il neige!

Today is our first day of real, honest-to-goodness snow here.  Yes, it's sticking.  Yes, it's lovely and soft-looking.  New snow is my favorite part of winter.  I can't stand the cold, but fresh snowfall always seems to provide enough insulation so that it's nice and crisp outside without being biting and bitter.

I had my second prenatal appointment on Monday, at exactly 17 weeks and 1 day.  The heartbeat was at 160 again, which is supposed to indicate a girl.  Although, for reasons having to do with timing and sperm speed (X sperm tend to be stronger but slower, Y sperm tend to be faster but weaker) it's more likely we're having a boy.  But, you know, averages and individuals -- it doesn't matter if I'm very likely to have a boy if I actually have a girl, and vice versa.  

For ages we'd felt that our first would be a girl, but now neither one of us have a strong feeling either way.  We don't really have a gender preference.  I know everyone says that, but it's true -- we're planning on having several children, so it's not like this is our "only chance" at having one or the other.  I feel like it might be easier for me at least to relate to a girl, but relatability probably has a lot more to do with individual personalities than gender.  

We scheduled a sonogram for 18 December, the day before we leave for New York.  We'd said all along that we wouldn't go out of our way to find out the gender, but if we happened to have a sonogram and we could find out, we would.  I'm glad we're having one, now, because I really, really want to know.  It would be nice to be able to talk about little Malachi (boy) or Ezra (girl) instead of just "the baby."  But I'm trying not to get my hopes up, because I know sometimes they can't tell the gender from the sonogram because of position.

Back in late August/early September, when I was first sure I was pregnant (well, I was sure 20 August, but still not quite willing to believe it until a few days afterward), we did some research to see if it would be safe for me to fly for Christmas.  We'd already (unfortunately, as it turns out with the now downward trend in fuel prices) bought our tickets to New York and I, for one, didn't know a thing about how safe it is and when to fly while pregnant.  As it turns out, our trip will fall in the ideal second-trimester window for air travel.  So, we're taking advantage of it.  

On 19 December, immediately after Silver gets out of work, we're flying out to New York.  The next morning, 20 December, we're driving down to Virginia with my mom and sister to meet my Mamaw Sarah, where we'll be staying in a time share for a week.  After that, we're driving back up and spending some (very brief) time in New York, and then Silver, Chelsea and I are all flying out -- Silver to Colorado, Chelsea and I to Florida -- on New Year's Eve.  I get back to New York from Florida around 4 January, and then return to Colorado, finally, on 6 January.

Thank God for non-stop flights.