It's a BOY!!!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother's body"

-Psalm 139:13

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord answered my (our) prayer and gave him to me. Now I give him back to the Lord. He will belong to the Lord all his life." 

-1 Samuel 1:27

Our baby boy sucking his thumb!

The coolest thing EVER was watching the ultrasound and seeing our baby move! Wow! It's moments like that where I find it hard to believe that atheists exist. This weekend I went with The Nixon's (minus Grant) to Jackson, Mississippi for a wedding shower for Amanda and Michael. The day we got there, her friend, Audrey (who is an ultrasound tech) gave me a free ultrasound! We got there and went to eat at a yummy sandwich place and while I had my belly full of tea, I was ready for the ultrasound! He was moving all over the place!!! It was sooo cool to see! She showed us several things and took many pics (some I will show on here) and we saw him put his feet over his head, burp, suck his thumb and Audrey also saw where it was a "he"! When that time came, she cleared everyone out of the room and I shut my eyes so I wouldn't see there what the baby was. 

After the ultrasound, Audrey called our cake lady who was making a cake for us to cut into the next day and see the sex! The outside of the cake was white and the inside was to be either blue for a boy or pink for a girl! So, the next day we had a few of our closest friends at Allison and Blake's house and they threw us a Baby Reveal Party! After playing some fun games and eating some of my cravings, Grant and I cut into the cake to see the blue!!! It's a BOY!!! We were over joyed! Grant jumped a few feet off the ground!!! 

Here are a few pictures:

(above): 4D ultrasound of his face

(above): a good body shot! Head on the left and feet on the right

(above): His feet were over his head! His bottom is on the right of the screen; 

head on left with feet above

We have chosen a name for him that means a lot to both Grant and I. 

When we were both at Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi there was a tragic car wreck that ended up killing a few students on campus. Grant was close to one of the guys that died, Maksim Sisoev, who was a foreign exchange student from Uzbekistan. The death affected hundreds and Grant, along with many, many others, still miss him to this day, but they are confident that he is with our Lord.

Since his death, Grant and I have wanted to name a boy after Maksim and hopefully one day we will adopt from Uzbekistan (or atleast try). Here is a YouTube video that someone made and Grant posted after Maksim passed: Maksim Sisoev

As many of you close to me and my family know, my grandfather, Samuel Morella, passed away this past summer. It's been pretty tough for the whole family. We wanted to honor Grandpa's death in another way as well. Also, we like the name Samuel because of who Samuel was in the bible:

"Samuel was the son of Elkanah and Hannah who had long been barren. Hannah dedicated him to the Lord as a child and brought him to Eli the priest. When Samuel was a child, he heard the voice of the Lord speak to him at the shrine in Shiloh. As an adult, Samuel played an important part in uniting the tribes against the growing threat of the Philistines. Samuel anointed Saul as king of Israel, and later went to Bethlehem anoint David as Saul's successor."

This is a picture of Grandpa, Samuel, and Grandma at our wedding rehearsal dinner (BBQ/Cowboy themed!) 

It may seem dark to name our child after people who have passed, but this is our way of keeping their memories alive. 

Our baby's name is...

Maksim Samuel Nixon

Meaning of the name Maksim: The boy's name Maksim \m(a)-ksim,mak-sim\ is a variant of Maximilian(Latin), and the meaning of Maksim is "greatest".

Meaning of the name Samuel: It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "God heard". Also possibly as "requested of God", "God's heart" or "God's name".

I think both of those definitions are well suited! We couldn't be more excited and can't wait to meet Maksim or "Maks"!!!

Here's one last fun picture. 

Most everyone who has read my blog has heard of the crazy amount of friends of mine who are pregnant now! Here are a few of them! From the left to right:

Natalie: due in May...almost there!

Laura: due August 25th (our friend, Allison's birthday!)

Me: due September 8th (Allison's husband, Blake's birthday!) I am at 17 weeks now!