Gender Reveal

Hello all! As most of you know, we found out the gender of our little babe this week. I liked the idea of waiting until baby is born, but we were okay with finding out and decided if people were going to buy us stuff or make us stuff, it might as well not be gender neutral. Sorry Beal sisters - I had to make that hard on your for my Idaho shower ;)

Monday I had my ultrasound. It took FOREVER. Hopefully baby doesn't come out a monkey after that exposure to all those high frequency waves...can you tell how I feel about ultrasound? Ha...anyway, I told myself to calm down and it will all be fine. Baby is healthy other than the kidneys aren't draining like they're supposed to, which means there's blockage somewhere in the "plumbing." I'm not worried in the slightest as they say this typically resolves itself within pregnancy (9 times out of 10). So whatever - don't put me on the prayer roll or anything. I had my nurse tell me when she was going to "the nether-regions" so I could close my eyes and she could record everything she needed so I wouldn't know the sex. She put the picture of the anatomy in a different envelope for me. I picked Justin up and we took our envelope to a bakery in downtown Tacoma. We told them to make us a cake so we could reveal that weekend.

The rest of the week was busy busy. I started coaching track. I am only in charge of 6th grade girls so that is great because they are totally clueless as to what different events are so it's very low-key, and there are only about eight girls. We practice M/W/F. I'm teaching about photosynthesis right now which is fun content for me - I feel like I will finish the school year strong. 9 weeks to go!

Justin and I went craigslist crazy this week. We bought a car seat/stroller set and a dresser for baby's room. We love second-hand! We got another car seat for free, so we'll have one for each car and then we have one for later down the road when baby is sitting up - also for free. #winning I'm 28 weeks and I feel great! I am soaking in the time that I feel great since the weather will be getting hotter and I will be getting bigger and bigger every week from here until baby comes.

Saturday we picked up our gender cake - still unaware of boy or girl. We had all of Justin's family over at our house for a potluck and croquet. The plan was to serve everyone cake at dessert time and just let them figure out why it was blue/pink. I let Laura in on the secret so she could take pictures and record us cutting the cake. I was SO NERVOUS! All week I've been so nervous to find out! People would ask me if I HAD to guess, what would I think, and my guess was a boy. The heart rate was very strong and fast which I hear can indicate a boy, and baby is carrying low which I also hear can indicate boy. But in the end it's all 50/50, right? Plus, Justin was partial to a boy (what man isn't?) so it made me hope for a boy. We cut the cake to find blue in the middle - oh my goodness! It just makes it all so much more REAL. We served grandma first - it took her a minute but then she figured it out! Fun times were had by all. As you would expect, nesting is in full swing. We put the crib and "baby stuff" in the boy's room. The dresser we bought is also for that room but it needs a little TLC before it goes up there.

The cake was amazing by the way...vanilla cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting. We froze the remaining cake and we'll eat it when we bring baby home :)

my next painting project

28 weeks

Jackson is doing well - we sure love our puppy. He is going through a stage right now so we are working with him extra hard to get him trained and well-behaved. He's a little (or not-so-little) ball of energy! Justin bought me some hanging plants and hung porch lights for me - our yard and deck are almost summer ready (we are on the lookout for some patio furniture; hopefully second-hand ;)).