Gender Reveal Party

So apparently the new thing to do is have a gender reveal party to let everyone know if you are having a boy or girl. Of course, after attending a few of these and looking at blogs for ideas for a gender party...I just had to have one. I made big plans to do a Gender Reveal Party at my aunt and uncle's house in Helena outside on the big deck by the lake. I got pizza, chips and dip, drinks, and a super CUTE cake ( pics. to follow) and we had our family and friends over for the reveal. At this point only Jason and I knew what the baby was! Well, with me running around like a crazy person all day getting things ready for the party and me trying to keep my mouth shut so I didn't slip and ruin the surprise I was a little overwhelmed and anxious at the beginning of the party while we were waiting for everyone to arrive! After everyone arrived via in person, over the phone or Skype we began the party with the reveal. To reveal the surprise we opened a box of balloons... BLUE balloons flew out. We then all got to share in the excitement and have time to talk and hang out while we enjoyed dinner, dessert, and of course taking a few PICTURES! The party was lots of fun! Here are just a FEW pictures from the party.

It's a BOY!

This group thought it was going to be a GIRL!

WINNERS...This group thought boy and were CORRECT!

Mommy and Daddy...along with the picture of the WONDERFUL cake!

Aunt Jenni and Aunt Jill are already spoiling little man :)

Besties from work :) These girls make work FUN!

Best friends...Mandy along with Miss Blakely just a few short weeks before making her enterance into her precious little family!

VERY FUN NIGHT WITH  FAMILY AND FRIENDS :) Caleb will be one lucky "spoiled" little boy with all of these special people in his life.

The Pregnancy Journey...SO FAR :)

We are just 14 weeks away from meeting our baby boy! We have started trying to get things ready for his arrival. His bedroom furniture is here and set up in his room along with the bedding...now its time to decide how to decorate the room! Thanks to Pinterest I have a few ideas. ( I will post pictures when the room is COMPLETE!) Caleb's precious daddy is currently building a room in the basement that will become a playroom/office/ storage closet area since Caleb's things are already taking over our house :). We also went ahead and registered since we are having our first baby shower in July and the month of June is very busy with wedding fun for Aunt Jill!
To get you caught up on the past 26 weeks I am going to do a picture pregnancy progression update to take from you the beginning until now and not bore you with stories and details since I have basically felt GREAT throughout my entire pregnancy so far. I will do another post later on our Gender Reveal party so that you all can see the pictures and excitement from that night.

12 weeks

16 weeks

20 weeks

24 weeks

Well now that I am currently 26 weeks...let's see what Mr.Caleb is up to do these days and see how mommy is changing.

At 26 Weeks:
Most babies are the size of an eggplant and weigh up to 2.2 pounds. I am feeling like he weighs every bit of the 2.2 pounds ( maybe a little more :). Also, at 26 weeks, babies are building up immunity and are forming eyes that will be able to blink soon.

Movement:
I believe that Caleb is going to be an ultimate fighter the way he is acting in my belly. He is a wild boy... Rolling, moving, kicking, punching!

Maternity Clothes:
 The maternity jeans and shorts are fitting WONDERFUL. My Nike shorts are my friends during the day while I am at home with a BIG t-shirt.  My "normal" shirts are getting tight but I am still wearing some of them for now while I can. I have a few maternity tops also that are very comfy.

Sleep:
Once I finally get comfortable I sleep hard. I often wake up remembering crazy dreams, but for now I am sleeping pretty good! No complaints for sure :)

Cravings/Aversions:
As far as aversions go throughout my entire pregnancy one of my pre-pregnancy favorites, grilled chicken, has become rather gross to me and does not taste right no matter who is cooking it!   I am LOVIN Icee's (I have been the entire pregnancy so far), and Ice Cream. I am hungry a lot during the day, but at nights my belly feels very tight and full and I don't have much of an appetite. 

Momma's Belly:

My belly is already getting rather large. I think it grows every night while I am asleep. I have started rubbing CoCo butter on my growing belly in hopes of preventing any stretchmarks. I really can't imagine what my belly will look like in  14 weeks after seeing how much it has grown here lately.

