Official Word

I’ve wondered from time to time who reads this. So, I thought this piece of news would be the perfect opportunity to get an answer to that question. Exactly two months ago today I surprised Deeda with what may be his best Valentine ever. Drum roll…. I am pregnant and we're thrilled to be expecting a new addition to the Casa de Dionne.

In the weeks since then we’ve attempted to keep the news quiet for the standard first trimester. It’s been mildly successful. We told the immediate family swearing them to secrecy and nearly killing the grandmothers in the process. Then, one by one, many friends made their own conclusions based on conspicuous lack of diet coke and wine drinking. Some called it out. Some just smiled knowingly.

So, it’s not new news to everyone at this point, but this is the official notice. Baby Dionne #2 is due October 22. Mama is feeling great now that she’s at nearly 13 weeks. I waded through a couple-three weeks of moderate nausea and pregnancy induced narcolepsy. But I feel more "normal" now.

We got our first good look at the little alien last Thursday for a nuchal translucency exam via ultrasound. If our home office had a working scanner I’d post the photos here... instead here’s an image of what the little lemon-sized kiddo looks like. This image actually shows a lot more than what I have... the coolest part of the exam was seeing "it" stretch as if just waking up from a nap or something. Clearly, arms above the head and legs stretched out. Head to rump, the measurement was 2.8" long. Right on track.

Since I am an old mama the nuchal exam is standard procedure. Everything looks to be on the up and up. Most exciting thing about this exam is they can do a DNA gender test at only 12 weeks via the same blood work. So, we’re anxiously awaiting those results. We should know if we’re painting pink or blue by week’s end. Yikes and yippee all at the same time!

G doesn’t know he’s going to be a big brother yet. I think he’s going to totally get it and be super excited. He’s told us before his pal Brooks is his brother and when we’ve attempted to explain why he’s not, G has simply moved on to say that then Batman is his brother. Cool.

We’ll probably tell him soon. I can tell the physical evidence won’t be hidden for long. Ironically, his phrase that pays right now is “big, fat.” He says, “Mom, I want a big, fat strawberry.” Let’s just hope he continues to apply this descriptive phrase to berries and not bellies.

Back to brother Batman, G hit a milestone last week. After a month and a half of extremely difficult swim classes, he floated “all by himself “– for which the brave boy earned a Batman DVD. Basically, he has been floating by himself the entire time, but whenever the instructor would take his hands off him, he would get scared. He’d scream and cry like someone was pulling his toe nails off. The shriek echoing through the indoor pool was a long and harsh, “maaaaaa-maaaaaaaa!” It felt like we were back at that first class all over again.

They ended up having two instructors on the task of getting him over this hump… and we resorted to bribery at home. It finally worked! I could see him holding it in as he floated. He didn’t need the reward he was so proud of himself… but we marched straight to Target anyway. We’re now watching Super Friends nightly. The whole gang, Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Twins (activate!)…

He's also a bike riding fool... FINALLY! Santa is so proud.