thank heaven

thank heaven, for little girls!

i went in for blood work last week, and they completely surprised me by doing another ultrasound.  russ wasn't at the appointment since we thought it was just a lab check, so the doctor sealed the gender pictures in an envelope for us to open together.  i covered my eyes and turned me head when she was looking for those views; it took everything in me not to peek.

i had already been anxious to find out what we were having, but after i got that sealed envelope in my possession, it was absolutely burning a hole in my bag. 

looks like we have a thumb sucker

(sucking thumb with head on the right & face looking up)

a sweet little foot

another straight-on alien face shot

(face is on the right, turned sideways)

i immediately jumped in my car and headed to meet russ on a job, grabbing lunch at one of our favorite waxahachie spots.

there is nothing in this world that i have loved more than being a contractor's wife so i think it was only appropriate that we found out on a jobsite. 

the envelope...

GIRL!

those pictures of russell absolutely melt me.  i have never seen a more tender smile or more genuine excitement come out of the boy!  we are both overjoyed.

then, to the announcing...we both (but russell in particular) are terrible with surprises. i had to beg russell not to pick up the phone and call his parents right away; i bargained for 15 minutes to come up with something semi-cute.  so, we emailed a picture of this from my iPhone on the job with a note that said... 

"can we paint this PINK?"

and, we called them with the merle haggard version of "thank heaven for little girls"

for my mom & dad, i called an abilene favorite--mckay's--and enlisted the help of the girls in their office.  and, pretty soon, we had a pink surprise on the way!

and, finally, a tease for the hogans to entice them to come home from mississippi.

what a beautiful surprise & a sweet, memorable day!

we love the little princess so much already!