Baby number 2 is a ... the actual reveal

Yall remember we sent these in the mail:

And this is what it looks like scratched off. 

It's another little girl!! 

I couldn't be more surprised. I swore it was a boy. I actually asked the ultrasound tech to check multiple times. She said this one is definitely a girl. 

We couldn't be more thrilled. We love having a little girl. And now a reason to reuse all these cute clothes and bows. And the nursery is finished!! We are moving Olivia to the guest room, and instead of having to buy navy crib sheets, curtains, etc. - the nursery will stay as is.

Olivia will love having a sister. She already says "baby sister." But seems bummed that baby sister isn't here yet. All this talk, and we've produced no baby. 

Names will be impossible, just like with Olivia. I think our best bet is to have it down to 5 or so going into the delivery room. It worked out well with Olivia - hopefully that will work this time. 

So. Much. Pink. I couldn't be more thrilled! Anytime I'm shopping for clothes for Olivia, I'm now justifying the purchase with "it'll get wear from two girls!" And Dan has already relegated himself to a life full of girls - so he wasn't even surprised. 

Baby number 2 is a ...

We lied to everyone. We found out the gender at 18 weeks. We told family, friends, co-workers that we were finding out on 9/23. This bought us some time. We then sent this out in the mail!

Hard to get a picture of something printed on photo paper, but you get the idea. I have always wanted to do a gender reveal party, but the logistics of getting everyone in the same location would never work. I thought this would be a fun surprise that can involve everyone. A quick google search for "scratch off gender reveal" proved I was not the first person to think of this.

I'll post the scratched off version tomorrow. In the mean time, what do you think, pink fish or blue fish?

20 Weeks

20 weeks and I finally feel back to normal! I also love sweets again. I also still hate getting up at 5:30. And the last also, the belly is about 3 times this size by the end of the day. 

Five on Friday

1. I finally made these sliders, and oh my gosh they were even better than they looked. I only made 6 at a time because we would have eaten the entire plate. 

There are a million recipes on pinterest, but I used the one above, and used turkey and havarti cheese instead of ham and swiss.

Now I'm hungry.

2. Our brave little girl jumped off the diving board for the first time. No fear. No hesitation. Just walked right off of it. Popped up out of the water and said "more? more please?"

3. Dinner when you are too lazy too cook.

Followed by another nightly walk. 

4. Olivia helped me open my birthday presents. It's funny because she was too young to understand unwrapping on her birthday and on Christmas. The second Dan brought this out Olivia just ripped off the paper. 

5. Speaking of birthdays, sweet friends at one of her buddy's birthday parties. Impossible to get them all looking at the camera. So, I, of course, chose the only one where Olivia was looking.

Destin Part 2

We took a ton of family photos on the beach. I figured I'd share a few million of them.

How most of our pictures look with this crazy baby:

Destin Part 1

Long overdue, per usual.

Destin is my favorite place on the planet, per usual.

We went with my family and had the best time.

Beach manicure. (After the fact). Neon.

Olivia is such a beach bum. She just loved going in the water "no mama no dada" when we tried to hold her. She wanted to swim all by herself. She loved riding the waves in her floaty - hanging on the beach with a snack - or building a sand castle.

She had the sweetest beach set up with her little baby pool.

This water. It's paradise. 

Now you see her. Now you don't.

The pool wasn't as much fun because the lifeguard wouldn't let her jump in. Plus, we have a better pool at home. So we tried to spend most of the time at the beach. But we also spent some time relaxing in the condo.

Dan and I went to Cuvee Destin for a dinner date one night, which was wonderful. I had the crab legs where they split the legs for you and you simply eat them with a fork. YUM! 

My mom and I ended up going back for a girls dinner a few nights later. 

My parents watched Olivia during her nap two days in a row. We went down to the beach. Relaxed. Just sat in silence and listened to the ocean. Staring at how crystal clear the water is. One day we walked to the beach front restaurant for lunch in our swimsuits. I could seriously stay here forever. It made me really resent work. We have a place to stay in paradise, and only make it down here once a year because I have no vacation time. Made me want to be a SAHM and spend a few weeks out of the summer at the beach. OR, better yet, win the lottery so we don't ever have to work. ;) Overall, a very productive week for me. Haha.

Family beach pictures up next.

19 Weeks

Work bathroom selfie to round out the week.

I'm feeling SO much better. I haven't been sick much at all this week. Still feel like I could rock a nap in the middle of the day, but I'm not sure that will ever go away. 

I really wanted snap peas with ranch veggie dip. So I asked Dan to get some at the store. I specifically said not ranch dressing, but the ranch veggie dip. What does he come back with? 

Green beans and hummus.

AND, to be super safe, asparagus and garlic hummus.

Wtf.

I sent him right back to the store. 

One bite of ranch veggie dip and it was SO bad that hummus sounded delicious. And I ate two entire containers this week. So it wasn't all a wash.

Dan and his vegetables.

Five on Friday

1. If you need a non alcoholic cocktail, this mixture hit the spot. Olivia is also a fan. But she loves all cocktails.

2. I got a pickle. I got a pickle. I got a pickle hey hey hey hey.

3. When you leave for work really early every morning and ask your husband to take first day of school pictures. 

4. Olivia loves corn on the cob. So much so that we now cook two whole cobs for her at dinner. But I thought this picture was cute.

5. Daycare gave Olivia her very first pony tail. Only about 40% of the mullet will fit in the pony, but it was cute, nonetheless.

Gender Guesses: Old Wives Tales

Since we find out the gender soon, and I played all the old wives tales with Olivia, I thought it would be fun to do it this time.

