Gender Reveal Party!

Our Gender Reveal party was a success.  I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of my parents, and I am so thankful they were able to come down and be a part of it with me.  We had a lot of family show up, and I am so thankful for everyone who took the time to come!  Here is a little recap of today's event:

We both wore blue, feeling fairly confident in our guess that it was a boy, although eric wore a pink pin--just in case.

Brinkley wore a bow-tie of both colors...he doesn't care.  He just wants a friend!

We picked up our cake from Southern Buttacup.  These two ladies did a fabulous job!

Isn't it pretty?!

He or She??

The cake set up.  We had chalk boards where people could give name suggestions.

The entryway - guests voted and put on a pin to represent their vote.

Old Wives Tales - to help with predictions.

The food table, separated by Sweet, salty, and Fresh foods.

Yummy pink and blue cupcakes!

Water bottles with special labels.

Some of the sweets.

Guests began to come in!  Here is baby's Uncle Joel, with Eric's uncle Edward and cousin Sebastian.

Let the voting begin!  Here is Ryan and Jordan placing their votes!

Counting how many girl votes.

Jackson meets Brinkley.  They were best friends today.

Jordan suggesting a name for the baby.

Getting ready to cut the cake!!!  EEEK!  We were a little anxious.

Photo Courtesy of Debi Kirksey.
She had a pretty good angle.  Not many people in the room knew the gender at this point besides us!

I love Eric's face here.  Priceless.

IT'S A BOY!!  Eric is pumped!
Photo courtesy of Debi Kirksey.

IT'S A BOY!!!

 This party was so much fun.  Knowing that we are about to have a little boy makes it all so much more real now.  We went out tonight to Carters and bought our first little outfit for our little Aiden.  We are very excited, and now the real work begins!  Thank you to all of our family who came and helped make this day so special!

Week 18

Week: 18
Total weight gain: 12 lbs.

Maternity clothes: My only problem with maternity clothes is that I haven't been able to find any cute bootcut jeans.  I wanted to wear my boots to the rodeo last week, but couldn't.  For some reason, Motherhood Maternity thinks that tall girls don't get pregnant. All their jeans are too short.  I only wear straight leg or skinny and roll them up.  Oh well...It's 90 degrees out today, so I won't really be needing my jeans for too much longer.

Stretch marks? So far, so good.
Sleep: THESE CRAZY PREGNANCY DREAMS!  It makes going to sleep that much more exciting.
Wedding rings on or off? On

Best moment this week:  It was Spring Break for one thing.  We also went to the rodeo with Steven and Natalie and ate some yummy chocolate chip cookies - which I had been craving.  I really wanted to try the fried cookie dough, but knew I couldn't - But Oh it looked Sooo good.  ALSO - Big exciting news for the Ramirez family - JOEL AND CANDICE ARE ENGAGED!  Woo Hoo!!  We are so excited to have Candice a part of the family!  She gets to be Aunt Candice now, or Aunt Candi, which we thought was pretty cute too!

Miss Anything? Being able to do things on my own.  I love Spring time, and I just wanna get out and pull weeds and help Eric fertilize and mulch.  I've also made some new curtains for our office, and have to wait for Eric to hang them for me. This will be the first year that we will hire someone to do our mulch and flowers in our flower beds.  I just don't want to make Eric do all that by himself.  

Food Cravings: I haven't really craved one thing continually.  It's actually kindof annoying.  I'll see something on TV and HAVE to have it, or someone will mention something, and I immediately crave it, but it's only for a day or two, and then I've moved on.  So THIS WEEK I've craved:  Pink and White Fudge Circus Animal Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Root Beer Floats (Thanks Candice!).

Movement:  Not yet.

Anything make you queasy or sick: Nope.

Have you started to show yet: Yes.  I seem to have really popped after week 17.  

Gender hopes or predictions: Boy.  I have scoped out the cake place for our gender reveal cake!  I can't wait to find out!

Belly Button in or out? In, but it's gettin there.  So weird.  I also have that weird line down the center of my belly now.

Happy or Moody most of the time?  Pretty Happy.  Spring does that to me. :)

Looking forward to: Our Gender Reveal Party on the 30th!

Week 17

I haven't posted since week 14, because Eric has been working so late and hasn't been able to get a picture of me.  So here is week 17...quite a difference from week 14!

Brinkley wanted to be in the picture.  He's been pretty clingy lately, but isn't he cute?!

Week: 17
Total weight gain:  At my 16 week appointment I had gained 10 lbs., BUT I was wearing my cowgirl boots, and the nurse didn't have me take them off, so it's probably actually 6 lbs.  A total of 12 lbs. 

Maternity clothes: Oh, I am all into the maternity clothes now.  Thanks to my sweet friend Maren, I've got quite a selection!  I love maternity pants - so comfy!  I'm afraid I won't want to go back to my normal pants!  My favorite new purchase is this basic maternity tank top from Target.  I got one in gray, white, and black.  So comfy.

Stretch marks? Nope, and I am determined to not get them.
Sleep: I am definitely loving my sleep, but it is starting to get more uncomfortable.  I've read so much about how you shouldn't sleep on your back, and that's how I normally end up sleeping.  It's been really hard just sleeping on my side.  Once i start to fall asleep, I start to roll onto my back.  I made Eric sleep right up next to me so that i couldn't, but I found myself fighting against him to roll over.    
Wedding rings on or off? On

Best moment this week:  Or best moment of the past few weeks - Hearing baby's heartbeat - 133 bpm.  Eric and I also went shopping looking at baby gliders.  We decided to wait to buy until we find out the gender.  I like this one if it's a girl:

This is from Babies R' Us.  It also has an ottoman that's sold separately.

 I just want a plain white or other neutral color glider if it's a boy.  One like this one would work.

From Babies R' Us.  

Miss Anything? Sunny Side Up Eggs - Eric and I went to Cracker Barrell, and I really wanted sunny side up eggs.

Food Cravings: I've always hated Pepsi.  I really never drank carbonated drinks anyways, but if I did, it was Coke.  I tried some of Eric's Pepsi one night, and that was it.  I'm also eating a lot of Bagels - Cinnamon Swirl, and Panera Bread's Cinnamon Crunch.

Movement:  I really can't tell.  Sometimes when I lie still, I think I feel something, but I just don't know.

Anything make you queasy or sick: Nope, thank goodness!

Have you started to show yet: Yes, and now people have started to touch it, which is really weird.  It's really weird to have someone walk up to you with their eyes on your belly instead of on you.

Gender hopes or predictions: I still think it might be a boy, but I would be happy to have a girl too, because of all of the cutsie things I could do.

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time?  I'm mostly happy, but now that I'm bigger, I have a hard time looking in the mirror, and not feeling sad.  Eric's really sweet though.  He likes my preggo body, so I just have to forget about it, and just work really hard to get my old body back after baby!

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender at our gender reveal party on March 30th!!  Eric and I will have to wait a whole week to know.  Our ultrasound is that Monday, and we are not finding out until the party.  We are going to take the results to a bakery and have them bake a cake with either pink or blue inside.  We will cut the cake and find out at the same time as our family!  I can't wait to start buying baby stuff! :)