This Cross I Embrace: Blog Giveaway

So, Mr TCIE really, and I do mean really wanted to know the gender of our baby as soon as humanly possible. I, on the other hand, really, and I do mean really wanted to wait for that glorious moment at delivery.

Originally, we compromised, and planned for him to find out shortly before my mother and sisters, in time for the baby shower (sometimes when I'm typing these things I wonder, am I in some kind of alternate universe?? TCIE, writing about a baby shower? What the...), and ultimately I would then find out AT my shower, which was, in our opinion, a good solution to fit both of our desires - he, knowing sooner than later, and I, finding out in a big way, while still giving me time to enjoy the wonderment of the not knowing. (There is something so awesome about the guessing.)

So, as do most of our best laid plans over in the TCIE house, that plan went down the pooper when we decided that Mr TCIE's Christmas gift would be to find out the gender (well before originally decided). So the Tuesday before Christmas, we went in to my office together, had my Dr try her hand at her first "gender identification" ultrasound(!), while I closed my eyes and they kept their reactions under wraps :) Then just as quickly, the news began to spread to my parents, sisters, and Mr TCIE's Dad... and as the short days of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day came and went, I suddenly felt compelled to know. In a big way - while perhaps understated - alone, from my husband, on Christmas night.

As we drove home from his father's house that night, I asked him. Suddenly, the "boy or girl" guessing became much more real as I wondered, "Do I have a son? Or a daughter?" While I waited for the answer, I was tingling with excitement. And when he told me - I burst into tears of joy unlike any I've ever experienced. I have said from the get-go that I wanted this baby to be whatever God wanted him/her to be - and I would not change that for the world. And I meant it. I did not *want* one gender more than another (I think most women with infertility will relate), I was purely and simply delighted that THERE WAS A BABY at all, meaning, a soul had been created and NOTHING could take that away from us.

But, when I found out... it's indescribable, really, what that moment was like. The knowing. The knowing who was growing, and kicking, and receiving my unending love for all these months. It was pure. It was love. It was magical.

Our Family - The TCIEs 2015:

Mr TCIE - boy

Mrs TCIE - girl

Jerry - boy, and Simba - boy

Cooper - boy, and Quincy - boy

Our latest furry addition, Yoda - boy

And Baby TCIE, playing with an ear

Well, you knew I couldn't make it that easy, didn't you?

The answer will be revealed shortly, but in the meantime, let's have some fun, shall we? :) Enter your guess in the comments below, and of the correct guesses I will pick a winner at random to receive a beautiful blessed Annunciation refrigerator magnet -