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Friday, July 31, 2015

Throwback Thursday: Gender Reveal Party

Long before we were pregnant I had a secret pinterest board for future babies, and with my love of throwing parties/showers/events/dinners etc. of course I was brainstorming all different gender reveal ideas. Originally I thought I was going to go with poppers or silly string, but then I started a balloon theme (how we told our closest family/our announcement) so it seemed appropriate to continue with a popping of a balloon.

Also if you know me well you know that I don't like an ordinary party, so there was not going to be pink and blue filling our home, we went with my standard (and wedding colors, duh) Grey, White & Yellow and a Twinkle Twinkle theme.





















Menu

Mini Lemon & Fruit Tarts  (La Madeline)
Vanilla Cupcakes
Queso, Salsa & Guacamole
Caesar Salad




























Team Girl

Team Boy













Invitations/Printables: CKFireboots

Thursday, July 30, 2015

39 weeks + 4 days: Second Trimester

As our second trimester started, we had an appointment with the genetics doctor. There were no worries to be had, but my OB makes this part of routine care. While there we had the option of finding out the sex of our babe at just 13 weeks and I as a planner was taking advantage of that for sure.

Up until about a week before we went to find out, I (along with just about everyone else) thought this babe was a girl. I started to change my mind, but didn't tell anyone that I was then leaning boy. Jarrett and I decided to find out right there in the doctors office what the sex was, but chose not to share with any one else (no family or friends... not a one) until our gender reveal party in just a few short weeks. J&I had already decided on names long before we were pregnant, but 2 days prior to going to the doc, I decided that I no longer wanted to use those names... and so began the baby naming debate 2015..and it wasn't pretty.

When Dr. Koster said "boy" I think J just about came unglued with excitement, and I too was super excited; I'm pretty "boymom"-ish if I do say so myself.


Throughout my second trimester everything continued to be "easy". I had only had sickness while in Amsterdam, sleep was easy, and overall I would forget I was pregnant (up until I was really showing, of course, but even then I would try to squeeze through spaces I didnt belong going through forgetting about the belly I was sporting)

I traveled an incredible amount this trimester. In the month of March I literally slept in my bed 2 nights, all others were spent in hotel rooms all over the country. 

15 weeks

16 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks - halfway there!
 His sweet little nose... Being able to get sonograms pretty frequently was such a reassuring part of this process, plus I loved seeing his sweet little face and dream of what he "really would look like"







21 weeks

23 Weeks - Orlando


24 weeks - Dallas Meeting
Orlando - the first time my bump was really a bump while working

25 Weeks

25 weeks


The great name debate raged on throughout the entire 2nd trimester. J and I each had separate lists and we would talk about names/send each other names almost every day, until it turned into a knock out, drag out fight, then it would subside for a few days until someone was brave enough to bring it up again (always me). 


I finally told J that I had to have a name by the time my baby showers started, so we really narrowed it down to a handful of names and let Jarrett sit on them for a few days - dont you know HE was the one holding up the process, I knew what name I wanted, and wasnt really willing to give in. 



Finally at 26 weeks, we named this sweet babe - Grayson Daniel Dunaway.



Grayson - I have no idea where I saw this name, but once I had it on my list, I was sure that this was the right name. Although, I wanted to spell it GrEyson, my compromise was to spell it with an "a" as J wanted it.

Daniel - This is Jarretts middle name and was the middle name that we were going to pair with any first name that we chose. 


27 weeks - Augusta, Masters 2015

Baby Gaaaaayson

Up next? I will share our Gender Reveal Party 

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

39 Weeks + 4 Days: First Trimester

Mid-November I was on my way to Amsterdam for work. Rebecca, Casee and I had planned to stay over to explore Holland and hop over to London for a few days. On day 2 of the meeting, I was not feeling so hot and felt so dehydrated. I'll never forget when Rebecca came to my room to borrow something and making fun of my 800 water bottles that were empty on my nightstand. Seriously, only a slight exaggeration.

With what started as teasing and a joke of pregnancy, started wearing down on my mind that it could actually be a possibility. To say J&I were trying for a babe wouldn't be accurate, but we weren't preventing and had been talking about starting to "try" in the new year. I continued to enjoy my vacation with my friends.

Anne Frank Haus - Amsterdam

Amsterdam
LondonTown
I had severe denial, but in the back of my mind, I couldn't drop the idea that a sweet babe could be in our future. & I wont lie, scared would best describe my feelings. In the London airport, I bought a Harrods teddy bear "just in case" and told J to buy a pregnancy test for me to take when I got home. 

After the flight that seemed 1298341723589175 hours long I was home and taking my first test... I read it as negative, J read it as positive. After taking the second one, I made J go back to the store and get the tests that clearly reads "PREGNANT" or "NOT PREGNANT". I took that test, left it in the bathroom and went to lay my jetlag booty down.. I was so convinced I wasn't pregnant I didn't even check the test. J went in and come back out fist pumping.. I was SHOCKED, scared and happy all at the same time.

That weekend was Thanksgiving and J&I decided to keep our surprise a secret until we went to the doctor to be sure everything was on the up and up. After about a week or two we were ready to tell our parents and siblings. We sent packages with balloons that said "pop me" on them announcing our babe's arrival in July 2015.



The first trimester flew by since we didn't find out until about 8 weeks along and we didn't share with others until 9-10 weeks.


9 weeks
10 weeks

11 weeks

12 weeks

13 weeks

Not long after sharing our news with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, they shared that they were also pregnant! & also due in July! Such a fun thing to share with them!



The day after Christmas I woke up to some spotting, after speaking with my OB I headed up to the ER to check on baby Dunaway. For those who know J&I, you know that we are a bit of opposites: I am more realistic (pessimistic at times) and J is all rainbows and sunshine, so the trip to the ER was a hard day for me, but J was so positive throughout the experience. When the sonogram was done and we could see/hear the sweet babe's heartbeat going strong, it was such a relief!

At 13 weeks we were finally ready to share our exciting news with everyone!


We also found out the gender in the 13th week... which I will share the story on that in the Second Trimester post tomorrow... stay tuned...


Announcement: CKFireboots



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