P-I-N-K

I think I have a medical condition. I feel a little funny. Things around me don't seem the same as they used to. It's almost like they've taken on a different coloring, a lighter colored hue almost. I think I'm seeing.......pink. Lots and lots of pink. :)

Last week, Marty and I went to our ultrasound appointment to find out if little baby Gaddie was going to be a boy or a girl. But we weren't going to be finding out in the traditional way. Instead of having the ultrasound tech move her little paddle around and tell us what we were looking at, we told her we wanted the results put into a sealed envelope to be opened later...at our gender reveal party. If you've never heard of one, you're not alone. When my brilliant sister first approached me with this idea, I was a little skeptical. I'd never heard of a party like this, so what would other people think about it? And then I realized that it was a fun, untraditional way to get my family together and find out all at once what we were having, so we made plans. Invitations were sent:

The idea behind a gender party is that the entire family finds out together what you're having via cake (or cupcakes, whatever floats your boat). Marty and I went to our ultrasound appointment, had the tech seal the envelope and the envelope was quickly whisked off to a bakery for the bakery people to open. They would then proceed to make us a cake filled with either pink or blue icing.

All along, I just KNEW I was having a boy. I saw visions of baseball practices, dirty uniforms and all kinds of creepy crawling insects that a boy would just find fascinating. I imagined tractor rides and fishing lessons and days on the farm with '"Granddaddy." I had absolutely convinced myself that it was a boy and didn't even consider another option. Not that I didn't want a girl. I would LOVE a girl. I'm not big into pink, but I could see myself getting a little girl ready for school and bringing her a bouquet of flowers for her first ballet recital. I just didn't think that was going to happen. So I was preparing myself for a boy. Getting ready for our party, I slipped on my blue shirt, put out the decorations and waited until cake cutting time. When I picked up the cake from the bakery, it's all I could do not to dig my finger into the icing and find out for myself if we were having a Dalton or an Avery. But I was a good little girl and waited the entire 8 hours for our party so I could find out with my husband and our families. When the time actually arrived, I was so incredibly nervous! No more calling the baby "it!" No more calling it just "the baby" when I felt like "it" was too harsh. No more looking at baby things, but unable to buy them because I didn't know if I needed pink or blue! It almost seemed surreal that we were about to find out. My heart was pounding when we cut into the cake...and then I saw the pink. I was absolutely in shock!

So, Avery Leigh Gaddie will be here sometime in July (I hope, I hope I hope...) and I am in the process of going broke. Two days after our gender party, I went with my mom to the Kentucky Kid's Consignment Sale at Pritchard. Bad news bears. Mom and I are not the "hunter-gatherer" type of shoppers. The only place I will dig to find something good is TJMaxx--and that's only because it's required at that store. If it's not immediately accessible or within reach, I'm just going to move along. I'd rather pay $10 more for the convenience (and sanity!) of Target than having to dig for deal. However, I had heard all of these wonderful things about the consignment sale and I knew it would be my first chance to go baby shopping, so I purchased two tickets. When mom and I walked in the door, we were tempted to turn right back around and walk out. There were pregnant women, grandmothers and baby strollers EVERYWHERE. I just knew it was going to be a madhouse the second those doors were opened. Surprisingly, it was calm. Surprisingly, I found a $45 carseat and several adorable outfits without massive digging. Since the consignment sale, I may have bought her a few things from GAP and Old Navy :) and have been checking websites daily for possible nursery decor options. I absolutely cannot wait to start planning now that we know for sure this baby is a "she." And she seems just as excited as I am...hiccups, moving and squirming CONSTANTLY since the day of the gender party. Looks like we have a diva on our hands already!