Keeping Up with the Jones's: Gender reveal

In case you missed it, it's a girl! Before I go any further, let's back up a few days to Wednesday. Wednesday was my 18 week check-up and first ultrasound. It literally took FOREVER to get to the ultrasound portion; I'm pretty sure I'm never going in 15 minutes early to another appointment because it's the second time I've sat in the waiting room for over 30 minutes. Anyway, the worst part about OB appointments are when they check your weight...I hate that scale, but I will report that from week 14 to 18 I did really good and only gained 2 pounds to make a total of 12 pounds! But I feel every bit of 12 pounds hanging around my waist, thighs, and bottom! Our ultrasound was kind of funny because Addilyn is breech and was sitting cross-legged facing the "camera." We have a lot of pictures of her alien looking face, but the tech was able to get the important parts she needed like the brain, heart, kidneys, measurement of her head...etc. Finally, at the very end, Addi moved long enough to show off her goodies to the "camera," and as soon as the scanner hovered over the sex part I immediately looked at Brandon and said "there is no pee-pee in that picture." His eyes got really big and he smiled and we started shaking our head and then of course crying...a little girl is a big deal! We are excited, no matter the gender, but raising a little girl is going to be a tough job. I am very thankful that everything is normal as far as her development, placenta placement, and cervix length. We received the okay from the doctor to see a midwife from here on out and I couldn't be more thrilled. The doctor we saw wasn't very friendly and I didn't really feel the same connection to him as I have with the midwives.

Now, for the fun part! Yesterday, we had a gender reveal party with the help of Brandon's sister. Parties are fun, but I was exhausted and you can probably tell from the pictures. I'm pretty sure we had a good 20 people at our house eating, talking, and we thoroughly enjoyed the love and support from all of you! Our theme was tutus or ties and we thought it was fitting because Brandon is a business man and owns a gazillion ties from his old job and well I guess you say I'm pretty girly (hence the tutus). We had a ton of decorations that I made and some were purchased too. Once everyone arrived we made them vote and wear a pin. Brandon's sister bought pretty blue mason jars and pink flowers...all of which we found on Pinterest. See, Pinterest always has great ideas of things to do for parties...I'm already planning and pinning ideas for a fall themed baby shower! After eating, I counted the votes: 9 girl and 8 boy votes, then we decided to go ahead and cut our gender reveal cake. It was an amazing cake designed by Billie's former co-worker and friend (she does professional cakes on the side). It literally looked like the one off Pinterest..and it tasted really good! We cut the cake and...surprise....it was a girl and we didn't have to keep our secret any longer!

And in this moment I probably could have cried again with excitement, but I contained it (darn pregnancy hormones). Even Briley was excited to see that it was a girl and he could maintain his "only boy" status for awhile. December 7th ish can not arrive soon enough, we are already planning the baby shower and starting a nursery...if only I could decide between coral, gold, and teal or coral and gold themes...who knows! We hope this baby really is sugar, and spice, and everything nice and of course, most importantly, kind! Hopefully she lacks the bit of sass that I have, but still gets our humor ;)

Thank you all for coming and celebrating Addilyn Claire Jones. I am sure there will be many more celebrations and get togethers. We are happy and thankful to have your support, guidance, and most importantly love and friendship. For those of you who are too far to travel, we could still feel the love from miles away!