Such amazing news! I officially have "permission" to talk about this! And gender of our baby!

So for those of you who aren't in my family, this will probably seem a little anti-climatic but to me...it's so exciting. My beloved husband's take is that I am "without a doubt" one of the luckiest people he's ever met because I just always get what I want without even really having to ask. Ok smartass, please tell me how I ended up marrying a man who wakes up at 4:30 in the mornings to run up hills? You realize that some husbands actually want to stay in bed with their warm, willing and available wives?

But here goes...so I've mentioned that my little brother Brian is getting his Phd in Agriculture and Economics. And not only that, Brian is now a package deal with his lovely fiancé, Genevieve. Who I will now and forever take credit for hooking them up. Without us knowing, Brian and his advisor had put together a grant proposal for him to spend 18 months in Yuma, AZ to work on his dissertation. Of course Brian had told Bubs because he started working on the grant about the time that we decided we were going to move--but they decided to hold off telling me (you know, the nervous sister/wife who feels like she needs to have her nose in every detail of everyone else's life) until there was positive news on the proposal getting received and approved. 

I found out about it about a week ago and because I talk with Evie at least once a day, she let it slip that they were almost certain the grant was going to come through. I really didn't know much about Yuma but it is apparently the center of a huge area of agriculture that spreads way into California--as an example,  I guess most of the lettuce and a huge portion all the onions that Americans eat is grown there, aw well as a ton of other crops. I was kind of hoping it would be closer but it's about 3.5 hours away from where we live--not ideal but so much closer than the 13 hours it would be to home. 

And even more to Bub's point about how lucky I am, Brian's grant will pay for some living expenses but it's not a lot. Evie is very concerned that she's going to go stir crazy living in the small apartment they will be able to afford and it turns out that job prospects in Yuma aren't great.  Evie's idea was that maybe she come stay with us during the weekdays, that way she can help me take care of the kids and get ready for our new arrival in April. She wanted to do it for free but there is no way we aren't going to pay her.  To me it's an absolute win/win for everyone. Brian will be super busy so he won't be able to spend a whole lot of time with her, it's a fairly short drive that she can make whenever she's able, she gets a lot more room, she gets to keep taking her classes ,  I get someone I can yap with all day long (and boy can we ever talk!) and I can focus on the baby while and the kids get to hang out with their favorite baby sitter of all time. Yes, maybe I am a little lucky.  

And on top of all that--I get to have a home project because we are going to turn our "Arizona room" (from what I gather, a real estate jargon term for any room in Arizona that doesn't have a specific purpose) into a room for Evie.  I spent no less than 3 hours on facetime with her today going over color swatches with her so her room will be move in ready. She wants to  bring her own furniture but I'm giving her the heavy press that I can take Bub's credit card and really have a lot of fun with her picking out a brand new bedroom set. When it comes to decorating, I can be pretty persuasive (oh and surprise Bubs, having a bored wife is VERY expensive). 

Brian didn't want me to say anything until he got the final approval from his advisor to be off campus for at least a year and half (maybe longer, since the grant may give him funds for postdoc stuff) but he got that approval this morning. They already talked to their landlord in Austin and he's going to let them break the lease...turns out rentals are so hot in Austin right now, the landlord can let them break the lease and sign with a new tenant for up to 20% more. So their plan is to move out over Evie's spring break in March. Most of her classes are online anyways so she'll just need to make some arrangements with the in person classes and so far all of her instructors are receptive. 

I've been kind of down a bit lately, a little bored, etc. but this has given me a really renewed purpose and something to look forward to. I wish Brian and Bubs would have let me in on the secret from the beginning but I do have to admit that I would have been inconsolable if I had known and it not have come through. Maybe the made the right choice. I've called Brian about at least 1000 times since he told me it was "possible" a week or so ago and he keeps reminding me he's not moving for me. I don't really care, he's still going to be super close...but I actually wouldn't mind if he gave me a little white lie and said "Dani, you're my favorite sister and I'm moving solely to be closer to you--they education is just a nice bonus." That would be nice, instead I get "hey dummy, there's a probably a federal law that annoying sisters are only allowed to call their brothers once a day." But I can tell there's real love in his voice and he's as excited as I am! I can't wait for them to in Arizona with us! 

So in the comments, one of you guys asked if they had missed a gender reveal or anything with the baby. So nope! We are actually waiting to be surprised this time--as is my husband's request.  With our daughter, I was such an absolute nervous wreck there was no way I wasn't going to find out even though Bubs would have preferred it to be a surprise. So when I got pregnant the second time, I agreed that we could be surprised but with our son he may as well have been showing off at the ultrasound and there was no surprise to be had--and now knowing his personality, he may have actually been showing off. So since this is 100% going to be my last pregnancy and we didn't get to do what Bubs wanted on the first two, we are going to honor his wishes and be surprised. All the superstitions and wives' tales tell me I'm having a boy but I'm feeling girl. Bubs thinks they are a boy because I'm eating and have gained weight like I did with our son. So nope! Nothing missed with a gender reveal! We have about two months until we get to find out and meet little Cado!