Baby Thydean's Gender Reveal Party

I can't believe it's already Sunday evening. This weekend went by entirely too fast! We had such an amazing day today! We had a Gender Reveal Party today with our friends and family for Baby Thydean. I don't think it could have gone any better than it did, well maybe if I wasn't still getting stuff ready while people arrived...but ultimately it was the best and will be remembered for such a long time.

My sweet, sweet sister-in-law was the photographer for the day and to say that I'm obsessed with the pics is an understatement. I just ordered the whole batch of pics, yes all 94 of them, to sit and stare at as many times as I want ;) She made me look good, which can be difficult because I'm just not photogenic! Thank you Whitney so so much!

Ok, on to the pics! I won't share all 94, but I'll give you a glimpse into our fun-filled day!

First off, the cake. Kelly did such an amazing job. Huge thank you to her for accepting my cake proposal!! I was nervous to ask since I'd never met Kelly and just followed her blog for over a year and emailed back and forth with her. I sent her my inspiration

She happily agreed and said she could make the cake, I felt like I'd won the lottery! We met up on Friday night at Cherry Berry for some froyo and to hand off the envelope with the secret inside! She is incredibly sweet and an amazing baker! Seriously Kelly, you need to open your own bakery!

Sunday morning Chris and I drove over to Kelly's to pick up our cake. Luckily she lives in Savage (where we live) and only about 5 minutes away. I was so nervous to drive us home and have something happen to the cake! Alas, we made it home safe and sound. I told Chris it was like having a baby in the car - good practice!

 She did awesome! We decide to wrap a box instead of putting a smaller cake on top. The sonogram she got was inside

 Chris and I could've just stared a the cake all day long


We also had a board for everyone to cast their vote on if baby was a boy or girl?

 Girl voting pins - I downloaded the designs on the pins here

 Boy voting pins

 Stickers for guests to wear and show what they voted

 I made popcorn cake with pink and blue m&ms

 Chris and I made some cream cheese mints, so yummy!

 Pink & Blue m&ms, nuts and mints

 Our friend Jen and the adorable baby boy Jack and mother-in-law

 Ben and Chris (the hubs)

 Me and Megan

 Grandpa Leroy - must sill be on babysitting duty from last night :)

 Picture of me and my sticker, I voted blue - only to vote against Chris (and our 2 dogs)

 The votes are in...

 10 Blue vs 7 Pink

 View of the treat table - there was healthy food too!

 Chris let me do the cutting

 Peeking to see what color the cake is...

 YAY! IT'S A GIRL!!

 Both so happy

 I love this picture of Chris - he looks incredibly happy that it's a girl! I know he'll be an amazing dad!

 Inside of the cake

 Chris looking at the "reveal" sonogram that Kelly cleverly put in the box on top of the cake

 Sonogram and our piece of cake

 Grandparents trying to figure out the sonogram

 Beautiful s-i-l and her 2 kiddos - babies future BFFs for sure!

 Love this picture of all of us

 My niece and her dad - she's a fashionista

 My m-i-l is spoiling the baby already. She came prepared with girl and boy stuff!

 My niece feeling how silky soft the blanket Baby T got is

Grandpa Leroy got Baby T a little onesie from the Indy 500 when he was there, so cute! He also brought a boy one, just in case :)

I can't believe this day has come and (nearly) gone. I'm so happy that our family and friends could join us. We had such an amazing surprise. I am also happy that Chris was ok with the idea of doing the party. I think he was hesitant at first, but then started really loving the idea.

A quick Happy Anniversary to my parents today too! Celebrating 35 years of marriage. You both are an inspiration to Chris and I and I'm so thankful that you both were able to be here...even if my dad had run out to his car while we were cutting open the cake. He kind of missed "the big moment" but that's my dad for ya!

Photo Dump

Here are some pics that I've taken recently. I've been meaning to post them, but just haven't gotten around to it yet...weird! We were having some family time on the patio last week and letting the monkeys roam free in the backyard

Kirby runing up the hill from an adventure

Always looking so innocent

Our 2 crazy little monkeys

Kirby is constantly caught with his tongue hanging out. It cracks us up every.time! I don't even want to admit how many pictures Chris and I have of this little stinker with his tongue out.

