15 November 2010

Bab{ies} got blue eyes.

Why do my kids have blue eyes? I'm serious. This is a serious question. How the heck did this happen?

Bob and I both have brown eyes. Both of my sisters have brown eyes. My dad has brown eyes. Bob's dad has brown eyes. The only people that have non-brown eyes are my mom {blue} and my mother-in-law {green}.

Now, I can see it being a fluke... once. Okay, okay- Carter has blue eyes... craziness but believable, right? I mean there is a slight chance of him having blue eyes, even if it is just from my mom & her side of the family {8 brother's and sisters all with blue eyes & my grandparents have blue eyes... obviously.}

But Brynn too?

Now that's just genetically mind-blowing. Someone, please tell me how the heck that happened.

Yeah, yeah... I know- they can still change. But, do you think these beauties are going brown?
I think not.

Time to bust out a Punnett Square and do some calculating... {flashback to Biology 101, eh?}

Is anyone else's husband requesting a paternity test for this very reason?

Edit to add:
This was the original website I was looking for. It says that we have a 7% chance of blue eyes with any given baby. The Punnet Squares get a little more difficult when you're calculating not only blue eyes {dominent & recessive} but green eyes as well! That website is just a bit easier. ;)

So yeah, 7% chance. Still crazy. :)

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18 comments:

Katie said...

I know we have talked about it before but it still amazes me! They both have such beautiful blue eyes :)

MrsKBJ said...

LOL!! We have the same thing going on with our kiddo and I will be so interested when we have/ get pregnant with no. 2 what there eye color will be. I have no clue where Madisons blue/ gray eyes come from.

Mine are dark brown\Husbands- light brown/ hazel.

Both of our parents are brown. My grandfather has blue eyes. So strange since I always thought brown was dominant.

Jessica said...

Dustin would have thought about a paternity test if Molly did not look exactly like him. ;) I have hazel eyes and Dustin has green eyes, Brooke has hazel eyes and it looks like Molly will have blue eyes. The only ones in our family with blue eyes are my mom and her whole side of the family. I think brown is just not dominant as far as eye color goes, and it means that both you and Bob have to have a gene for blue eyes. Which obviously you do, but Bob must have had it hidden somewhere. ;)

Jessica said...

Also, you should use this calculator.

http://museum.thetech.org/ugenetics/eyeCalc/eyecalculator.html

I got that we have a 13% chance of having a baby with blue eyes. ;)

Nicole Marie said...

beautiful blue eyes!!!

jenni from the blog said...

@ Jess- There it is!! I remember doing that before but couldn't find it when I was writing this post.

7% chance.

Crazy!

RoriGMakesTHREE said...

hahahaah you can tell your husband there is NO denying that Carter and Brynn are his! Especially Carter! He looks just like the man! haha

Very cute kids either way

Theresa

Meredith said...

Well, it's simple! Think of eyes as being made up of two genes--one from mom and one from dad. If you guys both have brown eyes, you could either both have two dominant genes (BB), or you could both have one dominant and one recessive gene (Bb) making up your eye color.

My guess would be that you each have one dominant and one recessive gene. If you both pass on the recessive gene to your kiddos (so they'd have bb), then they would have blue eyes! Isn't that interesting that blue eyes are a recessive gene?!

Mary said...

if there's one blue-eyed grandparent from each side of family and you and the father have brown eyes, then you have 25% chance:)

Jessica Hrouda said...

Jenni - We didnt think our little girl would have blue either - My side of the family is riddled with blue eyes (me, both my parents, and 2 of my grandparents) but my husband is 1/2 asian so we thought for sure that that strong gene would dominate - but it didnt - that eastern european gene pulled through.. But we will see with our next one if we have the same odds. Didnt think I would have a little one that looked like me but I love that she has blue eyes like her momma!

I still cant get over how adorable your pics are, and the one with Brynn's tongue sticking out is absolutely the best thing ever.

kacy said...

ummm you've been looking at me for 28 years. my eyes are green weirdo.

i have a 7% chance of blue eyes baby, 20% green. but i guess you have to want babies first. holla!

jenni from the blog said...

@ Kacy- I try not to look at you...

And they're kinda brown, aren't they?

Shannon said...

LOL at the convo with you and your sister...

I have 3 kids... My oldest's dad has these beautiful hazel eyes... he got brown. Then I got married. My husband has gorgeous green eyes. Owen (my middle child) got brown. Then we had my daughter Quinlin... her's are kind of green but I think turning brown. :(

Megan said...

Simple - even though you and your husband have brown eyes - you each got a recessive blue gene from a parent. Very unlikely to pass it on twice (kids need to get blue from both of you to have blue eyes) but it looks like it happened.

True story - my dad had brown, my mom has blue. They had 5 kids. EVERY SINGLE ONE of us has blue. My Dad passed on the recessive blue gene each time. Talk about beating the odds!

Tracy Eyles said...

Both mine had blue eyes until the age of almost two and then my daughter's went brown and my son's hazel...you just never know when they'll change. It was a little less of a coincidence given that we both have siblings with blue eyes.

Unknown said...

That IS pretty crazy. I have hazel eyes but they look brown unless in natural lighting or you look really closely {green mottled with brown}, and my husband has green eyes. I would LOVE a little boy with my husband's GORGEOUS eyes. Most of both of our families have blue, green, or hazel eyes. But since brown is dominant, and my mom and brother have brown... everyone thinks Elliot will have brown. We'll just have to see!
PS- you also give me hope that perhappssssss Elliot could have red hair. Even though Aaron's is dark brown. Hey... you never know, right?!

Shan said...

either way, they both have beautiful baby blues!

Owen has blues as well...I have brown, my mom and dad both have/had (respectively) brown, brother has blue. C has green, his parents have blue/green and his brother has blue. We had only a 10% of blue...but he's got 'em!

Becki said...

Let's talk unfair eye color inheritances...my mom has very light green eyes, dad has light blue eyes. My sister and I both had brown eyes then hers turned a gorgeous dark green when she was in her teens! I still have poop brown eyes. Now I know this isn't "supposed" to be possible, but since eye color doesn't actually follow Mendelian genetics (the punnet squares) and is way more complicated and not yet fully understood even by scientists, I know I belong to my mom and dad.

Fast forward to my own child. DH has gorgeous eyes that change between blue and green depending on what he wears. His sister does too, but like you both MIL and FIL have brown eyes. I've always told DH that I was marrying him for his blue eyes so I could have a chance at blue eyed children. Nope, DS has the same dark brown eyes as I have, and I never thought they were beautiful until now when I look in his eyes and know they came from me.

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