gender reveal session!

i knew when we started planning the gender reveal party i wanted great photos captured of the moment! i went back and forth about what, how, and who would help take pictures. i did not want natalie or our parents to feel obligated to take pictures and not be able to enjoy the reveal. 

finally, we came across jordan!  she is a friend of ours at church and had taken their engagement photos!  i loved them and thought she would be perfect for our day! and luckily, she was available the weekend we needed her!  

i got the cd of the photographs in the mail today and was excited to share them with you!!

                                           

thank you again jordan maunder!!

half way there...boom!

woo hoo! its the half way mark, 20 weeks!  (11.7.12)

I can hardly believe we are 5 months pregnant! these last 20 weeks will fly by. the time we've all been waiting for finally came....the gender reveal ultrasound!  Matt and I were so excited to go to our appointment and get to see our little one on the screen!  we were amazed at the changes that had taken place from our last ultrasound at 9 weeks.  what a miracle GOD has given us!  our little baby had all the right body parts, everything measured correctly and baby was sleeping soundly :)  the heart rate was around 138 this time which threw me off in my guess of gender. until now the heart rate had been around 150-160's!
I told the ultrasound tech before we started that we did not want to find out the gender at the appointment! I asked her if she would not mind writing it down in a sealed envelope so that we could reveal the gender with our families! of course, she did not mind and said that many couples ask for the same thing!  she spent about 45min taking pictures of various body parts then it came time for the gender!  matt and i closed our eyes for what seemed like forever. i could hear the pictures printing out and i resisted the urge to peek :)
once she was done she handed us a few u/s photos of our little ones face and arms! how fun to see baby before it is even born!  we took the sealed envelope home along with a cd of the ultrasound and promised each other not to cheat!
I knew I wanted to surprise our family and friends in a fun way we would all enjoy and remember instead of just calling everyone on the phone. I came up with another pinterest idea to reveal the gender with a box of balloons. I got Natalie to help me and decided to let her be the only one who knew the gender ahead of time, which was a super fun secret for her to have!
She came over that afternoon after our appointment and the envelope was passed along to her!  not five minutes after she left the house she texted me that she had opened it and was beyond excited for matt and I to find out!  we planned and invited our family over for breakfast saturday morning and told them we would reveal the gender after eating!  i didn't realize how many people did not know matt and i were unaware of the gender as well until they all arrived :)  Saturday morning Natalie went and got balloons and then stuffed the box in secret and taped it shut!

at the brunch we had guest put $1 in the pot and place their guess on the gender/date/weigh/time!
and before the reveal we all picked our lips or mustache for girl or boy!
here are a few photos from the gender reveal party!
(we had a friend of a friend come and take photos for us so I will post more once I get copies from her :))

then it was time to go outside and open the box to finally see if we were having a baby girl or a baby boy!

ITS A BOY!!! matt and i both guessed boy and you can kinda see us holding our mustaches in the photo! we were beyond excited to find out we will be expecting a little handsome man!  now i have a house full of boys!  boy husband, boy dog and now boy baby!!


finally, the 20 wk photo!!

our next doctor's appt is 2 weeks away!

halloween (19 wks)

hope everyone had a wonderful halloween!  here are a few pics of skeleton baby brooks :)  

i luckily got off work early on halloween and got to see davis and eliza dressed up!!

(the shirt is curtsey of one of my favorite websites, etsy.com!

i could be on there for hours looking around)

baby is 19 weeks now! wow, this is flying by! next week we will be halfway to our due date!
and the exciting new thing is I'm starting to feel baby move!  it is such a surreal feeling. to know that there is really a little human growing inside me. i have to lay still and relaxed to feel some movement but it is so awesome! i cant wait to feel it stronger and for matt to be able to feel the baby!

one more week and we find out what gender our precious little one is!  as long as baby is healthy we don't have a preference :)  I'm looking forward to sharing that news with you!

