Category: Pregnancy

My Excitement and Fears of Motherhood

excitement and fears of motherhood

It’s getting close.  Soon this little being growing in my belly will be ready to make his debut.  I have about 5 months left of this pregnancy and then I will get to meet my little baby boy.

I am getting more and more excited with each passing day.  The little movements I feel, the changes I see in the mirror (though scary, they are so thrilling!), all of it has been quite a ride.

I have to be honest though, I haven’t been a fan of pregnancy.  It’s been rough these past weeks!  I’m sick almost every day, I’m exhausted constantly, I’m struggling with accepting my changing body, and I had a lot of issues at the beginning that made it more scary than exciting.  

Now that I’m further along, the complications are less but the fear and anxiety is still there.  Here’s what I have running through my mind every. single. day.

Will I be a good mother?  

Will J and I be able to parent and communicate as one?

Will I be enough?

Can I do it all?  Motherhood, Wife, Career-woman, student

Can I control my anger when I’m tired and frustrated?

Will J still look at me like he did when we first met?

Will I be happy with my body even after childbirth?

Then the excitement kicks in and slowly takes away some of my fears of motherhood.

I will love this child more than life itself.

I will show them God’s love.

I will share the world, just as my parents did with me.

I will instill confidence and self-love.

I will not be afraid to ask for help.

I will put their needs, wants and desires above mine.

I will focus on them and give them my attention.

I just have to survive the final weeks before I get to meet this beautiful child.  

 

Gender Reveal Party – It’s a Boy

During the first part of December, J and I finally threw our Gender Reveal Party. It was a killer holding onto that envelope with a little note tucked inside for almost 2 months.  I don’t know how we did it, but we didn’t peek!

gender reveal party invite

We wanted to be sure to share our big news with his family and mine, along with some of our closest friends.  It was really important to me and to J to find out together, hence why we threw a gender reveal party.  Let’s be honest, this little bundle is going to be so loved by so many so it’s really a tribe-thing.  I have to say that it was really hard finding a weekend that most of us could all get together.  That’s why we held onto that little envelope for soooo long.  It was soooo hard!

Our plan for the day was to have a fun-filled time with those that are important to us.  But we had to keep it under budget.  Christmas was just a few days away and we knew money would be stretched.  Luckily, our families are awesome and really helped us out with everything.  My in-laws rented a cute house in the middle of a park not too far from their home.  My parents picked up the cookies from my all-time favorite bakery in town.  My sister and brother-in-law had all of the paper products and serving trays, plus she made most of the food.

gender reveal party ideas

The biggest splurge we made was on the candy bar.  I went to Party City and picked up 4 types of candy – 2 in pink and 2 in baby blue for $6.99 each.  I also had ordered our balloons for the day from there and they came out to be about $20.  So overall I spend close to $50 at Party City – not too bad!

I had to call around to different Party City stores though.  The first one I called, which was the closest to the party told me they didn’t put confetti in balloons.  I would have to stand there and put the confetti in then they would blow them up.  Well that defeated the purpose of us not knowing.  So I called another store that was about 30 minutes away and they had no problem handling it all for me.  I called a few days before the party to place my balloon order and had my office manager tell them the color.

I didn’t want to ask everyone to wear pink or blue because I knew some would be traveling.  So I used clothespins.  I found a tutorial on Pinterest that I just loved.  I purchased a pack of wooden clothespins from Walmart for less than $3. I also added some craft paint in light pink and baby blue for less than $1 each.  Then I just painted one side of the clothespin and let them dry overnight.  We placed a bowl next to the door and asked everyone to wear their guess.  It was a huge hit!  Everyone got involved and our little nephews just loved it!

gender reveal party ideas

I guess everyone had a pretty good feeling because the blue pins went super fast!

After everyone had settled in, we handed out the black balloons.  Each couple got a balloon and a thumbtack.  Then on the count of three, we popped!  Once all the confetti settled there was no denying the blue everywhere.  It’s a boy!

gender reveal party ideas

gender reveal party

This gender reveal party was amazing!  I wouldn’t have traded it for anything!  I was so glad that J’s family was there and most of mine were able to come.  Plus his best friends made it and my best friend (who’s due in January) made the trip down to my surprise!

The Newest Edition Coming May 2016

pregnancy announcement with dogs

Yep, you’re seeing that right.  J and I are expecting our first little bundle of joy in early May.  I have so many emotions and thoughts swimming through mind all the time.  I’m excited, scared, nervous, happy, thrilled, terrified, overwhelmed and frightened.  

We sent this pregnancy announcement to our family and friends a few weeks ago.  I have admit, trying to take this picture with all three dogs was difficult.  We ended up with over 50 pictures just to get one good one.  It was a great idea, but hard to execute!

Last weekend we had a gender reveal party with our family and friends.  We gathered everyone together and we each popped a black balloon filled with confetti.  It was a blast!  I’ll have to share more pictures about our party later.  But the good news is we found out we’re having a…

gender reveal gender reveal party