Reveal

Exciting news - Mel and Christian came by after church today so they could announce a certain something. Can you tell what it is? Here's a clue - look at the color of their clothing. 

Yes, they found out the gender of their little one! We noticed Mel was wearing a blue dress and Christian had on a pink tie... Hmm, how to tell. We also happened to serve dinner with plastic pink and blue cups, so the kids thought that might have been a clue as well. We ate dinner and after that they served up some pink and blue cookies. The kids didn't know where the clues were or how to tell what the gender was. As the kids were wondering, they slipped some blue jolly ranchers to the boys. Sophi and Natalie saw this slight of hand, and read into that, so then Mel and Christian gave them some different colored jolly ranchers to throw them off the scent. After the kids ate cookies, they told the boys to open their mouths, and they all revealed blue tongues. 

The clothes, cups and cookies were just distractions to tease us. Very exciting! Yes, it is a BOY! They went to Christian's parent's house after the announcement here. 

Very exciting! Congratulations Mel and Christian! Baby is due November 1st. 

Before Mel and Christian left for Bountiful, they showed us some of their pics from Brazil and told us about their trip that they got back from last Sunday.

Oh, one last thing from dinner - as we were there eating, Christian said he saw a butterfly outside on the milkweed. I looked out and sure enough, we had a monarch laying some eggs! I went out hunting and found 3 eggs, so monarch season is here! I gave them to Mel and Christian to take up to his sisters who enjoyed their caterpillars last year (though they had a little drama with it when a butterfly got loose in the house if I remember right...) 

Abi's recovery is coming along... maybe?? She's 24 hours in and looks like this -

She's had the worst experience and poorest recovery of all the kids so far. Despite her diligence with icing, she's super swollen, her cheeks are bruised, she can hardly open her mouth to clean out her holes, and her lips and chin are still numb. The nerve damage could be permanent but were hoping and praying for the best for her. They said recovery could take 8 weeks, so we'll give it until then and then we'll know if this is her new normal or not. I'm impressed with her that she's still going out in public. Yesterday she went to a friend's farewell with her ice packs on her face. She wore the ice all day yesterday, wearing them at dinner. Ice cream, yogurt, and mashed potatoes have been on the menu for her the past three days. She gets to start solids tomorrow. 

She's being a good sport about us all giggling at her.

She went to the ward walkabout last night and was chatting it up and enjoying ice cream. She knows she looks quite different and she hasn't been recognized at first glance by some neighbors and friends, haha. Katharine and her friend Becca enjoying creamies. 

They are cute little friends.