in other news, matt and i are still looking for a new house. we have found one we really like!!  its exciting to come across a house we love after looking at so many! so pray with us everything works out and we can have a new home to bring little baby to!!

how far along?  19 wks 1 day

baby milestones: (according to thebump.com) baby is size of a mango, weighing in at about 8.5 ounces and 6 inches long! baby is working on all five senses and hair is starting to sprout!

total weight gain? about 5 lbs (well, at least at my last appt check)

maternity clothes? yes! i lucked up with some clothes from a friend but i've bought a few pieces of my own.  i can still fit into most of my regular clothes with help from the belly band! (which is awesome)

stretch marks? nope :) still lathering up in various stretch mark prevention lotions :)

sleep:  sleeping much better now! around 16 weeks i was not sleeping well at all, tossing and turing all night and keeping matt up. then my sweet mom bought me a maternity body pillow and all has been well since!

best moment this week: realizing im almost halfway there and feeling some movement!

miss anything? a nice glass of wine, especially with the holidays coming up! and laying flat on my back

sick/queasy?  nope!  its been smooth sailing!

showing yet?  yep! but not as much as i thought i'd be by this time. im sure that will change soon ;)

gender?  eek! leaning towards boy..

belly button? in

rings? still fit, no swelling!

looking forward to: 20wk ultrasound, shopping, nursery planning..

16 wks

here is the 16wks photo!  posted in week 17 :) better late than never, right??

so we go to the doc next week for a check up then back in 3 weeks for the ultrasound! 

boy or girl?? what do you think?

ive been doing some gender prediction tests online and here are the results:

chinese gender chart : GIRL
wedding band pendulum test: GIRL
heart rate: GIRL
lack of morning sickness: BOY
baking soda pee test: BOY





here is a 17wk pic before heading to the fair!!

sorry nothing much to report!  things seem to continue to go smoothly!  I've been so lucky not to have hardly any symptoms. Im still not really craving anything. Here lately, at night, I've been laying still in the bed and trying to feel the baby move. Every now and then I think i feel a little something. I'm sure in the next few weeks to come I will definitely be able to feel the little one kicking around!

my first baby's birthday!

its bentley's third birthday today!  since the blog is titled after him i guess i should include him on some posts!

bent spent most of the day at camp bow wow, which he loves! the staff there seem to love him too and he always comes home worn out!  we had a nice surprise when i picked him up this afternoon. they gave me a goodie bag full of toys and treats :)

then we came home to presents from mommy and daddy and the annual photo shoot! 

he tolerated the photos well though he was quite tired after camp! (he is currently knocked out on the couch beside me :))

happy birthday to you BENTLEY!!

oh boy...

no, we did not find out the gender yet! but oh boy, are we going to have our hands full!

matt and i went this morning for a check-up appointment. not much done at the office other than what i could do at work :) vitals, urine, weight and fetal heart rate!

once the doctor came in she was talking with us while starting to find the heart beat. we heard a nice, strong heart beat for about 3 seconds then baby moved. well baby definitely has some matt brooks in it! it was allll over the place and took us about 5 full minutes to track down the heart rate again! there is not much space in there for baby to hide but boy did it!  if this is any idea of what baby will be like once born than we will for sure have our hands full!

we are 14 weeks and 1 day today!  officially in the second trimester!

baby bump is still growing!  and i still feel great! besides being tired in the mid afternoon. im so grateful for no morning sickness!!

sorry not much more to report!  we go back october 25th for a regular checkup (18wks) and then back again november 8th for the anatomy screening...which means we find out if baby is a boy or girl!  so excited for that week to be here!

12 weeks!

we've made it to 12 weeks!  woo hoo...one more week then we are off to the second trimester!

12 weeks - september 12

disregard the tired look - took this after a 12 hr work shift :( 

but the bump is arriving! wow, you can really start to tell something is there! the pregnancy and the idea of matt and i becoming parents is becoming more real every day!

work yesterday was a nice day in the ER!  so nice that we triage nurses set up a little ob clinic in a spare triage room!

and a video!

