Gender Reveal Party

Our gender reveal party was months ago, but I never got around to blogging about it until now. (I'm catching up on things thanks to maternity leave). We decided not to find out the gender until the day of the party with our family and friends. It was such an exciting moment, and I'm so glad we decided to find out this way.

At our 18 week ultrasound, we had our ultrasound lady write the gender on an index card and place it into an envelope that I dropped off at the bakers. I cannot say enough great things about The Cupcake Shoppe. They created a gorgeous, delicious cake, and even placed the mini banner that I made on top, so I wouldn't mess it up and find out the gender early. If you need a cake, cupcakes, or cookies, I highly recommend them. Plus, if you follow them on IG, you'll drool over their creations.

The Cupcake Shoppe

On the invitation, I wrote that everyone should wear pink or blue to cast their vote. It was fun to see everyone's picks, and surprisingly, it was completely even on boy or girl. Once everyone arrived, we both cut into the cake and couldn't believe it was a GIRL!

I was so excited I apparently almost threw the cake over my head while I was dancing around. I've always wanted a little girl. I want a boy too, but I'm so excited that our first will be a girl. I just couldn't believe it because I thought the whole time that our baby was a boy. We had picked a girl name at the very beginning of pregnancy but were stuck about a boy's until the week of the party. I thought that might be a sign that it was a boy since we finally found one we both liked. But it's a sweet little girl who we get to meet soon!

The details...

Honestly, I'm not a very creative person, so I turned to pinterest for all of my party inspiration. Almost everything that I made is on this board. 

We kept the food easy for this party, so we could enjoy time with our family and friends instead of stressing about timing or keeping things hot. Everything was made either the day before or the morning of the party. 

You can see from the spread, it was pretty simple. We did ham & cheese sandwiches, chicken salad croissants, veggies & dip, fruit bow ties, meatballs, drinks, and cake. 

The above mantel banner, behind me and my sister, was made out of blue and pink polka dot tissue paper. I saw straws on pinterest that were mustaches, so I copied them and cut out bow ties from felt. And I made bows out of the napkins to hold the silverware.

We had so much fun hosting this party, and I would definitely do a gender reveal party again. I loved the anticipation and excitement of finding out our baby's gender with so many loved ones.

Maternity Monday: weeks 26-28

If you follow me on IG (aileenpp), you know we're getting close to Baby P's arrival! But it's fun to take the weekly bump photos and document this pregnancy. I love that I bought a May Designs book to keep track of everything. So here is the end of the second trimester, a little late...

Week 26: This week, I've continued to be very emotional. I think a lot of it has to do with not sleeping well and working nights. Normally, I can flip back and forth without too much trouble but with pregnancy it's been really hard. 

This year, I worked Monday-Wednesday before Thanksgiving and am very thankful to have the day and the weekend to celebrate with family. My parents and sister came into town, and it was so nice not having to travel. We hosted a small Thanksgiving and really enjoyed the day.

Over the weekend, we did some nursery prep projects and went to an Indian restaurant that one of J's co-workers owns. My family loved it!

Week 27: I worked all night shifts leading up to our weekend in DC, so I was extremely tired but excited for our weekend celebrating Baby P at two family showers. I've been trying to drink lots of water but in turn am running to the bathroom all the time - day and night!

Over the weekend, we celebrated Baby P at two family showers. My MIL and Carolyn hosted a gorgeous blush pink, gold, monogram, and bows shower in the afternoon. Then we drove up to Baltimore for my side of the family. My mom and cousin hosted a fun co-ed appetizer and books party for our baby.

Just before the showers, we told our families and friends Baby P's initials, in case anyone wanted to monogram gifts. We are keeping her full name a secret until she's born. We love hearing people's guesses of her name.

I'll try and put together a full post of the showers but no promises! They both were such fun, sweet showers, and we felt so loved by our family and friends.

Week 28: The above photo was taken the day before week 28.

This week, we relaxed and organized things from our shower. My SIL and cousin have been a huge blessing by giving us lots of baby clothes, bottles, bouncy seats, toys, and more. Traveling home our car was so full J could barely see out the back, and there is still more in DC that we couldn't fit.

We have really enjoyed time together preparing for our little girl and the Christmas season. I baked and relaxed over the weekend in between projects. We also spent time with the Hills and went to my favorite brunch spot Joule with another couple.

This pregnancy is flying by, and I can't believe we're almost ready to start the third trimester!

Maternity Monday: week 25

Week 25: We've definitely been missing the Caribbean sun this week, so we've been trying to stay toasty by our fireplace at night. I think that we should make a yearly trip to the Caribbean in the winter, maybe January or February. I'm not opposed to celebrating Baby P's first birthday beachside. I know unlikely, but I can dream. 

I won't lie to you, the pregnancy hormones have been crazy this week. Poor J; I've been incredibly teary and weepy over a few things that have come up this week. I also haven't been sleeping well so that could be a contributing factor to the tears. I've been having a lot of hip pain from sleeping on my sides despite the snoogle and pillows. 

Other than those little things, I'm still feeling great. Baby P and I have gotten to work out this week in between shifts, have a lunch date with J at his work, grab coffee with Emily, and get house projects done, and started buying Christmas presents.

