Gender Reveal!

[Pregnancy brain is a real thing. I spent time writing this blog, picking and arranging pictures, editing my words and was finally ready to publish. Then instead of publishing, I hit delete. When the website asked me if I was sure, I clicked yes. Without hesitating. Then I wanted to cry, but instead I opened a new post and started over. ugh.]


It was finally time to find out the gender! So many people asked what we were hoping for and so many people said they were hoping for (specifically) Eric to have a little girl. Truth be told, until I found out I was actually pregnant, I always wanted a baby boy first. Once I did find out and I immersed myself in baby searches on Pinterest, I became reallllly open to the idea of tutus and bows and glitter and matching outfits and frilly dresses :) Maybe a mini-me wouldn't be so bad (except for our bank account)...


Timing worked out great to include family in our ultrasound and gender reveal. Almost all our parents were in town to spend Thanksgiving with us. (Eric's mom celebrated in Texas!) The earliest our doc would schedule the gender ultrasound was at 23 weeks. That milestone fell on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so I booked an appointment. Mom, Dad, Bill, Sharon, Eric and I loaded up to head to the ultrasound appointment!




In the waiting room.

Unfortunately there was some miscommunication, so not EVERYBODY was able to go back in the room during the scan, but we were able to share that moment with Lala and Mimi! Babyzilla was wiggling around in the tight quarters. It's incredible to see the growth in just a few short months. Baby weighed just over a pound and lungs and hearing were developing. Wow. Below are some of the still shots captured while we were watching the big screen.


Baby was flexing for us!

A precious little profile.

Let's be honest, this is kind of a creepy pic!

The world slips away when I see the movement up on the screen, all that matters is the man beside me holding my hand and the little human wiggling around inside my tummy. I almost said to hell with it and asked to see the gender, but Eric encouraged me to hold out so we turned our heads as she went over the baby's bottom.


In the envelope she handed us, she wrote one little word on one little yellow sticky note that would change our lives forever. Somehow, I managed to fold up the envelope and put it in my purse so I could deliver it to Cortney later that evening! 

No idea how I was able to wait!

Back home it was time to get to work. I had wrapped the box before everyone got in town but now it was time to determine where/how to hang the box. Originally we were going to do the reveal on Friday after Thanksgiving, but the weather did not look like it would cooperate (and I would have lost a lot of sleep in anticipation!). Insert mom. She came up with the idea of poking a rod through the top of the box and affixing it to the ceiling of our patio cover. With a few pieces of tape and some strategically tied fishing string, we should be able to release the balloons and streamers.

The dry run.

It was a family affair :)

Putting Grumpy and Daddy to work!

Now that the details were worked out, Mom and I delivered the box and the envelope to Cortney. She would return in a couple hours with the finished product...

The Big Reveal!

A baby boy. Mommy's little man. Daddy's little buddy. We are so happy!

At the last minute, we told her to put an extra piece of tape across the bottom to make sure nothing slipped out. Well, it worked (too well), but we had a quick fix for that pesky piece of tape.


In keeping with the theme of discovery, we had 4 phones and 2 iPads streaming the reveal so we could include family and friends from out of state!

FaceTime with Vicki

Now that we knew, I downloaded all the pics we received earlier that day at the ultrasound appointment. This is a pretty clear picture of my little man and the family jewels. ;) [I pray this is the first and last time for any pic of these family jewels to be on display for the world to see......]


Hard to miss the gender in this shot!



One little word.

I'm so glad we were able to share this moment with so many loved ones!

The next day was Thanksgiving and with so much to be thankful for, we had a beautiful day and delicious feast at our home in OKC. What a week, I needed a nap!

Boy-momming,

xoxo,

Marissa

Bottles and Binkies and Strollers, Oh My!

I had been asked where I'm registered for several weeks, so when Eric was home mid-November, when I was about 21 weeks along, I told him he had to go with me for the first trip to Babies R Us to start the registering process. I figured that between his street smarts and my book smarts, surely we could knock this out fairly quickly. Boy, was I wrong!

The excitement is radiating off his face :)

After filling out the paperwork, and letting them add the 'diaper package' to our registry, they gave us the scanner and said "Good Luck!"