How far along?  12 weeks and 2 days!

Total weight gain:  i'm supposed to track that?? haha maybe a couple pounds

Maternity clothes? not yet!  though my pants are getting a little tight and i've had to improvise with hairbands to get my pants buttoned :)

Stretch marks? nope! been lathering up with anti-stretch mark creams

Sleep: sleeping great in the night except for the occasional potty breaks. and i get really tired mid afternoon and love my naps!

Best moment this week: hearing baby's heart beat and seeing little bug on u/s

Miss anything? sushi :)

Movement: not yet! but baby moves lots on u/s!  looking forward to feeling that

Food cravings: not really!  i always crave asian regardless of pregnancy

Anything make you queasy/sick? nope! been easy so far

Gender predictions:  i hear boy guesses more from friends than girl! excited to find out - hopefully late october

Symptoms: tired, bloated and peeing all the time

Belly button in or out? in :)

Wedding rings on or off?  on!

Happy or moody most of the time? happy

Looking forward to: finding out the gender!!  

grateful

matt and i are so grateful for all the love and support we have received so far! everyone has been so excited about the new baby! from family and friends to co-workers! we are thrilled to be on this journey and to share it with you.

the spoiling has already begun! little baby brooks has gotten a few gifts so far!

grammie woo woo (susan) gave baby a bible book and sweet card...

also, we did tell matt's dad last week about the baby! and silly me forgot to get a photo with him and his gift :( i'll post that as soon as we finally get it!  here is an inside look at what the grandparents got to read from baby brooks!

im sure most of you have heard me talk about the best kids around that i get to babysit for!?! the normans!  i was over at their house one night this week and was surprised with a sweet gift from them! a wonderfully sweet book and a stuffed doggie (which bentley thinks should be his). i also got a sweet gift from their oldest, charlotte!  she dug through her all her stuffed animals and picked out one to give me for the baby! how sweet! and the one she picked was her most favorite from when she was a baby!  

hope everyone enjoys reading the blog so far!  i look forward to posting more and more!!

stay tuned for next week!  i will post our 12wk belly photo!!

i knew it, i knew it, i knew it!

matt was sneaky enough to video susan's reaction to the pregnancy announcement!

enjoy!

words out!

so we told some family tonight!  

after dinner matt and i stopped by my parents house. i knew they would be home cause i had tried one last time to get natalie to come over but she insisted on studying and eating dinner at home with mom and dad. we got there and had some small talk, told them we just stopped by on the way home. once natalie came downstairs and everyone was in the kitchen i pulled out their gift! i handed it to mom and said "here, this is an early anniversary gift for you and dad". she did not seem to think much of it and went about opening it. natalie was standing by with a sly look on her face. once she read the card she handed it to dad to read and began opening the book. after about 3 seconds of reading the title she looked up, surprised, and said "what does this mean?" 

a few seconds later dad caught on and blurted out, "are you pregnant?  thats what i'm talking about!" 

there were many congratulations and hugs!

natalie then tells me she "knew it all along!  why else would you try so hard to get me to come over today then just "drop in" un announced??"  she is a clever one!

whew! finally we told someone!  what a hard secret to keep!

next, to tell susan!

matt had texted his mom earlier in the day to see if she would be around the house tonight cause we may "stop in". i suppose susan thought this was odd and had a conversation about it at work with some ladies then on the way home via phone with nicole. 

after some more small talk i brought out the wrapped book to hand her. i told susan that mom and i had been out shopping and came across something she may like..and that mom bought her one too!

matt snuck out his phone and caught her reaction on video!! funny!

she too was surprised and very excited for us!  

we called nicole and jeff while there and shared the good news with them! we are so grateful to have loving and supportive family around us and with this new blessing!

i have to work tomorrow and wednesday, boo! and then we plan on telling matt's dad, david on thursday!  after that we can share the news with everyone!

march 27th with be an exciting time for the simpson/brooks family!!