It's been a good week gearing up for the holidays. I love this time of year. I can't wait to buy our Christmas tree, open our Christmas boxes, pull out the new items we bought, and start decorating for our first Christmas in this house!

Maternity Monday: week 24

Week 24: This may have been our best week yet (if you follow my on IG: aileenpp, you know why)...we went on our babymoon! 

We decided this was the week for our babymoon because it was the last week my OB wanted me traveling internationally. We didn't want to miss our chance, so we flew to St. Thomas for a week of sunshine, sand, and a great time together. I loved everything about our trip; we stayed at the Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Resort. We loved the views from our hotel, the beach and pool, and had some excellent meals in town. 

There were so many things that I loved about this week: 

...spending so much time with J and talking about our future and baby! 

...sleeping in a king bed with a cocoon of pillows.

...drinking lots of water and fruit smoothies beach and poolside. 

...enjoying the beauty of watching sunsets over these hills every night. 

...being pleasantly surprised by some fabulous dinner spots. 

...floating in the ocean

...feeling lots and lots of baby kicks since I was relaxed, sitting, or laying most of this trip

I'm so thankful for this week away in the sun celebrating our sweet girl. I'll share a full babymoon post with dinner recommendations, photos, and more soon! 

Maternity Monday: weeks 21-23

Happy Monday! 

My first Maternity Monday post is here! I have a couple of more weeks to catch up on, and I think that I might post most of them a week behind because I "turn" the next week on Sundays. 

Week 21: I absolutely love knowing that we're having a sweet baby GIRL! I ordered her first pj gown/maybe coming home outfit with her name on it. We have been set on her first name for a while but still tossing around names for her middle name. I can't wait to decide, so I can start monogramming. 

The very best thing this week was that J felt the baby move/kick for the first time! 

Week 22: I got to spend most of this week in Birmingham! I love seeing my college bests and celebrating Amy & Justin at their trendy, hipster wedding. Spending time with these loves makes my heart so incredibly full. I'm just so thankful for have friends who love me (and know our sweet baby!) so much!

This week, I ate some of my Birmingham favorites: O'Carrs chicken salad (twice), Steel City Pops, O'Henry's, and Jim & Nick's.

 

Week 23: I realized why I don't sleep well at night, it's because Baby P is dancing, kicking, and jumping on my bladder all night long.  She and I were both awake for three night shifts this week.

After my third night shift, we had an OB appointment and got to hear baby's heartbeat.

Before the first night shift of the week

This was an exciting week for us... we celebrated our fourth anniversary and J's birthday! J picked a new favorite for us on Thursday night: Bida Manda. The Laotian food was incredible. We loved the spring rolls, gingered ribs, crispy pork belly soup, and a grapefruit ginger spritzer for me.

For J's birthday, I picked a local brewery that has rave review pizza and beer. I can't wait to try their cider, post baby. We enjoyed dinner out, and then a quiet night at home opening presents and celebrating.

It's a ...

We're thrilled that there will be lots of BOWS in our future! 

The Second Trimester: weeks 13-20

Once I get caught up on these posts, I'm going to start doing weekly pregnancy posts. Maybe a Maternity Monday every week until baby's due date. I love documenting this pregnancy for us and for Baby P. Hope you enjoy reading it! 

Second trimester highlights so far...

Week 13: Lots of indigestion working night shifts and eating lots of crackers to try and avoid it. Despite indigestion, I'm craving Mexican (this was true pre-pregnancy, but I could eat it any/every night), especially at our favorite Gonza's. 

The best part of this week was announcing our pregnancy to extended family, friends, and co-workers! 

Week 14: Chowing down on tums and guzzling ginger ale due to continued indigestion. I've started planning a gender reveal party; it's something I've always thought would be an exciting way to find out. We went registry shopping and ordered baby's crib from Pottery Barn.

Over the weekend we loved seeing family and friends in DC for a wedding.

Week 15: More tums, ginger ale, crackers, and salty snacks. Exhausted from flipping back and forth working day and night shifts. This weekend, we started vacation and had dates at The Pit, Poole's Diner, and Gonza's. 

This is the first week I've noticed a tiny bump! 

Week 16: We had a great week at the beach with family, laying out, reading, and spending time together despite not sleeping well and more indigestion. Tops are still fitting but pants and shorts are starting to get a little snug.

Week 17: So hungry! Loving date night at Cowfish and time together. Less indigestion this week, having headaches which is odd and not sleeping well. 

Week 18: The best parts of this week - seeing our baby and finding out everything is healthy and strong. I also felt flutters on Sunday for the first time!

We picked a boy name; we'd had a girl's for a while. So when we find out the gender, we can start calling him/her by name. But we're keeping the name a secret until baby arrives.

Now, we have an envelope sitting at our house with our baby's gender. I'm taking it to a bakery this week to place the order!

Week 19: Extremely tired and emotional from working a bunch of night shifts in a row without sleeping well. In between shifts, I've been crafting for our Bows or Bow Ties party. We cannot wait to cut into our cake!

A day before week 20.

And a day before our gender reveal party!

I say it a lot, but it's the truth, I'm very thankful for a healthy baby and pregnancy. After seeing really sick kids at work, I'm so thankful for a healthy baby.