We're Having a Baby! And It's a Girl!

Photo by: Caitlin Binda

Pinterest sometimes fills my head with too many ideas and aspirations.  I’m not sure Paul approves of my “Fantasy Land.”  But once in a while, a great pin comes along and you just have to go with it.  Like the balloon gender reveal that caught my eye a couple of years ago.  We had so much fun doing this for Baby #2!  I’ll have to admit, when the pink balloons flew out of the box, both Paul & I were a little surprised…ok maybe a lot surprised.  Isn’t it just natural to expect a boy when you already have a girl?  Anyway, we are thrilled that Ava will have a little sister soon!  Hopefully she won’t mind that the new baby’s due date is the same day as her birthday…  Yep, April 11^th it is :)

 So once again, our lives are about to change drastically.  For the better, of course.  And I couldn’t be more excited!  Thank you so much to our family and friends who have shared in this excitement with us already.  On the days when I wonder how we can live our rodeo of a life with another baby in the house, I just think about families like the Parsons, and the Webers, and the Campbells—all awesome families who are great models for us.  And I’m reminded of my cousin Cristy’s advice.  It’s not that you gain some kind of superpowers to do everything perfectly even when you have a zillion responsibilities as a working Mom.  “You just have to lower your standards.”  Wise words from a mother of two.  So what if the toys don’t get picked up EVERY night?  (I wish my house looked like Emily’s, but it just doesn’t and probably never will)  And does it really matter if my neighbors hate my lawn?  When you don’t have time to slave over the stove and bring an excellent dish to a family meal, just bring the sodas and the dinner rolls.

 Congratulatory flowers from my sweet friend & college roommate, Sarah.

For Ava’s gender reveal, we ordered a cake from Publix.  We invited all of our in-town family members to our house for a dinner gathering.  When it came time to cut the cake and reveal whether it was pink or blue on the inside, our out-of-town family members were “with us” on speaker phone.  It was an exciting moment— until the cake turned out to be white.  Anti-climactic to say the least.  Publix has been on my bad list since then!  This time around, I decided to redo the cupcake reveal with my basketball team at CSU, and delivered them to some family as well.  I made the cupcakes myself just to ensure that each one was carefully filled with pink icing.  Well, all but one, right Mand?  Ha.  That’s what I get for icing cupcakes at 11:30pm.

 Gender reveal cupcakes

We are grateful for God’s abundant blessings.  Ava is just about 20-months old and she is the light of our lives.  A healthy pregnancy tops the list of things not to take for granted.  We are very much enjoying this holiday season so far.  And as I was writing out our Dec/Jan family calendar the other day, I got to write “Paul starts school” for the last time!!  He will complete his final semester of dental school in the Spring and graduate in May!  For quite some time, I had been day dreaming about a celebratory graduation vacation for the two of us.  You know me and planning—I just can’t help myself.  So I had some plans in the works and had hoped it would all be a great surprise for Paul in the end.  But with Baby #2 on the way, Curacao will have to wait!  Of all the reasons to put travel plans on hold and stay home, I cannot think of a better one.     

 Curacao