Science is overrated....

My friend at school predicted the sex of the baby last week using a pencil, piece of thread and a needle. I know, it doesn't seem scientific or reliable, at least that's what I thought. But she used it on herself and it "predicted" that, in her lifetime, she'd have two boys and a girl (which is what she has). So after these trial runs, I get "tested". The verdict...in my lifetime, I'm going to have a girl (Victoria), and a BOY:) Can't wait to see if this test was right.

Any predictions you'd like to share?

So how was your month?

I cannot believe it's been a month since we were able to post. Actually, having been around here the past month, I can believe it.

With marching band season, and school, and fall sports, and other assorted real life kind of things going on, it's been hard to post. We've also had to deal with a dodgy internet connection that has been totally unpredictable. It's working now, though, so here I am.

Melody and I went in to the OB/GYN - or as I call her, the O.G.* - for the second monthly check-up Tuesday morning. Despite being unable to find a parking spot within the same ZIP code as the office, things went well. We did get to hear the heartbeat this time around, a rock-solid 140 B.P.M. Cool, right?

Our O.G. must have a lot of patients obsessed with finding out the gender because she immediately said "And you CAN'T tell the sex of the baby from the heartbeat." Two check-ups, two "and you CAN'T tell the sex" lines from her. Okay, Doc, we get it.

Not that we need to know the sex of the baby. Most people have already declared it a boy. I even had my first baby dream this week, and the baby was a boy.

We CAN tell the sex of the baby from a 20-week ultrasound, which we will have sometime around/after Thanksgiving (we haven't set that appointment yet). We're still set on Carolina Lily for a girl. We've been favoring Brooklyn Ilan for a boy, but we've been known to change our minds.

I will leave you with a scan from our first ultrasound last month - one normal shot and one with our latest progeny highlighted. Enjoy.

--Kess

*O.G. is hip hop slang, standing for "Original Gangster." It's also Ice-T's fourth album, released in 1991. This is incredibly funny to me. Mama Kess pretends to laugh along with me, part of the reason our marriage has worked so well.