Sunday, February 26, 2012

The Baby Bump...

12 weeks:


















21 weeks:



















24 weeks:



















25 weeks:


Gender Reveal Party

Lots has been happening at our house over the past few months!  The most exciting event lately was the Gender Reveal Party that we had a few weekends ago.  Matt and I wanted to share the excitement of finding out whether Baby Bell would be a girl or boy with our families in a special way, so we invited everyone down for the weekend for a "Gender Reveal Party."

Matt and I went to the doctor on Wednesday, January 25, for our ultrasound.  The plan was to have the ultrasound tech write down the gender in a sealed envelope to be opened at the party on Saturday night.  Although I initially didn't want to find out the gender until the baby was born, I was the one who was quite antsy at the ultrasound!  In fact, I almost changed my mind while we were there and had the doctor go ahead and tell us the news!  But, since I knew that the whole family was coming down for the big reveal, I stuck with the plan.  Besides, I've always been a big fan of surprises & this just stretched the surprise out a little longer!  

The ultrasound tech was very good at keeping the secret...although Matt and I spent a fair amount of time analyzing every word that she said during our appointment over the next few days.  For example, the speed with which she determined the gender, and the confidence she had in her determination had us convinced that Baby Bell would be a boy!  

The weekend came & all of the family arrived!  We had 10 people staying at our house for the weekend & we had a great time.  I decorated the house with pink and blue balloons and streamers, and Heather helped me make some cute tissue paper flowers!  I also made a blue and pink dessert to go with the theme!



My mom brought the cutest little pins that were pink & blue themed.  Everyone had to choose if they thought it would be a boy or girl & wear the corresponding pin.  Thanks mom!


Since we have friends and family across the US, we decided to put the reveal party on a webcast so that everyone could join in the fun (even if they couldn't be here in person).  After dinner, we had everyone gather in the living room.  Matt made envelopes (one for each couple) to open.  Everyone thought that one of the envelopes would reveal the answer...but, of course, Matt had a trick up his sleeve!  The envelopes that people opened said things like "it's a baby," "it's a boy or girl," etc.  The real envelope was in Matt's back pocket!  So after everyone opened their envelopes one by one, Matt and I finally got to open the real envelope & reveal that we're having a baby GIRL!  We were shocked, my mom jumped up & down & everyone was thrilled!  Now we just have to pick out a name, decorate the nursery, and wait on our sweet baby girl to arrive!