Let's begin.

Next time your OB pulls out the Doppler to listen to baby's heartbeat, ask her to tell you what the heart rate is. According to legend, 140+ beats per minute indicates a girl, and below 140 a boy. Girl! (Although barely above 140, this baby was much lower than Olivia).

Legend has it that the Mayans determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age and the year. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy. Girl!

Pop off your wedding ring -- if you still can! -- and tie it to a string. Hang it over your belly. If it swings in a circle, a little guy's in your future. If it goes back and forth, you've got a girl. Boy! (Although we did find contradicting articles on this one. Personally, I think its a way for the 'ring test' to always be accurate. If yours went in circles, you can find a copy of this wives tale that is accurate, no matter what you are having! Kind of like when Dan makes bets - he likes to be on the record saying both sides. So he can always be right.)

Sick as a dog during the first trimester -- or still? Signs indicate you're having a girl. Little or no morning sickness points to a boy. Girl!

If you have dreams that you are having a boy, you will have a girl. If you dream about having a girl, it will be a boy. Dreams show the opposite of what you are having. ??? I had no dreams regarding gender this time.

If a pregnant woman prefers to lay on her left side, she's having a boy. If she prefers resting on her right side, she's having a girl. Girl! 

If the dad-to-be gains weight while you are pregnant, it's a girl. If he doesn't gain weight, you're having a boy. Boy!

It is said that when you can only think of specific names for a boy or a girl, you will have that particularly baby. Boy!

Rumor has it that if you are carrying your baby high, it's a girl. Carrying low? Stock up on blue. Girl! 

Craving sweets? According to some, that means your going to have a little girl. Salty and sour cravings indicate a boy. Boy! (Funny, last time I wrote "always craving sweets - that has nothing to do with pregnancy ... welp).

Mom's Guess: Boy

Dad's Guess: This changes every second, right now he's saying 'I think its a boy, but since you are so adamant  and you are always wrong, I think it's a girl.' It's his way of always being right, he 'guesses' both :)

Looks like its 4 boys and 5 girls for the wives ... we shall see!!

Pumpkin Beer Tasting Party

You guys remember when Dan and I tried all the single pumpkin beers from total wine? There are so many pumpkin beers (and harvest, and summer, and winter) that it is hard to decide which one to buy. You don't want to get 6 or 7 six packs, that's way too many holiday beers.

We had our friends over to come try a bunch of pumpkin beers, so they could go into fall knowing their favorites. The rules were simple: only pumpkin, no fall or harvest. We had to include the winner from Dan and my date night: Dogfish head. And we had to include all the beers with 90+ points according to Total wine's ratings. 

Cart 1 of 2

We had a tasting sheet for people to take notes. After the third or fourth, it becomes hard to keep them straight.

The dots were to signal 90 or more points. The 'ranking' section was anything goes. We had some interesting, and very effective rating systems.

I racked my brain trying to figure out how to keep the beers cold, but remember which one was which. I wanted people to be able to taste in whichever order, and come and go all evening. I knew I couldn't afford 9 cute beverage bins from Target. When I was in ikea, I saw they had their trashcans for $1. Done. The line up of fierce competitors.

Each bucket held one type of beer. And the little chalkboard signs from the Target dollar spot labeled them.

Everyone had their own glass. You can't taste expensive beer in a solo cup. So washi tape came in handy to not get our glasses confused.

We made pulled pork sliders and everyone else brought a side or a dip. I didn't get pictures of the actual food - because we devoured it.

I painted a few letters on some Target dollar spot burlap banners to keep up through Thanksgiving.

With 7 two year olds, we had to have something for them.

Water, obviously. My drink of choice these days.

And the smores that we never made because it started raining. Oh well. I had a hershey bar for breakfast. Just as good.

The Unita punk'n and the dogfish head were clear winners. With a couple people loving Cottonwood and Bluemoon. I only tasted two of them, but loved the Unita Oak Jacked. It's made in whiskey barrels and too strong for many apparently ("did someone lace my beer with liquor?"). Maybe its too much if you are drinking a whole glass, but I liked the flavor. 

This was an absolute blast. The kids loved getting to play together and run and scream and jump and slide in the backyard. I think Olivia thought it was her birthday and talked about it all weekend. She stayed up way past her bedtime, but was in such a good mood. 

This almost makes me want to do it for Christmas blends ... even though I can't drink those either!

Our Weekend

We had such a good weekend - not to mention the wonderful weather. It was one of those weekends that just makes you want to win the lottery and spend all your time as a family, instead of working.

Friday we had 18 adults (are we adults yet? doesn't seem like it ..), 7 two year olds, 2 babies, and 2 dogs at our house for a pumpkin beer tasting party. I'll have more on that later.

On Saturday we went to Greenville to visit Blair and Brett's brand new baby. The entire way there, Olivia kept saying "hi to baby" she was so excited. She really wanted to hold him and hug him and I think thought this is the 'new baby' Dan and I keep talking about. We both wanted to take him home with us.

On Sunday, Dan had their packers best on, and we ran to Target and found the cat shoes that Olivia has been dying for in her size. 

We went to a birthday party for our neighbor who is just a month older than Olivia. We then went to the pool for their ice cream social and last day that the pool was opened. We spent over 3 hours there and carried Olivia home shivering. She'll be so bummed when she begs for the pool and we can't go again until next summer.

After the pool, we have a shopping center a mile away and walked our little personal trainer up there to eat dinner and then headed back home. 

The weather was wonderful - finally not so hot. And it was a too much fun to even attempt to nap sort of weekend. Olivia did so well - and I dreaded going back to work today.