Um. Where do we start? We went to the bottle section because, of course, a baby needs some bottles. Dr. Browns was the first brand we came to (and I had heard rave reviews) so we started scanning. And scanning. And got size 1, 2, 3, and 4 nipples and bottles and drying racks and short ones and tall ones and fat ones and skinny ones. (Dr. Seuss could write a book about them!)

"What is a boppy?"

We walked around a little bit and realized registering for a baby is not for the faint of heart. We still didn't know gender, so we were limited with some products. My sweet husband kept saying that 50 years ago 'they' didn't have any of this shit, so we'll be fine without it...but I kept saying well I'm sure it all serves a purpose and 'they' wouldn't have created it if there wasn't a need or opportunity to make our lives easier. After twenty minutes in the infant section we ventured over to the strollers.   

Who knew there were soooo many strollers!

I should have brought an experienced mom with me. We spent another 20 minutes browsing and scanning until we found ourselves in the nursery furniture section. Now here was something we thought two educated adults could shop for! So we sat and tested all the rockers and gliders... but still didn't decide. Meh. 

We scanned the 27" FAO Schwarz Tiger and Elephant (because those are completely necessary, regardless of geneder) and called it a day.  

Priorities.

--------------------

Thank goodness my favorite moms were spending some time with us that weekend! Regan and Flo loaded up the babies in Dallas and headed to spend a couple days in OKC. Becuase they love me so, they signed into my Babies R Us account and completely revamped and updated our registry while I made breakfast one morning. Lifesavers :) 

It was such a great time hanging out with no real plans and very eye-opening to see how not-baby-proof our house was. We have defined our new normal--watching Frozen multiple times in a 24 hour period and baby bath time. It was perfect! I love my girls and I completely adore their kiddos! 

The new slumber party!

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Embracing changes,
xoxo,
Marissa 

More fruit, more progress!

11.4.15

11.11.15

11.18.15

11.25.15

At about 19 1/2 weeks, I felt baby's first little flutter!! I was laying in bed reading before going to sleep and felt the tiniest little blip. It didn't register at first, but once I actually considered the feeling, I knew it was our little one making its presence known. What an overwhelming feeling. Unfortunately, Eric was out of town for work, but I called him in tears to tell him the news!

12.2.15

Halloween in Denver

It was time to celebrate Liz's 30th and get my Colorado fix for the fall! Liz, Fadya and I rendezvoused in Denver for a girls weekend full of celebrations, hiking, nightlife and football! Sometimes you don't need a lot of words, but want to share a lot of pictures to capture a weekend. This is one of those! :) 

Reunited and it feels so good!

In my opinion, the intersection of 15th and Larimer is the best spot in downtown Denver at night. Nestled in a basement on this street is a phenomenal little restaurant, Osteria Marco, where we had dinner. This is the restaurant, six years ago, that boosted bread pudding up my list to my all-time favorite dessert! (Especially with the butterscotch sauce and topped with ice cream.)

I love that the lights are up year-round on Larimer! There is something special and kind of magical about the street lit up every night. After another incredible dinner, we walked over to Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret for a 'Boolesque' show. It was certainly something different and very entertaining for the night!

Out on 15th and Larmier to celebrate Liz's birthday!

(Semi-obsessed with the dark lipstick)

In our booth at Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret!

Saturday was Halloween and before our pub crawl that night, we wanted to get out of the city and spend some time in nature. Thanks to a great recommendation from Renee, we drove about an hour for the hike up to St. Mary's Glacier. The hike, roundtrip, was less than 2 miles, but we took our time snapping lots of photos and breathing in the fresh air. [Not to mention, my preggo butt had to take a couple breathers as we hiked higher and the air got a little thinner.] It was all completely worth it, as we were blown away by the beauty of the hike and the scene of the frozen lake at the top. The lake is fed by the glacier (hence the name) and even the tornadic winds couldn't keep us from enjoying the view!

Fuel for our Halloween hike!

The scenery. Seriously gorgeous.

#selfiestick

Loving the view!

:)

Gorgeous view!

Just wow!

Peak of our Halloween hike!

Perfect way to spend our day!