Next week will be an exciting week! On Thursday we are having a 4-D ultrasound to get a last look at our little man before he makes his entrance into the world. I can not wait to see him and see what all of these flips are that he is doing inside my belly. Also, in about two weeks I will take my glucose test. Let's pray that turns out good :)

RAISING BABY ROSS !

I have been saying since we found out that we were expecting that I wanted to begin blogging. Well now that I am over half way through my pregnancy I am finally beginning my first blog. It's finally SUMMER and I have a little more time on my hands these days. Baby Ross is due September 12, 2012!


THE test...

We went to Gatlinburg to celebrate New Years Eve and while we were there all I could think about was when we got back home it would be time take THE test! My parents went with us to Gatlinburg  and it was so hard for me not to say anything. The whole time we were there I just had this feeling that I was pregnant. My body was feeling different and even looking a little different ( I will leave out those details :) I had planned to take the first test on the Tuesday morning (it is recommended that you test first thing in the morning), the day after we returned from Gatlinburg. When we walked in the door on Monday afternoon from Gatlinburg I just could not wait any longer. I just had a FEELING.   The packaging said it would take 1-3 minutes, so I waited paitently for about 30 seconds :) before I looked down and saw what was a very clear positive reading. At this moment I had about a million different feelings go through my body in a split second. I ran into the den where Jason was and said Oh My Gosh...you have got to come see this and see if I am seeing it right. I am pretty sure it is POSITIVE. I looked and looked and LOOKED at that test all night. The next morning I woke up SUPER early to take another test. Once again...POSITIVE! We were so excited and felt so blessed that God was about to lead us on the most exciting journey of our lives...We are going to be PARENTS!

Spreading the news...

My plan was to wait until I went to the doctor and heard that precious heartbeat to tell anyone that we were expecting. I was not even four weeks along when we found out and it was going to be three more weeks before my doctor's visit. Needless to say we could not hold in the excitement and decided to tell our parents and siblings before the doctors visit. The night of the national championship game we went over to my parents to watch the game. When we got there we had lots of things in our hands including our crazy dog...Louie! The most important thing was that Jason was holding a frame with a poem in it that I had written from Baby Ross to his grandparents. When we walked in we pretended to be struggling to hold everything and Jason asked my mom to hold the frame while he took care of Louie. She grabbed the frame from him and we were expecting her to immediately be nosey and start looking at it. It seemed like forever which was probably only a few seconds before she looked down and started reading the poem. Within seconds the tears were flowing along with the excitement. As soon as she got finished reading the poem she passed it to my dad to read and he just had the Biggest smile on his face the entire time. We hung out to watch the game and share the excitement with my parents and sisters. The next night it was time to head to Jason's parents house to share the news with them. A little background information to for the rest of the story to make since.  (Earlier in the day at work I won a grant from CBS 42 News)! We walked in to his parents house holding the frame with the poem again. Jason handed it to his mom and told her to look at what I had gotten today for my grant. She looked down and started reading. Within a few seconds she realized we had tricked her and the tears began to flow. His parents were very excited and wanted to hear all the details! We got to spend some time with them just talking baby stuff :)

The wait...

It seemed like forever for the next three weeks to go by before going to the doctor to hear that first heartbeat and to hear the words from the professionals...YOU ARE PREGNANT!  So while we didn't feel comfortable sharing our wonderful news with the world, we did celebrate a little in private with our very immediate family! Finally the day arrived for us to go to the doctor. We were so excited and so nervous at the same time. Once we were in the ultrasound room and our sweet little US tech began it was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Getting to see that little microscopic baby, but with a heart that was already beating so strong was the most amazing sound that my ears have ever heard.

I am going to update big moments so far throughout my pregnancy ( and try to leave out all the little details) and try to keep you up to date on the next 14 weeks (or less :) of our little journey of Raising a Ross through this blog. I hope that one day it will provide wonderful memories for us to look back on and allow our precious boy to know all about how excited we were about him!