Gender Reveal Party *Edited to Add Pics*

*In case anyone has already went through this, I just added a couple more pics I realized should be in here! Including my 21-week baby bump pic!*

We had a gender reveal party with my family two weeks ago {2/23} and it was amazing!!!!

I've been dyingggg to share this with you all since then, but I've been super crazy psycho busy and just haven't had a chance to finish this long-awaited post! I'm so sorry. So without further ado....

We found out baby's gender at our big, level 2 ultrasound on Tuesday 2/19. It was absolutely surreal. We felt like we were in a movie. That ultrasound was incredible. The best part was finding out that baby is totally healthy, and my first visit to the high risk OB was with absolutely no concerns. Everything was coming back in the clear and the doc wasn't worried at all. It was... surprising.

I was totally prepared for the ball to drop. I went in trying to be positive, but also knowing my 'track record' over the years, I just always assume that something bad will happen around the next corner. And especially being high risk I wanted to be prepared and realistic about the worst kind of news.

I was surprised and giddy when that wasn't the news we got. When the ultrasound technician continued down the baby's body and told us "everything looks good" as she took picture after picture and measurement after measurement...

we felt like we were in heaven.

*edited to add pics here*

Here are pictures from the morning of the appointment. I had to keep track of the fact that I was exactly 21 weeks that day:

Baby bump!

Our kiddo!

Tim snapping a pic to post on Facebook:

Brief celebration breakfast at Panera afterward as we looked at ultrasound pics, scarfed down breakfast, and headed off to our late-start work days:

As the days passed and we told people here and there, we couldn't wait for Thursday night when we had a Google hang-out with some of Tim's family and announced the big news to them. That was fun! :) Sadly some of his local family was sick, so this was the best option for being able to see their faces all at once. It was wonderful.

Then came time for the trip to my hometown and our big gender reveal party at my brother's house on Saturday morning. For starters, I have to share that they'd had a beautiful 10-inch snowfall on Thursday and everything was still glistening and gorgeous come Saturday morning when we got up early and looked outside my mom & stepdad's walk-out basement where we sleep when we are there.

Ohhhhh hello gorgeous!!!

I had a ton of fun preparing for this reveal, even though my hubby thought surely I'd gone bonkers. It was so surreal to me to have done so many showers and parties for friends and their babes, but never anything for me/us! I delighted in every second of it and was thrilled to be able to share that time with my sweet family.

They were all so excited!! Of course, they're mostly excited that baby is healthy and to know the gender, not that the gender technically matters. But I have to admit, it sure was fun seeing their faces!

I purchased a bunch of boy and girl products, because obviously they have no idea walking in the door whether it's a boy or girl. Though upon walking in and seeing a bunch of boy & girl stuff, our nieces immediately asked in way-too-thrilled voices "IS IT TWINS?!?!?!!?"

Thankfully, we could proudly say "NO!" ;)

My sister-in-law and brother were wonderful hosts and let us take over with decorating their house. We got there about 9 to set up after lots of running around that morning, and the party started at 10. Even though it was a small grouping of family because we couldn't fit many people in my brother's house, I just couldn't make it a small deal. This was really special to me, so I went all out.

Dining room table:

Kitchen buffet line:

Mom's yummy sausage & egg breakfast casserole:

Jeremi's delicious cherry coffee cake:

The wonderful box my coworker Crystal helped put together for the big surprise! 

I cried when I saw this. It blew my socks off. I asked for a little help from a brown cardboard box and wanted some decorations for it. 

This is what I got. Isn't it AWESOME!?!?

*edited to add* 

Here's Crystal earlier that week measuring our sad little brown box:

Living room with our bunches of balloons:

Family chatting:

After a bit of chatting and hanging out, we got the party started with having family announce their official gender guesses by choosing a blue or pink cup. My brother was really cute about it. He announced to everyone he was pretty sure it was a girl, but he was hoping it was a boy so he chose blue. I loved it!