Oscar and daddy dancing

Probably one of my favorite pics on our camera right now. We had baby robins under our deck and the mama bird (Oscar's substitute mama) had just brought food to the babies. I missed the worm in her mouth, but it's still a great pic!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and Father's Day! We sure did!

Week 17

Week 17: June 10 - June 16

Size of the baby?

5.1 inches, about the size of an onion!

Total Weight Gain/Loss?

up 2.4 lbs - I actually lost weight this week. I'm guessing I'm losing muscle and gaining fat/baby

Maternity Clothes?

Wearing my skirts and wore my first pair of maternity pants this week. They were pretty comfy!

Best Moments?

Telling the rest of my co-workers on Tuesday that I'm pregnant. We had a staff meeting and my boss thought I should announce it then since most of my co-workers didn't know yet. Everyone is very happy for us and has been giving me tons of advice for websites to check-out, offering their baby's clothes (our office is a revolving door for baby making apparently - 4 babies in the past 9 months and I will make 5 in just over a year) and constantly congratulating me. Makes me feel so great (and relieved)!

Movement?

I think I felt some fluttering yesterday, it was pretty exciting!

Food Cravings?

I broke down and went to Cherry Berry on my way home from work on Friday. I got watermelon and tropical sorbet (and cookie monster and peanut butter). I LOVED the watermelon and tropical. I could eat that daily!

Anything making you queasy or sick?

Not so much anymore

What I miss?

Random as this may seem, I've been missing my grandma lately. It's not weird to miss someone that's gone, but she's been gone for almost 13 years now. I've been making my favorite desserts of hers lately. Angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries & peaches and cream. They don't compare to hers but they still remind me of her and taste yummy :) 

What I'm looking forward to?

* My doctor's appointment on Wednesday for a regular check-up (should hear the heartbeat!)

* My ultrasound appointment on Thursday to *hopefully* find out if it's a boy or a girl

* Meeting up with Kelly later this week to hand her the ultrasound results (must get rid of that envelope ASAP)

*Seeing the cake that Kelly will make us, so extremely excited!

*Our Gender Reveal Party in 1 week

*Our upcoming trip to Minot to see my family and friends. I'm dreading the looong drive there, but it will be a fun weekend!

Nausea/Vomiting?

Not really any nausea anymore

Labor signs?

no

Gender?

Ultrasound is June 21, but Chris and I and our family and friends will find out on the 24th

Belly Button In or Out?

in

Wedding ring On or Off?

On and loose

Sleep?

Slept pretty well this week!

PS: my weeks are off. I don't know why it's so difficult for me to understand what week I'm on. Pregnancy brain already?? I've gone back and switched them in case you're confused

Week 16

Week 16:  June 3-June 9

Size of the baby?  

4.6 inches, about the size of an avocado!  

Total Weight Gain/Loss?  

about 5 lbs

Maternity Clothes?  

Clothes are still tight. I did break down and bought some new clothes this week. I got some elastic waist banded skirts from a consignment shop (I usually don't go to consignment stores, but I found some super cute stuff there!) and also picked up a few pairs of maternity pants from the mall.

Best Moments?  

Another weekend at the cabin from Friday 6/8-6/10. We had some very interesting moments in the boat in the middle of the lake, read: our motor stopped and we were stuck with 1 oar and only child-sized life jackets. It's not a very big lake, but still made for a very fun/hillarious/slightly stressful first night there. It's all been documented well and my s-i-l has great pictures of it!

Movement? 

Still just some rumblings haha

Food Cravings?  

Maybe the popcorn cake I brought to the cabin. It was a pretty big hit and I think it will be made plenty more times in the future. I just made mine in a cake pan, not the fancy bundt cake pan and also used air popped popcorn instead of the microwave popcorn. I'm kind of a popcorn snob, you could say!

Anything making you queasy or sick? 

Not so much anymore

What I miss?  

Still miss working out! At least I'm walking twice a day at work for about 20 minutes each time.

What I'm looking forward to? 

