Drumroll Please!

Well I feel horrible that I have not posted in 17 days!  Especially when such big things have been happening!  3 December 2011 we held our Gender Reveal Party.  We estimate that over 60 people were in attendance as my mother cut the cake at promptly 7:00 p.m.  Look what we found!

IT'S A GIRL!!

That pink layer of icing in the middle revealed to everyone (including Ron and I), that baby Al is indeed a girl!!  Here was our reaction as well as a couple of other photos from the night.  (I hope to steal some additional photos from my mother soon.  Thanks to Lisa for these wonderful memories!)

Surprise!

Kyle - Team Blue - 0
Erin - Team Pink - 1!
(I never beat my brother at anything!)

Baby Mama & Daddy!  We are so excited!

Some of the highlights of my night (other than the cake cutting, of course) were Kyle's polyester blue sport coat catching on fire from the heat of the gas fireplace and Javier's multiple plate cleaning incidences.  Javy wagged his poor tail so much that night that by midnight it looked like someone had slammed it in a door!  Thank goodness he has fully recovered.  He looked so dapper in his seersucker tie... I will provide a photo of him soon!

The party was a blast and we thank everyone who took time, especially during this very busy season, to join us!  A special thanks to mom, dad, Townsend, and Kyle for helping get the decorating done as well as chipping in with some crucial items... like utensils and HErSHEy bars (see what she did there?)!  We could not have pulled it off without you all!  I love you!

Now onto the fun stuff like picking out names, decorating the nursery, and OF COURSE more shopping for cute clothes :)

Since the party, Ron and I have enjoyed a couple of weekends just getting our house in line, Christmas shopping and enjoying each other's company.  Last week I wrapped up my second class of my Graduate Business Administration program (thank goodness!)  I have decided to take next semester off and hope to return in the Fall if all goes well with baby Al entering the world. 

Al is growing like a weed... 

Baby Al - 24 Weeks

In fact, I gained 7 lbs over the past month, and the Doc gave me a little slap on the wrist :)  Thank you Thanksgiving and all the leftover gender reveal cake!

Ron and I have been able to see her kick recently and enjoy that she is now a very visible part of our family. I think that I have started to enter the stage of the pregnancy where I am now worried about both the birthing process as well as hoping that she is perfectly healthy and normal.  I am reminded by my great down to earth friends, that we will cross those bridges when we get there, and in the meantime we should enjoy the ride.  So, baby Al, keep kickin' and wigglin' and we will continue to be completely and utterly fascinated by you :)  We love you so much!

10 Fingers and 10 Toes

As exciting as yesterday's 22 week ultrasound was, the thoughts of course are in the back of your mind... what if?  What if the baby's heart isn't normal?  What if it is missing something?  What if something I did has had an effect on its development?  You pretty much hold your breath as the tech pulls the want around examining and measuring every detail of your baby.  As beautiful as it was, we didn't breathe easy until the Doctor came in and said "your baby is perfectly symmetrical!"  Before the Dr. came in (about 20 minutes of just Ron and I with the ultrasound pictures and random numbers that we could only guess the meaning of alone in the waiting room), Ron and I had assessed that the baby's femur was in the 19th percentile and its head was in the 89th percentile, and it MUST be a dwarf!!  I'm telling you... this motherhood thing brings hypochondria to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!  But whew! Symmetrical is good... and it is in the 53rd percentile size wise, which was also fantastic news to me... even though Ron for some reason wants me to birth a small calf... he's hoping for a 10+ pounder (I am still hoping that he is joking).

So for comparison... check out what just 12 weeks in the womb does for development!

Al at 10 Weeks

Al's Profile at 22 Weeks (Still has Daddy's dome)

Now I completely understand why mom's won't stop talking about their kids... I have worn the ultrasound picture pages out looking at them over and over again!

Tomorrow we will have the gender reveal party... starts at 5 pm and cake cutting at 7pm!  Stay tuned for the results!

Enough about my baby!  We celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend at our new house with my mother and father.  They were SUCH a big help and the house ALMOST looked like a home by the time they left.  I cannot thank them enough for taking their hard earned vacation time and spending it working on our house.  It was a perfect Thanksgiving.... full of food and laughs!

Saturday mom and dad left :( (only knowing that they were coming back this weekend made that tolerable) and my bestie from college, Kelly Klare and her sister came down to visit and Kristy attended the UVA/Tech football game (that's the last I will mention of said game).  Kelly and I drove out to see Erica, Madison and new (still not yet supposed to be born) Meghan.  It was so great to catch up and everyone in Erica's household looked great!  Meghan is the TEENSIEST thing that I have ever seen, yet I still cannot imagine her being INSIDE Erica's belly at this point... and Erica informed me that she would be even larger if she were still in the womb!  Check out the photos of Kelly and baby! :)

Kelly and -3 Week Old Meghan (yes negative 3!)

Meghan's Very Tiny Hand

I think that is all that I have for today!  Time for me to go wrap up my last day at my job of 3 years!  Monday will entail new diggs and new challenges!  Have an AMAZING weekend!

It's Baby Day!

Well, I don't have too much to write right now, but I am just beaming with excitement, so had to have an outlet, and what better outlet than writing!?  In 2 hours and 15 minutes Ron is picking me up for our 2nd and final (if all is well) ultrasound!  This means that we will get to see that precious little one's tiny face and count its fingers and toes, and know that all of that moving around in my belly is coming from 2 arms and 2 legs and not just one very strong leg :)

With all of the excitement, there is also an incredible amount of anxiety, as Ron and I chose to not have any of the testing done for genetic or chromosomal defects.  Of course the thoughts go through your head that something might not be perfect.

One little aside... Monday night Al was moving like a champ while I was listening to my Step music.  Ron determined that the baby probably already associates that music with jumping around since usually when it hears it I am teaching my classes.  We did a little experiment and started playing music against my belly, and sure enough there was a storm of movement!  BABY DANCE PARTY! :)  So much fun to interact already! And perfect or not perfect, we love this little booger and cannot wait to see it!


When the Dr. examines the boy or girl regions Ron and I will have to turn our heads since we have pledged to wait to find out the gender until our Gender Reveal Party this weekend!  So many of our close friends will be coming to join in this events and I just cannot wait!  BBQ, beer, friends, cake and baby gender!  What more could a girl ask for?

Stay tuned for the post ultrasound update!