{*edited to add: I should probably note that my dad's uncle passed away earlier in the week [we didn't really know him], and the funeral got bumped to Saturday morning because of the snowstorm... hence why my dad is here wearing a suit as he was only able to stay for the first 20 minutes or so and then went straight to the funeral.}

Our guesses before we found out at the doc's:

Family guesses: 

Aunt Robin - boy / Stepdad Jerry - boy / mom - boy / brother - boy / Dad - boy / nephew Joshua - girl {cuz his sisters were holding pink cups, we think...} / niece Olivia - girl / niece Cayley - girl / sis-in-law Jeremi - girl / hubby - boy / me - girl

Just about there... ready to show everyone our baby's gender!

WE ARE HAVING.....






........

 A BOY!!!!

Squeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Such great reactions. I wish I could see their faces from this moment another hundred times! It was SO special. :)

We wished we could have gone outside and watched the balloons go into the air, but with the massive snow and cold, we felt it best to keep it inside. So the balloons didn't go very high, nor did they all go, but it was still really fun. :) Since we couldn't get many pics as the balloons released, we had our nieces help us re-enact the scene for more pictures right after.

Joshua was pretty excited too. Even though he didn't quite know why. He just loved the balloons!

A bit of fun....

 After it was all over, we were hanging out, playing with the balloons and having a bit of fun. Joshua thought it was all hysterical especially as Uncle Tim and his sisters would blow up a balloon, and then release it into the air so that it would squeak out the air and poof, land on the ground all empty. Joshua would just be so giggly and delighted, this lasted for quite some time! 

Joshua loves to share things with Grandma so he went into the kitchen, found her, and pulled her into the living room so that she would watch the fun balloon stuff too. So cute!

Isn't that just so presh?!?!

And we totally gave him that adorable shirt for Christmas. :)

Our nieces were loving on Uncle Tim so much - with his fancy "Dad-to-be" medal that I made him wear... 

...and showing off all our latest ultrasound pictures:

To wrap it all up, we released some remaining balloons later outside:

And... with a slight wind-shift, they went straight into the tree. Doh!

Finally, here are some other pictures from the weekend that are too special not to share...

Tim & Olivia playing games at Culver's after Saturday's late night ice cream: 

Brother Tim & his son Josh having a moment at lunch Sunday at Ruby Tuesday's:

Cayley & Joshua messing with Uncle Tim as we all waited for their daddy to be done chatting after church {he's a pastor and usually about the last one to leave}:

We had a terrific, very special, very memorable time and hated for it to end.

Sunday night we hopped back on Amtrak for our train ride home. We were surprised to learn that we were getting a nifty treat of a double-decker! Something about the engines not freezing as easily or something. Didn't cost us any extra and we got the royal treatment with more leg room, laying the seats back further, less overhead lighting for easier sleeping, tray tables that slid up & back, foot rests and leg rests, etc. It was a great experience!! The only downfall was that you can feel the train moving quite a bit more and I admittedly started getting a bit queasy at one point. Thankfully it was okay though and we enjoyed the treat.

Farewell family! I cried... again.... something about the train just makes me cry when I leave them standing there like that. Especially being so hormonal and wanting to share so much of this pregnancy with them. Poor Tim had to remind me to breathe as we pulled away. So blessed by each one of them and all their encouragement, support, and love.

We are so blessed and thankful by everyone's joy and excitement for us! Thank you all for your continued excitement and for praying that baby boy would arrive healthy and full-term around July 2nd!

[After reading this one last time before posting, I realized I should clarify something: We both dearly love each family -- the big difference here is size. I have one sibling, his wife, 2 nieces, and 1 nephew. Tim has 10 siblings, a slew of spouses, nieces, and nephews... totaling somewhere over 26 we think for nieces and nephews. The excitement is just a bit different, that's all. Everyone's really happy for us, of course, but I'm sure you can imagine how fun it was for me to throw a gender reveal party for my family. And we just couldn't for Tim's family with everyone passing around lots of illness.]