gender reveal party details

i think all of you know from facebook, but we are having another BOY!!  as much as i wanted another boy and was excited when we saw a little junk in trunk on the ultrasound, part of my heart sank a little wondering if we will ever have a girl.  oh well, parker will have a best friend and we will have a rowdy house of sports loving boys.

i always try to have one element of each party we host a "do it yourself" project, and even though i bought almost everything this time (pizza, beer, chips, cupcakes, cleaning lady-ha, etc), i still got stressed out when i ran out of time to finish the sugar cookies.  thankfully my sweet husband helped roll out the dough and cut all of the onesie shapes out.

here are a few of the finished cookies.  two of my sweet neighbors came and helped decorate, which also helped alleviate the time crunch stress (although i still did not have time to do my hair or makeup, blah).

we ordered cupcakes from rick's bakery and they were delicious!!  (i found the "it's a girl" and "it's a boy" cupcake toppers at hobby lobby for $1.99...saving the rest of the pack for showers!)

here is our dessert table...i love the pink and shiny blue fabric.  i actually had the pink left over from my wedding decorations box and i bought a half yard of blue at hobby lobby for $1.50.  the blue and pink plates, cups, napkins, etc. are from walmart for cheap.

team pink:

team blue:

these are the two fabulous ladies (neighbors) who watch parker when james is working.  love them!

 my cherished best friends from college supporting team pink, lisa and emily.

kids' beverages...i tried to find blue and pink jones soda and they sell it NO WHERE in nwa (well at least not at walmart, target, or the pinnacle market), so i settled for berry and punch juice boxes instead.

our gender "guestbook"...made from supplies at yours truly, hobby lobby (the letters were left over cutouts from parker's birthday party sign)

overall i think the party went really well.  i enjoyed myself more than parker's birthday party and felt like i got to talk to more people instead of just running around doing things.  even though james' asked for me to make it girls only after i'd already sent the invites, i think it was a good family activity and more guys showed up than we were expecting (well more people in general).  the kids played, everyone had enough to eat, and it was a great night of celebration of new life!  love yall.

quick update

apparently i am not the only one who googled gender reveal party ideas and came across the cat fight: http://www.throughcloudedglass.com/2010/10/gender-reveal-parties-narcissistic-or.html

a snippet of what we've been up to...
"vacationed" in wisconsin for a week with family for christmas. it snowed and snowed and snowed. nothing like driving 30mph through the whole state of illinois on the interstate and spending 14 hours in the car for a day with a 1 1/2 year old. parker actually loved the snow and kept saying, "bubbles!!"

hung out with a lot of friends.  one thing i love about nwa is how everyone is connected in some way, i.e. my neighbor/church friend lauren who went to jbu at the same time as me--even though we did not know each other there, we have a common bond and something to talk about now (and babies of course).  aren't london and lena the cutest little girls ever?

one of my other neighbor's little boy, brady, and parker at the jump zone.  i just noticed what a big tongue parker has, haha!  poor brady got a bloody nose.

james and i went to shogun's for dinner on new year's eve...and then he fell asleep at 9:30pm (not long after parks!)

parker is still as sweet and crazy as ever and loooooves his new slide.  thanks grandma/garage sale!

until tomorrow and the party, love you all!

to 2011

is this not the sweetest photo you have ever seen!?!  a friend just posted it on facebook, and although i usually don't get all sappy/look how cute my kid is, this photo melts my heart.  parker was even saying "cheese" to the wedding photographer.  he is a real person and not a baby any more!!

i have been going a little stir crazy this week with no work and cold weather.  i think the biggest adjustment into parenthood is being locked to the house after 8pm every night (babysitters and pack 'n plays aside, although i don't use either much), and winter makes this especially dreadful.  i suppose introverts don't mind staying home as much, but sometimes i struggle with feeling like life is not as full as other times in life when i was constantly building relationships and hanging out with others (i.e. college, camp, high school, etc.).  then i look at that sweet picture of parks (squeezable, kissable cheeks), and i am reminded that pouring my heart into him is the most fulfilling thing i can do right now.

