3. | Kakra | Ghanaian |
| younger of twins |
| 4. | Kasinda | African | Female | born to a family with twins |
| 5. | Kehinde | Yoruban |
| second of twins |
| 6. | Kissa | Ugandan |
| born after twins |
| 7. | Ochen | Ugandan |
| one of the twins |
| 8. | Odion | Nigerian |
| first of twins |
| 9. | Panyin | Ghanaian |
| older of twins |
| 10. | Thomas(35) | Hebrew | Male | a twin |
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Current NCAA division one track sprint names spotted:
Girls: Tianna, Lolo, Sheba, Shameeka
Boys: Damarkus, Tremain,
Other random names
GIRL: Tomasina (yes this does exist)
AND yes: Hazel and Phineas is already taken by Julia Roberts, but that doesn't mean we won't use them =)
