My Journey from Mrs. to Mom: It's a......!

For our first baby we decided (with lots of reluctance from hubby) to remain team green. I had a number of reasons for doing so- some of which included advice from others. I know they are well meaning as people tend to draw upon their own experiences when giving advice but sometimes advice is not what's needed. I also opted to remain team green because I had intentions of reusing a lots of baby items to reduce costs down the road. Therefore, gender neutral items mean we an reuse items and my future son wouldn't be swinging in a pink swing or vice versa. Of course the fact that we even have these items to begin with is a blessing but I'd rather it not look silly nonetheless. As a result we have a ton of great items to reuse this time around.

I also liked the suspense of finding out who would be joining our family in the delivery room. And I quite honestly didn't understand the stand point of "I'm a planner so I need to know". There wasn't a single thing that I didn't have planned ahead of time before my son was born. Not one single thing. And I also liked seeing how many people would be wrong or right when guessing baby's gender. We had a pretty even split of guess the first time around but the reasoning as to why some people guessed one gender over another was pretty funny. Especially those who determine their guess by the way a woman "carries" her pregnancy. So far everything has been identical so those people would sure guess boy this time around, right?!

This time around almost no one guessed boy. I think people want the ideal "one of each gender" for every couple as they deem this to be perfect- but all logic and reasoning goes out the window when you already have a child. Suddenly everyone seems to root for the opposite sex.

My husband and I opted out of having a second baby shower. It's just against all etiquette rules, plus we were really good at saving things from our first baby. But I still wanted to do some pre-birth festivities for this one. I am a chronic picture taker and my son has tons and tons of "baby" books already, so when this one looks back on life before his or her arrival he or she might think that we weren't happy to welcome them into the family. Or maybe they won't care.

After mulling it over for a while and going back and forth between a few ideas, we decided that we would do a small gender reveal with close family and find out along side them. However, planning such a feat was proving to be a bit more than I bargained for. My wish list was as such:

- Have "everyone " be present: I didn't want them to find out via text, email, or social media. You needed to be there.
- Announce/find out in a way that presents well in pictures. Cause you know I'm a chronic picture taker and it looks cute on social media announcements.
- Not make it too big of a deal. While everyone was sooooo exited for us- I realize that we aren't the first couple to have a baby, nor do a gender reveal.

So here's what ended up happening. I chose a date that "everyone" was most likely to be available around a time when doctors can check for baby's sex via ultrasound. Once I could find I - I wanted to know. I certainly didn't want to outshine a holy day but Easter Sunday fit the bill. I would be 22 weeks and have had my anatomy scan two weeks prior. That gave me enough time to order what ever it was that I was going to order for the reveal. I didn't want to do balloons in a box because everyone does that now. There's nothing wrong with it but I just didn't want something overdone. Plus that would be harder to pull off without someone "knowing". Also, my family would be together for Easter dinner and that would be over half the crowd who needed to be there. I reached out to my mother & sister in law and they were able to make it! So it was on!

I will admit I wanted fancy decorations, a themed dessert table, and to have everyone make an official guess before doing the big reveal- but it just didn't work out that way. It wasn't cost effective and there would be some other stuff going on that weekend that would have prevented me from being able to do all of that. So I just went with it. I sent out e-invitations and set up a potluck style dinner. Everyone responded and signed up for a dish. Since my parents were hosting ( as she tends to do with holiday events) it helps her out for everyone to bring a dish rather than having her cook everything for 20 people.

After church, my cousin & I set up my son's Easter egg hunt while my husband and father helped my mom set up in the kitchen. Then after the food was prepped and set up everyone joined us outside.

After my family teased me about how easy I made the hunt (I really under estimated him) they headed back inside to continue to set the table, seating, etc.I was so so excited I was absolutely no help otherwise. Slowly but surely the rest of the family began to arrive. We had to wait until my cousin got off work (at 3 pm) to get started and it seems like it took him forever to get there! He swore to me that he would be there by 3:30, so I was outside promptly at 3:30 waiting for him to turn the corner but nope. Not until about 45 minutes later. I thought I was gonna pass out. As soon as I saw the front bumper of his car turn the corner I made everyone head outside for the big reveal.

The weather wasn't terribly bad but it was a little chilly once the sun went behind the clouds. Also I opted to do this outside because I figured clean up would be easier (the verdict is still out on that one).

Then finally, the moment arrived- everyone was here, in place, and ready to find out. I was nervous and excited as all get out. I'm so excited to say IT'S A.....