in my boredom, i've been playing our gender reveal party (i'll announce the sex of baby #2 next sunday...we just found out ourselves the day before christmas!).  while researching googling party ideas, i found several articles and message boards bashing the idea of a gender reveal party.  haters (haha can't think of a better word) complained these narcissistic parties were greedy events friends felt obliged to attend.  my husband even agreed that no guy wants to spend his saturday night at a gender reveal party.

so i have to clarify before i put up all of my pink and blue decorations...a gender reveal party is not about finding out the baby's sex...sure it is nice to tell people at the same time (and in person...a lost art), but that is not why friends come.  the point of the party is to HANG OUT!  gifts are not encouraged or required, and for moms who are tied to the house every evening with nothing better to do than plan gender reveal parties (me), this gives us something to look forward to.  i love planning parties and getting together with friends, and i am very much looking forward to our party.

as i learn more and more about motherhood, i realize that it is so important to find joy in the small things.  while pregnant with parker, i read a local magazine that had a page devoted to "spicing up your walmart outfit" (i.e. trading the workout shorts for khaki shorts) and i thought it was the stupidest article i've ever read.  really, is this all i have to look forward to as a mom--dressing up to go to walmart?  i think i'll keep wearing my workout shorts, thank you.  and now i know that when you've been at home with an infant all day and need to get out of the house, a trip to the store might just be the highlight of your day, and that is perfectly okay.  it is a little things for a mother that bring joy and excitement, and we should be slow to judge other's sources of happiness (especially people who don't have kids :)).  my goal for 2011 is to stay positive about life, family, parenting, work, etc. and to enjoy building memories with those i love.

happy new year!!!

merry christmas!

apparently we have a family tradition of taking black, white and red holiday photos.  i love looking at last year's photos and seeing how much parker has changed.  can't wait to see what he looks like as a little boy and man someday (that is a lil' scary and sad to think about)!  love ya little guy--you will be a great big brother!!

and since most of our cards have been sent out, here is our christmas card (thanks again, shutterfly). 

the inside has this photo and a message on the right side. 

merry christmas, yall!!! :)

baby #2!

since it's been nearly a month since i announced my pregnancy on facebook, it's about time for a blog post.  yay for baby #2!!!  a few common questions and answers:

1. Were you trying?  Yes.  We had been trying (or not preventing) for about 4 months and even though that does not seem like a lot of time compared to some people, every month i took pregnancy tests a couple of days before my period just in case any levels of hcG showed up.  i am very impatient.  i didn't cry with the negative pregnancy results, but i was disappointed and might have taken more a few days later just to make sure it was negative.

also, we are due 3 days after my little sister's wedding in kc, so i was really hoping to get pregnant a month or two before but oh well.  in the wedding, i am the matron of honor, james is a groomsmen and parker is the ring bearer.  pretty complicated situation, but we are going to do everything we can to make it.  i've looked up hospitals in kc that are in network and unless i am in the hospital delivering the baby, we will be standing up there beside them.  not quite sure what size dress to order...

2. do you want a boy or girl?  boy.  several reasons for this...

a. i want parker to have a brother who is his best friend.

b. parker is wild, loves to wrestle, etc. and i think it would be good for him to have a lil' bro to wrestle with (even if a lil' sis might be good for him to help develop a gentle nature).

c. if we have another boy, james is more likely to be open to having a 3rd so i can try to have a girl

d. i think i am a better parent of boys and would not really mind if i never have a girl.  i love watching sports, playing poker, playing golf, and other boy activities and think it would be fun to have a house full of boys.

e. boys are cheaper...and a lil' guy can wear all of parker's old clothes!

3. what do you think you are having? leaning towards girl.

i won't be disappointed if we have a girl.  there are tons of fun things about having a girl.  at our first ultrasound the baby was very calm and parker was never calm.  also i am not as sick as i was with parker (although i hate, hate, hate the first trimester, which is mainly why i have not posted in months--i've been going to bed by 9pm every night..ha!)  we are going to find out this time and i will post the sex after we have a gender reveal party with our friends in january.

until next time, love you all and thank you for all of the sweet comments on facebook!!!