The Gender Reveal Party on the 24<sup>th

Our upcoming trip to Minot to see my family. I'm dreading the loooong drive there, but it will be a fun weekend!</sup>

Nausea/Vomiting?  

Not really any nausea anymore

Labor signs?  

no

Gender? 

 Ultrasound is June 21, but Chris and I and our family and friends will find out on the 24th

Belly Button In or Out?  

in

Wedding ring On or Off?  

On and loose

Sleep?  

I slept really well at the cabin. We slept in on Sunday and it was glorious!

I promise I will have a bump pic next week. I really suck at remembering to take those :s

Week 15

Week 15:  May 27 – June 2

Size of the baby?  

4.0 inches, about the size of a navel orange!  

Total Weight Gain/Loss?  

still hovering around the 4.5 lbs gain mark

Maternity Clothes?  

still regular clothes, but they're a little snug 

Best Moments?  

Our fun trip to the cabin over the weekend. We had a blast up there!

Movement? 

Still not sure if I've felt it move. There are all sorts of different feelings going on down there!

Food Cravings?  

 Not really anything that I've been craving lately. Just hungry a lot!

Anything making you queasy or sick? 

Not so much anymore

What I miss?  

Not having crazy emotional roller coaster days. It's not terrible, but I've had a few break downs lately. It's all worth it though, right?

Having motivation to work-out. At least I'm walking twice a day at work for about 20 minutes each time.

What I'm looking forward to? 

The Gender Reveal Party on the 24<sup>th

Our upcoming trip to Minot to see my family. I'm dreading the loooong drive there, but it will be a fun weekend!</sup>

Nausea/Vomiting?  

Not really any nausea anymore

Labor signs?  

no

Gender? 

 Ultrasound is June 21, but Chris and I and our family and friends will find out on the 24th

Belly Button In or Out?  

in

Wedding ring On or Off?  

On and loose

Sleep?  

Not horrible, but not great. I sleep almost half of the week in our guest bedroom since Chris has developed a need to snore every night. Mama needs her sleep and is willing to move if that's what it takes :)

Week 14

Week 14:  May 20 – May 26

Size of the baby?  

3.4 inches, about the size of a lemon!  

Total Weight Gain/Loss?  

Up about 4.5 pounds. I do think that I’ve “popped” I was not very skinny before I got pregnant so some of my tummy is not from pregnancy :)

Maternity Clothes?  

I'm still in my regular clothes, but they are getting tighter. I’ve been sporting some pants that I wore before I lost weight. I also tried the BeBand a few times, not a huge fan of that thing!

Best Moments?  

Getting a date set for our Gender Reveal Party and sending out invites via Facebook to some friends. Also contacting Kelly to make a cake for the party and having her say yes! I’m so excited that she will be making our cake!

Movement? 

Can't feel the baby moving yet, but my iPhone app said that I could start feeling it!

Food Cravings?  

 Cereal (see below image) and anything that may pop into my head through commercials, TV shows, browsing the aisles of the grocery store. Our pantry looks like a 4 year old stocked it :s

Anything making you queasy or sick? 

Not really, just feel queasy if I get hungry

What I miss?  

Not feeling tired, although it seems to be getting better

Turkey – I’ve seen turkey sandwiches on the menu lately when we’ve gone out and it sounds delish but I know it’s a no-no when expecting

My hubs – he’s been sooo busy with work (yay!) but that means a little less time with me (boo!)

What I'm looking forward to? 

Going to the Mpls farmer’s market tomorrow today with Chris’s family (1^st time going there) and I will be getting plants for our garden - Blogger was giving me a tough time last night when I wrote this. We went this morning and it was so great!

Going to the cabin next weekend with Chris’s gpa and aunt from Florida and the rest of his family

The Gender Reveal Party on the 24^th

Nausea/Vomiting?  

Some nausea but it’s getting better

Labor signs?  

no

Gender? 

 Ultrasound is June 21, but Chris and I and our family and friends will find out on the 24th

Belly Button In or Out?  

in

Wedding ring On or Off?  

On and loose

Sleep?  

Sleeping good, my upper side thighs hurt from laying on them so I usually wake up a few times at night to a) roll over, b) go to the potty or c) move one (or both) of the dogs away from me so I am not so crowded