Gender Revealing Cookout!

Crystal had suggested a gender revealing cookout towards the very beginning, when we found out we were pregnant. We definitely liked the idea, but wanted to make sure everything was ok with the baby/pregnancy first. The closer it got to finding out, we kept talking about the idea. We even debated on waiting to find out when everybody else found out (i.e. having the ultrasound technician write it out on a notecard and seal it and we would take it straight to a cake baker to make the cake w/ the appropriate color -- blue or pink). Although we thought that would be cool, we wanted to have "our" special time together, finding out. I'm soo glad we did it that way. What an amazing feeling finding out the gender of our baby that God has blessed us w/ - w/ the most important and amazing man in my life - my husband! :) TRULY a blessing!

So we found out Thursday at 11:00 and decided to have the cookout Friday night. It was going to be soooooooo HARD for us to keep that secret -- but 24 hours? -- we could do it (and we did!!) We decorated with pink and blue balloons, tablecloths, flowers, plates, cups, napkins, forks, spoons, knives, candy, etc. We also wore the color that we thought it was - and told some of the others too that they were more than welcome to do the same. The whole time I was thinking it was a girl ... I'm not sure why?? And the whole time Jonathan thought it was a boy ............. HE WAS RIGHT!!!! And I'm sooo glad he was! God knows exactly what we need at the exact time in our lives -- I have never felt more blessed than I do right now!

Soo we ate dinner (hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, baked beans, broccoli salad, etc.) and then for dessert ........... we revealed the gender by Natalie's AWESOME cake!! :) What we did was call her after we found out and she made the cake the color of the baby -- BLUE!!! -- and made the outside of the cake both colors so nobody would know until we cut into the cake! It was DELICIOUS!!





Can't WAIT to meet our baby BOY!! :)

Boy OR Girl?? ............ :)

So ... we were anxiously waiting for our next doctor's appointment, which we scheduled exactly two weeks after our last one (so not TOO long of a wait). Starting Sunday, I was thinking the week was going to go by soo slow - but it actually went by pretty fast. We just prayed and prayed that the baby's heartbeat was still strong and that everything would be ok with the baby (and mommy too)! God is SOO good! He has continued to answer that prayer. So ... now for the exciting part!! As I was laying there, the ultrasound technician was showing us the heartbeat, the hands, the legs, the arms, the stomach, and every little detail .......... she kept asking us "so you do want to see the gender right? you do want to know what you're having right?" She definitely wanted to make sure she didn't tell us if we didn't want to know but ....... we did!! Soo as she scanned over the lower region, she stopped and held the image still, with the babies legs wide open!! She said, "do y'all want to guess what it is??" SIDENOTE - she was being funny because there was NO QUESTION what our baby was!! ... we both looked at each other ... soo excited ... and she said "well ........ ??" and we both said IT'S A BOY! As I saw Jonathan's face ... tears started rolling down my face. It was one of the most bittersweet moments I have had the whole time. We couldn't believe it and were soo excited to finally know what our precious baby would be! This made it soo much more real! As she finished the ultrasound, we took the pictures and just kept looking at every detail while we went and sat back in the waiting area (we had to wait and see the Nurse Practitioner just for my blood pressure and measuring my stomach).

As we left, the radio was on in the car and ... the Brad Paisley song "Anything Like Me" was on. I had never heard it before (or never really payed attention to it) but Jonathan had heard it and recognized it. When it was over, he changed the channel to another country station and ... again ... no lie ... it was on the other station. I don't know who has heard that song or the lyrics but ... the first part is this ...

"I remember saying I don't care either way
Just as long as he or she is healthy I'm ok
Then the doctor pointed to the corner of the screen
And said "You see that thing right there well you know what that means"

And I started wondering who he was going to be
And I thought heaven help us if he's anything like me"


It's kind of a funny song to us but also a sweet song.

We then went to TJ Maxx to buy our first little outfit for our baby BOY (one that I had seen the day before). We couldn't WAIT to tell everybody! ... but they would have to wait until TOMORROW (Friday) to find out at our gender revealing cookout :)