Halloween night! In the past, I'd pore over options until I found just the right costume for the festivities. This year, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the little munchkin in my tummy. I've seen the momma-baby skeleton shirt before, but I wanted to take it a step further and complete the outfit! So this year, we had a skeleton, Grecian Goddess and Cheetah roaming the streets of Denver. We met up with Paige at the first stop of the pub crawl and had a blast dancing and drinking (water, for me) and people watching!

Ready to take on Denver at 15 weeks pregnant!

Just love these ladies!

Fav costume of the night!

My sweet cupcake!

It was a big weekend for Denver Broncos football--two undefeated teams were to meet that Sunday night. Broncos vs. Packers. We really wanted to go to the game, but the ticket prices were insane! Even searching for last minute opportunities weren't really that reasonable... Instead, we opted to post up at the bar at LoDo's and enjoy a Bronco victory!! It was a great end to a fantastic weekend before we left for the airport in the morning!

Cheering for the Broncos at LoDos!

I'm so blessed to have such beautiful, successful, supportive ladies in my life! I absolutely relish our time together, as we live so many miles apart! 

Weekend travelin,

xoxo,

Marissa 

#marryingmorales

Prior to baby conception, I had a few great motivators to get in beach-body-shape this fall/winter (and I WAS on track). Brooke and Dro's October wedding in Mexico was one of them!

Brooke's family is our extended family. We lived next door to the Straub family since third grade. My parents still live in the same house, but my other parents have since moved to their long-term retirement-forever home. Sad. This is the family we spent weekends with, holidays with and every Christmas morning with--as life has it, we've all grown and gone our separate ways and don't live with just a fence separating us anymore.

So, October. Brooke asked me to stand by her side on her wedding day and I was honored to say yes! Unfortunately Eric was in South Korea, but his absence opened the door for Ursula to attend as my date! Mom, Dad, Bro, Hannah and Ursula departed from Houston and our connecting flights met up in California. Mexico, here we come! (Taking baby on the first of many international trips!)

We arrived a day earlier than most of the guests, so we spent our first morning walking around the local market and making deals (Ursula was the pro!). Of course, I had to get something for our travel shelves, but fortunately I still didn't know if Babyzilla is a princess or a prince or I would have come back with a little Mexican wardrobe! The tiny dresses and linen suits were adorable!! Lala and Pawpaw managed to find something that will work either way--a noisy xylophone that is sure to endure. Maybe we'll keep it at their house!?

At the mercado

Crossing this bridge took a little coordination!

I did, however, indulge in a good ol' big orange moo-moo for when my belly gets big!

That afternoon, we met the majority of the guests at the pool, then happy hour, before we went our separate ways for dinner. Baby wasn't showing in my tummy yet at 13 weeks, but other areas were much enlarged. Multiple people asked if I had anything augmented recently, so I took that as a compliment, winked and cheers-ed with my bottle of water!

The wedding was gorgeous! The girls spent most of the day pampering and prepping and fortunately everything went off without a hitch. It was a lot hotter in October than I was expecting, but the humidity and sweat stains didn't stop this group from enjoying the evening. :)

13 weeks!

I'm so lucky I got to be part of this special day!

My "little" (read: younger) bro. <3

All the pretty ladies!

Picture perfect!

My sister from another Mister!

She looked stunning!

We had so much fun!!

One of my favorite parts of this trip (besides, of course, standing by my beautiful lil sis on her wedding day) was the fruit section in the buffets! Since I couldn't get my money's worth in alcohol for this all-inclusive, I certainly indulged at the buffets--fresh fruit, topped with lime and Tajin everyyyy meal! It makes my mouth water to type this!


Jet-settin',
xoxo,
Marissa

There is Fruit in My Belly!

This has been really fun so far! I love the icons on Photofy to mark each week and give an idea of Babyzilla's size!!

12 Weeks: 10.7.15

I swear I could see a difference. Eric said I was crazy!

13 weeks: 10.14.15

Pushing my belly out as hard as I could.

14 weeks: 10.21.15

At my parents house after a weekend in San Antonio! It was kinda visible...

15 weeks: 10.28.15

I had been anxious for a 'bump' to show. I may have positioned myself and been trying really hard to make it look like a legit bump. Either way, the angle and pic was enough for me to post this one on facebook. Babyzilla is here! But not to stay at this point, and only when I was wearing something really tight. Soon enough....  

Documenting my bump,
xoxo,
Marissa