He or She? Open to See!

Last week at our ultrasound the technician gave us a scare because the first time she attempted to check the gender of our little sweetie he/she had their legs closed tight.  A slight panic set in as I told her we had a party planned for the weekend to reveal the gender.  She said she would get it before we left, and indeed she did!  She wrote it down for us in a little card that I made, included a picture and sealed it up.  We left the doctor's office and took it immediately to our cake lady so as to not be tempted to peek!  Let me tell you... it's been a long couple of days since Wednesday.

Yesterday we were so excited to host family and friends to celebrate this newest blessing and learn whether our little sweetie is a boy or a girl!  I am so incredibly glad we decided to learn (and share) the news with a Gender Reveal Party.  It was SO MUCH fun and the memories from this get together we will cherish forever! 

The focus of the party was of course the cake, which was a beautiful and delicious pumpkin caramel pecan cake, with a little blue or pink "gift package" on top!

The weather, company and surprise could not have been sweeter!  Thank you so much to everyone who came to celebrate with us, you will never know how much it meant to have all of you here!!! Now, for a replay of the BIG reveal... drum roll please!

Video of the big reveal!!!

 The blue and pink spread

 Team "Blue"

Team "Pink"

 PINK cake!!!

 It's a GIRL!  We are on cloud 9!

 Me & my Momma :)

Me & Paula

Happy Halloween!!!

This year when I asked Ethan what he wanted to be for Halloween, he told me an "ant."  I'm guessing this was because he had been bitten by an ant a few days prior and ants must've been on his mind :)  Since I wasn't sure how to make an ant costume, I asked him again a few days later what he wanted to be.  This time he told me a "star."  I think this was because we were sitting in his room and he has glow in the dark stars on his ceiling.  Again, I wasn't sure how to dress him as a star, so I waited a few more days and asked him again.  This time he told me he wanted to be "robot."  The third times a charm... finally, something I could work with!  He has a book called "Here Comes Halloween" and in the book, one of the costumes the little boy tries on is a robot so I am guessing where that came from. 

In any case, he liked his costume pretty much up until last week.  Then on Tuesday, when he was supposed to wear it to gymnastics he did not want to.  He ended up going in just the body suit.  Then on Wednesday we took him to a Halloween party at work, and we had to bribe him with a Starburst to put it on.  Even then he left the hat on for all of 5 minutes.  On Friday for school, he was again opposed to wearing it so I dropped him off in just the body suit.  I was thrilled to see him wearing the full thing when I got to the school to watch the "parade" and he was soooo excited to see me there!  I am incredibly blessed and so thankful to Troy for the opportunity to work only part-time so that I can enjoy these special moments with our special boy <3

 Ms. Maria & Ethan led the class in the parade

 Ethan was HAPPY to see Mommy!!

 Watching the other kids in the parade

 Jr. Preschool Class Picture

 Enjoying snacks at his class Halloween Party

Friday night after eating a jack-o-lantern pizza, we suited up and headed out to meet up with some neighborhood friends for an evening of trick-or-treating!  He was much less resistant to put on his costume this time because he knew he was going to get candy!!!  The weather was nice and cool and it was a fun evening with friends.  Ethan and Bennett (spider) were especially excited to get candy as they raced up to each house, knocked (each of them), rang the doorbell (each of them) and shouted trick-or-treat! It is a good thing they are so cute or people might have been bothered by their barrage.  We were out for 2 hours and when we came home, his first pick was the biggest lollipop in the bag.  Did I mention, at every house he requested lollipops?  I tried telling him chocolate was better than lollipops and he just said "ok" :)

 Cutest lil robot EVER!

 Heading out on the trike! (Smart boy, used his handle bars to carry his candy satchel)

 Neighborhood buds: Ethan, Bennett & Micah

Family pic!  We should've taken it before it was so dark :/

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Last weekend we went to the Sweet Berry Farm pumpkin patch!  This place is always so much fun and the pumpkin ice cream is delicious!  I can not believe we have been 3 times now with little Ethan!!!  This year it most certainly did not feel like fall as the temps crept up into the 90s, but it was a great time none the less.  We pained a pumpkin, took a hayride, enjoyed a picnic, and fed the goats.  The goats are by far Ethan's favorite! It's hard to believe that when we go next year, we will have another little one in our family picture! :)

Happy Fall Y'all!

BIG BRO

As most of you know by now, Ethan is going to be a BIG brother! I found out on July 14th and shared the news with Troy on the 15th with this little note and some blue and pink balloons.

At some point I will get a good picture of Ethan in his BIG BRO shirt but that day has not yet come!  I do have this one though, of Ethan and his cousins Dominik & Anthony, from our trip to Spring a few months ago to share the news.

The Saturday after we found out we already had plans for date night at The Melting Pot, but it was extra special since we were able to celebrate our growing family!  Even more so because the day we found out we were expecting with Ethan we also had reservations at this restaurant to celebrate Valentine's Day!  Now we have celebrated baby news twice at the exact same place... unintentionally! So special how that worked out!  And, it just so happened that our fondue forks were pink and blue! :)

We had our first doctor appointment on August 6th and were told that our due date would be March 17th (St. Patty's day!)  We were 8 weeks along!

Our second appointment was on September 3rd and I was 12 weeks along.  At that appointment, we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time and recorded it to share!  His/her heartbeat was perfect and 165 beats per minute.  I just love listening to the woosh of this little heart, and Ethan grins ear to ear every time he hears it as well!

That same week we had our first trimester screening done and were able to see how much our little one had grown since our first appointment at 8 weeks.  Seeing our little one moving around in the womb is just such a special moment!  Every.Single.Time!  The results from the screening were great and we are at the lowest level of risk for any type of genetic abnormalities. 

 We had two more check-ups on October 1st (16 weeks) and October 27th (20 weeks).  Baby's heartbeat was in the 140s at both of those appointments which is normal and we received good reports for our health.  This past Wednesday we had our second trimester anatomy screening done and got to see our precious little one again!  We were so relieved to hear that this baby is developing perfectly, with absolutely no health concerns at all.  I was a bit nervous since this is the ultrasound appointment that detected the choroid plexus cyst with Ethan, but all is well! 

Also, just a quick disclaimer... We have not yet posted our exciting baby news on Facebook, so please keep that in mind and only share our news in person with friends and loved ones for now!  Soon I plan to make a Facebook announcement and at that point you can feel free to share that post or this one!  XOXO